In the past month, there have been nearly 10,000 people who rushed to Shuofang after learning the news, many of these people were people who were rescued by Xiang Ao from Xianbei in Wuyuan Yunzhong, and most of the remaining people were persuaded by these people to come. After all, in the descriptions of these people, Xiang Ao is still extremely benevolent. Most of the remaining less than 20% of the people came with the mentality of trying, after all, they couldn't live anymore.

With a population of nearly 10,000, it is a great supplement to Linrong and Fertile Fields, not only planting all the seeds prepared, but also opening up a lot of new grain fields to plant special agricultural products after increasing yield. Most of the people fled here, except for themselves and their families, they did not carry any items, let alone food, in order to let so many new people live, Xiang Ao spent all the money before it was not enough, if it was not for the delivery of the remaining goods of the Zhen family in the middle of the first month to get the money, and made a lot of money outside the border jam, Xiang Ao may have to go to the street to ask for it at this time.

In fact, Xiang Ao made a lot of money in Xianbei and the Southern Xiongnu, but most of the border were herdsmen, except for a very small amount of iron ore items, most of the transactions were horses, livestock and other living things, and the money and silver were very small, and there was almost no food.

Needless to say, iron ore and the like are not much, and they are kept to build weapons to resist foreign invasion in the future. The horses outside the fortress are all good horses, so they are naturally reserved for cavalry. Livestock Xiang Ao was also reluctant to kill too much, after all, Xiang Ao also understood the result of killing chickens and taking eggs.

At the beginning, many of the people rescued by Xiang Ao wanted to enlist in the army, but the result of Xiang Ao's letter was still unknown, and Xiang Ao did not dare to expand the army. There were not many local troops in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the regular army in the general county town was only about 1,000 people, and most of the remaining reserve troops were for maintaining law and order. Border counties such as Shuofang will be allowed to expand into a battalion, and if there is a large-scale battle, troops will be sent from the central or nearby fortresses.

Shuo Fangyuan has more than 1,000 soldiers, plus the cavalry that Xiang Ao brought back, it is nearly 2,000 battalions, and he really doesn't dare to donate troops again. For the people who especially wanted to enlist in the army, Xiang Ao couldn't do it, so he had to think of the method of Tuntian, and sent him to Jiang Yan, who was dealing with the reconstruction of Jilusai, to help reclaim the wasteland while helping to reclaim the wasteland, and make arrangements in the future.

There are too few officials in Shuofang County, and Xiang Ao has arranged almost all the officials' schedules. When there was a shortage of manpower, Xiang Ao left behind the necessary military generals to supervise the training, and the remaining officials who handled military affairs were sent to supervise the two-day reclamation matters, and arranged people who handled paperwork to the army to deal with logistics, and Jiang Yao'er and Cai Yan were called to help with paperwork and other work.

Even Cai Yong, who writes history books most of the day, occasionally helps with government affairs under Xiang Ao's countless requests. However, there are few people in Shuofang, and there are not too many government affairs except for the agricultural work that has been extremely busy recently. Ma Jun worked even harder, in addition to leading many craftsmen to optimize farming tools every day, he also had to develop new tools that were useful for farming and even the military. Even occasionally have to go to the field to inspect and supervise, and I am so busy that my feet touch the ground.

Xiang Ao is not idle, all day long, Jilusai, Woye County, Linrong running around, and even from time to time to go to Shuofang County and Dacheng County, although Shuofang County and Dacheng County do not have many people, but with the growth of Shuofang's population, many things have to be coordinated, these things are handled by Xiang Ao personally, resulting in Xiang Ao not being in Linrong for a few days is normal.

In order to prevent more refugees from fleeing to Shuofang after hearing the news, Xiang Ao also had to find ways to earn money. In addition to the charcoal business, which was already on the right track, Xiang Ao occasionally sold a few horses, and even started the idea of salt land in the Hetao. If it wasn't salt soil, it was strictly forbidden by the imperial court, and Xiang Ao didn't know how to extract the trial salt for the time being, so he put it on hold for the time being.

The whole Shuo was busy under Xiang Ao's planning, and another month passed in a blink of an eye.

A month later, land reclamation and many transactions have been on the right track, according to the plan formulated by Xiang Ao, with the current situation to survive until this autumn harvest, the people of Shuofang will definitely be better.

Compared with the various taxes levied on the people by other scholars and Haoqiang, the people under Xiang Ao's rule were much better, and the land leased by the people did not need to pay lease fees, and all the harvest could be left in addition to the field rent, oral tax (7-14 head tax), calculation (15-56 head tax) and other taxes and fees of the imperial court.

In addition, there are a few incentives for cultivating fields, and there are also fee subsidies for conscription that are not required by the central government, and the soldiers who serve in the army are paid much higher monthly than those in other states and counties.

I don't know if the news of Xiang Ao's acceptance of refugees has not spread too far or how, less than 1,000 people have arrived in Shuofang this month. Shuofang is too remote, maybe too many people don't want to leave their homeland, or maybe the people don't believe in such a good thing at all.

Xiang Ao thought helplessly, there was no way, his resentment about the population was too deep. Xiang Ao is also extremely concerned about the reconstruction of Jilusai in the west, and even raises some subsidies to encourage people to move to Jilusai, and there is also the issue of Sanfeng County, Xiang Ao is even considering whether to transform it into a military fortress.

While Xiang Ao was dealing with military affairs and people's livelihood affairs, three groups of people were on their way to Linrong City, and they would arrive in a few days. Of course, Xiang Ao didn't know.

There were more than a dozen people in the wave, all with black-edged hats. The other two waves of Xiang Ao also recognized the people among them, one was Gao De Gao Pinzheng, who had left Xiang Ao for several months, and led a person to Linrong at this time. The remaining two young horsemen on horseback were Xu Fu and Hu Zhao, who had arrived from Xiangyang two months ago.

Two days later, the first wave arrived.

"I wonder if Xiang Fujun can take the step to speak?" The black-edged man who took the lead looked at Jiao Jing beside Xiang Ao and the Jiao Bi sisters dressed as maids, approached Xiang Ao and asked a little. Seeing this, Jiao Jing wanted to step forward to block it in case the other party had bad intentions. The mystery of God is indeed suspicious.

Xiang Ao stopped Jiao Jing and motioned for everyone to retreat, Jiao Jing was originally unwilling, but in Xiang Ao's eyes, he reluctantly took the Jiao Bi sisters to retreat. Xiang Aoyi is bold, so he is naturally not afraid of whether the other party has evil intentions, even if there is Xiang Ao, he is not afraid.

"I don't know who Your Excellency is?" Xiang Ao also asked, but the group of people opposite did not show their faces, which made Xiang Ao extremely unhappy, so he did not bow down.

When the leader of the black-rimmed hats saw the crowd go out, he took out an object from his sleeve and raised it in front of him with both hands. "Xiang Ao took the edict!"

Originally, Xiang Ao saw the other party move like this, and his waist exerted a slight force to prevent accidents. Seeing that what the other party took out was actually the holy decree that Xiang Ao saw last time, he was shocked. After shouting with a black-edged hat, Xiang Ao hurriedly straightened his appearance, stood solemnly, bowed his head, and prepared to listen carefully.

"Xiang Taishou, take the edict, this is His Majesty's secret edict, Xiang Taishou will take it back and look at it privately, we dare not listen to it, let alone watch it." Xiang Ao raised his head and looked at this person in surprise. He stepped forward, respectfully accepted the secret edict in this person's hand, and prepared to open it.

"Huh... Don't panic, Your Majesty advised, this is very important, and after Taishou has thought about it after reading it, he will reply to the lower official yes or no. "This person is too shou to stop Xiang Ao," His Majesty ordered the officials to stay for a day and wait for Xiang Taishou to reply. ”

After this person finished speaking, he didn't wait for Xiang Ao to reply, so he bowed down and left with a few people behind him, which made Xiang Ao even more confused. However, Xiang Ao was not too panicked, and was ready to watch it after dealing with the political affairs at hand. After Xiang Ao finished handling political affairs, it was already night. After eating the meal prepared by Jiang Yao'er, he went to his study to light the oil lamp, and opened the secret edict sent by Emperor Han Ling alone.

"I have heard that the people are great, and the father and son come first; The difference between respect and humility, the monarch and the minister are the most important. I entered the palace and ascended the throne at the age of ten, I was young and ignorant, and I didn't know that the powerful ministers who were close to me were thieves, and I came from the cabinet gate, and I was guilty of deception. Linking up with the party, corrupting the government, and rewarding and punishing are all not unintentional. Worried all night, I am afraid that the world will be in danger. Qing is the pillar of the country, my expectation, can remember the difficulty of Emperor Gao's entrepreneurship, entangled the martyrs of both loyalty and righteousness, annihilated the traitorous party, restored the society, and eliminated violence before it sprouted, and the ancestors were very fortunate! ...... The edict is paid to the Qing, the Qing is outside and I am inside, I hope that the Qing can be my arm in the future, and then be cautious, don't let it be negative! Light and the secret edict in the spring and March of the second year. ”

Xiang Ao had never met Emperor Han Ling, and had always thought that Emperor Han Ling was just a faint monarch who was addicted to luxury and fun. However, today's secret edict let Xiang Ao know how difficult it was when Emperor Han Ling was. When he was ten years old, he was accepted into the palace and ascended the throne, and it was expected that the Empress Dowager Dou and her party would choose Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, so she planned to make Liu Hong a puppet.

At this time, Liu Hong was only thirty-thirty in his twenties, and Liu Hong, who was gradually waking up, began to understand his situation. But whether it is a party member, a eunuch or a relative, all of them ignore Liu Hong. Liu Hong also wants to regain the power of the DPRK and China and revitalize the imperial prestige, but in the face of such a situation, Liu Hong has no way to start for the time being.

Xiang Ao's appearance was originally just hoping that Xiang Ao would be able to do some big things that shocked the world in his lifetime, such as making Xianbei surrender. Unexpectedly, Xiang Ao originally just wanted to expand the army to resist foreign races, but after Liu Hong, he saw Liu Hong an opportunity to regain his rights.

That's why he sent his cronies to issue a secret edict. The content of the secret edict shocked Xiang Ao, who had never been to the court, and always thought that the world was so corrupt because of the emperor's mediocrity and the problems of the scholars. I never thought that the affairs of the court were so complicated, and the majesty of the emperor had been lost.

Xiang Ao was also grateful in his heart, he had never met Liu Hong, but Liu Hong handed over such a heavy task to Xiang Ao, and Xiang Ao was also deeply pressured. But after all, he is young, and receiving such a secret edict must be full of ambition. In the secret edict, it was mentioned that the two monarchs and ministers roughly cooperated, because Liu Hong did not have much power at this time, and he could not help Xiang Ao materially, so he had to allow Xiang Ao to expand the army, but how not to be discovered by the henchmen of the DPRK and China required Xiang Ao to think of more ways himself. When Xiang Ao broke Xianbei on the border, Liu Hong could reasonably propose a reward above the court to fight for more rights.

After reading the secret edict, Xiang Ao was both excited and apprehensive in his heart, but it did not affect Xiang Ao's resolute decision. On the second day, Xiang Ao went alone to the restaurant where everyone in the black-edged hat collapsed yesterday to find them.

"My lord, please take Ao to tell Your Majesty that Ao will live up to Your Majesty's wishes in this life, and will do his best to realize His Majesty's grand wishes." The names of this group of people were not revealed, and Xiang Ao could only be called an adult.

"Then the lower official replied to Your Majesty word for word, Xiang Taishou, and said goodbye." The exchange was extremely brief, and the black-edged hats left Linrong without delay and returned to Luoyang.