Chapter 100

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Xuzhou's Tao Gongzu continues to strongly support Liu Bei, providing food and other supplies, which are either lent without return or sold at low prices. To be honest, the existence of Xuzhou is the real reason why Liu Bei can live so well. Otherwise, with the current development efforts in Taishan, life would be much tighter, after all, there are over 300,000 more mouths to feed...

Chen Xi has already started arranging for people to try raising chickens and ducks, whether for meat or to deal with the locusts that come every two years. Anyway, start with a small-scale trial, and then after success, distribute large numbers of chicks. With 800,000 people, about 200,000 households, distributing 2 million chicks would probably make the locusts tragic. Hopefully so.

In Chen Xi's mind, a million chicks cost only 300,000 coins. If they fail, no one will notice. After all, a few books can sell for this price. If they succeed, it will likely increase the happiness of the residents. Having meat is always a good thing in this era, and being well-fed always helps in cultivating qi. Even a little qi is better than nothing...

Chen Xi got to work, posting a notice to find someone skilled in raising chickens, and had them start with a few hundred chicks. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to raise them. He then realized that all the creatures in this world had evolved over the 400 years, though their appearance hadn't changed much, their energy had indeed increased.

But it made sense. If their energy hadn't increased, it would be very difficult to refine qi from the low-energy plants and animals of the past. After all, the foundation of martial arts is being well-fed. If you can't eat enough, you don't even have the energy to sustain life, let alone refine higher-level energy from the outside. What a joke, they haven't evolved to that point yet, and that's a plant's ability anyway.

Since it was unexpectedly easy to raise them, Chen Xi felt much more at ease. Ten chicks per household, with four people per household. Households with fewer than four people were ignored, and those with more than four were counted as four. A miraculous scene then occurred: all the people in Taishan became four-person households. It was indeed easier to count heads this way.

As for the number of chicks, it was far from enough. Chen Xi could only use a brute-force method to hatch chicks—using heated beds. As for how to maintain a 40-degree temperature, that wasn't his concern. With so many people, someone would surely know how to distinguish temperature levels. Similarly, how to hatch chicks from eggs wasn't Chen Xi's problem; there would always be someone who knew.

After doing all this, Chen Xi finally understood why there weren't large-scale chicken and duck farms in ancient times. The reason was simple: there weren't enough breeding stocks.

A million eggs capable of hatching chicks wasn't a problem; he could collect them from everywhere. The issue was that an old hen could only hatch about 20 eggs at a time, and they had to be strong enough. How many old hens would that require? Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

Leave professional matters to professionals. Even so, Liu Bei looked at Chen Xi with a strange expression. It was unreasonable for Chen Xi, from a noble family, to know these things, especially such significant technologies for the people. Not knowing would be the norm.

Chen Xi ignored his colleague's gaze. He was already considered miraculous, so he didn't mind being even more so. What Chen Xi was curious about was that when the population increased, certain super warriors would appear, like Lü Bu and Zhao Yun. Similarly, when the number of horses increased, certain monsters would appear, like the Red Hare and the Night White Lion. What about chickens? Chen Xi was very interested. Perhaps he could cultivate a super chicken...

The idea of a super chicken at the level of external qi seemed quite appealing. With this in mind, Chen Xi distributed all the chickens that were slightly larger than his fist and had full feathers. He didn't forbid eating them, but he knew the poor people of Taishan wouldn't eat their hope. They had finally managed to eat, and now with a bright future ahead, they wouldn't destroy their hope.

As for the extra chickens, Chen Xi gave them all to the chicken-raising expert he had recruited. This person had now become a servant of the Chen family. Chen Xi kicked him out of the city to raise the chickens, with feed provided by Taishan. However, all the chickens would eventually be used to supplement the Taishan army's meals. It was strange that the people managed to pick out nine hens and one rooster when the chicks were only fist-sized.

When Chen Xi arrived in Taishan, he had people start researching vigorously. The white porcelain with flowers he wanted didn't appear, and even the white porcelain couldn't be guaranteed. But they did produce some experimental pieces. They also tried to make glass, but after so long, they only managed to produce a few sets of cups, in various colors. The only transparent cup was full of cracks, but at least it didn't leak and could be used, though Liu Bei called it a masterpiece.

Well, since it was a masterpiece, Chen Xi sealed the kiln without a word. Now it was a limited edition. It was better not to produce more with insufficient skill. Now that he knew the research direction, he took three sets of the finished products, and gave the rest to Liu Bei.

As for the porcelain cups and teapots, Chen Xi took six pure white cups and one teapot, and gave the rest to Liu Bei. It didn't matter who Liu Bei rewarded with them. These shining objects were perfect for deceiving people.

In short, the items Chen Xi and Liu Bei now possessed were already one-of-a-kind in the world. Whether for contacting the feudal lords or deepening friendships, they were top-notch treasures. At least, that's what Liu Bei thought. Therefore, the next day, Liu Bei, despite his pain, gave Chen Xi the transparent glass cup with countless cracks but didn't leak, which he considered a masterpiece...

Chen Xi took the glass cup with a look of envy from Lu Su and others, feeling that it would be a waste to use it for drinking water. He could just place it somewhere. In the past, when resources were abundant, such a cup would have been thrown away. It was so poorly made, and the manufacturer's face must have been as thick as a city wall.

As for the other glass cups and porcelain, Liu Bei selected the best set and had it sent to Chang'an by fast horse. The rest were given to Kong Rong and Tao Qian, while Gong Sun Bo Gui was given grain and fodder...

Liu Bei was already wondering why Hua Xiong hadn't returned. He didn't believe anything had happened. Not only because of Hua Xiong's own strength, but also because the 4,000 elite troops under Hua Xiong were, in Liu Bei's view, utterly insane. After a major battle, losing a third of their men, they could still fight as if nothing had happened. Who would dare to provoke such an army? And as long as the military structure remained, with a bit of training, it could maintain the blood and fighting spirit of the previous unit.

However, given Chen Xi's consistent foresight, Liu Bei didn't ask. At least Chen Xi had never harmed him. Perhaps something had delayed him. Liu Bei consoled himself, not even considering that Hua Xiong was currently suppressing bandits in Yongzhou.

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