"Master Zhuang, can we reach Liangang Town in the evening?" Cuimei lifted the curtain and peeked through the window frame to ask.
Zhuang Song, riding beside him, thought for a moment, then tilted his head and replied, "It should be possible. However, the mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel, so it might be slower."
Jiang Yushu leaned over to the window and said, "If we can't get to town before dark, we'll have to stay in the village."
"That's all right." Zhuang Song, a mediocre rider, gripped the reins tightly and spurred his horse along at a slow pace. "We're going to survey the fields anyway, so it doesn't matter where we start. Once we've visited all the villages we need to survey, we can all go to town to discuss it. It'll be the same thing."
Jiang Yushu nodded and said: "Okay, everything will be done according to your arrangement!" @Infinite good articles, all in Jinjiang Literature City
"Farming time waits for no one," Zhuang Song said anxiously, burdened with work. "Yuehu Town has already started planting thousands of acres of land, but Liangang Town has just shipped the seeds away. We must hurry them up."
"Be quick, but don't mess around."
Zhuang Song nodded. "Well, that's why we have to check it out. First, to see if the villagers are diligent, and second, to see if their methods are correct. We don't know much about it, so you can see for yourself. If you find anything wrong, order them to change it on the spot."
"I see."
Fifteen million kilograms of grain is like a mountain, so heavy that people dare not slack off.
After a short discussion, Jiang Yushu lowered the curtain, leaned back against the cushions, gently stroked her belly with her right hand, and said apologetically, "I'm responsible for delaying everyone. We should have been able to reach Liangang Town by evening."
"Oh, stop thinking like that!" The new carriage was spacious and clean. Cuimei bent down, picked up the food box, placed it on her lap, opened it and sorted through the food, and comforted her, "You're pregnant and can't stand the bumps. Who wouldn't understand? Everyone is willing to understand. You've been traveling for half a day. Are you thirsty? Are you hungry? Do you want some water or a snack?"
Jiang Yushu sighed and replied helplessly, "About fifteen minutes ago, I drank some water and ate some cake. I'm full to the point of bulging. You can eat it yourself."
"I'm not hungry yet. I'll eat later."
Cuimei closed the food box and said dutifully, "The master has ordered that you be carefully taken care of. Madam Pan has carefully arranged: three meals a day, plus four servings of pastries. This is the minimum."
Is this the minimum amount? If you eat more than that for a few months, how fat will you get?
Jiang Yushu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she simply closed her eyes and rested, saying, "Well, I know, I will do my best not to embarrass you."
"Okay!" Cuimei smiled, put the lunch box down in the corner, and sat down beside them, saying worriedly, "Ah, thousands of acres of potatoes, it would be great if we had a whole field. We wouldn't have to run around all the time, avoiding the hassle of running back and forth between Yuehu and Liangang."
"Silly girl, stop talking about 'what ifs'. It's impossible."
As soon as the topic of business came up, Jiang Yushu immediately opened her eyes, her expression serious, and she shook her head and said, "I've calculated over and over again. 700,000 kilograms of grain seeds will require approximately 2,600 mu of land. Xicang is mountainous and the terrain is uneven. The two towns combined can provide enough suitable arable land. I'm already satisfied." After a pause, she revealed a look of longing and sighed, saying:
"But I heard that Yongzhou is very flat, with fertile plains and endless grasslands, some of which are fertile fields covering thousands of acres! So before it fell, Yongzhou was richer than Xicang."
"Unfortunately, it was taken over by the Northern Ape."
Jiang Yushu firmly believed it, "It's just temporary, it will be recovered sooner or later!" After she finished speaking, she closed her eyes to rest. Her body became more and more tired and she felt sleepy all day long.
The group consisted of a horse-drawn carriage and seven sword-bearing officers, with Zou Gui driving the carriage and several village heads from Liangang Town leading the way. Zhuang Song would sometimes practice riding and sometimes sit and rest with Zou Gui.
It was hot at noon, but fortunately the trees on both sides of the road were tall and lush, providing shade and a gentle breeze.
The horses' hooves stomped the ground with a "clack, clack" sound, the wheels squeaked, and they hurried on their way at a leisurely pace.
Jiang Yushu and Cuimei were tired from chatting, so they snuggled up to each other and fell asleep in a daze.
The next moment, the two old horses in the lead were smart and suddenly smelled the blood. They stopped hesitantly, snorting and paddling the ground with their hooves.
The carriage stopped as the car in front stopped, and Zou Gui reined in his horse and said, "Whoa!"
"What's going on?"
Jiang Yushu was startled by the shaking, and hurriedly woke Cuimei, leaned over and lifted the curtain to ask: "Why did you stop?"
Zhuang Song, a weak scholar, trotted along unskillfully. He approached and replied, "For some reason, the old horse in the lead suddenly stopped and refused to go any further."
"Ah?" Cuimei rubbed her eyes, briefly reminiscing, then nervously glanced at the dense forest on both sides. "The old horses are very smart and know the way. Did they spot a ferocious beast in the forest? Like a wolf? Back then, when we were almost reaching Xicang, we were attacked by a pack of wolves on a mountain road just like this. Luckily, Captain Pan gave the order, and we were able to fight off the beasts with swords and arrows."
"That... is hard to say. Maybe there really is a ferocious beast nearby that scared our horses." Zhuang Song's face changed, and he felt worried, and he involuntarily gripped the hilt of his sword.
Jiang Yushu shuddered, gathered herself, and shouted a warning: "The deep mountains and dense forests are full of birds and beasts. There may be extremely hungry beasts hiding in the dark, trying to attack people or horses. Everyone, quickly take out your self-defense weapons. If you encounter jackals, wolves, tigers or leopards, just use your weapons to deal with them!" She changed the subject and warned:
"But be very careful. The hidden weapons are all poisoned. Don't accidentally injure one of your own. Doctor Fang has said that even though it's not a deadly poison, it could still be troublesome if someone passes out."
The companions nodded, hurriedly took out the various weapons and hidden weapons they carried with them, and prepared for battle.
The leading old horse became disorderly, and the rest of the horses began to neigh and dig the ground with their hooves, raising a lot of dust.
At this moment, the remaining Beijiao soldiers ambushed in the valley of the dense forest were whispering and discussing, spying on the Ganchao troops below.
There were six of them in total. After being defeated in Changgu Bay, they fled into the mountains and hid for half a month. They have not been able to escape back to Yongzhou as they wished. Two of them were seriously injured. Their dry food and medicine had long been exhausted. They were frightened and had no prey all day long, so they had to starve.
The leader was feeling depressed and anxious. The knife wound on his cheek had not healed yet. Due to lack of medicine, the scar was red, swollen and oozing pus, looking very hideous.
This is a remote area with few people coming and going. If we let the group of people below go, we don’t know how many days we will have to ambush before we can find new prey.
Seeing the "fat prey", he became alert and urged his horse forward cautiously.
The bandit leader thought he was a martial arts expert and was at the end of his rope, so he took a risk, suddenly drew his sword, roared, jumped out of the depression, jumped off the steep slope, and rushed towards his prey!
The accomplices followed closely behind, dragging their hungry and wounded bodies, yelling and bluffing, trying to scare the prey into surrendering and waiting to be killed.
"Oh no!" The sharp-eyed man opened his eyes wide, trembling with fear, and shouted in panic: "It's not a beast, it's a Beiqi people!"
"What?"
"They really are Beiqi people, six or six!"
Zhuang Song trembled on his horse, his face pale with fear. With a start, he subconsciously raised his hand and threw the darts at the enemy, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Don't panic, and don't turn around and run. If you turn around, you're dead!"
"Quick, grab your weapons and fight the enemy. Don't show any mercy!"
Jiang Yushu and Cuimei were fiddling with a small short bow, but they panicked and loosened their grip, causing the short arrow to shoot out at an angle, and it accidentally hit the arm of an enemy.
"Hey, who is that - you two have no aim and almost hit me!" Zhuang Song was furious and helpless. He spurred his horse away in a hurry. When he threw the dart, his face was pale and his hands were shaking violently.
"Sorry, sorry, we didn't mean it." Jiang Yushu's hands were also shaking. She quickly put another arrow on the arrow, gritted her teeth, took aim and let go, but unfortunately it missed.
Cuimei's face turned pale. She bent down, grabbed the remaining short arrow, quickly put it on the string, and screamed, "Shoot! Kill the enemy who is blocking the road!"
In an instant, the two groups of people engaged in a melee, with swords flashing, arrows flying, darts, poison needles, waist knives, hatchets, and sickles all being used, and the battlefield was in chaos.
A moment later, two of the six enemy soldiers who were already injured were killed and four were injured, half of whom were hit by poisoned hidden weapons.
Dagan won a narrow victory, and the crowd cheered and surrounded the captives, angrily scolding them:
“Kneel down!”
"You thief Beijiao, you're so arrogant to kill people in broad daylight."
"Kneel down quietly and don't move."
"Hey, are you still moving? I'm going to beat you to death!"
Zhuang Song, panting heavily, his clothes soaked with sweat, kicked the enemy's weapons aside and shouted, "Those who don't understand, tie them up immediately. Tie them up tightly."
Jiang Yushu got off the carriage, took a closer look, and asked anxiously, "How many casualties have we suffered?"
"Ouch." An officer clutched his shoulder and groaned in pain. "Help, help me, I don't want to die."
Several others were slightly injured, but fortunately none of them were fatal.
His companions were busy taking care of the wounded and comforting them, "Don't be afraid. We have wound medicine and ginger ointment. You won't die."
Jiang Yushu called out, "He's seriously injured, help him get in the car quickly."
"Then what are you going to do?" Zhuang Song turned his head in surprise.
Jiang Yushu wiped the sweat off her face. "The carriage is spacious, so squeeze in. We can't stay here for long. Let's clean up quickly. Don't worry about the dead bodies. Tie the prisoners to the back of the carriage. We'll report it when we get back to the village and ask the army to send someone to deal with it!"
"Hey, there's a guy biting his tongue, he wants to commit suicide." Zou Gui shouted.
Zhuang Song's face darkened as he shouted, "Use the cloth to cover their mouths! Don't even think about killing yourself!"
"Good idea!" Everyone hurriedly rushed in, fearing that there were still enemies in the dense forest. They quickly packed up and returned the same way.
In the evening, the group arrived at Liu Village exhausted with the captives.
Jiang Yushu got out of the car and entered the courtyard. Without bothering to answer her family's concerned questions, she began by saying, "Zhuzi, Xiaoshu, we were ambushed by six Northern Qiong people halfway through our journey. We killed two on the spot and brought back four captives. What do you think we should do?"
"ah?"
"You are so unlucky. Let's go and take a look!"
Xiaoshu sighed sympathetically, "During the last battle at Changgu Bay, several groups of enemy soldiers fled and hid in the mountains, where they turned into bandits."
Zhuzi and Xiaoshu, who had been caring for the wounded, had stayed at the Guo family's house for about half a month, becoming familiar with each other. They rushed out of the courtyard, examined the bound captives, and after a few words, explained, "We have no say in whether they live or die. This involves a foreign enemy, and according to custom, we must hand them over to the military for disposal."
"But once we leave, Master Cao and the other four—"
Jiang Yushu understood and interrupted, "Don't worry, my family will take care of them."
"Okay. There's no time to lose. Let's escort the prisoners back to the camp before it gets dark!" Zhuzi and Xiaoshu were used to it. With quick hands and feet, they tied the four prisoners to the cart, whipped the horses, and drove away in a blink of an eye.
Jiang Yushu held onto the door frame, exhausted. Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, a sudden flash of darkness appeared before her eyes, and her body swayed.
"What's wrong, ma'am?"
"What's wrong with you?" The family members hurriedly supported him.
Fang Shenggan was anxious, "Quick, help her back to her room to rest!"
In a moment, Jiang Yushu entered the room, supported by Nanny Pan and Xiaotao on either side. Before she reached the bed, she suddenly stopped, stood there, not daring to move, and covered her stomach with her hands. Her face turned pale in an instant, and she burst into tears, saying in a trembling voice:
"Oh no, I-I don't feel right."
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