The next day, when they were setting off after breakfast, Yang Haiyan quickened her pace. Originally, the carriage was moving slowly along with the group because everyone was walking.
Yang Haiyan took away Nanny Lian, Aunt Fan, Aunt Yu, Kun Zhang, Meng Qiu, Huang Xu, Meng An, and Niu Da's family of 10 women, a total of 10 people, plus Kun Shi and other private guards, and 20 soldiers.
It must be said that as she proposed, it would be beneficial for her to lead the group ahead. At least when Qin Fang and his group arrived, they could start eating right away.
Two days later, we left Yongzhou. The number of people eating increased from a few hundred to more than a thousand, because the dry food that everyone brought was running out.
As for meals, from the first meal of rice and bone porridge, to steamed buns, then rice and sweet potato porridge, or baked potatoes, etc., anyway, they are mainly porridge, steamed buns, sweet potatoes and potatoes, mainly for convenience. After a day, the food that Yang Haiyan brought was eaten up. Compared with the cost of food, it is neither profitable nor loss-making. Yes, neither profitable nor loss-making is profitable, after all, the food expenses of two hundred soldiers do not need to be paid.
At noon that day, after finishing the meal, Aunt Fan came to Yang Haiyan and said, "Madam, the food we brought is almost gone." There is a big difference between feeding a thousand people and feeding a family. If it is a family, the food they brought may last for a year, but if it is a thousand people, it will be gone in two days. Aunt Fan's tone was full of worry. All the food has been eaten, and Madam said she was responsible for the food of the whole team, so what should we do next
Facing Aunt Fan's worry, Yang Haiyan was very happy. She smiled and said, "It would be better if we finish eating up the stock. Then we can be more relaxed when we are on the road."
Qin Fang was just coming to see her, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but be curious: "How come it's okay after eating it all?"
Yang Haiyan turned around and said mysteriously, "Guess."
To be honest, Qin Fang didn't really know much about these mundane things. Although he was born in a poor family, he had grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts at home before he joined the army. As the eldest grandson, he didn't have to worry about the mundane things at home. After joining the army, the canteen took care of all the meals, so he didn't have to think about these things, so he was really curious when he heard Yang Haiyan say this.
Logically speaking, she should be worried when the food she brought was all gone, but why did she feel good about it? From her tone, it seemed that she was going to continue preparing food for everyone.
Qin Fang shook his head, lowered his posture and softened his voice, saying: "Good Yanyan, I really can't think of it, tell me."
Yang Haiyan felt that this man was becoming more and more shameless. She, an old lady, was ashamed to hear such words in public, but he just said them casually.
When Qin Fang saw her looking at him, he said innocently, "I'm not as smart as you."
Yang Haiyan ignored him: "We are about to set off. You will know when you see me in the evening. I won't tell you now." After saying that, she left Qin Fang with the back of his head and walked towards the carriage.
Qin Fang was not annoyed when he saw this, but smiled, turned around and looked at everyone, and said coldly: "Everyone, get ready to set off."
Yang Haiyan and his team's convoy quickly left the group and soon disappeared from everyone's sight. They had both horse-drawn carriages and horses, and their speed was envied by everyone in the group who were on foot.
Mrs. Yang and Mrs. Lu were riding in the same donkey cart. Originally, they sat separately, but after a few days they felt too lonely sitting alone. There was no one to talk to along the way, so they sat together.
Mrs. Yang said, "I see that there is no more food in Mrs. Qin's carriage. There are too many people eating these two days, and there is not enough food. I don't know what to do next?"
Mrs. Lu glanced at her and said, "Don't we still have the food we brought with us?" They had spent money to eat the food provided by the Qin family these two days, so they only had the food they brought with them left.
Mrs. Yang: "That being said, what about the Qin family? General Qin has already made a big promise, it can't just take two days and then it's gone, right?"
Mrs. Lu had no other thoughts: "We don't need to worry about this matter. We can't worry about anything. Let's see how General Qin arranges it."
Mrs. Yang didn't have any other intentions. She was just curious and wanted to talk to Mrs. Lu in private.
An hour and a half later, Yang Haiyan and his group arrived at another village. Or rather, they were looking for the village. Kun Shi was very familiar with the road conditions because he had taken this road before, and he also knew which village it was. "Madam, there is a village ahead, do you want to go into the village?"
Yang Haiyan said: "Indeed. Please arrange for someone to tell the general that we will stay here tonight."
Kun Shi: "Yes." He called Huang Huzi, "Huzi, go back and tell the master that we can rest when the team arrives here. We will stay here tonight."
Huang Huzi: “Yes…” He got on the horse and walked back immediately.
Yang Haiyan continued: "Captain Kun, let's go into the village."
Kunshi: “Yes.”
When they arrived at the village gate, their group of about 40 people attracted a lot of attention. In other words, when they appeared in front, someone went to find the village chief. After all, these people were either riding horses or carriages, and they were obviously rich or noble. The appearance of nobles here made the villagers not only curious but also nervous, fearing that something might happen.
Yang Haiyan said to Kun Shi: "Let them rest where they are. We will scare them if we go over there like this."
Kun Shi made a gesture to the soldiers, and they immediately stood up on the spot.
Yang Haiyan said to Aunt Lian, "Aunt, please ask the villagers to call the village chief and tell him that I want to discuss a big business deal with him."
Aunt Lian leaned forward and said, "Yes."
Aunt Lian walked over to the villagers who were watching them and said in a friendly manner, "Excuse me, we are the family of an official passing by. We have something to discuss with the village chief. I wonder if this lady can help to ask the village chief for help?"
When the woman being questioned heard that they were the wives of officials, she immediately said respectfully, "Someone has gone to call the village chief. Please wait a moment."
Aunt Lian said, "Thank you, madam."
After a while, the village chief arrived. This village chief looked very old, with a head full of white hair and holding a cane, but he looked in good spirits.
The village chief looked at them with some caution, and approached them from a distance, feeling a little reserved and worried. "Excuse me, who are you?" He could see that this group of people was led by this young woman, and the woman had so many servants and guards around her, which showed that they were of different status.
Aunt Lian said, "Hello, Village Chief. My wife is the wife of a fifth-rank general. Today, I want to discuss a business deal with your village."
Talking about business? The village chief looked at Yang Haiyan in confusion. At his age, he knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch. However, since the other party was of high status, he did not dare to refuse. He could only ask carefully: "Hello, sir. What kind of business are you talking about?"
Nanny Lian also looked at Yang Haiyan, because she didn't know what business the madam wanted to discuss. The madam had only mentioned business.
Yang Haiyan said: "It is like this, my husband is a fifth-rank general of Wude, and he was ordered by the emperor to go to Yunxiang County to settle the barbarian people who surrendered at the border, so he passed by here. However, the journey to Yunxiang County is long, and everyone has limited dry food, so I came to the village chief to order dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch tomorrow.
Today's dinner is sweet potato rice with a layer of fried cabbage on top, two cents per portion, but the sweet potato rice cannot be too little, it must be enough for an adult man to be 70% full. Breakfast is rice porridge with a boiled egg, also two cents.
Tomorrow's lunch is two steamed buns for one penny. How about a meal of one thousand servings each?" The court knew about Qin Fang's placement of the barbarians, and Yunxiang County also knew about it, so it was something that the people of the country could know, and it was not a secret.
If it was a secret, Yang Haiyan would not tell it, and she said it to reassure the village chief.
Sure enough, after listening to Yang Haiyan's words, the village chief was indeed relieved. Moreover, if it was other business, he would still worry about other things, but he would not worry about the business of making a meal. Besides, the cost of making sweet potato rice with oil and fried cabbage for dinner was not a penny, and this noble man gave them two cents per serving, so they still made money. The next day's breakfast was porridge with eggs. Eggs cost one cent outside, but porridge with eggs didn't cost two cents. Besides, two steamed buns didn't cost a penny, so they still made money.
The village chief thought about it and felt it was a good deal, so he said, "I will arrange for everyone to prepare now. Why don't you invite you to my home to rest for a while?"
Yang Haiyan said, "Sorry for disturbing you over there." Then she said to Kun Shi, "Captain Kun, you take everyone to wait here. Nanny Lian, Meng Ping, Tao Shan and I will go there."
Kunshi: “Yes.”
The village chief took Yang Haiyan back to his home and originally asked his daughter-in-law to clean up a room to entertain the guests, but Yang Haiyan refused and just sat in the yard.
Yang Haiyan sat down, and the village chief's daughter-in-law came forward and asked, "Greetings, sir, would you like some tea?"
Yang Haiyan said: "Sorry to bother you, sister-in-law. Just bring me a pot of hot water."
The village chief's daughter-in-law said, "Yes, please wait a moment."
Aunt Lian took out a bag from her shoulder bag and spread it out: "Madam, fill your stomach." In the bag were small biscuits, sweet and salty twisted dough sticks.
Actually, Aunt Lian and the others learned how to use shoulder bags from Yang Haiyan. However, with this shoulder bag, traveling is indeed more convenient, as some things can be carried with you.
Yang Haiyan picked up a biscuit and took a bite. The mellow milk flavor spread from her teeth. Slurp... the sound of slurping saliva came into Yang Haiyan's ears. She turned her head in the direction of the sound and saw a little boy hiding at the kitchen door. The little boy stretched out his little head and looked at him curiously.
Yang Haiyan couldn't help smiling when she saw the cute child and waved at him.