Chapter 389 The Women of the Great Zhou Dynasty are Mostly Wise and Understanding
A month ago, the Jing Army marched south in three routes, attacking Zhengding Prefecture, Dingzhou, and Hejian Prefecture respectively.
Xiao Xuance left Dingzhou and returned to Zhending, where he led the Xiao family army to defend the city. He defeated the enemy army, severely damaged their cavalry, and annihilated more than 20,000 people.
More than 2,000 people died and more than 4,000 were injured on the Da Zhou side.
The enemy suffered heavy casualties, and the Great Zhou army achieved a great victory. The soldiers had just retreated from the battlefield and were preparing to have a good meal.
There were no delicacies, just two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, a plate of white steamed buns, dried vegetables to go with the drinks, and two jars of wine.
Xiao Xuance and several generals sat around a long table.
Lu Xiao stared wide-eyed at the meat on the table. "These past few days, I've only had a plain white steamed bun every day, without a drop of oil. I was so hungry I was dizzy. I gritted my teeth and fought the war, and finally I can eat meat. Where did this meat come from? Did the imperial court send some grain?"
Gu Huai pouted, "No, it was a few months ago when the Crown Prince sent a small team to escort Princess Zhenrou and several noble ladies back to Lin'an. The Crown Prince's wife asked them to deliver the meat to the Crown Prince. It took several carriages. Thanks to the Crown Prince's wife, we were able to eat meat."
"So it's because of the Crown Prince's wife? The wife is so good to the Crown Prince. He's so lucky. Unlike some of the brothers in the army, whose wives ran away with other men after the war and whose children were sold off. Those wives are inhuman. Those brothers are so pitiful." Lu Xiao hoped that he could marry a virtuous woman like the Crown Prince's wife in the future.
Xiao Xuance picked up his chopsticks, flicked his wrist slightly, and tapped the table with the chopsticks to align them. “Without knowing the whole story, I cannot comment. Even if there are exceptions, they are just isolated cases. Most women in our Great Zhou are virtuous and know what is important.”
Lu Xiao nodded in agreement, "What the young master said makes sense."
One of the married middle-aged generals said, "The Marshal is right. My wife is virtuous and capable. She takes care of my parents and children at home. The neighbors all praise her for her filial piety."
Before he could even pick up his chopsticks, another subordinate came to report, "Your Highness, there is urgent news."
Letters are divided into three types: light, medium, and heavy. The main difference lies in the cloth used to tie the carrier pigeons: light is blue silk, medium is yellow silk, and heavy is red silk.
Xiao Xuance put down his chopsticks, stood up, took the letter, and his expression changed slightly.
"Marshal, what serious incident has occurred?"
"Hejian Prefecture has fallen."
"It's fallen? How could an army of 100,000 fall so quickly?"
Wanyan Zonglie attacked Dingzhou and Hejian simultaneously, thus dispersing his forces.
Hejian had 100,000 soldiers of the Great Zhou, and it fell in such a short time?
Dingzhou is bordered by Baozhou to the north and Hejian to the right.
Now that Hejian has fallen, Dingzhou is under siege from both the top and right. How long can it hold out? Moreover, Marshal Ye is still injured. If he hadn't been injured, he could have personally commanded the battle and the two sides could have been evenly matched.
When Xiao Xuance left Dingzhou, he left Zhuiying and Zhufeng there, firstly to protect the injured Marshal Ye, and secondly to ensure timely communication.
In the evening, he received another message from Lin'an.
The transport commissioner in charge of escorting the grain was none other than Xiao Xuanwu.
That's ridiculous.
If anything goes wrong with the supplies, Xiao Xuanwu will be held accountable, and the Xiao family will not have peace.
What exactly are those people trying to do? The north is already chaotic enough; they want to add to the chaos.
"Someone, go and invite General Gu over."
He sent Gu Huai with men to meet him.
Gu Huai rallied more than a hundred people and set off overnight.
...
Yun Zhaoxue went to the soap factory to supervise the work in the morning, and went to see the shop that the Pei family had given her in the afternoon.
She didn't go to check on behalf of the owner, but rather visited as a customer.
The shops included silk shops, clothing shops, cosmetics shops, noodle shops, and dessert shops.
Clothing shops and silk shops were all quite conventional.
The noodle shop gets its supplies from the rice noodle factory owned by Wang Youcai. Since everyone eats noodles all the time, rice noodles are a novelty for them, and the shop is doing quite well.
The dried fruit shops didn't have many customers because the fruit sold at roadside stalls was cheaper.
The business of cosmetic shops was even worse.
The shopkeeper was lazy and listless; when customers came in, the waiter just glanced at them casually.
Their shop's customers for rouge and face powder were usually the wives and daughters of high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants.
The imperial court ordered its officials to donate money to buy grain and fodder and raise funds for the army.
The ministers complained of poverty and dared not spend money, ordering the women in their private quarters not to go out to buy expensive things, such as clothes, jewelry, or cosmetics.
Ordinary people couldn't afford it, so they either didn't buy it or bought rouge from roadside stalls.
Business at the store is bad. For the past two weeks, they haven't been able to sell a single box. It's so discouraging that they can't muster any interest in anything.
Yun Zhaoxue looked around and also tried out the sample.
The shop assistants were all busy with their own tasks, tidying up the shelves or sweeping here and wiping there.
Some ladies and young women have a habit of browsing through rouge shops when they go shopping, but after looking around for a long time, they don't buy a single box.
The dozing shopkeeper finally snapped out of his daze. Seeing that there were guests, he quickly gave his assistant a look, signaling her to go and serve them.
"Madam likes this rouge. It is the most popular 'Pomegranate Beauty' in Lin'an right now, and its color is like rouge with a hint of rosy clouds."
She took a silver hairpin, picked out a star, and spread a line of vermilion on the Xuan paper.
"A light application is like a begonia in spring, while a heavy application is like a peony in full bloom. Madam is so beautiful that either application will suit her. Would you like to buy a box?"
Yun Zhaoxue: "It does look quite good, but I'd like to see something else."
She had some knowledge of the wide variety of lipstick shades in her past life.
If we can develop more and brighter colors, we can turn the store's business around and make a profit.
The one the saleswoman just introduced is the best-selling item in the store.
She still doesn't like it; I guess she's not really interested in buying it.
They were used to it; no matter what, the customer was the most important, and they couldn't afford to offend them. So they patiently introduced several other colors to him, "These are sandalwood, light crimson, black ointment, honey..."
Yun Zhaoxue smelled the black ointment and found it to be very fragrant and rich, suitable for heavy and glamorous makeup, so she asked for this one.
When the shop assistant heard that she wanted to buy it, his eyes crinkled with a smile, and he praised, "Madam, you have excellent taste! Black ointment was introduced from the Western Regions in previous dynasties and was once very popular in the capital. The craftsmanship was almost lost. Unfortunately, women in our Great Zhou Dynasty do not like heavy makeup and prefer light makeup, so black ointment is not very popular."
Many ladies and young women buy them simply to smell the fragrance, or those who have the money want to collect all the colors…
Realizing she had misspoke, she quickly changed the subject, saying, "Buying less means you won't have the same color as someone else. Madam is beautiful and has a great presence; if you used the black ointment, you'd definitely stand out on the street..."
Yun Zhaoxue had never seen black ointment in the rouge shops of Lingnan before; it was quite expensive.
The remaining colors are quite ordinary, such as flesh color.
She has almost collected all the lipstick shades of this era, and she plans to research and develop more similar styles or create new ones based on the original shades.
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