The main gates of the Gao Village stronghold had become a theater of bustling activity.
A massive caravan of carts stretched back toward the county seat in a seemingly endless line.
Liang Shixian had personally promised that "not a single grain would be stolen by corrupt hands," and he was taking that vow very seriously.
Today marked the first day of the grain transport.
He arrived on horseback, flanked by his secretary and a squad of bailiffs. He stood sentinel at the stronghold gates, watching with an eagle eye as one empty cart after another rolled into the fort, emerged heavy and sagging with sacks of flour, and rumbled away to make room for the next.
"The sheer resources of this Li family... it's unfathomable," the secretary whispered, leaning toward the Magistrate. "That's the thirtieth cart of flour already. It's terrifying."
Liang Shixian nodded slowly, his mind racing.
A thousand-year-old clan of the Tang Imperial bloodline, how could they not have such power? I must have used up a lifetime of luck to stumble upon their help. If not for them, I'd be walking straight into a political execution at the hands of the eunuchs.
Only after forty full carts of flour had departed did San Shier finally emerge from the fortress.
He offered a respectful cup-fist salute to Liang Shixian, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Excellency, the forty carts of flour promised by the Li family have been delivered in full. From here on out, the survival of the people rests on your administration's methods."
Liang Shixian straightened his back, his expression turning solemn.
"I shall watch over this grain myself. If anyone is caught siphoning even a handful, I will have them executed on the spot without mercy."
San Shier smiled.
"The eyes of thousands in Chengcheng will be watching you, Lord Liang. If you prove to be an upright official, you will earn their undying love. But if you... heh..."
"If I take so much as a single bite of this disaster relief grain for my own gain," Liang Shixian declared proudly, "may the heavens strike me down with lightning and leave me to rot!"
"Then I leave it in your capable hands," San Shier replied.
Liang Shixian gave his horse a sharp tug, turning to follow the caravan back into the dusty wilderness.
---
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Li Dao Xuan was deep in a rabbit hole of agricultural research.
With the autumn wheat sowing season rapidly approaching in Gao Village, this "city kid" who couldn't tell a weed from a sprout was suddenly obsessed with the mechanics of farming.
He had adjusted the perspective of the Great Box to hover directly over the wheat fields. A battery of high-definition cameras was trained through the glass, capturing every detail of the parched land.
He tapped away at his laptop, searching for "Essential Tips for Autumn Wheat Sowing," reading aloud to himself.
"Oh, okay... step one: deep plowing. Got it."
He glanced into the box.
Down below, Gao Chuwu was helping his parents plow their field. The kid was a literal beast. With his raw strength, he was flipping the earth over like he was using a construction excavator.
"Okay, so deep plowing is a basic skill these farmers know a hundred times better than I do. No need for me to play the expert there," Li Dao Xuan muttered, slapping his own forehead with a chuckle. "That would just be 'teaching a fish how to swim.'"
Wait, I'm starting to sound like San Shier. This is a problem.
He went back to the digital research.
He skipped the traditional techniques, since the villagers had that covered, and scrolled down to the section on chemical fertilizers.
"Soil pH needs to be around 6.5? How the hell am I supposed to measure that?"
A quick search later, he discovered that gardening shops sold specialized soil testing probes.
Furthermore, to adjust the pH, one needed a cocktail of potassium sulfate, monopotassium phosphate, sheep manure, bio-fertilizers, and a dozen other variables.
The complexity made his head spin.
"Crap. When the villagers made their wishes, saying they wanted a better harvest this year, I thought I'd just toss some fertilizer in and call it a day. Now it looks like if I use the wrong stuff, I might kill the whole crop. I can't back out now. If a man gives his word, he has to keep it."
His "True Alpha" heart began to burn with determination.
I will not be a liar today.
He read more articles.
He watched YouTube tutorials.
He even called his relatives back in his rural hometown to ask for advice.
After a long ordeal, he realized that his rural relatives provided the most reliable info. Only the laboring people on the front lines truly understood the war against the soil. Their experience was gold.
Armed with a "Soil pH Tester" he'd picked up from a garden center, Li Dao Xuan reached into the box and plunged the probe into the earth...
---
At that moment, Gao Chuwu and his family were sweating over their plow.
Suddenly, a massive, gleaming silver pillar descended from the clouds with a thunderous BOOM, stabbing directly into the center of their field.
The family froze in absolute shock.
"Eh?"
Fortunately, they were residents of Gao Village. They had grown accustomed to the heavens dropping weird, inexplicable artifacts on their heads. Otherwise, that little event probably would have cost them several years of their life expectancy.
Gao Chuwu squinted up at the sky.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun, what kind of game is this? Is that giant silver staff something you borrowed from the Monkey King?"
His parents immediately lunged at him, covering his mouth.
"You idiot! How dare you speak to the Old Man like that? Where are your manners?"
Li Dao Xuan didn't bother explaining. Gao Yiye wasn't nearby, so they wouldn't hear him anyway.
He focused on the LCD screen at the top of the probe.
It read: pH 7.5.
He immediately texted the value to his rural relative, along with a detailed description of the soil texture, the surrounding environment, and the water source.
The relative sent back a wall of text, a specialized solution, a list of fertilizers, and the exact dosage.
Li Dao Xuan calculated the square footage of Gao Chuwu's tiny plot and scaled down the dosage.
He then summoned Gao Yiye to act as his translator.
"I have provided some specialized fertilizer here. Tell Gao Chuwu's family to weigh out exactly two jin of this powder, no more, no less. Dissolve it in water and spray it evenly across the land. If they do this, the autumn wheat will be a record-breaking harvest."
Gao Yiye beamed with joy and sprinted toward the field.
"Chuwu! Chuwu! The Old Man has granted your family 'Immortal Fertilizer'! He says it's to guarantee a bountiful harvest!"
Gao Chuwu's father fell to his knees, tears in his eyes.
"Thank you, Dao Xuan Tianzun! Thank you!"
To a middle-aged farmer, the promise of a full silo was worth more than a mountain of gold.
One family down, the rest of the village to go.
Li Dao Xuan yanked the probe out of the ground.
The Gao Chuwu family watched in awe as the "Ruyi Jingu Bang" flew back into the sky and slammed into a neighbor's field with another heavy thud.
A few minutes later, Gao Yiye arrived at the next family's plot.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun commands! Take three jin of this Immortal Fertilizer, dissolve it in water, and water your fields evenly. Do you understand?"
The family was overjoyed, bowing repeatedly to the sky.
One by one, every field in Gao Village underwent a systematic chemical transformation.
---
Meanwhile, the refugees who had recently arrived from Zhengjia Village, Wang Village, Zhong Village, and other surrounding areas watched with wide, envious eyes.
They followed the miraculous silver pillar as it flew back and forth across the valley.
"The people of Gao Village are so lucky," one of them whispered. "They have land to sow, while our villages... it still hasn't rained. Not a drop. Sigh."
Hearing their hushed conversation, Li Dao Xuan's hand faltered.
He let out a soft sigh of his own.
It's a shame the "Box's" camera hasn't expanded to your villages yet... I can't help what I can't see.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, he noticed the "Salvation Index" on the outside of the box start to twitch.
The numbers began to climb rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, it had jumped by 5 points.
Li Dao Xuan smiled.
Liang Shixian has started the porridge stations. The rescue has begun.