Chapter 257 There is a problem, definitely a problem
The Empress Dowager gave birth to a son and a daughter. Her son became the emperor and her daughter became the eldest princess. These two children were her greatest support and pride in her life.
"Mother, no wonder you're not worried about your daughter at all!"
"You little girl, you ran away from home without saying anything. I haven't punished you yet, so why am I still worried about you?"
The Queen Mother deliberately kept a stern face, but the upturned corners of her mouth revealed her good mood.
The family chatted and laughed for a while before Zhou Yu carefully asked her about what happened after she left the palace.
"My royal brother has rejected the marriage proposal from the eldest prince of Laos. You don't have to go for the marriage!"
"real?!"
Zhou Yu was so happy that she almost jumped up. The problem that forced her to run away from home was solved, and she didn't have to marry and live in a foreign country!
"Look how happy you are. I told you I was just discussing this with you, but who knew you'd leave as soon as we disagreed?"
Zhou Yu glared at his only sister in reproach. She was so happy that she didn't even realize that he had offended the Kingdom of Laos in order to help her cancel the marriage.
"Thank you, my royal brother!"
Zhou Yu was truly grateful. It was not easy for her elder brother, who was in a high position, to give up the benefits that the marriage would bring to the country. It was really not easy for her elder brother to withstand the pressure from all sides.
"It's all thanks to Bai Li. Without the crossbows and the Eight Ox Crossbows she designed, as well as the Sky Thunder, the Great Zhou wouldn't have been able to withstand the Laotian army of 100,000 with just the limited force they had."
"Not only that, without her, this summer harvest would have been completely fruitless. With her, the people have enough food and won't starve to death..."
Well, as the family talked, it almost turned into a meeting to praise Bai Li!
"My taste is good. We hit it off right away, and then I chased her all the way to Qianxi!"
"Yes, you have good taste. It's a pity that Bai Li is not a man, otherwise you would have pledged your love to him!"
"Mother!"
"Bai Li is not a man, but the Bai family has several outstanding men..."
The Queen made a cautious suggestion, then observed the expressions of the Queen Mother and the Emperor.
After hearing this, the mother and son looked at each other, but before they could express their opinion, they saw Zhou Yu with a red face.
Zhou Yu...
Queen Mother...
There is a problem, absolutely there is a problem!
"Royal brother, Bai Li has made an indelible contribution to the prestige our Great Zhou has today. You must reward her well."
"My brother the Emperor bestowed upon her the title of Princess of a Different Surname, granted her a first-rank imperial decree, and gave her fiefdom and ten thousand taels of gold..."
As for the countless rare treasures, I won’t count them all.
"These are more or less okay, but it's a pity that she doesn't want to be an official."
Zhou Yu's heart and eyes were full of thoughts and thoughts about Bai Li's interests, and even the Queen Mother laughed when she heard it!
"What an outgoing girl, she's closer to others than to her own family."
"Mother! Bai Li is not just anyone else, she...she is my good sister!"
"Yes, she is your savior and has taken you in for so long. Her kindness is indeed closer than that of a sister!"
The Queen Mother was originally joking with her, but seeing that she was serious, she also became serious.
"How about I adopt her as my daughter and find you a sister to keep you company?"
"this……"
Zhou Yu suddenly thought of her sister-in-law and her face turned red. Now the blush that had just faded away climbed up her cheeks again, and her whole face felt hot as if it were on fire.
"What's wrong with this child? Her face keeps turning red. Is she sick? No, my prince, you need to ask Imperial Physician Liu to come and take a good look at her. Could it be that she's suffered so much outside and developed a chronic illness?"
Zhou Yu hurriedly said no, but the Queen Mother and Zhou Yu were still worried, so they called the imperial physician and ordered the imperial chef to help her prepare medicinal food. The palace was in a state of chaos for a while.
The next day, envoys from Mongolia arrived.
Before Xuan Yuhao paid his respects to the Emperor of the Great Zhou, he and the envoy went to the Princess's Mansion with gifts to apologize to Bai Li.
But Bai Li was not there, so Xuan Yuhao had to return in disappointment.
The next day, Xuan Yuhao and the envoy entered the palace and met Zhou Yu to express their intention to redeem the person.
When Xuan Yuhao heard the conditions for redeeming the eldest prince, he lost his composure.
"Two cities, Bianguan City and Yuzhou City, plus two prefectures, Yuzhou and Qiangzhou, 100,000 dan of grain, 5,000 cattle and sheep, and 3,000 horses!"
The messenger finished reading it softly, and everyone felt numb.
The Great Zhou has taken too much, almost taking over half of the Mongolian Empire!
Xuan Yuhao signaled the envoy to bargain, but no matter how eloquent the envoy was, Wu Shangshu, the head of the Great Zhou, refused to give in.
There was no other way, so the two had to return to the post station and write a letter to the Mongolian Kingdom, and let the king make the decision.
Bai Li settled down at home and recently went to the fields again.
She heard from her family who had returned from Qianxi that it was fortunate that the summer harvest had not been reduced, otherwise they would not have been able to buy food even if they had money, and who knows how many people would have starved to death.
When Bai Li came here, he deeply understood what famine was, especially during a war.
She didn't let her family starve during her exile, but during the war she experienced what it felt like to have a shortage of military rations.
The soldiers ate black coarse grain bread and steamed buns, and they had to eat blanched wild vegetables to fill their stomachs.
Whether in the Qianxi military camp or in Yuanzhou, the soldiers ate almost the same amount of food. The memorials were submitted several times, and the emperor's reply was always that food was in short supply. He asked the people to tighten their belts and take food out of their mouths so that the soldiers could have enough food.
At that time, Bai Li was puzzled and thought that the emperor was deliberately treating the soldiers harshly. He almost wanted to quit his job.
Later, Bai Zongren solved the mystery. There were many mountains and forests in Da Zhou, but few farmlands. Fine grains could not be grown on the slopes of the forests. Only coarse grains such as corn, sorghum and millet could be grown. Moreover, the yield was extremely low and the harvest was very small.
In order to win these two battles, the emperor really issued an order to purchase grain from the people at a price 20% higher than usual, so that there was enough food to send to the battlefield.
These coarse grain noodles were processed roughly, not as delicate as the coarse grains of later generations. Whether they were made into pancakes or steamed buns, they would make Bai Li's throat hurt, and he could hardly swallow them even if he stretched his neck.
Fortunately, she had space to secretly add more food, otherwise she would have starved to death.
As for her father and brothers, whoever gets close to her can get some food. It depends on who is lucky. She doesn't dare to give out more than she deserves, otherwise she won't be able to explain the source of her food.
After this, Bai Li realized that in ancient times, grain output was the top priority. Without grain, having mountains of gold and silver would be useless.
In an instant, she felt like a wealthy landowner who owned thousands of acres of land with abundant water.
Just think about it, she only cultivated a few acres of land in her space, but produced so much food.
If you plant those high-quality seeds outside, the yield will definitely not be too low.
If she wanted her family, friends, subordinates, and soldiers in the barracks to have enough food to eat, she had to focus on the fields and strive to win another great victory with a bumper grain harvest in the autumn!
"Princess, you said that by this autumn, the people of the Great Zhou will have enough to eat?"
Gao Dani swallowed her saliva. It was only after she entered the military camp that she knew what it felt like to have a full meal. Her parents sold her because they had no food.
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