Of course, Du Wei would not take the 4,000 rebels who had been recruited to slowly go to the territory with his army. After all, this matter is somewhat disgraceful - of course, Du Wei doesn't expect this matter to be hidden from anyone, especially the regent of Dìdū, Du Wei believes that these actions of his own, Prince Chen knows, but if he wants to gain a foothold in the northwest, the land of tigers and wolves, he must always grasp all the capital to gain a foothold, and the pan army of 4,000 people, whether it is more or less, is also within the tolerance range of Prince Chen: This Royal Highness degraded and scattered the people of the entire Luo Lin family, and looked at a large number of Luo Lin family's " Sinners "can't be used, can't let Du Wei go to the northwest empty-handed, right?"

Do extraordinary things at extraordinary times, this amount of belly, I believe that Prince Chen still has it.

But this is not something that can be put on the table after all, these 4,000 people were stopped by Du Wei by means of bribery, if you take these 4,000 people to the northwest with a swagger, it will be a little difficult to give face to the regent, this kind of thing, everyone knows it.

Knight Robert led two hundred royal forest troops, commanding the four thousand collected pan army to march rapidly, not to go to the mainland, to take the small road, to the territory first, there is no need to worry about supplies along the way, there is Du Wei's official document, and the local garrison along the way will provide food.

And Du Wei, he has to move forward slowly, before arriving at the territory, Du Wei is ready to make a general investigation of the situation in the entire northwest, many things, it is one thing to hear about it, but to experience it in person, to see it with his own eyes, that is another matter.

Mulan City, the capital of Nulin Province, if it is placed in the prosperous central or southern part of the mainland, it cannot be regarded as a big city, and the scale of more than 100,000 people can only be regarded as second-rate at most, but in the northwest, it is already the most prosperous place in Nulin Province.

This is the last big city that can pass through the trade route in the northwest region, and the caravans from the south and the caravans returning from the northwest will all converge here, and all kinds of strange goods trafficked from the southeast of the mainland, as well as cattle or leather merchants who are trafficked from the northwest grasslands across the desert, will also stop here.

The carriage had just approached the outskirts of Mulan City, and Du Wei had already opened the window and looked out the window to his heart's content.

In the northwest, because of the geographical reasons, there is a wind season of one or two months every year, although the Kilimaro Mountains are a natural barrier, blocking most of the strong winds, but every year the wind season, there is still a lot of sand and dust from the desert on the other side of the mountain.

The wind is strong and the sand is strong, which is the characteristic of the northwest, so the buildings here are not too high, such as the mansions of the dìdū, or the buildings such as the towers that are often more than ten meters high, there are absolutely none.

The tallest building in the entire Mulan City is the city wall of Mulan City, a twelve-meter-high city wall, which is completely in line with the military system of the empire.

And because they are all common low-rise buildings, this city with a population of only more than 100,000 people covers an area that is not small.

Because Knight Robert had already led the 4,000 Pan Army to sneak lightly, and the person responsible for leading the cavalry to open the way in front was replaced by the leader of the 500 Royal Forest Army who was responsible for escorting Du Wei to the northwest this time, although he was only a small officer of the 500 cavalry, but the identity of the Royal Forest Army was naturally different.

In the south of Mulan City, it is the largest bazaar here, which was originally a town outside the city, but it has evolved into the largest trading place for merchants from south to north, and when Du Wei's motorcade passed here, he immediately felt the noisy atmosphere here.

As he passed through the mainland, Du Wei looked at the bazaar not far away, crowded with people, those northwestern aliens with flat noses and curly hair and cow-like leather clothes, and merchants from all over the empire, horseback riding, herding herds, and shops with all kinds of leather goods...... Disturbed, noisy and noisy.

But Du Wei set his sights on the money bags of these merchants.

"My lord, this is the largest trading location in the Northwest. Although the population of Mulan City is not large, the annual commercial tax income is extremely considerable, the land in the northwest is barren, and it is not good at producing grain, especially this Mulan City, as the capital of Nulin Province, the annual commercial tax income can be five times more than the agricultural tax!"

The person who said this was a handsome young man sitting next to Du Wei in the carriage, this person's name was Philip, he was the best of the eighty disciples recommended to Du Wei by the Blue Sea Scholars, he was twenty-eight years old, but he was born with a beautiful appearance, he looked like a teenager, and his surname was ' 'Philip' should be an ancient aristocratic surname on the Roland continent, this surname was also a famous family on the continent before the establishment of the Roland Empire more than a thousand years ago, but it declined in the war of continental unification, and today, the once prominent Philip family has long ceased to exist.

This Philip was born in a commoner, is a child of a civilian family in the south of the city, among the eighty disciples recommended by the Blue Sea Scholars, after a short period of contact, this person immediately received Du Wei's attention, studious, steady, rigorous, and not lacking in eagerness, is a very potential staff candidate.

What makes Du Wei feel even more valuable is that this Philip once came to the northwest with a business group when he was young, this Philip used to study the terroir of the mainland when he was young and was very fascinated, and with the encouragement of the Blue Ocean scholars, the disciples under the Blue Ocean Sect are extremely disgusted with empty talk, and they are enthusiastic about hard work, and this Philip was committed to joining a business group when he was young, acting as an apprentice of bookkeeping, and walked a big circle in the Northwest.

Originally, Du Wei did not expect that the situation in the northwest had been eroded to such a point, but one day when he came out of Sin City, he felt an inexplicable absurdity about the so-called temporary decree twenty years ago!

Twenty years have passed since the end of the war, and that kind of wartime theater ordinance has not been abolished? Let the J team in one region control the financial rights of the entire territory? It has even replaced the imperial right to distribute materials, and you can also do whatever you want?

This is simply ridiculous.

No wonder the empire has never interfered in the situation in the northwest, and in fact is simply powerless! The old emperor Augustine VI's mediocrity and great joy made him not take any effective measures at all after he "won" the Northwest War, but concentrated his forces on the Nanyang, which allowed him to continue to show off his might!

And the Northwest Army has almost become the emperor of the Northwest Region! Such a military group, which controls the Northwest Region, can be self-sufficient in terms of financial revenue, and is bound by the imperial zhōngyāng has become smaller and smaller, and even extremely xenophobic!

Not to mention anything else, just the last time the old Count Raymond told Du Wei, there were two lords in the Northwest who were driven out by the Northwest Legion, and one of them lost his life...... What arrogance!

With all the military and political power in their hands, who is the Northwest Army afraid of?

After learning about these things, Du Wei immediately found Philip, a disciple of the Blue Sea Sect who was familiar with the northwest, and along the way, Philip stayed in Du Wei's carriage and introduced the situation in the northwest to Du Wei, and the more Du Wei heard about it, the more frightened he became! I couldn't help but regret a little in my heart, and I didn't have a good talk with this Philip earlier.

The governor of Nulin Province is located in Mulan City, and the current governor is Bohan, a baron, a northerner, this guy also has a little background, he once served as the treasurer of a province in the south, and later rose up by virtue of his political achievements, and when he was in Dìdū, he used to work in the Finance Department, I have no doubt that this guy is a little capable, and the imperial zhōngyāng put him in the northwest, which also shows that the imperial zhōngyāng's control of the northwest army in the northwest has caused a certain jǐng feeling。 This Baron Bohan was sent to restore the authority of zhōngyāng first, and he has done a good job in recent years, but this place in the northwest is not the south after all, he is a good hand in finance, and he is also good at handling government affairs, but the military is a little worse, so when facing the Northwest Army, his waist has not been able to stiffen, and the Northwest Army has not let go of the so-called wartime order twenty years ago, according to that order, the Northwest Army has the power to do the local finance in the entire Northwest, and every year the revenue of the local finance must be set aside and not handed over to the Imperial Finance Bureau, but directly handed over to the Northwest Army to serve as military supplies in the theaterFinancial self-sufficiency is only one of them, and another helpless situation is that according to that provisional regulation, in the theater, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Army has the right to temporarily appoint some officers to act as the commander of the theater according to the needs of the war, and has the power to control the local zhèngfǔ, which is the so-called "military zhèngfǔ". In this way, even the zhèngfǔ in some places was elevated by the Northwest Army. ”

Du Wei frowned: "In this way, in the Northwest Region, no one can control the warlords of the Northwest Army?"

"There are still some of them. Philip thought for a while, his wording was very careful, after all, with his current status, he was still just a commoner, and he didn't dare to be too sharp when talking about these powerful bigwigs: "When I came to the northwest a few years ago, I felt that the situation in the northwest had been extremely erosive, and I even ...... at that time Well, I privately feel that if the empire doesn't do something, I'm afraid that in less than five years, the northwest will become a country within a country, here, the administrative documents of the empire, the authority is far inferior to the military orders of the Northwest Army, this is a terrible thing, but in recent years, what makes me curious is that the situation in the northwest has actually calmed down, which has to be said that it is the credit of the governor of Nulin Province, Baron Bohan. ”

"Oh?" said Du Wei and asked, "Tell me about this Baron Bohan." ”

"To be fair, my lord, I really admire him. Philip, a handsome young man, did not hide his admiration at all: "I even think that this Baron Bohan is the best talent in the empire in the past twenty years! When he came to the northwest, the situation here was far worse than it is now!"

As he spoke, Philip suddenly took out a thin booklet from the leather bag he had written, smiled, and said, "When the teacher asked us to follow you, I was already at home, and I wrote down some of my views and understandings about the situation in the northwest over the years, and there are many of them, all of which are the decrees of Lord Bohan that I recorded. ”

Although the Northwest Army is far from the northwest, they still have one of their biggest weaknesses.

Grain!

Every year, the two provinces in the northwest have to buy grain from other provinces on the mainland to meet their local needs, and to feed an army of nearly 200,000 troops, the grain needed is not something that the northwest region itself can satisfy.

Therefore, the annual military rations had to be purchased from the south of the empire...... Grain became an important means for the empire to restrain the Northwest Army.

And Baron Bohan also grasped this!

There was a great weakness in that provisional decree that was caught by the perceptive Baron Bohan, that is, the ordinance stipulated that the Northwest Army could intercept the financial revenue of the Northwest Prefecture to supplement military funds, but ...... Limited to agricultural income only!

Not many merchants were willing to risk their lives to come to the northwest to do business, although the cattle, sheep and horses of the alien races in the northwest were all in short supply, and the northwest at that time was poorer than now, and the vast majority of the annual financial revenue was agricultural taxes, and the wartime regulations were also derived on this basis, that is to say...... After the promulgation of the ordinance, the Northwest Army could not interfere in the new and other aspects of taxation obtained by the local government, which was a very crucial issue. ”

As he spoke, Philip opened his booklet, turned to one of the pages, and said with a smile: "My lord, please look, this is my statistics, according to the official statistical income of the Imperial Treasury Office, oh, these data are all copied down by me from the official data released every year, although there is moisture, but I also have a certain reference." ”

"Before Baron Bohan took office, the annual fiscal revenue of Nulin Province was 3.8 million gold coins, of which the agricultural tax accounted for 2.4 million gold coins, which is a large proportion, but you look at the back, after Baron Bohan took office, in the next three years, the agricultural sleep of Nulin Province began to decrease, the first year it fell to 2.2 million, the second year was 1.8 million, and in the third year, it suddenly dropped to 1.2 million! Only half of the original! What does this mean?"

Du Wei's eyes flashed: "Baron Bohan wants to 'starve' these Northwest Army." ”

Philip smiled: "My lord, the word 'starvation' is very accurate, in fact, after Baron Bohan took office, the grain production in the entire Nulin Province began to decrease......! These orders are very clever, as an excellent administrative official, he is much better at this than those guys on the J side, those guys on the J side were deceived by him at the beginning and didn't take it to heart, and by the time the decree came into effect, the grain production in the northwest region had been reduced a lot, and grain was the biggest killer weapon to restrain the Northwest Army, and the Northwest Army had to rely on buying grain from abroad every year to survive! And as the production of grain decreased, the Northwest Army became stronger against zhōngyāng, which was a weakened means, although somewhat ...... But it works. ”

"Of course, if we blindly reduce grain production and abandon agricultural work, the Northwest Army will be weakened, but the civilian life in the Northwest will become more and more difficult. In this regard, Baron Beauhan has done a good job. He vigorously developed commerce, and his annual commercial tax revenues rose steadily, and now the fiscal revenues of the province of Nulin are higher than they were before Baron Bohan took office. ”

"Of course, the Northwest Army is not without its own methods, at least in terms of military strength, they have been firmly suppressing Baron Bohan. The command of the local garrison in the western region belongs to the governor of Bohan, but in terms of material supply...... According to wartime regulations, it was assigned by the Northwest Army. As a result, the equipment of the local garrisons in the entire western region is very backward, and supplies are often delayed. The combat effectiveness of the local garrisons was low. Baron Bohan can't do anything about this. Although he had money in his hands, he could not spend his own money to replenish the army. Because that is against the laws of the Empire! The Northwest Army is very clever in this regard, and has been keeping a firm eye on Baron Bohan, and if he dares to act rashly, he will be accused of interfering in military affairs. However, I have reason to suspect that Governor Bohan has done something in secret, at least I know it. The local garrison in Mulan City is very well equipped, and the training is also very formal. ”

"In general, the current situation in the Northwest is that Governor Bohan is alone in charge of the overall situation and confronts the Northwest Army. The Governor of Bohan pressed the Northwest Army to the death of the Northwest Army in terms of food, and the Northwest Army pressed the Governor of Bohan to the death in terms of military strength. The two sides have been facing off for several years. At present, it seems that, on the whole, the Northwest Army still has the upper hand, but the trump card with the largest income of the Northwest Army is the wartime order twenty years ago. ”

In the end, Philip couldn't help but complain: "My lord, this order is the biggest reliance of the Northwest Army, and a wartime order from twenty years ago is still used today. I really have to say that it is an extremely ridiculous thing. ”

"But this edict has never been canceled by the Imperial Empire, right?" Du Wei sighed.

"Not bad. Philip nodded, and he flipped to another page: "You see, this is a record I made, the Northwest Army's annual chūn season cāo performance is very strict. It has to be said that it is an act of showing off force. It seems to me that the Empire wants to eradicate the scourge of the Northwest, and this weakening policy of Baron Beauhan will hardly accomplish this task, because even if it is weakened again. The military power is still in the hands of others, and he can't do anything about it. Unless ......"

Speaking of this, Philip did not dare to continue.

Du Wei did not shy away from it, and said lightly: "Unless the empire can have the courage...... Fight a civil war!"

Philip shook his body and looked at the current young duke, this young nobleman still had the childishness unique to a young man in his appearance, but the cold light in his eyes

, and the sneer at the corner of the mouth, where is there still a trace of childishness?

"Great, my lord......" Philip smiled reluctantly, "You can't just say that. ”

"Hmph. Du Wei smiled and shook his head: "I can only talk about it, with the current national strength of the empire, can it support a civil war!"

Philip's eyes darkened, he knew very well in his heart that what Du Wei said was the truth!

If we want to completely eradicate the chaos in the northwest, there is no thunderous means, and we can only barely maintain a balance by relying on weakening and restraint. If you want to eradicate it, you must be willing to pay a terrible price!

Just this price...... Can the empire afford it now?

Thinking of this, Philip couldn't help but glance at the duke. Frankly, when the teacher recommended himself to the Duke of Tulip, Philip

Others are skeptical. After all, although this Duke has a great reputation, his age is really unconvincing. A teenager who is less than fifteen years old, goes to a land of tigers and wolves in the northwest, and is not swallowed by those warlords so that he can't even leave the slag?

Even if he is a powerful magician! This kind of thing, the strength of an individual does not control everything!

But with the deep conversation with Du Wei in the past few days, Philip felt more and more that this Duke was extraordinary. From his silent getting, he got a whole from the city of big ears

The original dìdū ace army infantry regiment, to the past few days of conversation, Du Wei revealed this temperament in and out of his words. Arguably. Philip was already completely convinced of the teacher's arrangement. This Lord Duke definitely has the qualifications worthy of his own service!

However, the chilling aura in Du Wei's eyes and words occasionally made Philip a little worried.

Such a resolute young man came to the northwest, in the end, can bring stability to the northwest...... Or, is it a big mess?!

"Philip. With a smile on his face, Du Wei woke up his staff in deep thought: "Seeing that we are almost at the city gate, I think the Governor must have sent someone to meet us." I'm now

I really want to meet the Governor Bohan, whom you hold in high esteem. ”