Li Si'an was too lazy to investigate the tax silver robbery case. He was indeed loyal to his identity as a spy of the Demon Suppression Bureau, but he had no intention of helping his colleagues from Bashu. Besides, Zhao Changhe was here, and judging from the way he and the Chief were getting along, it would depend on whether he was interested in investigating the case or not.
Judging from Li Si'an's sensitivity to his fellow bandits, this guy might be an accomplice of the robbers...
He accompanied Zhao Changhe, who had returned to his royal role, and continued on his journey southward, whispering, "In fact, the tax silver from the Southwest Xuanwei Office was lost once in the early spring... The court originally wanted this batch of silver to go directly down the river to support Jiangnan in suppressing Maitreya, but it was lost before it even reached Shu... As a result, the tax silver from Shu that was originally supposed to be sent to Jiangnan was temporarily withheld..."
Zhao Changhe narrowed his eyes.
Was it all done by Li Shentong
Or is it that if I don't grab it, someone else will, so why not I do it
"At that time, the chief monk was about to fight Maitreya in Taihu Lake and had no power to investigate the case here. The court sent other important officials to investigate the matter here. In the end, it was said that it was a robbery by bandits, and the case was left unresolved..." Li Si'an said: "In short, the local Demon Suppression Division had clues pointing to Li Shentong and reported it to the chief monk. Of course, Li Shentong's identity was not trivial, so no one could really search the Shenhuang Sect, and the matter was left unresolved."
Zhao Changhe nodded: "I see..."
"Oh, they said they didn't do anything in the investigation, but they did do something. They used the excuse of searching for bandits to rob the land, and anyone who dared to resist would be considered a robber. The destruction of their family would be the least of their worries." Li Si'an said, "Situ Xiao once killed several officials because of these things. Now, the so-called traveling outside is more like going out to avoid the limelight."
Zhao Changhe felt extremely uncomfortable. Was Situ Xiao trying to make up for the trouble he had caused
After thinking for a while, he asked again: "Is Li Shentong concerned about Zhai Muzhi? Or is he simply concerned about the imperial court?"
"How should I know? Will Li Shentong tell me?"
"… Is there a governor of Yizhou here? I don't think I've heard of it."
"The imperial governor only has the power of supervision, and the frontier governor is actually the governor. But it depends on the situation... Well, do you think the governor of Kuaiji has as much power as Tang Buqi? Not to mention Qinghe Langya."
"… Then who is next to Zhai Mu? I have never heard of a family as noble as King Cui in Bashu."
"No, if there is one, it might be Bashan Jianlu... Didn't I tell you before that many people in Bashu went to Jianlu to worship swords, and many people in the Zhai family have been there."
Zhao Changhe nodded, then shook his head.
One expert may not be able to support a large force, but a large force cannot be without experts. In many cases, experts can really determine the outcome of the overall situation. A large force without the support of top experts will easily weaken.
Shi Wuding, the master of Jianlu, was promoted to sixth on the Earth List after Maitreya's death. There are only a dozen people in the world who are stronger than him. He is fully qualified to be the backing of a force.
But Zhao Changhe still felt that Li Shentong was either concerned about Xia Longyuan from afar, or if he was concerned about the things at hand, he would not be concerned about the level of the Earth List, unless there were people hidden in Bashu or the Miaojiang that was about to arrive who could restrain Li Shentong's temper.
For example, no one knows who ranks sixth on the Heavenly Ranking, it’s Xue Xiao, the master of Tingxue Tower.
That's the real Old Six.
… …
Miaojiang is just a general term. In fact, the "Bai Liao" mentioned by Li Si'an and others is more correct. There are people from all ethnic groups. Many ethnic groups are not the same as what Zhao Changhe knows in the world, and many of them he has never heard of.
Folk customs are not necessarily all about singing, dancing and hospitality. The barbaric beliefs of primitive tribes and armed conflicts among different ethnic groups are common. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are not fully civilized.
The area was not fully developed, and it was not the same as the tourist province in Zhao Changhe's memory. There were poisonous miasma, mosquitoes, wild beasts, primitive jungles everywhere, and the roads were rugged and narrow. The various ethnic groups were not necessarily friendly to the Xia people, and robbery was a common occurrence.
The Xia people can only be called "Xuanwei" here, and there is no real governance. Each ethnic group is still mainly self-governing, and there is no powerful person on the Heavenly List to rule the four directions among the ethnic groups. There are some on the Earth List, the Human List, and the Potential Dragon List, but they are not convinced by each other and the situation is in chaos.
Ordinary caravans dare not come here to trade easily, and only merchants with high-level warriors like Li Si'an dare to come and go. It is very suitable for Yue Hongling to take refuge here. Even Xia Longyuan is very troubled by such a place. Even if it is conquered, it cannot cure the follow-up. How can a mere Jianlu control this place? Isn't it possible to rely on familiar forces to slowly find...
After half a month of hard trekking, Zhao Changhe and his team finally passed through various deep mountains and old forests and arrived at the plain. They were lucky along the way and did not encounter any robbers, but they encountered many poisonous insects and fierce beasts, and many people in the team were bitten by mosquitoes like Buddhas.
This gave Zhao Changhe a lot of experience in using the Rejuvenation Art. With his current level of mastery of the Rejuvenation Art, this thing is particularly effective for him. Accumulating experience in treating various poisonous insects is also beneficial to the improvement of the Rejuvenation Art.
They arrived at the destination safely, and it seemed that all the team members had lost weight, were dirty and smelly, and the black horse was almost unrideable, which made Zhao Changhe uncontrollably think of the state of a certain female hero.
All the romance in Jianghu is a lie...
Zhao Changhe was sniffing when a large lake appeared in the distant sky.
Under the sunshine, the water sparkles, is clear as brocade and beautiful like a fairyland.
The lake is long and narrow from east to west, boundless from north to south, with blue waves stretching as far as the eye can see, just like the sea. To the people here, this is the sea.
Erhai Lake.
Looking from afar, there were herdsmen herding horses on the plains on both sides of the river, and it suddenly seemed like a world away from the rugged terrain before. It felt like this was a secret place, and it seemed that there was nothing wrong with it.
Just the surrounding sea alone can support countless tribes. And this is only a small area in the southwest Bailiao. There are more vast areas, countless mountains, rivers and lakes. It would take years to find a person here.
Li Si'an sighed, "We're here. There is a town ahead, where people of all ethnic groups live and trade. Do you remember Huangshaji? Oh, the grassland before Huangshaji."
Zhao Changhe was immersed in the beautiful scenery and was amazed: "I thought we would all visit different villages here, but I didn't expect that the north and the south could be so similar. It's as if the Creator broke the same thing into two halves and placed them in the north and south."
Li Si'an waved his whip and laughed: "The sea is vast, the sky and earth are boundless, maybe China is just a grain of sand in the world, so what is the difference between north and south?"
Huh
Zhao Changhe twitched his lips. I just tried to imitate the ancients, but they showed me a modern pattern. Of course, this is not modern cognition, but the imagination of the world by the thinking people in this world, which is not easy.
Who wouldn't be able to show off? "Whether it's north or south, I define it. Whoever has the right to define it is the ruler of the world."
“Huh…” Li Si’an also glanced at him, but finally said nothing.
Zhao Changhe ignored him and thought about taking a shower.
Seeing that Zhao Changhe was eager to jump into the sea, Li Si'an grabbed him and said, "It's inconvenient to be out in the open in the wilderness. If you encounter bandits on horseback, do you want to fight them with your hammer? Go to the town first, and you'll have to pay."
Zhao Changhe: “…”
The town is called Xizhou, but in fact it was a trick played by Li Si'an and it was not close. It took us until dusk along the coast to arrive.
Of course, since it is a town, it is naturally bigger and more beautiful than Huangshaji.
How can such a place, surrounded by mountains and rivers, with birds singing and flowers blooming, be so vast and boundless? Rather than saying it is like Huangshaji, it is better to say that it has the shadow of Suzhou and Hangzhou.
The town was extremely lively, with all kinds of ethnic costumes dazzling the eyes. Unfortunately, Zhao Changhe couldn't tell which costumes belonged to which ethnic group, as they all looked the same at first glance... There were quite a few girls wearing short tops that exposed their slender waists, walking on the streets without a care in the world, and passers-by turned a blind eye, as they were used to it.
But when people saw Zhao Changhe and others leading their horses in, the peaceful atmosphere became a little weird. Many people exchanged glances, and it was unclear whether they were conveying vigilance or malice towards the Xia people. Zhao Changhe frowned slightly when he saw this.
"Hey, Old Xia didn't do any massacres here, did he?"
"No. But I once killed a king from the Heavenly Ranking here, causing the tribes that had just been integrated to break up into pieces." Li Si'an looked at him even more strangely: "Hey, didn't you learn a lot of historical anecdotes? It is said that the chief monk taught you personally, so where were you in class?"
Kiss the teacher on the mouth.
Zhao Changhe burst into tears. He wanted to sleep every time he had cultural and history classes. Is it my fault? Well, it was the teacher who didn't teach well. This kind of thing should be told as a story about an acquaintance in a vivid way. Talking about history makes people want to shut their mouths. That's it.
"Just because we killed the king they admire, the people here are unfriendly to us?"
"Killing the Black Miao King would at most make the Black Miao unfriendly, while other ethnic groups would be able to govern themselves and be filled with joy." Li Si'an lowered his voice: "Besides, that was an old grudge, and it wouldn't be... the only thing that could cause unfriendliness now is, of course, the issue of consolation now."
Zhao Changhe nodded slightly and asked, "Who is that Lei Ao?"
"He is a hero, I guess... He was originally just an ordinary tribal leader of his clan. His cultivation was not even on the Heaven and Earth Human Rankings, but it was not bad at all. He was probably at the eighth or ninth level of the Mysterious Gate. In his early years, he did all kinds of work in this kind of market town. Because he was generous and righteous, and he was able to make friends with leaders of various tribes, he gradually became a big shot in the city and became a local bully. He was called Thunder Tiger."
Zhao Changhe was complaining about why all local bullies with the surname Lei were called Lei Lao Hu. The convoy just happened to pass by a big tent. Someone stepped out of the tent and said in a loud voice, "Ha... I thought Fourth Brother would be here soon, and sure enough. Uh... this is..."
Zhao Changhe looked at the newcomer. He had a full beard and looked mighty and majestic, as powerful as a galloping horse. He really looked like a "Thunder Tiger".
But with Batu here, Zhao Changhe didn't dare to underestimate these seemingly reckless men. Who knows, one of them might be even more wicked than anyone else.
He put on a reserved smile, bowed slightly, and replied calmly: "I am on the Langya Royal Road."
(End of this chapter)