Chapter 62 Brothers Meet and Drink
"Wu Xuejiu, Seventh Brother, please make some arrangements. Second Brother and Fifth Brother are coming back soon."

According to the plan, they worked hard in Liao for half a year and were supposed to return to Shandong before the heavy snow fell.

According to the description in the book, Lin Chong will also go to Liangshan at the Winter Wind Snow Mountain Temple this year.

Plans are plans, changes are changes, and one should consider failure before considering victory. This is the quality that a strategist should have.

After all, the appearance of Cao Jie has disrupted the development of many things.

Cao Jie naturally didn't know whether Lu Qian would show up in Cangzhou on time.

In order to avoid any accidents, Cao Jie still sent a letter, asking Ruan Xiaoer and others to stay in Cangzhou for a while, and then return after capturing Lin Chong.

Lin Chong must go to Liangshan.

Otherwise, if there is no one in the cavalry battle, how can we earn money from Qin Ming, Guan Sheng, and Hu Yanzhuo in the future...

Lin Chong's fighting power is firmly in the first tier.

Now, the strategist's experience value has increased, which means that the plan to win over Lin Chong has been successfully completed.

How could this not make Cao Jie excited.

Liangshan has gained another great general!

"Are the second brother and the others back?"

The three Ruan brothers had never been separated for such a long time. Ruan Xiaoqi missed his brothers and wanted to ask them how exciting the trip to Liaodong was.

Ruan Xiaoqi was just excited, but Wu Yong, as a military advisor, had to consider many issues.

"Brother, we washed out some of the gold and silver we got from Liao, and used it to buy food and cloth, which we stored in Liangshan. Xiao Er and Xiao Wu are coming back this time to bring back another sum of money.

According to their previous statistics, including the inventory, there are about 800 taels of gold, three hu of various pearls and gems, and thousands of furs on Liangshan.

With such a large sum of money, what is my brother going to do with it?"

'Am I that rich?'

I quickly transformed it in my mind. In this era, one tael of gold was exchanged for ten taels of silver, and one tael of silver was exchanged for one string of coins, and one string of coins was one thousand copper coins.

These exchange rates fluctuate, but they are roughly the same.

"So the gold is only 8,000 strings of cash?"

"The birthday gift is worth 100,000 strings of cash!"

"I'll have to take him down again next year!"

Our group of people work hard for a year and only earn tens of thousands of strings of cash, but you, Liang Zhongshu, are so greedy that you can take out 100,000 strings of cash as a birthday gift. Is there any justice or law in this world?
If I don't rob this ill-gotten wealth, it will be against the will of heaven.

One hundred thousand strings of cash means one hundred thousand dan of grain, enough to feed an army of one hundred thousand for a month!

Cao Jie thought for a moment and said, "Take out some of the gold and jewels, and Wu Song's plan to buy an official position should be successful. He will need a large sum of money to run his business, and he will also need gold and silver to manage his affairs after he takes office."

Wu Yong waved his goose feather fan and replied, "Brother, Wu Erlang and I have discussed that we should first arrange for him to be a ninth-rank military officer such as a village governor or patrol inspector. Once he has an official position, we can spend money to get him promoted. This will be much simpler."

"That's true. It's not only difficult for Wu Song, a commoner, to buy the 8th-rank military commander position, but it's also easy for him to be sidelined. If the village chief says so..."

Cao Jie suddenly had an idea: "Professor, when you have time, go to the county government office and ask County Magistrate Shi to help Wu Song set up a Qingzhou Qingfeng Village Wenzhi Village."

"Qingzhou? Qingfeng Village?"

Wu Yong knew that Cao Jie's plan was very imaginative, so he didn't ask any more questions and just nodded to indicate that he understood.

"Use the remaining money to continue stockpiling food!"

"Brother, the Yellow River has frequently burst its banks in recent years, and natural disasters have continued throughout Shandong. The food is barely enough to fill our stomachs. If we want to store food, we have to form a caravan and head to the two rivers and two lakes."

Cao Jie sighed slightly and said, "The caravan does need to be established. You can communicate more with Mr. Chai about this, or go to Cangzhou in person."

"Brother, it's not difficult to form a caravan. The difficulty lies in the bandits and robbers in various places. In recent years, natural disasters and man-made disasters have occurred in various places, and the trade routes are no longer accessible."

"Natural disasters and man-made calamities have made life miserable for the people! If they can't survive, then they can only rebel."

Cao Jie looked outside and saw that the heavy snow seemed to have gotten heavier.

He didn't know that in the next few days, the Central Plains would encounter a severe snowstorm. Heavy snow fell for more than ten days in and around Kaifeng, and the snow piled up more than eight feet on the ground. The doors of houses and shops in the city were all blocked by snow, and the government mobilized the people to sweep the snow every day. The ground was frozen and horses could not walk, so Song Huizong ordered all officials to ride in sedan chairs to the court.

A large number of beggars froze to death, and there were special people collecting their bodies every day!
This was the case throughout the Yellow River Basin during the Song Dynasty, and it was even more miserable during the Liao Dynasty.

The production base of nomadic people on the grassland is extremely fragile. If there is less snow, the grass will definitely not grow well next year.

If the grass does not grow well, the herds of cattle and sheep will not be able to expand next year, and newborn lambs will be slaughtered directly, and ewes will also be slaughtered.

If there is too much snow, it will cause a white disaster.

A snowstorm is a disaster in which the grassland is covered with snow more than half a foot deep, making grazing impossible.

If the snow is loose, horses and sheep may be able to dig through the snow to eat grass; if the snow is warm and then cools down, an ice crust forms on the surface of the snow, then the livestock will not only be unable to eat grass but will also be easily scratched by the ice crust.

By then, cattle and sheep will die in large numbers due to hunger. Even the animals that survive will lose all the fat they gained in autumn, leaving only bones but no meat on their bodies.

Without meat, the herders will have no food and people will starve to death!
Generally speaking, whenever a white disaster occurs, the herdsmen will start preparing weapons and war horses early, wait for the call from the patriarch, and then go to other places in groups to rob for a living.

If the number of people gathered in the tribe increases, they will move south in groups to ask their wealthy neighbor "Dasong" for food.

But the Liao Dynasty now had no ability to "thresh the straw", and the half-beast Jurchens were causing trouble in the northeast, so the destruction of the country was imminent.

This heavy snow really caused a disaster. Normally it would take only five or six days to travel from Cangzhou to Liangshan, but it took Ruan Xiaoer and his companions a full ten days.

At Lijiadaokou, the hotel run by Zhu Gui became bustling with the arrival of Cao Jie and his party.

"elder brother!"

"elder brother!"

"Erlang!"

The crowd was exhausted and rode their horses to the front of the hotel. They jumped off their horses and bowed to Cao Jie.

"Second brother, fifth brother, brother Lu Fang, brother Deng Fei... Ah! Brother Lin Chong!"

"Come on, come on!"

"It's freezing cold, drink three bowls of wine to warm yourself up."

Cao Jie poured the wine himself and handed it to his brother.

Lin Chong took the wine bowl, drank it all, put it down, knelt on his knees and bowed, "Brother Cao, Lin Chong thanks you for saving my wife. Please accept my three bows."

Cao Jie accepted these three bows firmly, then he held up Lin Chong with his hands and said with a smile: "Brother Lin Chong, why do you have to be so polite? I promised you that day to deliver the letter home, and I will do what I said. When I met my sister-in-law and found that Gao Yanei was harassing her constantly, how could I stand by and watch her die? And...

"It was thanks to Master Zhishen and his team, as well as Cao Zheng, Shi Qian, Wu Song, and Brother Ruan Qi, that we were able to save my sister-in-law."

"All of you brothers are my benefactors, Lin Chong!"

"Come, drink two more bowls!"

Cao Jie handed the wine to Lin Chong and gave Cao Zheng a wink.

Soon, Mrs. Lin trotted out of the door, her affectionate eyes fell on Lin Chong, and in an instant, two lines of tears rolled down.

Lin Chong was keenly aware of the strange gazes, turned his head and was immediately shocked.

The wife he had been thinking about for half a year was standing in front of him intact. It was like a dream.

"Master Lin, why don't you go see your wife?" Ruan Xiaowu said with a smile.

"Master Lin, we are reunited. Congratulations!"

"Come, let's drink a bowl of wine together to celebrate Master Lin!"

"Congratulations!"

Amid the congratulations from the crowd, Lin Chong rushed forward and hugged Madam Lin tightly in his arms: "Madam!"

Madam Lin was very embarrassed: "Don't! Everyone is watching! Uncle not only saved me, but also saved the master... The master's ability should not be wasted again."

Lin Chong had already prepared himself mentally along the way, and nodded, "I know, for the rest of my life, I, Lin Chong, will repay you with a gift of grass and a ring..."

(End of this chapter)