Chapter 1237: August (1)
Chapter 1237: August (1)
November 10, 2017
The emergence of the Beast Tide, Li Ru's demise, and Zhao Er's disappearance could be considered minor setbacks for the year 190.
In fact, if we set aside Zhao Er's disappearance, the year 190 was a relatively good one for Lu Hai Kong, at least until August of that year.
In April of that year, Princess San, after a ten-month pregnancy, gave birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix twins, a boy and a girl, bringing immense joy to Lu Hai Kong. He spent his days happily cuddling the two little ones.
The birth of these two children also alleviated much of Lu Hai Kong's sorrow over Zhao Er's disappearance.
In addition to the birth of these children, Lu Hai Kong received more good news in the same month.
The large-scale cultivation of the mutated Purple Thunder Rice and Frost Ice Rice, derived from Blazing Sun Rice, was successful, bringing significant benefits to Lu Hai Kong's territory and greatly advancing his special legion's progress.
In May of the same year, two system cities were officially completed.
One was in Jinyang City, Taiyuan County, in the southern part of Bingzhou, and the other was in the northwest city of Shuofang in the northern part of Bingzhou.
With the completion of these two system cities, Lu Hai Kong's military system made corresponding deployments, further strengthening the military defense network.
In June of the same year, Lu Hai Kong invested another 500 million to open the Talented Scholar Tower and reaped rewards in July. The second opening of the Talented Scholar Tower was much more fruitful than the first.
A total of 412 people received an upgrade to their talent level.
Additionally, 102 individuals enhanced their talents and improved their warrior characteristics and civil official talents simultaneously.
Furthermore, three individuals acquired unique warrior characteristics.
Apart from the achievements in his territories, Lu Hai Kong also focused on cultivating his warriors during this period.
The instance squads didn't cease their training due to Zhao Er's disappearance; instead, Lu Hai Kong intensified the cultivation of his warriors.
With Lu Hai Kong's abundant resources, Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Yan Liang, Wen U, and Gao Lan all reached the brink of breaking the hundred-point limit. Together with Lu Hai Kong's Dian Wei, Huang Zhong, and Cheng Yaojin, he now had ten people capable of opening the Jade Gate.
However, Lu Hai Kong had no intention of including Cheng Yaojin in his plans. He was still waiting for Pan Feng's breakthrough and, if possible, Zhao Er's return. But given the current situation, the chances of Zhao Er coming back were slim.
Although half a year had passed without finding Zhao Er, Lu Hai Kong still held onto a glimmer of hope.
Lu Hai Kong also prepared for the possibility of giving up. Aside from waiting for Pan Feng, he was also awaiting Gao Shun's progress. Once these two reached the brink of breaking the hundred-point limit, Lu Hai Kong planned to open the Jade Gate.
Initially, Lu Hai Kong believed he could patiently wait for the opening of the Jade Gate, as his life had been smooth and carefree for the past six months, and he didn't anticipate any significant difficulties ahead. However, he soon encountered an unexpected setback.
After July, Lu Hai Kong's luck seemed to run out, or perhaps it was the Three Kingdoms world's good fortune that had been exhausted. Various troubling events began to unfold, causing headaches for the dukes.
First, following July, a massive drought of unprecedented scale struck the entire Three Kingdoms map. From north to south and west to east, almost all thirteen states were affected by the drought.
Of course, when it came to the drought, Lu Hai Kong himself did not face significant challenges.
On one hand, Lu Hai Kong had started his construction early, building numerous water reservoirs in his territories of Sili, Bingzhou, and Youzhou. Additionally, Lu Hai Kong had thoroughly promoted two highly resilient and productive crops, potatoes and sweet potatoes, across his lands. As a result, this sudden drought posed little issue for Lu Hai Kong.
However, not everyone was as well-prepared as Lu Hai Kong. Out of the thirteen states, only a handful had a water resource system on the scale of Lu Hai Kong's territories. Although some had adopted potatoes and sweet potatoes from Lu Hai Kong, these crops had only been introduced to Lu Hai Kong a few years ago. Initially, Lu Hai Kong tightly controlled these crops as strategic resources, even selling them through official channels while heavily exploiting the dukes.
It wasn't until Lu Hai Kong achieved full-scale cultivation across his territories that he relaxed the restrictions on potatoes and sweet potatoes. Nowadays, there are very few dukes who cultivate these crops on a large scale.
While potatoes and sweet potatoes are indeed resilient and high-yielding, they are not entirely heaven-defying. Their productivity requires technical assurance. Lu Hai Kong, backed by the Shennong Department, faced minimal issues in this regard, but the various dukes encountered numerous problems.
Furthermore, Lu Hai Kong also had Xi Zhi Cai, who could significantly reduce and mitigate natural disasters. As a result, after July, the three kingdoms were in a dire state, with only Lu Hai Kong's territories remaining relatively unscathed.
The worst-hit areas were the territories of Dromar and Yuan Hong.
In Dromar's territory, he had spent the past six months focusing solely on the Immortality Pill Formula given to him by Lu Hai Kong, desperately trying to resurrect Li Ru. He had completely neglected governance.
Despite this, Dromar's forces had still produced several outstanding and capable talents during this period, such as Li Su, who now controlled the overall situation, and Chen Gong, who had inadvertently joined Dromar's forces.
These individuals, though talented, were not Li Ru. They couldn't fully gain Dromar's support and couldn't match Li Ru's capabilities in various aspects. More importantly, even Li Ru might not have been able to withstand this kind of natural disaster.
After July, the Sili region in Liangzhou began to face various issues due to the drought.
Li Su and Chen Gong employed numerous methods and exerted themselves to the utmost, but they still couldn't achieve significant results. Gradually, the people of Liangzhou started fleeing to Luoyang or Bingzhou.
However, compared to Yuan Hong's situation, Dromar's territory was relatively better, despite experiencing civilian flight.
In Yuan Hong's territory, not only were there civilian escapes, but there were also rebellions.
After the dukes' campaign against Lu Hai Kong ended, Yuan Hong didn't settle down. Instead, he took over Qingzhou, which had lost its ruler.
Initially, Yuan Hong was delighted to have acquired Qingzhou, as it expanded his territory, increased his resources, and strengthened his power.
However, due to the increased size of his territory, Yuan Hong faced the worst situation during this drought.
Not only were there civilians fleeing to Bingzhou, but there were also widespread rebellions among the people of Qingzhou.
Yuan Hong could have managed this situation, but unfortunately, another disaster, akin to a natural calamity, struck his Ji Province—the Beast Tide!
(End of Chapter)
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