It was obviously much easier to communicate with these people than with the orthodox nobles, and Wu Feng also knew most of them through Guji's intelligence, so the topics were much richer.

The ball soon began, but Wu Feng didn't seem to have much interest in dancing, and he left aside the noble ladies and ladies who frequently made eyebrows at him, and joined the merchant circle on the right. Because of his affable and humorous conversation, he was very different from the pretentious aristocrats, and soon mingled with the merchants.

When Wu Feng asked the merchants about the battle of Qingyang, he also took the opportunity to introduce the new policies currently being implemented in Qingyang Mansion to them, and hinted that His Majesty the Emperor was also very interested in this plan to revive Qingyang and even the northwest region.

Just as Wu Feng was talking with the merchants, Duke Marco came over. "Master Li, the dance party has begun, why didn't you invite any young lady to dance?"

"Oh, Duke Marco, I'm talking to these friends of yours about something interesting, and I don't have much interest in dancing, so I think I'd better stay here and talk to my friends. Wu Feng clearly didn't want to pass up this opportunity to pitch his plans to the merchants.

"How? It's rude for you to ask for a bowl of water for a friend, you've been here for a while, you should go over there and deal with it." They are all very famous people in Yanjing, and offending them will have a great impact on your career, which is not a wise move. "The old Duke of Marco is very good at reading people's minds. "Besides, there are many opportunities, so don't rush for a while. ”

Wu Feng thought for a while, Duke Marco said very reasonably, these nobles have not succeeded enough, and they have more than failed, so it is better not to offend, anyway, there is still time, and he can find time to do the work of these merchants again. Thinking of this, Wu Feng showed a leisurely smile on his face, picked up a cocktail from the servant, and walked into the crowd of nobles with a comfortable step.

The musicians played a cheerful dance music of "The Blue Ram River", and Wu Feng politely invited a noble lady next to him to dance together, and the noble lady was flattered and happily accepted the invitation. As a scholar, Wu Feng has also dabbled in these court dances that are popular in the upper class of the empire, and he has also studied and lived in the Western Continent, so he is still handy with this kind of dance. Everyone danced in this cheerful dance music, and Wu Feng's graceful and skillful dancing posture was particularly eye-catching in the crowd. The girls and young women on and off the field were all attracted, and they all looked at the noble lady who danced with Wu Feng with that jealous gaze that could melt gold and iron.

At the end of the song, Wu Feng politely greeted everyone present and floated away.

Many years later, the "Emperor's Style" recorded: "His Majesty the Emperor overwhelmed the crowd with his exquisite dancing skills, which made the men present willing to defeat the wind, and made the ladies present beat their chests and regret it, because they lost an extremely rare opportunity to dance with His Majesty the Emperor, except for the Apollo Lady, of course." It is said that after dancing with His Majesty the Emperor, Mrs. Apollo never danced with others again, in order to remember the scene that she would never forget. ”

In the days that followed, Wu Feng met with several people who had sent invitations to talk secretly, and the topic was of course inseparable from Wu Feng's development plan. In particular, Miao Yao and Wan Renming both expressed a strong interest in Wufeng's plan, and Wufeng also strongly invited the two to Qingyang for development, and promised to give extremely generous conditions, and both agreed in principle to open branches in Qingyang, but also raised questions about the current public security situation in Qingyang, saying that they would observe and observe the situation, and Wufeng said that he would eliminate all horse thieves and bandits in Qingyang within three months.

Wu Feng is also very enthusiastic about the representatives of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce and the Nanyang Alliance, because Jiangnan County is the richest county in the empire, with a large population and a dense water network, it is known as the land of fish and rice, and it is famous for its wealth in the world. The merchants in Jiangnan had a huge power, and they transported the silk, porcelain, grain, tea, paper, handicrafts, and other special products abundant in Jiangnan to all parts of the mainland through sea and land routes, and then transported the special products from all parts of the mainland back to Jiangnan to obtain high profits. Therefore, the Jiangnan people even looked down on the nobles of Yanjing. The small city-states of the Nanyang Alliance are also based on business, the local climate is warm and humid, and it is close to the rich Great South Sea, rich in salt, fish, agate, pearls, coral, shells, fruits, etc., and the shipbuilding industry is also quite developed. Wu Feng tried his best to publicize the new opportunities that Qingyang is now facing, hoping that the two of them could pass on this message back and encourage local businessmen to develop in the northwest. The two were also very satisfied with Wu Feng's warm reception and said that they would do their best to promote economic and trade cooperation between the two places.

Just as Wu Feng was running hard to promote his plan, Qingyang, thousands of miles away, also began to have a gratifying situation. Liang Chongxin and Cui Wenxiu did not dare to slack off in the slightest after Wufeng left; on the one hand, they vigorously reorganized the army, and on the other hand, they did not send intelligence personnel to collect information on horse thieves and bandit forces in Qingyang Prefecture; after making proper preparations, Liang and Cui fully demonstrated their military talents, and successively adopted such strategies as luring snakes out of holes and knocking on mountains and shaking tigers to exterminate many groups of small-scale horse thieves and bandits, not only seizing a large amount of property, but also successfully recruiting nearly 2,000 bandits and expanding the size of the troops.

There is also an encouraging picture of immigration. Due to the effective propaganda measures, coupled with the fact that it coincided with the winter farming, many poor and landless peasants flocked to the surrounding area, most of them were old Qingyang people who had fled their hometowns due to the war, and they heard that the Luope people had been driven away, coupled with such good preferential conditions, they all dragged their children and daughters, and moved back with their families, and at most nearly 300 people moved in one day, and there was a gradual increase in the trend.

The political axe institution headed by Xiao Tang also began to operate normally, the various organs performed their own responsibilities, the reconstruction project of city defense and municipal facilities also began, the city walls in many sections were all demolished, the moat was also replanned, and the entire Qingyang Mansion City was redesigned according to the idea of Wufeng, and its scale will be expanded to three to four times the area of the original mansion city, and the entire Qingyang has become a huge construction site, showing a good situation in full swing.

But Xiao Tang and Liang, Cui and the others also have hidden worries; with the large-scale influx of immigrants, more and more urban defense and municipal facilities have been started, and irrigation systems in various parts of the countryside have also begun to be dredged and repaired to prepare for spring plowing and production in the coming year, and more and more funds will be needed; there has been no news about Wufeng's progress in Yanjing; several of the largest horse thieves and bandits in Qingyang Prefecture have suddenly disappeared, and the intelligence officers have not found more valuable information, and it is still impossible to determine whether they have fled elsewhere or temporarily hid to avoid the limelight; in addition, the army of Yinchuan Prefecture in the north has also been a little impatient recently, whether it wants to provoke a war or test its own strength, also reassuring.

On January 20, 692 in the continental calendar, Xiao Tang held the first military-political liaison meeting after Wu Feng's departure in the Qingyang City Guard, and the people attending the meeting were still the last time they attended the meeting, and only one Wu Feng was missing. The meeting was chaired by Xiao Tang.

"Today we convened everyone to have a situation exchange meeting, the adults have been away for almost a month, and there has been no news back until now, we don't know how things are going, and when the adults will come back, it is still unknown, but no matter what, our current work still has to be carried out, and we can't stop. Therefore, the purpose of today's meeting is to communicate with each other, and also come up with the next step of our work plan, if there are any problems, we can also put forward here, we can discuss and discuss, and solve them together. Xiao Tang made a simple opening remark.

Liang Chongxin and Cui Wenxiu exchanged glances with each other, and then Liang Chongxin spoke: " Then I'll talk about it, according to the deployment of the adults when they left, Wen Xiu and I strengthened the training of the troops on the one hand, and on the other hand, we also looked for opportunities to exterminate the horse thieves and bandits in Qingyang. We're still searching further. ”

Cui Wenxiu also added: "In addition, a small force of Sun Yuanliang in Yinchuan Prefecture in the north has been haunting our border area from time to time recently, and the intention is unknown, which is also worthy of our attention. Now the walls of the city have been almost demolished, and if it is attacked, it can be said that there is no defense, so I have discussed it with Chongxin, temporarily put down the task of suppressing bandits, first strengthen the defense of the city, and wait until the adults come back to make plans. After all, when Wu Feng left, he handed over the task of city defense to the two, and the two did not dare to take it lightly, and first consolidated the fundamentals before talking about anything else.

"The police and the court have begun to perform their duties, and there has been a marked improvement in public order in the city. Both the Intelligence Service and the Security Service are not yet fully functional, mainly due to the lack of professional staff, and are now trying to solve the problem in the hope that they will be truly effective in the near future. The investigation of Pamela's case is nearing completion, and all the circumstances are basically clear, and he himself has expressed his willingness to serve us as a meritorious atonement, but this will have to wait for the final decision when the adults return. The Inspectorate has started its work and so far has not found any contravention of the Ordinance. "Morlen spoke cautiously.

Su Minshun's report is more optimistic: "At present, the situation in our Qingyang Province is quite good, due to the good propaganda effect, now there are hundreds of immigrants pouring into our Qingyang territory almost every day, most of them are the original Qingyang people who fled the war, and some are landless farmers in the surrounding prefectures and counties, as well as a small number of handicraftsmen and workers, and the proportion of the latter two types of people is gradually increasing. Infrastructure is progressing well, but there is still a large labor shortage, but I think this will ease in the future. However, the repair of the irrigation system in the countryside has just started, and there is still a lot of work to be done, and the work of repairing the roads and bridges connecting various places has not yet begun, mainly because of the lack of labor, which has become the main problem restricting the economic development of Qingyang. In addition, at the current pace of immigration, the contradiction of shortage of funds will soon arise, and if this problem is not solved, all efforts will be in vain. I don't know how the adults are progressing in Yanjing?" After speaking, he couldn't help but sigh.

Lu Man also went on to speak: "Entrusted by the Lord when he left, I am temporarily in charge of the combat readiness work of our Qingyang Mansion and the logistics of the army. In addition, there are also some problems in the logistics of the troops, and the original logistics materials brought are less armor and weapons, which are also consumed very much in the war, and they also need to be replenished, especially the formation of cavalry units needs some special equipment. ”

Xiao Tang also felt that there were so many problems at once, it turned out that when Wufeng was there, although there were many difficulties, but as long as Wufeng was there, everyone discussed it, and they could always come up with a solution, and now that Wufeng is not there, everyone is like missing the backbone, and they seem to have no clue, it seems that this boss who usually looks very leisurely really can't be missing, otherwise all work will have a sense of stagnation. "Everyone has expressed their opinions, now we are indeed facing a lot of difficulties, there are many things that have to be solved and decided after the adults come back, but we can't just wait passively, I estimate that the adults may come back in these days, I am the same as everyone in this regard, manpower is also very lacking, but we must carry out the current work and go, can not stop, the adults have also explained to us when they leave, they can be the masters do not have to wait until he returns, so I think you can carry out the work according to your own ideas, and leave any problems until the adults come back。 ”

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