In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 719 Prosperity

"Those two should be martial artists from the Chen family army."

Yang Zheng guessed that Fang Yong and Guo Tai had such obvious military bearing that as a commander, Yang Zheng could see through their bearing at a glance and judged their identity as soldiers of the Chen Family Army based on this.

"Even the gatekeepers are martial artists. This Chen Family Village is really impressive."

Yang Erlang said with no small amount of envy that even in the Yang family army, which had 20 men, the number of martial artists was very small. It was impossible for them to be like Chenjia Village, where even the gatekeepers were martial artists.

Yang Zheng nodded as he led the horse forward, and soon they crossed the village entrance and stood on Chencun Avenue.

The scene before my eyes changed instantly: a hard, flat, and clean road surface under my feet, a dazzling array of shops lining the street, and all sorts of pedestrians constantly passing by...

All of this intertwined to create a bustling scene, giving Yang Zheng the feeling of having entered a new world.

"It's so lively!"

Is this really a village?

"Even the most prosperous town in our Liangzhou can't compare to this place, can it?"

"..."

The men accompanying him also stared wide-eyed, their faces filled with disbelief.

Everything I saw on Chencun Avenue completely overturned my concept of a village!

In their old impression, villages were supposed to be symbols of poverty and isolation, but the village in front of them was completely different from what they had imagined.

Shops lined both sides of the street, vendors gathered, and they were all shouting their wares. Many pedestrians walked by, some in a hurry, others with their families.

Whether it's the exquisite shops, the clean and tidy roads, or the large number of pedestrians passing by, it doesn't look like anything a village should have!

It is no exaggeration to say that even the county seat of Yongliang County cannot compare to Chenjia Village in terms of prosperity.

Is this Chenjia Village?

Yang Erlang's mouth was agape. Although he already knew that Chenjia Village was wealthy, he was still shocked when he actually entered the village and saw the prosperity of Chenjia Village Avenue.

"This Chenjia Village is truly unique."

Having been mentally prepared, Yang Zheng reacted better than the others. He carefully observed the expressions of the pedestrians on the street and couldn't help but sigh, "The people of Chenjia Village are indeed living much better lives than the people of Liangzhou."

You can roughly tell whether the people in a place are doing well or not just by looking at their physique and complexion.

Because of the barren land and the oppression of landlords and officials, people in Liangzhou generally did not have enough to eat, and the vast majority of people looked pale and emaciated.

In contrast, the villagers of Chenjia Village, while not all of them had rosy complexions, at least had relatively healthy appearances and were not as thin as the people of Liangzhou.

This shows that the villagers of Chenjia Village are at least able to have enough to eat.

That alone is enough to make Yang Zheng envious.

While the people of Liangzhou were struggling to feed themselves, the villagers of Chenjia Village were able to eat their fill, and even...

Yang Zheng looked at the roadside stalls not far away. These stalls were selling snacks, and the aroma could be smelled from a distance.

There are similar food stalls in Liangzhou Prefecture, but the business there... well, it's hard to say.

Even in the most prosperous prefecture of Liangzhou, the people were generally very poor. They had a great difficulty in getting food, so how could they afford to spend money to buy snacks that could not fill their stomachs?

On the contrary, the food stalls in Chenjia Village were doing very well. In just a short while, Yang Zheng saw at least three groups of customers buy snacks from the stalls, and many children were queuing up around the stalls to buy them.

Even children have money to spend freely to buy snacks, which shows how wealthy Chenjia Village is.

"Damn it, how come the kids from Chenjia Village are so strong!"

Yang Erlang, following Yang Zheng's gaze, was surprised to see the children.

The children in Chenjia Village were so different from the children he had seen in Liangzhou.

Children in Liangzhou are generally sallow-faced, thin, and have sunken eyes due to chronic hunger. They look extremely weak.

The children before them were all rosy-cheeked and strong as calves, dressed in thick clothes, and seemed to belong to a completely different species from the children of Liangzhou.

"I wish my baby could grow up to look like this."

One of the slightly older men accompanying them couldn't help but sigh.

He was a martial artist and held a high position in the Yang family army, so his children were not so poor that they couldn't even get enough to eat.

However, he only became a martial artist in the last few months. Before that, he was just a farmer who worked hard like an ox, and his family's living conditions were naturally not good.

The adults were not getting enough to eat, and the children were also starving. This directly resulted in the children in his family being malnourished from a young age and growing very thin.

Although living standards have improved a lot recently and children can eat their fill, the deficiencies in our bodies from before cannot be made up for in a short time.

Yang Zheng patted the man on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, now that Liangzhou is free of those corrupt officials who exploit the people, sooner or later, the children of Liangzhou will be able to eat their fill and be as lively and strong as the children of Chenjia Village."

"Ok!"

The man nodded emphatically, completely believing Yang Zheng's words, because the lives of the people of Liangzhou were indeed gradually improving.

He believed that as long as Yang Shuai was still alive, the lives of the people of Liangzhou would definitely get better and better.

"Yang Shuai".

Yang Erlang suddenly asked, "What should we do next? Go find Chen Dao?"

Just as Yang Zheng was about to answer, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye, paused for a moment, and then shouted, "Old Li!"

Yang Zheng's voice was quite loud, and his shout instantly attracted the attention of everyone nearby. At the same time, the figure turned around and looked at Yang Zheng and his group.

Yang Zheng also saw the man's appearance and confirmed his identity: it was Li Mingyuan, the former prime minister of Xia Kingdom, whom Yang Zheng had met once in Liangzhou!

Yang Zheng immediately took the reins and strode towards Li Mingyuan, saying, "Old Li, what are you doing here?"

As the former prime minister of the Xia Kingdom, Li Mingyuan should, strictly speaking, be an enemy of a major traitor like Yang Zheng.

However, since being dismissed from office, Li Mingyuan has been completely disillusioned with the court. He doesn't hate Yang Zheng, a rebel, but rather admires him greatly.

Therefore, when Li Mingyuan traveled to Liangzhou, he personally visited Yang Zheng and had an in-depth exchange with him.

Yang Zheng, who knew about Li Mingyuan's deeds, had great respect for Li Mingyuan and even invited him to serve as the prefect of Liangzhou.

However, Li Mingyuan may have been disgusted by the infighting in officialdom, or perhaps he was too old to govern a region, so he politely declined Yang Zheng's invitation.