The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 321 Regret

The life of a mere mortal in the Inner Palace is of little importance.

However, the problem of food shortages in the palace was resolved immediately.

The first step in cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

Within three days, the young emperor issued an edict releasing more than 10,000 palace maids and eunuchs from the palace.

even so.

The remaining 8,000-plus people consumed the last cow in the imperial estate in less than half a month.

Apart from the medicinal herbs from those few villages, there were truly no other edible fruits, vegetables, or poultry left.

Forced by circumstances, the palace had to lay off staff again.

This time.

Only three hundred palace maids, two hundred eunuchs, and one thousand imperial guards remained to serve the Empress Dowager and the young emperor in their palace.

Five hundred palace servants were not enough to fill all the courtyards of the palace.

The palace was deserted, and people were filled with anxiety.

The leader of the Jing army, on whom they had placed their last hope, did not send back any useful news in the past two weeks.

Like those grain ration collectors, they are gone forever.

The regent personally led a group to raid several corrupt officials in the capital.

Right now, the entire palace of over 1,500 people is barely surviving on the money and grain of these corrupt officials.

Even more difficult than that is the problem of feeding the townspeople in those provincial administrations where social order has not yet been re-established.

When gold and silver can no longer buy rice and grain, money is just an inanimate object.

Grain became the sole medium of exchange.
border town.

The joy of the harvest has not yet faded.

Tian Jiu and his men returned with five thousand warhorses, five thousand cattle, and hundreds of carts of special products from the Western Regions.

The impressive procession immediately attracted the attention of the families of the soldiers of the Five Guards of the border town:

"Look, look! Isn't that General Tian leading the way? Look at his ruddy complexion, he doesn't look like he's come back from suffering in the deserts of the Western Regions!"

"Are you blind? Last time they sent back so many fat-tailed sheep, and this time they brought back quite a few horses and cattle. What does that mean? It means that the Guanzhong Seven Guards region is much richer than you think."

"Look, look! Those dozens of horses with coats as white as satin, aren't they the legendary Akhal-Teke horses? My goodness, I've lived most of my life and never seen such magnificent horses!"

"This is clearly a priceless steed, not the same breed as the short guys on the grassland! The cavalrymen are going to be ecstatic."

"I regret it so much! I'm kicking myself! Back then, our banner chief wanted my son to go to Guanzhong, but his wife didn't want to be too far from her family home. Otherwise..."

Otherwise, it would be their turn to get rich!
The above are the most genuine thoughts of those military dependents who initially hesitated, struggled, and ultimately didn't let their children/men go to Kansai, upon witnessing the lineup of those who sent gifts.

Who would have thought that the Hu people, who had dominated the seven guards of Guanzhong for decades, would be so easily defeated?
Who would have thought that the desert and Gobi plains would have more cattle, horses, and sheep than the grasslands of Tatarstan?
The military families still lack awareness.

When Zhao Muyun and the others opened the hundreds of large boxes filled with gifts, they were truly dazzled by the gifts inside.

Who sends gifts of gold and jade ornaments and the finest leather, filling huge boxes with them?
There were also several dozen boxes of fresh fruits, such as melons, pomegranates, and apples, which are not available in border towns.

The largest proportion of gifts were wines from Huozhou.

All of these are newly brewed this year!
The quantity is frighteningly large!
Not to mention how much praise Tian Jiu and his group received from Zhao Muyun and others in the camp.

Zhao Ran and her servant separated from the main force and finally returned to the General's Mansion by camel cart.

Oh no!
It should now be called a royal residence.

Compared to the Prince Zhongshun's Mansion in Hami City, the Northwest King's General's Mansion and Prince's Mansion were indeed too shabby.

But Zhao Muyun didn't care.

His heart held more than just this small border town. Princess Jiang, having received the steward's report, couldn't resist going to the gate to greet her daughter.

When I saw my daughter jump off the camel cart, my emotions surged, my eyes reddened, and I wanted nothing more than to rush up and give this rebellious daughter a good beating.

Why are you so troublesome?

But seeing her skipping and jumping around, with a rosy complexion, and walking up to me with a grin.

The unspoken words became:
"So you still know how to come home? Do you even know which way your front door faces?"

"Mother! Mother! Your Highness! You may scold or beat your daughter without hesitation, but could you please be a little gentler after you've seen the wonderful things I brought you?"

"Hmph! You? You really know how to spend your two hundred taels of private silver! Don't mistake gifts from others for your own good intentions."

"Hehehe, Your Highness is indeed discerning! But I dare say, this gift will surely be exactly what you desire."

Daughters know best how to whet their mothers' appetites.

Her boasting saved me from a good beating.

The mother and daughter entered the courtyard hand in hand, with Mangya carefully carrying the bundle in her hands and following closely behind.

Only after entering the inner courtyard and sitting down steadily.

Zhao Ran took the bundle from Mang Ya's hands.

Seeing how seriously she was taking it, Madam Jiang became a little more eager as well.

Then I saw her daughter slowly unwrapping the cotton stuffing inside the bundle.

Before long, two wine jars were taken out from inside.

Jiang raised an eyebrow: "A wine jar made of jade? Is it made of jade from the snow-capped mountains of the Western Regions? Such a large piece of material is indeed a rare find!"

The key is that the texture is too good.

It is translucent and lustrous.

Before she could take it and examine it closely.

Zhao Ran then presented one of the jade jars to her with both hands:

"Mother, the jade is fine jade, but the wine inside is a thousand times, ten thousand times better than the jade itself."

"You're just bragging. It can't possibly be the Queen Mother of the West's nectar or jade liquor, can it?"

Unexpectedly, when her daughter spoke, she almost dropped the wine jar she had just taken over.

"Mom, finish this wine and you'll have a baby!"

"very?"

"You may not trust me, but you can trust General Gan, right? This is a congratulatory gift she specially asked me to bring back for you! It contains the finest snow lotus and the essence of some rare and precious herbs. She says that just drinking a small cup before bed will give you a rosy complexion! After drinking these two jars of wine, I guarantee you'll conceive a little brother or sister within three months."

Jiang's mind was in turmoil.

Just as her daughter said, she simply didn't trust the one she had given birth to, and she also believed that General Gan wouldn't joke about such an important matter with her.

In this kind of situation, one wrong move and you'll regret it.

She suppressed her excitement, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the wine jar: "But...but, Mother is already thirty-four years old this year!"

Zhao Ran patted her chest and guaranteed:
"General Gan said there's absolutely no problem! Whether a woman can have a child depends on whether she's still menstruating. As long as she's still menstruating, she can have a child!"

"you"

She did want to scold her daughter and say something unbecoming of her status.

But when I thought about how my daughter must have taken her situation into account when answering the question, all I felt was love for her.

This girl, she's definitely different from my own daughter.

The mother and daughter talked intimately for two hours over the two jars of wine.
(End of this chapter)