Daily life of slaying demons in the government

Chapter 318 The Emperor is Far Away
Facts have proved that Yang Qian's ideas are very down-to-earth, in line with the local conditions of Shuangqing Prefecture.

At the same time, the situation of Xingsheng League was not common in Shuangqing Prefecture, and not all forces had learned of Yang Qian's whereabouts. Most were still unaware.

Yang Qian led his personal guards and changed the route. Instead of going directly to the city, they circled around Shuangqing Prefecture.

First, to see if there is any experience pool that can be harvested, and second, to see the actual situation in Shuangqing Prefecture.

After leaving Ciqiu Mountain, the nearest city to Yang Qian and his party was more than 160 miles away and was called Taocheng.

According to the detailed map in Yang Qian's hand, this peach city is not big, but the surrounding area is rich in a kind of local peach, which is sweet and delicious, and the fruit is large. It is also a major business for the people around this city to make a living.

Fresh peaches, preserved peaches, dried peaches, and even various sculptures made of peach wood.

According to the description on the map: Taocheng is a city with many peach trees, and the people make their living from them, hence the name of the city.

It looked like a nice place, at least a rich place with plenty of food and clothing. But as Yang Qian walked along, he found that the reality was very different from what he had imagined. But it seemed so natural to be in Shuangqing Prefecture.

In just a distance of more than a hundred miles, Yang Qian and his party encountered two groups of bandits and a group of evil spirits.

I gained one thousand points of experience, but what I saw were four words: people are living in misery.

too messy.

No matter how good the geographical conditions are, they cannot withstand the rampant bandits and evil spirits. In such a situation, once you leave the city or get a little further away from the city walls, you will be risking your life.

Bandits don't eat people, they just want money and food. But demons don't care about food, they want money, food, blood and food, and they really leave no grass where they go.

Yang Qian actually saw quite a few peach trees on the way. There were quite a few fruits on them, but no one picked them. They were just left to fall to the ground and rot.

This peach tree must have been planted by someone, but now no one takes care of it.

Yang Qian picked quite a few, scraped off the fluff and started to eat them. They were indeed sweet and crisp in the mouth, and the core was not very big. They were definitely top-quality products.

"It's a pity for these peaches. If they could be transported to the imperial city, they could be sold at a sky-high price." Juan also picked some to eat, his face full of lamentation and heartache. It's a pity that such good things can only rot like this.

"What did you find out?"

On the way, Yang Qian did not kill all the bandits and demons, but kept some alive for interrogation by the inner guards. He also collected a lot of useful information, especially the bandits, who knew more than the demons.

"To reply to your Excellency, the situation in Taocheng is probably a bit complicated." After a pause, Juan continued, "It's mainly the news from the bandits. The demons and monsters are all following the bandits. It seems that there is an agreement that the demons and monsters will not enter the city in exchange for a share of everything.

The main benefits are two-fold.

One is the mine near Taocheng, and the other is the exiled prisoners in Taocheng.

There are gold, silver and copper mines over there. Although they are all small mines, they do not require deep wells and are relatively easy to mine.

At the same time, Taocheng was also a hub for exiling criminals from the southern part of the country to the border cities. Thousands of people were exiled here every year. Ninety-nine percent of these people did not survive the end of their sentences, which had become a routine. They were also the cheapest lives that no one cared about.

According to the captured bandits, the exiled prisoners are called "meat money" and can be circulated and traded in Shuangqing Prefecture. It is also a business run by various forces here."

Juan's expression was very ugly. This was not the first time he came to the border town. He had even fought in the border army and killed the enemy. But none of the border towns in the past could compare to Shuangqing Prefecture in terms of chaos. It couldn't even be called chaos, but lawlessness!

Yang Qian also frowned when he heard this.

Shuangqing Prefecture's geographical location is extremely special, and they had seen it on the way here. Even if they chose to cross the Jinjiang Plain, then enter the Duanshan Mountains and enter Shuangqing Prefecture, this is the easiest way, but it can still be called a steep road.

Galloping horses? Even large-scale marches are unrealistic.

This is why the route that Yang Qian and his group took into Shuangqing Prefecture could be accurately controlled.

At the same time, it is precisely because of these objective conditions that Shuangqing Prefecture became the place where "the emperor is far away" most during the Hongwu Dynasty.

I knew this place was a mess before I came here, but Yang Qian didn't expect it to be this messy.

"We have gold, silver and copper mines. Doesn't the imperial court confiscate their output?" Yang Qian didn't quite understand this aspect and turned to ask Juan.

"The imperial court should have confiscated the metal ingots produced, but the mine in Shuangqing Prefecture is small, the output is small, and transportation is difficult, so the accounts are muddled. We have to ask in the city to find out the details."

Yang Qian asked again: "If we secretly keep the output of these mines, how can we exchange them for useful things? We can't buy them from other states, right?
Or, crossing the border?"

Juan didn't say anything, but he also tacitly agreed that Yang Qian's guess was a possibility. After all, to the west of Taocheng is the bamboo sea, and there is also an area that belongs to the neighboring country "Daxu Dynasty". Cross-border transactions can indeed sell these seized items and exchange them for other things.

For example, weapons or food.

Seeing that Juan didn't say anything, Yang Qian continued, "From this point of view, the government offices and garrison commanders in Taocheng are probably not clean. Otherwise, they would not be able to reach a tacit understanding with the demons just by not allowing demons to enter the city. This is a typical practice of everyone trying to get benefits together, so they don't want others to ruin the pot."

"Sir, what's behind us?"

"Let's go to Taocheng first and see what the city looks like. Oh, put away all the badges and see how the Taocheng government reacts."

A few days later, Yang Qian and his party saw a high gray-black wall. They could vaguely see a city gate in the middle of a section of the wall, and two large faded characters on the gate: Taocheng.

Even though we were close to the city wall, there were still not many vehicles on the road. There were only a few trucks scattered around, and the drivers and drivers were all big, strong, and fierce-looking men. They had short knives on their waists, and long knives hung on their cars. Some ruthless men even hung crossbows in convenient places.

These are capital crimes elsewhere, but are commonplace here.

Yang Qian was surprised at first, but he thought it was reasonable. After all, the sports car owners could not stay in the city, and there were too many bandits and evil spirits outside the city. It was impossible to protect themselves by relying solely on the weapons that the Hongwu Dynasty laws stipulated that civilians could carry. This was probably one of the reasons why weapons were rampant and blatant here.

A hundred or so people could not enter the city all at once, so Yang Qian dispersed his men and had them enter the city in batches through the four city gates.

Yang Qian and Juan are the most advanced.

When entering the city, Yang Qian did not take out his official pass, and neither did Juan. As a result, the officer guarding the city gate simply spread his hands and looked at Yang Qian and Juan with a smile.

Yes, no need to say anything, this gesture is understood everywhere.

As for money, it seems that it can be used as a currency in Taocheng.

(End of this chapter)