Chapter 189 190 As a Mother, You Are Strong
Li Yu looked at her and smiled and said: "Yes, I am the newly appointed wife of the county magistrate. I bought the wasteland outside the city. Today I went up the mountain to look for water. I saw your village in the middle of the mountain. I wanted to ask if there is anyone there after the busy farming season. Go help me open up wasteland and earn some wages. The wages are fifteen cents a day, and food and drink are not included. Is there anyone willing?"
Everyone was stunned, and the woman asked happily: "Madam, is what you said true?"
Li Yu smiled and said: "It's absolutely true. If you don't believe it, you can follow me to the county government office and let the county magistrate prove it to you."
"I believe you," the woman smiled excitedly, "My family is willing to open up wasteland. My family has finished threshing the grain."
Everyone shouted, "Madam, when will work start? We are willing to go."
"We can start work early tomorrow morning. Let me tell you first that I only need twenty people for my wasteland. I will show you the location later."
The villagers said happily: "Thank you madam! There is no need to look at the land. There is only that piece of wasteland under the east mountain outside the city. Everyone knows it!"
At this time, the woman led the three little girls to Li Yu and knelt down with a thump. Li Yu quickly helped the woman up and comforted her in a gentle voice: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, the days will get better and better." The better comes.”
The woman bowed and saluted: "Madam, thank you very much! Without you, my daughter would have been sold to that dirty place."
Li Yu looked at the mother and daughter and said with approval: "No thanks. Some people say that women are weak by nature, but mothers are strong. I only wanted to help you after seeing you risking your life to protect your daughter. If you can bear it, , I won’t be too troublesome!”
Li Yu glanced at the man standing not far away and said, "There is nothing wrong with you being filial to your mother, but your mistake is that you should not sell your own child. If your mother knew that the money for her treatment was sold by you, Her granddaughter got the child, can she use it with peace of mind?"
The little girl standing next to the woman suddenly said: "Madam, my grandmother is not sick. She said that we are all losers. Staying at home is also a waste of food. It is better to exchange money for my cousin's wife."
Li Yu was surprised, "Seriously?"
The little girl said crisply: "Really, my second sister heard what she told me. My grandmother asked my eldest uncle to call my father back and said that she had a heart disease and asked my father to sell me and my eldest sister to her for medical treatment. Mother When we were working in the fields, I asked my little sister to call my mother back."
The little girl called Ermei nodded and timidly said: "The eldest aunt and grandmother are discussing in the room and selling us to the eldest cousin to get a wife."
Li Yu looked at the man and said sternly: "As the saying goes, the superiors are kind and the inferiors are filial. Your mother pretended to be sick and sold your children in order to find a wife for your brother's children. When an elder is unkind, you still want to be foolish and filial. You Do you know that you are aiding the evildoer? You are just a fool, you can’t even protect your own child, I think you are worse than an animal!”
"Yes! Dashan, you are too confused. You will sell your child without understanding.
"This man is too honest, and he is always bullied. Sometimes, it is fatal to be bullied by his own family!"
The man's face turned black and blue as if he had been struck by lightning. "I don't know. My mother said she was sick and called me back from the field. Why did they lie to me? I went back to find them." The man turned around and ran away. .
"Madam, thank you very much!" The woman bowed to Li Yu, took the child in her hands, and hurriedly followed him back.
Li Yu made an appointment with the villagers for a time to start work, and then walked into the city. When he walked to the wasteland, he saw Zhou Jia driving a carriage waiting for him in front of the wasteland. Li Yu greeted him with a smile, "Why are you here? are not you busy?"
Seeing that there was no one around, Zhou Jia took Li Yu's hand and walked towards the carriage, "The meal is ready, but you haven't arrived home yet. I'm worried so I just took a look." The couple held hands, got on the carriage, and headed towards the city. Walk inside.
On the way into the city, Zhou Jia said happily: "Today I spent a total of two hundred taels of silver, mainly buying glutinous rice and slaked lime. The rest was dug from the river and the clay from the mountains. The folks in the county still work hard." Things are going very smoothly, I think it will take at most half a month to repair the collapsed city wall."
"That's good. After the city wall is repaired, we can start building the county government office. It's inconvenient to live in other people's homes!"
"Okay Yu'er, once Shen Wu brings his people to wipe out the bandits, we can take care of Qingchuan with peace of mind."
The next day, Li Yu took Yang Wei to the wasteland, chose the location of the reservoir in the shade, and had people cut some moso bamboo, use long wooden sticks to break through the bamboo joints, carry the bamboo tubes to the cave, and put them in the cave. Bamboo pipes were cut obliquely and connected to the water outlet on the cliff to guide the water from the cave down the mountain. Several craftsmen were also hired in the village to build a farm.
After the water was brought down the mountain, the day for the bandits to collect grain was approaching. After Zhou Jia and the village chief of Shijia Village explained the situation, everyone expressed their willingness to cooperate. After Ruyi and Guanshi Ouyang came back from Hutou Village, they brought the new tactics with them. The yamen servants practiced some simple tactics against the enemy in preparation for dealing with the bandits.
Li Yu also left the construction of Zhuangzi, land reclamation, retting and digging of fallen leaves to Yang Wei, and went home to prepare for the bandits.
Xu Chun and Xu Gui rushed to Qingzhou day and night. They arrived in Qingzhou Mansion in less than half the time they arrived.
After the two entered the city, they hurried back to Sihai Bank, found shopkeeper Chu Jiang, and handed Zhou Jia's letter to Chu Jiang.
Xu Chun said to Chu Jiang: "Shopkeeper Chu, you don't know that Qingchuan City is in tatters and shabby everywhere. The bandits burned down the city wall and the county government office. Mr. Zhou and his family are renting at envoy Tu Dian's house."
After Chu Jiang read the letter, he said to Xu Chun: "You two go and have something to eat, and then go and have a rest. I'll go find General Shen Wu."
Chu Jiang hurried to Shen Wu's house, handed the letter to Shen Wu, and said to Shen Wu: "Xiao General Shen, Lord Zhou, please lead troops to assist him."
After reading the letter, Shen Wu said: "I received an order from the general yesterday, asking me to lead troops to Qingchuan to suppress the bandits. The general suspected that the officers and soldiers who went to suppress the bandits in the past colluded with the bandits to harm the people. I originally wanted to go to Qingchuan tomorrow. If we leave, Brother Zhou will bring a letter saying that it is extremely urgent, and I will lead the troops to Qingchuan."
"Okay, bring some more money over there. Mr. Zhou said he wants to borrow money to repair the city wall and rebuild the county government."
Shen Wu patted Chu Jiang and said with a smile: "After suppressing the bandits, are you still afraid that he will have no money? There is plenty of money in the bandit's den."
"That's true, Xu Chun said. There are very few shops in Qingchuan City. It's getting cold, so I'll bring some furs, cloth and cotton to Mr. Zhou!"
Shen Wu laughed and said: "You are still thoughtful, I am just a rough guy."
Shen Wu took Shen Yu's letter and went to the camp to mobilize troops. Chu Jiang had people buy good furs, cloth, and cotton, and asked Xu Chun to take them with him. When Shen Wu arrived at the city gate with his soldiers and horses, he We met at the door and rushed to Qingchuan day and night.
In Qinglong Village, Zuo Qing told Uncle Cai, his confidant who went down the mountain to collect grain, and told him: "Uncle Cai, send half of the grain you received and send the rest back to the village. I wonder if General Huang is in Qingzhou?" Camp, I can’t speak anymore, and I’m afraid we’re going to have a hard time next.”