Back and forth: I brought supplies to help the impoverished prince

May is the slack season

The weather in Xingzhou gradually turned into a hot summer. Wen Jiu looked at the people busying themselves with an indelible sadness on his face.

"What's wrong?" Qiao Shinian rode his horse side by side with Wen Jiu.

"I thought that 150,000 taels would be enough to sustain me for a year. But it's only been more than two months, and my expenses in Yun County have exceeded 70,000 taels. And the harvest is still far from over." Wen Jiu closed his eyes, his face looking indescribably haggard.

Qiao Shinian rarely saw Wen Jiu in recent days. Most of the time, Wen Jiu was either out or busy somewhere else.

This was the first time the two of them had gone on a leisurely horseback ride in a month.

"It's okay, I'm here." Qiao Shinian smiled and reached out to pat Wen Jiu's shoulder, "Why don't you tell me what you've been busy with recently? I haven't seen you in the mansion recently."

Qiao Shinian knew that asking this question seemed like she wanted to control him, but it was a bad feeling for her to ask him this question after seeing him for so long. She couldn't tell what was wrong, but she felt that Wen Jiu was becoming more and more unfamiliar.

Wen Jiu was thinking about the recent movements of those people. Rumors were spreading in the city. Some of them were spreading his attitude towards Chu Wen in Zhou State, and some of them were questioning the purpose of digging reservoirs, rivers, and roads.

Wen Jiu knew all of this, but he just let the rumors spread in the city. If you want to fish, you need bait.

Meanwhile, his good father in the capital reprimanded him for bringing shame to the royal family. As for the Jiang family, his father knew what he wanted to do. As long as this matter was not exposed and made public, it would be the Jiang family's fault.

The Jiang family has been doing a lot of things behind the scenes, so many that he can almost close the net.

Facing Qiao Shinian's question, Wen Jiu thought for a moment and said, "I went to a few neighboring counties to take a look at the local planting conditions and brought my uncle back with me."

"My sister has selected the people for me. I have been in the training camp for the past two days and practiced with them. Then we went on patrols. With the leaders patrolling, the people below worked much harder." Wen Jiu turned his head to look at Qiao Shinian and forced a smile.

Qiao Shinian turned to look at Ji Lanzhou. Ji Lanzhou, who was following behind him, remained silent, but Qiao Shinian noticed that the way Ji Lanzhou looked at Wen Jiu was no longer contemptuous as before, but there was more awe in his eyes.

"Really? That must be hard work." Qiao Shinian said in a low voice.

Wen Jiu smiled and shook his head: "It's not hard. As long as the road is paved in the early stage, I will be free later."

Seeing that Qiao Shinian had been staring at him, Wen Jiu turned his horse's head and said to Qiao Shinian: "Sister, I want to walk along the road. It's hot now. You should go back quickly. We'll see each other in the evening.

By the way, I need you to help me keep an eye on the embroidery workshop these days. I have received a large order from the neighboring Yunzhou and the capital, and I need to urge the progress. If it is really not possible, let the embroiderers work overtime these days, and I will pay double the overtime pay. "

"Yeah." Qiao Shinian nodded, then he remembered something and said to Wen Jiu, "The Chamber of Commerce Alliance you mentioned, now apart from my side, there is only one big Chamber of Commerce, and the rest are two small Chambers of Commerce, and no one else wants to join. However, the other Chambers of Commerce formed their own alliance and invited us to join instead."

Wen Jiu nodded: "Then let's go with these few companies. From now on, our goods will only be distributed to our alliance chamber of commerce." Wen Jiu naturally knew that it was the Jiang family who was behind this.

It's time to end the feud and he should draw his sword to eliminate the trouble.

Qiao Shinian always had a bad feeling in his heart when he watched Wen Jiu walking away.

This road is being built towards Ji County, and construction is also starting on the Ji County side at the same time. The two sides are expected to meet halfway.

The road was first dug to a depth of half a meter, then paved with larger stones, then fine gravel was sprinkled on the stones, and finally a thick layer of cultivated soil was covered.

Ditches were also dug around the avenue. This was the ancient "highway" construction method that Qiao Shinian brought to Wen Jiu before.

Looking at the carts carrying stones moving forward, Wen Jiu continued to move forward on his horse.

Ji Lanzhou followed him silently. He knew what Wen Jiu was going to do, but he couldn't stop him.

His only task was to protect Wen Jiu.

After riding only three hundred meters, Wen Jiu stopped his horse.

It was already lunchtime, and the workers lined up to take a bowl and a pair of chopsticks from the basket next to them, then walked to the back of the line to get their food.

There were more than a dozen dining tents, with five to six hundred people eating there. The steamed buns were carried out in the largest baskets.

When everyone had finished their meal, Wen Jiu smiled and stretched out his hand, and Ji Lanzhou reluctantly handed him a tin microphone.

"You all eat first. I have something to tell you."

After Wen Jiu finished speaking, a young man in clean clothes came over, pushing five or six people.

The officers and soldiers standing by knelt down and saluted. Now those who were eating with steamed buns put down their bowls and chopsticks and knelt down in a crowd.

Wen Jiu was still riding on his horse, looking very relaxed: "The first time I came to Yunzhou, I was attacked and seriously injured. From now on, my wish is to make sure you have enough food to eat every day and live a prosperous life.

But you guys, you’re afraid that I’ll be too good to you, right? You’re spreading gossip about me behind my back, doubting my intentions, questioning my decisions, and even destroying my farmland.”

Wen Jiu was still smiling when he said these words, but he jumped off his horse and walked to the tied-up people, holding the sword in one hand and stabbed one of them at random.

"All this food was given by the goddess. I don't know who has bewitched you to destroy my farmland, but since I have caught you, you should be punished." Wen Jiu said lightly and stabbed one of them in the knee.

"What I want to say today is to remind you all that, whether you want to assassinate me or go to the capital to complain that I treat human life as worthless, if I catch anyone who dares to destroy the farmland and the harvest again, this will be their fate."

"Hang these people up and punish them for treason. All their family members will be slaves for life, have the word 'slave' tattooed on their faces, and have them locked up and given sterilization pills. They will have to work during the day and be sent to the military camp at night." Wen Jiu didn't hold his voice when he spoke, and he glanced at everyone with contempt.

One of the people who were originally staring at Wen Jiu in a rebellious manner suddenly shouted at Wen Jiu, "I was just bewitched and said a few nonsense words! How can you treat me like this?! If you want to kill or rob me, come after me alone!"

"Haha!" Wen Jiu couldn't help laughing out loud when he heard the man's explanation.

"Your Majesty, please forgive us! We were also deceived and will never dare to do it again."

The others came to their senses after being shocked. They were not so bold and arrogant, and immediately began to beg for mercy.

"Everyone is responsible for their own actions. Please let me and my family go!"

At this time, it was very quiet. Hundreds of people sat quietly eating, and no one dared to speak.

Wen Jiu was interrupted like this and almost forgot what he was going to say. He couldn't help laughing when he saw these people kneeling at his feet and begging for mercy: "How stupid! Why would I bewitch you? It's because you are stupid, why don't they send death warriors to do these things, but give you more than ten taels of silver?

It’s just that your lives are worthless!

I am usually a good person to talk to, but you have gone too far. You ate my food, took my money, and ruined my reputation in my team and destroyed my grain fields. That's an acre of cucumbers! Oh... It really caused me a lot of trouble.

As for sparing your family members... I'll kill you all, your family members will hate me to death! As the saying goes, if you don't remove the roots, they will grow again in the spring breeze.

And don’t think that I won’t be able to find your family if you arrange for them to move to the next county or leave Yunzhou in advance. I am serious about eradicating the roots. Really, so stupid! "

"Go ahead, hang them up. I still have to go to the next dining spot to teach people a lesson." Wen Jiu poked the person who showed up first with his sword and said with a smile, "Live well! After all, I'll hang you here for three days, and in a few days you'll have to go to the military camp to do hard labor. Maybe you'll meet your family there, and a family should be together!"

Seeing the blood gushing out of his body, Wen Jiu said to the soldiers beside him: "Just don't let him die. If he really dies, remember to chop off his neck and throw it into the mountains to feed the wolves. Keep the head hanging there."