book of troubled times

Chapter 739: Smudge his scroll

A mere two or three days later, the Capital Town Demon Division received a carrier pigeon from Bashu.

Everyone in the Demon-Suppressing Division was shocked. The homing pigeon is not just something that can be raised by just hiding in any private house or even a cave. It actually follows a very skilled route to return to its nest. It was raised by the Demon Commander in Bashu Town in the past. If you let it fly back, it will just fly back. At the original location of the Demon Suppression Division, that would be equivalent to sending meat to Li Shentong's doorstep. After the Zhenmo Division went into hiding, it was impossible to train the carrier pigeons. What happened to the carrier pigeons that suddenly came from Bashu?

Qin Dingjiang took off the roll tied to the pigeon's foot and opened it. His eyes widened. He immediately ran to find Tang Wanzhuang: "First seat, first seat! A letter from Bashu!"

Bashu? Tang Wanzhuang was stunned and smiled slightly: "Why be panic? Bring it to me to see."

Just this morning, Tang Wanzhuang received a letter from Zhao Changhe from Miao territory. Well, it was the letter written by Sisi while she was hiding under the table. The letter detailed the current situation of the Ling Tribe and the Miao Territory, the story of how Sisi became the King of Dali, and asked the DPRK to send envoys for edicts and exchanges, as well as whether to continue to establish the Demon Suppression Department and the Xuanwei Department in the Miao Territory, etc. Then he said that he would leave for Bashu immediately, hoping for good news.

In the end, I said I miss you very much... My words were sincere. Unfortunately, because of the word "we", it looked funny no matter how you looked at it. Tang Wanzhuang automatically ignored her and reported to Xia Chichi to start arranging Miao border affairs.

As a result, the candidates sent by Xia Chichi and Tang Wanzhuang to settle in Miao territory were not selected yet, and the letter from Bashu arrived, just like a stage performance.

The letter is as follows:

"Kissing and dressing up in the evening are like meeting each other: I don't know whether Miao Jiang's letter came first or this one. Do you miss me?"

Qin Dingjiang ran away as soon as he saw the first two words and did not dare to look back. I always feel that the president will blush with anger after seeing it. A serious person like the president, even if he and you are in love, he would not say "kiss" like this in an official document.

No one knew that in the quiet first office room, Tang Wanzhuang secretly glanced left and right, but there was no one around her. Her sullen face quietly broke into a smile, her cheeks were rosy, and she murmured in a low voice. : "If I was willing to write like this in my last letter, Your Majesty and I wouldn't be disgusted with each other. Why do you miss us? No one is with them."

Baoqin pointed to her nose and signaled "there is someone here", but was ignored by her own lady.

Baoqin said bluntly: "I wrote that letter in the morning. It's true that I won't hate you. It's just that His Majesty will tear you apart."

"She can't beat me, call her master." Tang Wanzhuang stroked the letter leisurely and continued reading.

Baoqin: "..."

What a serious leader, a loyal minister of Daxia. Ju Sheng in Huaibei belongs to him, and he has been replaced by a big man, and he is a proper rebellious minister.

"I saw Li Shentong's uprising for the people, and it has only been more than half a year. But now we meet again, the original intention of the Shenhuang Sect is very little left, and Li Shentong himself has changed a bit, but Situ Xiao is still innocent... you know The reincarnation of a dragon slayer becoming an evil dragon is difficult to change. Once he takes power, some thoughts will change. Fortunately, the time is short, and Li Shentong has not completely deteriorated. After listening to me talk about some fundamental actions for the people, It’s obvious that my heart is touched and I can fight for it.”

"Actually, part of the reason should be that he couldn't let go of face. What did he say when he slayed the dragon? The common man was so angry that blood spattered five steps. He said it so well that even Lao Xia sighed. In the end, if he also carried Shenhuang Zong becomes another wave of Daxia bureaucrats. Who will arouse the anger of ordinary people? Does he dare to see Lao Xia under the Nine Springs, and dares to see you and me on the battlefield? I did not say so directly, leaving it to him It saves face, but it should be tacitly understood.”

"Now he takes the initiative to re-establish the Suppression Division, which is responsible for monitoring the lawlessness of farmers and officials. He asked me to organize the former members of the Suppression Division. This is a risk for the brothers of the Suppression Division, but it should be given a try. People's hearts are always changing. , our people's joining is not only a supervision of the officials, but also a reminder to him himself. Whenever he sees the people from the Demon Suppression Division, he should think of it, will Zhao Changhe be laughed at if some things are heard in his ears? So he thought about it. . This is also his true intention of taking the initiative to suppress the Demon Division. He is reminding himself."

"But now that the Demon-Suppressing Division has been established, the nature of Bashu's regime has become a little subtle. Suddenly, it has a nature similar to that of controlling the Miao territory. It seems that it can be transformed into the Han Dynasty's decree to confer the king of Shu at any time. But this is not our goal, Miao Xinjiang can be like this, but Bashu cannot. It cannot have a king, and we must send eunuchs to manage it. Now this step cannot be done directly... When I set up the gate of Ding City, I actually had a hidden intention of conquest to determine the world of Ding. Li Shentong unexpectedly The fact that he hasn’t moved away means that he is also looking at the follow-up.”

"Look at our battle with Guanlong and the battle with the barbarians, look at my strength, look at your military strength, it is impossible for me to fool you into surrendering. No matter what, he is willing to leave Hanzhong, You are also willing to go with me beyond the Great Wall. This is enough. You are worthy of your 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 that we have movable type printing, which was proposed by Lao Xia decades ago. Yes, craftsmen have made it. But so far it is fragile and inefficient, and the paper output is also very limited. If you want to fully develop education, it will be difficult to do so due to these limitations."

"We need to pay attention to it. There is only one thing we need to pay attention to... This will also be of great help to our scientific research strategy. We hope to recruit skilled craftsmen, improve technology, reduce costs and increase efficiency, and facilitate promotion. When this is done, it will be spread to Bashu, I will give him the questions and see how he will answer the questions."

Baoqin looked around and saw that his eyes were now filled with circles. I glanced at the young lady secretly. The red glow on the young lady's face had long since faded, and her eyes were shining with surprise.

"It's really amazing." Tang Wanzhuang whispered to himself: "I'm not surprised that Dingqinghe, Pinglangya, and Anmiao territory are what he can do based on military affairs. But this matter in Bashu... is simply... Who says he is just a man who only knows how to wield a sword? In the past, such a truly economical talent only lacked a platform."

Baoqin doesn’t understand but thinks it’s very powerful. Anyway, looking at the lady like that, she is very powerful.

It feels like even if everyone loses their memory of the past, only what happened after the establishment of the new dynasty makes Zhao Changhe pursue the young lady again, the young lady will definitely fall into his arms, look at that itchy look...

But in this world, he has to travel around all the time. It’s okay for young ladies and old women to be itchy. After the Chinese New Year, he’s already eighteen years old... Wu... The promised maidservant, how can there be such...

Little did Tang Wanzhuang know that the maid's mind was far away and she was still reading the letter. Logically speaking, after the matters in Bashu were finished, Zhao Changhe should return to Beijing to prepare for the expedition, but instead he sent a letter back, which gave her an ominous premonition.

Sure enough, the letter said: "Originally, after the business in Bashu was over, I was going to return to Beijing to prepare for the expedition, but now the plan has changed temporarily. Kunlun Yuxu is in danger of merging with the Li family, and I must go and ruin this. Best. As a result, Yuxu and I can work together to deal with the Hu people, but the minimum expectation is that the Li family will fall into conflict between sects and forces, and in short, they cannot be allowed to cooperate."

"Don't worry, Hong Ling is with me. She has broken the imperial guard. Although the current situation in Chang'an is complicated, I am still confident that I can handle it."

"Beijing is making all preparations for the expedition and is waiting for my return."

"Okay, give me a kiss~"

At the end of the letter was a picture of a kiss, which looked very cute.

But Tang Wanzhuang didn't feel cute at all. She frowned and stood up, pacing back and forth.

"The danger in Chang'an is not so light as he said... Yuxu may not be so friendly now, and there are gods behind him. And there may be other gods and demons in Kunlun, and Beihu doesn't know who is in Chang'an. It's not easy to do something. It's Bo'e or Timur who is here in person. Today in Chang'an, there are fish and dragons mixed together, gods and demons, and he is alone..."

Baoqin reminded: "There is also Yue Hongling."

Tang Wanzhuang ignored this sentence, stood up, walked back and forth a few steps, and whispered: "Contact Zhuque. I don't know how she is doing in Jinzhong. If she is not too nervous, let her take a detour to Chang'an." "

In fact, Tang Wanzhuang really wanted to go by herself, but unfortunately things are different now. In the past, she was only responsible for the world's military affairs, and she could often travel around the world. Now she needs to take care of many important affairs of the government, and Xia Chichi's right-hand man can't leave Beijing for a moment. And some things in Zhao Changhe's letter also need to be handled by himself.

I am extremely worried, but what can I do?

Baoqin reminded: "To contact that bird, there must be a more direct contact method in their Four Symbols Sect. Miss, it is best to ask His Majesty."

Tang Wanzhuang nodded, turned around, put on her clothes, and went straight to the palace.

Even though Bao Qin always makes people angry, he is actually a good secretary who can check for mistakes and make up for them. It would be even better if he could help with refills.

Among all the "foreign ministers" of the Han Dynasty, Tang Wanzhuang was the only one who could wander around the palace and break into the emperor's chamber without notification. Everyone knows in their hearts that this is not a "foreign minister" but a "queen" or at the lowest level a "noble concubine". It's just that when corresponding to this status, the emperor was Zhao Changhe, and the majesty who is sitting and working in the imperial study room is essentially a queen or a noble concubine.

As for who is the queen and who is the concubine, there are actually casinos that have opened in secret. For example, Ying Wu's Kang Le Casino is almost open to the public. The people in the capital winked and placed their bets. The Zhenmo Secretary turned a blind eye and secretly bet on his own family. First seat. Tang Wanzhuang was a little ashamed of entering the palace directly without communication. She always felt that every guard looked at her in the wrong way. But now she has gotten used to it and even joked with Xia Chichi.

Tang Wanzhuang entered the imperial study room. Xia Chichi was at the desk reviewing memorials. Her face was wrinkled, and she could tell that she was working very hard.

Tang Wanzhuang sighed in her heart, as long as the late emperor had such a diligent heart, even if he did not do well, he would not end up in such a mess. Nowadays, the Han Dynasty is recovering rapidly. In addition to the objective necessity of ordering from chaos, it is also inseparable from the delayed diligence. She only sleeps two or three hours a day at most, and often doesn't sleep at all. At the beginning, she was very unfamiliar with government affairs and didn't understand many things, but now she is a very qualified emperor.

Not to mention anything else, his calm demeanor and eyes that were as powerful as lightning could frighten many courtiers with just one glance. It was the murderous intention of the charlatan and the coldness of the ice swordsman, mixed with the majesty of the emperor. , Today's Xia Chichi really can't see the charm of the charlatan in her early years, and she looks more and more like an emperor with a bit of evil nature.

Seeing Tang Wanzhuang come in, Xia Chichi raised his head and continued working at his desk: "Why did you suddenly come in and come to bed?"

Tang Wan came in wearing makeup and sat casually on the table next to her, looking a bit like a charming concubine. Hearing this, he responded lazily and casually: "If he were to sit here, I would come and take care of him. You... queue up, oh, I forgot, you queued up once."

The eunuchs and maids on the left and right couldn't bear to look at him and turned their heads. It was unprecedented for the emperor and his ministers to do this.

Xia Chichi hummed: "We are all just 'we' in his writing. What he wants is to line up? What he wants is to be together. Let me tell you, when it comes to debauchery and immorality, he is very capable. He is a truly diligent king." You still have to look at me, Xia Chichi. A good minister chooses his master, so you should recognize me. Let’s rebel against him together!"

Tang Wanzhuang flipped through the folded memorials on the table with her delicate hands and looked at them with a smile: "I'm sorry, he sent me a private message. I have no reason to contradict him."

Xia Chichi was furious: "It's impossible, absolutely impossible! Let me see the letter!"

Tang Wanzhuang gave her the letter with a smile. Xia Chichi only glanced at the header and sighed: "The internal carrier pigeon of the Demon Suppression Department is of course sent directly to you. What's the big deal? Besides, the person who opened the envelope may not be You, in order to prevent others from reading it, don’t even dare to write anything private about me in it. I can only give you a few sweet words.”

Tang Wanzhuang's face was expressionless.

Of course this is the truth. Why don't you be so alert? Why are you jealous? It ruined my good mood.

Xia Chichi read the letter and frowned: "Chang'an...Chang'an. What do you mean by coming to me?"

"I want you to contact your master. Your sect must have a secret method of transmitting messages. How about asking her to go to Chang'an? How is the incident in Jinzhong?"

"Two hours ago, we reported that 20,000 shi of grain were on their way to the capital, and nearly 10,000 shi of grain had been sent to Yanmen County. By the way, there are also thousands of war horses."

"This is nearly 30,000 stones of grain and thousands of war horses!" Tang Wanzhuang took a breath: "How many are there?"

"Your Majesty massacred the Qiao family, frightening northern Shanxi, and threatened to destroy all those who refused to surrender. So northern Shanxi was shocked, and more than ten families surrendered under the bushes. They took the initiative to offer these grains. If they didn't give it, they would be revered. Kill them one by one."

Tang Wanzhuang opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.

This is the so-called Jianghu method, which is direct and effective, and it is also the deterrent that should be used when there are top experts at hand.

There is no strong person in Jinzhong, and it has not even formed a strong political power. It was an alliance of merchants earlier, but now it has essentially surrendered to the Hu people secretly. Because it is south of Yanmen, Yanmen Pass is isolated, which is an extremely dangerous situation.

Therefore, the big man does not care about the rules. There was no point in "surrendering to the barbarians" when there were top strong men who did not follow the rules. Suzaku single-handedly killed each family with absolute force, killing them so hard that they surrendered directly.

In the past, this kind of rule couldn't be broken, otherwise the other side could send a strong man to kill indiscriminately in the heart of the Han Dynasty, and no one would have any fun. Even if Zhao Changhe shoots an arrow across the river, it is considered a bad rule, but Zhao Changhe is still a Dibang. If you are just trying to get away with it, you can also send Dibang to play with you if you have the ability? Don't blame me for not reminding you if I die here. Moreover, the Wang family was wiped out in an instant, and there was no way to find a strong person to retaliate in kind. The devils such as Huang Pai would not avenge the Wang family.

But Suzaku is the Heavenly Ranking Demon God, and he is also the Realm Controlling Demon God. The rules are really bad...

But the bad thing about this is that the Shanxi merchants did not dare to openly say that they surrendered to the Hu people, it was all a secret matter. Theoretically, the Three Jin Dynasties are still the territory of the original Daxia. The fighting among the Xia people is still under the control of the Demon Suppressing Department. Does it have any business with you foreigners?

Not to mention the barbarians, even the Li family were stunned and didn't know how to help even if they wanted to. Send troops there? How can it compare to the terrifying mobility of top masters who can kill whoever they want? Also sending strong men to kill the Han people internally? Zhuque used the reason that these people were cheating. It was reasonable to kill them no matter what. What reason did you use? Just find a random family and kill them randomly. Do you still want to rule the world in the future?

Let the barbarians send strong men to the Central Plains?

It has to be said that Batu's uncle, Helei, the seventh on the Earth Ranking, died in the Central Plains. This incident had a great shadow on the Hu people, and they really didn't dare to sect randomly. If he died, the loss would be unaffordable. Oh, by the way, Here died at the hands of Suzaku because he bullied the Winged Fire Snake...

In short, unless Bo'e or Timur comes in person, we can be sure. Do they have such free time? What's more, given their status and status, they came to the Central Plains to do such a thing, weren't they afraid of being laughed at? Very embarrassing.

So in the face of Suzaku's "quack tactics" that broke the rules, he had no ability to counterattack at all. The Li family could only entrust a demon 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 Suzaku... From then on, Suzaku wreaked havoc on the three Jin Dynasties and could no longer resist.

In northern Shanxi, Yanmen was isolated and relieved, and a large amount of food and grass was obtained, which solved the urgent need of the Han Dynasty.

However, Jin Nan directly raised the flag of the Li family and joined forces with Guan Long. Feng Yin directly took charge, so that Suzaku could not act rashly, otherwise he would easily fall into a trap.

From now on, it's come to an end... In other words, Suzaku is now free, very free.

The monarch and the minister looked at each other, and they both felt that they could help Zhao Changhe. At the same time, it was weird, as if they were sending their love rival to him together.

"Forget it." Xia Chichi threw the letter on the table and said quietly: "Anyway, he is always followed by a smelly and boring heroine. I am very jealous. I will find a big witch to help them. There’s nothing wrong with adding to the chaos.”

"..." Tang Wanzhuang didn't know how to phrase this, so she could only say with a straight face: "That's going deep into the tiger's den, don't say it so lightly, it's like playing house."

Xia Chichi held her chin: "Anyway, we can't do anything more than worry. What's the point of you and me looking gloomy? So many of your previous illnesses were self-inflicted. I don't know if it was because of that. Her appearance makes it easy to seduce men."

Tang Wanzhuang: "...that men's clothing of yours is what seduces men."

Xia Chichi: "?"

The two of them stared at each other for a long time. Xia Chichi sighed and said, "If you want to reassure him, then study more about the things he mentioned in his letter, such as improved papermaking, improved printing, and the equalization of acres in Bashu. Looking at how we manage it here, it seems quite cumbersome. Having said that, I definitely don’t have any objections to these things, but your Tang family..."

Tang Wanzhuang said: "At the beginning of the founding of the country, the world was a piece of white paper. When it was easiest to smear, the steps should not be hindered by the family and surname. He once always said that this world, this world, let him Very disappointed...I am happy to accompany him to chop up the previous human world and smear the picture in his heart."

(End of this chapter)