Chapter 1494
Wang Chen quietly returned to Qing’an County.
After three days of encampment in the border area of Qing’an County, the Ping Tian Army set up camp and marched north to the prefecture city, where they launched a vigorous assault. With the help of traitors from within and without, they took the mighty city in just half a month.
In addition to Qing’an County, Changyi Prefecture fell completely into the hands of the Ping Tian Army.
The ambitious Li Zili, while reorganizing the military, tested his tentacles into neighboring prefectures.
The collapse of the Nanli Dynasty was imminent, and the heroes were competing for the throne!
The turmoil outside had almost no effect on the almost closed Qing’an County.
However, the county was not peaceful, and it could even be said to have set off a storm.
The news that Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen were preparing to move their family to Yunze Prefecture soon became a well-known 鈥渟ecret鈥� in the streets and alleys, spread deliberately by people with ulterior motives, and even the farmers in the countryside knew about it.
In recent years, the husband and wife team of County Magistrate Ye Xiangming and County Prefect Wang Chen have undoubtedly been the most prestigious figures in the entire Qing’an County, and have received unanimous recognition and respect from the gentry to the common people.
Under their cooperative rule, the lives of the common people in Qing’an County have been getting better and better.
There have been no natural or man-made disasters, no bandits or bullies, and even taxes and corv茅e duties have been greatly reduced. Even the lowest-ranking outcasts can basically eat their fill if they are willing to work hard.
Everyone knows very well that Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen are largely responsible for their happy lives!
Now that they have heard that the two of them are moving their entire family to Yunze Prefecture, everyone is in an uproar.
In no time, the county government received a thick stack of petitions with tens of thousands of words. Many villagers ran to the front of the government building and knelt to beg the two gentlemen not to abandon the 100,000 people of Qing’an County.
Under these circumstances, the county magistrate Ye Xiangming issued a 鈥淟etter to the People鈥� and posted it in different places in the county.
He told all the gentry and the people that it was not a rumor that the Ye and Wang families were moving away from Qing’an County, and that preparations were already underway.
Anyone from Qing’an County who wanted to leave with them could, and those who didn’t didn’t have to. It was up to each family to decide.
Once this 鈥淣otice to the People鈥� was published, public opinion in the entire county of Qing’an boiled over.
Many people were convinced by the two gentlemen and were determined to follow them all the way, but there were even more who were reluctant to leave their hometown.
There were also some local gentry who were interested in the power vacuum that would arise after the Ye and Wang families left.
There were surging currents within the county.
But no one dared to make trouble at this time, because the 1,000 well-trained garrison troops under Wang Chen’s control could easily extinguish any fire.
Under these circumstances, Ye Xiangming was forming a migration team while selling his property.
Even the positions of magistrate and county magistrate were on his list for sale!
Although everyone knew that after the two families left, there would be no strong figure in Qing’an County to keep the peace, and the future safety was in question.
But there were always ambitious people who wanted to take advantage of the situation.
Ye Xiangming didn’t care what other people thought, as long as they could pay the price, he sold everything.
Although such a big sale would inevitably have to be heavily discounted, in the end, it was quite profitable.
After nearly three months of turmoil, a total of 50,000 Qing’an citizens followed Ye Xiangming and Wang Chen, escorted by 1,000 elite soldiers and 2,000 militia soldiers, and set off on the migration journey to Yunze Prefecture.
To be honest, it was unexpected for the two of them to have so many people following them.
It is difficult to leave one’s hometown. For ordinary people at the bottom of society, land and houses are their lifeline. Very often, even when facing the danger of war, they are unwilling to give up easily.
What’s more, Qing’an County has enjoyed good weather and harvests in recent years, and everyone has been living a comfortable life.
So how many people would be willing to suddenly abandon their homes and businesses and go to a completely unfamiliar place?
Ye Xiangming originally estimated that it would be great if 20,000 to 30,000 people followed.
In fact, even if they all refused to go, it wouldn’t matter.
With Grandmaster Wang Chen there, they could go anywhere in the world, and the ordinary people would in fact just be a burden.
In the end, nearly half of the people were willing to abandon their homes and take the risk of migrating. It can only be said that the two men’s prestige was too great among the people.
This resulted in the migration team stretching out for miles, which greatly increased the difficulty of management.
But thankfully, the majority of these 50,000 people were young adults and children. The older people, on the one hand, had a stronger sense of nostalgia for their hometown, and on the other hand, they could not bear the fatigue of the long journey.
In short, the Ye and Wang families’ departure took with them the essence of Qing’an County, leaving behind mostly nothing but land.
The long procession headed south, and after more than half a month of trekking, entered the territory of Yunze Prefecture.
鈥淔ather!鈥�
A petite figure nimbly jumped onto the horse’s back and wrapped her arms around Wang Chen’s neck from behind.
Wang Chen turned around and embraced his mischievous little cotton-padded jacket in his arms, smiling, 鈥淲hat’s wrong? Can’t stay still again?鈥�
The little girl wrinkled her nose and said coquettishly, 鈥淒addy, it’s stuffy in the carriage, and my brother is a crybaby, it’s so noisy!鈥�
Wang Chen smiled.
After he created the 鈥淣ine Yang Divine Skill鈥�, he passed on this tailor-made set of exercises to his beloved daughter.
And Wang Zhenzhen did not disappoint his expectations, progressing incredibly quickly and fitting the exercises perfectly.
In just a few months, she had already reached the first level of the 鈥淣ine Yang Divine Skill鈥�, and the amount of qi in her lower abdomen was already on par with that of an average martial artist.
Most importantly, Wang Zhenzhen had an innate connection to all 100 meridians and was also imbued with pure yang energy, so the level of her condensed qi was extremely high.
Her martial arts foundation was far beyond that of an ordinary person!
With the blessing of her innate qi, the little girl, who was already quite naughty, could really be controlled by no one except Wang Chen.
Ye Dai complained to Wang Chen several times, saying that Wang Chen was the one who spoiled Zhen Zhen the most!
Rubbing his daughter’s little head, Wang Chen said, 鈥淢y younger brother is still very young, and you, as an elder sister, must learn to take care of him.鈥�
After Wang Jingxing was born, he also examined his son’s bones.
He was much worse than Wang Zhen Zhen.
Wang Zhenzhen’s ceiling is not just a martial arts grandmaster, but Wang Jingxing’s is a natural master. Unless there is a great opportunity, he cannot break through any further.
Wang Chen felt that this was also quite good.
In the future, Wang Zhenzhen can focus on martial arts training and become the anchor of the Wang family.
And Wang Jingxing can learn more about the way to run a family, pass on the family business and spread out.
The two can complement each other perfectly.
鈥淒addy, look, it’s so beautiful!”
Wang Zhenzhen suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the right.
Wang Chen looked in the direction of her finger and saw that in the distance, smoke filled the sky above the water, a city looming in the midst of it all, and countless waterfowl flying high in the wind, creating a scene of paradise.
This scene caused a faint smile to appear on Wang Chen’s lips.