Hua Xiong was now very agitated, as there had already been quite a few people eyeing his horses. The most shameless was a county magistrate who actually accused Hua Xiong of horse theft and prepared to arrest him—how could he tolerate that? In the end, Hua Xiong beat the magistrate half to death and then left. There was no other way; Li Ru had also warned him to try not to kill officials in Yanzhou, as it was best for both parties to maintain some goodwill.
Hua Xiong generally wouldn’t listen to anyone; he was straightforward and usually just charged into battle. However, fortunately this time Li Ru was around, and he forcefully suppressed his temper, refraining from slaughtering all those who had designs on the horses. Had it been the old Hua Xiong, they would have been cut down with a single strike.
"Qu Hanmou, I’m warning you—if you keep running off, I’ll tie you up!" Hua Xiong said, grabbing Qu Qi by the collar like lifting a small chicken, walking toward the horse carriage. Then he pulled open the carriage curtain and threw Qu Qi inside.
"Hey, Zijian, that’s a big ear of paddy you know. Let me pick it, I’m a Household Registry Official, good seeds are very important," Qu Qi said, trying to rush out, but unfortunately for him, Hua Xiong sat on the shaft of the carriage and pressed him back in. This guy had already collected quite a few so-called big-eared good seeds along the way, and once he almost fought someone over a mature ear of paddy.
"Haven’t you had enough already? You’ve collected plenty, and half of our conflicts with the people of Yanzhou are because you’ve been secretly picking ears of paddy!" Hua Xiong angrily glared at the young man.
"Whose fault is it that you put me in a sack and took me out? I was farming just fine in Shanglin Park, and you just came up and asked if I knew how to grow cotton," Qu Qi retorted. "I said yes, and you just stuffed me into a sack. Do you know that counts as threatening an official?" Qu Qi was quite glib, clearly outmatching Hua Xiong.
"You say I threatened an official. You were still farming in Shanglin Park, which is a Royal Garden. Anyone who cultivates it privately deserves death!" Hua Xiong stubbornly said.
"Sigh," Qu Qi sighed, his contemptuous look deeply hurting Hua Xiong. This guy’s expressions and tone were always enough to deliver a heavy blow, "Go fetch that big ear of paddy from before. I want to study it."
Hua Xiong forcibly suppressed his anger. He had been tormented by this smuggled goods, and he told his soldiers, "Give some money to that person, and pluck the whole paddy out from the roots!"
Although Hua Xiong was a rash man, thanks to Li Ru’s education, he was still quite kind to capable scholars, especially this Qu Qi who claimed to be an expert in agriculture. He had already grown impressive crops in Shanglin Park.
After offering tribute, Hua Xiong secretly sneaked into Shanglin Park planning to pick up something that Chen Xi had asked for. He didn’t go far before he saw a field of crops, which admittedly was thriving. He estimated that the yield could be increased by a whole stone per mu. Even if the land was measured in Da Mu, this was indeed quite impressive.
Hua Xiong walked over to Qu Qi who was studying in the field and asked with a smile, "Sir, do you know which one is the cotton? And where are the seeds? I heard that Shanglin Park grows all kinds of exotic flowers and plants. How come wheat is being grown here?"
Qu Qi glanced at Hua Xiong and then dismissed him with disdain, "Shanglin Park is supposed to grow exotic flowers and plants. Cotton is that one, the seeds are in that house. As for wheat, do you not think that wheat yielding more than five shi per Da Mu is an exotic plant?"
Hua Xiong was startled; he had farmed before, so he naturally knew what a five shi yield per mu meant. Even with fertile soil conditions, five shi was frightening. With this in mind, the man before him must be quite a figure!
Thinking this, Hua Xiong didn’t hesitate any longer, he shamelessly approached and asked cheerfully, "Sir, may I ask your surname? My name is Hua Xiong, Hua Zijian."
"Household Registry Official Qu Qi, Qu Hanmo," Qu Qi arrogantly replied.
Hua Xiong felt indifferent about arrogance; he believed that those with ability had every right to be proud. Thus, he continued to make conversation, "Mr. Qu, do you still have any of those wheat seeds? Could you share some with me?"
"They’re all over there, take them all if you want," Qu Qi was pleased with Hua Xiong’s humble attitude.
"Don’t you need to leave some seeds for yourself?" Hua Xiong asked.
"Seeds? As long as I’m here, could there be a shortage?" Qu Qi said. Just then, Hua Xiong took advantage of Qu Qi’s moment of pride and pulled out a sack, sweeping it from head to toe, bagging him and carrying him away. After all, a scholar who was said to be adept at growing anything was a rare talent. Bundle him up and take him away; this was what Chen Xi had instructed when he came.
That’s why Qu Qi felt that he would be doing himself an injustice by not piling on work to Hua Xiong to the point of death, considering that he was, after all, the head of the Yizhou Qu Family. Even though there weren’t many left in his family, its lineage was long-standing, otherwise, he wouldn’t have the ability to mix in at Shanglin Park!
And so, Qu Qi caused trouble for Hua Xiong along the way. Of course, even Hua Xiong himself couldn’t perceive Qu Qi’s disruptive methods. As someone whose job was to study food supply, casually selecting the best seeds was part of his professional habit. Pulling out a seedling to check the soil fertility was something Hua Xiong didn’t understand, but it seemed very impressive. As a result, he had no choice but to bear the headache and clean up after Qu Qi!
However, it must be said that Qu Qi did have some real talent. Although he didn’t understand military or civilian farming strategies, he had his insights on how to increase food production. For instance, according to his research, planting soybeans for one year and then burning the soybean stalks and spreading the ashes on the same field could increase the yield of grains the following year...
In short, although he might have a rather nasty personality, his actual abilities were not bad. This was also why even Jia Xu and Li Ru could tolerate him adding trouble every day: producing even an extra tenth of food per acre could save lives, let alone his claim of increasing production by three to five tenths. Such individuals must be tolerated.
While Hua Xiong endured a throbbing headache, he appeased Qu Qi, advising him not to ride in carriages recently. Ever since he had that feeling of being watched, Hua Xiong had become cautiously on guard. Even though he doubted that Cao Cao would dare to attack and kill him, sometimes precautions were necessary. It was while he was soothing Qu Qi that his martial artist’s instinct alerted him to danger.
He subtly made a move, and the entire squad slowly shifted into a defensive formation resembling the Round Formation. However, Hua Xiong clearly knew that this was the only defensive formation he had learned from Li Ru that he could use proficiently, although he didn’t know its name.
"General, shall we go for the kill?" a trusted aide beside Cao Hong asked.
"More than four thousand horses, just passing before my eyes. I can’t bear not to grab them," Cao Zilian, known as Iron Rooster and miser, the future tax-collecting governor, was eyeing Hua Xiong’s horses. For this raid, he had borrowed a few hundred men from Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Li Dian, and Le Jin, training them for days until their commands were in sync; finally, Cao Hong was ready to lie in ambush for Hua Xiong.
Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, and the others all knew what Cao Hong intended, even Cao Cao was aware, but they all turned a blind eye. Cao Cao even prepared himself for the eventuality that if things did not go well, he would vehemently deny any involvement. Four thousand warhorses, none of them nag, would be a massive boon for Cao Cao, who currently had virtually no cavalry at all! (To be continued. If you book, please come to Qidian ) to vote for it, monthly tickets, and support the author. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)