With less than two million households in Beiliang, there were less than ten million people, but they had to feed an entire 300,000 border soldiers. If it wasn't for the support of Lingzhou, known as the northwestern Little Guangling, Beiliang, which had been stretched for more than 20 years, would have snapped a long time ago, let alone shoot arrows. How was Li Gongde able to become the head of the civil officials, Beiliang's Administrator? Was it because he only knew how to sing praises to Xu Xiao and only knew how to curry favor with him? Of course not. There was no other reason. Li Gongde knew how to make money. He was able to buy grain through all kinds of shady channels, and the prices were not high. The big shots who accepted the boxes of silver as bribes were, of course, the relatives of the imperial family and the descendants of meritorious deeds. The imperial court was losing a lot of money, and they only earned a "small amount" of less than a million taels a year. Their ancestors and fathers had all sacrificed their lives for Beiliang to unify the Spring and Autumn Period and made great contributions. What did they have to feel guilty about earning some silver?
In the short term, these people should not have the guts to get into trouble.
Li Gongde, who was still the Administrator, ran to Mount Qingliang and complained to the Deputy Administrator, Song Dongming. Official Li, who had always maintained himself well, would soon have his hair covered in white.
Under this kind of grim situation, Provincial Governor Xu Beizhi, who had been hoarding grain like crazy in Lingzhou last year, quickly built and filled more than half of the granaries in his hands. At the time, he was ridiculed as the "Granary Provincial Governor" who only knew how to buy rice. In one fell swoop, he became the entire Beiliang Border Army's savior. If it wasn't for Xu Beizhi, Hsu Fengnian would also pay attention to the granaries, but it was impossible for him to be as bold and decisive as Xu Beizhi to use the power of an entire province to hoard grain. Xu Beizhi was in charge of buying grain in Lingzhou, and it could be said that he was unscrupulous. Not only did he use the connections that Li Gongde had accumulated over the years to buy grain outside of Beiliang at a high price, he also forcefully bought rice from the local tyrants and aristocrats in Lingzhou at a low price. If the people who had surplus grain wanted to sell it to earn the difference, Xu Beizhi would buy it all!
Therefore, if it weren't for Xu Beizhi's granaries, Hsu Fengnian wouldn't have openly gone to Beiliang to "steal grain" from his distant relatives and neighbors. He wouldn't have been kind enough to let people lead troops out of the border to "borrow grain". At the very least, he would have given some real money. However, this was not a long term plan after all. Before long, the entire upper reaches of Guangling River would be cleared of Beiliang.
Hsu Fengnian opened his eyes and muttered, "In the beginning, it was you, Chen Xiliang, who lost the salt, iron, and grain, and was banished to the land of refugees. Xu Beizhi first became the Provincial Governor of a province. Then, it was you who contributed greatly in defending Liuzhou, smoothly allowing Beiliang to have more than a hundred thousand young and strong soldiers. Then, it was Xu Beizhi who became the Provincial Governor of the Granary. Soon after, it was Xu Beizhi who proved that he was right. Everyone else in Beiliang who was just watching the play was wrong. I firmly believe that you will definitely make the people of the world sit up and take notice of you. It has been like this from the very beginning. "
Hsu Fengnian looked around and stood up to fetch the two chess jars that the spies from the Fu Shui Chamber had specially prepared. The red date wood wasn't rare, but the two boxes' texture respectively displayed the uncanny workmanship of the "Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers" and the "Boy Bowing". This made the two red date wood boxes, which were originally worth a few taels of silver, become priceless treasures used by West Chu's imperial court. They had been distributed to the common people after the fall of West Chu. Then, when Hong Jia was on his way to the north, it had wandered into the cold land and did not follow its owner into Beimang. Hsu Fengnian opened the two chess jars. The white chess pieces were the one hundred and eighty famous "Snow Prints". There were more than twenty intricate patterns on the chess pieces. The black chess pieces were the dark green fish brain jelly with a clear luster.
Hsu Fengnian sat upright and still. He picked up a black and white chess piece and knocked it on the table that didn't have a chessboard. Then, as if he was about to start a game with someone, he placed the white chess jars across from him and softly said, "Master, Xu Beizhi and Chen Xiliang didn't disappoint you."
Hsu Fengnian looked at the table that seemed even more empty with the addition of the two chess pieces. He was in a daze. Finally, he raised his head and looked at the empty table across from him. He didn't say anything.
The sky outside the window was blue and white, and the room was no longer dark. The dark clouds had dispersed, and threads of light shone in, clearly illuminating the dust that was usually invisible to the naked eye.
In this room where there was only Hsu Fengnian, the chess pieces flew as if they were flying.
As the pieces were placed, starting with the three words "Hsu Fengnian", one name after another came out of his mouth.
There were names from Beiliang, Beimang, and Li Yang.
There were dead people, and living people.
Some were famous, some were rising, and some were nameless.
When he mentioned Lu Xu, Hsu Fengnian paused and said, "Under Qi Yanglong's suggestion, Zhao Zhuan opened the Six Academies and added six more academicians after the Six Academicians in the Palace Hall. After making an exception for the old master of the Han family, he took advantage of the momentum to open the way for martial artists to use the word" Wu "as their title. This was to appease the civil officials, and at the same time to divide the power of the Six Ministries. During this time, it was said that the son of the Zhao family intended to disgust the King of Jing An you assisted, Zhao Xun. He summoned you to the capital to enter one of the Six Academies, the Hong Wen Academy. Do you want to go? Will Zhao Xun be willing to let you go? Even if Zhao Xun can continue to bear the humiliation and have no choice but to let you leave Xiang Fan City in Qingzhou alive, what price will you have to pay? "
Hsu Fengnian suddenly smiled and said, "Since it's difficult for you, and even more difficult for Zhao Xun, then I'll be a good person."
Hsu Fengnian didn't turn his head, but he raised his voice and said, "Mi Fengjie, Fan Xiaochai, the two of you go to Xiang Fan City and invite Lu Xu to Beiliang. If he doesn't want to, then take him."
Hsu Fengnian quickly sighed and said self-deprecatingly, "Forget it. If Lu Xu really doesn't want to come to Beiliang, then send him to a place where he won't have to worry about Zhao Gou."
Hsu Fengnian looked across the table and said in a low voice, "I'm really bad at gambling, and I'm soft-hearted. Fortunately, after so many years, Xu Xiao has often been lectured by you like this. I've seen it with my own eyes more than once or twice. "
Lowering his head, he saw that there weren't many chess pieces left in the chess jar. The table had also become densely packed with black and white chess pieces. It reminded him of the battle between the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry and the Rouran Cavalry outside the mouth of the gourd.
Hsu Fengnian finally began to drink. Before he started practicing martial arts, he had a good tolerance for alcohol, but now he was drunk. He slumped against the back of the chair, his entire body curled up in the chair as he fell asleep.
In his dreams, he repeatedly murmured, "They're all gone, they're all gone …"
— —
Emperor Zhao Zhuan clearly intended to follow in the tradition of the previous Emperor's diligence. However, compared to the previous Emperor's all-nighters, Zhao Zhuan was clearly more restrained. He even practiced a set of martial arts every morning without fail. It was taught to him by the Great Zhenren of Mount Qingcheng, who together with the residence of the Taoist master of Mount Longhu, who controlled the world's Taoism. If the young Emperor was said to have listened more than he spoke in that small court meeting where the entire hall was filled with purple, he rarely made any decisive decisions. Now, he was slowly beginning to possess the bearing of an Emperor. Other than Qi Yanglong, Huan Wen, and a few other old people, even Zhao Youling, who had been in charge of the Minister of Personnel for many years, was clearly beginning to feel nervous. The re-examination of the world's editions, the deliberation of the candidates for the Six Academies, the promotion and demotion of former subordinates of the Ministry of Personnel, one after another, forced Zhao Youling to brace himself to deal with it. This made Song Tanglu feel relieved. The Liyang Dynasty could not afford any turbulence at this time. If there were any signs of bullying in the center of the imperial court during the sensitive time when Liyang and Liyang were fighting on two fronts, even if Song Tanglu knew that he would be labeled as a eunuch interfering in politics, he would still blow a cold wind at some people who were qualified to participate in the small court meeting. Perhaps the Heavens really did bless Liyang. In the beginning, the Guangling Taoist Army did not achieve victory. Two old generals who were placed high hopes on by the imperial court, one died in battle and the other was caught like a turtle in a jar and became a laughingstock. Both of them lost to young people who were almost old enough to be their grandchildren. Fortunately, the Guangling Prince Zhao Yi's trusted general named Song Li was not only a blessing general for the Emperor's uncle, but also a blessing general for the entire Liyang. He quickly recovered all the lost land on the eastern front of Guangling, making those remnants of West Chu, who dared to clamor all the way north to the capital, immediately lose their arrogance. On the northwest side, everyone in the imperial court was saying that Beiliang's Beiliang cavalry was just an embroidered pillow that could not withstand a single blow. Fortunately, the Ji Zhou General Yuan Tingshan turned the tide and completely defeated the two Beimang cavalry of more than ten thousand. In comparison, who in the world did not curse the good-for-nothing Beiliang Frontier Army and the trembling Hsu Fengnian who was always hiding somewhere?
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