coobybook Chapter 263 Preparations before the Trip 1
Chapter 263 Preparations before the Trip 1
Neither Gu Wenxuan nor Bai Jingzhou dared to guarantee that there would be no problems or dangers along the way, so naturally they would not force Bai Jingxin and Bai Jingheng to do anything.
The two men thought that they would have other opportunities to go out and broaden their horizons in the future, so there was no need to rush. So they followed the advice of the other members of the Bai family and excluded these two people from the trip.
Since the two of them were not going, the final travel list became: Gu Wenxuan, Bai Jingzhou, Gu Wenxuan's second brother Gu Wenhai, third brother Gu Wenche, cousin Jia Yuelan, Fang Youfu's six brothers, Ning Qirui, Bai Jingshan, Yang Wandong, Lin's father and mother, eldest brother Lin and his wife, and their two sons and one daughter.
For all those who participated in the escort work along the way, Gu Wenxuan not only provided food and accommodation, but also paid them one or two taels of silver per month. If the baby was born before the due date, they would be paid thirty cents per day for the days that were not yet due.
Compared to the time and energy they had to put in, the hard work and risks they had to take, the reward was not much, but all the people she chose understood that compared to money, the opportunity to go out and see the world with Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou was the most precious.
When preparing all the necessary items, Bai Jingzhou wrote a letter to Mu Hanzhi, asking him if he had any way to get them legal and handy weapons. If so, it didn't matter if the price was a little higher.
After receiving the letter, Mu Hanzhi not only helped them buy the weapons that Bai Jingzhou wanted, but also gave them two horses, lent them six carriages, six coachmen, and ten guards.
Bai Jingzhou accepted the two horses and six carriages, but sent back the coachmen and guards.
He told Mu Hanzhi that they had already finalized the accompanying personnel, so there was no need to bother Mu Hanzhi to arrange staff for them.
Returning to the Mu family's home along with the Mu family's coachman and guards was also the money for weapons and horses that Bai Jingzhou had paid for.
For the two horses that Mu Hanzhi said he would give them, Bai Jingzhou paid 1.5 times the market price.
In addition, Bai Jingzhou also gave Mu Hanzhi half a car of gifts as a thank you to thank him for helping them buy weapons.
Mu Hanzhi laughed as he looked at the gift list, "My dear brother, he is just as unwilling to take advantage of others as always."
In order to let Bai Jingzhou and his men get those weapons as soon as possible, he used favors when buying them. Although the favor was not a big deal, Bai Jingzhou obviously guessed it and gave them a generous gift in return.
Being smart, being able to guess that others must have put in a lot of effort, and being willing to accept this favor clearly and give back in real terms, this quality is truly rare.
He wrote a letter and asked one of the guards to deliver it to Baijia Village. In addition to thanking Bai Jingzhou for sending the "local specialties" to their family, the letter also suggested that Bai Jingzhou and his companions could travel with his own caravan.
The Mu family's caravan traveled all over the country, and naturally there were also caravans going from Xingzhou to the southern states. He invited Bai Jingzhou and others to visit his home in the state capital, and said that he would introduce them to the manager of the caravan who happened to be traveling with them at that time.
When Bai Jingzhou received the letter, he accepted Mu Hanzhi's proposal without saying a word.
The two men exchanged letters and soon, based on the actual situation on both sides, finalized the exact time for them and the caravan to meet in the state capital.
During this period, Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou selected two good drivers from the manor under their name and asked them to teach the six brothers Ning Qirui, Bai Jingshan, Yang Wandong and Fang Youfu how to drive.
These two people not only have to teach everyone how to drive before they set off, but also have to follow them when they set off.
Since they were just ordinary young men and could not take on the responsibilities of bodyguards, Gu Wenxuan paid them 800 wen per month, and if the salary was less than a month, it would be settled at 27 wen per day.
The two men were very satisfied with the price. Of course, what made them most satisfied was not the money, but the opportunity to perform in front of their boss.
As long as they do a good job and are appreciated by their employer, their family and relatives will be able to benefit from it in the future, and this is the most important thing for them.
Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou were also very clear about the little calculations in the minds of the two people, but they did not reject this kind of open and aboveboard little calculation. As long as they were truly reliable and capable, Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou did not mind giving them and their families and relatives more opportunities to perform.
After they learned how to drive a carriage, an essential skill for travel in ancient society, Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou began to teach the accompanying personnel, including Jia Yuelan, how to ride horses.
Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou had ridden horses before. To be more precise, they had tried various advanced and primitive means of transportation. If these existed in this world, Gu Wenxuan could even instruct others on the spot how to drive tanks, ships, and helicopters.
The carriages and horses were decided. Mu Hanzhi lent them six carriages, while Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan provided two carriages and two horses. As for silver and money, they carried a lot of gold and silver notes that did not take up much space, as well as a lot of silver ingots, broken silver, copper coins and other things that they would need on the road.
Bai Jingzhou prepared two medicine boxes, which were filled with all kinds of medical equipment, as well as various commonly used and uncommon pills, medicine powders, and medicinal herbs.
In addition to these, Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou also bought a new water bag for each of them, as well as the essential items for the road, such as straw hats, raincoats, oilcloth, oil paper, bed sheets, quilts, spare clothes, teapots and teacups, as well as a small iron pot, a long-handled wooden spoon, a spatula, a kitchen knife, food boxes, bowls, chopsticks, spoons and other cooking utensils.
In terms of food, they brought common glutinous rice, millet, salt, dried meat, pancakes, fried noodles, fried cakes made by Bai Jingzhou himself, fermented bean curd, bean curd sticks, and dried tofu bought from Bai Erbo's house, meat floss, meat paste, pickles, century eggs, salted eggs, steamed buns, pancakes, etc. prepared for them by Li, Ning Cuizhi and others, and they also brought snacks, candies, candied fruits, dried fruits, and other snacks that they bought from the county town when they went to find County Magistrate Peng to get a pass.
The Lin family was also busy. They bought quilts, cotton-padded clothes, fermented bean curd, preserved eggs, dates, chestnuts, wolfberries, golden rice and other local necessities, preparing to take them back to give to their clansmen and relatives.
The so-called golden rice here is actually a kind of local specialty millet. This millet has a long history and a long planting tradition. It not only tastes delicious, but also is rich in nutrients. It is famous for its soft, sticky and fragrant texture, and golden color, so it is called golden rice.
Gu Wenxuan and his companions, who had originally planned to do some small business along the way, finally gave up on bringing things over from here because they did not have enough vehicles and manpower. They were very disappointed.
They planned to wait until they reached Haizhou, the hometown of the Lin family, and then consider buying some suitable goods to sell and use them to earn some travel expenses.