At night,

Qu Rong, the envoy from the Protectorate of Annam, was also carefully examining the details of the city's appearance and character appearance under the control of the rebels along the way.

The Protectorate of Annam and the Naval Governor of Jing were in charge of twelve states (present-day northern Vietnam) including Jiaozhou, but in fact, since Gao Biao left office, the corresponding Jie Du envoy and the Commander of the Metropolitan Protector have been vacant; Therefore, it was only now that the internal power structure was sorted out, and in the name of Shi Ning Sichong, the highest-ranking right minister of the Metropolitan Protectorate, sent someone to negotiate the conditions of nominal subordination.

Qu Rongnai, as an envoy, was born from a local native family, and only after the failure to raise the rank of the soldier was because of the family's recommendation and donation, he was conscripted as a member of the army of the Annam Metropolitan Protectorate, and only recently because of the needs of the ministry did he suddenly become the so-called "Confucian Officials of the Two Courts (Metropolitan Protector and Jiedu)"; This disguised loss of money that was forced to come to the court was undoubtedly a rather humiliating thing for a scholar like him who was interested in the imperial court; But for him and the family behind him, it is a matter of destruction if it is not handled carelessly.

After all, don't look at these grass thieves as they are in power, but once they are defeated and let the imperial court counterattack come back, he and the family behind him will be the capital protector and the festival office, and they will be the first scapegoat to be put to calm down the discussion and accountability. But his family was even more unable to resist the pressure and crisis that was already looming.

Although the Tang Dynasty Imperial Court rebels and the Southern Zhao who had been fighting for many years reached a peace agreement for several years, the tragic experience of the barbarians in the southwest earlier was still engraved in the hearts of the local people with the slaughter of the swordsmen and soldiers, and they did not dare to forget each other at any time;

Therefore, after the supply from Lingdong was cut off this time and the soldiers from all over the Lingdong were cut off, the soldiers and civilians of the 12 prefectures of the huge Annan Protectorate became a rootless tree in a sense that both enterprising and self-protection were insufficient. They had to compromise and lose money to these thieves who had stolen the land of Guangfu in exchange for the basic conditions needed for trade and repatriation, and even the possibility of borrowing land to transfer in and out of the corresponding material channels.

Therefore, he also brought a heavy gift, depending on whether some of these grass thieves know the goods.

It's just that he heard that there is an epidemic in Guangzhou before, so he also has an incidental task, which is to conduct a private observation and evaluation of the situation and situation of the other party mastered by these grass thieves;

On the way here, he had already seen many inns and wild shops that had begun to resume operations and were able to provide basic food and lodging to passers-by, and he had also found large tracts of newly opened fields along the roadside; That's because the grass thieves are organizing the homeless people to settle the fields, and they are even doing something like that. This can't help but make him feel awe-inspiring and vigilant, this is not what ordinary grass thieves would do, but the atmosphere and pattern of the hidden claim party.

Then, the city of Guangzhou, which should have been rumored to be serious and people rushed out of the city to escape, was not as lifeless or full of corpses as he thought; It's sparsely populated, but it also has a bit of an orderly taste. The main streets are also relatively neat and clean, and many of the shops in the markets and streets are still in business, as if they have not been affected by the epidemic.

Since he entered the city, he has seen at least three waves of people who are responsible for cleaning the streets and cleaning up and carrying filth, although most of them are mainly old and weak, but it also means that the basic order and stable daily order under the rule of the rebel army.

This is important news, if the power of the grass thieves is not seriously weakened, it also means that Jiaozhou will have to come up with greater costs and conditions. But for him and his family, it also represents more buffer opportunities and capital to seek power in the Annam Protectorate. So at this moment, between his loyalty to Datang and the fluke psychology of becoming a thief, his mood is both contradictory and complicated.

It is not surprising that he got a well-known name or alias that is closely related to all this - "Void Monk". This is one of the newly known grass thieves who have become famous with those fugitives to the Annam Metropolitan Protectorate, known for his cruel methods against the powerful and ruthless in cutting down the grass and roots, and he can't imagine that he still has such a good ability in governance, which can't help but make him more worried and worried.

A "virtual" flag held high in the air, together with a strangely shaped carriage surrounded by a group of armored soldiers behind it, happened to walk out of the street in front of them, and staggered past them; also made Qu Rong move in his heart, it was so coincidental.

Sitting on this modified four-wheeled carriage, Zhou Huai'an was also on the way to the banquet,

The so-called banquet is the same for eating too much, at most it is to find an entertainment scene of singing and dancing, and in the end, it is inevitable to change from the wanton forgetfulness of drinking and hot ears to the big health style of sitting in the arms and pulling and pulling, and then each of them has fun on the spot. Even if these rebel-born elders were tossing and turning, they were not much fresher than the senses he had accumulated in later generations;

It's just that in terms of the freshness and original ecology of the ingredients, there are still some natural advantages compared to later generations; For example, the crystal dishes, bamboo shoots and mushroom zygotes that I tasted last time have slightly increased the energy gauge in my field of vision. In most cases, the people invited to the banquet basically have their own desires, and take advantage of this relatively relaxed atmosphere to do so in a private setting;

Some of them hope to participate in the auction presided over by Zhou Huai'an, or to get a piece of the reopened sea trade, or to realize the resources and products on some of the garrison sites. Others turned to him privately: for example, in most of the areas that he was not generally good at, such as trade, tuntian, and military service, money and grain collection, and project construction, he got his help or asked for his own opinions and ideas; Or they are also given the manpower and teaching materials sent by his position, and even some new things that he is responsible for creating and promoting under his name.

For example, after distilling and extracting ordinary liquor through a special set of utensils, the medical spirits obtained are obtained; For example, the earthen soap with incense and the special ointment for the treatment of skin diseases are all popular among these rebels who are suffering from water and soil adaptation or physical disorders.

As a peasant army general in this era, he is limited by the various limitations of knowledge, experience and vision brought about by the era itself, and may have various faults and defects such as weak faith, short-sightedness, reluctance to be happy, small wealth is peace, and luck; But as a survivor who was killed from the sea of corpses and blood, and survived from the road paved with countless corpses, he still has his own vigilance and precautions, as well as the limited cognition he adheres to.

Therefore, regardless of the difference between identity and status, as well as the difference between relatives and relatives, he took the initiative to put forward some suggestions and opinions that he thought were very good, and hoped that the other party would bow or be impressed by them, which was a joke only in the early years of Wang Ba's indiscriminate YY; Even if it is a suggestion that takes the initiative to plan for the other party, it is not the best choice, but will cause unnecessary vigilance and suspicion of nothingness;

On the contrary, it is to find or create some opportunities in daily life, so that the other party naturally needs and uses them for themselves, and then passively comes up with some reasonable suggestions, and it is much easier to impress the other party.

Even if you want to play the magic stick trick that the prophet predicted as accurate, you still need the corresponding identity and status as a foil, otherwise there is a greater probability that someone will be annoyed and angry and cut it down, or you will be killed by a black hand under a high degree of suspicion and suspicion; At least all this Zhou Huai'an does not have at the moment.

Now, as one of the more than a dozen military leaders in the righteous army, even the lowest small army is also a military leader; What's more, there is also the comprehensive title bonus of grain judge in terms of logistics and governance, which can be touched by everything. Although it is not enough to be able to grasp others, it is not a problem to give some icing on the cake on the basis of the existing foundation.

The other party who held the banquet was also parked with many carriages and horses, and it seemed that the scale was larger than he expected. As today's inviter, Lin Yan stood in front of the archway outside the door with a complicated expression, and the first thing he said when he saw Zhou Huaian was:

"At today's banquet, Mr. Shang is also here."

(End of chapter)