Chapter 261

"For so many years, Hong Lang hasn't said it, but I know he misses the days when he commanded thousands of troops and horses. Finally, he is about to roam the sea like a dragon again." Ah Jin exhaled, "I have already dragged him down for too long; I cannot do it again and again. If you don't give it to me, I will come to you every day."

Wu Qing hesitated for a long time, finally helpless: "Alright, alright, I'll get it, don't let it slip."

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When the grain transport team arrived at Xinhuang, the setting sun had already descended to the mountain peaks, and in the blink of an eye, it was about to sink.

The timing was just right.

Xinhuang was just a small town of about a thousand people. Several hundred grain transport carts drove in majestically, occupying all the open space in the west of the town. Including the laborers and the guard team, the number of people was more than the townspeople.

The convoy had been traveling all day, and both people and horses were tired. Once they stopped, they needed to eat, drink, and rest, making the whole town chaotic.

The reception capacity of small places was limited, so the news of the grain transport team's arrival actually had to be sent more than ten hours in advance, so that the townspeople could prepare early. Only then could the horse troughs be filled with clean water, the feed grass for the cattle and horses could be screened for dust in advance, and the personnel could have hot food to eat.

When tired and hungry, nothing could settle people's hearts better than a hot meal. Although the laborers only received coarse grain buns, at least they were steamed piping hot and could be dipped in a little bean paste.

The soldiers could get more steamed beans, and some even got pickled cabbage to eat with the buns.

He Chunhua and his son, dressed in plain clothes, dismounted and handed their mounts to the personal guards to take care of. He Lingchuan only wore ordinary armor.

Although Xinhuang had received grain transport teams many times, its capacity was limited after all. He Chunhua inspected the soldiers eating and often saw scenes of chaos and inadequate supply.

The only thing that comforted him was that the military doctors executed orders relatively well; the food and water for people and livestock were all tested for poison, and there was nothing unusual.

In fact, the army had Yuan power to rely on, which greatly increased their resistance to common poisons; those who were easily unlucky were nothing more than laborers and livestock. He Chunhua was meticulous, fearing that the enemy was secretly plotting something, and tirelessly demanded poison testing; otherwise, if the opponent put some croton powder in the food and water, wouldn't the people and livestock be running to the latrine all the way?

After walking around the camp twice, He Lingchuan held his stomach and called out: "Dad, it's our turn to eat." People were iron and rice was steel; if he didn't eat, he would be starving.

On the contrary, the Medicine Ape ate buns without any burden, and the Rock Wolf also had its own ration, so no one would be shortchanged. He Lingchuan only learned on the road that it could also eat apples and miscellaneous grains! He Chunhua pointed to the buns and said: "Want two?"

"I've been eating this stuff all the way, haven't I had enough yet?" He Lingchuan rolled his eyes, "Dad, aren't you going to observe the civil situation? You can't observe anything by huddling in the army; you have to go into the town and look while eating."

He Chunhua smiled helplessly: "Alright then."

Just at this moment, the County Magistrate came to invite the officers of the grain transport team, saying that he had booked a banquet at a restaurant in the town to welcome the officers.

Xinhuang belonged to Bai Yun County. The county government was not originally here, but the arrival of the grain transport team was a top priority, so the County Magistrate still rushed over.

He Chunhua was traveling light on this trip north, wanting to observe the civil situation, and did not make it public, so the nominal highest officer of the grain transport team was Mo Zhejingxuan, his former advisor and now the Assistant Governor of Xiazhou.

The County Magistrate invited him, and Mo Zhejingxuan went happily. There was nothing good to eat in such a small place, but the meat dishes for entertaining distinguished guests should be enough. He could eat and drink in the restaurant, while He Chunhua had to solve his own dinner problem.

The father and son quietly left the camp, without bringing the two monsters, followed by Mao Tao, Shan Youjun, and Jiao Tai.

This town was very small, with no more than two hundred houses, sheds, and shops combined. The main street was only a mere hundred meters long, and it could be finished in a few steps, and it was very dusty, with all the houses looking gray.

There was only one restaurant in the town, which had been used by the County Magistrate to entertain Mo Zhejingxuan, so the father and son didn't want to join in.

The group walked around and found that there were few shops and few pedestrians, but people were queuing up as soon as they reached the well. He Lingchuan saw his father's face was stern and asked him: "What's wrong?"

"It's pitch black, and few households have lights on." Lamp oil and candles had to be bought with money; how could the poor be willing to spend it? However, the people of Dunyu at least turned off the lights after dinner; the common people here probably had to eat early and go to sleep when it got dark.

"The people here are too poor."

He Chunhua sighed, his face showing worry: "The further north we go, the worse it gets."

Coming out on this trip, he realized that the prosperity of Dunyu was more than dozens of times that of other places! The further north he went, the poorer the people, the fewer the households, the more desolate the fields, the more chaotic the administration, and the more withered the people's livelihood.

He had seen poor people in the market marking their children for sale, boasting to everyone that their children ate little and worked much, begging the other party to buy them back. The whole family was skin and bones, and the children were expressionless when they were sold.

He had even heard from the common people about the army's "killing innocent people to claim credit." All kinds of chaos and signs of defeat were simply shocking.

Poverty leads to chaos.

Undoubtedly, if he wanted to govern Xiazhou well, he still had a long way to go.

"Dad, why don't you worry about the country and the people after you're full." He Lingchuan pointed forward, "How about this place?"

A restaurant ahead emitted light, and the fragrance of rice also drifted out.

Three horses were also tied outside.

Only then did He Chunhua feel his stomach rumbling: "Let's go in."

Lifting the wind-blocking curtain and entering, everyone saw that this restaurant was simple, with broken tables and chairs, but fortunately, the place was quite large, and could accommodate seven or eight square tables, and now there was a table of guests eating.

The five people sat down, and Mao Tao shouted: "Shopkeeper, get us something to eat!"

The shopkeeper had a bitter face: "Only sour powder and miscellaneous flour buns."

He Lingchuan had long seen people at the tables in front and back slurping powder, and he swallowed his saliva: "Bring it all, bring it all! If you have ingredients, add them!"

That was almost ready-made, and in about half a stick of incense, five large bowls were placed in front of everyone.

This bowl of sour powder consisted of nothing more than three things: coarse powder, pickled cabbage, and roasted peanuts.

Local green beans were produced, so this was bean powder. The cabbage pickled for half the winter was sour enough, and it was just right to mix with the powder, so there was no need for such rare things as vinegar.

As for the peanuts, they were simply roasted over the fire; don't even think about such luxury as deep-frying. The whole bowl of sour powder couldn't see a trace of meat, not even a drop of oil.

Everyone was starving, and after slurping with chopsticks, it felt quite refreshing.

Mao Tao looked at the other tables and followed suit, asking for a few cloves of garlic. Everyone slurped powder and gnawed on garlic, which was sour, spicy, and pungent.

Satisfying! This place also provided soup with noodles, which was noodles boiled in plain water, also added with two stalks of sour cabbage, a few beans, and then a dish of bean paste to dip the miscellaneous flour buns.

Because there was no meat, He Lingchuan felt empty after eating a large bowl of sour powder, and asked for two more bowls of noodle soup and four large buns.

Although the price was cheap, it was not something the locals could afford.

He Chunhua asked the shopkeeper while eating: "Can you usually have business?"

The shopkeeper waved his hand: "Can't make money, can't make money!"

Mao Tao interjected: "This is the only way to go north and south. I see that there are still some merchant caravans coming and going, which is better than those villages in the interior." That was truly penniless and could only eat dirt.

The shopkeeper looked disgusted: "The taxes and rents are so high; the money is all earned by others, earned by the officials!"

He Chunhua asked: "How much tax and rent do you have to pay?" Taxes and rents were unavoidable when opening a shop.

"If I earn ten copper coins, I have to pay eight. You tell me what money I can earn?" The shopkeeper stirred the soup while mocking himself, "It's just barely enough to make ends meet, so I don't have to sell my daughter."

The guest eating powder at the side suddenly interjected: "Don't listen to his complaints; others can't even open this shop. Today, a large group of people came, and all the water carts in the town were used there, making us have no water to use. Look, there is a queue at every well. As for him, he has a well in the back, but others don't come to compete."

Since selling powder could at least earn him money for food, why didn't others sell it? He Lingchuan wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

There were three guests at that table, all dressed as merchants. He Chunhua asked them: "What business are you doing?"

"Cloth, lamp oil, and the like, and then bring some local products to sell on the way back."

All were essential goods. "How is business?"

The three sighed: "Not good, not good, less than forty percent of previous years, won't come next year."

They looked at He Chunhua and the others, and asked: "Are you also official soldiers?"

He Chunhua denied it: "We want to go north, and follow behind the official soldiers for safety."

"What's in the north?"

He Chunhua said casually: "Want to go and collect some sugar."

The shopkeeper heard this and interjected: "Going is also in vain, can't collect good ones."

"How so?"

"About thirty or forty years ago, this Xinhuangzhen produced brown sugar, which was famous throughout Xiazhou. The sugar beets planted around the town were boundless. The old people in the town said that the brown sugar of that year was not worried about selling; once it was made, the surrounding villages would grab it, and it could be sold all the way to Dunyu."

He Chunhua said "Oh": "We walked all the way and didn't see any sugar beet fields."

"That's long gone. Now most of Xiazhou uses sugar from the northern demon country, yellow sugar. It is said that this is one of the conditions set by our Great Yuan and the northern demon country; we must buy hundreds of thousands of catties of sugar from there every year, sigh!"

He Lingchuan said: "I've eaten it; it tastes good and lasts long."

Young Master He had never tasted any brown sugar. Whether in Shi Huan or Dunyu, the snacks he ate were all made of yellow sugar; in Heishuicheng, he ate local soil sugar.

"Yes, yellow sugar is not expensive. Since then, the brown sugar of Xinhuangzhen couldn't be sold, and slowly no one made sugar, and everyone changed to planting grain, but this land doesn't produce good grain."

The merchant at the side interjected: "You don't know how powerful the northern demon country is; the sugar they produce every year can be tens of millions of catties!"

The shopkeeper was angry: "Hateful!"

Just at this moment, Shan Youjun patted He Lingchuan heavily, his voice not loud or small: "Hey, full, full, I want to find a place to shit, are you going?"

He usually didn't show such disrespect to his elders, He Lingchuan blinked: "Let's go."

(End of chapter)