HCB Chapter 269 was indeed ill-considered.
Chapter 269 was indeed ill-considered.
The gloomy sky that had been hanging over us for days finally broke through, and a ray of warm sunshine pierced through the clouds and shone down.
At the end of the official road, Zhang Haoyi and his border patrol team had gradually become a blurry little black dot.
Li Qingqing and Li Feng smiled at each other, while behind them, the city guards cheered softly, barely suppressed.
These past few days, she's been outwitting and outmaneuvering Zhang Haoyi and his men, which has taken a lot of effort. Fortunately, the border city has finally fallen firmly into her hands.
From then on, she finally had a place that truly belonged to her.
Li Qingqing smiled at Li Feng, her eyes sparkling.
"General, I have urgent business to attend to in a border town. I'll discuss something with you when I return."
I will keep my promise to procure grain for General Zhao a secret from Li Feng for now. Once I have a clear understanding of the situation in the border town, I will explain it to him in detail.
"Okay, go and come back soon. I also have some things I want to discuss with you. Let's talk later."
Li Feng, unsuspecting, smiled and nodded in agreement, then added,
"Before the imperial edict arrives, I will arrange all the affairs in the city as soon as possible. You don't need to worry, just focus on your work."
Li Feng secretly planned that since Li Qingqing was taking office for the first time, he should first make proper arrangements for all the basic affairs so that she would have no worries.
In addition, I have some matters to attend to before leaving office, which I need to finish as soon as possible.
As for the family affairs of the Li family in the capital, I will tell Li Qingqing about them in detail on the way back to the capital.
Thinking of this, Li Feng turned his gaze to the newly built city wall in the distance.
The city wall was so strong and majestic that it was completed almost a month ahead of schedule, and it would be indestructible even in the event of another war.
Li Feng breathed a sigh of relief and strode towards the training ground.
Today, the first batch of soldiers temporarily recruited from other places will be discharged and return to their hometowns. We need to make the necessary arrangements as soon as possible.
In addition, he also had to select an elite contingent from among the soldiers who had been stationed locally for a long time to present the victory report.
He had to personally oversee the special training of the tribute team to ensure they would be perfectly prepared upon their arrival in the capital.
Otherwise, if a mistake is made, becoming a laughing stock is a minor matter; being impeached and angering the emperor would be a much bigger problem.
While Li Feng was busy, Li Qingqing also rode in a carriage towards the border town.
Nothing is more urgent than procuring supplies right now.
After consulting books last night, she had a vague idea in mind.
If we could imitate the methods of later generations and build greenhouses for cultivation.
Perhaps we can enjoy fresh vegetables in the dead of winter, and even promote this throughout the country, thus solving part of the food problem?
However, she seemed to remember that there shouldn't be any plastic film here, and she didn't know if such a thing had appeared in the more than ten years she had been gone.
She needs to go to the border town to secretly inquire with the village head and others, and also listen to their thoughts.
As the carriage passed by the brick kiln site, Li Qingqing suddenly wondered if, without plastic film, it would be possible to heat the soil underground for planting.
After all, she had a ready-made brick kiln and a continuously generating heat source.
If a smoke vent is split open on one side of the bottom of the brick kiln flue, and a long flue is built deep underground, with the other end extending far out to the ground as the smoke outlet.
Using gravity, the heat from the waste smoke and fire generated by the brick kiln is introduced into the ground.
Then cover the flue with a thick layer of planting soil...
As soon as this absurd idea came to mind, Li Qingqing immediately ordered the shadow guard driving the carriage to turn it around.
With Li Tiezhu's extensive experience in kiln making, he should be able to answer her questions.
Li Qingqing led Bai Ye and they walked together toward the brick kiln.
At this moment, Li Tiezhu and the villagers were firing blue bricks.
Upon hearing that the city lord was looking for him, he hurriedly wiped the mud off his hands, tidied his clothes slightly, and rushed over to greet him.
"Lord Qingcheng, you've come at the right time. Two days ago, Brother Hu said that we had enough blue bricks to repair the city wall. Now we've made quite a few more brick blanks. I wonder if we should continue making more?"
Li Tiezhu did not recognize Li Qingqing; he only knew that the highest-ranking official in the border city was personally speaking to him.
He guessed that the city lord had come to inform them that their mission was complete and to let them go home.
A few days ago, the village chief's father wrote to him, saying that Qiushui Town is very lively now.
Since the road was built, Qiushui Town has seen a surge in population, with some people from other places even settling there. Its prosperity has far surpassed that of its neighboring towns.
Pear Blossom Village is also very different from before.
It is said that Zhou's wife gave the village several handicraft recipes, and now everyone's income is not only limited to the harvest from the land, but they have also started small businesses.
Since visiting the new Pear Blossom Village, people from nearby villages have been placing orders for bricks and tiles. The brick and tile kiln is so busy that it can't keep up with the demand, and the orders are booked until next summer solstice.
The village's brick kilns and candle factories also attracted people from other villages to come and work, making it very lively.
There are still market days on the 5th and 10th of each month. On these days, the farmers' market in Lihua Village is packed with people.
In the past, people had to go to Qiushui Town to go to the market, but now the farmers' market is right at their doorstep, and they can buy all kinds of items as soon as they step out of their homes.
Thinking about all the changes his father had mentioned, Li Tiezhu felt restless and wanted to go home to check on them.
Now that the city walls of the border town are finished, he has nothing to do, so he stays at home and continues working at the brick kiln.
Li Tiezhu secretly made his plans, listening attentively to Li Qingqing's instructions.
Brother Zhou had told him to do more and talk less when he came here, and he had always been careful with his words and actions, never daring to forget.
Tie Zhu stood respectfully and somewhat awkwardly before the city lord, when he heard Li Qingqing say with a smile,
“I still need a lot of blue bricks later, so you can let everyone continue firing them without stopping work.”
"Understood," Tie Zhu replied immediately.
Li Qingqing smiled, dispelling Tie Zhu's concerns, and continued,
"Don't worry, I will give you all a holiday before the New Year. If any of you want to go home for the New Year and reunite with your family, please register your names and give me the list. I will then send someone to escort you all back. However, I am here today mainly to ask you about some other things. Let's sit down and talk about it slowly."
After the two sat down in the makeshift shed next to the brick kiln, Li Qingqing got straight to the point and explained her purpose.
"I urgently need to grow a batch of fresh vegetables. I have heard that every winter, someone in the capital has successfully grown sunflowers near hot springs. Yesterday, I learned from a book that someone once used the power of the earth's fire and imitated the principle of a fire pit to create a warm environment for crops."
I'm thinking, what if we built an underground flue to draw the smoke and fire from the brick kiln into it, using the heat to warm the soil above, creating a seedbed that could be continuously heated? Do you think this method is feasible?
Li Qingqing carefully explained her thoughts to Li Tiezhu.
Upon hearing this, Li Tiezhu was taken aback.
He never expected the city lord to have such a wildly imaginative idea.
Li Tiezhu opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to refute that this was absolutely impossible.
But then he remembered that the city lord had just said he had read about this case in a book, so he quickly swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
We need to seriously consider whether this is feasible or not.
After a moment, Li Tiezhu cautiously spoke.
"Reporting to the city lord, building such a warm bed is not impossible, but the cost would be extremely high. Even if it were built, the ground would be damp, and the heat would dissipate quickly as it passes through the chimney, so there would be almost no heat generated."
Hiring someone specifically to add firewood and tend the fire every day would increase costs significantly. It's a skilled job, and if handled improperly, the temperature could rise too high, ruining all the vegetables – it would be a losing proposition.
Li Qingqing listened and nodded.
She hadn't thought things through. Li Tiezhu was right; turning tofu into meat was indeed a losing proposition.
With this money, it would be better to find a way to buy food from other countries.