"Ouch." He Li also drew in a sharp breath: "The Jinyang Army only sent three thousand elite soldiers, and they took the city from the twenty thousand plus troops of Qu Shao's army?"
"The Jinyang Army's combat power is this strong?"
He had never thought Qu Shao was weak, and he knew the Jinyang Army was strong, but never imagined this strong.
At this moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of relief, along with a pride of sharing in their glory.
Guan Bailing saw things more clearly: "Since the Jinyang Army could launch a surprise attack, they most likely took the water route."
If they had gone by land, from Gefeng to Lin County, the entire route was essentially within Qu Shao's sphere of influence. Three thousand cavalry would have been impossible to hide.
He Li thought for a moment, puzzled: "Did they cooperate with Ze'a Commandery?"
The report didn't mention their route to Lin County, only described the heroic process of the raid, which got anyone fired up and eager to join in.
Guan Bailing mused: "If they cooperated with Ze'a Commandery, it's very likely they also cooperated with Daqing Commandery; otherwise, they couldn't have landed easily."
He looked at the newspaper in his hand and sighed with emotion: "That battle was fought beautifully. It looks like the entire Fengzhou will soon belong to our Lord."
"Ouch." He Li took another breath: "What makes you say that?"
Guan Bailing glanced sideways at him and analyzed in detail: "Who is our Lord? She has always planned ahead. Lin County is so far from Gefeng. If the Lord hadn't been preparing all along, why would she attack Lin County at this moment?"
He Li's mouth hung slightly open, and it took him a moment to understand what he meant.
Guan Bailing's meaning was that Lin County was west of Fengzhou, while Gefeng was in the north, and the distance between the two was too great, spreading forces thin. But Jiang Jin still took Lin County.
Clearly, this state of affairs wasn't something that would last long in Jiang Jin's plan.
How would this state come to an end? Naturally, by taking the entire Fengzhou!
Guan Bailing had already moved on to reading other information. After a moment, he pointed at a section and said: "It says here that Lin County will be recruiting merchants next year. I think we should give it a try."
They had the goodwill from their previous salt purchase, and with He Qiuchi serving as Jiang Jin's attendant, they had directly become "imperial merchants."
Of course, they weren't "imperial merchants" in the traditional sense—rather, Jiang Jin wholesaled honeycomb briquettes and coal stoves to them, allowing them to earn a margin on the resale.
As Jiang Jin conquered more and more counties, she didn't have enough manpower to open so many shops, and she couldn't monopolize everything; she needed to give other merchants a certain chance to survive.
So, while setting the general price ranges, she also opened shops on the main streets of every county to control prices, and in other areas, she let merchants like He Li do the business.
He Li hesitated: "But... the Lord hasn't taken over all of Fengzhou yet. Lin County isn't safe. I'm afraid..."
Guan Bailing shook his head: "What are you afraid of? Have you ever seen the Lord do anything without being sure of success?"
"Besides, risk goes hand in hand with opportunity. Lin County is bigger than Gefeng, and its position is far more important. If we don't seize the chance now, by the time others grab it, we won't even get a sip of the soup."
He Li thought it over for a moment, gritted his teeth, and nodded: "I'll listen to you, Father-in-law."
Guan Bailing stroked his beard: "Life has been comfortable lately. I heard that the Sun family leased two hillsides from the government this time, planning to plant mulberry trees?"
He Li smiled and said: "That's right, he wants to expand his workshop, and the government approved it."
"Speaking of which, the Mei family is the lucky one. The Lord gave them the paper, pen, glass, and soap businesses."
The profit margin on honeycomb briquettes was very low. Fortunately, ordinary folk now all had work, so they didn't have time to chop firewood, and the number of people using honeycomb briquettes was huge.
Glass was different—especially decorative glass, which had very high profit margins.
Whenever he needed to buy these items, he went directly to the shops Jiang Jin had opened, and even if they were out of stock, he'd place an order and wait—he'd never buy from Mei's shops. He wasn't going to let the Mei family make money off him.
Guan Bailing thought for a moment and said: "We'll negotiate again next year to see if we can also secure the rights to produce pots, kettles, and other iron-related products."
Then he let out a long sigh: "I've chatted with the Mei family patriarch occasionally. This business isn't so easy to run."
It wasn't that the business was bad—it was that getting into this business wasn't easy.
From the information he knew, the Mei family likely had people helping Jiang Jin do work—relatively dangerous work.
Of course, he'd guessed this from bits and pieces of things.
The Mei family they were discussing was, at that very moment, also discussing the "Jinyang Times."
The Mei family patriarch, Mei Mao, pointed at an article and said: "It says here that there's a stretch of wasteland north of Heshui Village available for lease, up to five years at a time."
He was Mei Qian's father and Mei Sheng's grandfather.
Mei Yong frowned: "Uncle, you want to lease this land?"
Mei Mao nodded: "Although we're now doing the glass and other businesses, these were given to us by the government. The supply isn't in our hands; it can be cut off at any time. I don't feel secure about that."
Mei Qian was puzzled: "If we lease this land, what can we do with it?"
Mei Mao shook his head and smiled: "What can we do? Plenty. Everything is being rebuilt now, and whether it's Gefeng or other counties, there's a shortage of everything. Raising chickens and ducks, growing grain and vegetables—all of it works."
"However..." His brow furrowed slightly: "I'm afraid many people will want to lease this land. There's bound to be some competition for it."
A middle-aged man seated below hesitated: "Can we perhaps go through A Sheng and the others?"
Mei Qian glanced at him but said nothing.
Mei Mao snorted coldly: "Expect everything from A Sheng and the others? What use are you, then?"
What Mei Sheng and the others were actually doing was known only to Mei Mao and a few of the household's key figures.
But everyone was smart in their own way, and over time, many in the family had guessed that Mei Sheng and the others were probably helping Jiang Jin with something.
"I'm making this clear today: none of you should be counting on A Sheng and the others. They brought the Mei family to Gefeng. Everyone should know how our life compares to before."
"Granted, we can't do the slave trade here, but we have the paper, pen, glass, and other goods. We don't have to travel around. Life is good enough. Everything else, we have to earn for ourselves."
Mei Yong nodded: "That's right. The newspaper said fair competition, highest bidder wins. The Mei family is no worse than any other."
The middle-aged man reddened with shame, lowering his head in admission: "I... that was narrow-minded of me."
Mei Qian smiled and changed the subject: "This Jinyang Times is really good. It also says they're recruiting teachers for the common folk—any learned person can come for an interview..."
It wasn't until noon that Mei Qian finally returned to his own courtyard.
His wife, Ye Qingxi, was reading the Jinyang Times, her expression somewhat dazed.
Mei Qian frowned: "What's wrong?"
Ye Qingxi looked up at him: "It says here they're recruiting teachers. I want to give it a try. Do you think it's feasible?"
Mei Qian wanted to object, wanted to say, "You're a woman of the inner quarters—what would you be doing as a teacher?"
But seeing his wife's eyes, and recalling the shift in thinking he'd undergone since coming to Gefeng, he held back his words and instead asked: "Why do you want to be a teacher?"
