The cook’s skills were indeed impressive, and the portion size was just right. Steamed buns served as the staple food, and not a single side dish remained on the table, leaving everyone perfectly satisfied.
After finishing the meal, Xiaomi greeted Wei Ziang and then returned to the city. General Song wanted to send someone to accompany her, but she declined.
Once she got home, she went straight to her room to rest. Recently, she’s been running around various towns nearby, which wasn’t easy at all.
Instructing the others at home not to disturb her, Xiaomi practically fell asleep immediately and had a good rest.
By the time she woke up, it was already dark outside.
The aroma of food wafted from the backyard, and Xiaomi, touching her growling stomach, squinted as she stepped out of her room.
"Xiaomi, you’re awake? Are you hungry? The meal is ready."
"Brother? How come you’re back? Didn’t they say you’d been at Shilin this whole time?"
She had returned from Shilin in the afternoon, and the others at home told her the same.
"Previously, it was just me, and I have to go back early the next morning anyway, so I was too lazy to come back."
In other words, the reason he came back today was naturally because he knew there was someone at home.
Xiaomi didn’t know whether she understood it or not, but she replied cheerfully, "That’s just perfect. I was thinking it would be lonely to eat alone."
The servants in this courtyard were all arranged by General Song, and while they were quite courteous, they were somewhat unfamiliar with Xiaomi and the others.
Usually, they were respectful and spoke little.
The rules were fine, but it made Xiaomi somewhat uncomfortable and uneasy.
During the conversation, the two had already reached the dining hall. With parents and brothers not around, they sat freely, and the table was filled with dishes they both liked.
Knowing the two young masters disliked having people standing around while they ate, the cook and others, after preparing the meal, voluntarily withdrew.
Wei Ziang first served Xiaomi a bowl of fish soup and placed it in front of her, asking, "At lunch, you looked thoughtful. Were you thinking of something again?"
Ordinarily, if Xiaomi didn’t bring it up herself, Wei Ziang wouldn’t proactively ask.
However, Xiaomi’s unusual behavior today genuinely startled Wei Ziang.
Even though Xiaomi gave a reasonable explanation, to prevent being startled again next time, Wei Ziang thought it’s better to ask when signs of something arise.
Even if he couldn’t stop Xiaomi’s occasional flash of inspiration, at least, he could be somewhat prepared in advance, right?
Xiaomi was just thinking about how to discuss this matter with her brother, so since he asked, she was relieved she didn’t have to think of a way to bring it up.
"Actually, it’s nothing much. I just wanted to ask, Brother, what do you soldiers do when you don’t have tasks?"
Wei Ziang was slightly surprised, "Why do you ask about this?"
He hadn’t expected it.
"Nothing really. It’s just that, during lunch, the soldier who delivered the food mentioned that the border wasn’t very well-supplied with grain, right?"
Wei Ziang nodded, "Indeed, the supply isn’t very abundant, but it’s still much better than it was several years ago."
At least in recent years, the supply has been better than when he first arrived.
Countrywide promotion only began in the last two or three years.
Before that, the grains grown by the Jiang family were distributed just around Fu’an Village, in Cheng County.
After all, besides paying grain tax, almost all the grain for eating was sold to grain merchants.
Expanding and spreading relied entirely on the County Magistrate and the County Agriculture Officer, who specifically purchased grains to substitute the grain taxes paid by the local people.
But their jurisdiction was limited strictly to Cheng County, coupled with Uncle Liu’s level, there wasn’t an option to directly present it to the Sage.
So it wasn’t until Brother Liu took the chance to participate in the palace examination and voiced this idea.
Overall, it only equated to about four years.
Grain doesn’t mature in an instant, and it wasn’t until two years ago that the grain supply at the border started becoming slightly more ample.
However, as the young man delivering food at noon mentioned, while there is more grain now, it’s still coarse grain.
Given that the priority is to fill the granary, border soldiers won’t get to eat refined white rice or flour; they need to wait another two years until the granary’s coarse grains are entirely replaced with refined rice.
"I also heard that the prices of refined white rice and flour in the city are lower than in previous years."
But Xiaomi wasn’t referring to this matter.
"Brother, you still haven’t told me what you do when you don’t have any tasks, right?"
That’s what she genuinely wanted to find out.
Wei Ziang smiled helplessly, "Of course, it’s training. What else can you do?"
These years have indeed been peaceful thanks to the protection by border warriors. In reality, almost every year, there’s an occasional harassment by foreign tribes two to three times.
Xu Yu’s dynasty has a large population, and even more in Lishi City, those foreign horsemen come to plunder and flee quickly after causing turmoil.
Thus, whether there are soldiers or not, every day, there are thousands patrolling around Lishi City, always maintaining vigilance.
"Oh." Xiaomi nodded.
Wei Ziang: "What exactly did Xiaomi think of? Why not talk about it first?"
Xiaomi pondered for a moment, still feeling her idea made sense.
"Actually, that’s it. These past half a month, haven’t I been traveling around nearby towns?"
Wei Ziang nodded, signaling her to continue.
"I found that except for areas near towns or some slightly remote villages, many other places were large stretches of barren mountains and empty lands."
"Actually, what I’m thinking is, there are quite a few border soldiers, right? If we can pull out a thousand or so each day to take turns opening up a piece of barren land, I’ll provide seeds, and we can plant grains here without disrupting enemy defense, what do you think?"
Even with five hundred people cycling through, it would take three months to rotate back once, and a year would only offer three or four rounds.
But that way, we’ll produce a lot of grain, addressing situations of urgent shortages without worry.
Xiaomi genuinely thought so.
There’s so much land with wild grass growing so well, not to mention crops nurtured with care.
However, upon hearing this, Wei Ziang shook his head directly, not very agreeing with her idea.
Seeing Xiaomi’s confusion, he explained, "Apparently those places used to grow grains."
"What about now?"
"The reason is simple, ten years ago wasn’t there a war? The border people suffered heavy casualties, and those foreign troops liked to plunder."
"In areas close to the border, grains were often seized; due to the long border, it’s hard to defend every piece of land, and any place not carefully guarded may have its grains stolen."
"Over time, the border areas were rarely cultivated."
Xiaomi nodded understandingly, realizing the situation.
"No wonder General Song constantly instructs Commander Yang not to leave Anning Garden, it turns out this is the reason."
Although Anning Village isn’t far from Lishi City, if foreign tribes were to infiltrate, they might indeed find their way to Anning Village.
However, with five hundred imperial guards on duty, a smaller number of invaders would not be feared, while larger forces wouldn’t infiltrate stealthily.