After Guangchengzi took Chong Yingbiao away, the position of Commander of the Dark Phoenix Guards remained vacant, with no one able to fill it. Only Li Jing, who had been promoted to Minister of Punishments, took temporary command of the Dark Phoenix Guard to make arrests and sentencing easier.
Li Jing vaguely sensed that something was wrong. He had once been the Chief Commander of a pass himself, and one who valued agricultural production at that. Otherwise, the people of Chentang Pass, who made their living by fishing, would never have tried planting new crops.
He keenly spotted a flaw in Xiao Yin's words. Whether Chentang Pass or Lintong Pass, these places had become easy to defend and difficult to attack precisely because of their treacherous terrain.
Under such geographical conditions, there was very little land suitable for cultivation.
However much land they reclaimed, the amount of farmland was still limited.
Especially at a formidable stronghold like Lintong Pass, which had stood through several dynasties, any land that could be reclaimed had probably been reclaimed long ago.
The soldiers under Xiao Yin could indeed practice military farming, but there certainly could not be much farmland available to allot to them.
The more land the soldiers had, the less the common people would have.
Clearly, the farmland left over by the common people could not possibly make Lintong Pass's soldiers self-sufficient. At most, it could tide them over in emergencies when grain shipments were delayed.
Jin Cheng, whom Li Jing had already sent to investigate, came back to report. "Minister Li."
Li Jing raised his brows. "You found nothing?"
Jin Cheng nodded. Looking at Li Jing's thick brows knitting together, he felt an urge to laugh, but held it in and reported his findings one by one.
Things were much as