On the morning of the 14th of April, over three hundred empty carriages slowly drove out of Fort Wah Ka. Over five thousand Household Servants of the Hua family followed behind them. The Hua family had almost emptied their manpower for this trip!
Hua Kai rode on Lu Yiyi and arrived at the entrance of Guang County. He saw Ji Le's carriage waiting outside the city. Over a thousand Hua family guards followed behind the carriage, including the Lu family's dowry guards.
Seeing Hua Kai bringing so many carriages over, Princess Ji Le got off the carriage.
"Kai 'er, this is?" Princess Ji Le looked at the empty carriage and asked in confusion.
"Fifth Aunt, you don't have to worry about this. There will definitely be food when we reach Lu Country.
It's getting late, let's set off quickly!
We will try to reach Lu Country within ten days. "Hua Kai said.
Princess Ji Le did not ask any further. Every aristocratic family had their own treasures. Hua Kai must have placed the food in some treasure space. This was an aristocratic family's secret. Princess Ji Le got on the carriage and ordered all the guards to set off. She also wanted to send the food to Lu Country as soon as possible.
Hua Kai and the rest started their journey. The commoners of Guang County did not know what the Hua family was doing. Only the Hua family could bring out such a large group of people!
The empty carriages could travel over a hundred li a day. If it was a carriage filled with food, it would be a miracle if it could travel 50 li a day.
At night, everyone took out their tents and set them up. Hua Kai saw that there were actually refugees wandering around. Perhaps they were heading towards Guang County, but whether they could reach Guang County depended on their luck.
Princess Ji Le had already sent an envoy to Lu Country to inform King Lu that she wanted to return home to visit her relatives. She also told the Hua family to send food to help Lu Country tide over the crisis. She also asked him to make arrangements to receive them.
King Lu was overjoyed when he heard the news. He had been worrying about the food issue recently. Lu Country's food was almost depleted, and there were refugees everywhere. The aristocratic families who still had food were using the food to build connections. The dissatisfaction towards the Lu Family was getting louder and louder. This time, the Hua family's support could be said to be a timely help.
Even though King Lu didn't know how much food the Hua family could provide, he still immediately spread the news throughout Qufu City to appease the various aristocratic families who had followed the Lu family. The food crisis would be resolved very quickly.
Right now, whoever had the food was the boss. Many people came knocking on the door when they heard that the Lu Clan had found food. When King Lu saw this, he could only tell everyone that the food would be delivered in another ten days. There was still time to replant this spring. He also asked all the clans to deal with the refugees and hold on for another ten days.
Although most of the families in Qi didn't believe it at all, many people were still waiting with hope. As long as there was food in the fields, there was hope for them to survive.
In less than a day, the news had spread to every city in the Lu Kingdom. Many commoners knew that the king had rations, and they all brought their families to Qufu City in search of a way to survive.
When King Lu heard that more and more refugees were gathering outside Qufu City, he remained silent in the palace. He knew that the news was deliberately spread by some aristocratic families. However, he could only brace himself and hold on. He only hoped that his daughter would be able to bring back more food this time. At the very least, the refugees outside the city would be able to calm down. Otherwise, the Lu Family would really have a hard time!
Hua Kai and Princess Ji Le only took 8 days to reach a spot 30 miles away from Qufu City. Here, they could see many emaciated refugees struggling to make their way towards Qufu City. Qufu City was their only hope for survival.
Seeing that the sky was gradually turning dark, Hua Kai ordered everyone to set up camp. He led the Hua family Household Servant to set up a large tent in the middle of the camp. The tent was more than 200 square meters in size. Thousands of Hua family Household Servant stood guard outside the tent, not allowing anyone to get close. Hua Kai used the [Baoguang Glaze Bottle] to store the rations in bags.
A horse carriage entered the tent and was pushed out in less than two minutes. When it came out, the wheels of the horse carriage had already sunk deep into the ground. This new type of horse carriage was filled with 50 dans of grain. It was strenuous for ten servants to push it.
Princess Ji Le stood outside her tent and looked at the carriages filled with rations neatly placed together. Her heart was filled with excitement. With over 300 carriages, there would be at least 10,000 dan of rations. At the very least, she could save the Lu Kingdom!
On the morning of the 22nd day of the fourth lunar month, the sky was still dark. The over 300 carriages of the Hua family were lined up neatly with rations. The Hua family Household Servant harnessed the horses to the carriages, but the horses were unable to move. The Household Servant could only help push the carriages from the back.
After traveling for more than an hour, they encountered more and more refugees. Hua Kai began to arrange for the carriages to be closer to the carriages. He instructed the guards to be careful not to let the refugees get too close to the carriages.
These starving refugees were capable of doing anything when they saw rations.
The closer they got to Qufu City, the more refugees they encountered. When the refugees saw the Hua family's carriages filled with rations, they couldn't help but surround the carriages. The Hua family's guards tried to stop them from getting too close.
"Tell them, if anyone dares to come within 30 zhang of the rations, kill them!" Hua Kai decisively ordered.
Hua Kai also felt a headache when he saw these refugees. However, if he didn't harden his heart and cause chaos, it would only become more troublesome.
Even though the Hua family's Household Servant kept shouting, the refugees outside seemed to only have rations in their eyes. Some of the refugees began to fan the flames, saying that they should not allow the carriages to enter the city. Once they entered the city, the rations would be distributed among the aristocratic families. The Hua family's carriages were gradually surrounded. Although there were more than 10,000 refugees, and there were still more refugees coming from all directions, the 6,000 Hua family's guards were not to be trifled with. Whoever dared to be the first to step forward would definitely be killed.
Both sides were in a deadlock. Princess Ji Le got out of the carriage and shouted loudly to the refugees outside. She said that once the rations arrived in Qufu City, they would be given porridge. However, how could the refugees listen to her?
Just when the Hua family's Household Servant couldn't bear it any longer and was about to make a move, a large army came out of Qufu City. They were dressed in armor, and it was obvious that they were the Lu Kingdom's army. When the refugees saw them, they slowly moved aside.
"Brother Wang!" Princess Ji Le shouted when she saw the middle-aged man riding at the front.
"Ji Le, it's really you!
You are really here to send us rations!
Father said that you would be sending rations back soon, but I didn't believe it. I didn't expect that it was really you! "
This middle-aged man looked much older than Princess Ji Le. However, his facial features were similar to King Lu's. When he saw Princess Ji Le, he laughed heartily and walked forward.
"Brother Wang, this is the Hua family's Clan Head, Hua Kai … Kai 'er, this is my Brother Wang!" Princess Ji Le introduced him to Hua Kai.
After the two of them bowed to each other, the Qi army sent the Hua family's convoy off and slowly entered Qufu City. When Hua Kai entered Qufu City, he saw that although the commoners' faces were pale, they only looked at the convoy from afar. At the very least, his life was better than the refugees outside the city.
After escorting the Hua family's carriage to the entrance of the Qi King Palace, Hua Kai saw an old man surrounded by a group of people waiting at the entrance of the Qi King Palace. When he looked at the old man, he knew that the old man was King Lu!
"Hua Jiazhu, many thanks to the Hua family for your help. Please enter the palace to rest!" King Lu greeted Hua Kai as a friend.
"Greetings to King Lu!" Hua Kai greeted him as a sovereign.
Hua Kai and Princess Ji Le entered the Lu Imperial Palace, and King Lu prepared a banquet to welcome them!
"The Lu Nation has been suffering from a food shortage for more than three years. Hua Jiazhu, please don't mind!" King Lu invited the queen and a few concubines to welcome Hua Kai and Ji Le.
When Princess Ji Le saw the dishes on the table, she couldn't help but cover her face and cry. There were more than ten dishes, and most of them were meat. If one observed carefully, they were the meat of desolate beasts. Most of the meat had a sour taste, and people usually wouldn't eat them.
"Thank you for your hospitality, King Lu. It's already good enough to have food to fill our stomachs during this year of famine. However, it's hard to believe that the Lu Imperial Palace actually has no food to use!" Hua Kai sighed.
"The Imperial Palace originally had some stored food, but they have all been used to produce wheat seeds. The Lu Nation was originally a country with a large amount of food. In order to restore the nation's strength, we have to focus on farming. If we eat one less grain, the commoners will be able to eat a hundred more grains this autumn. Only then will the Lu Nation's strength be restored!" King Lu looked at Hua Kai and said.
Hua Kai tasted the dishes on the table. Although the meat was exquisitely made and the chef's skills were not bad, the faint sour taste in the meat couldn't be hidden. He stopped after a few bites!
Ji Le also stopped after a few bites. The other concubines also stopped eating when they saw the two of them stop.
"I once asked Princess Ji Le and found out that the Lu Clan needs a hundred thousand dan of grain to survive the current crisis." Hua Kai went back to business.
King Lu waved his hand and signaled for the concubines to leave. Soon, only Hua Kai, Ji Le, the Queen, and King Lu were left in the hall.
"A hundred thousand dan of grain is barely enough to resolve the current crisis in Qufu City. We have to leave some wheat seeds so that half of the Lu Nation's commoners can replant spring wheat. If we want to resolve the crisis in the Lu Nation, we will need at least three hundred thousand dan of grain. Currently, most of the aristocratic families in Qufu City have run out of food," King Lu said.
Hua Kai was deep in thought. As a country with a large amount of grain, the famine in the Lu Nation was even worse than in the Qi Dynasty.
Refugees had started appearing in the Qi Dynasty ever since the wolf disaster. By now, almost half of the commoners in the Qi Dynasty had died.
On the other hand, although the Lu Nation's situation was worse, they didn't have many people who starved to death.
Many aristocratic families were willing to use their food reserves to save the lives of the commoners. This was because the culture in the Lu Nation was different from that in the Qi Dynasty.
The Qi Dynasty was Kong Zhisheng's hometown. Most of the students there were Confucian scholars. The aristocratic families also worshipped Confucianism. In terms of caring for the commoners, the aristocratic families in the Lu Nation were the best. However, this wasn't necessarily a good thing for the development of a country.
"If you need three hundred thousand dan of grain … the Hua family can help. Consider this as a loan from the Hua family to the Lu Nation. You will have to return it in the future," Hua Kai said.
If they didn't say that they would return it, it meant that there was a condition for them to help. After all, even blood-related brothers had to settle accounts clearly. When Hua Kai said that he would return it, Princess Ji Le and the King of Lu smiled.
"I thank the Hua family on behalf of the Lu Nation. The three hundred thousand dan of grain today will be returned tenfold in the future!"
The King of Lu stood up and bowed to Hua Kai. He was thanking the Hua family on behalf of the commoners in the Lu Nation. Hua Kai gladly accepted it.
Hua Kai had given his family more than four hundred thousand dan of grain from the [Treasured Light Glass Bottle] twice. Now, there were still more than five hundred thousand dan of grain in the bottle. This time, he gave the Lu Nation three hundred thousand dan of grain. Hua Kai was doing a good deed for the Hua family. In the future, if the Hua family was in danger, the Lu Nation would have to help. The most powerful family that the Hua family could come into contact with was the Lu Family.