When the seriously ill old emperor officially canonized Empress Jiang as the empress dowager of the new dynasty, the imperial power had already lost control of the government of the Great Xia Kingdom.

With the departure of the old emperor, the officials and generals who actually controlled the military and political affairs of the states began to harbor ghosts.

The princes and nobles of the six border states are ready to move.

It was also a helpless move to introduce the interest group headed by Zhenwu Hou Jianghu into the court.

Jiang Hu was appointed as the governor of the three states, and he could not really have the power in his hands, but could only gradually consolidate the authority in his hands by cutting the feudal domain.

Regardless of the success of the final cut, the emperor will become an inconsequential character.

But if there is no such foreign relative force, at this moment of alternation of the old and new imperial powers, the princes of the world will be intimidated.

The ultimate fate of the emperor can only be reduced to the plaything of politicians.

There is even a risk of the dynasty falling.

As the situation in the court gradually became intense, people continued to participate in the debate, and these civil and military officials were faintly divided into two factions.

One faction represents the six border states, and the other represents the Zhenwu Marquis, who has been silent from beginning to end.

The state officials of the neutral faction like Li Li were all silent at this time, frowning and thinking deeply.

The heated discussion was coming to an end, and the authority to decide was handed over to the young man on the dragon chair, but the young emperor looked at the Empress Dowager Jiang, who was listening to the government.

"What does the Queen Mother think?"

When the imposing Empress Dowager Jiang heard the voice, she turned her head to look at the young emperor who was cautiously asking, and just spit out two words coldly in her mouth.

"Cutting the domain."

With the exit of the word "cut domain", the final announcement was the end of the court meeting.

The civil and military officials in the main hall walked out of the door one after another, and Li Gui, who had not expressed any opinions, also retracted his thoughts and prepared to leave.

But when he turned to leave, he happened to meet the meaningful eyes of Zhenwu Hou.

……

Xiao Jiu didn't know about the fierce debate in the court, but at this time, in the hall of the Hare Mountain camp, a guest from Qingzhou Mansion was ushered in.

"Brother Xiao is really wise and far-reaching in Lingshui County."

Listening to the heroic words of the rugged man in front of him, Xiao Jiu just smiled and bowed, without answering.

However, Zhu Cong, the general of Qingzhou Mansion who had been to Hare Mountain before, stepped forward to introduce the man who spoke for Xiao Jiu.

At this time, Xiao Jiu was a little restrained, not because of how much dignity the rugged man beside Zhu Cong was.

But now there are two thousand military horses stationed at the foot of Hare Mountain.

Through Zhu Cong's introduction, Xiao Jiu learned that the rugged man was Wang Meng, the captain of the Huwei Battalion in Qingzhou.

Different from the officials he had contacted before, the general in front of him who really held the military power was a figure in the entire Qingzhou Mansion.

Today, this Wang Meng didn't come to trouble Xiao Ziying.

Instead, the team marched from Qingzhou Mansion to the Beijing Division.

At this time, I happened to pass through Lingshui County, so I happened to visit Hare Mountain.

This Captain Wang has a special habit, that is, whenever he goes out on an expedition, he will feel the customs and customs of the four places when he passes through some counties along the way.

By the way, on behalf of the imperial court, he cleared a wave of mountain bandits.

When the army marched to Lingshui County, the rugged-looking Captain Wang was keenly aware of the difference between this place and the counties he had passed through before.

There are no large-scale mountain bandit forces in the entire Lingshui County.

The second is that the villages and towns under its jurisdiction are not as lifeless as they have seen before.

The farmers who were working in the fields also had some sparkle in their eyes.

As for the poor peasants or beggars in the villages who could not eat, I did not see a single one.

Puzzled, he passed through several villages one after another, but the answers he got were surprisingly consistent.

Because there is a Xiao Jiu in this Lingshui County who kills the rich and helps the poor.

When he heard that Xiao Jiu was a "bandit army" formed by a group of mountain bandits after accepting Zhao'an, he was speechless in shock.

Fortunately, Zhu Cong, a partial general who had previously served as Li Luoyao's bodyguard, was going with the army.

I heard that after Captain Wang inquired about Xiao Jiu, he directly told what he had seen and heard in Hare Mountain a year ago.

Listening to the people and Zhu Cong, this Xiao Jiu was said to be amazing.

Almost instantly, Captain Wang decided to go and visit the mysterious Xiao Jiu.

When he saw Xiao Jiu in front of him, he was first surprised by the appearance of the person in front of him.

He hadn't expected the legend to be so young.

With Zhu Cong's introduction, after a short exchange, they got to know each other.

After that, Xiao Jiu arranged for his subordinates to set up a banquet to entertain each other.

In the Hare Mountain camp, Xiao Jiu looked at Wang Meng, who was eating ugly at the dinner table, and wondered if this thing was really a state captain.

And Zhu Cong, who was sitting with him on the side, looked embarrassed and lowered his head and sipped the wine in the bowl.

After Captain Wang was full of wine and food, he picked up the wine bowl and said slowly to Xiao Jiu.

"I heard that the wine in Brother Xiao's camp is very beautiful, and it is really a feast to visit today."

Listening to the bold words of the rugged man in front of him, Xiao Jiu didn't know how to answer with a stiff smile.

I can only hold the pottery bowl and toast with him.

Then Wang Xiaowei seemed to feel that the atmosphere was awkward, and began to talk about what he had seen and heard since he set off from Qingzhou Mansion, and what he heard about Xiao Jiu's experience in Lingshui County.

After three rounds of drinking, the relationship between the few people was slightly closer, and Xiao Jiu also knew a little more about Captain Wang in front of him.

This captain Wang is different from the ruggedness of his appearance, and is actually a vicious and hateful person.

When I heard that Xiao Jiu robbed the rich and distributed the grain to the people, he immediately applauded the case.

Through Zhu Cong, he learned that Xiao Jiu not only robbed the rich and helped the poor, but also brewed wine and made blades.

I became interested in Xiao Jiu, and I had this trip to Hare Mountain.

When he was full of wine and food, the captain Wang Meng proposed that he wanted to observe the crossbow that Zhu Cong had seen.

Xiao Jiu did not hesitate, and directly sent someone to take a made crossbow and hand it to Wang Meng.

That Wang Meng took the crossbow in his hand, and the expression on his face was not much different from when Zhu Cong first got it.

When he came to the open space outside the field and loaded the crossbow bolt for test firing, he was even more surprised by the long range.

Xiao Jiu was not much surprised when he saw Captain Wang, who couldn't put it down with a crossbow, and he was not afraid that he would force this method of production if he had a county guard platform.

At this time, he looked at the bold Wang Xiaowei in front of him with great interest, and felt that the military generals of the imperial court were not all illiterate mediocre people.

When Xiao Jiu was thinking about inquiring about the current military system of Great Xia.

Captain Wang, who was holding a crossbow in his hand, looked up at Xiao Jiu and said with a serious face.

"I wonder if General Xiao has ever thought about selling this bow and crossbow to the military?"

looked at Wang Meng, whose expression was suddenly serious, and even used honorifics to address himself.

Xiao Jiu couldn't help frowning and muttering.

"For military use?"

The general's crossbow was sold to the active army in the imperial court, Xiao Jiu didn't think about it.

But he was soft-spoken before, and he was even more afraid of being blackmailed by those big shots.