After that, Qin Shen and the others handled the matter, and Lu Yanzheng returned to his room. However, he only came back to tell Jiang Qinyu about the situation before going out again.
It turned out that Lu Yanzheng and Qin Shen had arranged to meet at this post station long ago.
Even if Lu Yanzheng didn't have the power to intimidate Huang Renyi and his group, he could have stalled until Qin Shen and the others came to deal with it.
Jiang Qinyu felt relieved. There was still an hour and a half until dawn. She took out her luggage, put it away, and went to sleep next to her two children.
There were constant noises outside all night, so Jiang Qinyu didn't sleep well and got up before dawn.
While Lu Yanzheng was away, she woke up the two children, gave them mouthwash, let them drink milk, and then each of them ate a piece of bread.
"Auntie, aren't you going to give Uncle some?" Pan'er asked, holding the bread and blinking her bright eyes.
Jiang Qinyu paused, then shook her head and said, "Uncle doesn't know this secret. Pan'er and Shufan must remember not to tell Uncle."
If the children weren't so young, she wouldn't have given them special meals, but the journey was long, and the children couldn't possibly survive on dry rations all the time.
Of course, Lu Yanzheng must not know her secret. What if he finds out and burns her up as some kind of demon?
"Oh, Pan'er remembers." Pan'er nodded obediently.
Shufan asked, "Why can't we tell my uncle? He's a good person!"
Jiang Qinyu sighed, "Shufan, you don't have to tell everyone everything, especially your secrets. If too many people know them, they're no longer secrets."
Besides... your uncle hasn't been with us for very long. Your aunt will talk to him about this when there's a chance in the future.
But you absolutely mustn't tell anyone before that!
"Oh, I see." Shu Fan nodded. Although he was still puzzled, his aunt said he couldn't tell his uncle, so he kept quiet.
After the three of them finished eating and cleaned up, Jiang Qinyu opened the door and took the child's hand to go out.
Lu Yanzheng and Qin Shen were standing in the courtyard, talking in hushed tones. Hearing the noise, they both turned to look at Jiang Qinyu.
"Awake? Didn't you sleep well last night? Take another nap in the carriage later," Lu Yanzheng said to Jiang Qinyu.
Jiang Qinyu smiled slightly, "It's alright, have you all taken care of your business?"
If nothing had happened last night, they could have set off early this morning, but now they don't know if they can even leave.
"Greetings, Madam. Everything has been taken care of. We'll depart in a quarter of an hour," Qin Shen said, cupping his hands in greeting to Jiang Qinyu.
Jiang Qinyu nodded to him, "Thank you for your hard work."
She didn't know Qin Shen's position in the army, nor his age, so she could only address him vaguely.
At this moment, a courier came over carrying a bundle, stopped in front of Lu Yanzheng, and handed the bundle over with both hands. "Thank you for saving my life, General! This dry food is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it!"
Lu Yanzheng pushed the bundle back, saying, "I appreciate your kind gesture, but you don't need the gift."
The fact that the post station couldn't even provide food and drink for merchants and travelers shows that their lives were also very difficult, so he naturally couldn't take their things anymore.
"General Qin, please accept this for you! We're not far from Yongshan County. Now that Zhu Youcai has been replaced, the post station here shouldn't lack food anymore." The postman then turned and handed it to Qin Shen.
Since Lu Yanzheng wouldn't accept it, Qin Shen naturally wouldn't either, and pushed it back again.
Seeing that he couldn't deliver it, the courier expressed his gratitude once again before leaving.
After he left, the same group of people from last night reappeared and knelt down before Lu Yanzheng in unison.
"Thank you, General, for sparing my life!"
There were more than fifty people in the group, and when they shouted that sentence together, it was quite loud. Jiang Qinyu couldn't help but hide behind Lu Yanzheng.
"Get up, all of you. Now that you've made your choice, you must stand tall and live with dignity. You can no longer engage in murder and robbery." Lu Yanzheng raised his hand slightly.
Huang Renyi and the others stood up, and they naturally split into two groups.
"Those who decide to stay in Yongshan County, hurry up and report to the county government. Those who want to go to the border town, come with us. Now, everyone, get out of here!" Qin Shen waved to the group.
Lu Yanzheng said, "Give each of them three days' worth of rations."
"Huh?" Qin Shen was taken aback. "But General, our rations are only enough to get us back to the border town. We don't have any extra!"
Lu Yanzheng said, "Our people's rations will be halved for the next three days and distributed to them. I will compensate them when we reach the border town."
"This..." Qin Shen hesitated.
These people only managed to get a full meal after arriving in Yongshan County, and now they're suddenly being asked to share half of their rations with others, which he's not happy about.
"Thank you for your great kindness, General!" Huang Renyi suddenly cupped his hands and said, "But there's no need for rations. Those of us who went to the border city with us all brought some food with us, and those who stayed behind can go to Yongshan County to get porridge. There's no need for you soldiers to share with us."
They had already made a mistake, so how could they dare to ask for anything more? If they hadn't encountered a general like Lu Yanzheng, they probably would have been beheaded last night.
Seeing their insistence, Lu Yanzheng didn't say anything more. When he saw that it was about time, he said, "Go and prepare, let's set off immediately!"
After saying that, he went back to his room to move his luggage.
Qin Shen quickly followed, carrying things while cautiously asking, "General, you're not angry that we don't want to share the grain, are you?"
"Why should I be angry?" Lu Yanzheng retorted. "It was originally your property. I didn't think things through just now."
"I'm glad you're not angry," Qin Shen breathed a sigh of relief. "Actually, we would have given it to you normally, but we didn't bring much food this time. If we share half of it, everyone will go hungry."
They also carried tens of thousands of kilograms of sweet potatoes, which were all grain seeds and absolutely could not be touched; as well as the grain they had collected over the past few days, but that was all military rations and had to be redistributed when they returned to the border town.
"I understand." Lu Yanzheng patted his shoulder, sighing inwardly.
During this time, he stayed in Dingshui Village for a long time and felt like he was back in the old days. But after he came out, he realized that Dingshui Village could be called a paradise.
I don't know how Jiang Qinyu came up with the work point system, but it can make people so united and allow everyone's abilities to be maximized.
At this moment, Lu Yanzheng is considering implementing a work-point system in the border town as well, which might bring the border town back to life.
In the following days, they quickened their pace and did not deliberately stop at post stations to rest. Instead, they would rest wherever it got so dark that they could no longer see.
Jiang Qinyu and the two children slept in the carriage, while Lu Yanzheng and Qin Shen slept on the ground.
If the weather hadn't warmed up, they would definitely have gotten sick.
But none of this made Jiang Qinyu feel emotional. The closer she got to the border town, the worse the situation became. Everyone she saw was skin and bones, and she knew without a doubt how difficult their lives were.
When they finally arrived at the border town, looking at the desolate land and the apathetic people, four words flashed through Jiang Qinyu's mind: barren land.
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