The first cities King Liang conquered and built were Yindu and Qingshuicheng. These two cities housed the largest garrisons, enjoyed a stable population, abundant resources, and gradually opened up trade routes. With their popularity and economic prosperity, they served as hubs between the north and the south, enjoying the best of both worlds.
Over the past few years, the Liang army has successively captured other cities, but the people there have not yet fully recovered from the past disasters.
The official road in Yindu is large and spacious, and the rice fields and wheat waves on both sides of the road are full of the joy of harvest.
After leaving Yindu, the road became rugged and difficult to travel, with weeds growing on the roadside and crops growing in the sparse fields. Occasionally, you can see many people working in the fields with farm tools.
Compared with the small caravans that appear from time to time on the Yindu official road, there are obviously not many caravans on the road here. Only occasionally there are many ordinary people traveling together.
Some people saw that there was only a young couple on the shaft of the cart, so they did not dare to stop the cart to borrow it, and stood aside quietly to make way.
Jiang Yue hadn't been on a road like this for a long time, and it felt quite novel. Before, most people had been on the road in a hurry to escape, and everyone was wary of other people on the road. Now, he had the leisure to walk slowly.
When they set out, the crops in the fields had not yet been harvested. After five or six days on the road, it was time for the summer harvest.
"Yueyue, it looks like it's going to rain." Dark clouds were pressing down, and Jiang Nian felt the dampness.
Jiang Yue opened the curtains in the carriage. It was almost noon, but the sky was as dark as if night was about to fall.
The mule carts were still moving on the official road, and no one paid attention to the sound of the mule hooves, because the old farmers in the fields not far away were racing against time and desperately harvesting crops.
"Mom, is it going to rain?" Suisui held a big meat bun in each hand and was happily chewing on it, his little mouth full of oil.
Seeing his mother with a sullen face, as if unhappy, he slowly moved to the window and also leaned his head out to look, "Isn't it good that it's raining?"
Jiang Yue touched his head with a complicated expression, "Spring rain is as precious as oil. If it rains lightly, the crops will grow well."
"But it's summer harvest time now. If it rains, the millet will get soaked and sprout. Even if it doesn't rain after the rice is harvested, if it's cloudy and the grain can't dry out, it might get moldy and sprout. Moldy grain can't be eaten, and taxes can't be paid. If the harvest is poor, the people will go hungry..."
Wasn't it the continuous torrential rain that led to the subsequent disaster? Starvation is the first step, and then the people's hearts are unstable, leading to chaos and turmoil, a vicious cycle...
Jiang Yue walked out of the carriage and sat next to Jiang Nian, watching the people rushing to harvest in the fields. She asked, "Is there a city further ahead?"
Since there are farmlands and people here, it should be not far from the city.
After passing through two cities, they turned northwest. Jiang Yue had never walked this road before, but Jiang Nian had walked it once, but that was three years ago.
He carefully identified the direction and nodded, "We should be there in half an hour. It's a small town."
Jiang Nian was worried that heavy rain would block the road, so he sped up the car.
Sure enough, after more than half an hour, they saw a small town. There were two guards at the gate. They saw a mule cart coming towards them. The driver was wearing a mask and had a fierce look in his eyes. They instantly became nervous and swung their swords, "Who's coming?!"
Jiang Nian slowed down as he approached the city gate. Jiang Yue wiped Sui Sui's mouth and hands, then carried her off the mule cart.
Seeing the women and children, the gate guard breathed a sigh of relief, but still held his knife tightly and asked again, "What are you doing?"
Jiang Nian took out the newly issued travel permit and household registration card and handed them to them. "Sir, we are going to visit relatives in the north. We passed by here and saw that it was about to rain heavily, so we came into the city to take shelter."
In the past few years, due to the calamities and chaos, the pass was basically useless. But starting this year, the Liang King began to collect land taxes and also established a new pass, requiring a pass for anyone traveling more than 100 li from their territory.
Fortunately, the Jiang family was well-known in Yindu, and they easily obtained a travel permit.
The guard at the city gate checked the pass and household registration card, then stepped forward and opened the door of the mule cart. After confirming that there were no problems, he let them into the city.
Although the sparrow is small, it has everything. After entering the city, they could hear the hawking of some small vendors, who were very enthusiastic towards them. They must have regarded them as wealthy people.
Suisui looked around and turned around in Jiang Yue's arms.
Jiang Yue patted his butt and said, "Be good, it's not fun here. We'll take you for a good tour when we get to the big city."
There was only one inn in the entire town, and there were very few guests inside. The waiter was almost asleep at the counter.
Jiang Yue walked in first with the child and tapped the counter with her fingers. "Hey, I want a room upstairs."
The waiter woke up instantly and said hurriedly, "Hey, okay!"
He looked outside and saw a man pulling a mule cart, and his smile became even brighter. "How many days do you want to stay? Do you need food?"
"Stay here for two days and wait until the weather clears up before leaving. No food needed, just boil two pots of hot water and feed the mules some fodder."
There were several wooden signs hanging on the stage. A room in the upper room cost sixty coins a day, and a steamed bun with mixed flour cost five coins. Jiang Yue had prepared a lot of food, so there was no need to spend a lot of money on bad food.
The waiter wasn't too disappointed; it was already quite nice of them to be willing to stay in the upper room. If you were short on money, you could just ask the locals nearby to let you stay for a night or two, and they would only need to pay ten or twenty coins.
The waiter led us into the room. Fortunately, this inn did not fool its guests. The tables and chairs were clean and there was no dust.
Suisui had been confined in the carriage for the past few days and was bored, so he got out of the carriage and ran around the room excitedly.
Jiang Yue and the others stood by the window and looked into the distance. The houses here were low, and the view from the second floor was wide, and they could see the farmland outside the city at a glance.
"I don't know when the rain will come. We have so much grain and fruit planted on the farm, and I don't know if we can harvest it all."
Jiang Nian put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Mr. Yuan will ask the villagers to come and help."
People in nearby villages also planted crops, but some came late and planted less. If they were paid enough, someone would come and work. I just don't know if Yuan Zhuangtou has the guts to do that.
The Jiang family's farm harvested grain three days earlier than Jiang Yue expected.
The reason was that Old Man Yu from the village began to feel sore in his legs and feet again.
He had suffered a lot in the first half of his life. Every rainy season or cold weather, his legs and feet would ache and ache. After coming to the village and working on his recovery for almost three years, his condition had improved significantly.
But it started to flare up again in the past two days. He watched the sky for half a day in the field, feeling worried, and went to discuss it with Yuan Zhuangtou.
The master had gone out, and Yuan Zhuangtou, burdened with the heavy burden, was also worried. Finally, he gritted his teeth and decided that three days early wasn't too early, so at a single command, they prepared to begin harvesting the grain.
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