Chapter 297 The Itinerary of the First Day
"Granny, thanks to you, otherwise I would have gone on this study tour alone, and it wouldn't have been so lively."
Daiyu, without any semblance of decorum, leaned casually against Yuan Hongqu.
"Aren't you feeling hot? Sit up properly." Yuan Hongqu said with a hint of displeasure, but she changed her position so that Daiyu could lean against her and feel less uncomfortable.
"Why are you saying these things? Even the Emperor supports our study tour this time; didn't he even sponsor a hundred Imperial Guards? But their equipment isn't as good as ours. What are you going to do with them then?"
Yuan Hongqu naturally had solutions to these minor problems, but Daiyu must also have a way, so let Daiyu show her.
“If you want to eat, just eat with our family,” Daiyu blurted out without thinking.
"As for accommodation..." Daiyu thought for a moment and said.
"Just let them scatter in each family's tents or wagons. We've already counted them; each family has at least three tents, and the rest will be housed in the wagons. Those tents are quite spacious; they can all fit."
“You have a good idea, but the Imperial Guards are very disciplined and probably won’t stay in other people’s tents. Even if they are scattered, they are still disciplined. Why don’t we check which families have extra tents and give them a few to stay in?” Yuan Hongqu recalled the marching rules of the Imperial Guards that she had seen and felt that they probably wouldn’t want to stay with others.
"Granny, you're so thoughtful. Actually, we already have enough guards of our own; we don't need these Imperial Guards at all," Daiyu said, somewhat puzzled.
“Our study tour group is too large, and these female students have very different and complicated backgrounds. We can’t afford for any of them to make a mistake. Even if we signed a waiver of liability, we will still be blamed if something goes wrong. The fact that the Emperor sent the Imperial Guards changes the situation. It means that the Emperor is behind our study tour, and he is supporting the Empress and the academy! These Imperial Guards are ostensibly everyone’s protector, but in reality, they are the protector of our academy. So we must not neglect them.” Yuan Hongqu explained to Daiyu in detail.
Daiyu seemed to be deep in thought, and after a long while, she said,
"Granny, it's fortunate that all of us traveling are female students. If we were male students, there would probably be ten thousand Imperial Guards instead of just a hundred today."
"If they were male students, do you think the Emperor would allow such a large study tour group to appear?" Yuan Hongqu asked rhetorically.
Daiyu nodded. "That's definitely not possible."
The two chatted for a while, but they had only just left the capital city.
It got a little hot, so refreshing plum soup, icy cold rice cakes, and all sorts of snacks were delivered to each family's carriage via supply wagons.
This is the standard equipment that is provided on every carriage. There are other items as well, which you will need to prepare yourself.
After drinking the plum soup, Daiyu felt a bit bored and wanted to find a book to read.
Yuan Hongqu immediately stopped her, forbidding her from reading in the carriage, saying that the swaying of the carriage was bad for her eyes, and that reading wouldn't make a difference.
Daiyu was getting tired of looking at the scenery outside, so she said she wanted to go to her space to read.
Granny Yuan laughed and said, "This is only the first day of the journey, and you can't stand the fatigue and boredom of traveling. Will the other students be unable to stand it either? Since you are the initiators of the activity, shouldn't you think of some ways to make everyone less bored?"
Daiyu's eyes lit up, and she spent the rest of the time thinking about this matter.
Around noon, we finally made some progress, and once we got to the camp, we immediately took out paper and pen and wrote it down.
The journey of 300 li is planned to take four days, with each day covering 80 li.
This pace is neither too fast nor too slow, taking into account the students' physical endurance and preventing them from getting bored from spending too much time traveling.
The route planned by Daiyu and the others was entirely along the official roads. The post stations along the way had already received notification half a month ago and signed contracts with the academy.
Although the inn could not accommodate so many people to rest at the same time, it could still accommodate students who were unwell or had special reasons for not being able to go in.
When they were halfway through the forty-mile journey in the morning, each household's carriage sped up and headed to the campsite next to the post station.
There was already a vanguard team organized by the academy there, which had divided up the resting areas for each group.
They discussed and set up their tents for a temporary rest at noon. By the time the main force arrived, all the tents were already set up.
Most of the students on the carriage wore veils, but some of the younger girls, or those who were usually lively and bold, wore nothing at all.
For example, Liu Qianrou started complaining as soon as she got off the carriage, saying that she wouldn't ride in the carriage in the afternoon, she wanted to ride a horse.
Upon hearing this, many female students nearby echoed her sentiments. They had all learned riding and archery before, and they always brought their own horses. What would be the point of coming out if they didn't actually ride a horse on the road once?
Daiyu agreed wholeheartedly, and she also wanted to ride a horse to travel.
After lunch, several group leaders came to Daiyu's place for a meeting to summarize the events that occurred on the way there that morning and to share their observations and insights from the morning.
"Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles, and that saying is absolutely true. Although we have only just set out and traveled less than fifty miles, I feel that it is very different from being in the capital."
"That's true. The scenery will be more and more different as we go on, and we will be able to see more and more things."
"It's the same wind, but the wind outside feels more like wind than the wind at home. It even smells better. And the trees outside are real trees; they can grow tall and freely, unlike the ones inside..."
Several people chimed in with their own opinions.
Inside Daiyu's tent was a thick carpet, on which was a cowhide mat.
The group sat on the mat without any regard for their image, looking very excited.
Daiyu had traveled a long way, from Yangzhou, which was almost ten times farther than the current journey. Back then, they traveled by boat, which was a completely different experience from the current journey.
However, she wasn't as excited as the others.
After sharing their feelings, the group took out their notebooks to record the events that had occurred during the morning's activities and how they had handled them.
They are only responsible for students' problems; other students are responsible for resolving their own issues.
Each family brought so many people with them, and some even had the local doctor with them. Mosquito bites, motion sickness, and stomach aches were all minor problems!
The biggest problem with the group that arrived that morning was that the journey was so boring that many students fell asleep.
Solving this problem is precisely what Daiyu urgently wants to address.
The group immediately agreed, and after reviewing Daiyu's plan, they all agreed that it was feasible.
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