Zhang Tie had been accompanying his wife in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory in recent months. Everything was fine in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Last winter, some bloody figures who entered Yangui Mountain Range from Tongzhou Province had been intercepted and captured by disciples of Iron-Dragon Sect and the guardian forces of the cities in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory. Those bloody figures didn't cause any problem to the entire Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory except for slaughtering some scattered hunters and one or two small villages in Yangui Mountain Range, causing hundreds of casualties. By contrast, Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory had a bumper harvest this summer. The overall situation facing Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was completely different than that facing other provinces and prefectures in Taixia Country.
After bloody figures entered Yangui Mountain Range and caused some casualties, Zhang Tie had ordered all the other hunters living in Yangui Mountain Range to move out of Yangui Mountain Range and build fortresses close to cities. All the hunters were transferred to patrollers of Yangui Mountain Range in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory with higher salaries than that of hunters. They became Zhang Tie's "assistants". Some experienced old hunters were even invited to the encampment of Fire-Dragon Corps and employed as instructors to teach fighters of Fire-Dragon Corps how to fight and survive in woods and woods.
Today, when the price of grains surged, the bumper harvest of summer grains in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory made all the commoners, major clans and barbarians in Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory happy. As a result, the entire Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory was thriving.
In such an environment, if not being told about the overall situation facing Tongzhou Province by his elder brother, Zhang Tie could barely imagine that the overall situation facing some places in Taixia Country was very severe.
The catastrophe of bloody figures broke out in Tongzhou Province in the second half of last year. In the core region of the catastrophe of bloody figures, over 10 prefectures in Tongzhou Province had been covered with blood and smoke.
In the core region of the catastrophe of bloody figures, those cities which were protected by high city walls were fine; however, those towns and villages outside the cities were the first to be affected by the catastrophe of bloody figures. After being attacked by bloody figures, all the towns and villages were burnt to ashes. Numerous people's corpses were exposed in the wild. Numerous commoners were killed or injured.
The panic brought about by the bloody figures caused the people to rush into the city to take refuge. However, the city could only accommodate a limited number of people, so it was impossible to let everyone live in the city. The local government limited the number of people entering the city and kept the people outside the city. As a result, there had been thousands of civil conflicts since the end of last year.
A large number of bloody men were scattered, but the bloody men had a wider range of activities. From time to time, scattered bloody men would jump out and rob pedestrians and farmers in the wild or in the farmlands. Therefore, the panic brought by the bloody men had not been completely eliminated until now.
In such a difficult situation, the price of grains in Taixia Country started to soar since the end of last year. This year, Tongzhou Province suffered a large-scale crop failure in summer. As a result, those places which had been ravaged by bloody figures were abandoned in a large area. As a result, the supply of grains became smaller and the commercial circulation was greatly influenced.
There were more people living in the city, but the supplies supplied to the city began to decrease. Everyone's income did not increase. The farmers' harvests were failing, and the income from various fields related to agriculture was sharply reduced. However, the cost of living was increasing. Although the government in various parts of Tongzhou had been providing disaster relief, the situation in some places was close to being rotten.
Zhang Yang went to Tongzhou Province because a material warehouse and an orchard that Jinwu Business Group invested in in Tongzhou Province were robbed and smashed by the rebels. Some members of Jinwu Business Group were killed or injured. It was Jinwu Business Group's first time to encounter such a thing in Taixia Country. Therefore, Zhang Yang came to Tongzhou Province to deal with it.
After hearing Zhang Yang's words, Zhang Tie realized that the situation outside Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory might be even worse than that he could imagine. The situation in some places might be almost the same as that in the demonized puppets disaster in Waii Subcontinent.
"Did Jinwu Business Group suffer a great loss in Tongzhou Province?"
"Not a great loss, just over 3 million gold coins in total. Jinwu Business Group lost over 100,000 vials of all-purpose medicament, some stored grains, medicinal herbs and some circulating materials. Additionally, the orchard of Jinwu Business Group suffered a loss …" 3 million gold coins might be an astronomical figure for other business groups; however, it was nothing for Jinwu Business Group and Zhang Yang. "However, a capable manager of Jinwu Business Group was checking the warehouse. Finally, the manager, some bodyguards and some assistants of Jinwu Business Group were killed by the mobs. After I arrived at Tongzhou Province, I found that the leaders of the mobs had been caught and beheaded in the public by the yamen of the three departments in Tongzhou Province. As a result, this civil riot gradually subsided …"
Zhang Tie shook his head as this was not a good omen. Although the authorities of Taixia Country still had a great control over local regions and could rapidly suppress the riots and control the overall situation by arresting those who took the lead in rioting and sentencing them to death, now that such a vicious civil riot had taken place, it indicated that the situation in some local regions of Taixia Country had become very bad after the catastrophe of bloody figures and the food shortage.
Some ambitious people who wanted to make a fortune in the national catastrophe had already started to make trouble out of resentment or couldn't find a way out. It might not be instigated by Three-eye Association or Heavens Reaching Church; instead, it was the nature of people. There were so many people in Taixia Country. Not all of them were kind-hearted. Perhaps many people didn't do anything outrageous in normal times and were kind-hearted; however, in some extreme environments, many people's dark and ugly side would uncontrollably break out.
After experiencing the extermination of Waii Sub-continent, Zhang Tie had seen too many of such things.
Even in peaceful times, there were tens of thousands of gangsters and villains on the wanted list of the Supreme Court of Taixia Country, including b * stards like Zhu Liang the Ferocious Wolf. When Taixia Country encountered such a big problem, these people were still clear-headed and still had the red line of guarding against demons in mind. For instance, Zhang Tie's master Zhao Yuan directly entered the Deities Realm and pursued his own path. Of course, they would not do anything to Taixia Country. However, it was hard to guarantee that some greedy, vicious and profit-driven people would not add fuel to the billows and fish in troubled waters.
Zhang Yang's words reminded Zhang Tie that besides demons, Heavens Reaching Church and the Gobbling Party, he might face some unexpected enemies and situations in Taixia Country in the future.
If the same riot broke out in Fire-Dragon Prefecture, should he kill those mobs or not? What was the limit?
As the two brothers talked, they walked towards the mansion of Zhang family. On the way, all the maids, servants and guards of Zhang family hurriedly stopped far away at the sight of Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie as they bowed towards them. Many people, especially the maids in the mansion, bowed towards Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie.
Zhang brothers had long been different than before. Jinwu Business Group had already become the largest business group in Northeast Military Region. Zhang Yang played an important role while Zhang Tie was well-known across the country.
As the two brothers grew more and more famous, the rules in the mansion grew increasingly stricter. Additionally, more and more qualified servants were dispatched in the mansion.
Even the stewards in the mansion could barely see Zhang Yang and Zhang Tie walking side by side in the mansion, not to mention these maids and servants.
"Ahh, that's the second young master. He's so young. He looks younger than me. But why do I feel that he's a 17-year-old handsome teenager …" After Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang passed by, a pretty maid in a green skirt hurriedly stopped at the side gate of a garden and bowed towards them. After seeing Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang leaving far away, she stood up as she stuck out her tongue stealthily and told another pretty maid in a pink skirt on her side.
The two maids each had a flower basket in their hands. In the flower basket were fresh flowers that had just been cut from the garden of the Zhang Residence. It seemed that the two of them had come to the garden to cut the flowers to decorate the residence.
"Don't talk nonsense. Don't let the second young master hear it. Second young master is a knight. I was told by the guards in the mansion that second young master's cultivation base has already reached a mysterious realm. Therefore, he still looks young …" The other maid in a pink skirt whispered.
"Ahh, I wonder whether second young master needs servants or not …" the maid in a green skirt said dreamily with a faint blush as she watched Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang disappearing from the rockery and fountain in the distance.
"Hah, little girl, you've fallen in love with him. But I suggest you to give up!" The maid in the pink dress also sighed with melancholy. She looked at the maid in the green dress and then looked at her own chest, which was not small but could only be grasped by one arm. She said with some frustration, "How can we get close to the Second Young Master? You just came to the manor, so you might not know, but the Second Young Master actually likes women with voluptuous figures and mature temperaments the most. Second Young Master usually doesn't even look at little girls like you and me!"
"Second young master likes that kind of women?"
"Of course, everyone in the mansion knows that. You've not seen second young master's wives and concubines. Among second young master's wives and concubines, Madam Linda is like that. Many women that second young master brought back from subcontinents are also like that. It's said that even the princess of Lord Guangnan's Mansion that second young master brought back is mature and gorgeous. Haven't you noticed that all the maids in second young master's mansion are much more plump …"
"Second young master likes mature women!" The maid in a green skirt widely opened her watery eyes as she blurted out. After that, she unconsciously lowered her head and threw a glance at her breasts as she felt that her dream had been shattered in the blink of an eye …
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