Chapter 206 Return Home

The severity of this year's drought is beyond everyone's imagination. The grain production of the whole Qi State has decreased by more than 70%. Moreover, Qi State is not a large producer. The grain from the south this year is less than 10% of last year, which makes famine in Qi State inevitable.

The noble families generally have the habit of storing grain, and their survival will generally not have any problems. In the end, it is the most ordinary people who suffer, and at most ordinary families will suffer from the disaster!

"If it doesn't rain by the beginning of next spring, then Qi State will most likely be in chaos by the end of next year.

Huajiabao must make plans to defend the village, don't let people approach the granary easily, and the home protection and patrol must be arrested. I heard that Bashu and other places are not troubled by drought. I plan to go to Shu to see if I can buy food!"

The food of the Hua family now can only barely be enough for themselves and their affiliated families when the slaves come back this year. If the entire Guangxian City is not in chaos, the grain shops in the city cannot stop, and the pace of Huafu construction cannot stop, so that most people can get a source of food.

In the past six months, the affiliated families of the Hua family have been slowly taking in some refugees to strengthen their own strength. Even if they know that they don't have enough food, they can't help but take in some people. The Hua family has also taken in more than ten families in the Qidong realm in the past six months.

As the drought becomes more and more serious, the number of victims is increasing. If there is enough food at that time, whether it is the Hua family or the affiliated forces and allies, their strength will not only not weaken, but will be strengthened.

However, it is very difficult to go to Shu. From ancient times to the present, there is a saying that "the road to Shu is difficult, more difficult than going to the sky". Generally, even the Xiantian realm may not be able to pass safely.

It is impossible to transport food from Shu, but Hua Kai does not have to worry about transporting food.

He notified the Sihai Chamber of Commerce branch where Huajiabao is located. If he wants to go to Shu this time, he must ask the Sihai Chamber of Commerce for help.

In the afternoon, Hua Kai came to Guang County. Everything here looks good. The Hua family grain shop sells 2,000 kilograms of low-priced food every day. Although it cannot guarantee that everyone in the city has food to eat, it can give the people in the city a glimmer of hope and will not arouse too much public anger.

Entering Guang County, many shops on the street have been closed, only the human market and livestock market are still busy. The Hua Family Restaurant is still under construction. As the landmark building of Guang County in the future, it will not be completed in two or three years.

Many families in the inner city have closed their doors. They already know the severity of the disaster, so they plan to stay indoors. For big families and noble families, the most dangerous thing about the drought is not hunger, but the looting of hungry victims.

Hua Kai returned to Huafu and saw construction sites everywhere. Ordinary people working hard can be seen everywhere in Huafu. This year, the Hua family only provides one meal and two kilograms of rice for one day's work. Even the people in the slums are scrambling to come to Huajia to work.

Hua Kai roughly looked at the busy workers here. There are about nearly 10,000 people, which is a very scary number.

After Princess Ji Le was married back, she stayed in Huafu, Guang County, so the craftsmen's families, guards, and palace maids also stayed. The entire Huafu population has exceeded 5,000, which means that Huafu now occupies about half of the population of Guangxian City.

The Hua family, together with the families of the people working in the mansion and the affiliated forces, about 70% of the population of Guangxian City depends on the Hua family for their livelihood. In addition, all the villages outside the city belong to the Hua family. The Hua family actually controls more than 80% of the population in the entire Guangxian area. This is not good news.

If the Guangxian merchant group returns this year, they will bring tens of thousands of slaves. The Hua family in Guangxian City will be responsible for the food problem of nearly 40,000 people.

"It seems that this trip to Shu Kingdom has to go. Now the food at home may not be enough for a year. The plan cannot keep up with the changes!" Hua Kai sighed.

Back in Huafu, Hua Kai saw his fifth uncle and the housekeeper Hua Fu, and said that the family's food consumption is now running out. At this rate, the family's food will be exhausted in about a year. Solving the food problem is urgent, otherwise they can only give up some affiliated forces. The Hua family will never do that unless it is absolutely necessary.

"Uncle Wu, Grandpa Fu! As long as we survive this time, more than 90% of the population of Guang County will be dependent on us. Even if the Han family is the ruler of Guang County, Guang County already belongs to the Hua family. And now is the time to expand the strength of our affiliated families. The problem is that we have a large food gap now." Hua Kai sat with the two to discuss the development of the family.

They all strictly implemented the family development manual left by Hua Kai, but although this method is good and the effect is beyond expectations, it consumes too much food. Who would have thought that the drought this year would be so serious.

"Your grandfather will be back in about ten days. This time we brought back more than 6,000 slaves, and the caravans in Guang County also brought many slaves. If it doesn't work, we can only limit food consumption!" Hua Zichen reminded Hua Kai.

"Most counties in Qi have already seen refugees, only our Guang County is okay. If we limit the food supply, Guang County will definitely be in chaos!" Butler Hua Fu sighed.

"Nowadays, the only places where we can buy food are Bashu and Nanyue. Some big families must have thought of going to these places to buy food, but even if they have space to store things, it is definitely not as useful as the [Baoguang Liuli Bottle]. It should not be too late for us to buy food now.

I have contacted the Sihai Chamber of Commerce. When they have news, I plan to go to Shu. Uncle Wu, you will accompany me then."

Hua Kai said, and Hua Zichen nodded. If the disaster is handled well, the growth rate of the Hua family will be accelerated several times. The development plan that the Hua family originally needed five to ten years may now be completed in three years.

What Hua Kai did not expect was that the next day, the Sihai Chamber of Commerce sent a person in charge to Huafu to tell Hua Kai that although there was a drought in Shu this year, it was not serious. Now the increase in grain prices is only 20%. If the Hua family can solve the transportation problem by themselves, it is not a problem to purchase a million stones of grain.

Hua Kai was excited. Why did the Sihai Chamber of Commerce pass on the news so quickly? There must be a special way of information transmission. He asked the Sihai Chamber of Commerce to help the Hua family purchase grain as much as possible, and to purchase all grains at less than one-fold price.

The wood, labor, management, maintenance, transportation and other expenses used by the Sihai Chamber of Commerce to build a granary for the Hua family were all paid by the Hua family themselves.

Hua Kai knew that after this incident, Sihai would definitely know that the Hua family had a large storage treasure, but this was not necessarily a bad thing for the Hua family.

The Hua family is now in a period of rapid growth in strength. This severe drought may help them to attract the attention of some aristocratic families. If the Hua family can get grain now, then after three or five years, the drought will pass, and the Hua family will be confident that they will not be afraid of any aristocratic family below the sixth rank.

Hua Kai asked the butler Hua Fu to send 100,000 gold to the Sihai Chamber of Commerce, telling them that they must purchase all the grain in place within one month at the latest, and make a funnel according to the drawings drawn by Hua Kai, and when he arrives, just put the grain into the [Baoguang Liuli Bottle].

On September 2nd, Hua Kai and Hua Zichen set out. This would be the farthest place they would go.

It was a journey of thousands of miles from Guang County to Shu, and they had to cross the natural barrier of Qinling Mountains.

The 800-mile Qinling Mountains were surrounded by mountains, and even birds could not fly over the dangerous places. In the erudition class, the teacher said that most of the monsters were in the Qinling Mountains, so those who could cross the Qinling Mountains were respected warriors. According to the current records, the chance of survival after crossing the Qinling Mountains was only about 30%.

Hua Kai rode on Lu, and Hua Zichen rode on [Tianlongju]. Both of them were divine horses and went west. It took half a day to reach Acheng. The shortest way to Shu was to cross Taishan County.

When Hua Kai arrived in Acheng, he had to visit Yao Mansion. He told everyone in Yao Mansion that the head of the Yao family would be back on September 10th, and there were basically no casualties in the Yao family caravan this year.

Everyone in the Yao family was very happy to hear this. Some of the direct descendants of the family had already gone to pay homage to their ancestors. The Yao family had reached an extraordinary period, so the success of the business was of great significance to them.

After lunch, Hua Kai and Hua Zichen continued to travel west on horseback. The divine horse was different from ordinary horses. It could easily jump more than ten steps and there was no need to take a detour on a hillside several meters high. Hua Kai felt more exciting riding on the Dilu horse than riding a roller coaster. They walked more than 300 miles of mountain roads in just one afternoon, but the two divine horses did not show any signs of fatigue.

At night, the two went into the tent to sleep, and there was no need to keep anyone on guard. As a spiritual beast, the [Tianlongju] had a much stronger sense of smell than humans. It would handle small troubles by itself, and would call Hua Zichen for help only when there were big troubles.

The next day, the two woke up and fed the two divine horses with concentrated feed made with [Alfalfa Spirit Grass]. The two divine horses ate more than 40 kilograms before stopping, of which [Tianlongju] ate more than 30 kilograms.

Continuing on their way, they saw Tang Lei's village in the afternoon of the next day, but now only half of the population was left on the cliff, and the others had been taken to Huajiabao by Tang Lei.

At noon, they just took a short rest and fed the horses with some concentrated feed. On the fourth day, they had left the mountains, and the road in front of them finally became smooth.

[Tianlongju] carried Hua Zichen and walked briskly, and Di Luma carried Hua Kai, who was relatively thin, but his speed did not decrease. They could travel more than 100 miles per hour at most, and could travel more than 1,000 miles a day. They were truly 1,000-mile divine horses!

Leaving Taishan Road at a fast speed, the two crossed Zhao State, Wei State, northern Lu State, Wei State, Zheng State, Zhou State and dozens of other countries, and finally entered the southern Qin State.

The journey of more than 9,000 miles took the two men 14 days. When they entered the Qinling Mountains, Hua Kai was shocked by the road in front of him.

There were some man-made stone steps on the cliff several meters high in front of him. If you slipped down from the stone steps without paying attention, you would be seriously injured. Compared with this, the mountain road in Taishan County was too easy.