vrcanaries Chapter 284 Empty City Strategy?
Chapter 284 Empty City Strategy?
Zhou Da Cang stared, and then he heard her say: "It's enough if one of us has changed. Think about it, if they are looking for someone for a portrait, they will definitely look for a young man with a child. Now you are older, from a teenager to a thirties, a father, a father with a child, that's different. And with my height, no matter how I pretend, I'm still a child, it's useless to pretend."
Zhou Dacang pondered, it seemed to be the case, "Then, then I have changed?"
Zhou Guo smiled and said, "Don't be disgusted. Even though it's a little ugly and old, we can buy food with it. I don't want to be hungry anymore."
Zhou Dacang nodded, "Yes, nothing is more important than the stomach. Let's go to the county town below."
The two men packed up their things, climbed on their horses, and headed for the county town below.
When they arrived at the first county, there was not even a gatekeeper at the gate. The two were a little surprised. The several counties in the prefecture city above all charged an entrance fee, but how come this county didn't even charge an entrance fee? This prefecture city seemed to be worse than that one.
If there were soldiers guarding the city gate, collecting entrance fees one by one, she might have gone in without hesitation. But now, looking at the empty city gate, she felt that there was a conspiracy. "Maybe it's an empty city plan."
"Empty City Strategy?" Zhou Dacang was stunned. "No way, are you using the Empty City Strategy just for two of us? How can we be so important? Martial law is already a great thing, why are you using the Empty City Strategy on us?"
Zhou Guo also felt that she was overthinking, but for the sake of caution, she still stopped someone on the side of the road and said, "Uncle, let me ask you something. When I went to other counties, I saw that they had to pay an entrance fee to enter the city, and at least there were soldiers guarding the city gates. Your county doesn't charge an entrance fee?"
The uncle was happy when talking about this, "Hey, we collected it before. When the previous county magistrate was in office, I don't know what the trend was, but starting from the year before last, they collected a city entrance fee, a full two cents per person, and more if you brought goods. They collected it for two years. This year, the new county magistrate came, and within a few days of his arrival, the city gate fee was cancelled. Everyone was very happy. In the days after it was cancelled, the busy farming season was over, and everyone brought their families and crowded into the city. They were so happy. Tsk, you didn't see it, it felt more lively than the Chinese New Year."
"Hurry up, you're not going to stop talking, are you? Are you going to sell the stuff?"
The uncle responded happily, said goodbye to Zhou Guo and Zhou Dacang, and left.
There were other people on the road as well, entering the city one after another.
Zhou Guo choked up and said, "It's really lively. If you didn't know, you would think it was a prosperous time."
Zhou Dacang nodded, "That's right. Who would have thought that in such a world, the county town could still be so lively and everyone is smiling. The county magistrate here is really good."
It’s similar to their current Lu County.
Zhou Guo pointed to the county town and said, "Then let's go into the city. We must buy more this time. In addition to buying some dry food, we can also buy some rice, flour, and noodles. Besides being cheaper, they can also last longer. We can change them up a bit and don't have to worry about them going bad."
Zhou Dacang nodded repeatedly. He was afraid of the food. No matter how delicious the meat was, he couldn't eat it every day. If he ate too much, he wouldn't be able to defecate. It seemed that he was destined to be a poor man. He couldn't live like a rich man. He was not destined for that.
Zhou Guo laughed, "Uncle, even though the rich eat meat every meal, they don't only eat meat. They still have to eat staple food. No one can bear to eat meat every day."
Zhou Dacang also laughed.
The two of them chatted and laughed as they walked towards the city and entered the city smoothly.
Zhou Guo said, "Uncle, let's stay at the inn tonight. I want to sleep in the bed."
Zhou Dacang smiled, "Okay, to be honest, I also want to sleep in a bed. I always feel uneasy sleeping in the open air."
We chose an ordinary inn that was neither too fancy nor too fancy, and asked for the cheapest room for two people. Downstairs was a large bunk bed.
In fact, the house at home was not as good as the big dormitory. The thatched house was short and dark, and the dirt was falling off the walls. The two of them were already very satisfied to be able to live in such a house.
Especially for Zhou Dacang, this is the best house he has ever lived in since he was born. It is bright and not shabby. Although it is a little small, it is clean, and people living in it feel very comfortable.
Seeing his envious expression, Zhou Guo said, "After the spring ploughing is finished next year, we can build a house. By then, we will build a row of blue brick and tile houses, one for each person."
Zhou Dacang said, "There's one room for each person. There are twelve people in our family. Can we build twelve rooms? If you want to, you need your mother's consent."
Zhou Guo said, "It's okay. Even if they don't agree next year, they will agree later. You and your elder brother are getting older. You can talk about getting married next year or the year after. You can't have a wife and squeeze on a kang with a bunch of people. That's not good. Let alone 12 rooms, even 24 rooms are affordable now. If you want to build one, build a bigger one so you don't have to build more later. If you say that, she will definitely agree."
After she said that, Zhou Dacang felt that it was hard to say whether his second sister-in-law would agree or not, but he would definitely agree. He still had two hundred taels of silver in his arms, which was enough to build four or five blue brick houses.
After putting their things down, the first thing they did was go out for a meal.
Zhou Guo pointed at the restaurant’s signature dishes and ordered a table full of them, and also asked for a bowl of white rice.
The waiter doubted his ears, "Um, sir, you want a bowl of rice?"
Zhou Guo said: "You heard it right, it's just a bowl of rice. I'm still growing and I eat a lot. My father and I also eat a lot. I'm afraid a plate of rice won't be enough."
Zhou Dacang nodded and said in a low voice, "Just serve it first. If it's not enough, order more later."
When the young man heard that one bowl of rice was not enough, he was shocked.
The first floor is the dining area, with seven or eight tables. There are not many people eating at the moment, including Zhou Guo's table, which has only three other tables of guests.
The guests at the other two tables had stopped eating at this time, and everyone turned their eyes to the table of Zhou Guo and Zhou Dacang.
The young man in the back, who was the shopkeeper, had nothing to do, so he also poked his head out to look.
The two of them had eaten chicken in the morning. It was already afternoon and they were already hungry.
Having not eaten rice for a few days, Zhou Guo suddenly tasted the sweet and soft white rice and thought it tasted better than meat, so he ate half a bowl in one go.
There was a table full of delicious food but I didn't even touch my chopsticks.
Zhou Dacang was in a similar situation. The two of them had eaten a lot of meat these days, but not a single grain of food.
When people at other tables saw the table full of food and the two men focusing only on eating, they couldn't help but look over.
It was only after the second bowl of rice that Zhou Guo started to pick up some vegetables to eat.
The taste is just so-so. It is incomparable to what I had in Huaiyang before. It is even inferior to their own wild mushrooms and pheasant stewed in a clay pot. The only difference is that there are many varieties and everything is fresh.
He ate while silently shaking his head. Looking at Siwen, he ate quite fast, and only slowed down at the end.