Lu Chuan said without any politeness, "Hehehe, eat your fill so you can get to work. There's a whole bunch of corn cobs in the backyard waiting for you to thresh them!"
Upon hearing this, Yunhua finally relaxed. "You should have said so earlier! You scared me to death!" she said, and then began to eat heartily.
Seeing that all the people who could drink were here, Lu Chuan specially brought out the sweet potato wine brewed by Xu Han, and the group had another small drink together.
"How's it? This liquor's strong, isn't it?"
Yunhua took a sip and frowned, saying, "Hiss, it burns my throat, but this wine tastes much better than ordinary wine. It's spicy and strong enough."
Xu Han chimed in with a smile, "I made a lot of sweet potato wine, so you can take it with you when you leave."
"Haha, this is exactly what I wanted, then I won't be polite."
"Don't be so polite. Just write to us after you've finished drinking, and we'll figure out how to send some over."
"No need for that. The world is still quite turbulent, so you should try to avoid going down the mountain as much as possible. I'll come back and get it myself after I've finished drinking. Anyway, it's not far from the capital, so it won't take long to go back and forth. I can also eat more good food when I get back, so it's worth it."
Upon hearing this, the Taoist priest glared at Yunhua with displeasure, "Don't let this interfere with important matters."
Seeing this, Yunhua patted his chest and said confidently, "Master, don't worry, I've done a great job on the task you assigned me."
The Taoist priest snorted coldly, "If I find out you're messing around outside, I'll skin you alive."
"Hehehe, I will absolutely not give you that chance."
Xu Han couldn't help but laugh when she saw Yunhua joking around in front of the Taoist priest.
The family sat together, chatting idly, but eventually the topic turned to the war.
"How is the situation at the border now? Are the supplies sufficient?"
At this point, Yunhua's smile vanished, and he said to everyone with a worried expression, "There have been four years of natural disasters. Countless people have died in these four years, crops have failed to yield, and a large part of the fertile land in the north has turned into wasteland. The imperial court has neither silver nor grain, making this war extremely difficult."
The atmosphere at the dinner table became unusually somber. Grandpa Zhao sighed and said, "Starting a war at this time is indeed detrimental to our country."
Lu Chuan continued, "Most of our country has been affected by natural disasters for four consecutive years. Even if the previous imperial court was particularly prosperous, it is estimated that it will be severely in debt after four years."
Yunhua continued, "This winter, the national treasury was empty, and the border soldiers didn't even have winter clothes to keep warm. In the end, it was the Sixth Prince who managed to get wealthy merchants from all over the country to donate money, which enabled them to gather enough grain and cotton-padded clothes to send to the border soldiers."
Xu Han also said, "Warfare is all about supplies. Without supplies, morale will definitely be low. We can't let our soldiers go to the battlefield on an empty stomach."
Lu Chuan frowned and said, "Our country has no money. The other three countries may not be in a better situation than us. At least in our country, the people in the south are not severely affected by the disaster. The other three countries are much more severely affected than our country."
Grandpa Zhao analyzed, "That's true, but the longer the war goes on, the more disadvantageous it will be for our country. It will take our country five or six years to recover from this war."
Xu Han sighed, "We've only been fighting for half a year, and the tougher days are yet to come!"
Yunhua continued, "The imperial court has already begun conscripting soldiers everywhere, but without provisions, they cannot win this war."
"The people in the north and central regions have only just settled down and now this has happened. The days ahead will be even more difficult."
The Taoist priest, who had been silent for a long time, said, "War requires money, provisions, and manpower. What can the imperial court do when it has none of these? In the end, it was the people of Yuanqing Kingdom who bore the brunt of everything."
"Next, not only will there be conscription, but grain taxes will definitely increase, and there will be all sorts of other miscellaneous taxes as well."
Xu Han said, "Fortunately, we live deep in the mountains. Our lives are much better than those of the people living down the mountain."
At the very least, she doesn't have to pay grain tax. Although Xu Han is now rich, she has never thought of donating all of it. Her little bit of money is nothing to those wealthy merchants and aristocratic families.
Since that's the case, Xu Han doesn't plan to show off anymore. However, if there's anything she can do to help later, she will definitely lend a hand. After all, the Taoist priest and Grandpa Zhao are here, and there are many things that don't require her to get involved.
The Taoist priest spoke to Xu Han and Lu Chuan, saying, "Don't worry about other things. Just close your doors and live your own lives. Don't show off when you shouldn't."
The Taoist priest's words were a warning to Lu Chuan and Xu Han. They both understood, and any little thoughts they might have had were now completely extinguished.
The Taoist priest was worried that Xu Han might not be able to distinguish between what was important and what was not. He knew that he was here to protect Xu Han from being discovered by outsiders. Of course, he wished that they could stay in the deep mountains forever and never be discovered by other people with ill intentions.
That way, I can say I've done justice to my plans.
As the group talked, it got later and later. Finally, Grandpa Zhao said, "Alright, let's call it a day. It's getting late. We can talk about anything else tomorrow. Anyway, Yunhua isn't leaving, so we'll have plenty of time to chat later."
Upon hearing this, everyone went back to their rooms to wash up and go to bed. However, it was clear that they wouldn't be able to go to bed early tonight.
Lu Chuan and Xu Han returned to the house and started talking about the current war situation again.
Xu Han said with a worried expression, "The war will last for three years, and only one year has passed, yet the situation has already deteriorated to this extent. I'm afraid next year will be even worse."
Lu Chuan comforted him, saying, "These are things we can't change. The only thing we can do now is to protect our little family and our children."
"Yes, you're right. I don't have the power to change these things, so all I can do is protect our children and let them grow up safely and healthily."
Lu Chuan hugged Xu Han tightly and said, "Don't be afraid. No matter what, our family will always be together and will never be separated."
Remembering Lu Chuan's thoughts when he first heard about the start of the war, Xu Han couldn't help but ask, "Do you want to go to the front lines? Do you want to be a soldier like your father?"
Lu Chuan sat up. "Why would you ask that?"
"It's nothing. Your expression was off the first time Yunhua brought back news that there was going to be a war. Do you want to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and avenge your father-in-law?"
Lu Chuan hadn't expected that Xu Han would see through his hidden thoughts.
She thought she had hidden it well, but she never expected Xu Han to be so thoughtful.
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