Chapter 373 It's not worth living like this...
According to Gu Yanchen's explanation, most of the young and middle-aged people in Hancheng are in the military camp, and some teenagers who are not old enough to join the army have basically gone to other cities to make money, otherwise the old and young at home will starve to death during the winter.
As for other cities, because Hancheng was guarding the outermost part, even if the Yigui people came to attack, they could not penetrate Hancheng at all.
It can be said that Hancheng and Linxi Pass, which was several hundred kilometers away, resisted all invading foreign enemies and maintained the peace of the other four cities on their own.
Ran Qingxuan was a little puzzled and asked: "Since Hancheng is also resisting foreign enemies, why don't they repair the city walls and gates first? Besides, the treatment of the soldiers in this city is too poor, isn't it?"
Gu Yanchen shook his head, his eyes full of helplessness.
"The soldiers guarding the city gates are already treated very well, at least they have complete clothes to wear. Over the years, the number of soldiers guarding the North Gate and West Gate who died in battle, froze to death, or died of injuries has exceeded 50,000.
In recent years, in addition to guarding his own fiefdom, the Marquis of Zhenbei also had to guard the North Gate, and even had to help guard the Linxi Pass outside Hancheng. It can be said that it was a lot of trouble. ”
"Even if I only care about the remaining hundreds of thousands of soldiers, it's good enough to have food in winter. As for clothing, as long as it's not winter, I basically go shirtless in spring and summer..."
After saying this, he felt that what he said was a bit inappropriate. When he looked at Ran Qingxuan, he found that her eyes were slightly red.
His heart tightened, and Gu Yanchen immediately held the person in his arms.
"What's going on?"
Ran Qingxuan just felt sad, not because she was overly loving, but because she remembered that her ancestors had gone through the same thing.
But the difference is that the leaders at that time lived the same life as those soldiers and could understand the difficulty of serving the people.
But Emperor Mingde lived well and ate well, just because he was the emperor, just because he sat high on the throne, and these officials would suffer for Northern Qi with just a few words, and even sacrifice their lives...
With a hint of cruelty in his eyes, Ran Qingxuan murmured in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "I must kill Emperor Mingde..."
Since he is not worthy, just kill him and replace him with someone else!
Gu Yanchen's throat moved slightly, and for the first time he intuitively felt Ran Qingxuan's murderous intent. He felt that his wife was really angry this time.
"Don't get excited. Emperor Mingde will fill the hole he dug himself sooner or later. You don't need to worry at all."
"I just think it's not worth it for these people to live like this..."
These soldiers have suffered a lot. They are not very old to begin with, and even if they resigned and went out to do some small business they would not have ended up like this.
Gu Yanchen understood her and kept stroking Ran Qingxuan's back with his big hands, trying to calm her down.
"It will be fine. There will be a day like this."
Things that should have been taken care of by a man were now being worried about by a young woman. Gu Yanchen felt bitter in his heart but there was nothing he could do.
All he could do now was to silently guard Ran Qingxuan and prevent her and her family from being persecuted again!
It was only ten minutes after entering Hancheng, and everything I saw on the road was basically very barren. After asking, I found out that Qi Huan's in-laws' home was near the west gate of Hancheng.
Ran Qingxuan kept thinking about the soldiers defending the city, and he got excited and signaled the carriage to stop.
The servant sitting next to the coachman jumped off the carriage and ran to the front to report. Qi Minghe came over and asked doubtfully, "My eldest sister's in-laws are still far away. Is Madam Gu feeling unwell?"
"No, I want to ask if there is a restaurant or a clothing store nearby?"
"Yes, there are two restaurants just around the corner, and there are several clothing stores further in. You..."
Qi Minghe thought that Ran Qingxuan wanted to buy some food and ready-made clothes to take over. Just as he was about to say no, he saw Ran Qingxuan walking forward quickly with big strides.
Seeing that Gu Yanchen had caught up, he signaled the carriage to follow behind.
The owner and waiter of Huiweilou were sitting by the counter, warming themselves by the fire. The only table of people in the store were those who had returned home to visit their families and improve their meals.
The shopkeeper suddenly felt the light above his head dim. When he looked up, he saw a pair of bright eyes staring at him.
The shopkeeper was startled at first sight and dodged for a moment before realizing that there was a visitor.
"Miss, please come in. We can make home-cooked meals here. What do you want to eat today..."
"What other ingredients do you have in your store today?"
The shopkeeper was stunned, looked up and down at Ran Qingxuan's clothes, and saw that she should be the kind of person who could afford the money, so he immediately smiled.
"Miss, you came at a good time. Today is not the peak time for customers yet. We prepared a lot of meat, vegetables and eggs this morning. I wonder if you would like to eat them..."
“All done!”
"Ah?" The shopkeeper thought he had heard wrongly and moved forward with his eyes wide open.
"I didn't hear what the girl said?"
"I said, we've done it all, and I'll give you whatever amount of money you ask." Ran Qingxuan didn't want anything else but to give the soldiers defending the city a full meal. Even if they could only eat it once, he didn't want them to have any regrets in the future.
The shopkeeper and the waiter stood there stupidly, and Ran Qingxuan was about to repeat himself with a frown.
"Miss, are you... making fun of us? The ingredients in the store are enough for ten tables of people..."
"It's all done. Here's fifty taels of silver. If it's not enough, I'll add more."
The shopkeeper took the fifty taels of silver with both hands, his eyes sparkling. It had been so many years since he had seen fifty taels of silver...
"Can I do it? If not, I'll go to the one across the street."
"I can do it. I can do it." The shopkeeper quickly pushed the dazed waiter.
"Hurry up and ask the kitchen to start cooking and prepare everything that can be done."
The waiter ran back excitedly. The shopkeeper's eyes lit up as he held the fifty taels of silver, but he still counted out twenty-five taels of change from the money box and held it in his hand to give to Ran Qingxuan.
Ran Qingxuan shook his head and did not take it. The shopkeeper immediately felt that the silver in his hand was a little hot. Twenty-five taels was not a small amount. It would be considered good if his restaurant could make seven or eight taels a day.
I thought Ran Qingxuan had a purpose, but I was almost shocked by what he said next.
"Send all the food we made today to the South Gate and West Gate of Hancheng and make sure to hand it over to the soldiers guarding the city. As for the remaining silver, prepare it according to today's standards and send two more meals tomorrow, okay?"
The shopkeeper was so shocked that he couldn't speak. The man who was eating with his back to them also put down his chopsticks and turned to look at Ran Qingxuan strangely.
After she confirmed again and again that it would be delivered, she immediately turned around and left the restaurant.
The shopkeeper chased after her and saw her going to a nearby clothing store. He couldn't help but mutter, "Living Bodhisattva, I saw a living Bodhisattva today..."
"Boss, do you know who this woman is from?" The man's voice suddenly sounded. The boss put away the silver and looked at the people who were originally sitting inside eating with a vigilant look on his face.
"Why are you asking about this?"
The man had a righteous look on his face and saluted with his fists clasped.
"I am a soldier under the command of the Marquis of Zhenbei. I came back to visit my parents today and accidentally saw this girl's kindness. I wanted to ask her about it so that the soldiers would know who to thank in the future."
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