casket of old days

Chapter 714
After Chu Qiguang left Shenjing City with Yi Siman, he directly used the talisman water of Huang Tiandao to ride the strong wind.

According to the direction of the official road on the ground, they flew high in the sky all the way to disappear, leaving a long track in the clouds, passing through the entire Jingzhou, and finally came to Lingzhou.

Along the way, you can see that Jingzhou is no longer as prosperous as it used to be.

If you can still see some people and streets in the area close to Shenjing City.

After a hundred miles away from Shenjing City, it is already sparsely populated, remote and desolate, and the land looks barren and gray.

Obviously, with years of catastrophes, coupled with the ineffectiveness of the imperial court in disaster relief, various exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes have increased year by year, and the entire Jingzhou has become more and more dilapidated.

There are censors who describe it as corrupt officials, people living in dire straits, and thieves flourishing in times of severe drought.

After leaving Jingzhou and coming to Lingzhou, the situation can be seen to be obviously different.

Even in this cold winter, there are still many people working like ants in the fields of Lingzhou.

On the official road, there are even more caravans coming and going, transporting goods against the wind and snow.

Obviously, relying on Chu Qiguang's past management, the entire Lingzhou is more angry than Jingzhou.

But along the way, you can still see many deserted fields, refugees fleeing for refuge, and bandits making trouble...

boom!
A group of bandits who were attacking the village were all turned into corpses under the bombardment of the Great Freedom.

The villagers, who were still terrified just now, saw this miraculous scene, knelt down on the ground one by one, and prayed to Xuanyuan Daoist.

An old man stood up tremblingly and said loudly: "This is the manifestation of Daoist!"

"I have to fulfill my wish. Let's gather together the money and send it to the Taoist temple. Don't neglect Master Daoist..."

Hearing these words, the other villagers nodded obediently, obviously the other party was highly respected in the village.

But the next moment, there were bursts of shouts like thunder in the sky.

"I am Dao Zun, and I now order you not to give money to Taoist temples in the future."

"If you have money, it is better to buy stocks. If you buy good stocks, you will get a good return. Taoist Xuanyuan will bless you, do you understand?"

Among the clouds in the sky, looking at the kowtowing villagers below, Yi Siman said casually: "Does the town demon envoy still care about such things? If you let these people buy stocks, you will lose them to death." .”

Chu Qiguang flicked his fingertips, and they were surrounded by whirlwinds, and they continued to fly forward.

Chu Qiguang said lightly: "After I come back from this trip to the grassland, the stock market in Lingzhou will definitely go up, and I can't lose money."

Yi Siman asked again: "What about Emperor Yong'an? Is he really worthy of your assistance?"

"Look at what he has turned into the Lingzhou you run?"

"This man exhausts the fat of the people, builds buildings indiscriminately, measures the material power of the world in order to achieve his own realm..."

Chu Qiguang turned his head to look at Yi Siman, and said with a smile: "If you don't assist the big man, which one should you go to?"

Yi Siman said: "I will work hard with one mind, the Son of Heaven is wise and martial, and he will work hard to rule. He will have millions of elite teachers. In the future, the south will rule the Central Plains, but it will only be a matter of time."

Chu Qiguang took a deep look at him, and asked, "You have been in the Central Plains for a long time, do you really think it's good to work hard?"

"Or is it that you have been in the capital for so long that you have forgotten what the grassland really looks like?"

Yi Siman's eyes narrowed slightly when he heard the words, he just wanted to test Chu Qiguang's attitude towards the big man, but he didn't expect the other party to say such a thing.

Feeling that Chu Qiguang's words seemed to be quite contemptuous of Dagan, he said unwillingly: "In the past 20 years, my Dagan soldiers have gone south several times, and every time they have won a complete victory."

"Big men occupy the rich and prosperous land of the Central Plains, and your population is a hundred times that of ours, but you have never defeated us on the battlefield."

"Isn't this enough to show the strength of Daqian?"

Chu Qiguang sneered: "Have you ever thought about why you still wanted peace talks seven years ago, since you have always been able to win?"

Yi Siman was taken aback for a moment, and subconsciously thought about it.

Chu Qiguang went on to say: "War...is the most primitive kind of national business, with high investment, high risks and heavy assets. If you win, you will rob people and food, and if you lose, you will die."

"A truly powerful country has more advanced, more cost-effective and lower-risk methods to profit and expand. War is the last resort."

The two continued to fly northward, crossed the territory of the Nine Frontier Army Town, and finally followed the pass of the Yunzhong Army Town to the grassland.

Not long after they crossed the pass, a group of powerful warriors were riding giant wolves, chasing the Han Chinese team in front of them like playing tricks.

Dagan respects the wolf clan, and there is even a wolf cavalry establishment in the army.

The so-called wolf cavalry is composed of a giant wolf that cannot be transformed and a wolf demon that can transform, and they are a kind of comrade-in-arms relationship.

Chu Qiguang said: "I heard that Dagan's army used to go south to plunder."

"Except for food, cloth and other property."

"They often also plunder the population and capture the Han people back as slaves."

"But after the peace talks, they have stopped looting for a few years."

Chu Qiguang looked at Yi Siman who was at the side and asked, "Do you know what's going on now?"

Yi Siman frowned, shook his head and said, "Maybe it's the private actions of this cavalry."

"It's also possible that these Han Chinese were caught sneaking across the border to herd cattle."

He lowered his head and looked carefully, only to see that the people in the Han team were all dressed in rags and looked frightened. They looked backward from time to time, and every time they heard the sound of howling wolves, the despair in their eyes deepened.

In the team, a weak woman was holding a thin girl of three or four years old.

The little girl's face was flushed, her body was shaking, and she seemed to have contracted typhoid fever.

While fleeing, the already extremely weak woman could no longer hold her daughter, and saw her daughter fall to the ground as soon as her hands softened.

She moved her steps, trying to pull her daughter up, but was dragged away by the people around her.

The little girl curled up on the ground, still tightly holding the amulet her mother had begged for her from the Taoist temple, and murmured: "Mother..."

After a while, the shadow of the cavalry loomed over the little girl.

In the sky, Yi Siman looked at this scene and said, "Aren't you going to save people?"

Chu Qiguang looked at him and said, "What do they usually do with this child?"

Yi Siman said: "This child is too weak, and it will be difficult to support him if he is taken back. For them, it is better to take the older slaves directly."

"Probably... it will be fed to wolves."

Chu Qiguang shook his head: "Slaves...Although the big man is bad enough, it is still a feudal system, and the slaves have been removed in name."

"You guys are still in the semi-feudal and semi-slavery stage."

(End of this chapter)