The Return of the Marquis's Daughter

After hearing this, Gu Jingyi finally understood.

No wonder every battle between the imperial court and the barbarians in the northern borders ended in nothing. He always thought that things in the northern borders were dragging on too long.

After several months of fighting on the battlefield since he came here, he realized how wrong he had been before.

"If the imperial court stops sending food and fodder, what should we do next?"

Food and grass are already in short supply. It is unheard of that hundreds of thousands of soldiers go to the battlefield on an empty stomach. It may be okay for one or two days, but if it goes on for a long time, not to mention the defeat on the battlefield, even the loss of morale in the army will be a serious matter.

Gu Jingyi's expression suddenly darkened. He looked at Marquis Jing'an and said, "How about I write a letter and ask my father to think of a solution?"

Marquis Jing'an: ...

Gu Changan: ...

It's rare to have such a heart. He's just a simple-minded person. He really grew up in a honeypot and has no idea how treacherous human hearts are!

Perhaps because Jing'an Hou's eyes were too direct, Gu Jingyi asked awkwardly, "Is my suggestion not feasible?"

"What is Prince Yong's situation in the capital? If he were to suddenly give a large sum of money to the soldiers in the Northern Frontier, what do you think would be the consequences?"

After hearing this, Gu Jingyi's face turned pale instantly. Yes, how could he be so complacent? Why didn't he think about his own life? His father's life was trapped and died in this small world in the capital.

He actually dared to cause trouble for his own father now. He was really ignorant and took things for granted.

Marquis Jing'an patted his shoulder and said, "It's rare that you can think so much about the soldiers. I didn't make a mistake in choosing you. It's just a pity that this path is blocked."

Besides, Prince Yong has been living under your Majesty's nose all these years. Even if there is money in the mansion, it will be of no use. Why bother to cause trouble for him?

This was the first time Gu Jingyi had encountered such a situation, and for a moment he didn't know what to do. This kind of big thing was really a very difficult problem for him. "Then we can't just sit there and wait for death!"

Jing'an Hou said after a while: "Of course, we are waiting for the imperial court to send food and money, otherwise..."

After hearing this, Gu Jingyi's mouth twitched. Isn't this just empty talk? They are so gloomy just because there is no movement from the court.

Then they stared at each other in bewilderment. Marquis Jing'an gritted his teeth and said, "If we really have no other choice, we can just take our soldiers and go suppress the bandits.

You don't believe that the bandits' lair doesn't have the food and money we need?"

Even if Gu Jingyi was an idiot, he knew that this was impossible. He quickly said, "Then the memorials in the Qinzheng Palace will overwhelm the imperial case, and all the merits of the Marquis will be wasted."

Suppressing bandits is the political achievement of local officials. If their large army intervenes for no reason, it would be overstepping their authority.

"Every month, each person's food allowance is one tael, and horse feed is five cents. If we assume an army of 100,000 men, the annual expenditure would be around 700,000 to 800,000 taels of silver.

There are other equipment that consume silver, which means nearly 900,000 taels of silver are needed."

Previously, the Imperial Stables supplied a portion of horses, but over the years the supply of horses from the Imperial Stables has become less and less, so they need to purchase horses themselves, in addition to the losses on the battlefield.

All these added up, the total amount was at least one million taels of silver.

At this point, Marquis Jing'an's eyes turned slightly red. The imperial court had only provided less than 200,000 taels of silver for food and wages this year. In addition, the wars were ongoing and the losses were huge. That little bit of silver was really not enough.

So his intention to rob the bandit's den was just talk. How many bandit dens would have so much silver?

Just as Jing'an Marquis was looking worried, a soldier came in and said, "My Lord, there's a warrior outside who wants to see you about something important."

After hearing this, several people looked at each other in confusion. Only Gu Changan understood clearly that it was Qin Wenlan's men who were delivering food and supplies.

So he watched Jing'an Hou's movements calmly and waited quietly.

"Where is the visitor now?" Marquis Jing'an asked the soldier at the door.

"Just outside the barracks."

"Then bring the person in!"

He wanted to see if there was anyone coming to see him at this time. He didn't want to care about anything except food and salary, but since someone came to him, how could he ignore them?

In fact, the person who came was the master of Xiaoyao Pavilion, Ouyang Yu himself. He looked as if he had entered his own back garden, and he looked very relaxed and contented.

Marquis Jing'an and several others looked at Ouyang Yu, the leader of Xiaoyao Pavilion. It was also the first time that Gu Changan saw Ouyang Yu in person, so he stared at him intently.

"Greetings to all the gentlemen." Ouyang Yu said calmly.

"Who are you? What brings you here to see me?" Marquis Jing'an asked gently.

"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is that I'm here to deliver food and money to you. This is a letter from the owner of this batch of food and money. You will know the reason after taking a look at it." Ouyang Yu said calmly.

He didn't want to accept this huge favor, and the favor from Qin Wenlan was not something that could be taken away casually. It would be better for him to tell the truth and save himself the trouble.

Ouyang Yu's thoughts were drifting away while Jing'an Hou opened the letter and read it carefully. The more he read, the more surprised he became. What kind of savior was this?

Not only did they send them such a considerable amount of military rations and horse feed, but they also prepared saddles and cotton-padded clothes for the soldiers.

If these huge quantities of materials were truly calculated, they would be worth at least two million taels of silver. Could such a savior really be from their Great Xia Kingdom?

Why haven't we heard of this before? Now that the soldiers and horses in the northern border have these great treasures, they won't have to worry about endless wars.

Forget about Gu Jingyi. Gu Changan, seeing that Jing'an Marquis remained silent for a long time, spoke up directly, "What did the letter say? It actually made you so engrossed in reading it."

"Your Highness, take a look for yourself!" Marquis Jing'an was now in the clouds, not knowing whether he was dreaming or if this was true.

After all, he has never encountered such a savior in these years, and he is afraid that if he is not careful, his beautiful dream will disappear without a trace.

So let him fantasize about this beautiful dream for a while longer.

Gu Changan took the letter and read it carefully. He was very surprised. Although he knew that Qin Wenlan was sending food and fodder to the soldiers in the northern border, there would be no shortage of things.

But no one expected that there was something worth two million taels of silver. No wonder she wanted to keep it so secret. If people in the capital knew about this, who knows how much trouble it would cause.

He looked at Jing'an Hou and Gu Jingyi and said, "Don't spread this matter for now. Since they want to do good deeds, they certainly don't want to cause trouble. After all, this is not a small amount of money. Even if His Majesty knew about it, he would not feel comfortable.

Since we have received such a great favor from others, we should keep our mouths shut and save them the trouble. This can be considered as a great favor to them."