Border Cook

Chapter 172 Difficulties
Lu Qiyan was checking how to build a pier in the river, and his mind was all on how big the pier should be. After hearing the soldier's message, he casually asked, "Sister-in-law? What sister-in-law?"

What’s going on? Could it be that his boss doesn’t even know that he has a wife?
The young soldier was stunned for a moment. "I don't know about that. Anyway, the person who came said his last name was Xia..."

Surname Xia?

Is Xia Mingyue here?

Lu Qiyan came back to his senses, "Where is the person?"

"That's the carriage." The soldier pointed at the carriage that was slowly moving towards here.

"I'll go and take a look." Lu Qiyan rolled up the drawing in his hand and was about to go to greet the carriage. After taking two steps, he turned back and asked someone to look for Zhao Youcai.

When Zhao Youcai ran over panting, the carriage also stopped by the river.

The driver got off the carriage first and put down the small stool in front of the carriage.

Lu Qiyan raised his hand to help open the curtain.

The curtain was lifted, and the first thing that popped out was a big black head, looking straight at Lu Qiyan.

Lu Qiyan, "..."

Why is it everywhere?

Wu Jin obviously noticed Lu Qiyan's disgust. He exhaled through his nose, then jumped off the carriage nimbly. He barked twice at Lu Qiyan in dissatisfaction, then squatted obediently beside the carriage and waited.

Xia Mingyue and Lu got out of the car one after another.

"Why are you here?" Lu Qiyan asked.

"I heard from Hong the butcher on the street that you were repairing the bridge here, and I thought of sending some winter clothes because it's cold in winter," Xia Mingyue replied. "I also stewed some braised pork and roasted some pork tenderloin jerky to give you and Brother Zhao a treat."

As they were talking, Xia Mingyue and Lu took out their cotton coats first.

Mrs. Lu pulled Zhao Youcai aside to check whether the cotton-padded jacket fit him well, while Xia Mingyue handed the cotton-padded jacket to Lu Qiyan.

Since the battle of Changzhou Prefecture, the army's supplies have been visibly declining. The number of winter clothes this winter is limited, and even those that have been distributed do not contain much cotton.

Most of those who have served in the army for a long time are still wearing last year's old cotton-padded jackets. Many veterans have patched them up and added some new cotton in them to make do with them.

The cotton-padded jacket that Xia Mingyue prepared was thick and soft, but the fabric used for the jacket was the most common navy blue cotton and linen. Even the shoes were very ordinary cotton shoes.

Obviously, they wanted him to wear something warm, but they also didn't want him to be too conspicuous at this time when the military supplies were limited.

It is basic courtesy not to smack your lips while eating in front of a hungry person.

The light in Lu Qiyan's eyes brightened, and he took the package from Xia Mingyue with both hands, "Thank you for your hard work."

"Brother Lu, you're too polite." Xia Mingyue smiled and then looked up at the situation in front of her.

The Yongfeng River is quite wide, but because it is the dry season in winter, there is not much water in the river. More than half of the riverbed is exposed and covered with gravel. Many soldiers are waving their shovels and digging huge deep pits in the dry riverbed.

"Brother Lu, is everything going well here?" Xia Mingyue asked.

Lu Qiyan frowned slightly, "Not bad."

This is very against my will.

In fact, he was facing some difficulties.

Building roads and bridges was originally the work of the Ministry of Works and local government offices. However, the war had just ended and officials were frequently replaced. Repairs were needed everywhere. In addition, the supply of silver and grain to the front line drained most of the government offices’ funds, and even the labor service was not enough. When the new dynasty was established, in order to show that the new emperor loved the people like his own children, the practice of arbitrarily conscripting civilians to do hard labor was abandoned, and some of these tasks were assigned to the army.

The first reason is that even if there are no major wars in the near future, military salaries and food and drink for the army are still a huge expense, so the people who are kept in this way can just do a lot of things and make the best use of their talents.

The second reason is that after expanding the territory, the court was worried that the people were not loyal enough, so sending soldiers to build bridges and roads would allow the people to see the court's kindness and the army's discipline, and then be loyal to the new dynasty.

There was nothing wrong with this, and even if he was sent to do this, it was reasonable.

But after arriving here, the experienced craftsmen he had found to help build the bridge encountered problems one after another.

First, one of them fell and broke his leg when he got up at night, and he was unable to go to the river to check the situation.

On the second day, a man accidentally ate poisonous dried mushrooms and fell into a coma. He is still lying in the town's clinic.

On the third day, another person was knocked to the ground by the mad cow responsible for transporting materials. Now both of his arms are in splints and he is unable to draw the blueprints.

The remaining craftsmen were frightened upon seeing this, and they all found various excuses to resign.

If their resignation failed, they would pretend to be faint or sick, lie unconscious in bed, and refuse to come to work again.

In the end, Lu Qiyan only had a young craftsman available to draw a blueprint.

But this young craftsman is only twenty years old today. According to his own account, he does not have much experience. He also barely came up with the blueprint. It is unknown what the actual bridge will look like and whether it is sturdy and durable.

The young craftsman didn't even have much experience in knowing how much materials were needed to build the bridge, so he just let Lu Qiyan try to do it slowly for the time being.

When things got to this point, Lu Qiyan naturally knew that someone was trying to trip him up.

But he is still not completely sure who is the culprit.

He was promoted very quickly in the army and was highly regarded by the battalion commander. There were many people who were jealous of him, and there was competition between battalions and commanders. It was possible that someone wanted to make fun of their battalion.

At this moment, completing the task of building the bridge smoothly and with high quality is as important as finding out the mastermind behind the scenes.

Therefore, Lu Qiyan sent people to investigate secretly while at the same time sending people to find more skilled craftsmen so that the bridge construction project could be started as quickly and smoothly as possible.

But so far, there hasn’t been much to gain…

However, these were the difficulties he faced himself, and Lu Qiyan did not intend to talk more about them with Xia Mingyue.

Firstly, it's useless to say it, and secondly, it will just make her worry for no reason.

Of course, the premise is that Xia Mingyue will worry about her...

Lu Qiyan lowered his eyes and said, "It's going well."

Xia Mingyue pursed her lips.

She naturally noticed Lu Qiyan's hesitation, but since he didn't say anything, there must be a reason for not saying it. Xia Mingyue didn't ask any more questions, but just smiled and nodded, "That's good."

Here, Zhao Youcai was smiling so much that his eyebrows and eyes disappeared, "I know my wife is thinking about me the most."

"Let me tell you first, I didn't want to come at first, but I saw my sister-in-law wanted to come, and I was afraid that she would be unsafe on the road alone, so I came with her to keep her company."

Mrs. Lu still insisted, "I didn't come here because I was thinking about you."

"I understand, I understand." Zhao Youcai nodded repeatedly, the corners of his mouth curled up and he couldn't suppress it.