Chen Xi and He Li exchanged a glance, neither having expected the situation in Daqing Prefecture to become this severe.
He Li felt a wave of lingering fear. Fortunately, he had run fast; otherwise, given the current circumstances, it would have been truly difficult to escape with his whole family.
After asking a few more questions about the situation in Daqing Prefecture, Chen Xi finally asked the question he had in mind earlier: "Where are you planning to go?"
Xiaohua's eyes were filled with confusion. "We don't know where we can flee to either. We don't dare go south. If all else fails, we can only return to our old village, but..."
Their village was a small one to begin with. The villagers had fled one after another, and their few families had held on until the very end, only leaving when there was truly no other choice.
Going back now would mean even less of a chance to survive.
Everyone in the group was in low spirits. They had thought they had found a new home and could finally settle down.
In the end, all the strong young men, the pillars of their families, were conscripted into military service. They called it military service, but everyone knew they were just cannon fodder. It was unlikely they would make it back alive.
Chen Xi sighed. He thought for a moment and said, "Then you can go check out Gefeng. In our Gefeng, as long as you work, you will be paid wages."
Xiaohua widened her small, beady eyes. "What did you say? Wages? We don't want wages; we just want food to eat."
Chen Xi smiled. "We have shops in Gefeng where you can buy grain. Anyway, you'll know once you get there."
Wu Qing grew excited. "Really?"
Xiaohua's mother also looked at Chen Xi with excitement. "Sir, is what you say true?"
Chen Xi nodded. "Naturally, it's true."
Recalling the injustices along this journey, and considering that these people had, after all, helped Zhao Feng and the others, he suggested:
"We will return to Gefeng in a few days. If you aren't in a hurry, you can find a place to hide and leave with us when the time comes."
Xiaohua's mother and the others were overjoyed. Traveling with a group like this would guarantee their safety.
Xiaohua pursed her lips and finally couldn't help but ask, "Is Young Master Zhao also in Gefeng?"
Chen Xi replied, "...Yes, but he has been away on business."
If he brought Xiaohua back to Gefeng, would Zhao Feng blame him?
Time flew by, and it was soon June.
In the Gefeng county office, Jiang Jin was hosting three members of the Mei family.
Mei Sheng sighed with emotion, "I haven't been here for over half a year, and I can hardly recognize Gefeng. The changes are too great."
The three of them had arrived two days prior and were again hosted by Dong Si.
They first stayed at an inn for a night, and the next day they spent the whole day wandering around Gefeng City.
The massive changes in Gefeng left the three of them dumbfounded, and some of the merchandise in the city made them feel as if they had discovered a whole new world.
For example, the sofas, wardrobes, tables, and chairs in the furniture store.
There were also iron woks, stainless steel kettles, honeycomb coal briquettes, and so on.
After their initial shock, the three rented three courtyard houses in Changliu Mountain, showing a strong inclination to settle down in Gefeng for the long term.
Another reason they prepared to stay in Gefeng permanently was that Gefeng had actually repelled the siege by Qu Zhao.
Mei Cai chimed in, "Exactly. The last time we were here, the houses were still under construction, but now they are all finished. It's a pity the weather is turning hot; otherwise, I would really like to try out the heated walls and the heated brick beds."
Jiang Jin smiled. "Haven't you rented houses in Changliu Mountain? You can try them out this winter."
The three of them all nodded.
Mei Sheng sighed, "We definitely have to try them when the time comes. We won't have to freeze this year."
He continued, "By the way, we also want to rent some commercial shops. Is that possible?"
This was also the purpose of their request to see Jiang Jin today.
Jiang Jin's expression grew serious. "Shops can naturally be rented, but we do not allow human trafficking in Gefeng."
In this era, buying and selling slaves was legal, and the origins of the Mei family's slaves were clean, so she would not categorize the Mei family as evil.
However, while she could buy slaves from the outside to increase Gefeng's productivity, under her jurisdiction, she would not allow the trading of human beings.
The Mei family had brought her another eight hundred slaves this time.
Speaking of which, slaves were truly useful; they did whatever you told them to do, and most were loyal.
Mei Sheng was stunned and puzzled. "Why is that?"
Naturally, Jiang Jin wasn't going to talk to them about human rights or the theory that all men are created equal at a time like this. Besides, were people truly born equal?
She simply said casually, "For the future of Gefeng."
Seeing that she didn't want to elaborate, Mei Sheng didn't press the issue. After all, apart from slaves, they had other businesses.
He hesitated for a moment before asking, "My Lord, I wonder if you could wholesale some of your honeycomb coal and charcoal to us for trade?"
Mei Ren also said excitedly, "Yes, yes, and the iron woks, and the stain... whatever steel kettles! They are so convenient. Can all of these be wholesaled?"
Jiang Jin shook her head. "I currently only plan to sell these items within Gefeng. Wholesaling them to you doesn't make much sense."
Speaking of which, her general store was preparing to open a branch. Now that the city's population had grown, a single shop was too busy to handle it all.
Mei Sheng and the other two were somewhat disappointed.
"However," Jiang Jin changed the subject, "I have other things I can wholesale to you for trade, whether in Gefeng or elsewhere."
Mei Cai's eyes lit up. "May I ask what these items are?"
Without needing Jiang Jin's instruction, Dong Si perceptively brought over a stack of paper and several bars of soap.
In two months, both soap and paper had been successfully produced, but since they had only just succeeded, there hadn't been time for mass production and sales yet.
It was just a pity that blowing glass was not that easy, but it should be ready soon as well.
"Is this paper?" They naturally recognized paper, but the paper before them was slightly different; the color was whiter, the texture finer, and it was thicker.
Jiang Jin nodded. The paper they had successfully made now used tree bark as its primary material. She also wanted to make bamboo paper, but that was more time-consuming and hadn't been completed yet.
Mei Cai gently stroked the paper and marveled, "The quality of this paper is too good. How was this achieved?"
Realizing he had asked a foolish question, he felt a bit embarrassed. "I didn't mean anything else, it just slipped out."
Papermaking was someone else's core technology, so it was indeed somewhat impolite of him to ask like that.
Jiang Jin waved her hand dismissively. "I understand."
Mei Sheng asked, "What is the price?"
Jiang Jin smiled. "We can discuss the price later. Take a look at the soap first."
Mei Ren had already picked up a plump-looking bar of soap and sniffed it near his nose. "This is soap? It smells very good. Is it incense?"
Jiang Jin shook her head. "No, this is used for washing clothes. The effect is better than soap pods."
"These are medicinal soaps used for washing the face and bathing. They are divided into several different medicinal effects, such as for clearing acne, cleansing, moisturizing, and so on," she said, pointing to the other bars of soap.
She had suddenly thought of this only after the soap was made, so she called over the people from the medical clinic and told them about the medicinal soap.
The people from the medical clinic were indeed very interested. Liu Mi, in particular, immediately joined the research and discussion, and they produced several kinds of medicinal soap.
The three members of the Mei family all knew their goods and instantly understood the business opportunity here. Although it was currently a time of war, the quality of life for many wealthy families was still quite good.
It was only because of the war; otherwise, just based on this paper and soap, they would sell like crazy. Now, they could only be sold on a small scale.
Smelling the medicinal fragrance on the soap, Mei Cai praised, "This is good, very good. It will definitely sell well."
Jiang Jin glanced at the three excited men and spoke solemnly, "I have a favor to ask. I wonder if you gentlemen could help?"
As requested by you darlings, here is a map I drew.
[Disclaimer: Because I am terrible at geography and afraid of mixing up north, south, east, and west, I actually drew this map for myself so I wouldn't get confused. Let's follow the map and look forward to how Jiang Jin will step by step conquer Liuxiang County, Donghu County, and eventually the entire Feng Province and the Yan Kingdom...]
[Thank you all for your support and love. I am currently writing this book part-time and only have time to write after finishing my day job, so managing 4,000 words a day is already my best effort. Of course, I love it when you guys beg for more chapters, so feel free to urge me as much as you want! I promise I will never stop updating.]
