Chapter 104: Dilemma
"Captain, for the sake of everyone's lives, why don't we go to the nearest town? Let's wait a little longer until the road is peaceful or the weather is warmer, then we can set off again. Wouldn't that be good for you, me, and everyone else?"
Zhao Bantou subconsciously looked at Xu Qingying, and then realized that he had to make the decision on this matter. He looked at the group of brothers behind him with different expressions, and they all seemed a little undecided.
A delay of ten days or half a month would not be a big deal, but judging from the current situation, it will probably take at least one or two months.
How would he explain this to his superiors?
Could it be that they encountered bandits and the team was beaten to pieces?
It doesn’t seem to be impossible.
Xu Qingying calmed everyone down, "Alright, this matter is serious. Let Captain Zhao think it over carefully before making a decision. What we need to discuss now is whether to go forward or backward, how to avoid bandits along the way, and what to do if we encounter them."
"We don't understand these things, but we think the method Miss Xu taught us last time is quite effective. Why don't we just follow Miss Xu's advice? The young and strong men should be on the outermost side, the women in the middle, and the elderly and children should sit inside."
Someone else suggested, "Let's look around the village again to see if there are any leftover sickles, kitchen knives, or other items. We can at least get some more weapons."
Zhao Bantou also spoke up, "This is an emergency. We don't care about any rules anymore. Everyone, take out any weapons you have and kill as many bandits as you can!"
Someone reminded us, "Our dry food is almost gone. We must go to the city to replenish our food. I don't know what the situation is in Jinzhou City. I heard from those refugees that food prices have skyrocketed. I don't know if we can buy food."
When it comes to food, everyone looks worried.
Elder Fang could only sigh and bow his head. "The report from Jinzhou said only a hundred thousand people were affected, but it looks like there are at least two or three hundred thousand. These bastards must have concealed the extent of the disaster because they feared punishment from the court. If the disaster in Jinzhou is this severe, we're afraid we won't be able to buy any food along the way."
One stone can cause a thousand ripples.
When it came to food, everyone was anxious. "What should we do? Are we going to starve to death on the way?"
"This isn't exile, it's fleeing famine!"
"Why don't we just stay in this village?"
"All the food in the village has been taken away. If you stay here, you will starve to death!"
Xu Qingying was getting a headache from the noise. She'd already caught a cold, and her throat was still hoarse. She could only raise her hand, signaling for silence. "There's nothing else we can do right now. We can only wait and see. Let's go to the nearest town first to see what's going on, and then make a decision."
There was really no other way, so everyone just kept quiet.
Xu Degui picked out a few strong men to dig holes and bury the people, while the others searched the village to see if there was any lost food. Zhao Bantou and others harnessed their horses, looking like they were getting ready to go out.
Xu Qingying stepped forward and asked, "But Liu Jiecha is missing?"
Zhao Bantou responded, jumped on his horse, and said with a bit of complaint, "I don't know where that kid ran off to. He hasn't been seen since last night. At first, some people said he went to the village, and then some said they saw him leaving. Until now, there has been no sign of him."
Xu Qingying understood.
In order to hunt down Xu Deyuan and the other man, Liu Jieshi must have concealed his whereabouts from everyone. Now no one knows where he went. It can be said that God is helping her.
"I was wondering..." Xu Qingying pondered for a moment, "Since there are bandits causing trouble in this area, could it be that Liu Jiecha was captured by these bandits?"
Ming Xiaoshuang immediately glanced at Xu Qingying, then said, "Miss Xu, what you said makes sense. It rained so hard last night that the beasts are hiding in their nests and won't come out. Either Liu Jieshi is injured and hiding somewhere, or he was captured by bandits."
Zhao Bantou was in a dilemma. If they were captured by the bandits, what could they do with such a small number of people? Could they fight a group of vicious bandits with knives?
They don't have such a close relationship with Liu Jieshi.
"Forget it. It's come to this. There's no point in saying more. I'll take people to the mountains to look for any traces of Liu Jieshi. If we can't find any today, we can only blame Liu Jieshi's bad luck. No matter what, we must set out tomorrow."
Zhao Bantou and his men naturally couldn't find Liu Jieshi, not to mention that Ming Xiaoshuang was mixed in the team. Xu Qingying guessed that with Ming Xiaoshuang's ability, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack for Zhao Bantou and his men to find Liu Jieshi.
Sure enough, Zhao Bantou and his men returned on horseback in the evening.
Xu Degui had been paying attention to the situation of the escort teams, and it was not until he saw their faces when they returned that he finally felt relieved.
Liu Jieshi was not found.
Seeing Xu Qingying, who looked calm inside, Xu Degui couldn't help but wonder, "Ying'er, are you really not afraid that Zhao Bantou and the others will find Liu Jieshi's body?"
Xu Qingying was stunned. "What corpse? Is Liu Jieshi already dead?"
Xu Degui realized that he had spoken out of turn and immediately said, "Who knows?"
Xu Qingying asked again, "Have Zhao Bantou and the others returned?"
After saying this, she pushed the door open and walked out. The village was cold and quiet after the rain, and there was still fog in the mountains. She saw Zhao Bantou and his men tying their horses under a tree. His face was a little pale, and he said to her from a distance, "We've searched the entire mountain, but we can't find him. I think he's in great danger this time."
Ming Xiaoshuang said confidently: "It's likely that they encountered bandits."
"It's just his bad luck. The brothers have done their best." Zhao Bantou shook his head and sighed, "We can't stay here for long. Let's set off tomorrow."
Xu Qingying finally felt relieved. She and Ming Xiaoshuang looked at each other quickly and both understood that the matter of Liu Jieshi was over.
After Zhao Bantou went in, Ming Xiaoshuang quickly said as he passed by Xu Qingying, "Zhao Bantou just called all of us to a meeting. From what I heard from him, he wants to stay in the next city for a few days, wait until the snow in the mountains melts and the mountain roads are less dangerous, and then continue on."
This is undoubtedly good news.
After all, they are all old, weak and sick on the way. If they really encounter bandits head-on, they will be the only ones to suffer.
In the evening, Xu Qingying taught Xu Huiming, Xu Yinxi, Feng'er, Qian Zhenniang and others as usual.
Although the soap business has been temporarily put on hold for a while, Xu Qingying has other plans for the future. Now that she is trapped here, it is a good time to train manpower.
More and more people attended Xu Qingying's class. At first, it was a few children from the Fang family, and later even Han Ruqing joined in.
The weather was good today. Everyone crowded in the middle of the still damp yard, surrounding Xu Qingying and listening attentively to her lecture.
Han Ruqing unexpectedly saw Mr. Fang in the corner. He quickly stepped forward and bowed, "Mr. Fang, why are you here to join in the fun?"
Mr. Fang stroked his beard and glanced at him sideways, "You young people can listen to it, but I can't?"
Han Ruqing shook his head, his face flushing slightly. "To be honest, I used to dislike Miss Xu, a woman, teaching students. I wanted to come here to debate with her, to shame her so much that she wouldn't dare to mislead others again. But last time I listened to her math lecture, I found that with just a few simple substitutions, she was able to solve many problems in the mathematical classics. Moreover, her solution method was easy to understand and calculate, and it was even more effective than the method taught by the teacher at the academy. I... I just came to her class from time to time, and later I found that some of Miss Xu's ideas seemed outrageous at first, but after thinking about it, they seemed reasonable. The more I listened, the more addicted I became. So, here I am, uninvited."
Mr. Fang admired Han Ruqing's honesty and his frankness even more. There are very few men in the world who dare to admit that they are not as good as a woman. This shows that Han Ruqing is a broad-minded person and is by no means jealous of others' talents.
"You've done very well. As the saying goes, when you see a virtuous person, you want to emulate him. Among three people, there must be one who can teach me. The fact that the Sixth Girl dares to give a lecture proves that she's quite capable. I saw so many people coming to listen to her lectures, and I often hear my eldest son praising Miss Xu's mathematical abilities, so I wanted to join in the fun. Don't worry about me, just pretend I'm not here."
This time, they studied economics.
Xu Qingying moved a small stool and sat in the middle. In the dim light, eager faces looked at her, making her feel as if she had returned to the days when she was substituting for teachers in college.
She restrained her expression, cleared her throat, and began to lecture slowly.
"Today, let's discuss how to make a country prosperous. Why do most people in the Great Zhou Dynasty live in poverty? Do you think it's because they're not diligent enough?"
These words immediately aroused everyone's opposition.
One woman, who was just joining in the fun, couldn't wait to interject, "How can we not be diligent? Before I got married, I took care of all the housework. After I got married, I did all the work in the house and in the fields. I worked in the fields in spring, harvested crops in autumn, and washed clothes in winter. I never stopped working year-round. I'm known for being hardworking, but our family is still so poor that we can't even afford to eat."
"That's right. Every woman here does everything inside and outside the house. Why do we have to endure so much hardship and earn so little money?"
"Miss Xu, what you said is wrong. Why are ordinary people poor? Isn't it because the officials are greedy for money?"
"Yes, yes, yes. And also, it depends on how you are reborn. If you are reborn into a wealthy family, you can spend endless money lying in bed all your life. We work ourselves to death, but the money we earn is not even as much as the money for a meal for others—"
Xu Qingying waved her hand, signaling for silence. She then looked at the group of reserve talents below and asked, "What do you think? Let's discuss your thoughts. Where did the Great Zhou Dynasty's money go?"
Everyone looked left and right, no one dared to speak.
Only Feng Er was brave enough not to be laughed at, and immediately said, "Did they all go to the emperor's treasury?"
All I could hear was Master Fang muttering in the corner, "No, the treasury has been empty year after year. The Great Zhou Dynasty is struggling to even pay its officials. Last year, military spending was cut by a third. There's not enough money for the war, not to mention the chariots, leather chariots, armor, arrows, and bows. From this, it seems the treasury is also empty."
Xu Qingying was somewhat surprised that Old Master Fang had joined in the fun with these little ones, and she smiled helplessly. But then she thought about how Old Master Fang had recently been devastated by the death of a student, and how his spirits had only improved in the past two days. Xu Qingying could only let him go.
Xu Huiming was also puzzled. "Where did the money go? Did it go to corrupt officials? Does our Great Zhou Dynasty have so many corrupt officials?"
"Yes, Xu Liu, please tell us about it—"
"As the saying goes, the wealth and goods created by heaven and earth are limited to this amount. If they are not in the hands of the people, then they are in the public treasury. Scholars of the Great Zhou Dynasty generally believe that the total amount of wealth in society is fixed over a given period of time, and that the income of the state and the people are a process of increase and decrease. The implication is that if the state is prosperous, the people will inevitably be impoverished. If the people are wealthy, the state will be impoverished."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Qian Zhenniang looked around and then boldly asked, "Young lady, are you saying that the money in the Zhou Dynasty is fixed, either in the treasury or in the hands of the people? If the treasury has more money, the people will have less."
"Yes, that's right." Xu Qingying gave her an approving look. Qian Zhenniang's heart suddenly started beating fast and her face turned red with embarrassment under everyone's gaze.
"However, I believe that social wealth is not a fixed constant, but can be continuously increased through value creation. As long as the court guides this value creation through appropriate national policies, it can create more wealth to meet state needs without having to seize wealth from the people."
Having said that, Mr. Fang's body stiffened, and his eyes lit up as he stared at Xu Qingying!
"Those who enrich their families contribute to the country; those who enrich their country contribute to the world; and those who wish to enrich the world contribute to heaven and earth. Therefore, it can be said that the prosperity of a country depends on the prosperity of its people. But to enrich everyone, we must rely on the development of resources. We must learn to create value, to generate wealth, to enrich both the country and its people! Rather than simply adjusting the distribution of limited existing wealth."
Han Ruqing stood up faster than Old Man Fang and asked, "Then may I ask Miss Xu, how can we create more value from the existing resources?"
Xu Qingying pondered for a moment. "Theoretically, I think for a country to become prosperous, it must accumulate three things: capital, technology, and management systems."
Mr. Fang suddenly stood up and asked in a deafening voice, "What do you mean by three accumulations?"
"Capital accumulation is the scissors gap between industry and agriculture. It extracts from agricultural surpluses, converts natural resources into cash, and sells them abroad, accumulating the first step of wealth. Technological accumulation is breaking the shackles of thinking and upgrading existing technologies, such as farm tools, water conservancy facilities, increasing grain production, and medical technology, transforming from an agricultural society where men farmed and women wove to an industrial society. Management system accumulation is the establishment of an honest and efficient administrative system."
At this point, most people were already confused. Even Xu Huiming, a student who had received formal training in the Zhou Dynasty, found it difficult to understand.
Mr. Fang, however, was in high spirits and continued to ask questions. There was a sense of anxiety in the air.
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