Chapter 202: Han Xing is Back
When the telescope was handed to Grandpa Ling, Miss Yan, dressed in red, was like a phoenix, waving her golden riding crop and shouting something into the pass.
She knew someone was watching from the watchtower. Although she didn’t know who it was, she was very excited, feeling like she had finally returned home after being away for a long time, and seeing a fellow villager made her feel very close.
If she had known that the person watching her at this moment was Jin Sui, she probably would have shouted directly from her horse!
Yan Jiu was also not sitting in the carriage, but riding a horse, dressed in a snow-white cloak, with a thick white fox fur collar that made him look like a banished immortal.
Only Grandpa Ling let out a hiss: “Wearing such white clothes while riding a horse, how difficult it is to wash them when they get dirty!”
Jin Sui was successfully led astray by Grandpa Ling: “I’ve always been curious, young heroes who roam the Jianghu love to wear white clothes. Since bloodstains and mud are so hard to wash off, do they wash their clothes themselves?”
Grandpa Ling scoffed: “That’s just nonsense from storybooks. I’ve been roaming the Jianghu for so many years, and I’ve never seen any rich young master wear white clothes to roam the Jianghu. It’s not like they’re wearing mourning clothes; good fabrics look good in any color.”
Yan Jiu was an exception. Wherever he went, he carried carpets, teacups, and porcelain teaware with him. He had already deviated from the norm of rich young masters; he was the head of a clan who could afford to change into a new outfit every day.
While they were chatting, Gu Changxiao and his entourage arrived. Jin Sui quickly said to Hei Hu: “Go quickly and pick up Han Xing and the others.”
“Also, inform Lord Cheng to prepare a welcoming banquet.”
Yan Shiyi magically reappeared: “Tonight, my Yan family will host a welcoming banquet for the head of the family, and all the Black Feather Camp soldiers are invited to attend.”
Jin Sui smiled: “That’s good, it saves a meal. Prepare more wine and meat!”
Yan Shiyi wanted to look at her with contempt, but he didn’t dare, fearing he would be beaten. He said proudly: “Can the banquets of my Yan family be inferior!”
Seeing that Jin Sui was deliberately ignoring him, Gu Changxiao took Jin An down and let him go with Hei Hu to pick up Han Xing.
Grandpa Ling naturally put the telescope into his embrace, and then took a group of disciples to see the address of the Taoist temple he had just chosen.
Yan Shiyi also ran off to pick up his elder brother and sister. Suddenly, everyone dispersed, leaving only Jin Sui and Gu Changxiao.
She put on a stern face and pointed to the boundary marked by red silk, saying: “Your Highness, please review. I have already chosen the address for the academy.”
Gu Changxiao saw that she had been laughing heartily with Grandpa Ling and chatting happily with Yan Shiyi just now, but she put on a stern face when it came to him. However, he was not angry at all and coaxed her, apologizing to Jin Sui:
“Is Sui Sui still angry? I’m sorry, I promise there won’t be a next time! It’s just that you were too excited at the time, and I was afraid you would overexert yourself and harm your body, so I gave you a little sleeping medicine.”
Jin Sui snorted coldly: “You are betraying my trust! I had no defenses against you, yet you drugged me!”
Gu Changxiao spread his hands in front of her: “Sui Sui can hit me or scold me, as long as you’re not angry.”
Jin Sui’s hand slipped, and a bottle of medicine appeared in her hand: “If you drink this, we’ll be even.”
Gu Changxiao took it without even smelling it, took a big gulp, and then immediately put on a comical expression, like a cat that had eaten chili peppers.
He hissed and panted: “What is this?”
Jin Sui laughed: “Aren’t you afraid it’s poison?”
“Sui Sui wouldn’t give me poison!”
Jin Sui snorted: “If you dare to do it again, I promise to give you poison!”
Gu Changxiao’s scalp suddenly tingled, and he broke out in a sweat. He wanted to find water to rinse his mouth, but he didn’t dare to close his mouth, his mouth was full of a strange taste.
“Have you tried Cantonese herbal tea? I even added a special ingredient.”
He added Huang Lian, making it incredibly bitter!
“Is Sui Sui satisfied now?”
Jin Sui couldn’t maintain her stern expression anymore. She suppressed her laughter and watched him continue to act comically. She picked up a tomato to eat, but after just one bite, Gu Changxiao snatched it away.
“I’ve eaten it!”
“So what?”
Jin Sui’s ears turned the color of a tomato. This young lady is magnanimous and won’t stoop to your level.
She rode Gu Changxiao’s horse and had him lead it, introducing her plans for the academy: “First, we need to build the roads. We have to urge Liu Yun to find petroleum quickly; that stuff is best for road construction.”
She had brought back some petroleum, but the amount was too small for research. It wasn’t enough to use petroleum for road construction or refining fuel.
“We’ll be busy after the spring plowing. In the first month, we’ll build roads and transport building materials. We’re short-handed! The common people will be busy with spring plowing, so we can’t mobilize the young and strong to build the academy.”
There was a time when everyone disliked the large number of people in the border city, fearing that people would flood into Yanzhou City, so Yanzhou City didn’t even open its gates. Yet, after only a year, the border city is severely short of people.
“Actually, as long as we post notices offering food and lodging, I believe many people from the sixteen prefectures of Yandi will come to the border city.”
Gu Changxiao sighed softly: “Sui Sui, don’t worry, a group of people will arrive at the border city soon.”
Jin Sui quickly asked: “What happened? If it’s a plague, we can’t let people in yet; they need to be cured before entering the city.”
“It’s not a plague. Last autumn, the Yellow River breached its banks and flooded thirteen counties. Those disaster-stricken people have not yet been resettled and are living in makeshift shelters on the outskirts of Luocheng, waiting for government resettlement.
The people in the Luocheng area are unwilling to take in these disaster-stricken people. They can’t return to their homes. Someone in the Imperial Court proposed letting these people come to the border city, about seventy thousand in total.”
Jin Sui chuckled: “It seems Lord Cheng has done a good job of keeping the situation in the border city a secret! Prince Yu probably thought he was giving you a big problem by sending you seventy thousand refugees.
Little did he know that we are extremely short-handed right now.”
Gu Changxiao said softly: “Last autumn, there were 170,000 disaster victims.”
Jin Sui could no longer laugh. Where did those 100,000 disaster victims go? What percentage of them survived? The aristocratic clans were like states within a state, only caring about their own families.
The Imperial Court was plagued by factional strife and internal conflicts, and no one cared about the lives of the common people.
She could only comfort Gu Changxiao: “Don’t worry, our Li Da Wu Qiong City will live up to their arduous journey! We will definitely be able to let the people settle down and live a good life here.”
She then cursed Prince Yu: “He thought of this idea to deal with the envoy from the Northern Frontier coming to court? Sending you tens of thousands of refugees. If it were the border city of last year, we really couldn’t have accepted them; we wouldn’t even have enough food to eat.”
“But the situation is different now. With another harvest of sweet potatoes and potatoes from the military-stored fields, we can feed as many people as come.”
“By the way, are refugees allowed into the sixteen prefectures of Yandi?”
Gu Changxiao said solemnly: “I have dispatched an army to the checkpoint to receive the refugees, and at the same time, I have issued decrees to all the gentry families in the sixteen prefectures, forbidding them from obstructing the refugees from coming to the border city.”
“We also need to send another army to stand by. If any gentry family dares to be the first to cause trouble and injure even one refugee, it will be an injury to the people of the border city! We must kill the chicken to scare the monkeys!”
Jin Sui looked at Yan Jiu’s team in the distance with some conflict. This person had returned at the most opportune moment.
If he hadn’t returned, without him mediating, some of the Yandi gentry would surely have produced one or two brainless individuals to trouble the refugees, and then Gu Changxiao would have had the perfect opportunity to establish his authority through killing.
Although Yandi might experience some chaos for a while, Gu Changxiao could also use this incident to make the sixteen prefectures of Yandi completely submit.
Now, it’s probably not possible. Yan Jiu will definitely inform all the gentry families that they must not trouble the refugees and must not become enemies with King Li.
In the past, some gentry families would not have listened to Yan Jiu, but now Yan Jiu holds a super-sized cake, and all the gentry families in the sixteen prefectures of Yandi want a piece of it!
That is the trade rights with the Northern Frontier. The imperial court intends to hinder the development of Yandi, with many trade restrictions towards the interior and heavy taxes.
However, it’s different when trading with the Northern Frontier. As long as they pay taxes to the border city, the market in the Northern Frontier is vast! As long as they can get on this trade route, they will be rolling in wealth!
Jin Sui also began to worry about another point: “We also need to guard against the gentry families bribing the common people! Soon, the entire Yandi will be extremely short of workers.”
“The refugees have suffered for months. When they come to the prosperous Yandi and hear that food, lodging, and wages are provided, they will immediately be willing to become tenant farmers for the gentry.”
“We need to establish files for the common people at the checkpoints. Anyone who dares to take even one of our people will have the Black Feather Camp knocking on their door to demand them!”
“Oh my, should I make a trip? I feel uneasy.”
Gu Changxiao quickly said: “Cheng Yu has personally gone to receive these people. If necessary, I will also lead troops there myself.
Sui Sui, don’t worry! Don’t you need to draw the academy construction plans? It’s better to finalize the construction plans before the spring plowing.”
Jin Sui chuckled: “That’s true. I should be fully focused on the academy now. The border city is getting bigger and bigger. I am no longer King Li, and I can’t manage everything.”
“It’s not like that. I’m just afraid that Sui Sui will be too tired. You just mentioned establishing files for the common people and checking their health on the outskirts of the city. Cheng Yu and I hadn’t thought of these things. We can’t do without Sui Sui.”
“Stop flattering me! Our border city officials are already very familiar with the procedures for arranging refugees. However, let’s agree first: I want to pick a group of craftsmen from these people.”
Gu Changxiao nodded: “Of course! Whatever talent Sui Sui needs, you can choose first. It’s the good fortune of these people to be able to join your command.”
“After this matter spreads, more people will likely flock to the border city. We need to make early preparations and expand the urban area.
I originally wanted to keep the old urban area as a battlefield relic, but now it seems better to clear it out and plan it as a new district!”
It was too troublesome to explain everything, so Jin Sui decided to make a sand table of the border city when she got back, which would be much more convenient for discussing urban planning with Gu Changxiao.
So busy! Fortunately, she slept soundly in the morning, so she was full of energy now.
When Han Xing and the others entered the pass, Jin Sui and Gu Changxiao had just arrived. Miss Yan was exceptionally enthusiastic and shouted: “Sui Sui!”
She jumped off her horse and hugged her. Miss Yan was half a head taller than Sui Sui, and she directly picked Sui Sui up and spun her around.
Gu Changxiao was filled with envy. He also wanted to hug Sui Sui like that.
“Sui Sui, you smell so good! I’m all smelly, no, no, I need to take a bath quickly.”
Jin Sui quickly smiled and said: “My home is nearby, and I’ve built a bathhouse. Come to my place to wash!”
It was still a long way back to Yanzhou, and they would definitely spend the night in the border city tonight.
Miss Yan naturally agreed, but Yan Shiyi disagreed: “How can a young lady go to someone else’s house to bathe? Let’s go to our own house.”
“Our house is too far!”
“Who said that? Brother bought a courtyard in the border city. From now on, we won’t have to stay in inns when we come to the border city.”
Jin Sui asked in surprise: “When did you buy a courtyard? Do you want to be a resident of the border city?”
Yan Shiyi said proudly: “I am, after all, a salt representative. What’s wrong with buying a courtyard? Not only did I buy one, but all the gentry families who participated in the polo match bought one.”
“Your Lord Cheng relied on selling us houses first to raise money, and only then did he build the new district!”
Jin Sui didn’t know about this yet. She asked curiously: “You mean you didn’t even see the houses, but just heard Lord Cheng say it and paid the silver to buy them?”
“Not just heard it, they also gave us the house blueprints.”
Jin Sui was greatly impressed. Cheng Yu’s mind was truly sharp! He had mastered real estate from later generations. At least he built a sales office before selling, and it was on an installment plan.
Your courage is even greater; you directly sold it with just a blueprint, and even got the full payment.
Jin An and Grandpa Ling were looking at the goods brought by the Yan family, which were indeed dazzling. Jin An curiously asked Han Xing how he fought the battle against Left Wise King.
Although he had heard it many times from Hei Hu and the others, he wanted to hear it from the person involved.
Han Xing held Left Wise King’s head and let King Batel cut it off. Jin An felt his blood boil just thinking about that scene.
Meanwhile, Grandpa Ling was chatting with Yan Jiu. Yan Jiu was very respectful of Grandpa Ling. When asked what goods from Great Xia were most in demand in the Northern Frontier,
Yan Jiu chuckled: “Besides conventional goods like tea, sugar, and silk, the most popular item among the Northern Frontier people currently is Miss Ji’s glazed glass artifacts.”
Grandpa Ling, who was one of the few who knew the raw materials for glazed glass, couldn’t help but twitch his eyelids. He took out a few glass marbles from his brocade pouch. These couldn’t be fired into shape. Jin Sui used them to teach Jin An to play checkers.
Grandpa Ling also liked them very much and carried a bag with him.
Yan Jiu took a glass marble and smiled: “It’s precisely this item. A glazed glass ball like this, if inlaid on a golden hairpin, would be more valuable than jade and gemstones!”
Grandpa Ling gave a dry laugh, his hands trembling slightly. He decided he would never let children play with these things casually again.
At the same time, he felt scared and pulled Jin Sui over: “You’re cheating the Northern Frontier people like this, aren’t you afraid they’ll chase you all the way to the border city!”
Jin Sui was stunned for a moment. What was he talking about? After understanding the cause and effect, she sneered dismissively: “The Northern Frontier people are easily fooled! They will treat glazed glass as a treasure.”
Thinking about how merchants from the Western Regions cheated the nobles of Chang’an with glazed glass back then, now it’s my turn to cheat foreigners, so what?
Grandpa Ling gritted his teeth: “Then you absolutely must not let anyone know that thing is made from sand, otherwise they will definitely attack the border city!”
Jin Sui scoffed: “If they want to go to war, they can find any excuse! What if they come? I’ll just burn them to death!”
Grandpa Ling once again realized how bold his granddaughter was! At his age, if he deceived someone, at most he would exaggerate the divination and ask for a small amount of money to ward off disaster.
Wandering Taoists all did that.
Looking at his granddaughter, if he was said to deceive one person, then his granddaughter was deceiving a whole country!
The thought of the Northern Frontier people’s reaction when they learned the truth made Grandpa Ling wish he could immediately take Jin Sui and hide in the deep mountains as refugees.
He warned: “You absolutely must not go to the Northern Frontier again!”
Jin Sui agreed to this: “I’m not going! King Batel even wants to capture me and make me a Saintess. I must be out of my mind to run to the Northern Frontier.”
“Grandpa, don’t let it slip either. We can do this glazed glass business for at least two or three years. Not only in the Northern Frontier, but I plan to sell it to Baekje, Japan, and Tianzhu.
Once we’ve made enough money abroad, we’ll make it a common item. In the future, we’ll use glazed glass to decorate our windows instead of paper!”
