The Island of Evil Horse, in Yixie Mansion.
People are gathering together to discuss government affairs in various places and the situation on the island.
Sitting at the head of the lobby is the Yama Queen Chiba Oriko. As the fifteenth generation, she has been in charge of evil horses for more than twenty years. Before Dongsheng openly planned chaos, the kingdom was considered stable. But after experiencing the competition between various forces, she was clearly unable to do what she wanted. She lost weight several times, spoke less and less in meetings, and more often let people she trusted make decisions for her.
May Haruka is one of them.
Although she had returned to her homeland a month ago, this was the first time she had returned to Yixie Mansion since she left for the mainland.
Compared with a year ago, there were obviously many more people attending the meeting and the voices were much noisier. This shows that the situation is changing in a good direction - Dongsheng's momentum is no longer what it was before. Even if it cannot achieve complete victory in a short time, The rebellious princes will be completely wiped out, but at least Yixie and the surrounding areas will no longer be threatened by the enemy.
However, there was no joy in her heart.
The topic soon turned to population migration.
"Your Majesty the Queen, I don't think this matter can go forward." A middle-aged man in a gray gown took the lead and said, "Jinxia requires that 20,000 people be relocated every year, and there will be thousands more in each town. If If they are all sent away, who will cultivate the fields? Who will defend the kingdom? Besides, Jinxia is just a city. Can it really accept so many outsiders? The officials and people under my rule are already uneasy, for fear that they will become the target of being attacked. If something happens to me as a victim of the transaction, I will have no shame in facing Your Majesty."
Satsuki Haruka sets his sights on this person—Fujiwara Maoshi, a major prince of the Yama Kingdom, manager of the Bali land north of Ixie, and a core figure supporting the great miko.
After he took the lead, other participants also joined in.
"Yeah... it's hard to find these thousands of people. The battle with Dongsheng originally killed many young people, but now a lot of land is abandoned. Can we wait a few years before starting the migration?"
"Aren't we going to be short of people in a few years? I don't think this agreement should be signed at all!"
"Master Qi, this is a bit much. After all, they did help us repel the enemy's attack."
"Why don't you ask Mr. May to talk to the other side and add some silver as compensation?"
"Are you going to pay for the extra silver? I can't afford that much money anyway."
The hall suddenly became noisy.
Queen Yama just sat on the sidelines and watched, and did not intervene in the dispute. It seemed to her that such discussions were conducive to the check and balance of power.
At this time, a white-haired old man brought the topic to Wuyue Yao, "Master Wuyue, I don't know what you think?"
His words silenced the discussion.
As the assistant of successive queens, the Minamoto family has always been a prominent family in the Yama Kingdom. Although the current head of the family, Minamoto Hisaki, is old, he is still Chiba Oriko's most trusted minister.
"The connection with Jinxia is all maintained by you alone. It can be said that no one here knows Jinxia better than you." He stroked his beard and said slowly, "Do you think that if we want to modify the alliance treaty, What kind of reaction will there be?"
Wuyue Yao couldn't help but picture the people of Jinxia City in his mind.
Especially Master Xia, who gave her a glimmer of hope in times of despair.
There is no doubt that the other party is the friendliest ruler she has ever seen.
She couldn't imagine that Jin Xia would fight against the evil horse in turn.
"Probably... I will be very disappointed." Wuyue Yao said softly.
"Pfft-disappointment? What is that?"
"Ahem, Master Wuyue, didn't you say that the other party only gets sulky?"
There was a burst of laughter at the scene.
"That's it?" Yuanjiu frowned, "Do you think they won't take any sanctions, or support Dongsheng or Anjia instead?"
"I think... the possibility is very low." Wu Yue said calmly, "Jinxia needs to deal with the pressure brought by the privy councils of the other five countries and has no energy to take care of the Yama Kingdom for the time being. Of course, such a breach of contract will also cause us to completely lose the mainland. ally."
After a moment of silence in the venue, a voice rang out, "Then what else do we have to worry about?"
This sentence was like the voice of everyone, and instantly caused a wave of waves.
"But we can't state our attitude so straightforwardly. We still need to purchase more weapons." Fujiwara cleared his throat and said, "Sir Satsuki, this may require you to make an extra trip."
"What about the trade port? It's always a good thing to be able to do business."
"We can first send a group of envoys or monks to Qiguo to spread the word about the evil horse. Now that the waterway is open, even if Jinxia cuts off diplomatic relations with us in the future, we can't stop the merchants below."
Wuyueyuan looked at Her Majesty the Queen, "Do you think this... is really good?"
"Hey..." Qianba Zhizi finally changed his sitting position and sighed, "Evil horses also have difficulties. Repairing battle-damaged towns requires silver and manpower, and farmers also need to cultivate the fields. The money can still be spread. We need to come up with some, but it’s really hard to gather the manpower. And you also mentioned that Jinxia is at war with the King of Qi’s royal family, and the Privy Council of neighboring countries is also ready to take action. How can you let everyone relax?”
"What if I can convince everyone?"
These words were like pebbles thrown into water, causing ripples in the crowd.
Ignoring those whispers, Satsuki stood up and looked directly at Fujiwara Mamoru, "Fujiwara-sama, are you really unable to draw a thousand people from your territory? After I returned to Yama, I didn't come to Ixie immediately, I just went around. I walked around the area to check the situation on the ground. There are a large number of farmers who have lost their land in your territory, and the number is more than a thousand? It’s just that they are all controlled by big landowners and aristocratic families, and they farm farmland that does not belong to them day after day. I have no idea. Is that wrong?"
"Lord May, is there any problem with this? I can't force them to hand over all the people who bought it, right? Besides, if the fertile land is not cultivated, it will be abandoned. In order to avoid famine, of course my territory must continue to maintain production. OK."
"But what I see is that the residents in Xiacheng District are all sallow and thin, and they don't seem to be able to meet the needs of food and clothing. The output of the farmland is estimated to even exceed the entire needs of the Bali area." Wuyue Yao raised his voice and said, " Where did all the extra food go? It’s impossible for them to disappear!”
Fujiwara Masashi's face darkened.
The two attendants behind him also stared angrily, showing an expression of humiliation and death.
But May Haruka was unmoved and said to himself, "Actually, everyone here knows where the food went - because this kind of thing not only happened under Mr. Fujiwara's rule, but is your usual practice. They all have high In the granary enclosed by the wall compound, they are waiting to be exchanged for other more valuable materials, such as jewelry, such as muskets and ammunition! What you lack is not people, but the greed that you are unwilling to part with!"