Full House Spring

Guo Ziyi's mansion was not far from the garrison, and his wife often went to the garrison to deliver food. Kuang Chengrui compared his wife to a camp prostitute, which showed that he did not take him seriously at all.

Veins popped out on his forehead, and he clenched his fists, furiously saying:
"Kuang Chengrui, you are going too far. I will never let you go for insulting my wife like this."

After saying that, he punched out, and Kuang Chengrui caught it easily. He flipped his wrist and threw him to the ground. Guo Ziyi was shocked at his great strength, his face full of disbelief.

Kuang Chengrui raised a contemptuous arc at the corner of his mouth and said coldly: "You can't touch a single drop of the supplies my wife prepared for me. If you don't return them, don't blame me for smashing your tent."

Guo Ziyi saw that his brothers looked at him meaningfully, and he became angry and said, "I won't return it. Can you use so much by yourself? What's wrong with sharing some with my brothers? I see that you talk about morality all the time, but when it comes to the real thing, you are so stingy. You are really hypocritical."

Kuang Chengrui laughed angrily. He was too lazy to talk to him and said to Shunzi, "Take the brothers to his tent to move the things. Anyone who dares to stop us will be beaten."

When Shunzi heard this, he couldn't stop laughing. He raised his hand and called his brothers to rush to Guo Ziyi's tent. Guo Ziyi immediately got angry. It was because he knew how precious the alcohol and medicinal herbs were that he shamelessly rushed to grab them. Now that they had finally got them back, how could he let them take them away again?

Guo Ziyi's brothers also rushed over with him, and the garrison was immediately in an uproar. Kuang Chengrui walked towards the tent slowly. Deputy Envoy Zhou put his hands behind his back, came to his side and asked, "Aren't you afraid of making things worse? Won't your brothers be united when you go to the battlefield?"

Kuang Chengrui smiled calmly and said cruelly, "If you don't agree, you will die faster. They know what's important and what's not. Didn't the deputy envoy stop them?"

Zhou Lan raised his eyebrows and said calmly, "Just think of it as pre-war training for them. The brothers who were sent out to pursue have not returned yet, and their good days are about to end."

After that, he asked with a smile: "Can your people take back the supplies from Guo Ziyi?"

Kuang Chengrui said without hesitation: "Why not? If we can't even get this little thing back, what's the point of having them?"

The fact was just as Kuang Chengrui had expected. The soldiers under his command were as fierce as tigers and wolves. Even if Guo Ziyi went into battle personally, he could not gain any advantage. Not only did they snatch back Kuang Chengrui's supplies, they also took a lot of Guo Ziyi's things.

Kuang Chengdong joined in later. When he saw that his brothers had snatched the supplies back, he decided to go all out and stripped Guo Ziyi of his clothes. Guo Ziyi was completely humiliated this time, and he was so angry that he wanted to tear the Kuang brothers into pieces.

Xia Li was naturally unaware of the farce in the garrison. She was thinking about other things. The edible salt in Jiaozhou and the surrounding areas was produced from the Hongdao Salt Well. Once the salt well was seized, there would be a salt shortage crisis. Xia Li looked through the regional annals and asked the locals, but found out that sea salt had not yet been produced.

Jiaozhou is close to the sea. If the salt industry was not controlled by the imperial court, she would really be rich enough to rival a country. Xia Li thought that she had to produce sea salt to alleviate the subsequent salt shortage crisis, and then consider other things.

She had gone to the library to look up the method of making sea salt, so she could still remember the process. However, selling private salt was a capital crime, so Xia Li did not dare to take the risk easily. After thinking it over, she decided to go to Cao's house to discuss the matter with Cao's brother-in-law.

Xia Li is a person of action. She would do whatever she thought of immediately, otherwise she would feel uncomfortable. She simply dressed up and then went out with her guards.

After all, she became the mistress of the house, and her degree of freedom was much higher. Xia Li brought only Shi Mi with her, except for the guards. The master and servant looked through the curtain of the carriage and saw the people outside hurrying to buy rice and salt. Shi Mi worriedly said, "Miss, it's only been a few days, why is there such a panic outside? Isn't it too dangerous for us to come out like this?"

Xia Li lowered the curtain and said lightly, "It hasn't come to that yet, you don't have to worry too much."

Shi Mi glanced at her, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself. Xia Li lifted her eyelids and said softly, "If you have something to say, just say it. There's no need to be so formal between us."

Shi Mi stammered, "Since Jiaozhou is not peaceful, why don't we go to Kyoto to hide and let the master and mistress go too? We have houses in Kyoto."

Xia Li chuckled and said, "It's hard to leave your hometown. You can say this so easily because you were born in Kyoto and your family is also in Kyoto. This has a different meaning. Besides, my husband still has to fight on the front line. If I leave, it means I don't trust him. How can I do this?"

Shi Mi said a little embarrassedly: "Master, you are right. I took it for granted. Then why did you come to Cao's house?"

Xia Li looked at the sky outside the window and said calmly, "I have something important to discuss with Brother-in-law Cao, so I can't reveal too much for now."

Shi Mi was not an ignorant girl, so she didn't say anything more after hearing that. The carriage soon arrived at Cao's house. Fang Tangli was very surprised to hear that her sister had come to the house. She quickly asked the maid to invite her in. When she saw her, she asked, "What happened? Why did you come here suddenly? What grievances have you suffered?"

Xia Li held her hand and said gently, "Don't worry, sister. Nothing happened to me, and I haven't been wronged. With my personality, who would dare to wrong me? I just want to talk to my brother-in-law about something."

Fang Tangli said with a gentle expression, "As long as you are alright, your brother-in-law has been very busy these past few days, and I don't know if he is in the mansion right now. I'll ask the maid to call him."

Fang Tangli casually pointed to a maid to run errands. The two sisters sat opposite each other. The maid brought a teacup to their side. Xia Li took a sip to moisten her throat. Fang Tangli said with a sad face, "I finally got rid of my morning sickness these days and wanted to go out for a walk. I didn't expect the Dongyi people to cause trouble again. Your brother-in-law repeatedly ordered me not to leave the mansion. I was locked up in the mansion all day. I was almost suffocated to death."

Xia Li knew that she was well protected and didn't know that people outside were evil, so she gently advised: "Brother-in-law, you are right to do this. When I came here just now, it was a mess outside, and there were people everywhere snatching rice and salt. If you get bumped, what will happen?"

Fang Tangli nodded slightly and said, "I know the seriousness of the matter. Your brother-in-law and I have finally had this child. I am very cautious and afraid of any accidents. How dare I really go out and take risks? I just complained to you. Your brother-in-law said that the situation in Jiaozhou is tense now. He wants to send someone to escort me back to Kyoto, but he doesn't trust outsiders. But he has an official position and cannot leave his post without permission. He is so scared that he has lost a lot of weight."

Xia Li came from Kyoto and knew how difficult the journey was. Although her fetus was stable now, she had no one close to her to take care of her on the way, and the risk was too high.

She frowned and said, "I advise my sister to stay in Jiaozhou for the time being. It's not a matter of life and death yet. Why should she suffer that? There are too many risks on the road."

Fang Tangli touched her belly which had not yet bulged, and said slowly, "I thought so too. The journey back to Kyoto is long, and I am really anxious without your brother-in-law by my side. If I leave him alone in Jiaozhou, I won't be able to rest and take care of the baby even if I go back. It's better for me to stay with him, and our family of three can stay together." Xia Li smiled with curved eyes, "Don't worry, sister, the situation won't be that bad. I believe in my husband's ability."

Fang Tangli finally realized that Xia Li was the most anxious person. She said softly, "We all know Kuang Chengrui's ability. Just wait for him to earn you a first-class imperial edict. Don't worry about the rest. Tell me if there is anything missing in the mansion, and let your brother-in-law take care of it."

As soon as she finished speaking, Cao Shixiang came back with steady steps. He said helplessly, "What kind of work did you assign to me? Aren't you afraid that I will die of exhaustion?"

Fang Tangli smiled and said, "You get tired so easily. What's the point of keeping so many servants in the mansion? I thought you were not in the mansion. Xia Li said he had something to talk to you about."

Xia Li stepped forward and bowed to his brother-in-law. Cao Shixiang said in a gentle voice, "Sister, you don't have to be so polite. I know my brother-in-law is busy right now, but if there is any difficulty in the mansion, just ask. I will definitely help you in any way I can."

Xia Li smiled and said sincerely, "Thank you for your kindness, brother-in-law. Everything is peaceful in my house. I came to discuss something else with you. Can you let the others leave first?"

Cao Shixiang and Fang Tangli exchanged a glance, then raised his hand to dismiss the servants. Xia Li said slowly, "The Hongdao Salt Well has been seized by the Dongyi people, and now the people of Jiaozhou are frantically scrambling for salt. I wonder how long the salt reserves on the market can last?"

Cao Shixiang smiled bitterly and said, "I have been worrying about this these days. I sent my subordinates to check and found that it can only support three months at most. If there is not enough salt, not only will the people not be able to survive, but the situation in the garrison will also be even worse."

Fang Tangli exclaimed: "Is it really that difficult? Can't we bring salt in from outside?"

Cao Shixiang rubbed her back and said helplessly, "The main transportation channel has also been targeted by the Dongyi people. Both sides have sent heavy troops to watch it. The war may break out at any time, and it is impossible to transport the goods."

Fang Tangli said with a pale face: "They want to trap us to death. What a vicious thief. Are we just going to sit there and wait for death?"

Xia Li said at the right time: "We have the sea at our backs, how can we just sit there and wait for death? I came to my brother-in-law to talk about this. I once read in a book that salt can be extracted from seawater."

Cao Shixiang's face was full of surprise. Fang Tangli said thoughtfully, "Sea water is salty. In theory, salt can be extracted, but no one has ever done it before. It must be very difficult."

Xia Li said confidently: "It's not difficult. We first build salt fields by the sea, which are large square pools that can store seawater. Then we collect the seawater into the salt fields. The second step is to dry it in the sun. Through evaporation from the sun, we will get coarse salt. Finally, we will purify it. We will add water to the collected coarse salt and continue to dissolve it until it can no longer be dissolved. We will get saturated salt water and precipitate and filter it. Then we can get the fine salt we want."

Fang Tangli was a little confused and said softly, "It sounds like it's not difficult, but how do we do it specifically?"

Xia Li did not rush to answer her question. Instead, he looked at Cao Shixiang and asked, "Brother-in-law, do you think this method can be tried? If it works, it can solve our salt shortage crisis. If it doesn't work, there won't be much loss."

Cao Shixiang pondered for a moment and said, "The construction site of this salt field must be selected in a safe and reliable place, preferably with soldiers guarding it. The specific operation must be directed by my sister herself. Will the Kuang family allow you to take over this matter?"

Xia Li didn't dare to say anything else. She still had this little freedom. She said in a light tone, "My husband is not at home. If it's inconvenient for me to go out, I can let my brother-in-law accompany me. He is young but knows martial arts. Or my grandfather can work harder. They are not petty people."

Cao Shixiang immediately decided: "Then I will immediately arrange for someone to select a site to build the salt field. Can you please draw a blueprint for me and mark the essentials?"

Xia Li naturally took the lead, and the three of them started drawing in the house. Xia Li explained carefully while drawing, making sure Cao Shixiang could understand and get the key points.

Fang Tangli was also listening with great interest. After the blueprint was finished, Cao Shixiang took it into his arms as if it were a treasure. He said seriously, "If the sea salt can really be produced, I will report it to the court and it will definitely be recorded as a great achievement. At that time, I will definitely not take away the benefits from my sister."

Xia Li said nonchalantly: "As long as Haiyan can solve this crisis, I don't care whether the court rewards me or not. If my brother-in-law can take this opportunity to get promoted, it will be a good thing. It will be more useful for you than for me."

Cao Shixiang looked at her with a different look in his eyes. He said solemnly, "Thank you for your advice, sister. Let's not talk about this matter for now. It won't be too late to talk about it after the situation stabilizes. I also want to tell you something else. Princess Yongxin was rescued by the officials of the government office. She is not in good condition. Can you please comfort her?"

Princess Yongxin had a special status. Although the emperor did not like her, she was of noble status after all. Cao Shixiang could not treat her lightly or severely, and he did not know how to deal with her for a while.

Xia Li subconsciously asked, "Has the news of the princess in the government office spread?"

Cao Shixiang shook his head and whispered, "Except for the officer who saved her, no one else knows about it, at least no one in the court knows about it."

Xia Li nodded slightly and said meaningfully: "Brother-in-law, don't tell anyone about this matter. It depends on what Princess Yongxin decides. If she wants freedom, you can let her go and just treat her as if she was killed by the Dongyi people."

Cao Shixiang understood immediately. Fang Tangli couldn't help but sighed, "What's the use of being a princess? All her loved ones have passed away. She is still a thorn in the eyes of others. It's better for her to escape and live the life of an ordinary person."

Cao Shixiang thought for a moment and lowered his voice and said, "Sister, talk to her. If she really wants to leave, I will let her go."

As long as Cao Shixiang killed the person and didn't save him, no one could say anything to him. This matter is easy to handle. The emperor is far away, and with the Cao family and the Fang family around, no one can do anything to him. Xia Li smiled and said, "I will do my best. The princess has experienced too many things, and no one knows what she is thinking. My brother-in-law is kind, and I believe the princess will appreciate it."

Cao Shixiang didn't care whether she appreciated it or not, he was just obeying his wife's wishes, and it was also a blessing for the unborn child in her belly. (End of this chapter)