Just two or three days later, the Demon Suppression Division in the Capital received a carrier pigeon from Bashu.
The entire Demon Suppression Division was shocked. A homing pigeon is not something that can be raised in any house or even in a cave. It actually follows a very familiar route to return home. It was previously raised in the Demon Suppression Division in Bashu. If you ask it to fly back, it will only fly back to the original location of the Demon Suppression Division, which is like sending meat to Li Shentong. The Demon Suppression Division cannot train homing pigeons after hiding. What's the matter with this homing pigeon that suddenly came from Bashu
Qin Dingjiang took down the scroll tied to the pigeon's feet and opened it. His eyes widened and he immediately ran to find Tang Wanzhuang: "Master, Master! There's a letter from Bashu!"
Bashu? Tang Wanzhuang was stunned for a moment, then smiled slightly: "Why are you so frightened? Bring it to me."
Just this morning, Tang Wanzhuang received a letter from Zhao Changhe from Miaojiang. Yes, it was the letter written when Sisi was hiding under the table. The letter detailed the current situation of the Ling people and Miaojiang, the whole story of Sisi becoming the King of Dali, and asked the court to send envoys to confer titles and communicate, and whether to continue to set up the Demon Suppression Department and the Xuanwei Department in Miaojiang, etc. Then he said to leave for Bashu immediately, hoping for good news.
At the end, he said he missed them very much... His words were sincere, but the word "them" made them look funny no matter how you looked at them, so Tang Wanzhuang automatically ignored him and reported to Xia Chichi to start arranging matters in Miaojiang.
As a result, Xia Chichi and Tang Wanzhuang had not yet selected the candidates to be sent to Miaojiang, but the letter from Bashu arrived, just like a performance on the stage.
The letter is as follows:
"My dear, it's time to meet you at night. I don't know whether the letter from Miaojiang arrived first or this one. Did you miss me?"
Qin Dingjiang ran away immediately after seeing the first two words, and didn't dare to read the rest. I always felt that the chief would be furious after seeing this. The chief is such a serious person, even if he is in love with you, he would not use official documents to say "kiss" like this.
No one knew that in the quiet office of the chief, Tang Wanzhuang looked around stealthily. No one was around, and her tense face quietly broke into a smile, her cheeks flushed, and she muttered in a low voice: "If the last letter had been written like this, I wouldn't have had to hate His Majesty. What do you miss? Who followed him?"
Baoqin pointed at her nose, indicating that "there is someone here", but was ignored by her young lady.
Baoqin simply said, "The letter this morning said that we will not get tired of each other, but His Majesty will tear you apart."
"She can't beat me, so call her master." Tang Wanzhuang stroked the letter leisurely and continued reading.
Baoqin: “…”
What a legitimate chieftain, a loyal minister of Daxia. If an orange is born in Huaibei, it belongs to the Han Dynasty, and it is definitely a traitor.
"I saw Li Shentong start an uprising for the people, and it's only been more than half a year. But now, when I see him again, the original intentions of the Shenhuang Sect are almost gone. Li Shentong himself has changed a bit, but Situ Xiao is still innocent... It's hard to change the cycle of a dragon slayer becoming an evil dragon. Once in power, some people's minds will change. Fortunately, it's been a short time, and Li Shentong hasn't completely changed. After listening to some of my fundamental actions for the people, it's obvious that he is touched. We can win him over."
"In fact, part of the reason should be that he can't let go of his face. What did he say when he slayed the dragon? When a common man gets angry, blood will splatter five steps away. It sounds good, and it makes Old Xia sigh in admiration. In the end, if I also lead the Shenhuang Sect to become another wave of Daxia bureaucrats, who will provoke the common man's anger? Will he dare to see Old Xia in the afterlife? Will he dare to see you and me on the battlefield? I didn't say it directly to save his face, but it should be tacitly understood."
"Now he has taken the initiative to re-establish the Demon Suppression Division, responsible for monitoring the equal distribution of land and illegal activities of officials. He asked me to organize the original members of the Demon Suppression Division. This is a risk for the brothers of the Demon Suppression Division, but we should give it a try. People's hearts are always changing. Our people joining is not only a supervision of officials, but also a reminder to him. Whenever he sees someone from the Demon Suppression Division, he should think about whether some things will be laughed at if they are heard by Zhao Changhe. So he thinks about it. This is also the true meaning of his initiative to establish the Demon Suppression Division. He is reminding himself."
"But now that the Demon Suppression Division has been established, the nature of the Bashu regime has become somewhat subtle. It has suddenly become a bit like a vassal state of Miaojiang, and it seems that it can be transformed into the Han Dynasty conferring the title of King of Shu at any time. But this is not our goal. Miaojiang can be like this, but Bashu cannot. It cannot have a king, and we must send a governor to manage it. Now this step cannot be achieved directly... When I set up the Ding City Gate, I actually concealed a bit of the conquest intention of determining the fate of the world. Li Shentong did not move away, which means that he is also watching the follow-up."
"Look at our battles with Guanlong and the Hu people, look at my strength, look at your military strength, it is impossible for you to surrender just because I trick you with a few words. Anyway, he is willing to march out of Hanzhong and go to the frontier with me, which is enough. He has lived up to his original intention and cannot ask for more. The rest is our business."
"First of all, he attaches great importance to some of the ideas I proposed, and these ideas can indeed be studied to see if they can be implemented. Some things must be done based on technological progress. For example, I know we have movable type printing, which was proposed by Lao Xia decades ago and made by craftsmen. But it is still fragile and inefficient, and the output of paper is very limited. If we want to open up education in an all-round way, it is difficult to do so due to this limitation."
"We need to pay attention to it. Everything lacks attention... This will also be of great help to our scientific research strategy. I hope to gather skilled craftsmen, improve technology, reduce costs and increase efficiency, and facilitate the implementation. When this is done and spreads to Bashu, it will be me who gives him the task, and we will see how he will respond later."
Baoqin was looking around and saw that her eyes were full of tears. She glanced at the young lady secretly. The blush on her face had long faded, and her eyes were full of surprise.
"It's really amazing." Tang Wanzhuang whispered to herself, "I'm not surprised that he conquered Qinghe, pacified Langya, and pacified Miaojiang. That was based on military affairs, and he was capable of doing it. But the matter of Bashu... It's simply... Who said he was just a man who could only wield swords? This is a real talent for economics. What he lacked in the past was just a platform."
Baoqin didn't understand but thought it was amazing. Anyway, looking at the young lady, she must be amazing.
I feel that even if everyone forgets the past, and Zhao Changhe is asked to pursue the young lady again starting from the events after the establishment of the new dynasty, the young lady will definitely fall into his arms, just look at her itchy expression...
But in this broken world, he has to travel all the time. It’s fine if the young lady and the old woman are itchy, but after the Chinese New Year, Baoqin will be eighteen years old... Woo... She was supposed to be a maid, how could this happen...
Tang Wanzhuang had no idea that the maid's mind was wandering away, she was still reading the letter. Normally, after the Bashu affairs were completed, Zhao Changhe should have returned to Beijing to prepare for the expedition, but instead he sent a letter back, which gave her a bad feeling.
As expected, the letter said: "Originally, after the Bashu incident, I was going to return to Beijing to prepare for the expedition, but now the plan has changed. Kunlun Yuxu is in danger of joining forces with the Li family, and I must go and disrupt this. The best result is to let Yuxu and I fight against the Hu people together. The minimum expectation is to make the Li family fall into a struggle between sects and forces. In short, we can't let them cooperate."
"Don't worry, Hong Ling is with me. She has already broken through the barrier. Although the situation in Chang'an is complicated now, I am still confident that I can handle it."
"Beijing is preparing for the expedition and waiting for my return."
"Okay, give me a kiss~"
At the end of the letter, there was a picture of a kiss, which looked very cute.
But Tang Wanzhuang didn't find it cute at all. She frowned, stood up and paced back and forth.
"The danger in Chang'an is not as easy as he said... Yuxu may not be very friendly now, and there are gods behind him. And Kunlun may have other gods and demons. No one knows who is in Chang'an from Beihu. It may be Boye or Timur himself. Chang'an is now a mixed bag, with gods and demons. He is alone..."
Baoqin reminded: "There is also Yue Hongling."
Tang Wanzhuang ignored this sentence, stood up and paced back and forth for a few steps, whispered: "Contact Zhuque. I don't know how she is doing in Jinzhong. If she is not too nervous, ask her to go to Chang'an by detour."
In fact, Tang Wanzhuang really wanted to go by herself, but unfortunately things were different now. In the past, she was only responsible for the world's military affairs, and she could often go out to the rivers and lakes; now she had to take care of many important government affairs, and Xia Chichi's right-hand man, so she couldn't leave Beijing for a moment. And some of the things in Zhao Changhe's letter also needed to be taken care of by herself.
I am extremely worried, but what can I do
Baoqin reminded: "Contact the bird. There must be a more direct way of contacting them in the Four Symbols Sect. Miss, you'd better ask His Majesty."
Tang Wanzhuang nodded, turned around, put on her clothes, and went straight to the palace.
Although Baoqin is always infuriating, she is actually a good secretary who is very capable of finding and filling gaps. It would be even more perfect if she could help refill cups.
Among all the "foreign ministers" of the Han Dynasty, only Tang Wanzhuang could wander around the palace without notification and break into the emperor's bedroom. Although everyone didn't say it, they knew in their hearts that this was not an "foreign minister", but actually the "empress" or at least the "royal concubine". However, in this case, the emperor was Zhao Changhe, and the majesty who was working in the imperial study was essentially the queen or the royal concubine.
As for who will be the queen and who will be the concubine, in fact, there are casinos that have opened the betting in secret, such as Ying Wu's Kangle Casino, which is almost open, and the people of the capital are winking and betting, and the Demon Suppression Department turns a blind eye and secretly bets on their own first seat. In the past, Tang Wanzhuang felt a little ashamed of this state of entering the palace without being informed, always feeling that every guard looked at her in a wrong way, but now she has gotten used to it, and even jokes with Xia Chichi.
Tang Wanzhuang walked into the imperial study. Xia Chichi was working at the desk reviewing memorials. His little face was wrinkled and it was obvious that he was working very hard.
Tang Wanzhuang sighed in her heart, if the previous emperor had this diligence, even if he did not do a good job, it would not be so chaotic. Now the Han Dynasty is recovering rapidly. In addition to the objective necessity of going from chaos to order, it is inseparable from Chi Chi's diligence. She sleeps for two or three hours at most a day, and often does not sleep at all. At the beginning, she was very unfamiliar with the affairs of the court and did not understand many things, but now she is a very qualified emperor.
Not to mention anything else, her calm demeanor, her eyes as sharp as lightning and awe-inspiring, could frighten many court officials with just one look. It was the murderous intent of a Jianghu witch, the coldness of an icy swordsman, mixed with the majesty of an emperor. Today, Xia Chichi really doesn't look like the Jianghu witch she used to be, and she looks more and more like an emperor with a bit of evil in her.
Seeing Tang Wanzhuang coming in, Xia Chichi looked up and continued to work at his desk: "Why did you suddenly come in? Are you here to sleep with me?"
Tang Wanzhuang walked in and sat casually on the table beside her, looking like a charming concubine. Hearing this, she replied lazily and casually: "If he sits here, I will come to sleep with him. As for you... queue up, oh, I forgot, you queued up once."
The eunuchs and palace maids on both sides could not bear to look at it and turned their heads away. Such a relationship between a monarch and his subjects was truly unprecedented in history.
Xia Chichi snorted, "We are all just 'them' in his writing. Does he want to line up? He wants to be together. Let me tell you, when it comes to debauchery and immorality, he is really capable. The real diligent king has to look at me, Xia Chichi. A good minister chooses his master, you should recognize me, let's rebel against him together!"
Tang Wanzhuang casually flipped through the folded memorials on the table with her slender hands and said with a smile, "I'm sorry, he sent me a private message, and I have no reason to object."
Xia Chichi was furious: "Impossible, absolutely impossible! Bring me the letter!"
Tang Wanzhuang handed the letter to her with a smile. Xia Chichi only glanced at the envelope and sighed: "This is an internal pigeon of the Demon Suppression Division. Of course it is sent directly to you. What's the big deal? Besides, you may not be the one to open the envelope. In order to avoid others reading it, I dare not write anything private about me. At most, I can give you a few sweet words."
Tang Wanzhuang had a blank expression on her face.
Of course this is the truth. You have to be so smart. What's wrong with being jealous? You ruined my good mood.
Xia Chichi read the letter and frowned tightly: "Changan... Changan. Why did you come to see me?"
"I'll ask you to contact your master. There must be a secret way to send messages in your sect. How about asking her to go to Chang'an? What's going on in Jinzhong?"
"Two hours ago, I received a quick report that 20,000 dan of grain is on its way to the capital, and nearly 10,000 dan has been delivered to Yanmen County. Oh, and there are also several thousand war horses."
"That's nearly 30,000 shi of grain and several thousand war horses!" Tang Wanzhuang took a breath of cold air: "How many families?"
"Your Excellency slaughtered the Qiao family to intimidate northern Shanxi, and threatened to kill all those who did not surrender. Northern Shanxi was terrified, and more than ten families surrendered. These grains were offered by them on their own initiative. If they were not given, they would have been killed by Your Excellency one by one."
Tang Wanzhuang opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.
This is the so-called underworld method, which is direct and effective, and is also the deterrent force that should be possessed when there are top-notch strong men on hand.
There were no strong people in Jinzhong, and there was not even a strong government. It was a group of merchants in the past, but now it has all secretly surrendered to the Hu people. Because it is south of Yanmen Pass, Yanmen Pass is isolated and in an extremely dangerous situation.
Therefore, the Han people didn't care about the rules. When there were top warriors who didn't follow the rules, this kind of "surrender to the barbarians" was meaningless. Zhuque single-handedly killed them one by one with absolute force, killing them so much that they surrendered directly.
In the past, this rule could not be broken, otherwise the other party could send a strong man to the heart of the Han Dynasty to kill people indiscriminately, and no one would have a chance to play. Zhao Changhe's arrow across the river was considered a violation of the rules, but Zhao Changhe was still a member of the Earth Ranking, and he was just playing on the edge. Do you have the guts to send a member of the Earth Ranking to play? Don't blame me for not reminding you if you die here. Moreover, the Wang family was destroyed in an instant, and there was no way to find a strong man to fight back, and the demon gods such as Huang Yang would not avenge the Wang family.
But Zhuque is on the Heavenly Ranking and is also a Demon God of the Realm. He is truly a person who breaks the rules...
But the bad thing is that the Shanxi merchants did not dare to openly say that they surrendered to the Hu people. They did it in secret. In theory, the Three Jins were still the original territory of the Great Xia. The internal fighting among the Xia people should be handled by the Demon Suppression Department. What does it have to do with you foreigners
Let alone the Hu people, even the Li family was dumbfounded and didn't know how to help. Send troops? How can it compare to the terrifying mobility of the top masters who can kill whoever they want? Send strong men to the Han Dynasty to kill them? Zhuque used the reason that these people are in cahoots with the Hu people, and it is reasonable to kill them anyway. What reason do you use? You just pick a random family to kill, do you still want to rule the world in the future
Let the Hu people send strong men to the Central Plains
It must be said that Batu's uncle, He Lei, who ranked seventh on the Earth Ranking, died in the Central Plains. This incident cast a huge shadow on the Hu people, so they really didn't dare to send them randomly. If they died, the loss would be too much to make up. Oh, by the way, He Lei died at the hands of Suzaku because he bullied the Winged Fire Snake...
In short, unless Boye or Timur comes in person, there is no guarantee. Do they have the time to do this? Besides, with their status and position, wouldn't they be laughed at by others for coming to the Central Plains to do such a thing? It's very embarrassing.
Therefore, facing Zhuque's "jianghu tactics" that broke the rules, there was no counter-attack at all, so the Li family had to entrust a demon god to stop it. Everyone is familiar with this demon god, his name is Feng Yin. As a result, in the battle of Yujing, Fenyan Nantian was beaten back by Zhuque... From then on, Zhuque ravaged Sanjin and no one could resist him.
The people of northern Shanxi surrendered, and Yanmen was isolated and freed, and also obtained a large amount of food and fodder, which solved the urgent needs of the Han Dynasty.
Jinnan directly raised the flag of the Li family and connected with Guanlong. Feng Yin was in charge directly, preventing Zhuque from acting recklessly, otherwise he would easily fall into a trap.
This was a temporary end to the matter... In other words, Suzaku was free now, very free.
The king and his minister looked at each other, and both felt relieved that they could help Zhao Changhe. At the same time, it was extremely strange, as if everyone had sent their love rival to him.
"Forget it." Xia Chichi threw the letter on the table and said quietly, "Anyway, he is always followed by a smelly and unsophisticated female knight. I am very jealous. There is nothing wrong in finding a big witch to cause trouble for them."
"…" Tang Wanzhuang didn't know how to respond to this, so she could only say with a straight face: "That's like entering a tiger's den. Don't make it sound so light, like you're just playing house."
Xia Chichi held up her chin and said, "Anyway, we can't do much more than worry. What's the point of you and I looking sad at each other? So, a lot of your previous illnesses were self-inflicted. I don't know if it's because you look like that that makes it easy to hook up with men."
Tang Wanzhuang: "... your men's clothing is the way to seduce men."
Xia Chichi: “?”
The two of them stared at each other for a long while, and Xia Chichi sighed, "If you want to reassure him, then study more of the things he said in the letter, such as improving papermaking, improving printing, and the equal distribution of land in Bashu, and see how we manage it here. It feels quite cumbersome. Having said that, I definitely have no objection to these things, but your Tang family..."
Tang Wanzhuang said: "When a country is first established, it is a blank sheet of paper. It is the easiest to paint over. We cannot let a few families or surnames hold us back. He used to say that this world, this world, makes him very disappointed... I am willing to accompany him to break up the world and paint over the picture in his heart."
(End of this chapter)