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墨書 Inktalez
Hanno asked, "Do the rivers near Enclosure and their connected waterways often experience flooding?"
Mo Yan, the Princess nodded. "Yes, aside from last year's drought, almost every rainy season, floods occur near these rivers, causing breaches in the dikes and resulting in disasters. However, this year should be safe; the Emperor, following your family’s General Li's suggestion, had the Ministry of Works use cement to build the dikes. They are tenfold stronger than the previous earthen ones and will definitely withstand any floods."
"That's just a temporary fix," Hanno sighed. "To completely eliminate flooding, we need to manage the upstream areas first. We should plant more trees to reduce soil erosion; if we prevent sediment from being washed down, the river won't overflow due to raised riverbeds..."
Mo Yan, the Princess and Qi Xueru listened in confusion, and Hanno noticed their expressions and smirked. Forget it; she wouldn't explain further to two outsiders. After returning from Enclosure, she would look up flood control measures for the Yellow River online, print them out, and hand them to Elder Brother Li for him to pass on to the Emperor. Hmph, she wasn't helping the Emperor; she just couldn't bear to see the common people suffer from floods.
Due to the large number of people and carriages, their travel speed was painfully slow. What should have been a five or six-day journey stretched into nearly half a month before they finally reached Enclosure, making life miserable for the pampered ladies. They had little time to prepare decent meals during the journey; they could barely eat anything but roasted meat or dry rations, which left many of the ladies lamenting.
"Nono, you are amazing! I can't believe you thought of such a way to preserve noodles," Mo Yan, the Princess said while eating instant noodles and giving a thumbs-up in praise.
Yue Yunfei picked up a sausage. "And it tastes good too! Wei Feng, could this be used as military rations?"
Elder Brother Li hadn't considered instant noodles as military supplies before, but after Yue Yunfei mentioned it, he thought it was a great idea—especially for the soldiers at Border. He began contemplating the possibility of opening an instant noodle factory in Great Zhou Dynasty. Why not also start a canned fruit workshop? This way, even if soldiers couldn't get fresh fruit, they could still enjoy preserved fruits—satisfying their cravings while providing them with vitamins.
What’s special about instant noodles? They smell particularly fragrant. The aroma wafted from Hanno's carriage, making everyone in the convoy drool. Some bold individuals or those who claimed close ties with Li Wei Feng, Yue Yunfei, and Mo Yan approached to ask for some food indirectly. Naturally, Hanno obliged and distributed ten packs of instant noodles to each person—of course after having them repackaged by her servants; modern packaging would shock ancient people—thankfully Hanno had bought enough; she and Elder Brother Li had anticipated this situation and purchased over a hundred boxes of instant noodles. The Emperor also requested a hundred bags from Elder Brother Li. After more than an hour passed, someone came to summon Elder Brother Li.
Upon his return, Elder Brother Li informed Hanno and others that he had shared the detailed methods for making instant noodles and canned fruits with the Emperor. Subsequently, these two businesses were taken over by the Emperor.
"The Emperor promised that one-third of what is produced by both workshops will supply Border's army."
"That's fantastic!" Yue Yunfei and Geng Shi'an cheered; they knew how poor the soldiers' rations were at Border.
Hanno pouted. "Did you at least get some royalties for that?"
Elder Brother Li laughed. "He rewarded me with a roasted leg of lamb."
Hanno replied with mock annoyance, "How infuriating."
Finally arriving at Mulan Enclosure, they began setting up camp. Just as Elder Brother Li had said, ancient tents were quite large and looked beautiful—more like Mongolian yurts. Inside were wooden beds; Hanno didn’t bother laying down bedding but simply placed her sleeping bag on top. Naturally, as soon as her sleeping bag appeared, it piqued Mo Yan's and others' interest; they decided not to set up beds either and each took a sleeping bag for themselves. Yue Yunfei then saw how convenient sleeping bags were during their march and discussed with Elder Brother Li and Geng Shi'an about jointly supplying sleeping bags to the army. Elder Brother Li and Geng Shi'an readily agreed.
The area of the Enclosure was vast, featuring grasslands, forests, lakes, and hills, making it an ideal hunting ground. The activities of men and women were separated; Hanno and Mo Yan, the Princess, led their horses while Qi Xueru accompanied them. Not all women were as skilled in horseback riding and archery as Hanno and Mo Yan, the Princess. Most noble ladies of the Great Zhou rarely ventured beyond their homes. Although Qi Xueru was having a bit of fun with the two, she remained a delicate young lady who was not accustomed to such vigorous activities. For the noble ladies of Great Zhou, participating in the hunt was merely a way to relax; few could actually engage in hunting. When they saw Hanno and Mo Yan, the Princess, leading their horses, the other ladies were first taken aback and then began to mock them. They assumed Hanno was riding just to flatter Mo Yan, the Princess, thinking she was only holding onto the reins for show and couldn't actually ride.
"Is Lady Li leading her horse to participate in the upcoming horse race?" a girl in pink approached and asked.
Hanno's gaze fell on Zhang Yunrong beside her—the talented young woman known for her poetry who had tried to overshadow Hanno with her skills but ended up being outshone instead. Suddenly recalling that this girl in pink was Qiao Yuanyu, a close friend of Zhang Yunrong.
For someone who hadn’t learned her lesson yet was now stepping forward again, Hanno slightly curled her lips into a shy smile. "My riding skills are poor; I can only trot slowly on horseback. Horse racing is such an intense and skill-demanding activity; I think I’ll pass."
"Oh? Is that so? That’s unfortunate. We thought Lady Li was quite skilled since we saw you coming with your horse alongside Mo Yan, the Princess. So when Eunuch asked who wanted to participate in the race, we casually mentioned your name, and it seems he took note of it," Qiao Yuanyu said with a hand over her mouth, feigning innocence. "Shall we hurry and clarify this with Lady Li?"
"No need!" Hanno smiled lightly. "Since my name has already been mentioned, I might as well participate. Sister Qiao, please go easy on me!"
"What do you mean by 'go easy'?" Qiao Yuanyu asked in confusion.
Hanno didn’t answer and left with Mo Yan, the Princess, and Qi Xueru.
Qiao Yuanyu turned to Zhang Yunrong. "What does she mean by 'go easy'?"
Zhang Yunrong's expression changed: "Oh no! She might have reported your name to Eunuch as well, making you participate in the horse race."
"What?" Qiao Yuanyu jumped up in fright and grabbed Zhang Yunrong's hand to run. "We need to catch up quickly and ask Eunuch to remove my name!"
She had never even been on a horse before; how could she ride? They needed to get her name crossed off immediately; otherwise, if Eunuch submitted it, she wouldn’t be able to back out later. Even if she couldn’t ride, she would still have to show up at the racetrack according to the rules—what a humiliation that would be in front of everyone! They had intended for Hanno to embarrass herself this way, not for themselves!
Zhang Yunrong and Qiao Yuanyu hurriedly chased after Eunuch, who was tallying up registrations for various activities. After bribing him with a jade pendant, they finally managed to check the registration list. To their relief, only Hanno's name appeared—Qiao Yuanyu's name was nowhere to be found.
"It turns out she was just trying to scare you," Zhang Yunrong said as she relaxed her tense shoulders. "Besides, she only learned about the horse race registration from us; there’s no way she had time to add your name."
Qiao Yuanyu calmed down but gritted her teeth angrily. "How dare she scare me? I'll be waiting to see her make a fool of herself."
On the other side, Hanno smiled and used Divine Sense to inscribe Qiao Yuanyu's name onto the registration form held by the Eunuch.
Mo Yan, the Princess, laughed heartily at Zhang Yunrong and Qiao Yuanyu, saying, "These two haven't learned their lesson after being slapped once; they still want to present their faces for another hit. It's too amusing! I can't wait to see the look on their faces when their schemes fall apart."
Qi Xueru was more considerate and didn't laugh loudly. She sighed, "They think Nono is just a weak woman like them, not realizing that Nono is skilled in both literature and martial arts, and riding is second nature to her. If it weren't for that, how could General Li be so infatuated with her, insisting that she is the only one for him?"
Mo Yan, the Princess, turned and hugged Qi Xueru's shoulders, saying, "Those women are asking for trouble themselves; you shouldn't feel sorry for them!"
Qi Xueru replied gently, "Don't worry; I can still distinguish between outsiders and those close to me."
After about half an hour, the horse racing event was about to begin. All the ladies gathered outside the racetrack—separated by a curtain from the men—to watch the spectacle (to see Hanno make a fool of herself).
The Eunuch began to read out the names of those registered for the competition. One by one, the named participants led their horses into the arena. Amidst everyone's anticipation, Hanno's name was called out by the Eunuch.
"Wei Feng, your wife truly is a remarkable woman!" The Emperor laughed with Elder Brother Li as they saw Hanno leading her horse into the arena. Li Xuan Zong was momentarily taken aback, a flash of astonishment crossing his eyes before he quickly regained his composure.
Elder Brother Li did not miss that moment of embarrassment from Li Xuan Zong. His heart tightened as he thought about preventing Hanno from drawing attention in the future. With the Emperor keeping an eye on her, who knew what would happen next? He could only hope that the Emperor would soon be distracted by other beauties nearby and forget about Hanno.
Elder Brother Li sighed; it was already impossible to withdraw Hanno from the competition now.
"Qiao Yuanyu—" The Eunuch announced the name of the other female participant.
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