The grain truck arrived in Guanyi at dusk and unloaded two trucks in the granary in the backyard of the city lord in the middle of the city. The three trucks returned to Guancheng together and unloaded the last truck in the granary in Zheng Anping's mansion. ——The first batch of grain entered the granary of the inn.
Both passengers were taken to the carriage house for feeding. The others had already eaten. Only Zheng Anping and his party were delayed in the journey and had not yet eaten. The millet is ready-made and needs to be pounded, but this job is taken away by Sister Ba - she can't wait to unload the millet directly at her door, pound it and then put it into the warehouse, because millet bran is a good ingredient for feeding animals, Sister Ba is a little bit better. Not willing to waste it either.
Zheng Anping moved a big cauldron, and the work of raising the fire and cooking porridge was naturally completed by the slave, and Gai Nie helped her. For this group of people's continuous hard work, Zheng Anping spent a stone of millet. Brother Quan and Xiaosi also came, and even Brother Su's wife brought her children. Everyone wanted to know about Daliang's situation as soon as possible.
Zheng Anping introduced the situation in Liangxi to everyone: there were no soldiers there, it was still a peaceful scene, the harvest was okay, and everyone lived a normal life. Wu Wang introduced his family's situation to everyone. Although he was not well-off, he was still able to handle it. What he didn't say was that because Zheng Anping's allotment was farmed on his behalf, his family received half of the harvest from the allotment, and the family situation was actually much better than usual.
Su's wife said with some worry: "I heard that many of the army came to Liangdong. I don't know what's going on at home."
Zheng Anping comforted him and said: "Brother Su has gone home, and he will be able to settle down well." Then he talked about the scene when he met Lord Xinling, and then said: "The army outside the city is exhausted, and no one has returned. It is difficult for the Lord to know what is going on in the war. Therefore, I inquired about the detailed situation of the war. What I have seen is limited, brothers can go in order, one to return home and settle down, the other to get salary, and the third to report what they saw."
Brother Dog said: "Brother Zheng said it is true. There are so many fields, and if there are no festival symbols, the tax will be tithe. There is no room for explanation."
Zheng Anping said: "So every time you go, you will have to go with me, and you will have no gaps. Don't worry about Brother Dog. It's because my brother cares about it, so I lost it. There are many kindnesses to Guanyi in Putian, but little resentment, and we neglect to repay the kindness. Do not complain."
Sister Ba said angrily: "How can I be so kind? We live in a farmland, lack of food and clothing, and everything is inconvenient..."
Cao Bao said: "Stay here. You are strong, so you feel you have less food. Like a small slave, you still have half full."
Zheng Anping said: "Putian allowed me to enter the city, and we were able to save our lives. This is a great favor for our lives, which we must not forget."
Brother Dog said: "Please remember that I am a good steward of the people, and I will not argue with you about taxation and food matters!"
Zheng Anping said: "This year, your Majesty will send Mr. Tian to help us persuade farmers. I will encourage the Prime Minister."
Cao Bao said: "You should do your best. Even if you have farmers, how can you win over the people?"
Zheng Anping said: "I think that although Guanyi is young and strong, there are not many women and children. One woman and one child are half a daughter, how can they be obtained?"
Cao Bao said: "Even if you can take it, how can you get it?"
Zheng Anping said: "The purpose of managing the people's food is not to provide relief, but to feed them. If you pay five qian for the food, you may be able to pay for it on a different day, or you may replace it with servitude, which will be counted as ten qian a day. If you are not strong enough, you will have trouble." If you use women and children to replace them, you can probably get them for five qian a day."
The next day, Brother Quan took a postman back to Daliang to buy grain.
Another day later, Brother Su sent his five sons to report that one son of the Su family had not returned from the army, and hundreds of households in the city were mourning. Please allow me to stay home for a few days to complete the funeral.
Groups of people went to Daliang. Cao Bao and Xiao Si all arrived in Daliang to collect their wages. Except for Cao Bao, who did not personally witness the war, everyone else was called by Lord Xinling and others to inquire in detail about the war. Although Cao Bao did not personally witness the war, he was called to learn more about Guan Min's experience in Futian. Lord Xinling and others seemed to be very satisfied with their performance, and each of them gave various rewards.
Each person took a turn, half a month had passed, and they had brought back about three hundred stones. Since we were buying grain in Donghongli, everyone stayed at Zheng Anping's home, so for the rest of the time, everyone no longer took turns, and only Zheng Anping and Wu Wang were allowed to run around. When the city lord saw that with Zheng Anping leading the team, the lack of food in Guanyi was no longer an urgent matter, he did not run away. He just asked his son to drive the food while he stayed in Guanyi. After a few more trips, Li Chang's car was busy and could no longer be borrowed, so there were only two rides left. However, Cao Bao immediately ran to Xingyang and asked for a carriage. The cattle have become stronger, and the amount of food they carry is gradually increasing. They can transport seventy-five shi in one trip. Although the time on the road is a bit longer, the food shortage is not as urgent as before.
Also half a month later, people who were doing business abroad in Guanyi came back one after another. They were all overjoyed to see that everything was fine at home. When asked about the reason, it was said that when the war broke out, Guan's people moved into the city to escape the disaster. After leaving the city, Guan ordered people to buy grain relief from Daliang in a hurry, so that there was no shortage of food. Everyone was moved and the credit for buying grain was repaid one by one. The city lord paid all to Zheng Anping, and Zheng Anping also paid the hire car at the regular price.
Guan Zhongming, the most promising person in Guanyi, made a special visit to Zheng Anping. Zheng Anping took him on a tour of Guancheng and asked him to guide the future construction direction. Guan Zhongming thanked him again and again and said, "There may be business opportunities that will come soon."
Brother Su and Wu'er both returned home. Their second son was sent out of the battle and has not returned yet. Brother Su knew that the headless body of his second brother might be found in the burial place outside the city. Originally, according to the etiquette, he should mourn at home, but because the second brother's bones were buried in the wilderness, and the family was really short of food, he did not dare to let Brother Su and his family go back, so he returned to Guancheng to guard the second brother's grave for the whole family. Brother Su didn't speak much to begin with, so he became even more taciturn after this blow.
As prices soared after the war, merchants from all over the world gathered, and food prices gradually stabilized. Originally, after Guancheng had surplus grain, people from four villages also came to Guancheng to buy grain. The city lord and Cao Bao took the opportunity to sell grain at high prices and began to make a lot of money. Now fewer and fewer people come to buy food.
People began to live in Nilv in Guanyi, and more people lived in carriage houses and inns. Before the thousands of stones of grain purchased from Daliang were shipped, the price of the city lord's grain dropped to three dollars per dou. Zheng Anping obviously lost money on this deal again! However, despite spending more money, Zheng Anping still gritted his teeth and insisted on buying Qianshi grain at the agreed price and transporting it all back to Guanyi. During this period, he had long talks with Zhang Lu many nights and listened to Zhang Lu's opinions.
The transportation of thousands of rocks of grain took more than a month to be completed. During this period, Guanyi carried out field hunting at the beginning of spring. Brother Su participated in the field hunt, but did not participate in the subsequent bonfire party.
The wife I told Brother Dog was supposed to marry at the end of last year, but it was interrupted because of the war. The woman came to urge her daughter to get married as soon as possible. After discussing with everyone, Brother Dog decided to marry a new person after harvesting.
During the spring equinox, Mr. Tian came to Guanyi on time with several followers to guide spring plowing. Cao Bao gathered people in Guanyi, and followed the instructions of Mr. Tian and others to make their own farm tools, clear wasteland, sow seeds, and fertilize. The main force in farming is still "city people" Zheng Anping and the city owner's family. Only five households in Guanyi are willing to farm, and this year only 500 acres of land have been planted compared to last year. Most of the residents have paid off their credit, but the few who haven't paid it off probably can't afford it, and there aren't many who have the ability to do hard work. Most of them are disabled, sick or a little crazy.
Under the guidance of Mr. Tian and others, the fields were successfully cultivated, with 800 acres in charge of the city and 900 acres of land in charge. This gave Zheng Anping some hope, and his ambitions that had been extinguished by the war became active again. He looked at the acres of farmland and prayed that there would be no more accidents this year.
All the Huayang defenders were beheaded, but the people in the four townships of Huayang had already left the city. Except for a few who were killed, large-scale killings of good people and defrauding meritorious deeds did not occur. All the car dealerships in Huayang had already received the news and had all evacuated, without suffering any losses in the war. After the war, business resumed. Because Huayang City was in ruins, South Korea could not take action to restore the governance of Huayang for a while. Huayang was in a state of anarchy, but business activities became active; correspondingly, thieves were also rampant.
Huayang's business opportunities also spread to the Guan area, and more and more businessmen appeared in the Guan area. Unlike Huayang, although there are less than ten armed men in Guancheng, there is still a government agency, and the thieves' activities have not spread here. Zheng Anping tried his best to make friends with businessmen, intending to let them do some business, such as planting mulberry trees, peaches and plums, and buying piglets and lambs. This is obviously different from the first year when everything relied on Zosan.
Since he asked for money once during the summer solstice last year, Zhan San has not shown up. There is no one in his family and he has gone somewhere. However, due to the military disaster, there was almost no killing of pigs and sheep in Sixiang. The disappearance of Shesan did not attract much attention except Zheng Anping and others.
The Mang Mansion also seemed to disappear without a trace. Dozens of men, women, old and young disappeared from the world overnight. Wei Guo did not see any action to pursue the matter, and it did not even arouse everyone's amazement. It seemed to be a matter of course. Everyone only cares about the fight for the legacy left by the Mang family. Mangmao's general position was given to Duan Ziqian, who was also from outside, and Mang Mansion was also given to Duan Ziqian to live in. The fiefdom of Mangmao, Chenliu, was re-stated and managed by Sinong. Mang Mao, who had been all-powerful for twenty years, disappeared as if he had never appeared, and nothing was missing without him. As for the outstanding figures of the generation, Mr. Cheyou, Mr. Hu Zhong, and Mr. Xiao Jian, no one even mentions them. Only Zheng Anping still talks about Mang Shen.
Hou Ying continued to serve as the Yi gate guard, and still carefully arranged his shift to be responsible for the defense and security of the city gate area. There are always many young people living in his yard, preparing to pass the martial arts examination and change the trajectory of their lives. There was a young man among them who did not have a formal name, so everyone called him Chen Si according to ranking.
As more and more people come to Guancheng to rent cars, car dealerships begin to run out of manpower. Huayang Four Lines successively mobilized some carriages and drivers, and the carriage dealers also contacted the surrounding areas for cattle, horses and carriages that could be rented.
When the cattle and sheep have grown up, the cattle are put in the carriage house and tamed in preparation for driving; the sheep are kept as they are not killed for the time being. Roosters begin to crow, hens begin to lay eggs, and dogs can hunt down small prey.
The trauma of the war gradually passed, and a new year began - as if everything had nothing to do with the war, as if the war in which more than 100,000 people died had never happened.
Brother Su was the only one who wore Qi Shuai outside his leather armor. He looked melancholy and unhappy. He often sat on the high platform holding his knees on moonlit nights.
