Chapter 264 – Great Jiangnan and Great Jiangbei

Xu Fengyen made a brief stop at Qingliang Mountain, and then took the Feng Zi Battalion of light cavalry and rushed non-stop to the new city that broke ground at the beginning of this year. He was accompanied by Xu Beihuan, who had just stepped down as the Assassin of Lingzhou, and Chen Xiliang, who had never been in the top rank in Liuzhou.

Previously with him, the king of northern Liang together into the cool of the women, aunt Zhao Yutai accompanied Xu Weixiong side, Chen Yu and green robes little girl extraordinarily kindred spirits, also stayed in the Qingliang Mountain, a small, nothing like to listen to the tide of the lake of wishing lotus thrown throw throwing wishing coins, in the city of Tai’an to be playmates Jia Jia and Xu Ying, to the north of the king’s house also began to “part ways! “Oh girl likes to run from mountain to mountain with two tiger kui, and then run from the mountain to the mountain, only occasionally see the woman called Lu Cheng Yan, will stop and laugh a few times, but it is Xu Ying somehow like to listen to the Liyang literary world of Wang Chudong storytelling, in short, Qingliang Mountain seems to be all of a sudden lively. Especially the rouge evaluation with a certain Nangong vie for the top of the list of Chen Yu, her arrival, just let a few glimpses of people, was surprised by the heavenly, every time when she appeared in the tide of listening to the lake to take a walk stop, Song Dongming and Bai Yu under those Northern Liang Junyan, if there is a sharp-eyed found, will soon be a rumor of a hundred, even if the matter at hand is busy and heavy, but also can be cheeky to find some lame reason excuse. Flocking to the small square outside the government house railing side “enjoy the scenery”, Song Deputy Secretary General turned a blind eye to this, and never difficult not to stop this group of simple-minded young readers.

Although successfully thwarted the North Mang south invasion, but the construction of the unprecedented new city did not stop, even day and night, the construction of the main wall of the outer perimeter, almost with the naked eye can reach the amazing speed of the ground, this world’s spectacular scene, inevitably with the exhaustion of countless financial and material resources as a huge cost of Northern Liang. Therefore, many scholars who went to Liang quoted the classics and used the example of the three times of the previous dynasty when the capital city of Da Chu called for labor, all of them were “resting with the people” for 30 days, never delaying the people’s agricultural work, so as to criticize that this move of Beiliang is drying up the water to catch fish. With the Beiliang Road Deputy Secretary Song Dongming leading the Qingliang Mountain lineage of young and strong civil officials, scoffed at this, thus triggering a debate that soon spread throughout the entire Beiliang scholarly forest, and then in the middle of this large-scale pen battle with no smoke, the new city site is always hot and heavy. Apart from Xu Fengyen, who was only the nominal general as a master craftsman, all of them, from the two new city governors, Li Gongde and Mozi, to the six deputy supervisors, including Wang Peifang, the assassin of Liangzhou, to the nearly 60,000 local troops and hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the three states within the Beiliang Pass, all of them were oblivious to what was going on within the pass, and ignored the debate of whether or not the construction of the new city was a laborious effort to the people and hurt their finances.

Xu Fengyen drove alongside Xu Beihao Chen Xiliang, followed by Xu Yanbing and Yu Xinlang, who were talking happily with each other.

Chen Xiliang than the earliest into the cool, a good white-faced clean-cut Jiangnan scholar, holding the reins of the hands covered with calluses, turned into a black charcoal like thin village man, just eyes glittering, calm and resolute, at this time with Xu Fengyen said: ”As long as Qingliang mountain can afford to pay out the silver, the flow of the state can immediately draw about 40,000 of the young and strong rushed to the new city. But I hope that in addition to not defaulting on their wages, Your Majesty will also recognize their version of their registration. We, the people of Liuzhou, are really too bitter!”

Xu Fengnian was a bit embarrassed, “Silver ah ……”

Being winked at Xu Beihuan rolled his eyes, now he has officially served as the transit ambassador of the privately arrogated establishment of the Beiliang Road, slowly said, “Winning the North Mang barbarians, removing the soldier’s pay and pensions not to mention the two, directly sent down the reward silver for military service will be nearly 900,000 taels, this is still Yan Wenluan Yu Luan knife these border generals lead the way in requesting not to have any reward, and finally Qingliang Mountain to silk literature and games these Objects converted into silver sent out, or else the Northern Liang Royal House existing inventory silver has bottomed out. Lingshou side is still extra to squeeze out a million or so of real money, but the purchase of grain and grass, certainly in the first place, after all, the imperial canal ban has not yet been implemented, we are not good to hold too much hope, taking advantage of the two Huai Dao and Jing’an Road to see the wind at the helm, it is difficult to loosen the mouth of the Lingshou officials as long as there is a gateway to the public silver ‘private’ identity to buy food, and the public is the only way to get the money to buy food. ‘ status to buy grain, and as a last resort, the money of Lingzhou, cannot be moved.”

Chen Xiliang neither got annoyed nor died on this, asking, “If we don’t want the wages, is it feasible for the people of my Liuzhou to exchange one year of servitude for a Liangzhou household registration officially recognized by Northern Liang?”

Xu Bei Hoven thought for a moment and shook his head, “In normal times, it is naturally feasible, but now that the Great War has just ended, the first set of young men from Liuzhou who entered the Liangyi border, only the 20,000 stragglers who participated in the Xiaguang City defense and Huloukou killings have obtained the official household registration, and even those stragglers outside of the Liangzhou Pass who did not enter the battlefield have not been given the same treatment so far, so if they only participated in the construction of the city, they would be able to become Liangzhou citizens. If you are able to become a Liangzhou citizen just by participating in the construction of the city, there are bound to be people who are dissatisfied. It’s never like that to not suffer from scarcity, but to suffer from uneven distribution.”

Chen Xiliang suddenly felt a surge of anger, but it wasn’t directed at Xu Beihao and Xu Fengyin, looking towards the yellow sands of the desert in the distance, his lips pursed tightly.

He recalled the deadly battle in Qingcang City, at the last moment, how many young and strong Liuzhou men who came one after another, barged into the battlefield by themselves, casually picking up the weapons of either the Northern Liang Iron Cavalry or the Northern Mang Barbarians, and died in battle that way?

Xu Fengnian asked softly, “Chen Xiliang, has it ever occurred to you that one day in the future, in the less than 300,000 people of Liuzhou, everyone will be a citizen of the Bei Liang Dao Liuzhou household registration, and will not have to take their lives to wrestle for a Bei Zhou version of the registration at all?”

Chen Xiliang took a deep breath and remained silent, his eyes in a trance, seemingly longing for that day.

Many times even Yang Guangdou, the assassin of Liuzhou, laughed and said that in the whole of Liuzhou, only Chen Xiliang, an outsider who hadn’t landed for a few years, was even more of a Liuzhou native than a Liuzhou person.

Xu Beihuan suddenly smiled and broke down the stage: “Your Highness, you’ve drawn this big cake without spending a single copper plate ah, compared to the big spenders in the past, you will be much more in charge now.”

Xu Fengyen laughed heartily, his hands wrapped around his chest and did not hold the reins, his body rose and fell with the bumps of the horse’s back, his expression was quite self-satisfied.

Chen Xiliang also smiled and chimed in, “There are a few moments of being a diligent and thrifty family man.”

Xu Fengyen laughed and then turned his head and joked, “Xiliang, I know you don’t care about the official size, but this time, if you hold Qingcang and Liuzhou, not to say that you deserve great credit, or at least, you can’t get away with it, if you insist not to be promoted, how can you let your colleagues, who are supposed to be happy to be promoted to a higher rank, get along with themselves? You’re at ease, but they’re going to have to live with it. You are at ease, but they are going to be uncomfortable ah.”

Chen Xiliang shook his head and said, “From the assassin’s residence and the Longxiang army to the three towns’ generals, the king should reward the military achievements as he sees fit, don’t worry about me, the officialdom of Liuzhou is not like Liangzhou Lingshou, it doesn’t have as many twists and turns as the king imagines.”

Xu Fengyen said seemingly casually, “Assassin Yang Guangdou himself knows very well, he will not stay in Liuzhou for too long, I also can’t bear to let this old man outside of the plug, accompanied by you young officials who are in the prime of their lives to eat and sleep in the streets, by then if the Liangmang war is over, the border is fixed, Liuzhou is destined to ‘change the dynasty’, the soldiers who enter Liang are not as good as those who enter Liang. ‘, into the Liang scholars not to say, the three states of northern Liang native officials also want to covet, the future of Liuzhou will be the connection between Liyang and the western region of the necessary trade channels, but also a transit center, now Liuzhou officials are not worth money, but later perhaps more than the plugging of the south of the river Lingshou more affluent. Assassin Yang patted his ass and left, returned to Liangzhou as a vice governor or something, old age, then your set of Liuzhou official ‘old man’, and the two to three hundred thousand stragglers, the group of dragons without a leader, you do not worry?”

Chen Xiliang fell into silence.

Xu Beihao changed the topic and gloated, “The God of Wealth of Northern Liang, who claimed to have traveled every inch of Liangliu and Liuzhou in just two years, and who also has the status of Deputy Supervisor of the New City, suddenly contracted a wind chill this time and stayed at home to recuperate, Your Highness, you didn’t go to offer your condolences?”

Xu Fengyen had a big headache.

Xu Bei Hoven said carelessly: “line line line, the bell must be tied to the bell people this argument, in the family matters in the head is not reasonable, so I took the initiative to go to the royal residence …… king your future old man’s that royal residence, looking for him Wang Linquan well drink a time, resentment, surely, their Wang family said than the Lu family to enter the cooler earlier. Lu family to be earlier into the cool, the first half of his life saddle horse back to the general as a pawn, the second half of his life and in Qingzhou to accumulate so big a family business, Xu family a hand, the entire Wang family with a box a car gold and silver into the northern Liang, and Wang family did not have to go with Qingliang Mountain to the official hat, two did not have to go with Qingliang Mountain to open the backdoor, to do the hardest business, what is the figure, but also not the thought of his daughter, to be able to get a word of the right, and not the side. Instead of side?”

Xu Fengyen sighed softly, in the sense of reason, should be so.

Xu Beihuan continued to laugh: “Wang Linquan drank too much, but also said that even if Chudong’s daughter doesn’t have the life of a proper royal consort, but as long as that woman surnamed Lu is also a side royal consort, both are side royal consorts without any difference between high and low, it’s also not an aggravation to Chudong. What’s going on here? Wang Linquan’s words, the Lu family gang of untalented guys, from the bullying Lu Dongjiang to the bullying Lu family children, how many are sincere for the Xu family to consider the situation of the good things? It’s just that they have read more books, but as a result, they all have their tails up in the air, and they want to occupy the key official positions in Beiliang, so that they can live up to their noble status, a bunch of things that don’t know the height of heaven and earth!”

Seeing Xu Fengyen turn his head to look over, Xu Beihao grinned, “I naturally said those last sentences, even if Wang Linquan had poured a few hundred pounds of green ant wine, he certainly wouldn’t dare to reveal his heart like this.”

Xu Fengnian said helplessly, “I know you have a grudge against me because of the canal transportation, but that’s pretty much it, do you really think I’m a buddha made of clay that won’t get angry?”

Xu Bei Hao coldly hummed, “I’ll say the ugly words in advance, Qiyang Dragon is Qiyang Dragon, the court is the court, since Zhang Julu’s death, an irreparable crack has appeared in the temple, the light of the ruler and the ministers being in good terms with each other has gone forever. Zhao’s son of heaven put Wen Taiyi and Ma Zhongxian a civil and a military into the hinterland of the Central Plains of the Jing’an Road, coupled with the town of Qingzhou Xiangfan’s Zhao Xun, these three people together a bunch of what can be a good heart? I do not know how the atmosphere of the capital will be a small dynasty, I do not know Qi Yanglong, the first minister and Huan Wen, the second minister had no objection at that time, but since Wen Ma have been out of the capital to go to the office, when the transport bump, the Emperor is far away, casually find a reason to cope with the court of the Ministry of households how difficult it is? Qi Yanglong is the Minister, not the Minister of the Household! Huan Wen is in Menxia Province, not in the Ministry of Revenue!”

Xu Fengyen covered his heart and pretended to be in pain, “Oops, after the successive battles in Tai’an City, the internal injuries are extremely heavy, my heart hurts and my head hurts, no, I have to go back to the carriage and lie down.”

The Northwest Vassal King and Martial Assessment Grand Master slipped away.

Chen Xiliang’s mouth was all smiles.

Xu Beihao turned his head and sneered loudly, “If you have the ability, lie all the way to the new city outside the pass!”

After Xu Fengyin ran away, there were no words for a while, Xu Beihao glanced at Chen Xiliang who was riding like a walker and laughed at himself, “I’m not as good as you in the matter of horseback riding, the inside of my thighs are burning like fire at this moment.”

Chen Xiliang laughed: “Liuzhou is a sparsely populated area, the two post roads from Liangzhou Liangzhou to Qingcang city have just started, so you have to ride fast horses to do anything, and at first I wasn’t used to it, except for my back pain, when I lay down in bed and fall asleep, it’s almost the same as a drunken person’s heavenly rotation, obviously lying down, but it’s still like being on the back of a horse with highs and lows, which is a very sinful thing to do. Only now it’s different, even if there’s nothing going on outside of the city, a day without riding a horse for dozens of miles instead feels wrong.”

Xu Beihao looked indifferent, said softly: “went to the capital, that guy seems to unravel a lot of knots, before is definitely not give people a pie, more than half of the next LiangMang war does have a few grasp, since this is the case, we might as well also slightly things in the direction of good thinking, such as where you are in the flow of the state, as has been allocated to the northern Liang road map of the fourth state, the better the world, the flow of the state in the northern Liang status is bound to be more water. The status of Northern Liang is bound to be higher, not to mention the vast western region in the future to open up the fifth and sixth state, as the bridge between Northern Liang and Liyang connected to the western region, the flow of the state is the meat and potatoes on the board, military, Xu Longxiang’s Dragon Elephant Army, I guess even the old seniority of the Liangzhou border army, is not too good to run to grab the land, but the seats of the assassin’s residence in the flow of the state, it’s not easy to say. Far not to mention, let’s say I just left Lingzhou, regardless of prestige or merit, as a matter of fact, can cross a step of Huangyan Huang Buyei, not as the new Lingzhou assassin? From now on, especially in the future when the war is not so tense, that guy will only have more things to worry about, not less. Chen Xiliang, it’s not easy for you to open up a situation in Liuzhou, no matter if you’re doing it for your own future or for the sake of the Liuzhou situation, it’s time for you to move your seat forward, the county officials are better than the current administrators, even if you’re a deputy secretary, it’s still not as useful as being an assassin of a lower half rank in Liuzhou.”

Probably infected by Xu Beihuan’s openness, Chen Xiliang also bluntly said, “I understand the reasoning, in fact, this time I came to Qingliang Mountain, on the road, I also thought about it quite a lot, as long as the war is over, Liuzhou not only can be in the Northern Liang Road with the other three states on an equal footing, and may even be the top priority in the heart of the Liyang imperial court.”

Xu Beihao nodded his head and said in a deep voice, “Right! Exactly this reasoning. Once the Northern Mang retreats and no longer dares to raise troops on the northwest border, then the court may have to send a civil official to Liushu, responsible for helping Liyang to control the borderlands, and that would not be Yang Shenxing serving as the deputy envoy of the festival so peacefully. This may seem absurd, but there have been precedents to follow, the Ministry of War Minister Xu Gong border patrols two Liao not to say, so many section of the ambassador to the Secretary General from the city of Tai’an spread out, which one is the light of oil? Wang Xionggui, Lu Baijie, Yuan Guo, Han Lin, Wen Taiyi, Ma Zhongxian, if we don’t care about the enemy’s position, none of them are actually mediocre.”

Chen Xiliang frowned, “I’m afraid that when the time comes, the court will let Yao Baifeng, the left priest of the State Scholarship Academy, to go to Liuzhou, Yao priest is originally from Beiliang, and even though he is in the temple, he has always been close to Beiliang, and this science master will enter the mainstream state, no matter if it’s the royal family or the officials, I think that they are all happy with the idea.”

Xu Beihuan quickly picked up, “Yes, just as Zhang Julu was in Liyang, and may not be willing to consider everything for the Zhao family, Yao Daolu and Biye’er are similar in nature, and when they return to Beiliang, it is inevitable that they will have to think of the imperial court in more ways than one.”

Chen Xiliang laughed bitterly, “It seems like it’s time for me to fight for the position of Liuzhou’s special governor.”

Xu Beihuan narrowed his eyes and said, “Saving for a rainy day, I think it’s best to have the assassin in the bag as well, I’m sure the court doesn’t have the cheek to let Yao Baifeng return to Beiliang as a state’s special governor, right?”

Chen Xiliang laughed, “Being a one-rule envoy would be justified.”

Xu Beihao bristled, “Being a strategy envoy on Qingliang Mountain? Wouldn’t you still be eaten to death by Song Dongming and the others? Besides, if they weren’t going to Liuzhou, how many Liyang officials would dare to follow Yao Baifeng to become an official in the Northern Liang King’s Mansion? Wouldn’t they still have to wake up early every morning and touch their necks, glad that their heads are still on their shoulders?”

Chen Xiliang held back his laughter and nodded, “That’s true.”

Someone behind them suddenly shouted, “Orange, Xiliang, I suddenly feel better, why don’t you guys ride in the carriage and I’ll be the horseman for you two?”

The white horse volunteers near the carriage all smiled heartily.

Xu Beihuan turned his head to look at his peers around him and asked, “What do you say?”

Chen Xiliang said in a serious manner, “There can be.”

The two riders simultaneously pivoted their horses.

Beiliang King Xu Fengnian, who was seated in the carriage driver’s seat, watched these two Beiliang strategists come slowly.

He suddenly raised his eyes and looked away.

There was a withered scribe of the Hearing Tide Pavilion, who died without a grave, and that altar of ashes was scattered outside this Northern Liang Pass.

South of the great river, north of the great river.

South of South Mountain, North of North Liang.

There is Jiangnan in the south, three thousand li.

There are tombstones in Northern Liang, three hundred thousand.