Emperor Taizong's Growth Plan

Chapter 438
Cloud Country, Jiangzhou City.

Although the war has only been over for a few months, Jiangzhou City at this time has recovered somewhat, and it looks like it was prosperous in the past.

The shops on both sides of the streets in the city opened their doors one after another.The number of people who went out also increased visibly with the naked eye.At the city gates and docks, countless caravan merchants came with an astonishing amount of supplies.Even on the side of the road, there are many more vendors.

But at this moment in the city, you can see the soldiers of the Yun Kingdom wearing armor everywhere in groups, happily shopping and wandering around the city.

Now that the war has come to an end, the cloud troops of each battalion have begun to take turns to go out of the camp to rest and bathe, so as to relieve the depression of the soldiers who have been in the barracks for more than half a year.It was also because of this that it was only at this time that the city was able to see so many soldiers of the Yun Army who were not engaged in military affairs.

At the beginning, facing the soldiers of the Yun army, the original merchants and common people in this city were all afraid and did not dare to approach at all.

However, some time ago, rewards from the imperial court were issued one after another, and now these Yunjun soldiers not only have extremely rich pockets, but also cloth, rice, meat and other supplies.

Some of the rewarded materials were not needed by some soldiers, so they chose to sell them to the common people and traders in the city in exchange for gold and silver.Then use the gold and silver in your hands to spend wantonly in the city.

The people of Jiangzhou City can benefit from this, and the many caravans and business houses attracted here have even promoted the city's economy.

It can be said that this is a large part of the reason why Jiangzhou City has been able to quickly restore some of its former prosperity not long after the war.

The people of Jiangzhou County who had already begun to surrender and accept the rule of the Yun Kingdom, at this time, boosted by this economic prosperity, the people's hearts have risen sharply.

At the corner of a certain street in the city, an old vegetable seller with extremely thin body and full head of white hair was squatting beside the vegetable stall with his head down, peddling absently.

Although he looked like an ordinary old man, the sharp edge under the bamboo hat, and the eyes that kept scanning the street in front of him showed that this old vegetable seller was not as simple as he appeared on the surface.

"Quickly get out of the way ahead... drive!"

The sudden sound of violent drinking caused chaos in the originally bustling street.

A dozen or so Yunjun cavalry trotted away on their horses with awe-inspiring eyes.

Even though this small group of cavalry horses were not fast and they shouted warnings all the way, they did not collide with innocent passers-by.Apart from making the people on the street unable to dodge in time and causing a little commotion, there is nothing wrong with it.

But at this time, the old vegetable seller stared closely at the Yunguo cavalry passing by on horseback, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Just looking at the costumes of this cavalry, it is impressive that they are on the battlefield, the famous elite of Yun Kingdom, Youzhou Tuqi!
The old vegetable seller hesitated for a while, and finally sighed quietly, thinking to himself:

In front of the various government offices in Jiangzhou City, the defenses are extremely tight, and I can't get close, let alone attack and kill them.

I waited in ambush on the street for more than a month, and my patience was exhausted.He was loyal, brave and passionate in his heart, and he also felt extremely chilled because of the beheading of the righteous men of Jiangzhou County in front of the Xia Guo Mission.

The depressed old man felt at a loss in his heart.At this time, seeing Youzhou Tuqi passing by on a horse in front of him, a thought suddenly came to his mind.

Since it is impossible to assassinate the senior officials of the Yun Kingdom, it is better to find a way to kill the elite of the Yun Kingdom.It's better than killing a few ordinary Yun soldiers, and then being discovered and besieged by the people of Yun Kingdom.

Thinking this way in the old man's heart, a murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

The next moment, his skinny right hand was already reaching for the pole placed beside the stall.

Those with careful observation and sensitive emotions will be able to find that the wooden poles, which look like wooden poles, actually crush the bluestone bricks paved on the street to pieces.

The "carrying pole" of the old vegetable seller is by no means as simple as it seems at this time.

But even so, the vegetable seller still lifted his hand lightly, as if he was holding a real pole.

Seeing the cavalry of the cloud army leave quickly, the old vegetable seller groaned for a moment, and couldn't sit still any longer. Yunguo cavalry chased after them.

Although the old man looked thin and weak, the martial arts revealed at this time were unusual.Holding the "carrying pole" of unknown weight, he strode forward with a fast speed, not slow at all compared to a galloping horse, revealing the cultivation base of a high-level warrior.

At this time, the old vegetable seller was staring at the Yunguo cavalry in front of him, and the veins in his right hand holding the pole were exposed.

And just when he was about to attack and kill the Yun army in the street, he saw the Youzhou Tuqi in front of him suddenly reined in his horse and rushed into a restaurant beside the street with murderous intent in front of all the common people among.

That wolf-like appearance immediately caused the surrounding people to watch from afar, and whispered timidly in private.

Seeing this, the old man frowned even more.

The old man was already depressed, but at this moment, he felt that the Yun army was looting in broad daylight, and his heart suddenly became angry, and he cursed in his heart:
This Youzhou Tuqi team is known as the elite of the world, but they are in vain as soldiers.Bullying the people like this, looting without shyness, killing is not wrong!
Thinking of this, the old man wanted to push away the crowd of onlookers and rushed in.Even at the risk of being besieged and killed by the rushing cloud army, he must kill all the cloud army in full view!
But before he rushed into the restaurant, the Youzhou sudden cavalry team came out with the three Yunjun soldiers under pressure, and stripped off the armor of the three men in front of the surrounding people, and pressed them down. Kneel on the ground.

The leading general walked quickly in front of the crowd, looked at the three of them, and sternly reprimanded:

"Chen Shi, the governor of the Tianwu Camp of the Imperial Army, Kong Anhe, and Ma Xiang, the soldiers. After being sued by the people, after the three of you entered the city, you used your status as a lieutenant general to buy and sell forcibly at the street vendor in Tianshui Lane in the south of the city. After the dispute, you actually returned Beating the street vendor. Is there such a thing?"

The three Yunjun generals who were being escorted still had a bit of drunkenness on their faces, and when they were escorted out, they still had a hint of bewilderment.

Knowing that when they heard the general shouting and asking, and seeing the murderous look on their faces, the drunkenness of the three of them dissipated immediately, and they couldn't help but tremble in their hearts, showing panic.

The leader, Dubo, retorted loudly at this time:
"No, it's not a forced sale, it's because that person bought and sold unfairly! A piece of cloth rewarded by the army is worth three renminbi, but he only pays two renminbi. A bottle of wound medicine, but five renminbi. Such a profiteer , how can I let it go!"

The other two soldiers also quickly called out to Qu.

"That's right, Captain, please check carefully!"

"I waited wronged!"

The chief general who came to apprehend him, his eyes sharpened, and he immediately shouted:

"Before the gates of the camp were opened, His Majesty issued an edict that none of the officers and soldiers should disturb the people. If there is any violation, deal with it severely, so as to serve as an example to others!"

"Now, you have confessed to the crimes you have committed. Buying and selling by force, beating the people, and harassing the people. Both crimes should be punished severely. According to my Dayun military law, beheaded on the spot!"

With a strong momentum, all the soldiers rose up at this time.The dignified and threatening murderous aura made the faces of the three offenders turn pale, and they shouted urgently:
"The captain, please raise your hand high!"

"I, we are the soldiers of the Tianwu Battalion. Even if we violate the military regulations, we should be dealt with by the battalion officer!"

"We all have military merits, and we have shed blood for His Majesty and Dayun. You can't treat us like this!"

The leading general disregarded what the three of them said, his eyes were firm and firm, and he shouted violently:
"Cut everywhere!"

The soldiers of Youzhou Tuqi who were on the side immediately stepped forward, raised their long knives in their hands, and swung them down.

The three heads just rolled down to the ground, and the blood spattered all over the ground, which immediately caused exclamations from the surrounding people.

After a moment of silence all around, someone took the lead and called out:
"it is good!"

Hearing the sound of applause, all the common people also reacted at this time, and they also cheered loudly.

The soldiers who came to march for the law, amidst the applause and applause, restrained the bodies of the three men, got on their horses, and left quickly.

The old vegetable seller, carrying a pole in his hand, stood in front of the crowd in a daze, watching the people around him clapping and applauding, for some reason, he suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness.

He stayed where he was, seemingly a little overwhelmed.

It wasn't until all the people around him dispersed that he returned in a daze.

And when he returned to the original vegetable stall that was used for camouflage, he saw several soldiers of the Yun army talking to the surrounding vendors.One of them did not leave until he stood at his booth.

Seeing this, the old man felt vigilant in his heart, he couldn't help tightening his right hand on the pole, and subconsciously wanted to turn around and leave.

But before the old man had any reaction, a street vendor saw him standing there in a daze, and without thinking about it, he smiled and said casually:
"Old man Qian, the government has come here. He said that setting up stalls at will would affect the appearance of the city, and gave us a good place to shelter from the wind and rain, which will be specially used for us to set up stalls for business in the future. He also promised us not to let those Officers, Jianghu people, rangers and ruffians come to extort money... Hey, this sounds like a good thing. I just don’t know how much the government wants to charge us.”

"Of course it's a good thing. Among other things, we can have a place to shelter from the wind and rain, so we don't need to be exposed to the wind and the sun in the future! And if the government asks for more, let's come out again." The street vendor answered.

Someone quietly glanced at several Yunjun soldiers in the distance, lowered his voice, and said:

"There are also these soldiers. Although they speak official language, they are much more kind than those old local guards in the yamen!"

"Tell me whether it's unusual or not. I've lived so long, and I've never seen the government care about poor people like us."

"That's right. In the past, the government only cared about those rich merchants who had shops. I didn't expect that the court would take care of us now!"

Hearing everyone's discussion, old man Qian relaxed a little when he knew that these cloud troops were not coming for him.

"Old man Qian, go back quickly! Just now I saw you in a hurry and didn't know where to go, and someone wanted to share all your food. Fortunately, these soldiers came, drove people away, and made people I specially watch over the stall for you."

Hearing this, old man Qian stood there silent for a long time, lowered his head to look at the pole in his hand, feeling even more bewildered...
-
Xia Guo, Hailing County.

More than a hundred embroidered emissaries dressed in colorful satin embroidered clothes, all of them were powerful and sharp-eyed, riding on horses, surrounded by the carriage in the middle, and marched along the official road.

Before and after the convoy, there were thousands of local county soldiers carefully escorting them.

Such a big battle, even if the two thousand stone officials from the Xia Kingdom visited the place in the past, it is hard to compare.Just by looking at them, one can tell that the characters in this convoy are really not small!
In the carriage, Zhong Zizhuo, whose chubby face had already lost a lot of weight due to running around for days, poked his head out of the window and asked anxiously:

"Where are you?"

The embroidered emissary beside the carriage quickly replied:
"Returning to my lord, there are still two hundred miles away from Taizhou City, the county seat of Hailing County."

When Zhong Zizhuo heard the words, he couldn't help saying:
"Since there are only two hundred miles left, why not speed up the pace? According to the current speed, I'm afraid it will take two or three days to reach Taizhou City!"

Zhong Zizhuo was really tired of running around for the past few days.

"My lord, the forces of the traitor Zhang Shicheng have already spread outside the city of Taizhou. With this speed, I really can't go fast. Otherwise, the bandit army will take the opportunity to sneak attack, and I may endanger your safety, my lord!" the embroidered clothes envoy hurriedly said.

Hearing this, Zhong Zizhuo hesitated slightly, and could no longer utter the order to speed up, so he could only grit his teeth and sit back in the carriage again.

At this time, in the carriage, there were two Zhong Zizhuo's "confidantes" embroidered emissaries who were wearing embroidered clothes. At this time, they lowered their voices and said:
"Master Yiwei, Zhang Shicheng hasn't been informed of your identity yet, so it's better to be on the safe side."

Zhong Zizhuo heard the words, he could only nod his head and said:

"I know!"

Having said that, Zhong Zizhuo lowered his voice and said:
"Then who is the person sent by His Majesty, where to meet, what is my mission, have you contacted them?"

"Don't worry, my lord, everything is clear."

"The people who came here this time, besides Zhang Shicheng, were Wang Zhi, the Henghai general who was in charge of secretly delivering a batch of weapons, money and food to Zhang Shicheng. Your mission, my lord, is to obey Emperor Xia's order and die. Hands, check the salt merchants in Hailing County."

Zhong Zizhuo was taken aback when he heard the words, and said hesitantly:

"Isn't it because of the support of the salt merchants that Zhang Shicheng gained his momentum today? Your Majesty is serious and wants me to kill the salt merchants?

Zhong Zizhuo's resourcefulness is not low, so he can naturally see how beneficial it is for Yun Kingdom to see the turmoil in Hailing County, the southeast coastal area of ​​Xia Kingdom.At this time, if he is asked to clean up the local salt merchants, it is very likely that Zhang Shicheng's department will not have assistance, and it will be destroyed!
Hearing the words, the subordinates explained:

"It used to be, but now General Henghai has come to prove that the sea route has been opened up. In the future, the food, grass and military equipment Zhang Shicheng needs can be transported from the sea trade route. These salt merchants are not very useful. The more ruthless you are, the easier it will be." The better!"

"Firstly, I can give you some credit, my lord. Second, besides Hailing County, the salt merchants in the Xia Kingdom also have a richer land called Qi. The more ruthless your lord's methods, the more frightened these salt merchants will be. The more the salt merchants are alienated from Xia Guo..."

The consequence of this "divorce from the court of Xia Kingdom" is naturally turmoil in Qidi. As long as it is pushed a little bit, the story of Hailing County can be repeated again!
Hearing this, Zhong Zizhuo's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help showing a smile, saying:
"High, it's really high! I understand what His Majesty means!"

(End of this chapter)