Dong Si nodded in agreement. Remembering something, his expression brightened with pleasure, "My Lord, the merchant caravan has returned, and they've brought back around two thousand commoners."
Jiang Jin's face lit up with joy. "Let's go take a look."
He Li was thrilled to see Jiang Jin and bowed respectfully. "I did not disappoint your expectations."
Jiang Jin hurriedly reached out to support him. "Excellent, Shopkeeper He, you have done a great service."
This time, He Li had brought back enough salt to feed the city's populace for two years, and Jiang Jin had spent a thousand taels of gold. She had to admit, salt in this era was truly expensive.
This made her even more eager to conquer Donghu Commandery; once she did, she could produce her own salt.
He Li waved his hand modestly. "I wouldn't dare claim the credit. It was all thanks to the Jinyang Army's protection along the way."
The two exchanged pleasantries for a while before Jiang Jin told He Li to head home and rest.
After He Li left, Jiang Jin turned to look at Chen Xi. "How was the journey?"
Chen Xi bowed respectfully. "Fortunately, I did not fail my mission."
Jiang Jin signaled for him to dispense with the formalities. "Sit down and tell me."
Chen Xi gave a brief recount of his trip to Daqing Commandery.
Jiang Jin showed a look of appreciation. "You mentioned bringing back two noble families this time."
Although Gefeng had cultivated quite a few talents, most of them were formerly commoners with limited worldly experience.
It wasn't that commoners couldn't become great talents, but their lack of exposure limited their development. They needed time to slowly settle and accumulate life experience.
Someone like Chen Xi couldn't be trained in just a few months or a year; it required a certain foundation and heritage.
Chen Xi nodded. "The Zhang and Xu families. They fled as refugees to Daqing Commandery."
Jiang Jin understood. These minor noble families usually possessed some prestige and influence in their local areas, but once they moved to other regions, they amounted to nothing.
Chen Xi joked, "I figured, if nothing else, we could have them learn simplified characters and then let them serve as teachers in the academy."
Jiang Jin smiled as well. "Not a bad idea."
Chen Xi shook his head. "Actually, Zhang Zhu, the son of the Zhang family head, is quite knowledgeable about the laws of various nations, and the head of the Xu family once served as a commandery official."
He didn't just bring anyone back to Gefeng; they had to be of some use.
Jiang Jin grew even more satisfied. "Good. Have all the people who arrived today been settled?"
Chen Xi nodded. "I've handed them all over to Lady Luo."
He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Is Zhao Feng still over at the brick kiln?"
Jiang Jin raised an eyebrow slightly. "Why ask about him all of a sudden?"
Chen Xi looked a bit embarrassed. "Do you remember the commoners who traveled part of the way with Zhao Feng and the others back then?"
Jiang Jin was taken aback. "You brought them back to Gefeng too?"
Chen Xi felt a little guilty. "Yes."
"I will definitely go to the brick kiln another day to find Zhao Feng and inform him of this," he hurriedly added.
He thought to himself that he wasn't worried about Zhao Feng getting entangled with them, but was simply warning him out of moral obligation.
Jiang Jin was speechless.
She decided not to harp on the issue. "In your opinion, how much longer can Daqing Commandery hold out?"
Speaking of this, a look of worry appeared on Chen Xi's face. "It'll be a miracle if they can last until the New Year."
Although many people from Juan Province and Feng Province had fled to Daqing Commandery, the Left General's recent series of defeats had already caused many commoners to flee the area.
The current situation in Daqing Commandery was indeed not looking good.
Jiang Jin furrowed her brows. This was not good news.
She asked a few more questions about the situation before letting Chen Xi leave.
Not long after, Luo Qingci came over to report. "My Lord, the merchant caravan brought back 2,122 people this time. Our total population in Gefeng has now reached seventeen thousand."
In the months following the New Year, the soldiers scouting outside had also continuously brought back quite a few commoners.
Jiang Jin nodded. "Is housing easy to arrange for them?"
She hadn't expected the population to grow so quickly. Fortunately, they had planned for a lot of houses when building the residential area, but at this current trend, she feared it still wouldn't be enough.
Just as expected, Luo Qingci replied, "It's barely enough for now, but if we add more people, we'll run out of space."
After some thought, Jiang Jin decided, "The military barracks should be almost finished. When it is, have them convert the horse ranch and that patch of farmland into residential housing."
Ever since the construction of the outer city began, not many people were left building houses inside the city, which slowed down the pace.
Furthermore, building the military district didn't just involve constructing houses; it also required high walls and various training grounds for the soldiers, such as shooting ranges and obstacle courses.
The livestock area in the outer city would be completed in a few days. At that time, all the horses and other livestock in Gefeng City would be moved to the outer city.
Luo Qingci hesitated to speak. Other officials always built the county magistrate's office first, but Jiang Jin kept delaying its construction. It felt like everything else took priority over the magistrate's office.
Seeing her expression, Jiang Jin could not help but ask, "What's wrong?"
Luo Qingci shook her head and said softly, "The magistrate's office can be built first. We currently have enough housing."
Jiang Jin smiled. "As long as the magistrate's office is built before winter arrives, it's fine. What we have now is usable."
The main issue was that winters here were too cold, so underfloor heating and heated walls were an absolute must. Besides, she had coal mines now, so she wasn't worried about wasting fuel.
She looked out the window at the glow of the setting sun. It was time to recruit more soldiers.
In a certain single room on Danhu Mountain, Xiaohua was cleaning up.
Xiaohua's mother finally showed her first smile in months. "Ah Hua, it's very clean, you don't need to tidy it anymore. While it's still light out, let's prepare something to eat."
They didn't have much money, so naturally, they rented the cheapest single room, squeezing the whole family into one space.
Her eldest sister-in-law's eyes revealed sorrow. "If I had known, we should have come to Gefeng in the first place. Otherwise, Dalang wouldn't have..."
Actually, Xiaohua had suggested following Zhao Feng's group back then, but they had all opposed it. Who would have thought that after going around in circles, they would still end up where Zhao Feng was.
Her second sister-in-law began to sob softly.
Seeing the adults cry, the children also started to wail, making the atmosphere depressing.
The smile that had just bloomed on Xiaohua's mother's face immediately vanished. Her eyes grew red as she thought of her poor son.
Xiaohua threw the ragged cleaning cloth onto the stove. "What are you crying for? You should be thinking about how to raise the children right now. How do you have the leisure to cry? Tomorrow, all of you will go out and find work."
"Once we earn money, we'll send the kids to school and rent a courtyard. How can a whole extended family live squished together like this?"
The room fell silent. In the past, it was never Xiaohua's turn to speak in the family; she had her father and two older brothers.
Unfortunately, after her two brothers were conscripted, her father lost his spirit. Her mother and two sisters-in-law were indecisive, so she had no choice but to take charge of the family's affairs.
Along the way, she had asked the Jinyang Army and found out that everyone here could attend school.
Learning to read and write was a privilege previously reserved only for nobles, but now they could do it too.
What a rare opportunity. Who knows, they might even elevate their family's social status in the future. She was also heartbroken over the loss of her two brothers, but life had to go on, and crying wouldn't solve anything.
Once she found a job, she would also learn to read. The Jinyang Army had said that women could work and also attend literacy classes.
When she earned some money, she would rent a courtyard. Right now, the weather was warm, so her two sisters-in-law and she could sleep on the floor, but what would they do when winter came?
A father-in-law and his daughters-in-law sleeping on the same bed, well, a heated brick bed, a kang, how was that proper? Even if they were separated by a partition, it was still awkward. She had to work hard.
Thinking about their future life, she was filled with motivation. Even Zhao Feng didn't seem that important anymore.
Two days later, Jiang Jin recruited over 2,000 new soldiers, bringing her total military force to over 5,000.
Meanwhile, Gefeng welcomed a person whose arrival was both unexpected yet completely reasonable.
Outside the southern city gates, Jiang Jin looked at the envoy from Quzhao and asked in confusion, "For what purpose has the envoy come to our Gefeng?"
The visitor was the very same Quzhao envoy who had delivered the 'peace treaty' two months prior. At this moment, his expression was rather foul.
"For what purpose? Do you really have no idea what you people have done? Stop playing dumb. Quzhao condemns you—we strongly condemn you!"
Jiang Jin's face was the picture of pure innocence. "How am I playing dumb? I've just been an honest, simple person farming my land every day. I haven't done a single thing."
