"...Mountain vegetables and fruit would work too, just like medicinal herbs. But if you rely solely on gathering them, you will always be depending on luck to put food on the table. If you could imitate the Han people's gardening methods and cultivate them with care, things would be much easier! Not only could you increase production, you could also select the best and weed out the worst to improve quality. Take the peaches I ate yesterday, for instance. What you sent me must have been carefully selected, but to be honest, they tasted worse than what ordinary peddlers sell in our markets! Even my guards frowned as they ate them! Why?
"Because wild peaches grow naturally. There is no way to guarantee their flavor; it all depends on luck. If a natural disaster strikes, or there is too much rain, you have even less to hope for. But if you learn the art of gardening, you can choose suitable land and till it carefully, select seeds to cultivate superior varieties, use established methods to ward off disasters, and judge when to hurry or hold back according to market demand! Offer bamboo shoots in spring, sell mushrooms in summer, trade hazelnuts in autumn, and ship honey in winter! Supplies in every season, profits threefold! You could start by choosing a few high-profit businesses with strong demand and focus on developing those, such as-never mind. Let us leave that for now."
Wang Yang stopped speaking and drank some tea to soothe his throat.
"Tell us, tell us! Why would you not tell your own family? Did the Han Envoy not say that once we submit, Han and tribesmen will be one family? Why hide things from family? Do not leave us dangling! Once you finish, I will give you a few