Chapter 205 September

On April 28th, Hua Zichen had been in Qufu City, Lu State for almost two months.

The whole city of Qufu already knew that the princess of their country was going to marry the pride of Qi State, and everyone was very happy about it.

Hua Zichen and Yu Jun and others were bored practicing martial arts in the official inn, and a palace eunuch came to pass on the message that the Lu Palace would hold a banquet on May 1st to see off Princess Ji Le, and that the noble families of Lu State would come to congratulate them. Hua Zichen also received a gift list given to him by the King of Lu.

"Fifth Master, we are rich!" Qing Geertai shouted happily when he saw the dowry of Princess Ji Le on the gift list.

In addition to the return gift of 20,000 gold, there were also 100 sets of armor, 10 carts of books, 100 elite guards, 300 palace maids, and 1,000 craftsmen and civilians of various kinds. These craftsmen and civilians all brought their families, and the total number exceeded 3,000 people.

The gift list says that the craftsmen will definitely not make mistakes. What the Hua family lacks most now is all kinds of craftsmen. This is more useful than giving the Hua family 100,000 gold. The armor is all fish scale armor, which is a heavy armor worn by those above the Qidong realm. Each set is worth a hundred gold. The ten carts of books are of course made of bamboo slips. This dowry is not inferior to Hua Zichen's [Na Zheng] gift at all.

On the morning of May 1st, the Lu Palace sent all the dowry of Princess Ji Le to the official inn. The Hua family began to organize the loading of the carriage. After today's banquet is over, they will take Princess Ji Le home!

Hua Zichen entered the Lu Palace again and did not encounter any difficulties until the end of the banquet. Princess Ji Le followed him happily in a red wedding dress. All the Lu family sent them blessings.

After noon, the Hua family's bridal sedan was slowly lifted to the gate of the Lu Palace. At this time, the main gate slowly opened, and several palace maids surrounded Princess Ji Le. Princess Ji Le entered the bridal sedan wearing a veil. The King of Lu brought the queen and others to see Princess Ji Le off in the palace.

Outside the palace gate, tens of thousands of people from the State of Lu saw Princess Ji Le off. Princess Ji Le might never come back again, so they all sent the princess their last blessings.

Hua Zichen wore a red wedding dress outside the [Eight Treasures Night Name Armor] and rode the [Tianlong Horse] to the bridal sedan. The bridal sedan was slowly lifted up, and hundreds of palace guards followed closely behind the bridal sedan. When they arrived at the official inn area, the bridal team and more than a thousand dowry craftsmen from Qufu City brought their families, carrying large and small bags on their backs, and followed the entire bridal team to set off.

The news that the Hua family in Guang County married the princess of Lu began to spread in Qi, and many noble families began to know that [Hua's Paper] was invented by the Hua family.

As Hua Zichen brought Princess Ji Le back to Guang County, Huajiabao had a thousand more skilled craftsmen, and the family construction began to accelerate. Guang County Huafu and Huajiabao looked different every day.

The number of vagrants from other counties to Guang County began to increase, and the population of all villages outside Guang County began to grow. Especially in the villages outside Huajiabao, the population of some large villages had caught up with the original seven villages, and the reputation of the Hua family began to grow.

In September, all the students in Jixia Academy discussed three things.

The first thing was this year's drought. Qi had not seen a drop of rain since last autumn. Many farmlands in the city had cracked, and no water could be pumped out of the 100-meter-deep wells. Many rivers that had not dried up became the object of people's competition. People in Linzi City had already begun to prepare to flee the famine with their families.

The second thing was the war report of the invasion of the Central Plains by the grassland countries. There were about 350,000 grassland cavalrymen invading the Central Plains from the northern border of Qin. Qin slowly retreated in the stalemate with the grassland countries. Now the northern border defense line of Qin has retreated more than 200 miles.

Compared with Qin, Yan's performance was much worse. Yan was invaded by 120,000 troops including Donghu. In just half a year, most of the northern counties had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Qi, as a neighbor of Yan, had to help at this time. The King of Qi had issued a new [summoning order], but this summoning order was a bit special.

[Summoning order] is only for all the seventh-grade families and above, and all other families are not included in the call.

Many students said privately that this was because the King of Qi was about to die and was weakening the strength of the families. Hua Kai got the news from his fifth uncle, and the Hua family also received the call.

This time, the King of Qi only recruited the combat power above the Great Perfection of Qi Training Realm, and Hua Zichen was also among those recruited. Only Hua Zichen was recruited in the entire Guang County.

The third thing is related to Hua Kai. Hua Kai spent only more than five months to learn all the academic theories that can be learned in Jixia Academy, and he has mastered all the 49 schools of thought.

This created the record of the most subjects to be learned in Jixia Academy, and no one doubted Hua Kai's title of the Son of God.

In fact, learning too many ideas and concepts is not very useful. The more you learn the theories of the various schools of thought, the more overlaps you have. It was difficult for Hua Kai to learn the various schools of thought at the beginning. After learning the ten major mental methods, he felt that he understood the mental methods faster.

This did not actually increase his strength, but after learning all the various schools of thought, Hua Kai's theoretical foundation was already very solid, and it would be easy for him to improve the realm of each theory. Legend has it that saints must learn from the theories of various schools before becoming saints. Hua Kai's minimum theory is unmatched in Jixia Academy.

At the age of fifteen, all academic thoughts were mastered, which made him more and more famous in Jixia Academy.

Hua Kai had just received the news that his grandfather was leading the Hua family caravan home a few days ago, so he wrote a letter to the Qi Palace asking for leave. Unexpectedly, he received a reply in just one day, agreeing that Hua Kai could go home to visit his family for two months.

Coming out of the Jixia Academy, Hua Kai saw Linzi City again, which was very different from the prosperous scene he saw half a year ago. The common people walked weakly on the street, and countless people were queuing up with buckets to fetch water next to a well. There were few people in the restaurant and teahouse.

Some people were carrying large and small bags and were planning to leave Linzi City. They all looked pale and thin, and they probably hadn't had a full meal for a long time.

After leaving the city, Qing Geertai brought more than 30 Hua family cavalrymen and waited for them at the city gate. The woods outside the city were withered and yellow, and there was not much green on the ground. Some people were lying in the dry grass in the wild looking for food.

Hua Kai felt very heavy in his heart when he saw all this. Linzi City was the capital of Qi State. If it had come to this, then other places could be imagined. He finally understood why the King of Qi only summoned the combat forces above the Great Perfection of Qi Dynamic Realm to support the State of Yan, because the State of Qi no longer had the ability to summon too many troops.

Hua Kai only hoped that the State of Yan could stop the attack of the Donghu, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous if the grassland cavalry entered the State of Qi.

Riding on the Di Lu horse, although the Di Lu horse had not seen Hua Kai for half a year, it still did not forget him and jumped around excitedly.

All the way back to Huajiabao, Hua Kai saw a long line of refugees outside Huajiabao. In the porridge shed at the front, four large vats were boiling porridge, and all the refugees were holding bowls waiting for porridge.

When Hua Kai returned home, he saw that he had not been back for half a year. Huajiabao had completely changed. The commercial district was full of buildings and bustling crowds. Teahouses, restaurants, and restaurants were bustling with people. It seemed that it was two different worlds from the outside of the village.

The road here has become flat when entering the inner village. Public toilets, gardens, and small squares can be seen everywhere. On the road, everyone in the Hua family greeted Hua Kai happily.

Hua Kai found his third uncle Hua Zijie, who is now in charge of Huajiabao.

"Kai'er, you're back! How long can you stay this time?" Hua Zijie knew Hua Kai would be back soon.

"Two months! How is your family doing recently? Is there enough water?" This is what Hua Kai is most worried about.

"Fortunately, we made preparations early. There are more than ten wells in the village. Although the well water is deeper now, it is still enough for drinking. If it continues like this, the spiritual rice at home will be affected. It's so hot that I don't know when it will rain!" Hua Zijie said worriedly.

"What about grain?" Hua Kai asked.

"There are still 80,000 stones of grain. Now our grain shops in the city are limited to one catty per day. There are more and more disaster victims outside the village these days, and our affiliated villages are now all overwhelmed. Now it's a bit too late to cook porridge in four large jars at the same time every day. There are more and more disaster victims!" Hua Zijie said.

Going south from Linzi City, you must pass Guang County, so there are so many disaster victims at the gate of Huajiabao. Generally, one large jar consumes one stone of grain a day, and four large jars consume 800 kilograms of grain a day, which can help about 4,000 disaster victims. Of course, this amount of porridge can only ensure that they will not starve to death in the Huajiabao area. Only after drinking porridge can they have the strength to continue to go south to find a way to survive.

Giving the disaster victims a bite when they arrive at the gate is a custom that has been passed down in the Central Plains. If you give them something, they will leave. If you don't give them anything, they will waste it. If they are extremely hungry, they will stay and cause trouble.

"Continue to increase the number of porridge jars in the afternoon! Add 6 more large jars!" Hua Kai thought for a while and said that the Hua family's food is still enough to support it.

"Kai'er, we can't break the rules when distributing porridge. If we increase the amount of porridge now, it is very likely that nearby refugees will come. If they eat the porridge and don't leave, we have to keep feeding them. Now our family has more than 8,000 people, plus the affiliated villages and affiliated forces such as the Huang family and the Geng family, we have to support more than 15,000 people. Our family's food is only enough for two and a half years!" Hua Zijie reminded.

"Those who should be saved must be saved. More and more people in Linzi City are fleeing south now, and even some families have moved south with their families. But I heard that many countries in the south have suffered more serious disasters than us. They probably won't be able to reach Lu this time and will come back. Now we distribute one more bowl of porridge, so they will have more motivation to go home when they can't survive." Hua Kai sighed after speaking. When this drought is over, I don't know how many people will be left in the Central Plains.

Hua Zijie also sighed deeply, and then the two of them discussed the expansion of Huajiabao. More than half of the expansion of the house has been completed, and all the projects will be basically completed next year. It was originally planned to be completed with 20,000 gold, but now it has cost 30,000 gold and there is still a small part of the project to be completed. However, it is becoming easier and easier to find workers now, and I believe the speed will be even faster in the future!