Potatoes

  From today on, be a noble person; from today on, be a pure person; from today on, be a person with great ambitions; from today on, be a person who muddles along; I only wish to face the southern mountain, where spring is warm and flowers bloom.

  Yun Ye didn't need to cover his house because the great, wise, bright and generous Emperor Li II not only granted him a baron title but also awarded 1,200 mu of land to thank him for his selfless contribution of the salt-making method.

  Cheng Yaojin also praised the emperor's generous reward, and the imperial court's five ranks of nobility: Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi, and Nan. Yun Ye's elevation to the rank of Nan was a leap from being a commoner to becoming a lord, which was extremely rare in this era when the empire had already been established and the enfeoffment of nobles was highly cautious. The entire court was thinking of ways to reduce the power of the nobles and lower their ranks, but Yun Ye relied on his humble salt-making skills to break through this restriction and was conferred the title of First-Class Marquis.

  It was unprecedented, to know that Cheng Yaojin had followed Li Er down for many years, and was an absolute confidant, who was granted the title of Luguo County Gong. The famous minister Yu Shinan was only a child of Yongxing County. Now the title in front must be added with the words "opening the country", which is even more rare.

  In comparison, the thousands of acres of fiefs are insignificant. From the map, it is at least 50 miles away from Chang'an City. According to Cheng Chumo's words, does this still have the nerve to be called the Chang'an fief? It is only three inches away from Longyou, of course, this is measured on the map. In any case, we are also a new person with a title, an official position, and land - the three haves.

  Under the impact of great happiness, Yun Ye had already forgotten that Cheng Chumu used a handkerchief to stuff his mouth. Given that both Cheng father and son liked to express their joy by slapping others' shoulders with their palms, Yun Ye also forgot to explain to Old Cheng and his son that he didn't have sheep's horn disease.

  Yun Ye opened his backpack. He had been intentionally avoiding looking at the items from before, fearing that he would once again fall into painful memories.

  He picked up the phone, which was already out of power and had a black screen. He opened the back cover, took out the battery, and carefully blew away the dust inside. The water that had seeped in some time ago had long since dried up. Cheng Chu Mo used it as a mirror and even thought it wasn't as good-looking as a copper mirror. He took out the solar charger, opened the photovoltaic panel, chose a spot without shade, placed the charger there, connected his phone to it, and within four hours, the phone would be fully charged. There were pictures of his whole family on it, and Yun Hao really wanted to take a look at his wife and son. He was worried that if he continued like this, he would forget about them.

  The only thing left of Yingjisha's dagger was one, the hairpin was still beautiful, and Yun Ye's hand lightly brushed over the hairpin as if brushing over his wife's smooth long hair. The locator had been thrown away by himself, and the wallet had also been discarded, leaving only this physical body as a sign of his existence. The two potatoes that he couldn't bear to eat had already sprouted purple buds, Yun Ye was very clear about the value of these two potatoes, if not for them, Datang would have to cross the vast Pacific Ocean to find this important crop in the Americas.

  He shouted at his personal soldier, ordering him to find several large jars, planning to cut the potatoes and plant them in the jars, hoping they could mature before the weather turned cold. The entire set of cooking utensils had been borrowed by Cheng Chumo, who was said to be having the camp's blacksmith re-forge a new set, but so far there was no news. Even the sleeping bag for his tent couldn't escape this fate. The compass and map were kept close at hand by Yun Ruo, not intending to let them see the light of day again. The compass was one thing, but the map was really impossible to explain, yet it was too important to be destroyed. It seemed that Cheng Chumo didn't intend to return his entrenching shovel either.

  Yun Ruo emptied his backpack and shook it, wanting to pour out the dust inside. Unexpectedly, a few yellow grains fell out. Yun Ruo took a look and found that they were five corn kernels, which had fallen into the seam of the backpack at some unknown time. He picked up the corn kernels, wrapped them in hemp cloth, and put them together with chili seeds, hoping to grow chilies and corn in his own farm next year.

  Yun Ruo didn't have much hope for electronic products. If there were no photos of his wife and children on his phone, he would definitely choose to throw it into the Yellow River. He believed that too advanced things wouldn't bring him happiness, but only disaster. Li Er had never believed in any gods or spirits from the bottom of his heart. If someone took out an inexplicable divine artifact, Li Er's first reaction was not worship, but to raise his butcher knife.

  Yun Heng discovered that he was a complete and utter poor man, with no money to his name, and on top of that, he still owed Old Cheng some silver. Although it's said that money is worthless, not having any really makes life difficult. Why did Li Er forget to reward him with some gold, silver, and precious jewels? It's unfair! Without money, how can I be a noble lord? Yun Heng felt like the most unfortunate noble in the world. Do nobles have to earn their own money too? Isn't it said that they're surrounded by beautiful women, eat delicacies every day, ride fine horses, and live in luxurious mansions? How did it end up being me who has to work hard for money? Where is justice?!

  Lao Cheng looked at the five short vats arranged in front of Yun Yan's tent with a puzzled expression. What was even more puzzling was that Yun Yan had also knocked a hole in the bottom of each vat. The soldiers were mixing together rotten tree leaves and mud from the riverbank, which appeared to be very fertile. Yun Yan carefully buried a strange stem with purple buds into the vats, covering it with a thin layer of mud. After Yun Yan finished watering, Lao Cheng could no longer hold back his curiosity. He asked Yun Yan, "What are you doing, kid? Planting flowers? You wouldn't be doing something so out of place in a military camp, would you?"

  Yun Ye patted the dirt off his hands and bowed to Old Cheng: "Uncle Cheng, I'm deeply grateful for your trust in me. I've done something outrageous, yet you didn't scold me at all, but instead had the soldiers help me wholeheartedly. Your kindness is etched in my heart. As for the thing in the jar, let me keep it a secret for now and you'll understand in autumn. But I can tell you, Uncle, that this thing is priceless, and if we succeed in planting it, our Tang Dynasty will never have to worry about famine again."

  "Boy, is this true? Can five large vats really alleviate the worries of famine in the Great Tang?" Cheng Yaojin asked in a trembling voice.

  "Haha, my nephew has just been granted a noble title and received a thousand acres of land, but unfortunately he's still penniless. At the end of the year, I'll rush to Chang'an to thank Your Majesty and take office formally, but how can I do it without money? Once this thing is done, I'll also be able to present it to Your Majesty and get a few tens of thousands of taels of silver, so I can just muddle along until death." As soon as Yun Yan's words fell, a huge claw grabbed the back of his neck and dragged him towards the camp tent.

  After being beaten, resisting, being beaten again and then surrendering to this routine way of speaking, Old Cheng walked out of the tent with his hands behind his back, leaned against the edge of the vat, carefully counted the tender shoots in the soil, called over ten personal guards, and solemnly instructed them to take good care of it, feeling along the edge of the vat, muttering to himself: "This is more precious than life!" The crowd of personal guards saw that the great general was so flustered, they put away their disbelieving thoughts, and twenty eyes stared tightly at the five large vats, no longer daring to be negligent.

  Yun Ye lay on the bed, rubbing his numb buttocks and wailing: "It was just a potato, did you have to beat me up over it?"