Chapter 130 I Want to Go to the City
This made her feel a little embarrassed, so she had to pretend to be flattered and said, "Master Sun, I will never forget your kindness in helping me. But I have a family to support, and we haven't even separated yet, so it's not easy for me to just leave."
Sun Qingchen patted her shoulder, frowning, thinking that this boy was too thin and looked more like a girl.
"Send someone in tomorrow. I won't let anyone embarrass you. As I said before, Lan County is not a place to stay for long. You should leave as soon as possible."
Sun Qingchen also knew that what he said was hypocritical. Jinzhou suffered severe disasters this year, and only counties like Lan County, which were located on higher ground, survived. It was said that some counties had been deserted and many fields were abandoned. But he asked them to leave. Where could they go?
But as the chief official of Lan County, he was already exhausted just trying to protect the land of Lan County, let alone doubling the population out of thin air.
Xu Qingying, however, looked so grateful that she burst into tears. "I want to thank you, Lord Sun, on behalf of these five thousand refugees."
Sun Qingchen curled his lips in self-mockery and remained silent.
Soon the city gates reopened.
All the refugees at the city gate looked over. Before Xu Qingying came, the city gate of Lan County had been tightly closed, but she was the only one who could actually walk into the city gate and negotiate with the county magistrate.
Although there was no result, it gave everyone a glimmer of hope.
Everyone looked at her with hope, hoping that she could bring back good news.
Miao and the others all stood up, pointed at the city gate and said with joy: "It's out! It's out!"
Not only the Xu family, but also Old Liao and his men all came to greet them. He suppressed his inner exclamation, "What did you talk about with the county magistrate? Did he allow us to enter the city?"
"Don't worry about going to the city yet. Food is the most important thing right now. I need thirty capable women, strong and healthy, with families and children, and who are brave and careful. Let's go to the city tomorrow to buy food."
Old Liao was stunned. "Buying food? Where will we get the money?"
"I have." Xu Qingying's tone left no room for doubt. "I told you, I will take care of the money and food issues. You just need to follow my instructions."
Old Liao pursed his lips, feeling extremely curious about what Xu Qingying had said to County Magistrate Sun that made her willing to open a way for them to enter the city.
He couldn't help scratching his head and had to admit defeat, "Girl, what did you say to County Magistrate Sun? Can we enter the city? Don't worry, as long as we can enter the city, I promise to make my people behave themselves and never do anything bad."
"Don't think about going into the city yet. Take your time. I have my own arrangements."
Liao Chun could hear Xu Qingying's perfunctory tone and could not help but get furious. However, Old Liao had already stopped him and said, "In that case, Miss Xu, don't forget our promise. If there is no food tomorrow, don't blame me for not giving you face!"
Xu Qingying made a "please" gesture, and Lao Liao and the others left in disappointment.
Liao Chun then said to Old Liao, "What did that damn girl say to Magistrate Sun? It's making me itch. Look how smug she is! She's so arrogant even though she hasn't even got any grain. We have three or four thousand men under our command. It would be easy to deal with her. Why should we act according to her mood?"
Old Liao was silent, and only said, "It's okay, let's wait and see. If she can really get some food, I'll consider her capable."
"Since that damn girl said she'd pay, if she wants people, we'll give them to her. As for women, we have plenty of them in our team."
"Choose a few capable ones and have them keep an eye on what others are doing after they enter the city."
Xu Qingying was already preparing manpower. The only people she could trust at the moment were the sixty or seventy people in the exile team. She selected seven or eight from them, and a dozen from the fifteen hundred people. Fortunately, Lao Liao sent a few over, and she barely got together twenty-five women.
Although her requirement was to be strong and healthy, they were all refugees, and they were all skinny. However, there was still some life in their eyes, unlike some people who looked like mummies.
"Tomorrow you will go into the city to do some shopping, mainly food. The price is not a big deal. Buy a day's supply first, about 500 kilograms."
The women immediately asked, "Sir, where does the money for buying food come from?"
"Food is in short supply in Lan County right now. I'm afraid the price is going to skyrocket!"
"Sir, what if they ask for an exorbitant price?"
Xu Qingying paused for a moment before speaking word by word, "No matter the price, just buy it. I have the money. Tomorrow morning, you will all set out in a group. Besides food, you must remember that I need something else: saltpeter. You probably won't find it in ordinary shops. You'll have to go to a manure pit or an old house. The white stuff on the wall is saltpeter, and that's what I want."
Everyone was shocked. One woman covered her nose and said with disdain, "Sir, what do you want that for?"
"Don't worry about what I do. Whoever can get that stuff will get an extra bag of grain. The more saltpeter the better, but it must have a white layer on the surface. I don't want more. I'll give you a bag of grain for every two ounces you buy, but you must keep it a secret and don't tell anyone. If you do, not only will you lose the bag of grain, but you will also have to give your family the least of the grain I buy."
Xu Qingying was afraid that they would leak the secret, so she slapped everyone, especially the women that Lao Liao had brought with him. "I hope you understand that it's me who's taking the money now, not Lao Liao. It's also me who's distributing the food to you. Since I've distributed the food, you now know who to listen to."
The women quickly expressed their opinions, wishing they could swear not to tell anyone and only begging Xu Qingying not to deprive their family of food.
"Remember to hide well and don't let the soldiers at the city gate notice anything unusual. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, I'll just have to withhold your food!"
Xu Qingying knew that for this group of people who were so hungry that their eyes were glowing green, threatening them with food was the most effective way. Sure enough, this group of people immediately became obedient and took the matter of collecting saltpeter to heart.
After the others had left, Xu Qingying emphasized to the women chosen from the exile group, "I don't trust them, so I can only leave this to you. Remember, buying food is just a pretext. The real purchases, besides saltpeter, are charcoal and sulfur. After entering the city, you will first buy food, then split into two groups. One group will be responsible for buying charcoal made from softwood, such as poplar or eucalyptus. The other group will be responsible for buying sulfur."
Xu Qingying tried hard to think of the formula for black gunpowder. It was very simple and did not require much effort. The main problem was that alternative raw materials were hard to find.
"Bring me two baskets of soil with chicken manure, a scale, and a few pots." Xu Qingying finished her instructions, looked at the women who had volunteered, and repeated, "Did you hear everything clearly?"
The men looked panicked, but nodded. "Understood. Buying food is just a pretext. The main purpose is saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur."
Someone immediately asked curiously: "What is the girl going to do?"
"Could it be like the soap we had last time? Do we have to make something new to make money?"
Everyone suddenly became excited.
Xu Qingying smiled faintly, "I do have a recipe, but this time it's not for making soap, this time it's for making food. Once you buy the ingredients, I'll show you how to make it."
Everyone immediately understood.
This is the secret of their exile team and must not be known to others.
However, Xu Qingying did not expect that Miao, Lian and the second branch would actually volunteer to go into the city. The three of them seemed to have not expected that someone else would take the initiative to ask to go into the city, but they came to Xu Qingying at the same time to talk about this matter. For a moment, the three of them looked at each other, feeling quite embarrassed.
Miao's reasoning was sound. She said prices in the city were bound to soar, and if they were too high, someone would have to make the decision. Furthermore, most of the money from their soap sales was in the bank, and she had to go there in person with the documents to withdraw the money. She wouldn't trust anyone else with it.
Lian was feeling guilty because Xu Lezhi had let slip that Xu Qingying had murdered someone last time. She was afraid that Xu Qingying would vent her anger on her and her daughter, so she was always looking for an opportunity to repair the relationship between her, her daughter and Xu Qingying. Now was the time when Xu Qingying needed someone, so how could she be timid?
Although Lian was thinking this, she said, "There are at least 20 or 30 people coming into the city this time, and there are many people with a lot of gossip. You need to get the raw materials for the new recipe, so someone has to be in charge."
Concubine Chun spoke honestly, "Sixth girl, we have been so grateful for your care for the Second House, but I haven't done anything for you. I feel really bad about it. But I also think that this trip to the city to buy things is not dangerous, so why not let me do it and I can also contribute a little bit."
Aunt Chun was quite polite in her words.
But Lian sneered in her heart.
She didn't know who Chun He was. She looked kind, but she was actually the most astute of the three concubines. I'm afraid Chun He was just trying to curry favor with Xu Qingying.
However, she and Chunhe had the same idea, so she naturally felt embarrassed to expose Chunhe's little thoughts.
But you can't steal the credit from her.
So Lian said, "Sixth girl... Oh no, Zhenying, tell Second Aunt in more detail what your specific requirements are for the things you want. Just like with our soap, are there any standards?"
Xu Qingying gave the three of them detailed instructions. The three of them also knew the importance of this trip, so they put in their utmost effort to deal with it.
Feng'er also wanted to go, but Xu Qingying said that she had more important things to assign to her tomorrow, so she had no choice but to give up.
Just when everything was calm, Fang Ningmo came running to her in the evening and told her a bombshell: Fang Ruyu was missing.
It was winter, and Fang Xun was sweating profusely from anxiety.
When Xu Qingying saw the imperial edict yesterday, she expected that with Fang Ruyu's stubborn temper, it would be reasonable for something to happen.
But after being quiet for a day, he suddenly disappeared.
"Zhenying, we've looked all over this area, but there's no one. We've also asked around, and she disappeared this afternoon. But at the time, we were so busy negotiating with Lord Sun that we didn't even notice where she went!"
Fang Xun was anxious and spoke without any politeness. "It's freezing cold out here. Where can a girl like her go?!"
Grandpa Fang was so anxious that his face turned pale. "Where on earth did this girl go? It's getting dark, the snow is so thick in the mountains, and there are bandits. She's just a little girl..."
Mrs. Fang was so anxious that she started crying and kept wiping her tears with a handkerchief, looking like she was completely at a loss.
The Fang family is also interesting. Mr. Fang is obsessed with mathematics and doesn't care about worldly affairs. Mrs. Fang is gentle and virtuous but simple and soft-hearted. Both of them have no opinions when encountering problems. Among the family of four, Fang Ningmo is probably the most calm.
In fact, Fang Ningmo and Fang Xun already had bad guesses in their hearts, but Xu Qingying had never liked Fang Ruyu, so they didn't dare to say much in front of Xu Qingying.
Unexpectedly, Xu Lezhi was pulled over by Lian Shi, crying. Lian Shi first glanced at the anxious people, and then apologized to everyone, "Don't look for her anymore, the eldest daughter of the Fang family has left Lan County."
Fang Ningmo's face instantly became extremely embarrassed.
Lian pulled Xu Lezhi, but Xu Lezhi just shed tears and shook his head without saying a word, but everyone had already guessed what was going on.
The eldest daughter of the Fang family is good friends with Xu Lezhi. What does Xu Lezhi's behavior now mean?
Lian was so angry that she grabbed Xu Lezhi's arm and said, "Look how anxious Madam Fang is. What do you know? Tell me now!"
Xu Lezhi had no choice but to stammer out the whole story: "The eldest daughter of the Fang family has been a little dazed since she read the imperial edict. This afternoon, I saw her walking out stealthily with a bundle on her back. I thought she was going back to Ye County to find Old Madam Fang. Then I remembered that my grandmother was still in Ye County, and I was worried about her health, so I wanted to go with her. But she said she wanted to go to Qiongzhou to ask Prince Ming for clarification! I tried to persuade her not to go, but she refused to listen. She then begged me not to tell anyone and asked me to pretend I knew nothing..."
Lian knew that she was not telling the truth. She didn't understand Xu Lezhi's personality because she was worried about Huang's health. He was a person who wanted to create chaos in the world.
Since his exile, Lian has seen through Xu Lezhi. Among his three daughters, the eldest daughter is kind and gentle, the youngest daughter is cute and adorable, but the second daughter's temperament and personality are very similar to Xu Deyuan, and she has even learned his cold-blooded appearance.
But after all, the Fang family was here, and Lian couldn't force Xu Lezhi to answer in public, so she had to suppress it and not mention it.
When Madam Fang heard this, her body went limp, her vision went dark, and she almost fainted.
Fang Ningmo was so anxious that she kept crying and holding her mother's hand tightly, "Mom!"
"Ruyu, how could she just leave..."
There were still some members of the Xu family who were unaware of the situation and were completely baffled. Huang Cui'e asked directly, "Why did she go to Prince Ming? Could it be that Prince Ming thought she was dead and was planning to marry someone else, so she had to rush over to explain herself to Prince Ming?"
Everyone was also shocked.
Everyone in the Fang family looked terrified and uneasy.
Thanks to Xu Qingying, the Fang family was the only one in the exile team who knew who the real murderer of the last bandit attack was.
It was also a good thing that they had a quarrel with Xu Qingying last time, and they thought that Xu Qingying was petty and deliberately making things difficult for their Fang family.
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