Xu Yanbing had not returned yet, so they still had to eat. Zhou Junchen, who had just escaped death, did not dare to flaunt his wealth with lavish fish and meat. He had the imperial kitchen carefully prepare a vegetarian feast. Queen Yu Rourou accompanied him from the side, in charge of holding a bottle of rice wine. Zhou Junchen had tactfully taken off his dragon robe and changed into the brocade robe of an ordinary wealthy family. Naturally, Yu Rourou followed her husband. Although she did not wear the phoenix coronet and robe, she still put some effort into it. She wore a yellow crown made of green and red velvet. It was inlaid with pearls and inlaid with jade, and it was a foot high. It was like a straight neck goose head, making her slender white neck even more attractive. Huang Man'er wolfed down the food and took a general with real power from Qingcang City to arrange for the monks to stay in the west. Zhou Junchen carefully glanced at the King of Beiliang, who was chewing slowly, and made up his mind to accompany him to eat, drink, and smile. As for sleeping with him, he was a man, but he was powerless. That was the skill of the Queen of Qingcang City.
Hsu Fengnian ignored Yu Rourou's flirtatious glances and asked Zhou Junchen to tell him about the situation of the two kings of Beiliang. The spies of Beiliang were not immortals. They could not be meticulous in all aspects. Zhou Junchen was one of the four leaders in the land of refugees. The news from his mouth was not low. Ma Liuke, the King of Phoenix Soaring, was once an unknown metalworker in Yangzhou. The way he made his fortune was somewhat similar to Zhou Junchen's. Both of them first worked for other powerful forces, but they were nothing more than advisors. Later, his old master died in an assassination attempt. The nominal King of Phoenix Soaring was young and ignorant, so Ma Liuke was able to control the Emperor and command his vassals. Little by little, he accumulated a substantial amount of wealth. However, Zhou Junchen said that this person had some fateful encounters with Mount Lantuo in the Western Region. Since last year, he had been sheltering hundreds of monk soldiers. According to Northern Liang's spies, the Prince of Linyao, Cai Anshan, who came from an aristocratic family in Northern Liang, was harsh and merciless. He was a person who shared weal and woe but could not share riches and honor with others. However, in Zhou Junchen's mouth, Cai Anshan was actually described as a rather heroic old man. Xu Fengnian felt that Cai Anshan most likely had some ability to convince the vile Zhou Junchen wholeheartedly. As for the gang between Linyao and Fengxiang, they were all horse bandits who relied on plundering for a living. They turned their backs on each other and were experts in taking advantage of each other. Over the years, the three military towns had suffered quite a bit. Moreover, this group of horse bandits were often bold enough to cross the border and plunder from Northern Mang's southern court. Once, one of Northern Mang's great generals, Liu Gui, was alarmed. Not only did he personally lead an army to suppress the bandits, he also specially instructed a fatty surnamed Dong to keep an eye on this area. It was only after this incident that the horse bandits at the border of Gusai Province were reduced by a lot. This lawless gang was stationed at Stone Mountain. Zhou Junchen said that the gang leader was a coquettish woman in the prime of her youth. He revealed the heavenly secret and reminded Xu Fengnian that although this group of horse bandits was not on good terms with Northern Mang, both he and Cai Anshan privately felt that it was merely a ruse to injure themselves to gain the enemy's confidence. In reality, they were spies that Northern Mang had planted in the refugee lands.
Hsu Fengnian sorted out Zhou Junchen's words bit by bit and did not find any big loopholes. He asked, "The three old military towns and the horse bandits have a total of 170,000 to 180,000 sinners. About half of them are in the prime of their lives. They can fight on horseback and farm off horseback. They are a source of soldiers that even Beimang covets. I don't expect to get all of them in one go. You see, Fengxiang, Linyao and Stone Mountain, there are only about 20 people in power in these three places. How many of them are willing to be appeased and recruited?"
Zhou Junchen hesitated for a moment. He gritted his teeth and said, "I'll risk my life to tell you the truth. As long as they don't really starve to death, they would rather be hungry than eat the leftovers given by the Beiliang. Take my Qingcang City as an example. It's easy to guess that Shen Congwu and his 1,600 people would take advantage of this opportunity to either establish their own family or to rely on Cai Anshan in Linyao City. They would rather die than run back to Qingcang City. No matter how high the position you give him, it's useless. When he was six years old, he saw with his own eyes that the heads of his family's elders were chopped off one by one. Then, he was driven to this desolate land of refugees. Even in his dreams, he was thinking about how to kill his way back to Beiliang for revenge. Fengxiang and Linyao also have many people in their prime who are irreconcilable with the Beiliang. They hold military power. Firstly, I'm not from the Beiliang noble family that was destroyed back then. I have no grudge against the Beiliang. Secondly, I admire the ability of the Prince from the bottom of my heart. That's why I'm willing to do anything for the Beiliang … "
Hsu Fengnian put down his chopsticks and said calmly, "If you were in my position, how would you recruit the refugees? No matter how difficult it is, you still have to do it. If you can tell me the truth, I'll give you a great merit, and the Qing Cang Empire will still be in your pocket. "
Zhou Junchen was about to pretend to be trembling in fear when Yu Rourou, who was holding the bottle, coughed lightly. Zhou Junchen quickly came back to his senses. He already knew the habits of this young King when he talked to you about serious matters. Don't be vague, it was better to be straightforward than anything else. Zhou Junchen drank a cup of wine to boost his courage. Then he said, "We refugees are all ghosts without a home or roots. Yes, we're the kind of pitiful people who don't even know where to go during the Qingming Festival. We all believe that if we don't stay here, there will be a place to stay. We don't do long-term business here, and no one has the patience to cast a long line to catch a big fish. We only care about what you can take out from your pocket. If you give us money and food, then we'll be your people from head to toe. If you reward us with good wine and good meat every day, then I'll be willing to risk my life for you. Of course, Beiliang, this' outsider ', is an exception. We've suffered too much for so many years. The crossbowmen of the Prince's family come here to kill people every two or three days. We're scared and scared to the bone. I heard that His Highness had brought more than a thousand monks into the land of the refugees. This is something that this lowly one could never come up with even if I racked my brains. It's amazing. There aren't many ancient books in the entire land of the refugees. Therefore, Confucianism is a joke here. As for Taoism, when a person attains the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascend to the Heavens, no one is interested in it. If one can't even fill their stomachs, how can they cultivate? Only the Bald Donkey's theory is something that many people are willing to believe. In any case, they were born with a lowly life of suffering. At most, they would just give up. What's the big deal? Can't they just wait for the next life? I've seen through people. As long as they have the slightest desire to stay, they will start to fear death. Take me, Zhou Junchen, for example. When this lowly one heard that His Highness wanted to keep me alive in Qing Cang, I couldn't help but become excited. Once the monks arrived, they would pray for blessings for the refugees day after day. Although the refugees might not be grateful, at least they would have something to think about and wouldn't give up so easily. They wouldn't think that killing one Beiliang soldier in this lifetime would be considered as breaking even, and killing two would be considered a profit. However, Zhou Junchen secretly believes that just having the monks to give us something to think about isn't very useful. We need something more practical, especially something that can fill our stomachs. In the past, even the Residence of the Dragon King in Qing Cang City was struggling to make ends meet. We really don't have the capital to attract people's hearts. However, with His Highness's Beiliang backing us, we don't need a lot. As long as we can place ten or so large pots at each of the three city gates every day, I don't believe that no one will take the bait. If no one comes for a day, then there should be at least one in ten days or half a month, right? As long as someone takes the lead, then we won't be able to stop the refugees from flocking to us … Perhaps everyone has a little bit of backbone, but there's also a distinction between what's important and what's important. Some people are more important, and there's no lack of people who are more important than their lives. However, there are still more people who are less important … "
Yu Rourou timidly lowered her eyes and softly interrupted Zhou Junchen, "If no one dares to come, we can let the weak Qing Cang soldiers pretend to be refugees."
Zhou Junchen glared at her and said, "Woman, shut up!"
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