Chapter 277 Troubled Times Are Coming
After coming out of the teahouse, Zhou Yunshu took people to the bookstore to buy pens, ink, paper and inkstone.
When they were still in Dongwang Village, Zhou Yunshu had already written a letter to Du Mazi, Hu Zi and others, asking them to stock up on grain no matter what the price was.
Not only them, but even Feng Xujie and the He family were helping Zhou Yunshu buy food, but Zhou Yunshu still felt insecure.
The words she just heard in the teahouse, between the lines, all indicated that troubled times were coming.
Maybe there will be no need to wait for that dog emperor to die before the Great Zhou is engulfed in war.
Before that day comes, she wants to build a solid fortress for herself and her family and train an elite army so that they can survive safely in the turbulent times.
After buying the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, Zhou Yunshu returned to the inn. When she was writing a letter in her room, Chu San knocked on the door and came in after getting her permission.
Chusan came to Zhou Yunshu with a letter and said, "This is a letter from the master."
The master of the third grade is none other than Ji Mingzhu.
Zhou Yunshu took the letter and saw that Chusan had no intention of leaving, so she had to open it in front of him.
The letter was only one page long. It first asked about Zhou Yunshu's current progress and future arrangements, and then...
Ji Mingzhu asked Zhou Yunshu to write a letter to Du Mazi, asking him to send all the grain stored during this period to Changping in Cangzhou and hand it over to Zhou Jianying.
She said that there was a food shortage in the northern border, and Zhou Jianying encountered difficulties in stockpiling food. Food relief was needed to feed the Zhou family's army in the northern border, so Zhou Yunshu, the head of the Zhou family, was needed to send food urgently.
I don’t know if it was because of what Lin Fuyan said before, but when Zhou Yunshu saw the words Zhou Jianying, Zhou Jiajun, and distribute grain, she looked back and forth for a long time.
"Miss, is there any problem?" Chu San asked when he saw Zhou Yunshu holding the letter for a long time.
Zhou Yunshu folded the letter and looked up at Chu San. "No, I was just wondering, it's not winter yet, how could the Northern Territory be so short of food?"
Chusan said: "Under normal circumstances, although the grain harvest has not yet begun in the North, there is no shortage of food."
"There's no shortage of new grain, but there's plenty of old grain. Furthermore, Cangzhou, Youzhou, and Pingzhou are all near the sea, so cargo ships from Qingzhou, Yangzhou, and other places will be transporting grain to the northern border."
"But you also know that Qingzhou has been struggling since the year before last. Last year, the Feng family in Yangzhou was in turmoil. Add to that the ongoing war in the north, and the people have been displaced. The fields have become wasteland. How can there be food for the people or even the army?"
"Even if there are military settlements and households, they are privately owned by the military."
The Zhou family army led by Zhou Jianying is now a ragtag group of troops in the northern border.
Zhou Yunshu nodded and looked at Chu San and said, "Did Third Uncle stay in the army for a long time?"
Chusan nodded, "Seven or eight years."
"But back then we were defending ourselves against the Turkic Tartars, but now..."
Although Chusan didn't finish the rest of his words, both of them understood his meaning.
The current situation is that foreign tribes such as the Turks and Tatars have been beaten by the former Zhou army and the current King of Wei, Ji Sheng, and dare not show their heads, but the war is still not over and the civil strife has just begun.
Zhou Yunshu sighed slightly, took out another piece of paper from the pen, ink, paper and inkstone she had just bought, and prepared to write back to Ji Mingzhu.
She unfolded the letter, looked at the empty letter, and said with a hint of bitterness: "When the country prospers, the people suffer; when the country perishes, the people suffer."
"When will this day end?"
When Chu San took out the written letter, the sadness on Zhou Yunshu's face disappeared.
She looked at the letter Ji Mingzhu wrote to her, burned the previous letter she had written to Du Mazi on the candlelight, and then wrote a new one.
It’s okay to give food to Zhou Jianying, and Zhou Yunshu is even more willing to distribute food to Zhou’s army.
However, they must know where the food came from and who sent it from thousands of miles away to save their lives.
Zhou Yunshu is not the kind of person who does good things silently behind the scenes without asking for anything in return. Since she has done this, she will let everyone know, especially the person who has benefited from it.
She would not do any business that would lose money.
Zhou Yunshu took advantage of the fact that she had not returned from mailing letters on the third day of the Lunar New Year and mailed out the letters to Du Mazi, Hu Zi and others.
When she returned on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Zhou Yunshu was sitting at a table in the inn's lobby, asking the waiter which restaurant in the county had the best food. She planned to book a few tables and treat her family in the evening.
They are leaving tomorrow and only have the chance to have a good meal tonight.
In the evening, Zhou Yunshu did not restrict them from drinking. With Chusan and Chunque there, even she and Wu Gui had a few drinks.
They slept until dawn. In the morning, they had breakfast at the inn and bought a lot of cooked food in the city. Then they loaded the full carriage and headed out of the city.
But after just one day, the soldiers at the city gate seemed a little more arrogant than yesterday.
However, these were not something Zhou Yunshu and her group could take care of. After leaving the county town, they headed south and it took them almost two days to reach the second village.
The second village is called Fujia Village. As the name of this village suggests, most of the farmers there have the surname Fu, and the rest have all kinds of surnames.
When Zhou Yunshu heard the name of this manor, she was prepared to face a show of force like she had faced at Qishui Manor, but what surprised her was that Fujia Manor had arranged everything she had ordered before very well.
Even the school she wanted had been prepared long ago. The ages of the students ranged from five to twelve or thirteen years old, and they looked so serious about their studies that it didn't seem like they were faking it.
The head of Fujia Village is named Fu Ze, who is 35 years old this year. He doesn't look like a farmer, but more like a scholar.
"We had already prepared the school before you gave the order. Our ancestors were scholars, so we are particularly concerned about the children's education."
"I heard from Fu Rong and the others that the master's school has accepted many children from the manor to study with the young masters. If the master thinks that there are any good children from Fujia Manor, we can also send them to the master's house. It would be a blessing for them to become the young masters' schoolboys."
Zhou Yunshu stood outside the school for a while and indeed found a few good talents.
but……
"Aren't there any girls on the farm?"
"have."
Zhou Yunshu had said before that all children aged five and above, regardless of gender, would be sent to school, but now the school in Fujiazhuang is full of boys, with no girls at all.
"Why didn't you come to study?"
Fu Ze smiled and explained, "Master, girls also need to study, but it's not time yet."
"time?"
"Yes, generally girls over five years old can help with housework." Fu Ze explained to Zhou Yunshu with a smile, not noticing the dissatisfaction in Zhou Yunshu's eyes at all.
"In the morning they need to feed the chickens and pigs, cut grass for the pigs, and cook. After they finish these, they can come to the school to attend an hour-long class. After class, they have to go back to wash clothes and cook. In the afternoon, if there is work to do in the fields, they also have to go to the fields, so there is not much time for class."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com