The key to victory is quality, not quantity. Xu Di briefly explained his strategy to the men Ma Ming had selected, and then had them take the kerosene sealed in leather bags and head to the upper reaches of the border river to infiltrate towards Wuzhou.

The boundary river on the Wuzhou side is the widest part of the more than 100-kilometer-long boundary river. Several people wearing wetsuits had been lying in ambush on the opposite bank of the boundary river. It was because the Great Yan was a little too confident that the Great Liang was just defending itself and had no defenses against the boundary river behind it. Who knew that several ships transporting grain would suddenly catch fire on the river in broad daylight.

If they wanted to put out the fire, the cargo they were transporting, whether it was grain or hay for the horses, was all highly flammable. The weather was hot and the sun was shining brightly. Even if there was kerosene poured on the ship, a tiny spark could ignite it instantly.

The Great Yan's camp was close to Wuzhou City, but still some distance from the border river. When they arrived at the river after receiving the letter, the boats had been burned down to just a blackened hull.

Xu Di looked at the black smoke on the other side of the border river from afar and said to Ma Ming, "Send another five of them over there. They don't need to do anything else but lie in ambush. The Great Yan transports grain every five days because they need to gather the necessary grain within those five days. Even if we burn this, I estimate they won't be able to gather it quickly."

Ma Ming, beaming with joy, went down to give orders. These men, having received Xu Di's instructions, set the boat alight and did nothing else but quickly dive downstream to Luzhou, where they would be met by someone. These men were all excellent swimmers, wearing special water suits to maintain their body temperature, and with copper tubes in their mouths for breathing. They didn't need to do anything in the water; they just had to go downstream.

The Great Yan army was in disarray due to the burning of its supplies. They were not eating well on this side, and now that the supplies were burned again, they didn't know what they would eat for the next few days. Some people began to advise their commander to abandon this side of the river and retreat to the other side. This area had been occupied for two years, and not only had they failed to capture Wuzhou City, but also because the people from Luzhou had attacked the Great Yan garrison in Luzhou in the middle of the night a few days ago, which made the Great Yan army somewhat restless. The border river in the Luzhou section had always been considered an insurmountable barrier, but the Great Yan people could fly across from the other side, capture people, and then take them back, truly appearing and disappearing without a trace.

Xu Di was waiting in Wuzhou to wipe out the Great Yan army and drive them out of Daliang. Meanwhile, Xu Zhi's bamboo paper workshop was working overtime to rush production, and finally, the first batch of bamboo paper was produced.

Looking at the snow-white paper, Zhou Erzhu was somewhat incredulous. He pinched his thigh hard, his mouth twitching in pain. When Zhou Er's wife saw this, she laughed and slapped his arm, saying, "Are you stupid? Why are you pinching your thigh like that?"

Zhou Erzhu scratched his head and said, "I just don't believe it, I want to see if I'm dreaming."

Zhou Erzhu is now the manager of this workshop. Even without Xu Zhi, Zhou Erzhu manages the workshop very well. He really couldn't believe that the bamboo all over the mountains, rotting in the pond, would eventually produce such white and crisp paper. In this era, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones were considered very high-end and expensive items by ordinary people. Didn't you see that even wealthy families had to rely on the entire family's resources to support a student?

Xu Zhi touched the bamboo paper with her hand, nodded, and said, "The paper made this time is not bad. Steward Zhou, take some people to wrap these papers in oiled paper and send them to the capital."

Zhou Erzhu agreed and quickly told someone to wrap the bamboo paper. Seeing that Xu Zhi was about to leave, Zhou Erzhu asked, "Master, shall we send it to the capital ourselves or hire someone to do it?"

Xu Zhi wanted to go home to see her family. Her grandmother was getting old, and she hadn't been back to visit her for over a year. She also wanted to visit the old lady of the Zheng family at the Pingxi Marquis's residence. So she said, "I'll take you to the capital. You arrange things in the workshop and assign people to be on duty every day, especially in the courtyard where the bamboo is stored. The bamboo there has almost no moisture left, and it's dry and easy to catch fire, so you must be careful to prevent fires."

Zhou Erzhu agreed, while Zhou Ersao kept glancing at him. Zhou Erzhu hesitated for a long time but still didn't speak. Zhou Ersao also wanted to go to the capital to see the sights, but Zhou Erzhu just couldn't bring himself to say it.

Seeing Zhou's second sister-in-law's appearance, Xu Zhi laughed and said, "Second sister-in-law of the Zhou family, what are you doing? Look how frightened Steward Zhou is."

Zhou Ersao knew this was an opportunity, and mustered up her courage to say, "Master, I really want to go to the capital to see the world. I didn't think much of it before, but after this road was built, I've been itching to go out and see what the outside world is like, except for Luzhou."

Xu Zhi actually owns a shop in the capital that specializes in selling bamboo paper. This time, she is not only going back to give the bamboo paper to her elders at home and ask them to help her present it to the emperor, hoping it can be used as a tribute. This would also be a great selling point for the imperial palace's future procurement. However, she still needs to have her own shop to serve a wide range of consumers. In business, it is always necessary to open up many avenues. No one will complain about having too many customers.

Xu Zhi smiled and said, "Since Second Sister-in-law Zhou is willing to go, let's go together. When we get there, we can see if we can find a suitable shop. I was thinking of opening a shop in the capital that specializes in selling bamboo paper from our Lüzhou."

Hearing this, Aunt Zhou was overjoyed and said, "Oh, thank you so much, boss."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!