If this is true, the Daliang Empire will be in trouble.
After howling for a full half hour, Liu Ji, who had recovered a little, staggered towards the big bell at the entrance of the village. Only then did Liu Laosan feel relieved: he still remembered to call the villagers to discuss matters, and he didn't seem to have gone crazy.
Soon, all the heads of the village gathered under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village. Liu Laosan helped Liu Ji stand on the millstone under the tree. Then Liu Laosan raised the document in his hand and shouted at the confused head of the family who didn't know what was going on:
"This is His Majesty's decree!"
"The empire is in trouble, your majesty is in trouble!"
"The Empire needs our help, and His Majesty needs our devotion!"
"From today onwards, each family will keep the necessary seeds and rations. The rest will be collected from the Great Treasury and transported to Dawn City... His Majesty said it would be considered a loan."
"From the first of next month, all men aged 16 to 50 and able-bodied women aged 18 to 45 will be organized into armies, and officers will come to provide guidance and training."
"No household may add any more children without permission. Four years from now, Your Majesty will lead us to war. We must all go!"
Liu Laosan has never been to school.
Liu Laosan heard people talking about books.
Listening to storytelling costs money. Even if you don’t have money, you still have to pay with a small bag of coarse rice or gray flour. You can’t let the storyteller come for nothing, right?
But after decades of reading, he had heard a lot about war, and he could even recite some familiar stories, but he had never heard that war required such preparation.
It's a bit crazy.
No, this is insane.
It’s just that Liu Laosan’s limited vocabulary prevents him from saying this word, but he understands the feeling.
What on earth was he fighting for that required the Emperor of the Great Liang Empire to lead all his people and all his food to attack? With so many people and food, it would be enough even to bring down the Heavenly Palace for His Majesty to live in.
Liu Laosan thought while listening, and finally understood most of the content. It was not complicated to explain. It was just that there was a person or a place called "Dark Abyss". In short, that place was extremely evil. In four years, it would rush out and kill all the people on the mainland, even Liu Ji's stupid daughter would not be spared.
Now, His Majesty the Emperor has made a plan with the heads of state of several other nations to join forces and defeat the Dark Abyss. However, it's said that Dark Abyss is incredibly powerful, and even the now-powerful Emperor Qinghe is no match for him. Therefore, His Majesty the Emperor is mobilizing the entire nation, concentrating all its manpower and resources for a decisive battle. Of course, the other nations will do the same, and even the inhabitants of the most remote mountainous areas of the southwest will come to their aid, armed with their hunting shortbows...
After hearing this, some people were worried, some cried, and some didn't care.
Liu Laosan is the one who doesn't care.
After all, the most valuable asset of his family is the clothes he is wearing now - it only has five holes and seven patches, and is still a good piece of clothes that is 90% new.
If he were to go to war, the Emperor couldn't take his clothes away and let him charge into battle naked, right? He might even have to give him a uniform. So for Liu Laosan, going to war was a sure win, and if he got it right, he could make a killing.
Some people were very worried because His Majesty asked that all the food be concentrated and only the necessary part be left.
In this day and age, families who can still store food are at least farmers with their own land. To be honest, it is really not easy to save a little food...
Someone else was crying. Well, that was Liu Ji... Liu Laosan felt that he was the one who should be most worried. After all, he had five warehouses of grain at home, and they couldn't even hide it...
Liu Laosan remembered that from that day on, Liu Ji had been running around the village, persuading everyone to sign up for the army, and getting the grain they had secretly buried in the ground in the middle of the night to load onto trucks and take it away...
To convince the public, he first emptied his five granaries in front of the entire village, leaving only one jar of coarse rice for himself and his daughter...
In his words, we can't let His Majesty go hungry...
I wonder if His Majesty would be interested in his family's food...
He tried to persuade some people to flee the famine, but he persuaded some to return. He even pushed some who refused to be persuaded into the irrigation canals beside the fields, where Liu Ji almost died...
Liu Laosan heard Liu Ji mumbling to himself more than once, probably all nonsense like "I am here to protect the emperor".
In less than half a year, Liu Ji became darker and thinner, well, he lost more than a circle of weight, so that the skin on his face and stomach was drooping. Now, pulling his drooping skin and playing with it has become Liu Ji's new hobby.
"The car is loaded, I'm leaving."
Liu Laosan, who came out of his memories, said to Liu Ji.
"Walk slowly and steadily, and make sure every grain of food is delivered to the county government's warehouse!"
Liu Ji couldn't remember which car this was, but it didn't matter, he had all the records. He just had to go back and look through the notebook. But no matter how many times the car was dispatched, he would always give the same instructions.
"Don't worry, I've walked this road hundreds of times, I'm familiar with it!"
"Then let's go."
After saying that, Liu Ji left without looking back. He was in a hurry to check on the fields. Since the crops had been harvested these days, there should be a lot to pick up in the fields. There would be quite a lot if they were gathered together, so he couldn't let anyone hide it.
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