Hangzhou. Midsummer in July.

The people of Hangzhou have completely recovered from the war, and in recent years, Wu has won successive battles, which has become a topic of conversation for many people.

Since Lu Yuan did not hold a court meeting, the officials of Wu were much more relaxed, working in the imperial city from the beginning of the morning (7 o'clock) to the end of the afternoon (5 o'clock), and resting for a long time in the evening.

Recently, the imperial court implemented several policies: First, the system of renting land was fully implemented, and all private land was confiscated.

Second, outside Hangzhou, every three villages will open a village school, and all rural villagers can study in the village school for free for three years.

Third, adjust the salaries of officials and officials.

These three policies would have been difficult to implement in peacetime, because the distribution of benefits had already been solidified.

At present, the policy has been passed very smoothly.

For the officials, although the salary was lowered, the court gave them a house, and the money still allowed them to live a decent life.

Unlike the clerks, they have too little money for a month, and they have to worry about housing, so they have to choose other ways to make money.

As the saying goes, Hades is easy to mess with, but the reason for this situation is because the life of the imp is too difficult.

Now that the income of the officials has increased by one to two times, the lowest income can also ensure that food and clothing are worry-free, which is the real way to eliminate the formation of ghosts.

Early in the morning, Zhang Dezhong had breakfast, put on his official robe, and rode to the imperial city in a carriage. When they came to the city gate, Fang Ying, who had been waiting for a long time, greeted him, and the two of them went to Shangshu Province together.

Soon, Zhang Dezhong left Shangshu Province and went straight to Wende Palace, and after the report, he entered the study.

"Your Majesty, Fang Ying's persuasion to surrender has been successful, and Song Xuan of Suzhou has agreed to surrender to our country." Lao Shangshu smiled.

"He's doing a great job." Lu Yuan praised.

"Your Majesty, when Song Xuan surrendered, he made a request."

"What requirements?"

"He hopes that the king can allow him to march to Huzhou, he wants to conquer Huzhou and dedicate it to the king."

"Accurate!"

"Your Majesty, Fang Ying has made a meritorious contribution to this mission, and he has served as the assassin of Suzhou before, and the minister thinks that he can serve as the Sima of Suzhou."

"Quasi-play!" Lu Yuan is as good as a stream.

"The old minister has retired."

Shortly after Zhang Dezhong left, the guards presented a military report, which was written by Meng Xiaoshang to attack Huzhou.

Judging from the content, Meng Xiao already knew that Song Xuan requested to attack Huzhou, so he was naturally unwilling to let Song Xuan get this credit for nothing.

Lu Yuan waved his hand and agreed to Meng Xiao's request.

As long as the three states are in hand, Lu Yuan will have eight states, the same as Wu Yueguo, who has just recovered Fuzhou.

Moreover, the eight states of Luyuan were much richer.

But now a new problem appeared in front of Lu Yuan, he found that the more land he had, the more soldiers he needed to garrison.

Now the First Army is responsible for the defense of Hui'an and Muzhou. The Second Army was responsible for the defense of Yuezhou and Mingzhou, and now that the north has captured three states, it is estimated that the Third Army will be needed to defend. The Fourth Army was responsible for the defense of the coastline.

In this way, the only troops that Lu Yuan could use were the forbidden army, which gave him the idea of building a new army.

The original Fifth Army was changed to the Forbidden Army, and Lu originally planned to re-establish the Fifth Army, and he planned to draw 10,000 men from the Forbidden Army as the basis of the Fifth Army.

This is Lu Yuan's habit of expanding the army, whether it is the third army or the fourth army, it is based on the original Guards, and the Guards are the most loyal, so that the army that comes out can reassure Lu Yuan.

The next thing to consider is who will be the commander of the Fifth Army.

In terms of qualifications, Hou Kaishan, Ma Kongming and Jin Yuanwu can all be, but they are not good at fighting. In terms of ability, Xiao Shilang and Xu Qian are not bad, but their qualifications and merits are too shallow.

Suddenly, a person chose to pass through Lu Yuan's mind, he smiled slightly and made a decision.

……

Muzhou.

Mei Zhi returned home with a jar of wine, tomorrow is the Mu holiday, according to the custom, Chu Xiong will come to her tonight, this jar of wine is prepared for Chu Xiong.

Since she went to Hui'an Mansion to see Chu Xiong, Chu Xiong's attitude towards her was very different, and he no longer had any concealment from her, and even took her over when he was transferred to Muzhou.

Mei Zhi was naturally full of joy, sold the tavern in Hui'an Mansion, and reopened a tavern in Muzhou.

She was a widow and had no expectations for life, but it was Chu Xiong's appearance that made her life colorful.

And under Chu Xiong's protection, no gangster bully dared to come to her store to make trouble, this kind of dependence was something that her previous husband couldn't give.

With a sweet heart, Umezhi walked home.

However, when passing through a street, two figures flashed by, and Mei Zhi shivered all over, only to feel a cool air climb up her back.

Her steps were a little weak, and she squatted down, so she finally didn't fall.

Among the two figures just now, the person on the left was Chu Xiong, she recognized it at a glance, and Chu Xiong's side was a woman, just from the back, Mei Zhi could conclude that it must be a beautiful woman.

He has a new love, and Mei Zhi feels sad in his heart.

No, she has to go and see clearly, although she is weak on the outside, she is very strong on the inside.

Standing up, Umeeda chased in the direction where the two had left.

After a while, the backs of the two reappeared in sight, and they saw that the two were very close, Mei Zhi clenched his fists, and his palms were pierced with blood from his nails.

After a while, the two entered a teahouse, and Mei Zhi quietly followed in and sat down in the corner.

In front of her, Chu Xiong was talking to the woman with a smile on his face, and the two were talking and talking, and even stood up and hugged each other, Mei Zhi couldn't bear it anymore, and walked towards the two of them with the wine jar in his arms.

"Umechi!" Chu Xiong immediately noticed her.

With a "snap", Mei Zhi put the wine jar on the ground and hissed: "The surname Chu, are you worthy of me?" ”

Chu Xiong was taken aback, stood up and said, "What are you talking about?" ”

"Don't touch me!" Mei Zhi retreated two times, dodging Chu Xiong's hand.

At this time, the young woman who was sitting with Chu Xiong smiled and said, "Brother Chu, it's good, find such a beautiful sister-in-law for me." ”

"You vixen ......" Mei Zhi was halfway through his words, and was suddenly stunned: "...... Sister-in-law? You...... You ......"

The young woman stood up and said with a smile: "I am Chu Xiong's sister-in-law Lan Liuyi, hello." ”

"Sister-in-law?" Umechi didn't stretch out her hand.

Chu Xiong hurriedly said: "Mei Zhi, she is the righteous daughter of the former prime minister of Chu State, I mentioned it to you before, have you forgotten?" ”

"Yikes!" Mei Zhi covered her cheeks with both hands, Chu Xiong had mentioned to her about being in Chu State, and she did say that she had a righteous sister.

"I ...... I'll go get you another drink. Mei Zhi's face turned red, and she was about to flee in a panic.

Chu Xiong grabbed her: "No need, let's drink tea today." ”

"This girl...... Right...... I'm sorry. Umeeda bowed her head and apologized.

"My sister-in-law's name is Lan Liuyi, and now she is a celebrity around you, just call her Liu Mei like me." Chu Xiong said with a smile.

"What is a celebrity, how ugly." Lan Liuyi didn't have a good airway.

Mei Zhi was a little surprised: "Does Miss Lan also serve in the imperial court?" ”

"She is the deputy envoy of the Spiegel Academy, Zheng Sipin, and she is at the same level as me."

Mei Zhi was secretly surprised, and lowered her head a little more.

"Brother Chu, I came to you this time to have some serious business." Lan Liuyi knew that Mei Zhi was still a little suspicious, so she decided to get straight to the point and no longer talk about the past with Chu Xiong.

"You say." Chu Xiong sat up straighter.

"Your Highness has decided to set up a new Fifth Army, with you as the commander of the Fifth Army, you are ready to go back to Hangzhou, and the defense here will be taken over by General Jiang Yun."

Chu Xiong was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly arched his hand in the direction of the north: "Thank you!" ”

Mei Zhi was also a little surprised, but after the surprise, for some reason, she felt a little more unsteady, and looked at Chu Xiong, only to see that his face was full of red light, and his joy was overflowing.

"The other thing is a private matter." Lan Liuyi said softly: "I have seen Huang Cuo in Jinling, he is now an official in the Zhou Dynasty, I see that the situation in the Zhou State is not very good, I think you should write a letter to him and ask him to come to Hangzhou." ”

"Okay, I'll write it tonight." Chu Xiong nodded, he had learned the news of Huang Cuo from Wang Bing's mouth very early, so he was not so surprised,

Lan Liuyi smiled, stood up and said, "Then I'll go back to Hangzhou and wait for you first." ”

As he spoke, he turned around and walked out of the teahouse.

Chu Xiong looked at Lan Liuyi's departing back, thoughtful.

"Brother Chu, will you take me to Hangzhou?" Mei Zhi asked a little worriedly.

"Of course." Chu Xiong smiled, grabbed Mei Zhi's hand and said, "When the country is stable, I will marry you." ”

"Hmm." The sound of plum branches was like mosquitoes and flies, and his heart was steady.