"What? She said she was the princess of Qinghe? Wei Shuo stood up and was shocked to learn that some of those traffickers claimed to be princesses.

"Yes, I just learned the news below, and I can't confirm the identity of this person yet." Cao Hong also looked solemn, if this matter is poked out, the family will be really embarrassed, not only taking the beloved as slaves, but also selling the princess. If you really want to investigate it, many people have to lose their heads.

"Does she have any proof?"

"No, but she is very familiar with the Luoyang Palace, none of us have seen the real Princess Qinghe, and we can't distinguish the authenticity for the time being. My lord, what do you think we should do next? ”

Wei Shuo pondered for a moment and asked, "Then did she make any requests?" For example, send her to Langya Wangfu or something. ”

"That's not true, I think she doesn't know much about the situation in the outside world, and she shouldn't know that Wang Langya is guarding Jianye."

"Well, it makes sense, since that's the case, let's take her back to Xuzhou first, don't leak the news of Princess Qinghe to the outside world for the time being, and then make plans after the future is confirmed." Wei Shuo commanded.

Then everything went well, and by the time Wei Shuo returned to Zhuqi County, it was already August. During this time, with the defeat of the Jin army in Xuzhou, Wang Sang and Zhao Gu had occupied a large area of territory west and north of Zhuqi.

However, as the Hu people expanded their influence to the border of Zhuqi County, the landlords of Zhuqi County, who had been honest for more than a month, suddenly became active.

"Congratulations to my lord, I have returned with a full load!" Outside the county seat of Zhuqi, Wei Shuo met Liang Qiu and others who came to greet him.

"Hehe, everyone, please get up, you have worked hard during this time, many official affairs in this county can be carried out smoothly, and the displaced people can live in peace, which is all the credit of you."

"The lord has won the award, and during the time that the lord has left, the county has been able to maintain stability, thanks to Captain Zhang and the three thousand tigers under his command." Liang Qiu saw that his credit was recognized, and hurriedly pushed out Zhang Erlang, the hero behind the scenes.

Everyone was greeting each other, and suddenly heard Zhang Erlang's voice coming from afar, "Hehe, Brother Wei, you're finally back!" ”

Wei Shuo saw Zhang Erlang rushing towards him at a glance, and said with a smile: "Yes, I'm finally back, and it's still comfortable at home." ”

Zhang Erlang finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Wei Shuo, "Oh, Brother Wei, you can be regarded as back, during the time you were away, I couldn't eat or sleep well, and I was always worried about living up to Brother Wei's trust." ”

"I think you're doing a pretty good job, Lord Liang praised you just now, the government affairs in the jurisdiction are running smoothly, thanks to the deterrence of the army led by you."

Zhang Erlang smiled awkwardly and said: "Actually, I didn't do anything, Lord Liang was busy on weekdays, and I usually stayed in the barracks." ”

Wei Shuo smiled silently, he knew very well how much the army outside the city had a great deterrent effect on the powerful families in the city, even if Zhang Erlang didn't do anything, it would still make the landlords and powerful people in the city feel a huge threat.

"Erlang, how many recruits have we recruited during this time?"

"Hehe, I was about to report to Brother Wei, in the past month, we have recruited more than 3,000 new soldiers locally, and now our total strength has reached 6,000. According to the establishment of our army, the new recruits are mixed with the previous more than 2,000 veterans, and they are organized into two compartments, and if we add more than 3,000 troops in Laoshan, we now have a total of nearly 10,000 horses. ”

Wei Shuo was slightly satisfied with Zhang Erlang's progress in expanding the army, and now there are nearly 110,000 people in Zhuqi County, and on the premise of satisfying agricultural production, it is more appropriate to recruit new soldiers according to the ratio of soldiers to people of 40 to 1. Although the proportion of more than 3,000 people is slightly higher than this, because Wei Shuo has the advantage of fishing and salt, it will not have a bad impact on economic development.

"The Juntian system and the slave release order are going well, right?"

"Lord Qi, after a month of hard work, now more than 90,000 people, slaves and maids in the county have obtained their own land. Although there is still a shortage of livestock, everyone's enthusiasm for production is very high, and some families have begun to tidy up the fields without waiting for the arrival of the livestock purchased by the government from Liaodong. ”

"Well, it seems that the common people are very enthusiastic about the land, but this is a good thing, because the government wants to encourage farmers to become self-reliant, and it also needs to increase assistance to ordinary farmers in terms of livestock. This time, Benguan and Jifu purchased dozens of long-distance ships from Jiangdong, and these ships will continue to arrive inland in the next year or two. ”

"As long as the ocean-going trade is carried out, all the difficulties encountered at present will be solved."

Just as Wei Shuo was about to instill the idea of carrying out ocean trade with everyone, he saw Cao Hong hurriedly come to his side and whispered: "My lord, how should that person be placed?" ”

At this time, Wei Shuo remembered that there was still a 'trouble' on the boat that he needed to deal with, and in the puzzled eyes of others, Wei Shuo groaned and ordered: "You first place her in the backyard of the county government, and then find a few suitable people from those who stay behind to live with her." Except for the exclusion of her from the outside world, everything else is arranged to the highest standards. ”

"No, my subordinates will arrange it." After speaking, Cao Hong left in a hurry.

"Brother Wei, what are you ......" Zhang Erlang asked as he pointed to Cao Hong, who was hurrying back and forth.

Wei Shuo smiled and explained: "I encountered some trouble on the way back, and now Jifu has personally dealt with it, and I will explain it to you in detail later." ”

Surrounded by everyone, Wei Shuo returned to Zhuqi County again after a month, and the current Zhuqi County is no longer the Zhuqi County of two months ago. Nowadays, it is no longer the local landlords and powerful people who occupy the dominant position in Zhuqi County, but the common people who occupy more than ninety percent of the population.

Since the promulgation and implementation of the Juntian Decree and the Slave Release Decree, the support of the common people in Zhuqi County for Wei Shuo and the government has reached its peak, although the landlords and powerful people have been pushed to the opposite side. But for Wei Shuo, he never thought of taking the path of the Sima family, so he didn't attach much importance to the attitude of the family, what he wanted to fight for was the hearts of the people in the world.

After arriving at the county office, Wei Shuo told Liang Qiu and Zhang Erlang about Princess Qinghe. After hearing this, Liang Qiu and Zhang Erlang became completely dumbfounded, they couldn't believe it anyway, it was really sad and lamenuous that the princess of a country was taken captive and enslaved by human traffickers.

"That'...... How did Brother Wei plan to do so? ”

Wei Shuo spread his hands and said helplessly: "I don't have anything to do, first of all, we can't be completely convinced of the authenticity of Princess Qinghe's identity, and secondly, after this matter is exposed, although it can hit the reputation of the family, we can't help but beware of the other party's backbite!" ”

"Well, what the lord said is very true, now I wish the landlords in his county have been offended by us to death, if such a scandal is exposed again at this time, I am afraid it will be too much! It doesn't matter if we clean up the heroes in our county, but if we really want to face those top giants, I am afraid that we will not be able to catch them. Liang Qiu was amazed by Wei Shuo's caution, and he also thought that it was inappropriate to disclose the identity of the princess at this time.

"And in recent times, the landlords and heroes of this county who have lost their power seem to be a little restless, as the Hu people seized several counties in the north of Xuzhou, and pointed their troops directly at this county, those heroes and strongmen actually faintly have the tendency to make a comeback. In this way, we should not make any extraneous branches, and it is best to wait for the outside world to stabilize and the lord has gained a firm foothold in the eastern part of Xuzhou, and then we will announce the news of the princess to the outside world. ”

"Well, Liang County's order is reasonable, and we can also use this time to continue to prove the identity of the princess, so as to save jokes in the future. By the way, just now Lord Liang said that the heroes in this county are restless again? Let's hear in detail what is going on. ”

"Brother Wei, in fact, it's not a big deal, isn't it that those powerful family heads saw that the Hu people had hit the border of Zhuqi County, and they thought that we must not be the opponents of the Hu people, so they rushed to flatter the Hu people! Hum! What a group of people who have forgotten their ancestors! Zhang Erlang said indignantly on the side.

Wei Shuo was relieved when he heard this, and he said lightly: "The family that has no trilogy and land is a tiger without claws, but it looks terrible, but in fact, it will fall down as soon as it is pushed. Only the Hu people outside are the henchmen, and in the future, we must strengthen the vigilance around us to prevent the Hu people from raiding. ”