Chapter 34 Winter (Part Two): Preparing for the New Year
Administrative Office.
Mo Jingchun's desk was cluttered with papers and bamboo slips. She sat down at the desk, quickly read the contents of the page in her hand, and placed it on the stack of papers to her right.
She picked up a bamboo slip, glanced at its contents, and placed it on the pile of bamboo slips to her right.
If she saw anything important, she would pick up a pen and write it down in her notebook.
The first heavy snowfall of the year caused the houses of seventeen households in Yunhe County to collapse.
Subsequent statistical reports from various locations showed: 21 households in Tianshui County, 26 households in Songhua County, 32 households in Qingyang County, 19 households in Baoshan County, 24 households in Dongkou County, 13 households in Hulin County, 35 households in Shifang County, ...
Everyone in the Executive Yuan is having a headache because the Lunar New Year is just around the corner, and if the situation isn't handled promptly, some people won't be able to enjoy the holiday in peace.
Cheng Hui suggested that the affected people should first move into empty houses in various places, and then organize people to repair the houses that can be repaired quickly, while leaving the completely collapsed houses for after the New Year.
Yun Youning from the finance department had no objections, and the heads of the timber workshop and stone workshop also expressed their full cooperation.
Mo Jingchun raised his hand and suggested that various localities send people as soon as possible to collect the tiles and timber from the collapsed houses.
Even if the roof beams break and the tiles fall to the ground, it doesn't mean that all the tiles are broken or that the wood is unusable.
But if we don't send people to collect the good ones soon, the villagers will probably come and search around a few times and there won't be any usable ones left.
Cheng Hui nodded upon hearing this, "Let's make the arrangements together."
This heavy snowfall greatly increased everyone's workload, and people turned dust sweeping into snow sweeping.
Just as the snow in front of the county government office was cleared, snow began to fall again from the sky. The people clearing the snow were both amused and exasperated.
Mo Jingchun looked up and saw that the newly grown bamboo outside the window was covered with snow again.
Seeing the snow made her feel cold, so she put down her pen, clasped her hands together, and breathed on them to warm them.
A cup of hot tea was placed on the table in front of her. Mo Jingchun turned her head and saw Yun Youning standing beside her with a cup of tea. Mo Jingchun picked up the teacup and smiled at Yun Youning in the rising steam, "Thank you."
Yun Youning glanced at the pile of documents on the table and teased, "I saw so many documents on your table this morning, how come there are still so many even though almost a day has passed?"
Mo Jingchun's face immediately fell, and she looked at Yun Youning with a mournful expression.
Yun Youning burst out laughing.
She leaned against the desk, took a sip of tea, and sighed, "Once we take Anling County, everyone will have even more work to do."
Mo Jingchun: "..." She coughed lightly, trying to comfort her: "Oh dear, Elder Cheng and the others didn't mean to hide it, it's just..."
“I know,” Yun Youning raised one eyebrow. “We will attack Anling County in the spring. This news has been widely publicized over this period of time, and I believe that Anling County also believes it to be true. So, we can launch an attack now and achieve a surprise victory.”
Therefore, Elder Cheng, along with the heads of various departments supplying materials, as well as the two generals and strategists of the military camp, held a private meeting and decided on a plan to send troops to Anling County ahead of schedule.
He then informed the goddess of the plan. He Qinglan calculated with her fingers and knew that it would snow on the eve of the Lunar New Year, so she set the time for sending troops on the eve of the Lunar New Year.
After that, they prepared supplies and trained their troops at the same time, tacitly keeping it a secret from all their colleagues.
Mo Jingchun asked in confusion, "Since you understand everything, then why..."
Yun Youning looked down at her with a languid gaze, "For my suddenly increased workload in the future." Once they have conquered Anling County, and she has to write the business plan for opening factories, how busy will she be? After all, she wants to open many, many factories.
"The effects of being mentally prepared before starting work are different from those of suddenly receiving a task and starting work."
Mo Jingchun: "..."
Mo Jingchun took a sip of tea, gazing at the snowflakes dancing in the air, and suddenly changed the subject, "I wonder how the fighting is going in Anling County."
Yun Youning also looked out the window and said, "We've prepared clothes, horses, weapons, and fireballs. Perhaps we can take it down quickly..."
The sooner we win, the less suffering we'll endure.
well.
Anling County.
Ning Huai'an and Hu Dazhu's plan to launch a surprise attack was indeed successful.
On such a snowy day, they attacked Anling County's main city like divine soldiers descending from the sky. The Anling County garrison had no time to react and was repeatedly defeated, forced to retreat to defend the city gate.
The two sides engaged in a siege.
Yunhe has prepared siege equipment, including siege ladders, siege engines, catapults, ballistae, and crossbows...
There are also incredibly powerful fireballs.
The cavalrymen, armed with lances and bows, charged into battle on horseback.
The infantrymen skillfully used their weapons; catapults and fireballs were all aimed at the city walls.
Xiang Yuesheng placed his right hand above his eyes, gazing at the distant city tower, and laughed, "After we take Anling County, I wonder how much it will cost to repair the city towers we damaged."
The person next to him glanced at him, speechless. "You haven't even hit the target yet, and you're already thinking about repairs?"
Xiang Yuesheng laughed loudly, "We are very weak now, but if we become very strong in the future, perhaps we can subdue the enemy without fighting, just like in the military books, and make the enemy submit willingly."
That would reduce a lot of losses.
The shouts of battle were deafening in front of the city gate of Anling County.
The boulders were launched by the catapults and crashed heavily onto the city walls, instantly creating large craters.
The fireball landed on the city wall and inside the city, exploding upon impact with a deafening roar. Stones tumbled down, snow splattered, and people were blown away.
The infantry carried ladders and set them up on the city wall from the other side, intending to climb up.
Large snowflakes continued to fall from the gray sky.
The soldiers' hands, gripping their weapons, were freezing, but no one cared. They fought the enemy through the filthy snow.
Hu Dazhu, mounted on his horse, stood at the front of the formation, calmly directing his troops.
Several generals who had distinguished themselves in the early battles led their vanguard in a fierce charge.
Fang Qin was explaining things to the group, "It's almost dinner time. We can use our food to lure the enemy into turning against us. Shout louder."
"Inside the city? We've already bribed some people inside the city; they can stage a defection later."
"No one can resist the fresh vegetables and meats offered by the goddess!" Especially since they are out-of-season fruits and vegetables! Many people will never be able to afford them in their entire lives!
The group responded with great enthusiasm, "Yes!"
Fang Qin nodded in satisfaction.
He stood with his hands behind his back, looking towards the other side of the city wall, wondering when Huai'an and his men would be able to break through the defenses and storm into the city.
Can we take Anling County before the New Year as a New Year's gift to the goddess?
Yunhe County.
He Qinglan stood in the courtyard and reached out to catch a snowflake.
The snowflakes that would normally turn to nothing upon contact with warm skin fell into her palm, still retaining their snowflake shape.
With a gentle flick of her hand, the snowflake landed on a plum blossom petal not far away.
He Qinglan: [What should we eat for the New Year?]
Upon hearing this question, the system instantly became excited: "Eat dumplings, eat glutinous rice balls, eat rice!"
System: [If it's dishes, roast suckling pig, boiled fish, roast duck, chestnut stewed chicken, cilantro beef, spicy blood curd, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised prawns, spicy crab, braised mutton...]
He Qinglan: [Stop!]
He Qinglan scoffed lightly, "You just want me to unlock those dishes I haven't unlocked yet, right?"
The system's electronic voice carried a hint of seduction: "[This is New Year's, host! In your memory, your parents would always prepare a grand feast for the New Year.]"
System: [For the people of this world, they no longer have to worry about starving to death in some corner of the world. They can look forward to a brighter tomorrow because they have you!]
He Qinglan calmly replied, "But it's too late to start unlocking now."
The system grumbled indignantly, "It's all because you didn't listen to me before," "If you had started unlocking earlier, it would have been unlocked long ago," "It's all your fault, all your fault"...
He Qinglan raised her hand and pressed it to her forehead. [Shut up.]
system:【……】
System: 【You actually called me…】
He Qinglan interrupted, "I'll use my points to unlock it once, so my people can have a happy New Year."
System: [? Unlock once?]
He Qinglan nodded: [Yes, unlocked in one go.]
System: [But we don't have enough points.]
He Qinglan: [I'll pay you back later when I have the money.]
System: [Do you think this is Alipay?]
He Qinglan raised an eyebrow. "No?"
System: […Okay.]
That's actually pretty good.
To help the hosts complete their tasks, the main system can lend them points so they can purchase items from the system's online store.
Anyway, the hosts can't quit their jobs, so they'll be able to earn back the borrowed points sooner or later and pay them back to the main system.
He Qinglan and the system reached a consensus happily.
Meanwhile, affected residents in various places, unable to immediately begin repairing their half-collapsed houses due to the ongoing snowfall, rummaged through the wood and tiles under the leadership of village officials, finding undamaged furniture and clothing in the ruins and moving them to the empty houses allocated to them locally.
The others followed the instructions of the Yunhe Administrative Office and moved the unbroken tiles, unbroken timbers, and half-broken pillars to the open space.
They discussed whether they should cover the wood and tiles with something, otherwise the snowmelt would damage the wood.
Someone else suggested sending someone to guard it.
"I think it's best to send someone to keep an eye on it, so that if we leave now, we won't find out it's been stolen when we come back in the afternoon."
"Don't you trust the people in our village at all?"
Do you believe it?
The group looked at each other in silence.
Yes, nobody trusts the people in the village.
So everyone discussed choosing a place where they wouldn't get wet in the rain and moving the wood and tiles there.
Then, people were assigned to take turns keeping watch to prevent theft.
Snow removal work has been temporarily suspended.
People in each village continued to decorate their homes, both inside and out, hiring people to write Spring Festival couplets, make lanterns, weave baskets from bamboo strips, and make dragon lanterns...
Welcoming the upcoming New Year.
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Author's note: I went back to my hometown for the Dragon Boat Festival. It's strange how I always get sleepy around 9 or 10 pm when I'm there (*v)
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