Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 465 Relying on Favor (10)

Yan Zhen sighed and said helplessly, "Didn't I say that I didn't want to go to the Northern Jurchens for a marriage alliance, and I didn't want to serve that old man Ji Tu? So I came to rely on you, hoping to use your power to fight my way back to Daliang. But who knew..."

Yan Zhen didn't continue, but gave Zhao Yuan a meaningful look.

Zhao Yuan understood the meaning behind her look—who knew you would be so useless.

His face darkened, and he tightened his grip on Yan Zhen's neck: "How dare you underestimate me!"

Yan Zhen, held in his lap, neither struggled nor resisted, lying on the couch with her body relaxed like a salted fish: "Fine, just kill me. I'm going to die sooner or later anyway, so dying now will at least be a quick death, so that when Tingzhou falls, I won't become a prisoner with you. With my beauty, who knows how those rebels will humiliate me..."

Zhao Yuan was provoked by her and became even more furious: "...You dare to look down on me?"

"I was going to think highly of you, but who knew you'd be so stubborn," Yan Zhen sighed. "If I'd known this would happen, I should have gone to Yunzhou next door. Although the general in Yunzhou is a bit older and not as good-looking as you, I've heard he's good at using talent. If I had gone to Yunzhou, I could have made it a strong and invincible army in three to five years..."

Zhao Yuan dragged Yan Zhen off the bed and said defiantly, "Fine, I'll give you a chance to speak. I want to see what ideas you can come up with!"

Having successfully provoked Zhao Yuan, Yan Zhen suppressed the corners of his mouth that were turning up. He first freed his neck from Zhao Yuan's grasp, then straightened his disheveled clothes, cleared his throat, and made sure he looked presentable before starting his analysis.

"The most pressing needs of Tingzhou right now are money and food. As far as I know, there is a type of food called 'potato' in the Northern Jurchens. It has a high yield, is very filling, and is suitable for growing in the sandy loam soil of Tingzhou. If we can bring back potato seeds, half of the food problem will be solved."

Zhao Yuan was skeptical: "Potatoes? If there really is such a good thing, why do the Northern Jurchens still come to invade every year?"

The Northern Jurchens kept raiding the border because winter was coming and there was a shortage of clothes and food, and many people were starving and freezing to death.

Yan Zhen couldn't explain to him that potatoes had only been introduced to the Northern Jurchens two years prior, and were only widely cultivated there three years later.

Prior to this, the Northern Jurchens had no idea that this thing was edible, and even considered it a poison because they had been poisoned by eating raw potatoes.

Yan Zhen casually made up an excuse: "I know a wandering monk, and he brought this news back."

"A wandering monk?" Zhao Yuan was even more suspicious. "How could a princess living deep in the palace know a wandering monk?"

“My mother was a Buddhist and invited wandering monks to the palace to preach.”

"But aren't women in the harem forbidden from having contact with men outside the palace? How could you have met that wandering monk, and how could he have told you these things?"

Yan Zhen: "...Let's not worry about these details. Just know that I didn't lie to you. Lying to you wouldn't do me any good, okay?"

Zhao Yuan looked at her with increasing suspicion.

Yan Zhen, unable to bear it any longer, said, "Do you want to listen to me or not? If you don't, I'm going to find the commander of Yunzhou."

“…Alright, alright, continue.” Zhao Yuan gave in.

Yan Zhen then continued, "As for money—do you know about Dragon Ridge Mountain?"

Zhao Yuan nodded; that place was only about three hundred li away from Tingzhou.

"The tombs of the four emperors of the Liang Dynasty are all located on Dragon Ridge Mountain, filled with countless burial goods. You can find a few tomb raiders to find out the exact location of the tombs, and then we can dig up the gold and silver treasures and sell them. Wouldn't that make us money?"

Zhao Yuan was taken aback, thinking he had misheard: "You mean, you want me to lead people to dig up your ancestral graves?"

Yan Zhen nodded: "Yes."

The Great Liang Dynasty lasted for over three hundred years. The previous emperors were all diligent and hardworking, governing the country to make it prosperous and militarily strong, thus creating the golden age of Great Liang.

In their previous life, Xie Ying and Tan Xuanmo fought to the point of exhaustion, and had no choice but to dig up their ancestral graves. They survived the most critical two years by relying on countless burial goods, which allowed them to reverse the outcome of being annexed by foreign enemies.

In this life, Yan Zhen wanted to strike first and thank Xie Ying and Tan Xuanmo for digging up their ancestral graves a few years earlier.

Anyway, the ancestral graves are destined to be dug up. She and Tan Xuanmo both have the surname Tan, so it doesn't matter who digs them up.

Zhao Yuan: "...Are you really Tan Junzhuo?"

He had seen outrageous acts, but never anything this outrageous.

They instigated rebels to raid their own ancestors' graves and dig out burial goods to harm their own descendants.

Isn't she afraid of being beaten to a pulp by her ancestors a hundred years from now?

"What are you saying?" Yan Zhen winked at Zhao Yuan. "Is there any woman in the Great Liang who can surpass my beauty?"

Zhao Yuan: "..."

He coughed lightly, looked away, and pondered for a moment: "Alright, leave the grave digging to me, but how are we going to get those potato seeds?"

Yan Zhen had already thought it through: "Lend me Hong Fu, and I will lead a group of people disguised as merchants to Beijue. If we travel quickly, we can bring back the potato seeds in four months at most. We can plant them next spring and harvest the first batch of potatoes in three months."

Zhao Yuan looked at Yan Zhen with a suspicious gaze.

Yan Zhen stood up straight, his expression open and honest, letting him scrutinize him.

After a long pause, Zhao Yuan said, "No, you draw the potato seeds, and I will have someone infiltrate the Northern Jurchens to find them."

She can't go.

What if they go and don't come back, and even run away with Hong Fu? In this vast sea of ​​people, where am I supposed to find them?

Yan Zhen frowned: "You don't trust me?"

Zhao Yuan sneered: "That's right, I don't trust you. You're a woman full of tricks, and you never tell the truth!"

"I've poured my heart out to you for so long, even telling you the location of my ancestral graves, and you still say I don't tell the truth?" Yan Zhen looked heartbroken. "Fine, Zhao Yuan, you have no heart!"

She was about to get off at her hotel.

Zhao Yuan, feeling he had spoken too harshly after being criticized, quickly reached out and pulled her back, saying, "That's not what I meant..."

Yan Zhen ignored him and shook off his hand.

But as soon as her feet touched the ground, Zhao Yuan stretched out his long arm, put his arm around her waist, and pulled her back: "I already said that's not what I meant. What I meant was... it's not safe for you, a woman, to travel all the way to Beijue. With your small body, what if you get caught in the rain, catch a cold, and die on the way?"

Upon hearing this, Yan Zhen glanced at him and asked, "Are you worried about me?"

"...If you say so, then it is."

Yan Zhen calmed down and thought for a while before saying, "Since you're so worried, why don't you come with me and help me kill a few people?"

Zhao Yuan was taken aback, his attention focused on her last question: "Kill whom?"

"Ji Tu and his queen." Yan Zhen's eyes flashed with murderous intent as she spoke of the two. She said earnestly to Zhao Yuan, "As long as you can help me kill these two, I will follow you wholeheartedly and never betray you."