"Oh, there is such a thing?" He Xiong looked up and down at the three of them, and scared them so much that their faces turned pale and sweat broke out on their foreheads.
At best, they were just wealthy families with some assets, and they had some confidence to bully the Tai family, but when faced with the iron-blooded and murderous border guards, they immediately became weak in the knees!
"Master, we just...we just couldn't reach an agreement at the moment, so we didn't dare to cause trouble!"
"Yes, yes, we just wanted to exchange some seeds. We didn't do anything bad!"
"General, please investigate!"
The three of them bowed and kowtowed, as obediently as students meeting their teacher, not daring to breathe.
He Xiong snorted coldly and replied, "Rakshasa has spies infiltrating Tai'an, and we are here to capture them. From today on, the area within a radius of thirty miles around Taijia Village will be under martial law. Anyone who steps in will be subject to questioning!"
"Since you are unaware of this order, I will let it go today. If you offend me again, I will torture you!"
"Yes, yes!" The three gentry quickly agreed, then got on the carriage and ran away like a stray dog!
Tai Yonglu cheered like a general who had won a battle!
Old Master Tai stepped forward and asked, "Brother He, how many people did you bring here? Can we arrange for them to stay in the row house? As for three meals a day, we can eat from the same pot. There won't be any big fish or meat, but we will definitely make sure we are full!" He Xiong quickly responded, "Old Master, I brought two hundred people here. I plan to patrol in two shifts, so I will arrange accommodation for one hundred people. As for meals..."
Feeling somewhat guilty, he pulled out a hundred taels of silver from his pocket and handed it directly to the old man. "These are the food allowances given by the general. They should be enough for half a month. Originally, there should be more, but life in the army is really too difficult..."
The old man took the banknote and replied, "That's enough. It's just to buy some food. We have the rest of the vegetables at home. No money is needed!"
After saying that, he directly handed the banknote to his eldest daughter-in-law behind him.
This amount of silver is equivalent to half a tael of silver per person for half a month. It is barely enough to eat a sorghum flour cake, occasionally mixed with some rice and flour, but it is not enough when oil, salt, meat and vegetables are added together.
Yang Lihua knew what was going on, but she smiled and said, "Don't worry, Brother He. Just help protect the fields, and don't worry about other trivial matters."
"Then I'll leave it to you, sister-in-law!" He Xiong breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, Master Tai San and the young and old men in the village have arrived.
Seeing that He Xiong brought so many people to help, Master Tai San was very happy. The blisters on his mouth could finally go away, and he could close his eyes and sleep well at night.
Otherwise, his head would be pounding at the slightest sign of trouble!
"Welcome, welcome! Mr. He Qian, you've arrived just in time. Our entire village's harvest for the year is counting on you!"
"Uncle San, you're too polite. This is what we should do!" He Xiong followed Tai Jizu and others in calling him Uncle San, which made Uncle Tai smile.
At this time, Tai Jiye and Tai Yongan returned from the city.
The family’s new fleet has been formed, with more than 30 horse-drawn carriages, which can be used at any time and are very convenient.
Early in the morning, the uncle and nephew took silver to the city and bought five carts of rice, flour, grain, oil and the like. Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the village, they found that the border guards had arrived.
"Oh, Brother He, you guys are here so fast!" Tai Jiye greeted He Xiong, then patted the bags on the car and said, "I thought it would take two or three days for you to get here, so I only bought food. Wait a minute, I'll have someone go get the pork we ordered and give you a good welcome."
After saying this, he shouted, and someone drove the new carriage back to the city.
He Xiong tried to stop them. There were more than 200 people there. How much would it cost to eat meat?
It’s just simple food, as long as everyone is full, it’s good enough!
Unfortunately, Tai Yongan had already rushed into the crowd, shouting, "Hey, Brother Gao, Hunzi, and Da Ya! Why are you all here?"
It turned out that in the tent where Yong'an lived, all the brothers followed He Xiong to work!
Several people also surrounded Yong'an and laughed happily. One patted him, and another knocked him on the head. They were very close to each other.
"You little bastard, you're back home enjoying yourself, so of course we're taking advantage of you too!"
"That's right, we hear you bragging about how much food you have at home all day long, so we want to try some too!"
"Boy, I'll follow you from now on!"
Seeing this, Grandpa Tai quickly called his grandson.
"Yong'an, you are familiar with these brothers, so take them to the row house to settle down! If there is anything missing, send someone back to let us know immediately. We will arrange it before dawn to avoid delaying the brothers' rest at night."
"I understand, Grandpa!" Tai Yongan responded loudly, and then shouted to the soldiers to follow him.
Yang Lihua and Liu Dongniang had already started working a long time ago. In the past few days, they had sewn more than a hundred coarse cloth bags and filled them with sorghum husks to make pillows.
Fortunately, the temperature is high in summer, so there is no need to prepare bedding. I can just sleep in my clothes on the big kang.
But Yang Lihua had just taken a closer look and found that the soldiers' shoes were probably worn for too long and were very worn out. Some of the soldiers' big toes were even sticking out towards the sky.
She was thinking about going to the city to buy some coarse cloth and asking the old and young women in the village to help sew a hundred pairs of shoes and socks...
Liu Dongniang was so busy that she wished she had eight hands.
Feeding more than 200 people three meals a day, and even a snack in the middle of the night, is definitely a huge project.
Fortunately, the villagers were united and the women were hardworking. She called her third aunt to discuss the matter and quickly arranged tasks for the old and young women.
There are ten people in a group, exactly forty people. Each person is responsible for one meal. It is not too tiring and they can also take care of the housework.
Each family also knew that He Xiong and others came to protect the village’s food, so they were naturally grateful and happy.
Liu Dongniang didn't have to make any arrangements, as every family picked vegetables from the yard and sent them over.
Liu Dongniang was worried about the pile of vegetables, so she asked Tai Yongyue to be responsible for accounting, while Tai Yonglu and Chen Ruiyang formed a team with the naughty boys in the village.
From then on, we would make a meal menu one day in advance and post it in the straw hut. If there was a lack of any vegetables, the team would go door to door in the village to collect the vegetables. This way we ensured that there was no waste or clutter, and the food would be fresh!
The women and children were all busy, and the men couldn't be lazy either. Not only did they have to follow the patrols as usual, but they also had to help take care of the army's horses, let them out to water, and clean the stables. There was work to do everywhere, and they had no time to spare!
In short, with the arrival of 200 border guards, the entire Taijia Village became like a machine, busy and orderly.
The commotion in Taijia Village naturally could not be hidden from Liujia Village and Zhangjia Village.
The village chiefs of the two villages came to check at dusk and were pulled together by Mr. Tai San and given a good talk.
As the two men walked back in the night, their legs were as soft as noodles. It turned out that so many thieves had set their sights on the corn fields in the village.
Fortunately, Grandpa Tai joined the border defense army and found a reliable buyer and backer for everyone. Otherwise, those powerful people would have asked them to kneel down and hand over the corn with both hands. Not to mention a high price, they might not even get a penny.
What will the old and young in the family eat and what will they look forward to by then? It will be a waste of a year’s hard work!
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