novelaction Chapter 268 Ordering Horseshoes from Songshan County, Planting Pine Forests in the Space
Chapter 268 Ordering Horseshoes from Songshan County, Planting Pine Forests in the Space
"Boss, are you taking orders?" Xie Chengyuan asked as he entered the store.
The blacksmith was sitting in his shop in a daze when he heard the sound and immediately looked towards the door.
Upon seeing two customers, he immediately forced a smile and asked, "What would you two like to buy?"
Xie Chengyuan continued, "We need a batch of horseshoes. Do you have any in stock?"
The blacksmith said, "I'm sorry, we don't usually make these kinds of things. We only make them when a customer places an order. Would you two like to place an order?"
Xie Chengyuan lowered his eyes to look at Shen Shuli, asking for her opinion.
"I wonder how many days it will take for the boss to make two hundred sets?" Shen Shuli asked.
“Normally, we have many blacksmiths in our shop and can finish in a day, but right now several of my blacksmiths’ families have been infected with the epidemic. They have to take care of their families and can’t work, so it may take longer, at least three days.”
The blacksmith shop owner quickly explained that he still hoped to get some orders and earn some income.
This took longer than Shen Shuli had expected, but given the special circumstances, there was nothing that could be done.
"Do you know if you can hire other blacksmiths to help with the work? If it can be completed within a day, I can pay an extra 10% as a service fee."
Upon hearing this, the blacksmith's eyes lit up.
He never imagined he could hire other blacksmiths to do the work.
All the other blacksmith shops in the city were closed, so he could have easily asked them to help him with the work.
"I need to ask if anyone is willing to do it. Would you two please wait a moment?"
In this era, blacksmith shops were run by skilled craftsmen, and blacksmiths needed to apprentice under a master.
Every blacksmith shop operates on a master-apprentice model, and blacksmiths are not easy to hire.
But in the face of natural disasters, money is still very important.
No one would miss this opportunity to make a fortune!
The blacksmith returned half an hour after leaving.
But the joy on his face spoke volumes.
"Gentlemen, I have already checked and the order can be completed within one day, but you need to pay half of the deposit first."
This request was not unreasonable, and Shen Shuli nodded in agreement.
"Quote a price."
"A horseshoe costs 250 coins. Each horse needs four horseshoes, so two hundred horseshoes would cost two hundred taels of silver. You need to pay a deposit of one hundred taels of silver first..."
The shop owner had already calculated the cost in advance and answered very quickly.
Shen Shuli took out a hundred-tael silver note from her bosom and handed it to the other party.
The boss took it, looked at it carefully, found no problems, and immediately wrote a contract, stamped it, signed it, and handed it to Shen Shuli.
Shen Shuli glanced at it and, finding no problems, put it away.
"Then I'll come to pick up the goods at this time tomorrow."
With half the task completed, Shen Shuli breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Okay, we will definitely complete your order on time!" The blacksmith shop owner smiled and saw the customer off before immediately starting to arrange for people to begin work.
"Let's find a place to stay," Shen Shuli said to Xie Chengyuan.
"I guess all the inns are closed to guests." Xie Chengyuan had no hope.
Shen Shuli said helplessly, "That's true. So where shall we stay tonight?"
"Let's see if we can find an empty house to stay in for the night."
"That's all."
Xie Chengyuan led Shen Shuli to sneak around the streets for a long time.
Finally, we found a courtyard that looked like it had been abandoned for a long time and climbed over the wall to get in.
The courtyard was completely dilapidated after being flooded, and it looked like it had been inhabited for a long time.
The two did not enter the family's room, but simply cleared out a place under the eaves to sit on the ground.
"You rest first, I'll go out and see if I can buy some food," Xie Chengyuan said.
"Okay, be careful. But I'd like to eat roast duck, I wonder if I can get some?"
Shen Shuli was also a little hungry, so she didn't refuse and made a request.
Xie Chengyuan's lips curled slightly, his eyes full of doting: "Okay, I understand."
Seeing Xie Chengyuan leave, Shen Shuli also immediately left the courtyard, preparing to go to the government warehouse.
Songshan County is most famous for its pine nuts, and the surrounding mountains are covered with wild pine forests.
The main source of income for the local people is harvesting pine cones during the ripening season.
Shen Shuli never expected to encounter the land of pine nuts.
She has planted many fruit trees in her space, but she hasn't planted any pine trees yet.
Since we're already passing by, we should definitely make arrangements.
As is well known, pine nuts have a long maturation period, and pine cones can only be harvested twice every five years on average.
Therefore, pine nuts are expensive.
The pine trees in Songshan County have been affected by the extremely hot weather, resulting in very few pine cones this year, with the harvested pine nuts being two-thirds less than in previous years.
Before the pine cones could be processed, a sudden torrential rain disaster struck.
It caused serious economic losses to Songshan County.
This led to cash flow difficulties in Songshan County, making it unable to afford the epidemic medicines whose prices had skyrocketed.
This information was gathered by Shen Shuli and Xie Chengyuan while they were inquiring about the blacksmith shop.
The two of them had no idea how much of it was true and how much was false.
Shen Shuli arrived at the county government's treasury.
The treasury was guarded by soldiers.
Without alerting the soldiers, she secretly went to the roof of the treasury and opened a crack to take a look.
They found that the granary contained a considerable amount of grain, but the room was filled with a musty smell, and the sack labeled "pine nuts" also appeared to be moldy.
The chests that held the silver were mostly empty.
This was the first time she had ever seen such a poor county government office and treasury, which showed how truly poor Songshan County was.
Whether the poverty was genuine or due to embezzlement, Shen Shuli needs to investigate further.
She secretly went to the magistrate's bedroom, which was decorated very simply and was empty.
At least on the surface, he should be an honest and upright official.
Shen Shuli searched for a long time but couldn't find the county magistrate in the county government office. Just as she was about to leave...
Just then, the county magistrate returned from outside.
He was covered in mud, his official hat was askew, and his face was full of sorrow.
"Still can't raise the money?" he asked the clerk beside him as he walked back.
"Your Excellency, the people rely on pine nuts for their livelihood, but the flood came so suddenly that many homes were flooded, and the pine cones were soaked and moldy, making them unusable..."
“Those wealthy merchants are unwilling to donate money to treat the people, we can’t force them.”
"What should we do!" The magistrate's brows furrowed even more.
Shen Shuli already knew what was going on when she heard this.
She returned to the county government treasury, stored everything in the warehouse into her personal space, and then added a batch of grains, vegetables, and all the medicinal herbs needed to treat the epidemic.
The entire treasury was stuffed to the brim.
Shen Shuli didn't care whether the sudden appearance of these things would scare people to death.
Before leaving, Shen Shuli deliberately made a noise in the warehouse to alert the soldiers outside.
The eight soldiers noticed strange noises coming from the warehouse behind them and quickly opened the warehouse door to check.
The next moment, all eight people were shocked by the scene inside the warehouse!
They had just opened the warehouse door that afternoon and knew what it looked like inside.
Since then, this door has never been opened again!
But who can tell them?
How did so many things suddenly appear in this room?!
They almost filled the treasury to the brim!
"Good heavens, am I...am I seeing things?!"
"I think I'm seeing things! Why does the warehouse suddenly look so full?"
"You're not mistaken, these things are all real! Report to the magistrate immediately! Something's happened at the warehouse!"
Two soldiers immediately stumbled and went to report the matter to the county magistrate.
The county magistrate, already overwhelmed with worries, was on tenterhooks when he heard about the treasury's troubles!
He hurriedly ran to check the treasury wearing only his undergarments.
But he never expected it.
The treasury had an accident, and this is how it happened!
"What on earth is going on? How did so many things suddenly appear?!"
"Who came to the treasury today?"
The magistrate was so frightened that his legs went weak, but he forced himself to remain calm and questioned his subordinates.
The eight soldiers guarding the warehouse quickly reported the intelligence to the county magistrate.
The magistrate found it utterly unbelievable!
No one came to the treasury, and no supplies were put into storage, so how did these things appear out of thin air?
"My lord, no matter what, this is a great thing for us!" The clerk, still quite clear-headed, quickly reminded the magistrate.
The magistrate immediately realized what was happening after being reminded.
"Quickly bring out a few bags and check what's inside!"
The officers and soldiers quickly went to lift the bags.
When the bag was opened, it was full of well-preserved common grains such as rice, flour, brown rice, and soybeans.
And all the medicines needed to treat the epidemic!
"Quickly! Record the types and quantities of all these grains and medicinal herbs, without the slightest discrepancy!"
"No matter which deity left it, we must record it and wait to repay the immortal for saving Songshan County in the future!"
"Also, we must not spread this matter, lest someone impersonate the Immortal and try to take advantage of our kindness!"
"Yes, sir!"
The advisor quickly ordered the officers and soldiers to call all the officials from various departments over to work overtime.
They also asked all the doctors in the city to help prepare and decoct the medicine according to the prescription, and distributed the medicine free of charge to the people infected with the epidemic.
At the same time, a venue was set up outside the county government office to distribute porridge to the people.
Shen Shuli hadn't expected the county magistrate to be so efficient.
Before she even returned to the courtyard, the news had already spread throughout the entire county.
"It seems my judgment was still quite sharp; I didn't misjudge him." Shen Shuli was in a good mood.
Although this deal was a bit of a loss for her, she certainly wouldn't let herself suffer a loss.
Because she had her eye on the pine trees in the mountains of Songshan County.
Let's consider the grain and medicinal herbs as payment for the pine trees.
Return to the yard.
Xie Chengyuan hasn't returned yet.
Shen Shuli couldn't help but giggle foolishly.
It seems that it's difficult to buy roast duck in Songshan County right now, otherwise Xie Chengyuan would have returned long ago.
Waited another quarter of an hour.
Shen Shuli was starving and was about to take something from her spatial storage to fill her stomach when Xie Chengyuan finally returned.
His tense heart finally relaxed after he saw Shen Shuli in the courtyard.
He walked over casually and handed the food box to Shen Shuli.
"Are you getting impatient? Hurry up and eat. The roast duck is still hot. I begged the restaurant owner for ages to make it fresh for me."
Shen Shuli could already smell the aroma emanating from the food box.
"Don't just stand there, come and eat with us."
She eagerly opened the food box and invited Xie Chengyuan to sit down and eat with her.
"Hmm." Xie Chengyuan sat cross-legged opposite Shen Shuli and took out the plates one by one to arrange them.
Shen Shuli was surprised that Xie Chengyuan had bought so many delicious foods.
This dish includes not only roast duck, but also braised pork, roast pigeon, roast lamb chops, pine nut and pork rib soup, pine nut and corn stir-fry, and a sweet porridge.