Chapter 4: Please Watch Out for Reversing

Snow had stopped, but the wind had not.

Lead-gray clouds roiled across the sky.

Near dusk, the parched earth was bleak and desolate.

Women with disheveled hair and dirty faces, leading horses and carrying satchels and bundles, moved their legs under instinct's drive.

After walking most of the day, they had covered only a dozen li or so.

"Please watch out for reversing~"

"Please watch out for reversing~"

In this ravaged world, a crisp electronic female voice came through.

Lin Dao drove the tricycle, reversing to a stop on a flat patch of ground.

Jin Lian, clad in hemp cloth, jumped down, her legs went soft, and she knelt on the ground.

Ever since boarding this self-moving Immortal Family Mechanism Beast, she had remained in a state of nervous tension.

Holding it in all the way until now, she was limp-legged and could no longer hold her urine.

"Make arrangements."

Lin Dao instructed, "Set up the pot and start a fire; cook the horse meat we brought."

Most of Sanhe Village's people had already died under Hu Cavalry blades.

The remaining young women, terrified of Hu Cavalry's cruel reprisal, simply buried their kin's bodies, took a few belongings, and followed Lin Dao.

In their eyes, Lin Dao could control flames and tame mechanical beasts; without question, he was an unmatched strong person.

In this chaotic era, only the strong could provide protection.

Recovering, Jin Lian shouted orders with great energy, full of sycophantic vigor.

The large pot was set up; snow covered everywhere, so they took some clean snow and put it in the pot.

Then they threw in the cut horse meat to cook and sprinkled some salt.

Jin Lian was very sensible, or rather, in this chaotic era, children of poor families grew up sensible early.

From the large pot of boiling soup, she ladled a large piece of horse meat into a ceramic bowl.

Holding it with both hands, she carefully handed it to Lin Dao.

"Lord Husband, please eat~~~"

Seeing the horse meat in the bowl was clearly undercooked, with blood streaks still on the flesh, Lin Dao simply shook his head.

"I'm not hungry; give it to you."

Jin Lian immediately smiled, "Thank you, Lord Husband."

Watching the girl grab the meat and tear at it, her appearance somewhat fierce, Lin Dao bared his teeth.

He had never starved, so naturally he wouldn't understand how wonderful it was to eat a full meal of meat in this war-torn era.

The women ate their fill, each wrapped in quilts stuffed with dry grass and hemp, huddling around the fire like penguins.

"Keep a good watch; I'm going to handle some business and will be back tomorrow morning."

Lin Dao instructed Jin Lian, "No one is to touch anything on the vehicle."

"Lord Husband, rest assured."

Jin Lian immediately patted her small chest, "The grain stays with the person!"

Lin Dao had not yet planned to quit his job.

He wanted to return as a victor and trample that damn domineering CEO underfoot.

The warehouse work still had to be done.

Vehicles entering and exiting to transport goods all needed counting and recording.

After finishing work, Lin Dao ate something at Snack Street, returned to the dormitory, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Not to mention anything else, at least the dormitory had air conditioning.

If he went to Yonghe Spacetime, would he have to sleep in the wild amid howling winds?

Lin Dao wasn't so masochistic as to suffer needlessly.

He woke up the next day and finished washing up.

First he checked the duty roster, confirming no goods were moving in or out today.

Then he called Su Tongtong to ask about the company registration progress.

After finishing these, Lin Dao, having eaten breakfast, simply set out.

Yonghe Spacetime.

In the sky, cold wind carried salty snow, striking his face with pain.

"Hiss~ It's snowing again."

As soon as Lin Dao arrived, he was greeted enthusiastically by the bone-piercing cold wind.

Clearly, the temperature in this world was much lower than in the Modern World.

Not far away, over twenty young women, wrapped in quilts, gathered around a fire with flickering flames.

They looked like penguins huddling for warmth down in Antarctica.

A rustling sound came from beside him.

Turning to look, there was also a tattered quilt on the tricycle.

The quilt was opened, revealing Jin Lian's small face, frozen white.

Half-asleep, Jin Lian saw Lin Dao and hurriedly got up to salute.

"Lord Husband."

Seeing the ring-pommel blade in Jin Lian's arms, Lin Dao instructed, "The fire is almost out; arrange someone to tend it. After breakfast, we depart."

The women's breakfast was still horse meat.

Previously, Lin Dao had hammered several to death in Sanhe Village; there was plenty of meat.

After eating breakfast, they continued setting out on the road to find the Qihuo Army. Lin Dao, who was driving, took out White Rabbit Milk Candy and handed it to Jin Lian beside him.

"Supplement some sugar."

Jin Lian's eyes shone. "Sweet, really delicious~~~"

In this era, sweet food, this kind of high-grade foodstuff, is truly a luxury good.

In ordinary commoner households, the only sweet food they could probably eat was maltose.

At midday, the wind stopped and the snow ceased.

Long-missed sunlight pierced through the cloud layer, scattering golden light onto the earth.

They had walked less than ten li all morning, and the women were obviously exhausted.

Lin Dao, who was just planning to find a place to eat lunch, stopped the carriage and gripped the Ram's Horn Hammer, his gaze looking into the distance.

Several hundred steps away, a unit of cavalry was slowly approaching.

Fur coats, fur hats, even the horses' legs were wrapped in hemp cloth; they looked very similar to the Hu Cavalry from before.

Jin Lian to the side, however, cheerfully shouted, "Master, they're Qihuo Army people."

Lin Dao was greatly surprised; how did she tell?

At least he couldn't distinguish them; what difference was there between the Qihuo Army and Hu Cavalry at long distance?

The subsequent events were uneventful.

The Qihuo Army's patrolling scouts came forward to communicate with Lin Dao.

Learning that Lin Dao had brought grain wanting to trade, they were very happy.

For the Qihuo Army, the thing they lacked most was grain.

They urgently needed grain suppliers; without large batches of grain resupply, the old camp would have people starving to death.

The scouts wanted to take them to the camp right then, but Lin Dao refused.

He instructed Jin Lian to handle matters.

Under Jin Lian's direction, the women quickly set up fires, erected iron pots, and found relatively clean snow to pour into the pots.

The scouts watched this scene before them in astonishment.

"Who eats a meal at high noon~~~"

Under Jin Lian's loud calls, the women queued orderly to receive boiled meat and eat.

Among the scouts, a Squad Chief who gave his name as Qin Lang couldn't help but step forward and salute: "May I ask, honored sir, what family background do you come from?"

One sentence rendered Lin Dao silent.

This was the first time in his life someone had asked him his family background, and he was quite at a loss.

Seeing Lin Dao not respond, Qin Lang's gaze gradually changed. "Small surname?"

Lin Dao frowned and replied in a clear voice, "Descendants of Yan and Huang!"

Qin Lang hesitated; he didn't know how to continue from that.

"What matter?"

"Grain is so precious." Qin Lang kindly advised, "How can honored sir waste it on women's mouths and bellies?"

His bearing and demeanor, the moment he opened his mouth, was that of an old scholar-gentry.

It's just that his words were unpleasant to hear.

"Do you have gold?"

Lin Dao casually replied, "With enough gold, I have as much grain here as you want."

Those cavalry soldiers behind Qin Lang all showed expressions of disdain.

Big talkers, martial artists disdain.

"As much grain as you want" — where would so much grain come from in these times? Really knows how to boast.

Scanning a circle with his gaze, Lin Dao spoke to invite everyone, "Want a bowl?"

"Sure thing!"

After eating and drinking their fill, Qin Lang and the others repeatedly thanked him.

In these times, eating one full meal — and a full meal with oil and meat at that — is truly not easy.

As scholar-gentry, having eaten someone's food, etiquette certainly cannot be lacking.

After packing up, they continued departing toward the Qihuo Army camp.

Along this road, Lin Dao saw several Qihuo Army patrol cavalry units, and also many clear outposts and hidden sentries.

"In novels it's always sneak attacking enemy camps, night raiding enemy camps until the enemy collapses and the camp cries out in panic — how could it be that easy!"

Several thousand years of warfare experience.

Armies that crawled out of piles of dead men — all kinds of defenses have long been done to perfection.

Sneak attacks, precisely because successes are so extremely few, are what get recorded in history books.

In the afternoon, dark clouds once again covered the sky, and snowflakes fell once more.

Walked all afternoon, finally arrived at the Qihuo Army's old camp.

This is a connected camp; large and small encampments number no fewer than several dozen.

Rather than saying it's a military camp, it's more like a series of weichang of varying sizes.

The Qihuo Army originated from the vagrant group composed of the original Bingzhou officials, scholar-officials, soldiers, and farmers led by Yan King Sima Teng.

They fled seeking food, gathered in Jizhou, and gradually formed the Qihuo Army.

The Northern Lands have constant warfare; the Hu people rage and have slaughtered countless.

Refugees with nowhere to turn from all over gradually gathered, forming Qihuo Armies of various sizes.

They banded together to resist the Hu barbarians' slaughter, fighting for a sliver of survival for themselves and their families.

The Martial Mourning Heavenly King Ran Min originated from the Qihuo Army.

Here in Guangzong County is the largest contingent among the Qihuo Armies from all over.

"May I ask your honorable self, from what family background do you hail?"

Outside the camp, the middle-aged man who came to greet them, his very first sentence was to ask about family background.

Lin Dao himself didn't think much of it, but in others' eyes.

He was tall in stature, his gaze spirited.

His complexion was ruddy, obviously well-nourished; his every movement exuded confidence.

This definitely isn't a commoner mud-leg~~~

Since he's not a mud-leg, the first sentence upon meeting, naturally wouldn't be asking "Do you have scallion oil pancakes?"

As one of the Grand Commanders of the Guangzong Shangbai Qihuo Army, Feng Dun's mood has been very poor recently.

The old camp lacks grain; at most it can hold out for two more months, after which grain will run out.

In this season of old stores exhausted and new not yet in, several tens of thousands of households — where can they go?

His pressure is truly immense; the moment he opens his eyes it's several tens of thousands of households, mouths agape, demanding grain from him.

No grain to eat, and they'll swallow this Grand Commander whole!

At this time, learning that someone had come to sell grain.

Feng Dun's first reaction wasn't to rob him, but that he must spare no effort to maintain this route, hoping to be able to buy even more grain.

"Lin Dao, Cold Family origin."

Lin Dao stated, "Does doing business also emphasize family background?"

If it were on the Eastern Jin side in Jiangnan, Lin Dao might well have been driven away by now.

That bunch of aristocratic clan literati who've eaten too much Five Stone Powder, in their eyes only family background remains.

However, here in the grain-starved Qihuo Army, Feng Dun immediately invited Lin Dao into the camp to rest.

"No need for pleasantries, let's talk business first."

Lin Dao lifted down a sack of grain from the tricycle.

He slit open the bag mouth, revealing the white rice inside.

"It's Refined Rice!"

All the surrounding people were greatly surprised.

Before the Warring States, wheat wasn't even hulled; what they ate was wheat rice.

In this Yonghe Spacetime, even ordinary soldiers daily only have Qiu Mi Fan mixed with chaff and sand.

Eat vegetables? Meat?

Stop dreaming; being able to have a bit of pickled vegetables is already very not bad.

Rice of this quality, under normal circumstances, only the most elite Armored Cavalry are qualified to eat.

He grabbed a handful of rice, letting it slowly slip through his fingers.

Everyone's gazes followed the snow-white rice as it slipped and fell.

Lin Dao straightforwardly spoke plainly.

"Genuine materials, fair to young and old alike."

"One dou of rice for one hundred cash, settled in gold."

(End of Chapter)