Cangzhou beacon fire

Chapter 22 Jinxi Great Victory
As soon as the special envoy from the State of Luo came, Zhong Lin's expression darkened, and he gestured for a stop. All the generals put down the wine glasses in their hands, and those who didn't know it stopped making noise under the reminder of their colleagues.

"Please come in the special envoy of Luo Kingdom." Zhong Lin said, and the guard led the order and walked out quickly.

Xia Houyin turned his obese body sideways, and said with disdain: "Luo Guo, a dog, why send a special envoy here at this time? Hmph!"

"The spies have already reported that Luodu has sent three special envoys, one to Sanyuan, one to our Yuedu, and one to come directly to our place. Maybe we are afraid that we will fight again." Zhong Lin waved his hand at Xia Houyin, signaling him Do not impulse.

The door of the hall opened, and a slightly obese envoy from the Luo Kingdom walked in slowly. He was tall and straight, with his chin slightly raised, with an expression of invincibility, and a Luo Kingdom guard who followed behind him was also arrogant.

All the generals stared angrily, and the whole hall was dead silent, only the footsteps of the special envoy echoed in the hall.

"Yue Kingdom kneels down to receive the decree!" When the arrogant envoy of Luo Kingdom came to Zhong Lin, he took out a gold silk imperial decree from his sleeve pocket and preached loudly.

However, all the generals of the Yue Kingdom present stood coldly, and none of them knelt down, making the atmosphere even more dignified.

The Fat Messenger looked around, got a little angry, and shouted loudly: "There is news from Luo Guo, Yue Guo kneels down to accept the order!"

Zhong Lin coughed dryly, put his hands on his back, and said coldly: "The bones of Yue people are too hard to kneel down. The special envoy will announce it directly."

"Boldly overthrow the people of the country, don't kneel when you see the order! Do you want to court death?!" The guard of the Luo Kingdom behind the special envoy stepped forward, pointed at Zhong Lin and cursed.

With a "clang" sound, the sharp sword came out of its sheath, and Xia Houyin raised the sword with a thunderous gesture. The bodyguard of the Luo Kingdom who was pointing at Zhong Lin and scolding him was separated from his body in an instant, and he was killed on the spot. He trembled with fright.

"Whoever disrespects our general will die!" After Xia Houyin finished speaking, he slowly moved the bloody sword, and finally reached the throat of the special envoy of Luo Kingdom.

The special envoy stopped immediately, his arrogance was swept away, and he hurriedly cried: "Forgive me, spare my life, the little one is just following orders."

At this time, Zhong Yao came out from the banquet, slowly moved his finger away from Xia Houyin's saber, turned his head to look at the special envoy of the Luo Kingdom and said coldly: "I told you to read it, you read it, and if you say one more word, I will cut you off." Tongue."

The special envoy, who was sweating profusely from fright, hastily took out a copy of the imperial decree of the Luo Kingdom, and began to read
"Heaven is merciful, peace and peace, Sanyuan and Yue are constantly fighting, hurting the people and property. Today, the eight cities east of Jinxi in the Sanyuan Kingdom are assigned to the Yue Kingdom. The two countries have stopped fighting and ceased fighting. The followers are all regarded as the first enemy of Luo, and attack them together, Luo Wang Liu Ting personally wrote!"

As soon as the Luo decree was announced, all the generals looked at each other in blank dismay. This decree was all beneficial to Yue. When did the Luo Kingdom change its nature?

"Have you finished reading?" Zhong Yao stared at the special envoy and asked.

"It's over, it's over." The envoy of Luo Kingdom wiped his sweat nervously, and replied tremblingly.

Zhong Yao took the imperial decree with one hand: "Then you can get lost."

"Wait!" Just as the special envoy was about to turn around, Xia Houyin stopped him again, and said sharply, "Tell your people to carry this corpse back. We won't bury strangers in our country."

The appearance of the special envoy running away in a hurry caused everyone to burst into laughter, only Zhong Lin kept his brows furrowed.

"Father, why are you unhappy? This is great news for our country." Zhong Yao came to Zhong Lin and handed over the imperial edict to him.

"It's indeed good news, but why is Luo Guo suddenly on our side? I always feel a little strange."

On the outskirts of King Yue's capital, in the fields.

An old farmer couple are driving cattle and plowing in the field, and their grandson is playing with flowers and plants on the ridge of the field.

Life is hard, but the faces of the old farmer and his wife always show a trace of joy from time to time. The two old people's surname is Shen, and the neighbors call them the old Shen's family.

Compared with the happiness of the old Shen's family, the old Li's house in the field next door is a different scene.

Lao Li's family has half an acre more land than Lao Shen's. In the field, Lao Li and his two adult sons each drive a cow and plow side by side. meaning, but sighed.

Under the scorching sun, everyone was sweating profusely. Lao Li's eldest son wiped his sweat, looked at the old Shen's family in the field next door, and complained: "Father, the two elder brothers of the Shen family have joined the army. They have food, subsidies and half of the tax. You Why don't you let me go?"

The younger second son next to him also echoed: "I want to go too, I want to go too!"

Old Li stopped what he was doing, and shouted angrily: "What are you going to do! Who is our surname Li following? Who is his old Shen following? Can it be compared!? The young Shenzi has a reduced salary and a subsidy for joining the army , that's because they belong to the Zhong family, and we are with the king, with the surname Zhao! It's different!"

Old Li's second son pouted and complained: "It's bad luck to return the king's people!"

Lao Li looked at his two sons who were so dark that he felt a sense of guilt in his heart. He didn't say anything, sighed, and waved to his wife in front of Niu, motioning for him to continue working.

"Hurry up and work, if you want to blame, blame our bad luck." When the cow moved, Lao Li glanced at his two sons and said.

The two sons still complained, glanced at each other, and continued to work. After all, complaining can't solve food and clothing.

"Brother, can we go and follow the Zhong family? It's too hard to follow the Zhao family name. It sounds like the king's people. The annual grain production, the surname tax alone has to pay more than half...the rest is not enough to eat."

"Don't be naive, just work."

In addition to the land system, Yue State also has a surname system that is different from other countries. There are three surnames in Yue State, Zhao Zhonglu, and each surname is in charge of other surnames. Zhang, Chen, Li, Liu and other common surnames.The Lu family and the Zhong family are in charge of other surnames. The subordinate surnames not only have to pay local taxes to the country, but also need to pay a small amount of surname tax to the superior surnames. This tradition has not changed since the founding of the Yue State.

Over the years of succeeding to the throne, King Zhao Yan of Yue was extremely extravagant and built eight palaces in various parts of the country. Among them, the sea palace in the East China Sea was the most luxurious. Due to the interference of the ministers, the local taxes could not be increased, so Zhao Yan could only make a fuss about the surname tax. The surname tax was raised three times in three years, which made the people under the Zhao surname miserable.

On the other hand, the people under the two surnames of Zhong and Lu, the surname tax was lowered, and the military service was halved. This had to make the people of the Zhao surname who claimed to be the people of the king feel unhappy, but they dared not speak out.

A middle-aged man dressed in brocade clothes stood between the ridges of the field, looking at the world-different situations of these two families, he pondered for a long time thoughtfully.

The man is about 65 years old, tall and strong, with refined eyebrows, a thick beard covering his face, and his tall and straight figure gives people a sense of majesty and domineering.

"Master Lu, it's time to meet the king." A hunchbacked butler slowly came behind the middle-aged man and said respectfully.

On the other side, the Three Yuan Kingdom.

When the news that Luo State awarded the eight cities east of Jinxi to Yue State reached Shouyan City, the government and the public were in an uproar, and Tian Jin, the king of the Three Yuan Kingdom, was so angry that he kicked the king's chair over. He was sold by Luo State when he failed to ask for help. , who can bear this.

However, Tian Jin thought over and over again, and finally accepted the order reluctantly. After all, looking at the mainland, Luo is still the overlord, and at the same time, Sanyuan's most powerful ally.

After the defeated general Qi Sheng returned to the teacher, although he did not inquire about the crime, he felt guilty and resigned as sick, and no longer intervened in court affairs.

For Yan Yu, a general like Yan Yu, Sanyuan lost troops and lost generals, the eight cities in the west of Jinxi returned to Yue, and Qi Sheng stayed behind closed doors. These horrible things happened one after another until Pang Baichuan brought his naive bodyguard Li Si When he appeared at the gate of Yan Mansion, Yan Yu showed a long-lost smile.

Pang Baichuan bowed deeply to Yan Yu, and made a solemn salute: "I wish to help the general defeat Yue."

On the other side, the main force of the Yue army has also returned to the division, leaving Xia Houyin in charge of taking over the eight cities.

In July of the 11th year of the Anping calendar, with the completion of the takeover of the remaining cities, Yue State's western offensive strategy came to an end. Yue State, which had endured for ten years, told the nations that the tiger at the east gate had returned with a great victory.

The aftershocks of the Jinxi War affected the entire continent. Under the seemingly peaceful appearance, the undercurrent never stopped.

(End of this chapter)