I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 780 - Chapter 780 Meeting

Chapter 780: Meeting Chapter 780: Meeting Editor: Atlas Studios Luo Zhan stood in front of Qi Haoran with a smile and cupped his hands.

“Greetings, Prince Rong.” With Little Bear sitting on his neck, Qi Haoran raised his eyebrows.

“You’re Luo Zhan from Luodian?” Luo Zhan bowed humbly.

“It’s me, Your Highness.

I’ve reserved a table in the restaurant opposite.

I wonder if you can give me the honor of going there.” He glanced at Little Bear and smiled.

“The Little Heir must be thirsty after shopping for so long, right?” Qi Haoran pulled his son into his arms and asked, “Do you want to drink some water?” Little Bear requested, “Fruit juice.” “Where can I find juice for you in the middle of winter?” Qi Haoran said, “I’ll get someone to buy you soy milk.

Choose between soy milk and water.” Little Bear shouted, “Soy milk!” Qi Haoran brought Little Bear and Luo Zhan into the restaurant.

Halfway through, Qi Haoran remembered that Xu Zhi was following behind him, so he turned around and waved at him.

“Since you’ve been following us all day, come up and have a rest too.” Seeing that Qi Haoran had not forgotten their main purpose for coming out today, Xu Zhi wiped the sweat off his forehead happily and followed eagerly.

At this moment, he had already vaguely guessed that the Prince was doing this to lure Luo Zhan to come to them, instead of looking like they were eagerly looking for Luo Zhan.

Luo Zhan led them into a larger private room.

When they opened the window, they could see where they were standing just now.

The acrobatic performance below could clearly be seen from there.

Little Bear shouted excitedly and moved a stool over to stand on it.

Leaning against the window, he looked down.

Qi Haoran supported his body and waited for his excitement to subside before carrying him back.

At this moment, there was already a lot of delicious food on the table.

The few of them had been shopping for a long time and were a little hungry, but Qi Haoran was not in a hurry to eat.

He only picked up some easily digested food for Little Bear and looked up at Xu Zhi.

“Governor Xu, haven’t you been chasing after me for a day to ask where the grain skewer came from?” Qi Haoran nodded at Luo Zhan and said, “Second Young Master Luo asked someone to send it over.” Xu Zhi was stunned.

Then, his eyes lit up as he turned to look at Luo Zhan.

“Second Young Master, so you were the one who brought over that grain skewer.

I wonder where you got it from.

Do you have any extra?” Luo Zhan’s eyebrows twitched.

He looked at Qi Haoran from the corner of his eye and saw that he was lowering his head to feed the Little Heir.

Seeing that Xu Zhi was looking at him nervously, he replied with a smile, “Those grain seeds were planted by us, the people of Luodian.

This year’s weather is considered quite fine.

Seeing that the grains were full and numerous, my father specially asked someone to choose a particularly good skewer to send to His Highness, wishing you a bountiful harvest.” Xu Zhi’s eyes lit up and he asked, “Are there many grain seeds like this planted in Luodian?

How much yield per acre?

After planting them for a few years, have there been insect plagues or other diseases?aEUR|” Xu Zhi’s questions came one after another and hit the nail on the head.

Knowing that they had come prepared, Luo Zhan’s anxious heart suddenly calmed down.

As long as Prince Rong was tempted, it meant he had a chance to negotiate.

Luo Zhan heaved a sigh of relief and answered Xu Zhi’s questions with a smile.

He brushed off some things that he couldn’t answer.

After all, he wasn’t a farmer, so it was understandable that he couldn’t answer certain questions.

These grain seeds had been planted in Luodian for two years, but only in a small area.

According to Luo Zhan, these grain seeds had been developed by the tenant farmers by chance, and they were only expanding their production by a little now.

Because it reaped a higher yield than ordinary rice, they attracted the attention of the landlord.

As it took time for the reporting of this news to reach the higher-ups, Luo Zhan only got his hands on them last month.

Because the yield per acre of these grain seeds was really impressive, the patriarch of the Luo family asked Luo Zhan to send them to Qi Haoran, hoping that they could contribute to Great Qi and the Emperor.

Not to mention Qi Haoran, even Xu Zhi did not believe Luo Zhan’s words.

Seeing that he could not get any more information, Xu Zhi could not help but feel a little disappointed.

In response to Luo Zhan’s words, Qi Haoran said, “The patriarch of the Luo Clan is loyal to the Imperial Court.

His Majesty will definitely be gratified to know this.” Luo Zhan took the opportunity to kneel on the ground and said, “Your Highness, Luodian is the territory of Great Qi, and our Luo clan are also citizens of Great Qi.

There are more than 600 people in our Luo clan.

If His Majesty has any orders for us, we will go through hell and high water for him.” Qi Haoran narrowed his eyes and held his hand.

“His Majesty knows you’re loyal.

Second Young Master Luo, quickly get up.” Luo Zhan’s mind raced, but he had already made up his mind.

When he looked up again, he looked at Qi Haoran with tears in his eyes.

“Today, I beg His Majesty and Your Highness to stand up for the Luo clan.” Qi Haoran held his hand and said with a smile, “Let’s talk after you get up.” After saying the most important sentence, Luo Zhan felt relieved and sat on the chair smoothly.

Qi Haoran asked curiously, “Hasn’t your Luo Clan been governing over Luodian?

I remember that even the tribal chieftains come from the Luo Clan.

Who in Luodian is capable of bullying you?” Luo Zhan smiled bitterly and said, “Your Highness, you might not know this, but Luodian shares a border with West Xia.

We’ve originally been living in harmony because Luodian consists mainly of mountainous regions and dense forests, plus the land is barren.

Thus, the people of West Xia didn’t even deign to come plunder our lands.

However, ever since you chased the West Xia soldiers out of Qiannan two years ago, West Xia has been crossing the border to harass Luodian from time to time.

“There are only about a hundred people in the Luodian Tribal Chieftain’s Office.

As there is only one byway from West Xia to Luodian, there has never been a garrison.

In the past two years, the people of West Xia have become increasingly overboard.

They have already gone from the villages at the border to the towns 20 miles in.

If this development continues, I’m afraid LuodianaEUR|” Luo Zhan looked at Qi Haoran and gritted his teeth.

“Your Highness, please take pity on the 5,000 people in Luodian County and send troops to guard Luodian.” Qi Haoran was stunned.

He did not expect Luo Zhan to propose such a condition.

Speaking of which, according to the proximity, the tribal chieftains should be the one to suggest something like this to the Imperial Court.

Why did Luo Zhan have to come from so far away to look for Qi Haoran?

After Qi Haoran asked the question, Luo Zhan said with a red face, “Internally, the opinions of the Luodian are not unanimous on this matteraEUR|” Someone suggested that the Imperial Court should station a garrison.

However, it was not that easy to station a garrison since the construction of a garrison required money.

Likely, the people of Luodian would have to come up with this sum of money.

Also, they would have to take care of the food, lodging and salary of the garrison troops.

Whether it was the military salary and rations that the local people were in charge of in the previous Great Zhou Dynasty, or the military fields that would have to be distributed to the garrison troops like now, it would pose a huge burden to the people of Luodian.

For the former, it would imply higher taxes for them.

As for the latter, they did not have much land to begin with.

If they were to distribute any more land, they would have even less land and be even poorer.

Therefore, some people suggested recruiting local youths to defend themselves.

However, even if the Imperial Court allowed them to recruit troops, they wouldn’t know how to train the troops.

The Buyi people were valiant, but because they had no wars all year round, they only knew how to fight in a brawl.

How could they compare to the well-trained West Xia soldiers?

In the past two years, all the people they had recruited had died at the border.

Luo Zhan’s father could not bear to see his people sacrifice like that, so he asked his son to bring a huge gift to beg Qi Haoran.

He hoped that he could bypass the tribal chieftains and directly beg Qi Haoran to send a garrison to them.

Luo Zhan had always been the high and mighty Second Young Master in Luodian, and he was also the smartest.

He was more valued than even his eldest brother, so he’d come with great confidence.

In addition, they had heard that the Prince’s estate placed great importance on agricultural matters.

Considering he had such important grain seeds in his hands, he figured he had a higher chance of success in a negotiation.

However, encountering Qi Haoran’s cold attitude from the onset certainly dealt a huge blow to his confidence.