After Yan Qingqing finished her work, she saw the two of them still standing to the side, so she said, "What are you two standing there for? Hurry up and go train."
Xiao Mochen: ......
Li Xiangjian: ......
Even crossing the river and then dismantling the bridge wouldn't happen this quickly. The two of them stayed here for half a day because they were worried about Yan Qingqing.
Xiao Mochen said, "If Auntie has nothing else to do, we'll go train. By the way, there are a few points in the military strategy that Auntie wrote that I don't quite understand. Could you explain them to me in detail when you have time?"
Yan Qingqing replied, "No problem, but what's written inside isn't necessarily all correct, or it might be applicable in a specific situation but not necessarily in other battlefields."
Furthermore, the essence of military strategy lies in flexibility. You must learn to apply what you've learned to other situations. If you have the time and resources, you can conduct military exercises. In your spare time, you can practice sand table simulations. Don't just memorize military texts; armchair strategizing can be disastrous.
Yan Qingqing's words shocked Xiao Mochen and Li Xiangjian once again. It would be impossible for Yan Qingqing to reach such a conclusion without several years of military experience, yet she had never left Chengyang County.
Yan Qingqing watched as the two of them fell into deep thought, and smiled smugly to herself. She hadn't learned the essence of thousands of years of culture for nothing; she was able to understand these things by standing on the shoulders of her predecessors.
Yan Qingqing ignored the two of them, picked up her basket and walked away gracefully. Before leaving, she said, "Anyway, you two are going to train. In a while, I'll send you a group of people so you can help me train them."
By the time Xiao Mochen and Li Xiangjian realized what was happening, Yan Qingqing had already walked away.
Xiao Mochen looked at Li Xiangjian and opened his mouth, but Li Xiangjian interrupted him before he could speak, saying, "Don't ask me, I don't know either. If you insist on asking, then you haven't read enough books."
After saying that, he turned around and disappeared into the deep forest to train.
Xiao Mochen's lips twitched. That wasn't what he wanted to ask. He just wanted to know what a sand table was. It seemed that Li Xiangjian wouldn't know, so it would be more reliable to ask his aunt if he had the chance.
Yan Qingqing hummed a little tune all the way home, clearly in a good mood.
Back in her own courtyard, Ruyi took Yan Qingqing's basket and asked with concern, "Madam, why have you been gone for so long? I was so worried. I was just about to tell the young mistress that I would go up the mountain to look for you."
"Next time you go up the mountain, please take me with you. Even just carrying your basket would be helpful."
This little girl has been following Yan Qingqing for a while now, and she knows that Yan Qingqing is quite easygoing, so she talks to Yan Qingqing much more casually than she did at the beginning.
Yan Qingqing said with a smile, "Didn't I ask you to learn accounting at home with the young mistress? After you've mastered it, I'll give you my private savings to manage."
Ruyi chuckled twice and said, "Madam, all the money we earn goes into the treasury. Where would you find any private savings? Even if I learned how to do it, I wouldn't have any use for it."
Yan Qingqing: ......
She really needs to work harder; look at this little girl, she dares to laugh at her. Yan Qingqing also thought that she should take a cut from any new business deals in the future, otherwise it would be embarrassing if she couldn't come up with her own money for something that needed to be done.
Li Xiangping and A Da and the others worked for three or four days to cultivate two acres of land. Yan Qingqing then led them to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes in the field for seedling cultivation. Yan Qingqing was the most experienced in seedling cultivation, so she was indispensable as their technical advisor. This kept them busy for several more days.
Because she was worried that the temperature would be too low, Yan Qingqing also asked A Da and the others to lay dry grass on the ground.
February arrived quickly, and Yan Qingqing thought about buying another batch of servants, intending to have them guard the house.
Back then, Manager Qian was so arrogant. If she had someone on her side, why would she need to ask Chen Liu for help? Besides, Lin You is a ready-made mentor. She saw Li Xiangjian's skills a few days ago. In addition, she paid for this person, so she might as well use him. If Xiao Mochen leaves one day, Lin You will definitely go with him.
Thinking of this, Yan Qingqing couldn't sit still, so she took Ada and headed straight for the county town's brokerage firm.
As she reached the city gate, a pitiful little beggar stopped her and said, "Madam, please be kind and give me some food. My sister is starving."
The child was not only filthy but also extremely thin. Yan Qingqing happened to have some flatbreads on her, and she was thinking of giving them to him, but then she saw several old beggars eyeing her menacingly, so she withdrew her hand from the flatbreads.
The little beggar looked at Yan Qingqing with disappointment. He had just gotten some food, but it had all been snatched away by other beggars. If he didn't get any more food, his sister would really starve to death.
Just as the little beggar was filled with disappointment, Yan Qingqing spoke up, "Take me to see your sister. I have some food here, but even if I give it to you now, you might not be able to bring it back to your sister."
Upon hearing this, the little beggar's eyes lit up. He quickly thanked Yan Qingqing and then led her and the others to the beggar's den.
Yan Qingqing originally intended for the little beggar to ride in the oxcart, but the little beggar insisted on refusing, saying that he was dirty and that it was an oxcart, not a place for a beggar like him.
Soon they arrived at the little beggar's dwelling. Calling it a beggar's den was no exaggeration. It was an abandoned old house with broken walls and drafts everywhere. The ground was covered with dry grass, but it was impossible for anyone to live inside when it was windy or rainy.
Besides a four- or five-year-old girl lying on the ground, there were seven or eight other children, all of whom looked sickly and clearly suffered from long-term malnutrition.
The others looked dejected when they saw the little beggar return empty-handed. They could never get food when they went out, and even if they did, it would be snatched away by other beggars. They were small and weak and could not compete with others. Sometimes they would even be beaten up by other beggars.
The little beggar rushed over to his sister lying on the ground, helped her up, and said, "Sister, get up quickly, a kind person has brought you food."
Perhaps hearing about food, the little girl opened her eyes and swallowed hard.
Yan Qingqing sighed, took the egg pancake from A-Da's hand, and handed it to the little beggar. Before the little beggar could feed her, the little girl snatched it and wolfed it down.
Yan Qingqing immediately heard a series of swallowing sounds around her. At this moment, another little beggar cautiously stepped forward and asked, "Madam, could you give me some food? I've been starving for days."
After saying that, he knelt down and kowtowed to Yan Qingqing repeatedly. His kneeling had an effect, as the other little beggars also knelt down, begging Yan Qingqing to have pity on them. Yan Qingqing suddenly felt like she had disturbed a beggar's den.
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