At the junction of the former Shu and Qi countries, once upon a time it was the main road to the imperial capital.

But because a war between the two countries decades ago was completely destroyed, even if it was a later peace talk, it was never held here.

Therefore, if the caravan of the people of Ye State wants to go to the capital, they must take the road in Qi State, or take the road in Qianshu.

Qi is easy to say, although the first national war made Qi a little hurtful, but after two years of cultivation, it has also improved a lot, the only thing to say about the loss is that at the beginning of spring, the Southern Qi army and the Northwest Army of Ye State fought which battle, so that the Southern Qi army was injured, but this did not affect the foundation of Qi State.

But compared to the Qi State, Qianshu, which was also fighting against the Northwest Army, was much more miserable.

At the time of the war, Pingfu County, Hebei County, and Ying County, the people of these three counties were slaughtered by the Northwest Army, and later because of the treaty between Qianshu and Qianshu of Qi State, which was so humiliating and humiliating, leased the land of the two counties, and paid 90 million taels of silver, resulting in a serious rise in prices, and the people were quite angry, and even rebellions appeared in many places.

It was not uncommon for rebels to attack caravans and besiege villages and towns in county seats.

Caravans passing here are subject to close scrutiny before they can pass.

On the official road in the northern part of Qianshu, a carriage slowly moved forward, driven by a man of 1267 years old, and a man of about 30 and a little girl of seven or eight years old sat in the carriage.

The man driving the car was dressed in white, although he did not hang any precious jade pendants as decorations, but the appearance of this person alone was enough to be evaluated as a first-class handsome man.

If he has some literary level and family background, he just carries a folding fan in his hand, and he has to be surrounded by the group of big girls and little daughters-in-law.

But fortunately, the people of Qianshu don't have that idle time, and they can't even take care of their lives now, where do they have the time to study these things.

At this time, the thirty-year-old man opened the curtain and asked, "Where is the front?"

"Zheyi County. ”

Hearing this, the man sighed and said, "Now it's true that the further you go east, the more checkpoints there are." ”

The handsome man who was driving the carriage seemed to have not woken up, and turned around and replied: "I said that you guy, obviously you have the smooth road of Qi country, and there are guards to follow, what a good life, but you have to squeeze the carriage with our father and daughter, I said are you looking for guilt for yourself?"

"I'm also here to see what Qianshu has become by you. ”

The man smiled and said: "I don't know if I don't see it, I was shocked when I saw it, I heard my father say that the former Shuping Fujun is a mansion, and the annual output is two more layers than our Duchong County, but this time I saw it with my own eyes, but it was a scene of thousands of miles without a rooster crowing, I really doubt that you said that a total of 800,000 kills and civilians were falsely reported." ”

In this world, who else can talk like this, except for Chu Yujia and Zhao Kuan, the two monarchs and ministers?

Originally, Zhao Kuan's established route was to be opened by the honor guard of Ye Guo to go to Qi to enter the territory of the Son of Heaven, and Chu Yujia chose to take his daughter to see the customs of Qianshu and enter the territory of the Son of Heaven by Shu Road, but halfway Zhao Kuan suddenly changed his mind and let the honor guard go to Qi by himself, and he ran to Chu Yujia's carriage.

"If I hadn't killed so many people, you thought you would be so good at taking over these two counties?"

"The rebellions in this place alone are enough for you to keep your hands in a hurry. ”

Chu Yujia glanced back at him and said, "In the past, Shu's annual tax revenue was forty percent more than that of our Ye country, but now it is also tired from this rebellion, if it is replaced by our Ye country, I am afraid that it will be eaten up by these two counties." ”

How could Zhao Kuan not know this truth?

If that's the case, the Shu people who have just been recruited who can't be stationed in Pingfu County and Ying County can only use their own Ye people to fight the rebels, but the high military expenses are unbearable for Ye State, and they will have to make ends up making ends meet.

Although Chu Yujia removed the people of those two counties, many places were left uncultivated, farmland was deserted, and villages were also deserted.

But Chu Yujia's Northwest Army has always had a good habit of serving as a soldier in wartime and serving the people in his spare time, and this good habit was also applied by Zhao Kuan to the Central Army, using the army to reclaim farmland and plant crops in Ying County and Pingfu County, and at the same time recruiting some former Shu people who were willing to work for Ye Guo to join them, and abolished some of the bans in the country, allowing some residents of Chong County and Pingyang County to live in Pingfu County and Ying County.

In this way, the production of the two counties is not better than the original, but it is not much regressive.

Moreover, the bankers planted by the army will eventually be collected by the state treasury, and when the treasury is full, the country naturally does not need to squeeze the people's taxes, and the people do not have to pay such heavy taxes, and they will naturally be able to eat a few more full meals.

Zhao Kuan smiled and said, "But this time you are going to have a lot of infamy, a few days ago I received a few letters to you, without exception, they all said that you did too much when you were in Qianshu." ”

"Infamy is infamy, and I can't hear it anyway. ”

Chu Yujia rolled his eyes and said, "Even if I can hear it, as long as you don't think I'm at fault, then it's useless for anyone to say I'm at fault." ”

"You kid, that is, I don't dare to kill you. ”

Zhao Kuan sighed softly, then changed his words and asked, "By the way, do you think that this time the Son of Heaven summoned the princes and kings into the palace to face the saints, is there another hidden reason?"

"Mostly. ”

Chu Yujia narrowed his eyes and said, "But I guess it's nothing more than wanting to add some offerings." ”

Although the situation of the Mingwu Empire is chaotic, and the princes cut the land and fight all the year round, but the Son of Heaven is the Son of Heaven after all.

Otherwise, what do the tens of thousands of mouths of the royal court eat and drink?

What did the Son of Heaven eat and drink with the concubines in his harem?

Zhao Kuan shook his head helplessly and said, "Why did the Son of Heaven become such a useless person when he came to your mouth?"

"Do you think he's promising?"

Chu Yujia said listlessly: "Sitting in vain as the Son of Heaven, but not daring to do anything about the Son of Heaven, such a person might as well let him get out of the way as soon as possible." ”

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Zhao Kuan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Then do you think who is the most suitable person to be this son of heaven?"

"Then you still need to ask?"

Chu Yujia glanced back at Zhao Kuan and said, "Of course it's you, if you sit in that position, within ten years, the ten major vassal states in the world will no longer exist, and some will only be a unified country with complete political power, do you believe it?"

"I don't believe it. ”

Zhao Kuan smiled and said: "I don't believe in myself, why do you believe in me so much, besides, let me tell you, I still have a relationship with this son of heaven Ji Hao, although I was relatively small at that time, he was also relatively small, but this person is not like a person with no ambitions, I am afraid that it will give us a big surprise when the time comes." ”

"It doesn't matter if you're surprised or not. ”

Chu Yujia shook his head and said: "I think about very few things, and I don't bother to think so much, I bother to think about it, anyway, if you ask me to fight, I will fight whoever I want, even if it is one against nine, it is the path you choose, and I will accompany you to go down." ”

Looking at Chu Yujia's appearance, Zhao Kuan shook his head and sighed, looking ahead, not knowing what he was thinking.