Shen Yu realized something was wrong after he said that. When he tried to change the subject, Wan Xueying asked calmly, "Tell me, what's the news?"
"It's nothing, actually."
Wan Xueying rolled her eyes at him. "Now that we've come this far, what else can't we say?"
Shen Yu then said, "It's said that Wan Huqing nearly killed Wan Hesu that time. Wan Chengji couldn't handle the shock and fainted on the spot. After waking up, he discovered he had suffered a stroke. He barely made it to the Northern Frontier, but he probably doesn't have much time left."
Wan Xueying sneered, "That's his own fault. He raised such a big kid. Forget it," she waved her hand again, "let's not talk about those irrelevant people." It really affects my mood.
The two walked in silence for a while, and just before Wan Xueying got on the carriage, Shen Yu changed the topic to the military settlement.
"Not only Ningjiang County, but the entire north is suffering from a severe drought. Pei Xuanqing, as the commander of the northern border reserve camp, is under greater pressure than me. He sent someone to tell me that he has written a letter to the emperor, requesting to raise military rations from the south. But how much can be raised? Even if it is raised, only people in the regular formation can get it. What about the people in the reserve? And how are the military households in the military settlements going to survive?" This is the biggest difficulty Shen Yu will face.
"It's the same for the people in northern Xinjiang!" Wan Xueying said. "The current price of grain is several times higher than in previous years. Many families can't buy much food even if they spend all their savings. Even if they can barely make it through this winter, what will they do next year?" In the north, grain is only available once a year. Regardless of next year's weather, even if the weather is good, they still have to wait until autumn to get food. How will everyone survive in the meantime?
"So we have to come up with a permanent solution."
"I heard that Xixiang, the neighboring Northern Hu Kingdom, has had good weather this year. Can we find a way to exchange some grain there?" Wan Xueying had considered going to the south of Great Yan to exchange food, but the crops in the south were the only ones left to harvest in Great Yan. Not to mention that most of it would go to the military rations in both the north and south, even if that wasn't done, supplying the entire population of Great Yan would be a problem. So why not expand our horizons and look abroad?
Xixiang State is a major grain-producing country with strong soldiers and horses. Even the Northern Hu State does not dare to ask for money from it easily. If we use things that Xixiang State can use to exchange, it should be relatively easy to exchange for food.
But there are many issues to consider.
First, there was the issue of transportation. Transporting food and fodder from the south of Da Yan to the north would result in a significant loss along the way. Furthermore, the world was in turmoil, with bandits and pirates rampant. It was unclear whether food could be transported to the north. If things went wrong, the goods used to exchange for food would fall into the hands of bandits and pirates before they could even leave the northern border, let alone exchange them for food in the south.
If we want to go to Xixiang Kingdom to exchange grain, but the problem of transportation cannot be solved, it will be a waste of time to go.
Secondly, they had to cross the Northern Hu Kingdom and travel back and forth. Da Yan and the Northern Hu had already had their fair share of conflict, and they were worried about being intercepted by the Northern Hu Kingdom before they even got their food, or right after they got it. Therefore, Wan Xueying only made this suggestion, leaving the specific issues to Shen Yu and Pei Xuanqing to resolve.
Logically, she had the space to be the perfect intermediary, but the problem was that her ten-square-meter space, minus the space occupied by the Tree of Life, didn't leave much room for storage. Running back and forth, the little food she could get wasn't even enough for the people or the horses. Unless her Tree of Life could expand. Thinking about the Tree of Life she had plucked so many leaves from, she felt it was only natural that the space hadn't expanded.
While she was thinking about this problem, Shen Yu was also considering the feasibility of this matter.
Rather than going to Xixiang Kingdom to exchange for food, he preferred to seize the Beihu Kingdom's grain camp. That would not only be free, but would also keep Beihu Kingdom in check for a while. After all, war is impossible without food.
However, this task was not easy and could not be completed by the reserve team alone. Pei Xuanqing had to worry about this matter, but he would definitely bring people to share a piece of the pie. He did not want to make wedding clothes for others in vain.
After the two of them put aside their discussion, Wan Xueying boarded the carriage, with Gu Ming acting as driver. Shen Yu rode alongside. Shunzi, Qiu Shi, and the others who had come with them were selecting the furs in the warehouse and loading them onto their horse-drawn and mule-drawn carts.
The military settlement wasn't far from the reserve camp, and even before Wan Xueying got close, she saw vast expanses of scorched rice, lying on the dry, cracked earth. Honestly, it was impossible not to feel a pang of grief at the sight of so much destroyed crops.
Wan Xueying used her mental power to look around and found that the reason this area was so dry was because there was really no water source underground around here.
They walked a little further in and finally saw some greenery on the mountains on both sides. Gu Mingchao said excitedly to Wan Xueying through the car curtain: "Miss Wan, we should be able to find water if we go a little further in." In such a drought environment, it is easier to determine the direction of the water source based on the plants.
"Then let's go a little further inside." Wan Xueying had already figured out this pattern.
After walking a little further, Wan Xueying discovered a water source with her mental power, and asked Gu Ming to stop by the side of the road, and Shen Yu also stopped.
"Is there any water source nearby?" Shen Yu asked Wan Xueying in a low voice while Gu Ming was looking around.
"There should be." Wan Xueying nodded, "But we didn't bring that many people here, so we have to find the people here to dig and confirm it."
Shen Yu nodded and said, "Then let's mark it first and talk about it after we find the person." He asked again, "Are there any more around here?" With so many military fields, finding only one water source is like a drop in the bucket.
Wan Xueying used her mental power to scan around and actually found another one, but to be more precise, it was a branch of this water source.
"Let Gu Ming find it." Wan Xueying never tries to be stubborn in this regard, so most of the time she asks Gu Ming for help.
"Okay, I'll go find someone to help."
What made Shen Yu feel strange was that they didn't see a single military household on the way here. When he rode his horse to Baihu Village where the military households lived together, apart from a few elderly people and a few very young children, he still didn't see an adult man or even an adult woman.
"Uncle, where have all the military households here gone?" He stopped an old man and asked him.
"They," the old man replied, "They went to the charcoal kiln to help burn charcoal."
"Charcoal kiln? Burning charcoal?" Shen Yu frowned slightly. "Isn't that what soldiers are supposed to do?"
"Yeah! But you've seen the situation here. If we don't find something to do, we'll just die."
"Then what will they be paid after they go there?" As far as he knew, the soldiers there could only do hard labor to earn a living.
"What kind of compensation? It's good enough if I can have something to eat." What he meant was that it was just like being a soldier, just doing hard labor.
"Are you all willing to do it?" Shen Yu asked.
"There's nothing we can do! It's better than us, the old and the young, who can't even make a living."
"Okay, I understand. Thank you."
After Shen Yu found out, he went back and told Wan Xueying before going to Peijun.
The detachments were composed of exiled prisoners. Unlike military households, they had no household registration and could move freely within Ningjiang County. They had no household registration and could only move within the designated area of the reserve camp. Otherwise, they would be considered deserters.
Unlike military households who farm for the army and can keep 30% of the food for themselves, they just work hard for nothing and get nothing but a meal.
In addition to being given free farm work, the soldiers also had to hunt, burn lime and charcoal, and repair canals. In short, they were never idle, and they were the lowest-ranking slaves in the army. To prevent them from escaping and to ensure they could be assigned tasks at any time, there was a guard composed of retired veterans from the Ningjiang County Guard.
Since they were retired, they were no longer part of the regular formation. However, they held some power and could gain a lot of benefits by exploiting the regular troops, which was a lucrative position.
Because he was not familiar with the situation here, Shen Yu simply went directly to the guard team to look for someone.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Seeing a strange face, the guards were quite responsible and stopped Shen Yu.
"I'm the new assistant garrison commander of the Ningjiang County Reserve Camp." As he spoke, Shen Yu showed his token to the other party.
"It's Lord Shen." The other man clasped his fists, and the others followed suit. They had already received the order and knew that from now on, Shen Yu would be in charge of them.
"Then I wonder why Lord Shen is here?" After learning about Shen Yu's identity, the other party was obviously much more polite.
"I'm here to look for someone." Shen Yu directly stated his purpose.
"I wonder who you are looking for, my Lord?"
"Looking for the people from the military households."
"Sir," the other party explained quickly, "they came here voluntarily to do the hard labor. They were not forced to come by our subordinates."
"Yes, Lord Shen, they really came here on their own initiative." Another person explained.
"Don't be nervous," Shen Yu smiled. "I've already heard the whole story. But I have something important to discuss with them. Can you help me find someone among them who carries some weight?"
"Sir, please sit down and have a cup of tea. I will go find it right away."
The charcoal kiln was quite far from here, but the guard was very efficient and soon brought back a middle-aged man in his thirties.
"Sir," the guard introduced to Shen Yu, "this man, Li Laoshi, is the son of the village chief of Baihu Village." This identity alone was enough to show that his words carried some weight.
"Sir, I am Li Laoshi. I wonder why you are looking for me?"
"I'm looking for you because I want you to take your people back and farm."
"Farming?" Li Laoshi glanced at the cloudless sky. Was this gentleman dreaming? Why would he let them farm?
The guards also looked up at the sky with him and had similar thoughts.
"Don't be surprised. My friend just found a water source at the military settlement. When you return, you can repair the canal while you're at it. You can plant some radishes and cabbages in the future."
"But what good will it do if we grow radishes and cabbages when we get back?" Li Laoshi retorted. "Don't we have to hand over most of our earnings? We still can't eat enough, so we might as well continue working here and still make a living."
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