Ouchi Taming the Cat, starting with the Ten Tiger Forms!

Chapter 546: Authentic Northern Specialties

After waiting for a while, there was light in the Ganlu Hall.

Monk Chief Li Xuan did not have to wait too long and was soon led into the hall by Wang Xi.

Emperor Yongyuan was wearing an inner garment with red and gold patterns and was sitting behind the dragon table, but he still had his eyes closed, as if he had not yet fully woken up.

"What about the letter?"

Chief Steward Shang immediately presented the letter sent by Li Xuan.

Emperor Yongyuan rubbed his eyebrows, then opened his eyes and opened the letter.

When Emperor Yongyuan saw the dragon seal and wax on the letter, his expression darkened slightly.

Then he opened the letter and began to read its contents carefully.

But the more Emperor Yongyuan looked, the more his brows furrowed.

The content of the letter was quite extensive. In addition to the intelligence summary written by Zhao Feng himself, there was also a report written by Wei Zhen from his own perspective.

After reading it carefully, Emperor Yongyuan couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

After a while, he sorted out the letters in his hand and handed them to Wang Xi beside him.

Wang Xi understood immediately and walked downstairs to look at it together with the chief monk.

"Axuan."

After receiving the summons from Emperor Yongyuan, Li Xuan immediately jumped onto the dragon table.

“Is the cold wave really expanding?”

Li Xuan thought about it, and then used his tail to write down what he saw at that time.

In fact, from his and Zhao Feng's perspective, it is difficult to confirm whether the cold wave has really expanded. The most important thing is the information from Wei Zhen and other hunting officers.

Therefore, Li Xuan simply explained what he saw and heard from his own perspective.

"For the Great Desert White Wolf Guard to mobilize so many troops and send a Darughachi to lead the team, I'm afraid it's almost certain."

Emperor Yongyuan sighed, obviously this matter gave him a headache.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs should devote some energy to investigating this matter and pay close attention to the development of the cold wave."

"If there is any abnormality, it must be reported in time."

Chief Shang immediately accepted the order: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"After the people from the North Team come back, let them rest in the capital. I have other tasks to assign next year. Let them stay in the capital and be on standby. Hunting activities in the North will be temporarily suspended."

"Pay close attention to the movements of the desert, record all external and internal activities, and grasp all details."

Emperor Yongyuan's order increased the pressure on the Imperial Household Department several times.

But their job was to relieve Emperor Yongyuan's worries, so they naturally couldn't say "no" at this time.

Shang Zongguan accepted the order again and again. Since Zhao Feng was not there at the moment, he could take charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

After Emperor Yongyuan issued a series of orders, he carefully checked whether there were any omissions.

“If there is a shortage of manpower, civilian forces can be used as an extraordinary measure.”

Finally, Emperor Yongyuan added another sentence.

Manager Shang breathed a sigh of relief silently in his heart.

On weekdays, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has a heavy workload. After all, Emperor Yongyuan is now in a situation of internal and external troubles and cannot afford to have any negligence.

But now the cold wave has caused huge changes, and more forces need to be sent to monitor the desert and the northern border.

The flowery-clothed eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department are not cabbages that grow out of the ground every year. They need to be carefully cultivated for many years, and the elimination rate is extremely high.

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of elite troops who can go out on field missions is becoming increasingly insufficient, and sufficient forces must be left in the palace to support the imperial power and deter villains.

Previously, Chief Steward Shang readily agreed to Emperor Yongyuan's request, knowing that Emperor Yongyuan was not an unreasonable leader.

Even if he didn't say it, shortage of staff has been a long-standing problem for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since Emperor Yongyuan suddenly added so many tasks, he must have thought of ways to deal with them.

There is still some trust between the master and servant.

Although Li Xuan was not sure what this civilian power was, since it could be used as a backup force by Emperor Yongyuan and the chief monk, it was obviously useful.

Li Xuan just listened quietly to the arrangements made by Emperor Yongyuan. Anyway, it had nothing to do with them at the moment.

At this time, Wang Xi and the chief monk also took the time to read Zhao Feng's letter and understood the problem of the expansion of the cold wave.

Immediately, Chief Steward Shang asked, "Your Majesty, the envoys from the desert are still imprisoned. Perhaps we can get some information from them."

Obviously, Chief Steward Shang wanted to torture the envoys.

After being detained, the Desert Diplomatic Group has been ignored for a long time.

After all, they were just the trigger for this conflict.

Emperor Yongyuan did not want to make things too difficult for the envoys. After all, there would always be time to negotiate with the desert in the future.

Even if he really wanted to kill the envoys and fight to the death with Dame, the ministers in the court would not agree.

Otherwise, Bilge and others would not have been imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice, just to prevent Emperor Yongyuan from playing tricks.

"Are you sure?"

Emperor Yongyuan asked.

"If it was just an interrogation, the ministers would not have been too obstructive."

Butler Shang did not say too much.

Emperor Yongyuan also felt that there was no harm in giving it a try, so he nodded in agreement.

"Then give it a try."

"Otherwise, we would be neglecting our guests, which is not the way we treat our guests in Daxing."

Next, Emperor Yongyuan confirmed some specific details before letting them withdraw and go back to rest.

It was not easy for him to be an emperor. He had to sleep late at night and be woken up to handle official business when there was an emergency.

Li Xuan and the chief monk took their leave together, and after coming out of the Ganlu Hall, they also prepared to go back and rest.

On their way back, Li Xuan asked the questions he had along the way.

Emperor Yongyuan was there just now, and Li Xuan felt it was not appropriate to ask in front of him, so he planned to ask Shang the Chief Steward in private first.

"Butler Shang, on my way back, I saw some not-so-good things."

Li Xuan used his tail to carefully write down the scenery he saw along the way, especially the large number of refugees in the north who had become bandits.

"Could it be that the North has also experienced some natural disaster?"

Li Xuan's question made Manager Shang silent.

"You didn't ask in front of His Majesty just now, little guy, I'm afraid you already have some answers in your mind, right?"

Manager Shang couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head.

"Ah Xuan, as you expected, it was not a natural disaster."

"As far as I know, there has been a trend of annexing land in many places in the north, and large landowners have emerged one after another in recent years."

"These landlords are all local aristocratic families. If you look up, many of them have served as officials. At the very least, they are wealthy businessmen. Officials and businessmen collude to oppress the people."

"This has been going on for many years, but it's a little hard to control because it's not against the law on the surface, it's a fair trade, both parties are willing, one is willing to fight, the other is willing to be beaten."

"How can we talk about a solution when there is no one to sue?"

Li Xuan couldn't help but frown at what Manager Shang said.

Can this kind of thing be ignored?
This is a sign of the country's demise!
What can the people do when the land falls into the hands of a few people and they can no longer survive?
Is there any other way to survive besides rebellion?

If you don't rebel, you will be oppressed to death and suffer humiliation.

Rebellion may lead to death, but at least it can vent one's anger.

It was actually very obvious how to choose this. Li Xuan thought of something and asked tentatively, "Did King Zheng do it?"

After all, this kind of thing is very beneficial to King Zheng's rebellion no matter how you look at it.

"If you say it's all King Zheng's fault, it's a bit unfair to him. We can only say that he picked the wrong person." Butler Shang replied with a smile.

"Human greed is endless, like a bottomless abyss."

"It is not time to resolve this matter yet. When the political situation stabilizes in the future, I will make them vomit out everything they have eaten!"

A cold light flashed in Manager Shang's eyes.

If it weren't for the special circumstances now, these pests who dared to undermine the foundations of the country would have been eliminated by their Ministry of Internal Affairs.

When Manager Shang thought about the opportunity to personally eliminate these wealthy and powerful families who dominated the area and bullied the people in the village in the future, he couldn't help but feel itchy.

He would have to live a few more years because of this.

After understanding the whole story from Manager Shang, Li Xuan also felt a little powerless.

Since it is not a sudden disaster but a long-lasting chronic disease, it cannot be solved overnight.

Just thinking of those refugees wandering aimlessly in the wilderness made Li Xuan feel as if he was seeing a group of wandering ghosts.

For the people of Daxing, losing their land is like losing their roots, and they are really no different from wandering ghosts.

"Axuan."

Manager Shang touched Li Xuan who was lying on his shoulder.

"We will definitely have the opportunity to rebuild Daxing and cure all the stubborn problems in the future!"

Manager Shang spoke with great seriousness.

What Li Xuan didn't know was that the eunuchs in the palace generally had extremely humble origins, and most of them came from the lowest class of civilian families.

No matter how poor a family is, they will regard continuing the family line as the top priority and will raise a boy at all costs.

Unless a family really could not make ends meet, no one would send a male member of the family to the palace.

In ordinary people's families, men have the mission of continuing the family line and are the family's labor force and fighting force.

There are many men in the family, so other people from the village dare not come and bully them.

The same principle also applies to clans and villages with the same surname.

As for wealthier families, male offspring are even more important. If there is one who can become successful, the whole family will be able to prosper.

Therefore, unless the family is destroyed, few people would voluntarily abandon the male members of their family.

Among the eunuchs in the palace, most were of humble origins, and a few were descendants of criminals who were confiscated.

Even among the eunuchs in flowery robes who had to go through layers of selection to serve in the Imperial Household Department, many were of humble origins, and many of them still remembered being bullied by powerful families when they were young.

For this reason, the flowery eunuchs were extremely enthusiastic and excited when dealing with noble families, wealthy families, powerful clans, or "superior people" with similar attributes.

This is also the reason why emperors of Daxing throughout history were willing to use these eunuchs.

Unlike other people in the court, they would show mercy if they could. After all, they would meet each other every day, and what's worse, they were all related.

Only the eunuchs in flowery clothes were always clear in carrying out the emperor's orders, and they always eradicated the problems completely, cleanly and efficiently.

After Li Xuan and Manager Shang discussed the wealthy and powerful families that had behaved in a shabby manner along the way, they separated halfway and went back to their respective homes.

Li Xuan returned to Jingyang Palace, sneaked to the head of Princess Ankang's bed, and found that the little girl was still sleeping soundly.

There was still some time before dawn, so Li Xuan also planned to take a nap. After a loud yawn, he hugged Princess Ankang's head and fell asleep.

……

"Ah Xuan, is this the specialty you brought back from the North?"

The next morning, Princess Ankang discovered that Li Xuan had returned, and she screamed with joy, which scared Yu'er so much that she hurried over to check.

When they saw that it was Li Xuan who came back, the two girls hugged him and wouldn't let go, and started to knead him.

But when Li Xuan took out the local specialties that he had "carefully prepared", the two girls couldn't help but frown.

Li Xuan nodded continuously on the side.

"That's right, that's right, meow!"

"Local specialties from the North, meow!"

The two girls were so busy studying the local specialties that they didn't notice that Li Xuan had improved to the point where he could say five words in one breath.

But Princess Ankang still had a look of suspicion on her face, and didn't seem to believe it.

"But isn't this just a candied haws?"

Princess Ankang asked from the bottom of her heart.

Hearing this, Li Xuan's heart skipped a beat, but he pretended to be calm and gently raised his cat paw and waved it.

"No, no, meow."

"Northern Candied Haws meow!"

"Crunch!"

"Gaga Bingmeow!"

"If you don't believe me, lick it, meow!"

Li Xuan became more and more anxious as he spoke, and he almost spoke with a Xinjiang accent, for fear that the two girls would notice any flaws.

These two girls are usually silly, but when it comes to snacks and desserts, they are more cunning than the other.

Princess Ankang curled her lips, licked the candied haws in disbelief, and then her expression changed.

"Hey, it seems to be colder than the ones sold on the street."

That's nonsense, Li Xuan deliberately froze it with the icy breath!

After he found out that he had forgotten to bring his gift last night, he hurried to the West Market and finally found a family selling candied haws. He took a few from the pile, left some money in a hurry, and continued to carry out the localization of the North along the way.

This is how the northern specialty, the candied haws, came into being, which is even colder than the candied haws in Beijing.

"But they don't taste as sweet as the candied haws from Beijing?"

Princess Ankang asked in confusion.

"Northern characteristics meow."

Princess Ankang and Yu'er had never been to the northern border, so they naturally let Li Xuan make up stories.

Although the two girls were a little skeptical, they were gradually convinced and sat down obediently to lick the authentic candied haws from the Northern Territory, while listening to Li Xuan's experiences along the way.

Hearing that Li Xuan and Zhao Feng encountered a master like Shi Bailangshan and almost suffered a defeat, he could not help but be attracted by the adventure and gradually neglected the candied haws in his hands.

Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his goal had been achieved, and he told the story even harder.

When they heard that the cold wave might be expanding, the two girls were stunned.

"Ah Xuan, is the cold wave really expanding?"

Princess Ankang confirmed in disbelief.

Li Xuan thought about it, shook his head slightly, and wrote with his tail:

"We can only confirm that the border of the cold wave has moved, but we cannot be sure whether it is expanding or migrating."

"But no matter which one it is, if the desert really mastered this method, it would be a disaster!"

Princess Ankang swallowed the last candied haws, then frowned and said:

"I read in a book that a cold wave should be a good sign, indicating that a prosperous era is about to come, but for some reason this cold wave has become a disaster..."

After a long silence, Princess Ankang suddenly said:
“I really want to see with my own eyes what a cold wave looks like.”

(End of this chapter)