The Princess and Her Rough-Rider Khan-Chapter 622 - 620 Hengzhou Great Victory (second watch)

Li Xianyun knew that Yelu Yan had not told her many things, merely to keep her from worrying.

Of course, she had not thought to ask either, to avoid prompting Yelu Yan to come up with some irrelevant excuses just to pacify her.

The urgency before the battle had everyone on edge, emotions involuntarily tensing up.

With these feelings, Li Xianyun jolted along in the carriage and finally returned to Yanzhou.

She didn’t return to the residence but went directly to the Earth God Temple in the west of the city.

Masons were repairing it, and two government officers, acting as supervisors, were sitting on chairs. Upon seeing Li Xianyun arrive, they hurriedly put down the hand warmers they held and came forward to greet her.

"Young Master Li, Yu Chi Hong just left. He asked us two to stay here to see if we can be of any help."

Li Xianyun glanced at where they had been sitting, complete with hand warmers, snacks, and hot tea, quite comfortable indeed.

Of course, Li Xianyun only needed the government officers to maintain order; she did not expect them to be of any real help, as long as they didn’t add to the chaos.

Li Xianyun merely hummed in acknowledgment, "Thank you both."

She looked around and noticed that the beggars seemed to already know which areas they were residing in; rooms had been allocated, and they were busily moving items from one room to the corresponding houses.

After moving their belongings, the beggars also helped clean up.

Clearly, this was all arranged by Yuchi Hong—the two officers were just here to pass the time, not causing trouble was good enough.

The head mason also came forward to meet Li Xianyun.

He reported to her the progress of the construction.

The areas of the Earth God Temple needing repairs were not extensive.

The leaking roof needed some repairs, the broken steps and the ground required fixing, the buildings being converted into factories needed minor modifications according to the blueprints provided by Li Xianyun, and then there was the construction of the high wall and narrow gate that would divide the Earth God Temple into two sections.

The head mason, knowing Li Xianyun was knowledgeable, didn’t dare to deceive her, afraid of annoying the customer and losing such a good job.

Li Xianyun gave suggestions based on his report, then took a tour and left people to count how many individuals would need to live in the rooms designated for the beggars, and then sent people to the places where she had previously turned to buy second-hand furniture to procure basic items like beds, desks, and cooking utensils.

She then took the remaining people to the garment workshop. As new weaving looms and cotton-spinning machines continuously arrived, the production of cotton clothes had increased significantly.

However, Li Xianyun discovered a problem.

Due to the use of new machinery, the amount of fabric woven and cotton spun by the female workers had greatly increased, all accumulating in the factory where the cotton clothes were sewn, causing the female workers sewing the clothes to be overwhelmed despite working day and night.

Therefore, Li Xianyun made adjustments; she extracted ten female workers from each of the weaving and cotton-spinning factories to sew cotton clothes.

With more people sewing, naturally, a few more factories for sewing cotton clothes were needed.

Li Xianyun then consolidated the female workers from several weaving and cotton-spinning factories into corresponding factories.

This freed up several factories and also left quite a bit of equipment unused.

New equipment was installed, and old equipment was phased out.

In this way, the number of new machines needed in the garment workshop was significantly reduced.

Li Xianyun estimated the numbers and sent people to the cooperating Carpenter’s Workshop to ask them to reduce their production.

She also negotiated with the carpenters about whether they would like to buy the old equipment from the garment workshop at a low price, refurbish it, and sell it at a slightly higher price.

Some Carpenter’s Workshops agreed, and thus the old equipment was sold, earning some money in the process.

After taking care of the front yard’s matters, Li Xianyun headed to the backyard.

Over the following days, Li Xianyun was bustling about.

Her efforts yielded substantial results.

The Earth God Temple was fully repaired, and the farmers and beggars began to start their tasks; wages settled daily, everyone was in high spirits.

Yanzhou and the neighboring counties containing cotton-speculating households wanted to make money through cotton. Li Xianyun let the word out that a large cotton supplier had been found in the neighboring counties.

The households, fearful of being stuck with unsold cotton, quickly sold their cotton when the garment factory raised their prices slightly.

Thus, the problem of obtaining cotton for manufacturing clothes was resolved.

The ones whose lives changed the most were the beggars.

They now had beds, desks, and other furniture, as well as cookware, and finally did not have to live a nomadic life anymore.

Li Xianyun also took out some outdated fabrics from the garment factory’s warehouse for them to make new clothes.

Everyone regarded Li Xianyun as their great benefactor.

However, among these beggars were three or five ungrateful individuals, the very ones Li Xianyun had warned Bater to watch out for.

They were greedy and lazy, shirking work, and were kicked out of the Earth God Temple by Li Xianyun.

These strong young beggars harbored resentment and tried to set fire to the Earth God Temple, but were caught red-handed by Li Xianyun’s men.

The men were locked in prison, truly a case of evil begetting evil.

In addition to this, thanks to Li Xianyun’s management and constant adjustments, the garment factory produced more than 20,000 jackets in just three days, delivering them to Liuzhou way ahead of the scheduled time.

Next, Li Xianyun discussed with the Official Government about the female workers’ placements while investigating the spies within the garment factory.

The news of the great victory at Hengzhou was relayed at this time.

Two soldiers delivering the message galloped and waved flags, loudly spreading the news of Hengzhou’s great victory.

Upon hearing the noise, the people ran out from their homes and spread the news to others.

The entire city immersed itself in the joy of victory.

When the news reached Li Xianyun, she was leading people to the backyard of the garment factory.

Just a moment ago, someone had stuffed a letter in the crevice of a brick in the backyard to pass a message inside.

The messenger was caught by the Hidden Guard Li Xianyun had sent to monitor.

Unfortunately, in the process of the arrest, the messenger bit a poisonous capsule in his mouth and committed suicide.

However, fortunately, the letter ended up in Li Xianyun’s hands.

After reading the letter, Li Xianyun turned pale and could barely stand.

Youlan quickly supported her and asked with concern, "Master, are you alright?"

Jinwu, Bater, and others also looked worried.

As Youlan spoke, her eyes darted to the letter in Li Xianyun’s hand.

The letter was tightly clenched in Li Xianyun’s fist, crumpled into a ball, so no one knew what was written.

Li Xianyun, ignoring Youlan’s question, said with a trembling voice, "Go to the backyard."

Saying this, she hurried towards the backyard.

Just as she stepped out of the factory’s door, Bater saw a Hidden Guard approaching on horseback. He recognized that guard and quickly stepped forward to whisper, "Master, there’s news from Hengzhou."

Li Xianyun paused, supported by Youlan, and waited for the Hidden Guard to come closer.

Approaching, the guard bowed respectfully and took a letter from his chest, handing it to Li Xianyun with utmost reverence while panting, "Master, Hengzhou has achieved a great victory. This is a letter from Khan."

Upon hearing this, expressions of surprise appeared on everyone’s faces.

Li Xianyun was of course surprised, but her pale face remained colorless.

She glanced at the messenger from the Hidden Guard, stuffed the intercepted letter into her sleeve, and opened the letter from Yelu Yan.