Chapter 117: The Spinning Top

The Sheng Family Merchant Caravan had stayed in Xinzhou City for many days; during this period, other merchant caravans entered the city, yet the Sheng Family Merchant Caravan was already preparing to leave.

They still had to head to the next city.

They arrived in Xinzhou earlier than others because they were closer and their equipment was superior.

It was just that time remained tight; they had to visit all of the Six Great Powers in Beidi before the weather turned hot.

This day, at the place where the merchant caravan was staying.

It was already evening, and the various ward gates within the city were closed; Sheng Ren had also finished his social engagements for the day and returned to his room.

A lamp was lit inside the room, and Sheng Ren held a picture book, flipping through it.

This time, besides the merchant caravan's escorts and correspondence, and the goods originally planned for trade and procurement, they had also bought a batch of picture books newly produced in Xinzhou.

In Sheng Ren's view, this picture book was very special.

It possessed both the entertainment value of a story, allowing people a moment of relaxation amidst the tension of daily life, and could also instruct people on how to take precautions against epidemics.

In Xinzhou City, from young children to the elderly, all showed great interest in these picture books.

It was not just their merchant caravan that purchased them; many wealthy households in the city also included picture books among the items they entrusted the caravan to transport to relatives and friends in other places.

At this moment, what Sheng Ren was flipping through in his hands was a hardcover, color-printed picture book.

The craftsmen of Xinzhou City had developed a new type of color printing technology, but Sheng Ren did not have much interest in printing technology; what he valued was the content the picture book intended to convey.

Although there were some simple words and dialogue on it, even if one were illiterate and did not know a single character, one could still roughly understand it just by looking at the pictures.

Nowadays, all parties were trying every possible way to preserve the population and reduce unnecessary casualties; here in Xinzhou City, a picture book might just have a miraculous effect!

It was said to be drawn by the children of the Zhao Family, but the greater driving forces were that Ward Chief Wen, as well as Zhao Shaozhu.

Recalling the meeting at Zhao Fu earlier.

"That Zhao Shaozhu is indeed outstanding and handsome! It is a pity... among the younger generation of the Zhao Family, he is the only one who can be called a hero."

When many great families were fleeing north, they did not choose the Zhao Family of Xinzhou among their six options.

The Zhao clan was not strong enough, and this was not just about the family's foundation, savings, and power, but also the potential of its personnel!

Even though it was heard now that there was news of new births in both the old and young backyards, what could a nursing baby do?

The clan could not help much either.

If something were to happen to this young master...

The Zhao Family's ability to resist risks was not strong enough!

Nowadays, this was not an ordinary chaotic world, and people's hearts were even harder to fathom.

To firmly control Xinzhou, one must have the highest authority managing important matters within, and also have someone surnamed Zhao holding things up outside.

Under the current state of the world, all parties in Beidi focused primarily on defense, and the City Defender of each gathering place must have real ability and be sufficiently authoritative.

For example, the Jinwu City of the Ren Clan; the City Defender was the Ren Family Seventh Young Master. With a reputation abroad, he was indeed a formidable figure.

The other powers were much the same, but only in Xinzhou, which city had a City Defender surnamed Zhao?

Although power was concentrated, in the current chaotic situation, it might not be a good thing!

"If the Zhao Family had even two more nephews who could take charge..."

Never mind the Zhao Family; the Shen Family also had many useless people, and both the Zhao and Shen families seemed quite unstable.

Recently, a Wen Gu had been fostered, but Wen Gu was of the Shen line; he was not surnamed Zhao!

Furthermore, as far as Sheng Ren knew, some wealthy families and gentry who chose to move north to Xinzhou did not do so because they favored the Zhao Family, but because they saw the Zhao Family's weaknesses and were waiting for an opportunity to replace them!

Xinzhou had a crisis of changing its highest decision-maker!

Perhaps that Head of the Family Zhao back then also sensed the crisis within, which led to the new military organization, the Patrol Guard Division.

Of course, these were their previous analyses of Xinzhou.

However, coming to Xinzhou this time, Sheng Ren had different thoughts.

Recalling what he had seen and heard during this period.

He had not stayed here long, but he could feel that upward vitality of Xinzhou!

Constantly accumulating, constantly breaking through!

Everyone in Xinzhou seemed to have sunk into a high-efficiency mode of cultivation.

He did not know if it was an illusion, but it was as if he saw an invisible whip waving, stimulating everyone's enthusiasm for cultivation.

Yet it was not that kind of impatience that spoils things by excessive enthusiasm.

It was said that the Zhao clan and Shen clan of Xinzhou were a bunch of useless people. But after coming here, the feeling it gave him was completely different.

The temperaments of the descendants of the Zhao and Shen families were indeed not much different from the rumors, but what they did was unexpected.

Just like this picture book in his hand.

Sheng Ren lowered his eyes.

With his discernment, he could naturally see that this picture book came from the hands of young children, and more than one.

Inquiring for information was also simple; it was confirmed that it was indeed drawn by a group of young children from the Zhao clan.

It was said that the young people of the Zhao and Shen families were a bunch of playboys fighting all day long.

But look at Wanfu Garden over there!

That was not wasting labor and money or squandering grain!

With Sheng Ren's discernment from many years of business, the benefits a Wanfu Garden could bring to Xinzhou at such a time were absolutely huge and long-term!

Or take the row of shops that the Zhao Family was about to build; Sheng Ren indeed favored the prospects there!

Thinking of the excited attitude of that group of young people from the Zhao Family these past few days, he believed that when the merchant caravan came to Xinzhou City again during the autumn hunt this year, the shops would already be built.

The young people of the Zhao and Shen families were not short of money or grain, yet they did not squander wealth.

They were not excellent enough, but looking at it this way, they were actually not too bad.

"Follow the nature of the wood to allow it to reach its potential. Rare!"

Sheng Ren sighed.

……

On the day of departure from the city.

The city was filled with the clamor of carriages and horses.

Some groups were entering the city, while others were leaving.

The Sheng Family Merchant Caravan was already packed and ready to go.

The benefits they gained from this trip were not necessarily tangible goods; certain invisible interests were even more precious at times like this.

The stewards gathered together, chatting about the two storefronts reserved by the employer and the Wanfu Garden currently under construction, their hearts already filled with anticipation.

They did not notice that among some of the laborers in the caravan, there was also a secret atmosphere of joy.

Those laborers were just too happy!

Especially those who had been a step too late and regretted not being able to earn extra money through their farming skills.

Learning that the merchant caravan had secured two storefronts in Jingxing Fang and that they should be usable by the end of this year, they were determined to follow the caravan again at the end of the year if there was an opportunity!

By then, it wouldn't be eye-catching for them to come to Jingxing Fang, and perhaps they could try their luck to see if they could earn a few more Grain Tickets.

They had already verified it in private: in Xinzhou City, Grain Tickets from Jingxing Fang were very convenient to resell for cash!

Sheng Ren bid farewell to his friend and stepped into the carriage.

The merchant caravan slowly exited the city.

Lifting the carriage curtain, he looked outside.

Winter was gradually fading away, and the ice and snow were melting at an accelerated pace.

The traces of snow had already begun to recede from south to north.

In the places where the ice and snow disappeared first, when the warming wind blew across the land, the monsters that had been frozen into dormancy by the severe cold and low temperatures would gradually have their "seals" lifted.

In the areas that the Xianshou Army of various factions could not clear, those monsters, alienated from humans, were like beasts after hibernation, unable to wait to begin baring their fangs.

However, even if the ice and snow disappeared during this season in Beidi, most areas remained in a state of low temperature, and the movements of these awakened monsters were temporarily sluggish.

And as the ice and snow melted and the river channels thawed and swelled, the groups moving north by water from the south also became active.

There were even more merchant caravans and groups moving north arriving at Xinzhou City, and the city gates and streets were exceptionally lively.

Xinzhou was like a spinning top, rotating, faster and faster, steadier and steadier. It constantly absorbed new blood, turning it into its own momentum to strengthen itself.

And the highest decision-makers, the father and son of the Zhao Family, were presumably the whip that kept the top spinning!