There were many short workers who saw the old man and his companions exchange food with more than a dozen people, only taking a small portion of copper coins, and they also learned to use food for payment.

  Lin Qingwan did not stop them and let them choose about twenty temporary workers to carry grain into the warehouse.

  Although only a small number of people exchanged them for food, the amount of grain required was not small either, and they directly moved out half of the warehouse.

  A large quantity of food piled up at the entrance was quite spectacular, and the short-term workers who had only thought of taking their money and going home immediately hesitated and exchanged some food.

  However, they did not exchange their wages for food like the elderly and their relatives, but only exchanged one or two bags of grain.

  This is already the limit, they prefer copper coins compared to food.

  Zhong Daguanshi couldn't help but look at Lin Qingyuan, and Lin Qingyuan nodded slightly to him, not stopping him.

  Until the grain in the warehouse was getting less and less, until it was less than half, Lin Qingyan said: "The food is not enough, I still have to support the long workers and the farmers under my hand, they all need to eat. Now we can only exchange so much, let's share it out, take some more copper coins."

  Someone laughed and asked, "The landlord harvested so much grain in autumn this year, how could it be gone?"

  Lin Qingwan smiled, "Earlier, we owed a lot of things, and when the grain came down, it was either sold or used to offset the debt. What's left isn't much, otherwise I wouldn't have settled the wages and let you all go home now."

  Zhong Daguan's heart moved, and he immediately understood Lin Qingwan's meaning. He took over her words and said while paying the workers: "You think we had a good harvest this year? Who knows that our expenses are even more? Not to mention other things, just the fruit trees and flower trees in the Wen Garden cost us so much."

  Said and gave everyone a number with their hands.

  Everyone gasped in shock, "How can it be so expensive?"

  "One is that the place over there is big and has many fruit trees, two is that the trees we bought are large, they will bloom next spring, you see how much this one costs? Zhong Daguanting sighed, "And with so many of you, aren't your daily food and drink all expenses? Plus labor costs... Many things were previously put on account, but now that autumn harvest is over, we can no longer delay, and when we settle the accounts, we find that our previous expenses were too great."

  He shook his head and lowered his voice, saying: "The master is good in every way, but he's too young and doesn't know how to be frugal. Now that the food is almost gone, he's thinking of saving, alas!"

  The workers muttered among themselves, but it was true that the Lin family treated them well; otherwise they wouldn't have come all this way to work here.

  Thinking of what Lin's family had acquired last year and this year, everyone believed in Lin Qingyu and Zhong Daguan's words.

  Let's just talk about the cows in the pasture. They might have to save up for a lifetime to buy one cow, but look at how many cows are there! The expenses must be substantial.

  After the workers received their wages, it was also spread out that Lin's wife had spent too much money and used up all her savings.

  It's been passed down from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred, that the phrase "That lady doesn't know how to be frugal, she even gives workers meat soup every three or five days, what a huge expense! Just look at how soon after autumn harvest the accounts are cleared, and the family's savings are depleted. They still have to wait for the fabric to be woven and sold before they can turn a profit. So when it comes to managing the household, one must indeed be frugal.

  After sending away the short workers, Lin Qingwen had someone gather the long workers and had Fang Dasong train them instead.

  "It's not that they're not capable, I just hope that when something really happens, they won't panic and can follow orders." Lin Qingyan sighed, "The war may not necessarily affect Suzhou, but it's better to be prepared."

  "Rest assured, miss, I'll definitely whip them into shape."

  In addition, the Zhuangzi should also be properly arranged. Lin Guanjia and Zhong Daguanshi exchanged a glance, and they all got moving.

  The whole village entered a state of tense vigilance, the long workers were divided into several groups, except for one group taking turns to work every day, the others had to gather together for training.

  Even the servants in the other courtyard joined in.

  The coaches were all retired soldiers who had been discharged from the army, although they were somewhat disabled, their skills and experience were still there, and it was more than enough to teach them.

  Fang Datong also arranged for people to set up traps around the village, although they were not dense, but better than nothing.

  Lin Qingwan then led the guards from the other courtyard to seal up the underground grain storage that was filled with food and disguised it.

  At this time, it's too late to transfer the grain again. I just hope everyone can believe what she said before, that their family's grain is only in those warehouses.

  The commotion at Lin's villa was so great that many people in Suzhou heard the rumors, and most of them thought Lin Qingwan was being overly anxious. Even Old Lady Shang couldn't help but chuckle: "After all, she has little experience, and Nan Han is far from us in Suzhou. Let's send someone to talk to her and comfort her, poor thing, so as not to scare the child."

  "She's afraid, then let her and Yu Bin come over to live with us. Our two families can be together, and she won't be afraid anymore."

  Zhou Cishi also had a black line on his head, and he said to the attendants: "I thought this young lady was very brave, but it turns out that she can only hold up the Lin family's main house. Who knew that just because of the rebellion in Southern Han, she would be scared like this."

  They are actually from the royal family of Southern Han, and they are also the most chaotic. This tension is their own tension, what's there to be afraid of when she's living well in Suzhou?

  Those who don't know would think Suzhou is very chaotic.

  The situation in Nanhuan is a bit tense, but there are really not many people who take it to heart in Suzhou City, and even fewer are affected.

  Common people live their daily lives as usual, ladies make appointments to go out and play or watch plays, old gentlemen also do business and drink as usual, young masters and misses all have their own entertainment.

  The greatest impact is probably that grain prices are slowly rising, fortunately the magnitude is not large and still within the acceptable range of the common people.

  At this time, Lin Qingwan's actions seemed very abrupt, fortunately she was outside Suzhou City, so even if people gave her strange looks, it wouldn't affect her.

  Suzhou city was still calm, but little did they know that the Imperial Observatory and the imperial palace in Beijing were in an uproar.

  The Imperial Observatory observed changes in the celestial phenomena a few days ago, and the Director felt uneasy. After spending five days calculating, he finally figured out some things. Then, after finding last year's celestial phenomena situation, he spent another three days calculating, and became even more certain. He then went to see the Emperor that very night.

  Last year at this time, there was also an unusual astronomical phenomenon. At that time, nothing major happened domestically or internationally. The Imperial Observatory only calculated that good and bad luck were intertwined, and no more than that.

  As of today, another change has taken place, coupled with the incident in South Korea, and the situation is gradually becoming clearer.

  The Imperial Observatory reported to the Emperor that the celestial phenomena of the previous few days indicated that the Zhang family of Southern Han had already perished, and last year's celestial phenomena were a warning sign, with Ly Jing taking power. Not only would Southern Han be in turmoil, but also Da Liang could not stand alone.

  But this is actually more beneficial than harmful to the Daliang. The prostrated Qintianjian Jianzheng said, "Your Majesty, the opportunity to capture Nanhan has arrived, and this is a chance given by Heaven to Daliang."

  The emperor clenched his fists and lowered his eyes in contemplation. Half a moment later, he spoke up and asked, "You just said that these two omens are interdependent?"

  "Yes, but in my opinion, the opportunity for Daliang is greater than the crisis. Your Majesty, there is no perfect thing in the world, can't let Nanhan hand over the country?"

  Now is the time for them to seize the opportunity, crisis is bound to exist, but once successful...

  Not mentioning the emperor, even the eunuchs by his side had piercing eyes, as if they saw a unified world.

  The emperor was normally calm and composed, but at this time he too couldn't help feeling excited. He stood up and said: "Summon the six ministers of the Imperial Cabinet and several generals to come and pay their respects."

  These several adults entered the palace and argued again.

  Originally, they thought that the Southern Han rebellion would be enough to keep them occupied, and even if Lü Jing sent troops to the border, they didn't think he dared to launch a large-scale attack.

  The power of the Great Yan Kingdom was originally stronger than that of Southern Han, and now Southern Han is in chaos. Lü Jing must be brain-damaged to launch a large-scale attack. Everyone thinks this time it's just a small skirmish.

  The current relationship between Da Liang and Da Chu is very tense, so no one has much thought of putting their minds on Nan Han, so they never thought of taking the opportunity to conquer Nan Han.

  So the conclusion drawn by Qintianjian made them explode.

  There were proposals to take advantage of the situation to conquer Southern Han, but also concerns that if they failed to conquer it, they would end up defeated instead.

  To know this era, fortune and disaster are in an instant.

  If they cannot defeat the Southern Han, they will invest too much and allow the Northern Liao to take advantage of the situation, then the Western Chu will enter and the Great Liang will be destroyed in an instant.

  If it were defeated and supported the attack of Northern Liao and Western Chu...

  In the future, it is possible that Daliang will unify all under heaven.

  All the ministers looked at each other and were somewhat moved.

  The temple fell silent for a moment, and no one knew what to do next.

  The emperor was worried and asked the Minister of War, "In your opinion, if war breaks out, how many chances do we have to win?"

  The Minister of War remained silent for a moment before saying, "If our provisions and fodder are sufficient, and our military preparations adequate, the chances of victory will be fifty-fifty."

  The emperor looked at the Minister of Revenue.

  The Minister of Revenue gritted his teeth and stepped forward, saying: "If Your Majesty insists on going to war, I can risk my life to provide three months' worth of grain and fodder for the four borders. There won't be any more than that."

  The emperor slammed his hand on the table and said loudly: "Good!"

  He stared at them with piercing eyes and said, "Select upright and honest people from the Grand Temple and the Imperial Censorate to serve as military supervisors. From the preparation of food and grass, follow them all the way. If anyone dares to embezzle food and grass, if the price exceeds ten taels of silver, they will be beheaded without pardon. The imperial envoy can act at his discretion."

  Outside the palace, people still did not know that tonight the emperor and eight ministers made a decision that would decide the life and death of this country, and this decision was triggered by the abnormal phenomenon observed by the Imperial Observatory.

  In the western suburbs of Suzhou City, Lin Yubin was following his aunt in the yard to pay respects to their ancestors.

  She also naively thought that last year's celestial anomaly was her father waving at her, unaware that the anomaly was linked to the rise and fall of a nation.

  Lin Qingwan held incense and bowed three times, her clear eyes looking up at the twinkling stars in the sky, silently saying: Lord Lin, if you are still in heaven, I hope you can bless us to safely pass through this war.

  Wan Jie, I wish you and Xie Er Lang a safe and smooth journey in the next life, may the loving couple be together forever.

  Lin Yuhong inserted the incense into the incense burner, turned around and saw tears in her aunt's eyes, so she couldn't help but walk forward and hold her hand. Lin Qingwen came back to herself, lowered her head and smiled slightly at her, inserting the incense into the incense burner, watching as they slowly fell down ash, softly saying: "Don't worry."