Fields of gold

Chapter 526- 530

Chapter 526 - Support

"Let me guess. You probably have some sort of treasure that can increase the yield of crops, improve the properties of medicines, make food taste better...and help inferior horses become superior ones, right?" Zhu Junyang cautiously stated his thoughts as if he was afraid this 'little snail' would become startled and retreat away.

Yu Xiaocao's eyes flickered with an evasive light and she no longer met Zhu Junyang's eyes as she nibbled on her bottom lip. She smiled unnaturally and said, "Your imagination is truly too out there ah? Is there truly such a treasure that is that powerful?"

[I can't sense any greed or desire to snatch things from you at all. This divine stone believes that he can be trusted. How about you be honest with him for once?] The little divine stone quietly gave her a reminder in order to avoid these two having a gap between them because of this in the future. Oftentimes, a split between two people started from doubting and concealing secrets from each other.

From the way she was acting, Zhu Junyang had already gotten the answer he had wanted. He was absolutely spot on with his guess. Whenever the little lass was feeling unconfident, she always had some tell-tale signs. For example, her eyes would always shift back and forth and avoid meeting his eyes directly, or she would start picking incessantly at her own nails, or she would lower her head and play with her hair. Currently, she was pretending to be fascinated by some clouds in the sky and was looking at them quite intently.

He rubbed her small head and smiled, "Alright ah, this prince won't force you to tell me! I believe that one day my sincerity will finally move you. I have plenty of patience to wait until you trust me heart and soul and are willing to open yourself to me."

The guilt within Yu Xiaocao's heart started to bubble and expand as if it was proofing dough being fermented with yeast. She lowered her head and used the toe of her foot to kick at a patch of grass as she quietly said, "I...it's not that I don't trust you, but it's hard to truly understand a person's heart. No one would willingly try to gamble and take a risk on the darkness of people's hearts. I don't want to lose the happiness I have right now and don't want to lose the you who protects and cherishes me with all your heart...please forgive me for being cowardly and cautious..."

Although Zhu Junyang felt a bit downcast at this, the little lass's desolate mood made him feel sorry again. Perhaps he shouldn't have chosen this time to force her but he really wanted to create a new cavalry unit that was armed with the new firearms. This cavalry required many good horses of high caliber. After inspecting the horses that were being raised by some noble families, he discovered that none of their horses met his requirements...

"Xiaocao, on this hunt, I was trying to find an expert at raising horses and was planning on spending a lot of money to help this prince train and raise horses——you're willing to help me, am I right?" Zhu Junyang tactfully expressed what he wanted. The little lass had a nimble mind and could definitely understand what he was hinting at within his words.

Raise and breed horses? Yu Xiaocao raised her head to look at him with a somewhat flabbergasted expression on her face. From the profound smile on his face, she was able to understand what he wanted. The twenty year old Zhu Junyang had already revealed his outstanding talent at leading and training troops. This was the reason why the emperor was willing to allow him to manage the usage of these new firearms.

For elite troops, relying on soldiers alone was not enough, especially when they had to fight against those tribes that fought on horseback. The cavalry currently lacked good steeds for their soldiers and it was a glaring weakness of theirs. For the Great Ming Empire, the vast majority of good horses had come from outsiders during trade.