The two sides signed a twenty-year ceasefire agreement. The nomadic alliance tribes, as the aggressors and the defeated party, compensated the Great Swamp Kingdom. In addition to hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep and horses, they also had to pay tribute of a large amount of fodder every year. The Central Plains horse ranch was mainly located in the Ziyun Plain. The Ziyun area was rich in water and grass, but even with large-scale horse breeding, the supply was still insufficient.
The people craned their necks in anticipation, and finally, the great victory arrived. The thought that there would be no more grain or silver levies spread the news far and wide, and cheers erupted. Some families even bought firecrackers to celebrate.
Since the start of the war, everyone has been living in fear, unable to sleep well every night, terrified of suffering a major defeat and having to continue using their blood and sweat to maintain the enormous military expenditures next year.
That kind of life would be unbearable.
On the day the news arrived, the villagers of Datian Village stopped what they were doing and gathered at the village entrance, in the dam square, excitedly discussing it.
"Our Great Swamp Kingdom is still the most powerful. Even if those small, sparsely populated countries unite more than twenty of them to attack, they still can't shake us."
"That's right. Although heavy taxes were levied, this major upheaval was resolved in just a few months, eliminating future troubles and putting an end to it all. Now we can farm in peace."
"The cold winter is over, and the rice in our greenhouses is completely unaffected. The ears of rice are fuller than in previous years. After harvesting, we will plant another season. This year, the granary will probably be overflowing."
"The hard times are finally over. It wasn't easy."
Compared to everyone else's relaxed and hopeful expressions, the Song family members looked gloomy.
Because of their feud with the Qiao family and their disbelief that greenhouses would actually work, they did not buy greenhouses to grow crops.
It's useful to plant crops in greenhouses, but if the war gets intense and the stalemate drags on for too long, and grain needs to be requisitioned, wouldn't all the crops have been planted for nothing?
After weighing the pros and cons, they decided that it was best not to plant it.
Now every household has harvested grain, and the temperature has warmed up again, so a bumper harvest is inevitable. After the harvest, we'll plant another crop, and the whole village will have full granaries.
Only the Song family drank thin porridge.
Most of the family's money was confiscated, and the rest was used to send Song Ruier to school in town, but that would only last for less than three years.
The granary was empty, with only two fen left to tide them over, and the silver in their hands was being consumed rapidly. Life was becoming increasingly bleak.
Old Mrs. Song was filled with remorse.
If only I had known, I would have shamelessly bought the plastic greenhouses and planted an extra season's worth of grain to sell. That would have not only filled the granary but also increased our surplus money. After all, the Song family owns quite a lot of land.
It's too late to plant now; everyone else has already had a bumper harvest, and I'm afraid my own field won't even have ears of grain yet.
“It’s all the Qiao family’s fault. If they hadn’t been so hostile to us, we wouldn’t have needed to buy plastic greenhouses; we could have just gotten them from them,” said Mrs. Feng.
Ms. Chen felt that her life was miserable and couldn't help but wipe away her tears.
A year ago, the Song family was among the top families in the village.
But now—
The family fortunes declined, and then two of its pillars of support died.
Seeing Chen cry, Shen's eyes also welled up with tears.
All the other families are good, except for the Song family. I must have been blind to marry into such a family.
Both of them were having second thoughts; they were only in their thirties, still young, and still had a chance.
Old Mrs. Song sneered: "We should get through difficulties together. That's what family is all about. If anyone dares to have any other thoughts, I will never issue a divorce letter and will kick her out of the house to fend for herself."
The two daughters-in-law were startled, never expecting that the aggressive tactics they had used on Qiao Yunni would backfire on them.
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