Chapter 73
As the leaves gradually turned yellow, the weather remained clear, and the people watching over the fields outside the city breathed a sigh of relief. This year's harvest looked good, at least the crops could be harvested and dried smoothly.
Wen Yi naturally also received greetings from everyone in Pingyi. Before the beginning of the new year, many people had already prepared holiday gifts and handed them over.
It should be said that since Wen Yi left the letter and went to Changyu, Song Jin and others have gotten used to her running around. They were relieved to hear that she went to Ji Di again.
"Song Jin also wrote a letter to you?" Yao Wenjun turned her head. The letter in her hand contained greetings but was also filled with resentment.
Wen Yi coughed lightly to hide the unnaturalness in his expression.
Yao Wenjun understood that the above words were probably similar to what he had in his hands, but the tone might be milder. After all, those people in Pingyi were somewhat in awe of Wen Yi, but they would not be so polite to him, especially with his teacher.
Yes, as a teacher, He Xuan also handed a letter to Yao Wenjun. Naturally, he would not have the same tentative attitude towards his students as before, but wrote down the current situation very clearly.
Previously, he could still say that the territory was small and he could connect these cities with his soldiers through relatives, friends and ideas, but now he has to look for other places after the autumn harvest, and not all the original people can bear the title of leader.
Yao Wenjun put the letter on the table and sighed.
This was actually something she had been avoiding. The not-so-good things in her memory clearly told her that if she followed the usual practice, she would always make the same mistakes again, but there was really no better solution.
"Is it finally coming to you?"
Wen Yi turned his head and saw the familiar vigorous handwriting and knew who this person was.
The letter that Sang Yu wrote a long time ago was probably written by this person, otherwise, based on Wen Yi's understanding of Sang Yu, that person would not have asked so directly.
Wen Yi didn't actually object to this matter, but she herself wouldn't do it, and her status wasn't suitable. Although many people respected her now, it was mostly based on unknowns, just like the attitude of those in Zeyi towards Meng Xi: more fear than respect.
Surnames and blood ties are deeply rooted in the minds of countless people. Even if the academy tries to avoid these, it is still inevitable that people will stick together.
Although Amu and the others didn't say anything, with so many people, they would inevitably be excluded and harassed by some people. Fortunately, Sang Yu and He Xuan were there to keep them in check, and in the end, a balance was reached. After all, they all had to make a living in Pingyi, so they kept to themselves.
"I always feel a little unwilling." Yao Wenjun pushed the letter towards Wen Yi in a low voice.
“But it is indeed the best solution at the moment.”
Wen Yi took the letter in his hand. The words on it actually made sense. The old man understood the attitudes of Wen Yi and Yao Wenjun, so he focused on the necessity of doing so at the moment.
This is partly why those guys in Yudi always try to stir up trouble. Although everyone agrees, there is always room for rebuttal because they have not gone through that set of procedures.
The plains needed such a spiritual pillar, or "mascot," as a reason to move forward and expand. Without it, greed would easily breed, just like the stewards of many caravans.
But at the same time, people will change after touching power, sometimes they will become completely different. Yao Wenjun has seen countless people corrupted by those powers. You have to know that they were also people who had ideals and ambitions in the past and who had talked to him about everything.
Her biggest fear is that she will change too.
I can’t trust the people around me like I do now, I can’t focus on doing what I want to do like I do now, and even... I have become the person I hate the most.
"Actually, this is a good thing." Wen Yi thought for a moment, "Compared to the other guys, I feel like you're more trustworthy."
At least after spending such a long time together, Yao Wenjun shouldn't become disgusted with himself, Nan Xun and the others in a short time and put on a show of hiding the good bows after the birds have flown away.
Yao Wenjun was originally lying on the table, but he couldn't help laughing when he heard this.
At first he just laughed silently, but later Wen Yi started laughing for some reason. The guard outside the door was a little confused, but apart from that there was no other movement, so he suppressed his doubts and continued to observe the surroundings to prevent anyone with bad intentions from approaching.
*
In the first year of Ji'an, Yuanping State changed its name to Qi and established two capitals, east and west. In February of the same year, Wen Yi was appointed as the Grand Tutor, Song Jin as the Prime Minister and the Governor of the Western Capital, and Nan Xun as the General. There were many other honors.
Wen Yi initially thought that some people would be dissatisfied with this appointment, but it seemed that she was worrying too much. Even those who were originally a little wary of her became much kinder after this appointment.
At first, she was a little confused, but later she figured it out. These people were actually dissatisfied because they couldn't let her be the one standing in a high position, not because they had any opinions about her as a person.
Even after Wen Yi arrived, he received letters from many people, most of which were congratulations.
This behavior was a bit suspicious, and Song Jin finally cleared up her doubts. Although Wen Yi's identity was not concealed, and the initial household registration only showed that she and Amu were a family, everyone conceded that she must have some supernatural means, otherwise she wouldn't be able to make so many strange things.
This is also the reason why they dare not completely trust Wen Yi. Now her status is sufficient, and they also need to rebuild their relationship so that when there are new things in the future, they will not be excluded because of previous unpleasantness.
Wen Yi shook his head and no longer cared about these guys.
She had something more interesting to see right now—
"No, so I can only stay here from now on?"
Although he had already received many honors, Yao Wenjun still tried to leave the stall to the people here and take his soldiers out to capture the city.
In her words, staying here would only waste food and be surrounded by guards all the time. It would be better to go to the front line, where her martial arts skills would not be wasted.
It's a pity that those who were originally just trying to persuade her became even more determined to dissuade her after she chose to take that position, saying things like "Don't stand under a dangerous wall" and "The king's safety is more important than a few cities". There were even familiar faces wiping away non-existent tears and looking gloomily at the few guys around them who didn't speak, making the generals standing nearby feel their scalps tingling, as if if they didn't take the initiative to ask for orders to take the city, they would be put in sacks by these people in the middle of the night.
Yao Wenjun even suspected that this was something Wen Yi and the others had already discussed. Don't think she didn't see Wen Yi covering her mouth and laughing, with her eyes narrowed.
Song Jin only came here once in February. She had to go back to take charge of the other side and at the same time mobilize existing resources to support Nanxun's next actions.
The people currently in Dongdu are mainly the team members who originally stayed in Ji Di, plus some old antiques who were originally wandering around and refused to work before they were given the right to do so, which also gave Yao Wenjun a lot of headaches.
This time they came under a legitimate pretext: the Eastern Capital was also going to establish a school, so naturally they would have to recruit some teachers. The few who had been screened and had no ulterior motives were few and far between, so they couldn't refuse an audience.
These people don't have official titles. If they were acting like scoundrels, we could just take them away. But what they said made some sense, so we couldn't kick them out.
Not only her, but also several generals under her command were all frowning. Fortunately, the team that mainly handled the matters was still the same as before. If they really wanted to do something, they just had to give the order, and the people in charge who came out of the academy would naturally act according to the orders of Wen Yi, Yao Wenjun and others.
Finally, Wen Yi, who had had enough of the fun, stepped in to interrupt their performance:
"The opinions of the elders are naturally clear, but our focus must indeed move southward. This is also unavoidable."
"Why not just follow the army south and avoid going to the front lines?"
The danger of sitting in the center of the army is actually not that great, especially since the combat effectiveness of Yao Wenjun's soldiers who have undergone long-term training has been recognized in recent times, and with the addition of various new equipment, safety can be guaranteed.
When everyone had left and only Yao Wenjun and Wen Yi were left in the hall, the two who had been sitting upright collapsed on the soft pillows at the same time. It was not known who led the other astray, but of course it was also possible that they influenced each other.
After a long time, Yao Wenjun finally struggled to stand up from his chair and drank the tea at hand in one breath.
"Zeyi has persuaded some people to work with us from inside and outside, but it seems that they are not as reliable as Meng Xi and others." Wen Yi pulled out the cloth bag from his sleeve and took out a few rolls of things. He originally wanted to talk about this matter today, but was interrupted by several elderly people who came and put it aside until now.
Yao Wenjun took the incense-covered brocade letter from Wen Yi. It contained mostly congratulatory words, expressing a willingness to establish friendly relations. There was also a gift list copied directly on it. The things had probably been transported to the treasury.
Wen Yi picked up a piece of pastry with a bamboo tong. She didn't know what the filling was made of, but it was slightly sweet. "Meng Xi has already sent Dao Cheng and the others over. There shouldn't be any problems."
In fact, Wen Yi originally wanted to take over the southern part of the central region first, but there were many mountains in the middle, which made marching inconvenient. It would be better to occupy the rest of the area first and then nibble away at it bit by bit.
However, the swampy areas in the south are more dangerous than those in the north, so more preparations must be made in advance.
Wen Yi also learned from the caravan that a large group of foreigners had been found reduced to ashes in a village further south of Changyu. Based on the distance and time, these people were likely the same ones who had caused the rebellion near Changyu, though it was unknown what morbidity they had contracted.
The original residents of the village had been slaughtered, and in order to prevent the spread of the disease, everything that remained was burned.
Based on the descriptions of passers-by, Wen Yi roughly deduced that these people may have accidentally drunk infected water containing worm eggs, and there was no pumpkin at that time, so they could not expel the parasites by eating raw pumpkin seeds.
This also serves as a reminder to everyone that although most places are relatively stable now, there is still a chance that a disease may infect and wipe out the entire army if one is not careful.
Wen Yi could only sigh at this. It was not that penicillin could not be extracted through antibacterial experiments, but firstly, in this era without instruments, finding a strain really relied on luck. If the exhaustive method was used, it might take decades to find what one wanted. Secondly, even if it was produced, it would produce toxic by-products at room temperature due to structural distortion or self-decomposition. This was one of the reasons why many people were prone to allergies. Direct injection into the patient's body would result in death from allergies much more likely than being cured.
Sulfonamide requires concentrated sulfuric acid. Although it can also be produced by burning sulfur, the remaining steps are still extremely troublesome. Therefore, although the shelf life is very short, Wen Yi was still planning to try allicin from the beginning.
The first batch of garlic brought back was not yet ripe, but seeing that the situation in the south was about to change again, everyone would be heading south soon. Wen Yi had no choice but to let the caravan purchase a large quantity of other types of plants containing allicin.
In fact, even the purple garlic obtained from the foreign merchant Nanli only contains one in one hundred thousand of allicin, and the rest are even lower.
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