"Bandits?"
It is a no-man's land with dangerous terrain. It is said that no matter whether officials or businessmen pass by here, they will be stuck and lose a layer of skin.
In order to reduce the loss of the food and fodder that Xie Zhao was transporting, he had to entrust the help of several caravans just to pass the fork in the road smoothly.
With tens of thousands of people involved, wouldn’t our side be at a disadvantage?
Hong Jin's face flushed red, and she slapped herself, saying, "I didn't explain clearly. These weren't bandits, but the people of Lingcheng who got the news and came here specifically to escort the master into the city!"
The news of Ruyang was reported to Lingcheng by a passing caravan.
After hearing this, the local people could no longer sit still.
A few people may be afraid of the bandits, but there is strength in numbers. Tens of thousands of people are waiting at the fork in the road, and they don't believe that the bandits would dare to come down the mountain to rob.
Not only that, the people of Lingcheng also collected a batch of food and medicinal materials and donated them to the soldiers in the camp north of the city.
After Hong Jin reported, the carriage slowly passed through the three-way intersection.
On both sides of the intersection, people came to greet them spontaneously and were looking forward to it.
This action alarmed the prefect of Lingcheng, who was on his way.
Xie Zhao, who was always too lazy to interact with his colleagues, asked Jiang Yuzhu for her opinion: "Madam, should we go to the prefectural government office as a guest or go to the seaside fishing village?"
It took exactly two days to transport a large amount of stones from the capital to wait for unloading and supply handover.
"To the beach, of course!"
Jiang Yuzhu blurted out.
Lingcheng is close to the sea and has abundant seafood.
When the weather gets cold, fish, shrimps and crabs become plump and delicious. In the past, in the capital, you could not eat fresh ones, no matter how well they were preserved.
The crabs caught only need to be steamed to preserve their original flavor and firm meat.
The couple discussed and decided to take only Hongjin and Liangan, and the rest of the people would go into Lingcheng for supplies.
After Jiang Yuzhu entrusted her maid, Shaoyao and others to Han Zhen, the carriage drove along a small road. When it was dark, they finally arrived at a small fishing village by the sea.
The sea is surging, one wave higher than the other, it is high tide.
The fishing village not far away is made up of stone houses. It is dark and looks deserted.
Jiang Yuzhu got off the carriage and lit a torch for illumination.
The sand under my feet is a bit rough, mixed with small pebbles.
The sea breeze blows on my face, mixed with a wet and salty smell.
The buildings on the beach are somewhat special. They are all stone houses with not very high walls.
Xie Zhao put a cloak on Jiang Yuzhu and led the way with a lantern.
"Yuanhe, it's too late. Isn't it inappropriate for us to bother you at your house?"
Living in a fishing village, going to the sea is inevitable, and the villagers' daily routines mostly follow the tides.
Jiang Yuzhu followed beside Xie Zhao, looking a little hesitant.
Xie Zhao helped her tighten her cloak and introduced her, "Yuzhu, although every household in the fishing village has a yard, they don't live here."
The villagers’ ancestors were fishermen, and their fishing boats were their homes.
The fishing village is also very humid, so the villagers mostly eat and sleep on the boat.
In the village homes, villagers built water cellars to store rainwater for drinking.
Xie Zhao found a house with ease, fumbled for a key from under the blue bricks at the door, and opened an iron door. His skillfulness made Jiang Yuzhu amazed.
"Tonight, let's borrow the kitchen of Lu the boatman's house."
When Xie Zhao came to Beijing from Jiangnan to take the imperial examination, he came to a fishing village and stayed at the home of Lu the boatman for half a month.
The two agreed that if Xie Zhao came here again, he could just take the key and enter.
"After so many years, the Lu family still has this habit."
After entering the courtyard, Xie Zhaoxian lit the lantern in the courtyard.
In the kitchen, there is a large basin of plump and sandy clams, and some salted fish are drying above.
In the village, every household has no shortage of seafood, but most of it cannot be sold because they have already eaten enough at home.
"We won't eat for free. Leave some money before you leave."
Jiang Yuzhu found several crabs in a small wooden basin.
She pinched the crab legs. Although they were probably caught during the day, they were still quite fresh.
In addition, several sea cucumbers next to the crab basin attracted Jiang Yuzhu's attention.
“Sea cucumber!”
Such a nutritious thing was piled up on the ground casually, almost being treated as garbage.
Jiang Yuzhu picked it up, took out a pair of scissors to remove the sea cucumber's internal organs, and chopped it up and stir-fried the green onions.
The fried sea cucumber and onions tasted so good that even Xie Zhao ate an extra bowl of rice.
"Madam, do you like sea worms?"
Every household keeps some sea worms, but the restaurants in the city don't buy them.
People prefer to eat fish and shrimp, there is less crab meat, and no one is interested in sea insects, so the price is surprisingly low.
Xie Zhao was considered knowledgeable, and ordinary people would not recognize this thing at all.
Jiang Yuzhu showed a distressed expression and said, "Sea worm?"
You know, although the price of sea cucumbers has been brought down in modern times, most of them are farmed sea cucumbers. Wild sea cucumbers in the sea not only have high nutritional value, but also high price.
In Da Qi, the villagers of the fishing village have abundant resources, but they don’t know that sea cucumbers are a treasure for strengthening the body!
Almost no one wants it, what a waste!
"Yuanhe, let's buy sea...worms. We'll take as many as we can!"
Lingcheng is not far from the border town, so it would be better to transport it to the border town as military supplies for the camp in the north of the city.
Perhaps in the short term, the soldiers may not be able to perceive the benefits of sea cucumbers, but they will discover them as time goes by.
"There are few fresh vegetables to eat in the north during the winter. It would be better to send more sea fish to nourish the soldiers."
Lingcheng has an exceptionally rich seafood scene, and the prices are more affordable than buying meat.
Jiang Yuzhu was very thrifty, which not only saved a lot of military supplies but also enriched the soldiers' meals.
"good."
Xie Zhao had no objection. Since his wife liked it and he had money, a large purchase would also make the people in the fishing village richer.
Otherwise, at the end of the year, apart from that little bit of production, the remaining money would be used to repair the boat, and the villagers would have no savings.
After dinner, it was already late at night.
Hong Jin was making a fire when she suddenly noticed small snowflakes floating under the lantern. She said excitedly, "Madam, it's snowing!"
Walking north from the capital, I finally saw snow.
The fine snow drifted in the wind, and no trace of it fell to the ground.
Hong Jin opened her palms and carefully caught the falling snow.
“It’s really snowing!”
Jiang Yuzhu also stood in the yard, her eyes narrowed into crescents.
Xie Zhao was infected by the joyful atmosphere and also went out with a lantern, standing behind Jiang Yuzhu, accompanying her silently.
After about half an hour, the snow began to fall more rapidly, dyeing the bluestone in the courtyard white.
It was cold, so Hong Jin cooked a jar of wine brought from the carriage, and paired it with a plate of peanuts and spicy fried clams. Jiang Yuzhu and Xie Zhao raised their glasses to drink.
"Yuanhe, the seaside is great, not inferior to the Jiangnan gardens, each has its own beauty."
Jiang Yuzhu took a sip of wine and felt warm all over.
If you have a small wooden house by the sea, waiting for the sunrise, watching the sunset, listening to the tide rising, and then going to the beach after the tide goes out, it is also a different kind of fun. At least it is a beautiful scenery that the rich people in the capital cannot see.
"Those mediocre people have long been blinded by the worldly desires and do not know how to appreciate things."
Xie Zhao turned his head and looked at Jiang Yuzhu with a hint of bewilderment in his eyes. "Yuzhu, who are you?"
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