"General, the inventory is complete!"
At this moment, Wang De came up and reported: "A total of 932 yaks were seized. Among them, 385 yaks were killed or seriously injured by the explosion. Of the remaining 547 yaks, only a few had minor injuries, and the rest were in good condition."
Liu Jinghong nodded, her eyes filled with undisguised excitement.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Order all the butchers in the city to gather together and go to the temple fair to set up a stage and clean all 385 yaks. Give each household in the city 20 catties of beef and 10 catties of offal. Let's make sure the people can have a good New Year!"
Although the people in Liangzhou City can trade with Western Xinjiang or other cities on a regular basis, and have a wide variety of handicrafts and grains, meat is still relatively rare for them.
When the Lunar New Year arrives, families with better financial means can buy a few pounds of meat to have a good holiday.
For families with limited means, they might cut off half a pound or eight ounces of meat, cook a large pot of meat soup, and have the whole family gather around it; that's considered celebrating the New Year.
Now that it's been ten days into the twelfth lunar month, and the Lunar New Year is just over ten days away, distributing twenty catties of beef and offal to each household at this time would indeed be considered a good thing.
Wang De was also very excited. These yak meats were spoils of war and should theoretically belong to the imperial court. He thought that Liu Jinghong would send some back to Jingzhou or keep them to sell, with the money from the sale going to the government. He never expected that Liu Jinghong would be so bold.
This decision means that his family will also get a lot of beef. Just a few days ago, his son was clamoring for meat, but now he doesn't have to worry about it anymore!
At this moment, Liu Jinghong added, "As for the remaining beef, have half of it air-dried and made into beef jerky. Give some to each of the cavalrymen. Save the rest for next spring or autumn harvest to satisfy our cravings. Take the other half and set up several stoves at the temple fair in the city center. Cook the remaining half in the next few days, and the people of the city can go and eat beef and drink beef soup for free. And, well, tell them there's also strong liquor!"
For most people, drinking strong liquor and eating beef in the winter is like living the life of a god.
Because a yak is very heavy and yields a lot of meat, even if each household receives 30 jin (15 kg), they will still be quite wealthy in the end.
Liu Jinghong's allocation method is quite reasonable and meets the needs of the people to the greatest extent.
Finally, Liu Jinghong added, "Take good care of those lightly injured yaks. There's a lot of vacant land east of Liangzhou City. Before, because there weren't enough yaks in the city, people alone couldn't cultivate it. After the spring harvest next year, take all these yaks there and let the farmers cultivate the wasteland and grow more grain!"
After listening, Wang De nodded repeatedly, but he still reminded Liu Jinghong, "General, with so many yaks seized this time, shouldn't a portion be handed over to the imperial court? Otherwise, if word gets to the court, some people might speak ill of us..."
Having spent a long time by Liu Jinghong's side, Wang De was quite thoughtful and didn't let the joy of being allocated beef cloud his judgment.
At this moment, Liu Jinghong looked at Jing Zhe.
"Zhe'er, do you need it?"
The voice was light and cheerful, with a hint of teasing.
In terms of official rank, there are not many people in the entire An Kingdom who are higher than Liu Jinghong, but even so, Liu Jinghong's status in front of Emperor An is probably not as good as Jing Zhe's now.
After all, ever since his duel with the Southern Qi, Jing Zhe had become a favorite of Emperor An.
Jing Zhe immediately waved his hand: "No need, with me here, no one will dare to gossip. I sent a message to His Majesty in advance by carrier pigeon, saying that the live yaks need to be left to cultivate land for the sake of the people's livelihood; as for those that have already died, they must be processed as soon as possible. If they are brought from Liangzhou to Jingzhou, it will take more than ten days, and the meat will rot. No one would be willing to bring His Majesty rotten meat, would they?"
"..."
Wang De was sweating profusely. It seemed that only Jing Zhe could say such things, and only he would dare to say them.
Liu Jinghong was also very satisfied. Although she had protected the safety of the people of Liangzhou for many years, she had not improved their lives much.
In the future, she may really not be able to stay here anymore.
Before leaving, she decided to make one last contribution to the people of Liangzhou.
"Deputy General Wang, pass down the order: since there's no fighting this year, the temple fair can be held earlier. Everyone can take advantage of the fair to eat beef and drink beef soup. Also, the curfew is lifted for the next three days!"
"Curfew lifted?"
Wang De was stunned for a moment.
In this era, every city has a curfew.
In places like Jingzhou, or Yongzhou where Jing Zhe previously stayed, the curfew was later because they were relatively safe. However, in Liangzhou, where there was much fighting outside the city, the curfew was earlier to ensure the safety of the people and to avoid affecting the cavalry's night watch.
However, Liangzhou does lift the curfew on certain occasions, usually during holidays like Lunar New Year's Eve, the Lantern Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival. And the curfew is only lifted for one day. Lifting the curfew for three days like this is unprecedented.
Just as Liu Jinghong said, now that the war is over, lifting the curfew is not out of the question, and one can foresee how lively the city will be in the next few days!
Then he laughed and said, "If that's really the case, then the next three days will be like celebrating the New Year!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Jinghong glanced at Jing Zhe and then said calmly, "Yes, it's just like celebrating the New Year."
Looking at the busy crowd ahead, her gaze softened.
Being together is like celebrating the New Year...
...
When Wang De relayed Liu Jinghong's order, the whole city was in an uproar.
The people spread the word and praised Liu Jinghong highly. They had always loved and respected Liu Jinghong. It is no exaggeration to say that in the hearts of all the people of Liangzhou, Liu Jinghong was their guardian deity.
Besides the joy of getting beef, what made them even happier was the news that the western border would never invade again.
In recent days, the Western Frontier Heavy Cavalry Regiment has frequently arrived in Liangzhou. Although Liu Jinghong is there, the people of Liangzhou are still uneasy. As long as the war continues, there will always be people who feel uneasy.
Therefore, every year, many people in Liangzhou City choose to travel to other places in order to avoid the ravages of war.
The people of Liangzhou City dream of a world without war.
Now, that wish has come true. It is said that the person who repelled the heavy cavalry regiment was Liu Jinghong's younger brother, the young man Jing Zhe, who was appointed as the president of the Da'an Newspaper.
They were unfamiliar with the title of newspaper editor-in-chief, but that did not stop them from admiring and being grateful to Jing Zhe.
So when the city dwellers cheered and received their meat, they all kept calling out Jing Zhe's name.
In no time, Jing Zhe's fame soared, shining brightly in Liangzhou.
————
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