Chapter 201: Using Military Forces for a Moment

Unexpectedly, just after taking two steps, a ragged young man rushed out from the side. He was caught as soon as he approached stealthily. So he shouted: "My lord, I have important military information to report. Please listen to me first!"

Wang Jianjun saw that although this person was acting stealthily, he was able to recognize their identities and deliberately waited there, so he waved his hand and said, "Who are you? What do you want?"

The man seemed frightened and knelt down tremblingly. "Father, I am an ordinary citizen of Lan County, named Ming Dashuang. The city has been in turmoil these days because of tax collection. The city lord wants each of us to pay one or two taels of silver. We have many children, so the total amount is ten taels of silver. I don't have any money, so I said I was waiting here to tell you the news. If this information is useful, please forgive my family's tax!"

Eunuch Zhou said with great interest, "Tell me about it!"

"Eunuch Zhou, our Lan County is wealthy, but neighboring Ye County is even richer! This year, they've taken in over 10,000 new refugees, each of whom has been given land and food. They're incredibly wealthy! Why should we collect taxes while the people over there don't? I refuse to accept this!"

"Ye County?" Supervisor Wang immediately pulled out a booklet and pointed at the information on it. "That's not right. The governor of Jinzhou Prefecture reported long ago that Ye County had been occupied by bandits. Now it's completely deserted, a ghost town!"

"It was abandoned for a while! But then refugees moved in. They occupied the farmland of those fleeing famine and built houses. They lived a very comfortable life! In my humble opinion, they should also collect taxes. Our Lan County collected 200,000 taels of silver, so Ye County should have to collect the same amount!"

Eunuch Zhou and Wang Jianjun looked at each other and saw a hint of surprise in each other's eyes!

For a place marked as an empty city in the book, 200,000 tax taels suddenly appeared out of thin air. This was simply a windfall!

Supervisor Zhou twisted his body, causing the carriage to sway. The man had already emerged eagerly, "Are you serious?"

"Of course it's true. I guarantee it with my life! If you don't believe me, you can go to Ye County and see if the people there are all rich!"

Eunuch Zhou was delighted, but he didn't show it on his face. He just replied coldly, "Okay, I know about this matter. You go back first, and I'll go and see what's going on. If what you said is true, you will naturally benefit. If what you said is false, hmph!"

"I dare not lie to you, sir. Everything I say is true! I hope you will consider my risking my life to provide information. Hehe..." The man rubbed his hands and smiled ingratiatingly. "Can you please tell me the tax amount for this year..."

"Get out of here! Someone will come find you once we've verified everything!"

The man seemed to be frightened by General Wang and quickly ran into the mountains and forests.

Eunuch Zhou was ecstatic at first, but then calmed down and discussed with Supervisor Wang: "Supervisor, we only have 500 elite soldiers. What should we do if the mountain king of Lan County is not afraid of us?"

Wang Jianjun thought for a moment and came up with an idea. "How about this, eunuch? Please write a letter first, saying that we will arrive in Lan County soon, and order the Mountain King and all the people of the city to kneel at the gate to welcome us. If he agrees, it will prove that he is loyal to the court, and we will definitely be able to control him. If he doesn't agree, we will have to find another way."

Eunuch Zhou was still worried. "Military Supervisor, have you found out how many troops there are in Lan County?"

Wang Jianjun laughed heartily. "You are worrying too much, eunuch. How many soldiers can a group of rookies have? At most, they are only a few hundred people. They are all untrained refugees. If they encounter a strong army like us, they will probably piss their pants in fear!"

Eunuch Zhou seemed relieved. "The military supervisor is right."

Ming Xiaoshuang walked away, looking at the receding wheel tracks, dusted himself off, straightened his clothes, and spat, "What a jerk! I've come such a long way, and you're not willing to give me even a tael of silver! How can such a stingy and stupid person fight with our city lord?!"

Thinking of Xu Zhenying, a smug smile appeared on Ming Xiaoshuang's face.

Just today, the city lord called him over and asked him to do an important task in a mysterious way.

The big thing is to find a way to increase taxes several times, making it impossible for the people of Lan County to bear it.

Having said that, if Ming Xiaoshuang still doesn’t understand, then he has followed Xu Zhenying for several months in vain!

Oh my goodness, the city lord is going to rebel!

Her tactic of retreating in order to advance was to force everyone in Lan County onto her warship! If so, then they would be righteous men with a legitimate reason!

If the historical records say that Xu Zhenying started an uprising to protect the people of Lan County from being exploited, then the city lord only needs to raise his arm and call for action, and the suffering people all over the world will respond!

At this point, Ming Xiaoshuang only has admiration for Xu Zhenying!

Ever since they entered Lan County, Xu Zhenying has been playing a big game of chess.

First, he developed production and strengthened himself, recruiting soldiers in the name of city defense, and then he expanded Lan County under the banner of resettling refugees, and took the opportunity to occupy Ye County and expand his territory.

She then distributed all of Qianzhou's official grain to the people regardless of the Xu family's opposition, and took the opportunity to forcibly tie all the people onto her boat. Now she is still hiding behind this and stirring up trouble, pretending that she was forced to rebel by the people of Lan County. Who in the world would not praise the city lord for his kindness!

Ming Xiaoshuang was filled with excitement. At this point, Xu Zhenying had made no secret of his ambition to dominate the world in front of him.

The era belonging to Xu Zhenying will finally come!

And he, Ming Xiaoshuang, will definitely leave a mark in history books!

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Lan County was in turmoil, and on a small hill on the southwestern border of Jinzhou Prefecture, closest to Qianzhou, a village rose from the ground, towering majestically amid the forest. This area, situated at the junction of the two states, was in an uninhabited area between the two states and was sparsely populated. Many refugees who had fled the previous winter had ended up here.

Although the village is simple, it has everything it needs. Most of the people walking around are strong adults, and there are also men, women, old and young, about four to five thousand people.

If you look closely, you will find that the simple village is full of secret sentries, with almost a guard post every five steps and a defense post every ten steps. The level of their deployment of troops is evident, and its strictness is no less than that of a military camp.

The leader was a young man.

He was tall and thin, with very fair skin, and his eyes were as cold as the mountain mist, always revealing a hint of alienation.

No one knew where he came from, why he took in refugees, why he trained soldiers, or why he hid in these deep mountains and forests.

This man is full of mystery.

People in the village were always discussing privately that their village didn't look like a bandit's den at all, it was clearly a military camp!

Although he is taciturn in the team, he is absolutely the one who has the final say.

It was because he was the one who built this village, and he was the one who picked up these refugees who were lost in the mountains and forests.

Strangely enough, their village grew from a dozen people to several thousand people, but except for occasionally going down the mountain to rob the rich, they spent the rest of their time training in the village.

Regardless of gender, age or status, anyone who can breathe must train with weapons.

What's even more bizarre is that in addition to training, they also have to believe in Scientology, work hard to learn its teachings such as pinyin and arithmetic, and even take weekly and monthly exams!

Their village is clearly a den of bandits, yet they have more classes than those of scholars. If you don't study, fine, then you won't have food to eat. I'll starve you for a meal, and I guarantee you'll have the energy to study.

If you do well in the exam, that would be even better.

Not to mention the extra food rewards, the team leader of these fifty people is enough to make people excited.

Their village doesn't care about seniority. Everything is based on training results and cultural achievements. If you have good overall results, even if you are a young boy, you can boss around old men in their fifties or sixties.

Everyone found it strange at first, but later they realized that as long as they focused on studying and training, there would be a constant supply of food and grass, so they followed him.

In troubled times, it's good enough to have something to eat. First, you don't have to sell your body, and second, you don't have to do hard labor. You just read some books. It seems that there is nothing special about it except being weird.

What if their handsome boss has any special hobbies?

The maid Xiaonan carefully opened the door carrying a box of food, and then walked in slowly.

The deep mountains are very cool in summer. The windows in the boss's house are supported by slanted bars, revealing a large area of ​​green forest. When the mountain breeze blows, the wild flowers outside sway gently.

The boss was writing inside the house.

He stood straight, looking solemn and serious.

"Boss, it's time to eat." Xiaonan put the food box on the table and accidentally took a look out of the corner of his eye. He saw a woman standing on a carriage with her arms outstretched, as if cheering.

The wind blew up the woman's hair and robe, but her face could not be seen. Only the shallow dimples on her lips could be seen.

Who is this woman?

Is she the boss’ sweetheart?

Before Xiaonan had time to take a closer look, the man had already pressed down the painting, and then glanced at Xiaonan with some displeasure.

Xiaonan was startled and quickly lowered his head. He took out another letter from his pocket and said, "Boss, there's a letter in our mailbox today."

Xiaonan saw that the boss's face changed suddenly, and it seemed hard to tell whether he was excited or nervous. In short, he always had this expression every time he saw the letter in the red envelope.

"Go, quickly call Instructor Liu over!"

The passionate words made Xiaonan feel uncomfortable.

Could it be that the boss actually likes Instructor Liu?

Otherwise, why would two people, a man and a woman, always talk with the doors and windows closed?

After saying that, the boss opened the letter on his own. Within about ten minutes, Liu Pan'er rushed over anxiously.

She rolled up her sleeves and her hair was tied down to shoulder length. Her hairstyle was exactly the simple and convenient style that was popular in Lan County now. She seemed to be running in a hurry, holding a teaching stick in her hand, and it was obvious that she was running from the classroom.

"Instructor Jiang, did you hear the city lord has sent a letter?" Liu Pan'er hurried over, anxious. "I received a letter from Sanniang a few days ago, saying that the situation in Lan County has become tense due to the fixed tax rate issue. There might be a major move, and they asked us to be ready to respond at any time. I'm so nervous—"

Jiang Yongkang's expression towards Liu Pan'er was a little more gentle. After all, she was the one he had trained. He watched Liu Pan'er grow from a delicate little girl who had never done any housework to the tough and heroic soldier she is today. In his heart, he had already regarded her as his student and disciple.

But at this moment, Liu Pan'er still saw some clues from Jiang Yongkang's expression, "Is it a happy event?"

Jiang Yongkang raised the letter in his hand and laughed out loud, "It's a happy event, a once-in-a-lifetime great joy!"

Liu Pan'er wanted to grab the letter and read it immediately, but Jiang Yongkang had already spoken: "We've got a big job!"

"What kind of work?!"

"We've been training in this mountain for so long. It's time for us to make a name for ourselves! Liu Pan, gather all the soldiers immediately, prepare food and fodder, and we'll head to the Qianzhou front immediately!"

"The Qianzhou front?" Liu Pan'er was shocked. "Are we really going to fight?"

Although Liu Pan'er had been in the camp for half a year and had received countless military trainings, big and small, she had never subconsciously thought that one day she would really have to charge into battle.

Liu Pan'er anxiously tugged at Jiang Yongkang's sleeve, "Instructor, why are we going to the Qianzhou front? What are we going there for?"

Jiang Yongkang's brows were furious and uncontrollable, his eyes seemed to be ablaze with dark fire, and his voice was trembling unconsciously, as if he was a beast locked in a cage, excited to break out of the cage!

"Liu Pan, our land is about to change! Jinzhou's inner defenses have weakened, and all the soldiers have gone out to Qianzhou to fight the local chieftain. This is the perfect opportunity to attack Jinzhou. The city lord will soon send troops to capture Jinzhou. To prevent Jinzhou from being attacked from both sides, he has secretly ordered us to cooperate sincerely with the local chieftain to trap all the soldiers sent by the Great Zhou Dynasty to the front lines in Qianzhou. In this way, we are bound to capture Jinzhou. The locals in Qianzhou are nothing to fear; they will soon be ours!"

Liu Pan'er understood immediately and said in shock, "The city lord wants to rebel!"

"Liu Pan, the officials are forcing the people to revolt, and the people have no choice but to revolt. The court doesn't care about the lives of the people, and the fixed tax is 200,000 taels. The people of Lan County simply can't afford it. Retreating means death, and advancing also means death. So let's just have a big fight to see who has the harder fist!" Jiang Yongkang's excitement was beyond words, and there was a hint of madness on his face. "Liu Pan, a new dynasty is about to begin. It's a good time for you and me to make great achievements! You see, this day will change sooner or later!"

Liu Pan'er obviously had not yet recovered from the thought of rebellion.

Why are you going to rebel?

Rebellion means the extermination of nine generations of your clan!

But six months of military service had conditioned her to obey orders. Now that she had come this far, was she going to be a deserter?

Since they want to rebel, Lan County will definitely rebel as well. Wang Sanniang is already the county magistrate of Gaoxin County, and Gu Guihua is already the top leader in the female army. The two of them are already in high positions and have great power. What's more, they have always been loyal to the city lord. They will definitely lead the attack on Jinzhou Prefecture this time!

But what about her?

How will she choose?

How did fathers choose?

Liu Pan'er's mind was in a mess for a moment, as if she was being pushed by someone and had no control over herself.