Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Chapter 908 Will it become a granary in the future?

Zhou Guo was stunned. "This... isn't... not good, right?"

Zhang Lian said, "What's wrong with that? You are the master today and we are all working for you. What are you doing sitting in the back? Stop wasting time and come forward."

After hearing this, Zhou Guo really became impolite.

Yes, as for the two million shi of grain, no one said it was a loan. They would give her anything as compensation, nothing. It was very likely that the two million shi were just given away for nothing.

Zhang Lian saw her sitting down, nodded with satisfaction, and said to everyone: "Everyone is here, let's talk, we need two months to transport these grains to the front line, how many trucks can you requisition?"

Lord Cheng Ding asked, "Sir, don't we need to recruit more people?"

Zhang Lian said, "A group of refugees will arrive in the north soon. There will be hundreds of thousands of them, plus the wounded soldiers who have retreated from the border, so there will be quite a few. If we recruit some more from various places, plus the existing refugees and beggars in the north, we should have enough manpower to transport food."

The North has finally gotten better in recent years, and no one wants to make the waters of the North muddy again, so if it is possible to avoid causing serious damage, it will be done so at all costs.

Now I heard that hundreds of thousands of people are coming, plus the army's own baggage train, that's almost half of them. When they are distributed to several prefectures, the pressure will be much smaller, and basically there will be no need for any major movement.

Zhou Guo listened carefully to their discussion of these things, but did not interrupt, as he could not do so.

It was getting dark outside. They had a meal and then continued. Zhou Guo sat with them all night without sleeping.

The meeting finally ended on the next morning.

The adults went back home after dinner without even taking a break. They were all in high spirits, as if they had just won a battle.

Zhou Guo said goodbye to Zhang Lian with his round eyes open, "Sir, I will go back first. I will transport all the food and grass to Huaiyang within half a month."

Zhang Lian rubbed his brows, looking a little tired. "I have no worries about your work, but it's hard for you to sit with us old guys all night at such a young age. But I see that you are in good spirits. It's good to be young."

Zhou Guo smiled, said goodbye and left.

After leaving the government office, she blinked her eyes, went back home and fell asleep immediately. She had been highly concentrated all night, and now when she took a break, she felt more tired than after cutting wheat all day.

I slept until the afternoon.

After dinner, she took Erpang back to Song County. Now that everything had been discussed, she had to take action.

The old man was waiting for her on the farm. When he saw her coming back at night, he frowned and asked, "What have you been doing these days? You're so secretive and sneaky."

Zhou Guo said: "Master, can't you just say the first few words? You must accuse me of being sneaky. I'm not doing anything shameful."

"You can see people but you sneak away, why don't you take me with you?" The old man was very dissatisfied. He woke up early the next morning and found that the old man was missing. He asked Hu Zi, but Hu Zi knew nothing about anything.

But this guy left soon after. He disappeared for a day, came back, said hello and left. I don’t know where he went and he was nowhere to be seen all day long.

Zhou Guo was about to speak when he remembered the man who delivered the letter that day and asked Dashu, "Is the guy who delivered the letter still here?"

Dashu said, "Yes, do you want to call him over?"

Zhou Guo thought for a moment and said, "Forget it, let's do it tomorrow."

The old man asked, "What are you doing?"

Zhou Guo asked Dashu to leave, and then he leaned in and whispered to him, "I will go to Huaiyang in two days. Huaiyang has the most food among the caves. Master, please come with me."

The old man didn't speak for a long time, then said, "I think your good days are over. The military rations of hundreds of thousands of troops are all on you. Don't they treat you as a human being?"

Zhou Guo was drinking tea and was stunned when she heard the words. She looked up at him and saw that he was looking at her with complicated eyes, which showed heartache, grief, anger and worry. She had never seen such an expression on his face before.

He smiled and said, "Master, don't think too much. Besides, I originally saved this food for my uncle, in case he had no food to eat on the battlefield one day, so I sent it all to him. Now it's good, isn't it? It just came in handy. Besides, with millions of shi of food, even if there are hundreds of people in our family, we can't eat it all in more than ten lifetimes.

In a few months, this year's grain will be available again. This year's grain will be more than last year's. This large piece of rice can yield a lot. If I don't give this grain away, I will have to find another place to store it. Year after year, this grain will be moldy, infested with insects, and rotten if it is left uneaten. It will also go bad if it is left there for nothing. It is better to give it to these people to eat."

The old man glared and said, "Is that what I meant? Am I reluctant to part with the food? If this is the case, then you will become the granary of the Xu family. If you run out of food, they will ask you for it. If you run out of food, they will ask you for it. How capable are you to support hundreds of thousands of troops by yourself?!"

Zhou Guo blinked, unable to refute. She had never met General Xu, so she didn't know what he was like. She couldn't be sure that what the old man said would never happen.

But what if she is really regarded as a granary?

She thought for a while and said, "Master, I am actually just a small landlord. Not to mention the whole world, I am not even the first in the whole North. He can use me as a granary because I told my uncle that the food at home is stored for him. I think the army would not ask me for this unless they are really desperate and have nothing to eat."

The old man snorted and said, "Hasn't the North had a good harvest in the past two years? Everyone is living a good life and tax revenue has increased. Now that we can't collect grain, we have to ask you for it?"

Zhou Guo said, "But the North has never stopped fighting in the past two years. Even if a family is wealthy, it will be drained if it continues to fight like this, not to mention the North, which is already poor. The North is now the last piece of pure land in the world. As the general's retreat, he will not let the North become chaotic. He would rather attack other wealthy families than touch the foundation of the North."

He said shamelessly: "And I am now one of the many mountain-guarding stones in the North. The general will never knock down my mountain-guarding stone, right?"

The old man rolled his eyes. "You think highly of yourself, or are you a mountain rock? Otherwise, just keep it like this. Don't expand those escort agencies, fat, fungus, crabs, etc. Didn't you say that anything that becomes too big is not good, a big tree attracts the wind."

The young disciple has worked so hard for so many years, but with just one sentence, he has to give all these things away for free. The old man feels unbalanced. The young lady has worked hard in the wind and snow to build such a huge family business, but with just one sentence, he has to give it away for free. Who can bear it?

Zhou Guo pondered, "Let me think about it. Hasn't there been any news from my uncle yet? Since he hasn't said anything, there should be no problem, right?"