Chapter 00231: Danger is Opportunity
# Danger is Opportunity
Chapter 231
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 231: Danger is Opportunity
As soon as he entered the house, He Lingchuan heard the clanging sounds.
The He residence was bustling with activity, with people unloading furniture, dismantling walls, and moving materials, all in a flurry of excitement.
This was due to Madam Ying's ongoing renovation plan.
Limited by budget constraints, she had to personally oversee every aspect of the project.
He Yue had originally suggested waiting until late spring to start, which would be two months later, saving quite a bit of money, but his mother's aesthetic was decisively against it.
So ugly, I can't stand it for a single day!
The house was not as large as their old home in Heishui City, and with construction happening on the west side, there was no peace to be found on the east side.
He Chunhua and He Yue were both at the government office during the day, and He Lingchuan couldn't cultivate at home, so he had no choice but to go out to eat, drink, and have fun.
Even the keen-eared Rock Wolf Lu Xin had suggested, "Why don't we rent a room at an inn?"
Fortunately, after a day of wandering, the sun was about to set.
After taking a bath in the courtyard, he came out, and the construction had stopped.
Both the workers and the employer had gone home for dinner.
The He father and son returned home as well, freshened up, and the family gathered around the dining table.
He Lingchuan glanced at the table in surprise, "Oh, are we having hot pot today?"
"What hot pot?" Madam Ying laughed, "This is called Antique Soup, a local favorite in Dunyu."
On the table was a thin-skinned iron pot, surprisingly divided into two sections, bubbling with broth.
There were many raw ingredients laid out, with meat either marinated or sliced, along with several pickled vegetables and a few greens.
Vegetables were hard to come by in this season, even the cabbage was scarce.
To He Lingchuan, wasn't this just hot pot?
He sat down, dipped some meat into the broth a few times, and added some seasoning.
The taste was fresh and spicy, unexpectedly delicious.
He Yue had been staring at him, and seeing him continuously dip meat without stopping, he looked a bit disappointed, "Brother, how does it taste?"
"Very good."
He Lingchuan chewed on the meat, his voice muffled, "If you don't eat soon, there won't be any left."
"Not spicy?" The two sections of broth looked the same, but the inner section had a lot of peppers added.
He had almost spat it out after tasting it a moment ago.
So numbing and spicy!
He Lingchuan had already seen the floating Sichuan pepper and chili peppers.
What’s the big deal? It’s just a simplified version of the red pot, the only difference being the lack of that signature layer of red oil.
In the past, whenever he ran out of money at the end of the month, he could just grab a whole bottle of yellow lantern sauce to eat with rice.
In this world, he could hardly taste any spiciness, and he still wasn’t used to it after half a year.
Yes, he still wasn’t accustomed to it even now.
With that familiar spicy flavor going down, he almost wanted to howl at the sky.
But he had to maintain his composure on the surface, "It's okay, don't you think this flavor is quite satisfying?"
"Yeah."
Although his tongue was tingling, it was surprisingly refreshing.
Apart from He Lingchuan, the other three members of the He family mostly dipped in the outer circle of the plain broth, occasionally dipping into the inner circle of the spicy broth, otherwise they couldn't handle it.
"It's a pity we can't use too much."
He Lingchuan put down his chopsticks and went outside for a round.
When he returned, he placed a large bowl on the table:
"Here, if you find it spicy, just shove it in your mouth."
The three looked and found it was a big bowl of snow powder!
Madam Ying was a bit worried, "Where did you dig this up from?" If this kid dared to say he found it on the ground, she would definitely beat him until he was unrecognizable.
"From the tree in my courtyard."
He Lingchuan wasn’t foolish, "My courtyard hasn’t been worked on yet, the dust hasn’t reached there, it’s very clean."
Only then did the three feel relieved and took spoons to scoop some snow powder to eat, which indeed instantly alleviated the spiciness in their mouths.
He Chunhua then asked, "Did the Li family make any moves today?"
"Yes."
While dipping meat, He Lingchuan recounted the matter of bribing Li Shuang.
"I’ve been to Xiangpu Ji in Dunyu."
Madam Ying had the most say in this matter, "The things they sell are decent. The staff said there are many people before and after the customs, during the New Year, Shangyuan, Shangsi, and Cold Clothes Festivals, they usually just maintain a balance of flow."
He Lingchuan was indignant, "They think they can buy people off with this little money, who do they look down on?"
"Li Shuang hopes the government will delay arresting her father for a few more days."
He Chunhua took a sip of glutinous rice wine, "To buy a bit more time for the Li family to send news to the capital. By the time Minister Li puts pressure down, perhaps Li Rong won’t have to be imprisoned."
"He’s calculating everything while treating others as fools."
He Yue laughed, "Such money should never be accepted."
Otherwise, the Li family would report to the Minister and expose the new governor of Xiazhou for accepting bribes.
He Lingchuan took a bite of snow powder, feeling refreshed in his mouth, "Li Rong’s imprisonment is a done deal. Should we also get Li Zhi in there? It’s easy to find his faults, and we could conveniently take away that 150,000 taels of deposit."
Upon arriving in Dunyu, even he, the second generation heir, felt the pain of lacking money.
"Not urgent."
He Chunhua said calmly, "Let him hang in suspense, worrying day and night, only then can the Li family cooperate well. The front line needs money and food, we need people, and all of this must fall into the hands of the four great families. They are the heads of the snake; if they don’t step forward and make concessions, the other small families won’t sincerely contribute."
Madam Ying also asked, "How’s the front line? Didn’t the Xunzhou army break through Baichegang and head south? Will they attack Dunyu?"
"Not so fast for now. Dunyu is closer to the southern border of Xiazhou rather than the north. The Xunzhou cavalry would need to ride for a day and night to reach Dunyu after crossing Baichegang, and that’s under the premise of no obstacles."
He Yue continued, "This is also the reason why the four great families are still tightly holding onto their money bags and unwilling to cooperate."
Madam Ying angrily said, "Facing death, they still cling to their little bit of money!"
"If the army of Yan Zanli can push to Dunyu, they will retreat south in advance. The calamity of war won’t fall upon them; at most, they’ll lose some property."
He Yue sighed, "No matter when, the ones who suffer the most are always the poor."
"The Zhan family wanted to leave, but now that they see I’ve taken office, they’re holding back, wanting to see if I can hold my ground."
He Chunhua said slowly, "These gentry are calculating, thinking that since the front line is at war, the national treasury should provide money and food, it has nothing to do with them, and they won’t open their wallets until the last moment. This is true for Qiansong County and also for Xiazhou; the spirit of the ‘Baichegang’ military and civilians working together has long since vanished."
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to exert so much effort to deal with the Li family.
Madam Ying looked around and saw the servants standing far away, then whispered, "This may not be appropriate to say, but I’m quite glad that Old Master Li passed away at this time."
"If Old Man Li were here, the four great families would be as hard to deal with as a tortoise shell."
He Yue laughed, "But now, we can break them one by one."
Li Rong was about to be imprisoned soon.
Places like the prison, tsk tsk, although it’s just a place for detaining suspects, the environment is even worse than a regular prison.
It’s filthy and squalid, needless to say, and if someone gets bitten by fleas inside, they could convulse and die.
Even if the Li family had greased the palms of the guards, could the pampered Second Master Li endure such a place?
Li Zhi was only out on bail, and two months later, when the case was tried, he would have to go to prison with his brother.
To seek leniency, he would also cooperate well with Chief He.
After all, he couldn’t put all his hopes on Minister Li; who knew what kind of temperament Chief He had? What if he was unyielding?
As for Li Shuang, after all, he didn’t have enough seniority.
Once both elders were imprisoned, if he wanted to seize power in the Li family, he might have to rely on the influence of the officials.
Moreover, before Li Zhi was tried, he would definitely arrange for his successor, and that person could not be a descendant of Li Rong.
In the vast Li family, the next two to three months would be very lively.
He Chunhua feared that they would unite and work together against him.
Just like today, this was the best scenario.
Old man Li Zhao, before he passed away, was probably still thinking about how to compete with him, right?
Ha, naive.
How could he give Old Man Li the chance to duel with him?
"The enemies in the north are the enemies of all Xiazhou."
He Chunhua pondered, "This point can be used to our advantage."
The Xunzhou army had already entered the territory of Xiazhou; this was not just a geographical event but also a significant breakthrough in the psychological defense of the people of Xiazhou.
Including the four great families, everyone felt a sense of crisis.
Crisis, crisis, if danger is utilized well, it becomes opportunity.
He Yue's expression also became serious, "Father, what are your thoughts?"
He Chunhua said decisively, "I’ve just taken office; the first battle must be a victory!"
In Xiazhou, whether it was reorganizing internal affairs, military matters, or dealing with several prominent families, no matter how grand it was, it was merely a matter of doing things in his own territory.
Commonly known as being domineering in one’s own nest.
At most, it would only make the gentry and prominent families fearful but not submissive.
Only by facing external strong enemies and winning could this newly appointed governor truly establish a foothold and build prestige in Xiazhou.
Only then could the subsequent plans be fully implemented.
This battle, this victory, was too important; it needed to be meticulously planned.
"The quality of the Xiazhou army is poor, but Yan Zanli's army is the northern army against the demon army, honed over the years."
He Chunhua shook his head, "The chances of winning in a head-on battle are too slim."
Battles must be fought bit by bit, and meals must be eaten bite by bite; he was not discouraged.
If the Xiazhou soldiers were that easy to lead, he wouldn’t have been given this fat position, right?
He Yue couldn’t help but say, "The recruitment order has already been issued, but the results are not good."
"No one wants to join the army to fight; this is not surprising. Military service is not something you can avoid just because you want to."
He Chunhua raised an eyebrow, "What I care about is that the population on the account books is vastly different from the actual number of residents. This is particularly prominent in Ruxian; I specifically went to the county to check at that time. The registered households were only about fifteen hundred, but I asked the local elders, and Ruxian has at least thirteen thousand people; as for Guazhou, during last summer's Fire Jumping Festival, the natural river square in Guaxiang that could hold three thousand people was completely packed. You should know that the registered households in Guaxiang were only two hundred and thirty."
"With so many threads to untangle, everything must be done one by one."
After eating too much spicy food, his nose turned red, and He Chunhua wiped it with a towel, "Take it slow; I hope heaven gives me a bit more time."
He Lingchuan couldn’t help but say, "Father, is there anything I can do?"
He was so idle every day, with nothing to do.
"Good child, you’re becoming sensible."
He Chunhua patted his shoulder, pleased, "Don’t worry; there will be opportunities soon."
(End of Chapter)