Jin Feng paid no attention to his attitude and continued, "They have a food called sweet potato. Have you ever eaten it?"
Before Zhou Leng could speak, he answered himself, "You must have never eaten it. It's sweet and soft. You can roast it, steam it, or eat it raw. In short, no matter how you eat it, it's delicious."
Speaking of it, he really missed the meals from the Jinyang Army. For this mission of escorting Zhou Leng, he had to fight to get the assignment no matter what.
With his pretty good relationship with Nan Wen, going to their camp to scrounge up a couple of meals probably wouldn't be a problem.
Then he felt a bit disappointed again: "Too bad, the grain seeds we traded with the Jinyang Army didn't include sweet potatoes. Otherwise, we could have something sweet to eat every day."
Sugar was extremely precious during this period. Not to mention that with the war, they were reduced to only one commandery now—even in the old days, they were lucky to have sugar once in a blue moon.
"They also sell sugar in their general store. That sugar is different from ours too—it's pure white, just like this snow, and sweet—really sweet."
He meant that the sweetness was clean and genuine.
Zhou Leng leaned against the carriage wall, still not saying a word.
But Jin Feng was in a talkative mood right now: "But then again, you're so poor, I doubt you could even afford it."
Zhou Leng: "..."
"There's another way though. You could sweep the streets. I heard that people who sweep the streets there can earn one hundred and fifty copper coins a month."
"It's just that you're a frail old man—I'm afraid you couldn't even handle the sweeping." He clicked his tongue again. "Too weak."
Zhou Leng: "..."
He closed his eyes and silently recited a calming mantra.
Yes, a calming mantra. His calmness required a 'mantra' to take even the slightest effect.
Jin Feng still had no idea that he had inadvertently deeply wounded Zhou Leng's heart. The man was quite loyal after all.
"Don't worry, I'll lend you one string of coins. I can't lend more than that. You know I'm poor too—one string is already all my savings."
Zhou Leng snorted coldly: "Oh really? Then how come I heard that you led some men to wipe out a group of mountain bandits and got yourself a decent haul of silver?"
Jin Feng gave an awkward laugh: "Well, that's—I need to save that for marrying a wife someday."
Zhou Leng let out a "Ha" and, as if his 'poison' was acting up, struck back: "Marry? With that rough and crude appearance of yours, even if you were the one being married off, no one would want you even with a dowry!"
Jin Feng got angry: "What are you saying! I'm a proper man—how could I be married off? And besides, with a dowry of a hundred strings, how could no one—"
"Bah! You bastard, you tricked me into talking!" He realized he'd been baited, and he was furious, anxious, and embarrassed all at once.
Zhou Leng rolled his eyes secretly: "Minimum ten strings, or else I'll tell everyone about how you diluted Advisor Li's wine with water."
Jin Feng loved alcohol, but material goods were scarce these days, and wine was hard to come by. Only someone as trusted by Lu You as Li Zan would occasionally get one or two jars.
One day, Jin Feng found a chance to steal half a jar, but being the clever sort he thought he was, he topped it off with water, believing Li Zan wouldn't notice.
The result was predictable—the entire jar of wine went bad.
Li Zan was so furious that he cursed heaven and earth for a whole month straight, until even Lu You couldn't take it anymore and gifted him another jar of wine to settle the matter.
"You!" Jin Feng was exasperated. "You drank that wine too back then!"
Back when the wine was stolen, somehow Zhou Leng had found out, and he'd extorted half of it from Jin Feng.
Zhou Leng: "Hmph, I did drink it, but how was I supposed to know you stole it? If you ask me, you're the shifty one—you got me to drink 'stolen goods' without knowing."
He simply refused to admit it no matter what.
Jin Feng was dumbfounded: "Weren't you the one who said money is like dung to you?"
Zhou Leng gave an "Heh" and said, "I've changed my mind."
Jin Feng: "..."
He gritted his teeth: "Despicable. And here I thought you were my dearest friend."
Zhou Leng shot back: "Your dearest friend is only worth one string of coins?"
Jin Feng choked: "One string is really not a small amount. You don't know this yet, but grain prices in Lin County are only around three hundred copper coins per shi—and I'm talking about fine grain."
Zhou Leng was stunned, then suddenly pulled open the curtain: "What did you say?"
His reaction was warranted—grain was the most basic necessity for the people. The price of grain, in a sense, reflected the standard of living in a region.
One had to understand that grain prices in Daqing Commandery had risen to one full string of coins. One could imagine how much suffering the common people there endured.
Jin Feng scratched his head: "One string is not a small amount. If you really think it's too little, I'll go up to two strings at most."
Zhou Leng: "...You said grain in Lin County is only three hundred copper coins?"
Jin Feng nodded: "Yeah, and radishes and cabbage and such—you can buy two or three jin for one copper coin."
Remembering something, he exclaimed: "Wait, don't tell me you're thinking of reselling grain from Lin County. Forget it—they have a ration ticket system there. What do they call it... Oh right, a planned economy."
"Ration tickets? Planned economy?" Zhou Leng murmured. Two new terms, but he could roughly grasp what they meant.
For some reason, he began to look forward to Lin County even more.
Time flew by like a shuttle; days passed like an arrow. Before they knew it, it was the end of March, the weather was warming up, and ice and snow in many places were beginning to melt.
"Quzhao—has the Jiao clan made any moves?" Jiang Jin looked toward Mu Ning.
Mu Ning nodded: "Ever since those Jiao clan people were captured, they've been quiet on that front. But Quzhao has begun showing signs of transporting grain."
The Jiao clan had sent people near the three counties of Gofeng, but they'd all been taken down by the Jinyang Army. No more had been sent since.
Yun Ci stroked his beard: "They're getting ready to make a move."
Zhou Sui asked, "Can you tell where they're transporting the grain?"
Mu Ning shook his head: "No clue. All we know is that a few granaries in Donghu Commandery have started bagging their grain. We can't determine the destination."
Xia Chanyi looked a bit worried: "What if Quzhao doesn't attack Ze'a Commandery first, but instead strikes Lin County? Then we'd be on the back foot."
Jiang Jin smiled: "Then we'll have Daqing Commandery stage a feint on Tao County."
Tao County was the closest county under Quzhao's control to Daqing Commandery, and it wasn't far from Wuqin either.
The only purpose of having Daqing stage that feint was to let Quzhao know that her Jinyang Army had already allied with Daqing Commandery.
If they dared to attack Lin County, they would face the combined siege of Lin County and the Daqing Army.
"And if Quzhao still attacks Lin County?" Xia Chanyi asked, looking at the map.
Yao Ji sneered: "Simple—then we turn Daqing's feint into a real attack. Once Tao County is taken, Wuqin becomes theirs for the taking."
Zhou Sui said, "We can also attack Donghu Commandery at the same time."
Jiang Jin nodded: "Exactly. Lin County may not have many defenders, but we have ample grain supplies and superior weapons. We can hold out for several days without issue."
"In a few days' time, that's more than enough for us to take several of the coastal counties in Donghu Commandery."
She pointed to a region on the map: "This is where the Donghu Commandery's salt works are located. Once we take this area, Quzhao's salt supply becomes a problem. They can't afford to ignore that, and Lin County will be relieved."
Salt—it was a matter of life and death.
"Besides, we now have a naval force." She pointed at Xunfeng Island.
The navy's mobility was its strength—it could transport grain and troops to support Lin County at any time, and it could also launch surprise attacks on any coastal county in all of Fengzhou.
Most importantly, Quzhao, and even Ze'a Commandery, had no idea she possessed such a naval force!
