Chapter 520: The Revelry Ends

Yu's wedding was held as scheduled. Because it was quite important, Baifeng gave everyone a day off, though of course, there were still some unlucky souls left behind to stand guard.

Yu had also met Lan in person, and the two chatted a bit to get familiar with each other. Yu expressed that he was very satisfied; after all, Lan was good-looking, had a high IQ, and was well-educated, which fit his requirements very well.

Lan's father naturally thought that giving his daughter to Yu was a great thing, especially since the Queen had personally come to discuss it; this could even be called an honor.

Baifeng established a standard for the bride price: how much grain, how much meat, and how much cloth. Of course, this was the maximum standard. In other words, Huaxia had a custom of collecting grain like goods when marrying off a daughter, and Baifeng turned this into a kind of ritual, establishing it in a relatively civilized form.

Moreover, the requirements Baifeng set were not high; he was mainly afraid that if things were allowed to develop so casually and barbarically, it would eventually become a very painful thing for men to take a wife, which would seriously affect the future development of a family.

The maximum standard for the bride price was fixed; you could go lower than this, but you could not go higher, and the bride's side also had to bring some grain, clothes, and such for the daughter.

Lan's family had nothing prepared, so Sui prepared a set of clothes and a quilt for Lan in her own name. Sui did not feel pained by the cost, mainly because the quilt would eventually be used by both Yu and Lan anyway.

The people from the Ministry of Rites, after being taught a comprehensive process by Baifeng, were already somewhat expectant. On the day of the formal wedding, under the direction of the Shaman, Yu rode in a wiped-clean ox cart, wearing new clothes, and headed to Lan's home to fetch the bride.

Lan was also in new clothes, without a bridal veil. Baifeng felt there was no need for it; it was too wasteful to use cloth to make something that could only be used once, and it was not cost-effective at all.

There was no blocking the door or asking for red envelopes. Yu also toasted his father-in-law and mother-in-law at Lan's home, serving them tea and changing his address to call them Dad and Mom. It was also at this time that everyone learned there were such titles as mother-in-law and father-in-law.

After picking up the bride, the bride's family followed along, and Yu took Lan onto the ox cart and hurried back to his own home.

The subsequent process was much the same as before, but this time, Baifeng personally wrote a paper tablet for "Heaven Earth Sovereign Kin Teacher" and placed it on the table for everyone to kneel and worship. He also clearly told everyone not to write "Baifeng's Whole Family" on stones anymore. With just one casual operation, Baifeng's propaganda effect was stronger than what the Ministry of Rites could do in several days of work.

Yu was also extremely happy that day, his face flushed red the whole time. In the evening, everyone had their fill of fun and it was time to go back. At the same time, everyone knew that if a wedding could be held during the day, it was best to do it during the day; if there was really no time, then do it at night.

As for Yulong, he watched the whole process with envy, and on the way back, he secretly asked Baifeng in a low voice: "Dad, when I get married, can it be this grand?"

Baifeng laughed happily, and ignoring that Yulong was a bit shy, he said in front of the whole family: "Don't worry, your wedding will definitely be the liveliest in all of Huaxia, because you are my son. Anyway, it will be livelier than when I married your mom. Maybe even my coronation as King won't be that grand, after all, life in Huaxia is getting better and better."

Yulong lowered his head with a red face, Changle stiffened his neck and pretended not to care, and Miaoyin had played for a whole day and fallen asleep in Sui's arms. The journey was short, so their family slowly walked home.

Yulong's marriage was not urgent; even if he let Zhi wait another two years, his father would not have any objections. The continuous excitement over these past few days made everyone's mood quite pleasant, but after the joy, it was time to go struggle in the wilderness and continue to reclaim land and expand territory for Huaxia.

The next day at work, Baifeng was only conceiving the future and did not directly call a meeting to discuss going to Xiao Town to reclaim land. After all, Yu, an important figure, was still on marriage leave and was sleeping soundly in bed at this moment.

Another day passed, and Yu officially returned to work. Only then did Baifeng summon all the departments. All the procedures had been set beforehand, and all personnel had been confirmed. Today was just to hold a mobilization meeting, then pack up supplies, and start opening the road to Xiao Town tomorrow, at least enough for carts to pass through.

The tenant farmers were also anxiously waiting for this day to arrive, each one impatient. They didn't even put their hearts into their daily work of finding jobs to earn grain, fearing that the news of the departure would spread while they were away and they would miss it because they didn't get the notice.

That day, all departments began to act with full force. Lema City, as a transit station, also began to prepare some large-scale supplies.

The tenant farmers thought they could go directly to Xiao Town, but they didn't expect to be waiting for a full-scale operation to clear the forest and open a road.

The route to Xiao Town had already been planned, avoiding mountains as much as possible, even if it meant taking a detour. After all, cutting down trees and leveling ground was much easier than directly breaking through mountains and rocks.

The road they planned was not like the one leading to Lema City; the width only needed to be enough for an ox cart to pass. It was sufficient to have no tree roots on the ground and no large stones or pits on the road surface.

In the team of over three thousand people, this time the tenant farmers were all distributed Iron Axes that could be called weapons. Besides that, there were saws, iron shovels, and the like. If the Iron workshop didn't have enough stock of so many iron tools, they would have had to enter the Stone Age again.

The next day, ox carts pulled the supplies, and the tenant farmers carried tools and marched on foot. The Soldiers only needed to do a good job of vigilance and protection. Shaoyin did not go because he was a newlywed, and his current work was not what he wanted, so he stayed to accompany Qinyang, who had dropped out of school and started preparing for new recruit training.

When everyone gathers firewood, the flame rises high. Several thousand people spread out directly, covering an extremely long distance. Everyone was assigned a section, and then they each started working. If the trees were too tall, there were naturally brave people who would climb up to trim the tops.

The cut-down trees would not be discarded at will; they were stacked directly on both sides of the cleared road like a wall, and then fixed with wooden nails, which directly separated the forest from the road.

Some trees with better materials would also be used to build houses. Pure wooden structures were to be used as temporary resting places for future travel. After all, the journey was long and would take several days. Setting up Tents to spend the night in such a forest was not a wise move, especially since there would certainly not be many people escorting the supplies.

If there were houses at intervals along the way, they could not only shelter from wind and rain but also defend against wild beasts. Even a bear would not be able to break through the doors, and everyone would not need to stand guard, trembling with fear.