"Yes, my son will send someone to the fishing grounds in a moment."
"As for the sheep and pigs raised by the farm, keep them for yourself to eat."
In the past two years, the farm has raised a lot of live animals. Shuren likes to eat geese, so Changli asked people to raise a lot of them. Thinking of the geese, he said, "Send someone to the farm to catch some geese. I haven't eaten roast goose for a while. Let's make roast goose today."
Changli wrote them down one by one and said, "Okay."
Zhulan calculated the number of people in her family. Every time they had roast geese, each family would have at least two. With a large family and a large business, the expenses would be high. Fortunately, Zhuangzi raised some of the geese himself.
In the afternoon, Changli caught forty geese in one go, and there were quite a few goose eggs. He kept twenty for himself and gave five of the remaining twenty to his eldest daughter. As for the remaining fifteen, Zhulan distributed them to the Wang family, the Ran family, the Liu family, and Mrs. Hu who lived alone, and gave each family a basket of goose eggs.
Wang's house, Wang Ju came back in the evening, "Did you buy a goose today?"
He knew without asking about the family's affairs that there were not many geese for sale in the market, and people rarely sold those they raised at home, so geese could be used to guard the house.
Tao picked up a goose leg and gave it to her husband. "We didn't buy it. My in-laws sent five geese and a basket of goose eggs. We cooked all five geese. One for my parents, one for us, one for Wang Wei and his wife, and the other two were given to the second and third wives."
Wang Ju seldom eats goose at home. She only orders it when she goes to a restaurant. After eating two bites, she found the taste good. "The second and third wives are complaining about it again."
"What are you complaining about? They are complaining about the eldest son's possession of two of them. Do they have the nerve to complain about that? These were sent by the Zhou family."
Wang Ju, "How do you divide the goose eggs?"
Mrs. Tao snorted, "I didn't give it to the second and third wives. If they like to eat it, they can buy it themselves. Just tell me how much of the food sent by the Zhou family did they eat? You still have the nerve to find fault with it."
Wang Ju comforted his wife, "It will be fine after the family is divided. After all, I have seen many families who love their daughters, but no family loves their daughters as much as the Zhou family."
Tao, “Yeah.”
Wang Wei was eating the goose. "This goose is really well raised."
Yu Lu smiled and said, "If you like it, eat more."
"Eat more, ma'am. You've worked hard taking care of the child."
Yu Lu's eyes curved at this concern. "I have a maid and a servant to help me at home. I'm not tired. On the contrary, you just joined the Ministry of Industry and have become tired and thin recently."
Wang Wei raised his arm and said, "I've become stronger too. Look at my arm."
Yu Lu listened to her husband carefully and added a few words appropriately. The couple had a very happy dinner. In the end, Wang Wei ate a lot of goose, but Yu Lu didn't eat much.
Wang Wei looked at the bones in front of him, "This."
Yu Lu smiled, "My grandfather likes to eat geese, and my father raised a lot of geese on the farm. I ate a lot of geese when I was at home."
Before she got married, the cook in her family cooked the goose in various ways, and she became picky about it. The goose cooked by the Wang family was not as delicious as the one cooked by her parents.
News of the war in the northeast continued to be transmitted back to the capital. One day, an urgent report came that the border fortress had been breached and King Liang was leading his troops in a continuous retreat.
When the urgent report reached the capital, the ministers who had been full of confidence were dumbfounded. It was the first time in all the years since the establishment of the dynasty that they were forced to retreat after being beaten.
The ministers in the court were talking about this matter. Some pointed the finger at King Liang, saying that it was all his fault that he was not a good leader of the troops.
The poor health of Prince Liang became a topic of criticism, and although it was not stated, it was assumed that Prince Liang was showing off his ability.
Zhou Shuren rolled his eyes in his heart. The louder someone yells, the more they just talk big to gain attention.
Your Majesty, "Now is not the time to pursue responsibility."
The court was quiet. Indeed, now was not the time to assign blame, but to stop the enemy from moving further south.
The King of Qi frowned. The King of Liang should not have been beaten back. Not to mention the power of the cannons, even with the support of 150,000 troops, he should not have lost the fortress. Did the King of Liang lead the troops improperly? Ha, he knew the Fourth Brother's ability better than anyone else.
Moreover, the fourth brother is a ruthless person. For the sake of Prince Liang's Mansion, the fourth brother will not be defeated so easily. If he is really forced into a corner, the fourth brother will perish along with his enemy.
The King of Qi looked at the Emperor. Only the Emperor could make the King of Liang obey.
The King of Chu pulled the sleeve of his second brother and whispered, "No, this is not the character of the fourth brother."
The King of Qi pretended not to hear and continued to look at the Emperor. The ministers in the court were discussing, and the Emperor had a blank expression on his face. Then he looked at the calm Prince and lowered his eyes.
The news of King Liang's retreat had a great impact, especially on the northeastern states. Too many people fled to the border, and the panic in the states intensified.
In Zhoujia Village, Ming Qing came to Jiang's house and saw several uncles from the Jiang family as soon as he entered the door.
Jiang Miao pressed his brows and said, "Chief, you are here."
Uncle Jiang was really anxious. "If you don't come with us, we will leave too. You heard that King Liang was defeated and retreated. No one knows how long he can hold out."
Jiang Miao, "Uncle, I have something else to do, you can leave if you want."
Still the same thing, she would not leave unless it was absolutely necessary. If something really happened, she believed that her grandparents would give her a message.
Ming Qing watched the uncles from the Jiang family leave, sat down and asked, "You really aren't leaving?"
"You want me to leave?"
Ming Qing nodded, "I hope you can go back. If something happens to you, I will have a hard time explaining it. However, if you don't leave, the Zhou family can continue to wait."
Jiang Miao asked, "There have been a lot of people coming to ask about you recently, right?"
"Well, even the county magistrate asked me about it."
"Thanks for your hard work."
"It's not easy for you either. I've been asking you a lot more questions these days."
Jiang Miao drank tea to moisten her throat. She spoke more in these days than she did in a year.
In the big tent where Prince Liang was, he looked at the secret report and curled his lips. If we talk about cruelty, the emperor is the most cruel. He wanted to keep 30,000 soldiers from the Yi Banner Tribe and the troops from various pursuing tribes.
King Liang put down the secret report and asked, "How long will it take for the Yi Banner to arrive?"
General Qian said, "It will take two more days to get there. Oh, they are moving really fast."
King Liang curled his lips and said, "Pass the order down, it's time to get ready."
General Qian was excited and said, "Yes."
Another day passed, and the grassland tribe raided the border, but was defeated. What greeted them were traps and artillery fire. The cannon shells were costless, and the grassland tribe's soldiers could not even get to the city wall. The people in the Northwest Fortress City heard the sound of artillery fire all day.
An urgent report was sent to the capital to ease the concerns of King Liang in the northeast about his retreat.
Along with the urgent news that came to the capital, there was also chaos in several states. Zhou Shuren saw with his own ears the emperor's orders. After many days of tolerance, the situation was finally settled and the death squads had already gathered in several states.
Zhou Shuren went home in a bad mood, and Zhulan asked with concern, "What's wrong? Is there any bad news?"
Zhou Shuren, "The emperor has ordered a cleanup of the rebellious states."
Zhulan understood that the reckoning would mean the death of many innocent people, "The palace will also be in turmoil."
"Um."