Nango.

The cold wind swept across the river, bringing an icy stinging sensation to the people in the southern imperial castle, to remind everyone who felt that the cold winter had not yet passed, and the people wrapped their coats tightly before they reacted, and it turned out that the spring mood of the previous days was a disguise.

For the capital of the southern country, the arrival of this cold wave is not a good thing. When the vassals of the coastal lands complained to Xiao Guang about the almost negligible amount of grain exported by sea, the terrible rumors about the poor harvests in Shu and Xu were also confirmed to a certain extent.

Agriculture in Shu and Xu was not well developed, mainly in fishing and textiles, and in the event of a poor harvest, grain needs to be purchased from other territories. In the past, even if the two places had a poor harvest, they could barely survive, but this time the situation is beyond Xiao Guang's imagination, so the two places now urgently need to stock up on enough winter supplies. Due to the soaring grain prices in Yangning, the two places were forced to shift their trade from the southern market to the land of Bashu, which is located on the upper reaches of the river.

This winter has been so long, longer than any previous winter, and it is also the coldest winter. Disease and hunger are dragging the people of the southern kingdom and this vast empire into the abyss, and both the people and Xiao Guang desperately hope that this terrible winter will pass as soon as possible, because all the people are exhausted and can no longer bear the heavier blow.

However, at this moment, there is a new worry in front of Xiao Guang that must be solved. The soldiers who had lost their jobs and the peasants who were dissatisfied with the new decree mobilized at the instigation of a guy named Zheng Hongchang. Xiao Guang, a young general named Zheng Hongchang, has some impressions, he once served as a vanguard general under Wei He, and made a lot of contributions in the war against foreign peoples, and Xiao Guang even personally met this young general a few years ago.

It was precisely by virtue of his prestige in the army that Zheng Hongchang was able to pull up a team of 7,000 people in such a short period of time, and the number of petitioners had reached 70,000 by the time they arrived in Nanyu. For this large-scale petition team, Xiao Guang naturally couldn't directly order the killing, because the slightest carelessness at this important juncture would cause the anger of the people of the entire southern country.

Numerous soldiers and civilians poured into the streets of Nango, and the cries of petitions resounded throughout the city, demanding an account from their king, and they wanted to confide their sufferings to the sovereign who was on high.

Soldiers continued to come to Nanyu from all over the southern country, and the generals representing Zheng Hongchang would appear outside the gates of the royal city every morning with petitions. If Xiao Guang is unwilling to meet them, then they will sit in front of the gate all day, and their demands are actually very simple: tax exemption, food, work.

A few weeks later, Mr. Zheng's representatives were still seeking to meet Mr. Xiao. The petitioning soldiers and homeless people set up one simple shed after another on the grass and fields outside the Southern Palace, the largest of which was located on the garden square a few hundred meters away from the palace, and the people of the Southern Palace were extremely disgusted with this dirty and dilapidated shantytown, and only a few merchants were willing to sell their goods to these squatters, they cursed these filthy fellows, and they hoped that the Southern King would drive these fellows out of the Southern Imperial Palace as soon as possible.

The existence of so many homeless and uncontrollable people made the people doubt the safety of Nanyu. In fact, there have been several cases of homeless people, and every resident of Nanyu is terrified all day long, for fear that these guys will one day ransack their homes.

Wealthy merchants paid guards to guard their belongings, while those who did not have money kept a dagger on their bodies at all times. The farmers outside the city have always been the target of poachers and thieves, and the herders keep their animals in their houses to protect their property, and occasionally patrol the houses on horseback with bows and arrows.

From Xiao Huan's castle, you can clearly see all the shanty towns inside and outside the city, since the homeless people entered the city, the castle has been guarded by guards every day to monitor these growing petitioners, once a physical conflict breaks out they will ignite the beacon fire of the castle, and then the iron cavalry of the forbidden army will be dispatched to crush these bold guys.

As more and more of the Garden Square was razed to make room for the expanding shantytowns, the watchful guards saw the Garden Square as a giant powder keg that, if ignited, would cause immeasurable damage to the entire Nanyu.

Xiao Huan, who finished his morning exercise, obviously felt the increasingly tense atmosphere in the air, since he became the commander of the forbidden army, it has become his habit to patrol the city wall three times a day, which can not only personally inspect the situation of the displaced people inside and outside the city, but also exercise his body properly, because exercise can make him better maintain a clear mind.

Although Xiao Huan was deeply sympathetic to these poor people, at the same time, he always remembered his duty, he knew very well that these desperate and hungry outcasts were very dangerous to Nanyu, and he would not hesitate to give orders to kill them if necessary.

Because Xiao Huan was so engrossed in thinking that he didn't notice the arrival of his guard captain, Xiao Huan didn't react until the young general came to him.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness."

"It's okay, I'm thinking too much." Xiao Huan laughed dryly and said, "I should thank you, if you hadn't interrupted my thoughts in time, I might have climbed down from the city wall thinking about it." ”

"You're laughing." Xue Ju replied.

Xiao Huan looked at the shantytowns in front of him, sighed helplessly and said, "There are some things that even if you don't want to do them, there will always be someone who will force you to do them, sometimes that person is a superior person, and sometimes that person will be a poor guy." ”

Xue Ju was a little puzzled by Xiao Huan's words, and asked suspiciously, "Shouldn't it be the business of the Patrol Division to deal with those people?" ”

Hearing Xue Ju's somewhat childish speech, Xiao Huan shook his head with a smile, and then said with a serious expression, "If these people enter the Southern Imperial Palace, the Father may be able to easily eliminate them, but once they are allowed to enter the Southern Imperial City, things will not be so simple. ”

"Maybe His Majesty the King of the South can't bear to turn these poor people away." Xue Ju said, "After all, some of them have fought bloody battles for the country and made great contributions, while those farmers just want to beg for food." ”

"Perhaps, although I sympathize with their plight, no leader should let his feelings influence his judgment, and he should have kept them out of the Southern Imperial City in the first place." Xiao Huan is different from Xue Ju, how can a monarch have the kindness of a woman, he looked coldly at the scurrying crowd, Xiao Huan knows his father too well, power, and that damn power.......

Xiao Huan raised his forehead, stared at the garden square, then looked at the temple, and finally landed on the Southern Imperial Palace, which was built in mid-air. The flag of the Southern Emperor fluttered above the spire of the palace, as if announcing the majesty of the Southern Imperial King to all the people. As long as the Southern Emperor walked out of the palace gate, he could notice that there were many more ants in his capital, and the reason why he allowed these ants to continue to gather was because he needed these ants to do something for him.

Xiao Huan knew that his father was taking advantage of the crisis, and he thought back to the Imperial banquet not long ago, and the anger of the vassals at the new taxes imposed by the Empire. In view of the turbulent events that took place on the border, Xiao Guang granted the border lord a special exemption. However, it is worth noting that Xiao Guang did not grant this tax exemption to the soldiers of Nanyu. The soldiers of the Southern Imperial Court were also forced to pay the new war tax just like ordinary people, and the money would eventually go into Xiao Guang's internal pockets.

Xiao Guang constantly intensified the contradictions between the various lords to ensure that each lord had an enemy who he hated more than his own monarch, so as to further ensure that his absolute right to speak and power was the only means to prevent these long-standing hatreds from erupting into war.

However, now Xiao Guang seems to be playing another novel game. The Lord of the Southern Empire seems to be taking advantage of the plight of certain territories to establish an interdependent relationship between them and himself. He wants to push these people into a desperate situation first, and then he will stand up and help them when they are about to collapse, Xiao Guang wants to let these people know that only he will sympathize with them, and only he can help them out of their predicament.

This will give Xiao Guang a bitter loyalty, but often this loyalty is also the only loyalty worthy of trust, a loyalty based on need and dependence, rather than false respect and admiration.

And now every petitioner is a displaced soldier, and every more petitioner in Nanyu means that there is one less warrior under those lords, and the lord's strength is being weakened little by little in this farce. But Xiao Guang's purpose is not limited to this, he wants to attract more desperate people to Nanyu, and then further use these desperate and ignorant people.

He deliberately allowed the development of shantytowns, and indirectly encouraged the city to fall into a state of extreme despair and disorder. And when Xiao Guang thinks that the time is right, he will mercilessly send his soldiers to suppress these bold thugs, and after that, he will have enough reasons to exempt Nanyu from the poll tax.

Xiao Huan sneered and assured Xue Ju, "The king will take action, but not now." He will act only when there is no other way but violence, so that no one can contradict him, and all those who disobey the king's orders will be exterminated by the Janissaries and the Protectors. ”

"No, it won't! It's not going to get to this point. We exist to protect the king and the people, and it is impossible for the Forbidden Army to wield a butcher's knife at the unarmed people. ”

Xiao Huan turned around and stared coldly at the naïve guard captain in front of him, "The forbidden army is the king's personal soldiers, our most important task is to obey the king's orders, and disobeying the king's orders is the greatest shame for a forbidden army." ”

"But it would mean a massacre."

"Yes, it was a massacre."