Yan Liqiang did not stay in the Canglong Mountain Secret Realm of the Yu Luo Palace for too long. Almost on the same night when he ended his meditation, he and Lei Sitong left the Canglong Mountain Secret Realm and returned to Ganzhou respectively. However, Lei Sitong returned to the capital of Ganzhou, while Yan Liqiang returned to Qiyun County.
Cui Lichen's injuries have almost healed. This time, after knowing that the evil demon who transformed into Lin Qingtian has become the Holy Leader of the White Lotus Sect, Cui Lichen has been planning when to go to "eliminate demons and defend the way" again. However, the Holy Leader of the White Lotus Sect's whereabouts are secretive and erratic, and it is not as easy to catch him as it was with Lin Qingtian in the past, so this matter still needs long-term consideration.
However, this is also good news for Yan Liqiang. The evil demon who has transformed himself into Lin Qingtian wants to get rid of him at any time, and now, Cui Lichen has already set his sights on that evil demon - no, to be more precise, in the words of Yu Luo Tiandi, it is the Shadow Demon - Cui Lichen may even join forces with other people from Yu Luo Palace to take action. In this way, he does not need to worry about the Shadow Demon and the White Lotus Sect for the time being, and can just leave everything to Yu Luo Palace. In the remaining year, he only needs to do one thing - reclaim the Ancient Wave Grassland.
To reclaim the Gulang grassland within a year is like a fantasy dream to others, which is simply impossible. But to Yan Liqiang, this plan has been brewing in his mind for a long time. He has been thinking about this since he started to make woolen cloth. Now the Black Jie people and the seven Shatu tribes are fighting on the Gulang grassland. The Black Jie people have won a great victory, and the seven Shatu tribes have been defeated. Both sides must have suffered a lot of losses. Now is a good opportunity for him to reclaim the Gulang grassland.
From Lei Sitong, Yan Liqiang also learned about the current situation in the northwestern states. The northwestern states also knew what had happened in the imperial capital and the surrounding areas. However, compared with other places in the Han Empire, the northwest, which was far away from the capital, suffered almost no losses in the disaster in the capital. The White Lotus Sect had a weak foundation in the northwest, and did not take advantage of the opportunity to make a name for itself. Therefore, the northwestern states are still the same as before, with no signs of unrest at all.
The governors of the northwestern states were also inquiring about the news from the court and other places, while watching cautiously. At least on the surface, they were still maintaining the system and traditions of the Han Empire, and they kept saying to their subordinate officials, county governors and military commanders that they were loyal to the court and swearing allegiance to His Majesty. Every governor was a cunning old man. At this time, of course, no one would be willing to jump out and be the first to jump out and claim to be the king and say that the court was finished. In fact, the governors of the northwestern states, even including Ganzhou, had already... There was only one person in power, and no one could control him anymore, because the imperial court was gone, and the superiors who could directly control and order the governors of each state were also gone. There would never be any more orders and official documents coming down from the Imperial Capital, so the governors of each state actually had some different thoughts. The most direct manifestation was that the first reaction of the governors of each state after receiving the news of the great changes in the Imperial Capital was to seize the military power. The states of Yinzhou and Huanzhou had already taken the opportunity to remove the post of governor of the state, and unified the governor to serve as the governor concurrently. All military mobilizations had to be ordered by the governor...
Just a few days ago, Lei Sitong received letters from the governors of several other states. Some of the governors wanted to coordinate with Lei Sitong to agree on a charter for the joint self-protection of the northwestern states.
"Nominally, the states in the northwest are united to protect themselves and prevent the White Lotus Sect and the gangsters from making trouble, but the so-called united self-protection is actually a fart. Those governors want to protect their own governorships first. They also want to make an agreement with me that if there are local wealthy families in any state that challenge their governorships, the other governors should jointly support them and maintain the rules and regulations of the court. If necessary, they should send troops to help. After I destroyed the Ye family in Ganzhou, there are basically no local wealthy families in Ganzhou that can threaten me. If there is anyone who can really threaten me, in Ganzhou, there is only you, Li Qiang, and the others are nothing. It's different in other states. Now that the court is in trouble, the governors who have shallow roots in the local area and short terms of office are most likely to be sidelined by the wealthy families below, or even become puppets. The wealthy families in the states are now watching the wind, but privately, there are not many honest ones. Many people are already recruiting soldiers and horses, and some are already building cities and storing food. They are all ready to move..."
As for the mentality of high-ranking officials such as the provincial governors after the incident at the court, in the words of Lei Sitong, there were both joy and sorrow, and their mentality was complicated. Needless to say, the sorrow was great. After all, the provincial governors were also high-ranking officials at the court. They saw that the court was destroyed and the entire capital area became a dead end overnight. The world was about to fall into chaos. While they had lost their superiors, they also had no one to back them up. As the saying goes, sympathy belongs to one's own kind. There were probably not many people who could be happy about this incident. Every provincial governor was shocked and afraid, which was natural and understandable.
As for the so-called joy, there is also the most direct point. In Lei Sitong's words, from today on, the money and grain of Ganzhou can be kept in Ganzhou and no longer need to be handed over to the court, because the court is finished, who can hand it over to? This is a large amount of money. With these money and grain, the resources that the governors of various states can use will increase suddenly. As a governor, who doesn't like to have more money and grain in his hands? In this way, the governors' minds will be active. This is also the reason why Lei Sitong, who has always claimed that he is poor, dared to tell Yan Liqiang that he would give up the income of the Yuntao County Salt Field for a year to support Yan Liqiang to restore the Gulang Grassland.
The current situation in the northwestern states can be summed up in one sentence: calm on the surface, but turbulent undercurrents behind the scenes. Whether it is the governors of each state or the local wealthy families in each state, they all have their own thoughts. Although the states and the governors of each state and the county magistrates and wealthy families below still maintain superficial harmony, it seems that everything is the same as before, but no one knows how long this harmony can last.
It was in such an atmosphere that Yan Liqiang traveled day and night, changing countless rhinoceros horses in the post houses along the way, and finally returned to Yan'an Fort in Qiyun County on May 18th.
When Yan Liqiang returned to Yan'an Fort, it was already late at night, the sky was full of stars, and Yan'an Fort had already been under curfew and closed the city gates. The top of the city wall of Yan'an Fort was brightly lit, and the number of soldiers on duty was much greater than when Yan Liqiang left that day. It was obvious that the defense of Yan'an Fort had been strengthened a lot in recent days.
Looking at this familiar place, an indescribable feeling surged in Yan Liqiang's heart, relief, steadiness, and a hint of indescribable excitement. The warm light coming from Yan'an Fort at night was like a lighthouse seen by a ship after sailing for a long time in the stormy sea. For Yan Liqiang, who had been traveling outside for several months and experienced countless life and death experiences, it gave him an inexplicable comfort and intimacy.
Maybe, this is home!
The sound of horse hooves alarmed the defenders on top of Yan'an Fort. Yan Liqiang had not arrived yet and was still hundreds of meters away from the city gate. An arrow was shot towards him from the city wall of Yan'an Fort. The arrow landed on the ground ten meters in front of the rhino horse. The arrowhead penetrated into the ground, leaving only the arrow shaft trembling.
"This is Yan'an Fort. Please stop here. If you need anything, please come back tomorrow morning when the fort gate is open..." A voice came from the city wall. It was Yan Qing.
Yan Liqiang continued to ride his horse forward without stopping. After he had rushed forward for dozens of meters, the second arrow shot over, bringing with it a gust of wind, and hit Yan Liqiang's left shoulder directly. It could be seen that Yan Qing's attack was still measured.
The moment the arrow was about to hit him, Yan Liqiang stretched out his hand, grabbed the arrow, and held it steadily. Then, with a loud laugh, he leaped off the horse's back, stepped into the air, and jumped directly onto the wall of Yan'an Fort.
When Yan Qing and the soldiers guarding the city wall rushed over with long spears, Yan Liqiang had already taken off the bamboo hat on his head and revealed his true face under the firelight. "Yan Qing, your archery has improved a bit in the past few days. Not bad, not bad..."
“Sir…” Seeing that it was Yan Liqiang, Yan Qing was extremely excited. He quickly put away the sword in his hand and saluted Yan Liqiang.
The soldiers who rushed over were stunned for a moment, and then they all shouted in joy, "It's the lord... It's the lord... The lord is back... The lord is back..."
As the sound spread, more and more lights in Yan'an Fort lit up, and the entire Yan'an Fort was alarmed.
"Where is Yan Hong?" Yan Liqiang patted Yan Qing on the shoulder with a smile and handed him the arrow in his hand.
"Yan Hong is guarding at home!"
"What about Xi Tong and the others? Did they arrive safely?"
"Thank you for your concern, everyone has arrived safely!"
"Well, let's go home first..."
(End of this chapter)