Falling into the mortal world

The soldiers finally found their leader, Captain Bao, inside the brothel.

At this moment, Captain Bao was holding one woman on his left and one on his right. He was surrounded by beauties and quite drunk.

Suddenly interrupted, he said with a displeased look: You'd better have a reasonable reason, or I'll make you regret it today.

The soldier, somewhat timidly, briefly recounted what had happened.

I'm also undecided, so I've come to you, Captain, for advice.

Upon hearing this, Captain Bao realized that the supplies were donated by the villagers to the soldiers. This was indeed unusual.

There are also dozens of truckloads of supplies. Let's go take a look.

At the city gate, villagers transporting supplies shivered in the cold wind. Seeing that the city gate remained closed for so long, they were growing anxious.

Most of the men who came to deliver the goods had children at the border, so they wanted to take this opportunity to see how their children were doing.

It was a long time before the city gates finally opened.

When Captain Bao saw forty or fifty oxcarts, his eyes widened in astonishment. Although the carts were filled with coarse linen clothes, the sheer number of them was overwhelming!

Even if you sell them to those poor people for thirty coins each, you don't need to think about it, they will definitely rush to buy them. After all, a new cotton-padded coat with such thick cotton inside would cost at least several hundred coins.

Captain Bao was already calculating in his mind how much these could sell for.

Captain Bao stared greedily at the cartloads of supplies. This was all silver! If he sold it all, it would be enough to feed him for generations.

Now that the supplies have been delivered, you can go back now! I will send these to the soldiers in the army.

Some villagers were reluctant, after all, they had traveled such a long distance just to see their children.

They weren't even allowed to enter through the city gates. There was still a bit of resentment in their eyes.

Lan's father seemed to see the greed in the general in front of him, and said: "We are all villagers from Yiyang County. The county magistrate personally appointed us to deliver the supplies safely to the military camp."

It's not that we don't trust you all, but along the way, every town and state official we passed through told us that we were delivering donated supplies to the border.

They repeatedly told us to make sure the supplies reached the military commanders in the camp. Every item we delivered was recorded in the ledger; even if one item was missing, the people in charge knew exactly what happened.

The officials' reports must have already been sent to Kyoto. If we are negligent in any way and it is discovered by those above, it would be a crime punishable by the confiscation of our property and the extermination of our entire clan.

After hearing this, Captain Bao's face turned ashen. These villagers were making such a fuss over delivering supplies. It seemed that trying to tamper with the supplies was out of the question.

After all, they came prepared, and with so many eyes watching them along the way, it was impossible for them to do anything underhanded.

Even if they secretly robbed the goods, they couldn't sell these clothes. Selling them would be too conspicuous, and if they showed their faces, they might get caught red-handed.

Clothes can't withstand the same storage conditions as gold jewelry. If these are left for two years before being sold, they'll probably be eaten by rats.

If these people hadn't been so shrewd, keeping some for themselves to sell later, who would have known these were donated supplies? After all, Yiyang County is a long way away.

Lan's father and the others entered the city amidst the resentful gaze of Captain Bao.

As soon as they entered the city gate, Lan's father and his group acted very conspicuously, asking passersby for directions to the Northern Army camp.

In fact, the soldiers guarding the city had already given them directions. The reason why Lan's father did this was because Lan Qingqing had instructed him to do so before he left.

To arrive safely, we had to be conspicuous. The oxcart was loaded with coarse linen clothes. Would anyone be stupid enough to rob and resell them?

Everyone in the city knew the purpose of Lan's father and his group's trip. Those who had hoped to take advantage of the situation had no choice but to give up their plans.

If someone were to embezzle these supplies, the military would certainly be thrown into chaos.

How could those who are starving and freezing not rise up in protest?

Therefore, the more people know about these supplies, the more they can reach the hands of the rank-and-file soldiers.

Lan's father and his group deliberately lingered in the city for three days, and everyone in the city knew about it. Before Lan's father and his group even arrived at the military camp, the news had already spread to the army.

The general was also shocked; villagers donating supplies to the soldiers was unprecedented. The money allocated by the imperial court, after being siphoned off by local officials at each level, meant that very little was left by the time it reached the army.

Military commanders were forced to cut back on food and clothing. The imperial court was powerless to address the situation; it couldn't very well dismiss officials at every level!

Therefore, every winter was the most difficult season for the soldiers. Every year, soldiers froze to death, which deeply saddened the general. The soldiers did not die from the war itself, but from being cold-weathered. All of his salary was spent on the military camp.

Who would believe that a great general was so poor that he couldn't even afford stewed meat?

In spring, summer and autumn, people could still make a living by hunting and growing vegetables.

Just a few miles from the military camp, General Can, along with some officers, waited at the camp gate. This was General Can's way of expressing his gratitude to the villagers.

From afar, Lan's father and the others could see generals greeting them at the gate of the military camp.

As they entered, Lan's father realized that they were being greeted by a great general.

Lan's father and the villagers all knelt down to pay their respects to General Can. Seeing this, General Can quickly helped them up.

On behalf of all the soldiers, I would like to express my gratitude to the villagers of Yiyang County. With that, the general clasped his hands in a salute.

Seeing this, everyone quickly saluted the general. After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the general led everyone into the tent to rest.

The supplies on the oxcart were handed over to the soldiers in the camp by Lan's father and others. Just as the soldiers were writing down the contents of the wine...

Lan's father said: "These dozen or so jars of Qingfeng wine are brewed by my own family. I'm just offering them to the general so he can have a taste."

Lan Qingqing, considering that Qingfeng Wine wasn't produced in large quantities, only brought a dozen or so jars. These jars were placed at the very back, just in case someone noticed them.

When the general heard that it was brought for him, he didn't stand on ceremony at all! He was already grateful to have wine to drink, so he immediately opened the seal and was about to pour it into his mouth.

Lan's father hurriedly stopped him, saying, "General, this is too strong; you can't drink it like this."

"It's alright, General. What kind of wine haven't I drunk?" he said, then downed the wine in one gulp. Because he drank it too quickly, the General choked and coughed.

Lan's father quickly stepped forward and handed General Can a bowl of water. General Can drank a large bowl of water and felt a little better.

General Can looked at the wine in his hand with some shock. He had never tasted such fine wine, even in the capital.

It was good wine, and only then did General Can realize that he had drunk too much and choked, spilling a lot of wine outside. This made General Can feel very distressed.

Father Lan then took out more than a dozen bottles of sweet wine and canned goods. This time, General Can didn't think these were ordinary things. He opened a bottle of sweet wine and tasted it. Good wine, sweet and sour—no wonder it's called sweet wine.

There's also canned food, which is very delicious. I need to save a jar for my wife and maid.

In the end, the general left two canned goods and two bottles of red wine. He himself was reluctant to share Qingfeng Wine. But then he thought about how those old guys would talk about him if they knew he was keeping some for himself.