After fifty strokes of the rod, Huang Liang was practically half-dead. When he was dragged back to the main hall, he couldn't even speak.

“Huang Liang, you have already admitted your guilt. Now you can tell me what crimes you have committed, or you will be punished with a big stick,” said Prefect Gui.

The fifty lashes had brought Huang Liang to his senses. He knew he was doomed this time, and that speaking out would only result in more beatings, so he decided to remain silent.

Thinking of this, he endured the excruciating pain and spoke:

"I do not know what crime I have committed, please enlighten me, sir."

Prefect Gui sneered and said:

"I have listed ten charges against you. Listen carefully and see if this is true."

As a subject of the Great Northern Dynasty, you have rebelled, colluded with enemy states, sold out your country for personal gain, amassed an army without authorization, massacred officials and soldiers, aided and abetted the tyrant, persecuted loyal officials, recognized the enemy as your father, indiscriminately killed innocent people, and committed heinous crimes.

Of course, your crimes go far beyond these ten. Each of these ten crimes is a capital offense. What else do you have to say?

Huang Liang knew in his heart that his rebellion against the imperial court was already a capital offense, and there was no point in arguing any further.

Prefect Gui sneered and said, "Take the criminal Huang Liang away and throw him into prison first."

The turn of events in Lanwei was extremely dramatic. When Prefect Jin and Wei Jin learned of the situation, they were extremely excited. They captured Lanwei without using a single soldier.

Wei Jin immediately led 10,000 troops to Lanwei to deal with the mess left by Huang Liang.

The people of Lanwei finally understood that relying on local powers for governance was a dead end for Lanwei; only under the rule of the Great Northern Dynasty could the people of Lanwei live a peaceful life.

When Wei Jin led his army to Lanwei, many local people came out of the city to welcome them, hoping that the arrival of the Great Northern Dynasty army would bring them a peaceful life.

In order not to disturb the people in the city, Wei Jin ordered the main army to be stationed outside the city, and only took a small number of troops into the city.

At this moment, Wei Chenglin was no longer the manager of a jade shop. He was wearing armor and followed Wei Jin to the Lanwei government office.

Upon learning of the situation, Prefect Gui led all the officials and yamen runners in the prefectural government office to greet them at the entrance.

In the council hall, Wei Jin learned in detail about the situation in Lanwei. Since the imperial court had stationed troops in Yuanxi, it should also consider stationing a small number of troops in Lanwei.

Only after fully understanding the situation in Lanwei can we determine how many troops are appropriate to station there.

Next, Wei Jin set about dealing with Ma Yuanhao's forces in Louye.

Some of Lanwei's officials had served in Louye and were quite familiar with the situation there.

It seems that Louye's situation is similar to Lanwei's. Louye's overlord, Ma Yuanhao, is about as strong as Huang Liang, and has three to four thousand soldiers under his command.

The difference is that there are not many defensive facilities inside and outside Louye City. If the imperial court sends troops to attack, it would not be difficult to take Louye.

But Wei Jin didn't want to make a big fuss. He wanted to use the same method to conduct propaganda in Louye and dismantle Ma Yuanhao's power.

Sending troops out at this point would be much easier and would also minimize casualties among the soldiers.

Under Wei Jin's arrangement, the news that Lanwei had been recovered by the imperial court quickly reached Louye. Only then did people learn the truth: it turned out that Huang Liang of Lanwei had colluded with foreign countries, fooled the local people, and opposed the imperial court.

Similarly, Ma Yuanhao of Louye, like Huang Liang, colluded with foreign countries, betrayed their country for personal gain, defied the imperial court, and wanted to establish themselves as kings.

The news spread quickly, and Ma Yuanhao's power collapsed within a few days. No one was willing to risk their lives for Ma Yuanhao, and everyone wanted to live a peaceful life.

A few days later, Wei Jin sent troops to Louye and blocked several important exits of the city to prevent Ma Yuanhao from escaping.

Knowing that all was lost, Ma Yuanhao had no choice but to lead his few remaining men out of the city to surrender and try to receive leniency.

After the Lanwei and Louye incidents were quelled, Wei Jin discussed with Prefect Jin the matter of stationing troops in the two places.

In order to stabilize the northwestern border of the Great Northern Dynasty, it was finally decided to station two thousand troops in each of Lanwei and Louye, thus basically stabilizing the situation in the entire desert.

At the same time, the government purged other forces in the two areas, allowing some forces to exist, but they must be restrained and controlled.

As a result, it will be difficult for the forces here to gain significant influence in the future.

After completing these tasks, Wei Jin wrote a battle report on the suppression of the rebellion in both places and sent it to the capital as soon as possible. He himself would return to the capital in three days.

At this time, Zhao Xian's textile workshops in Shuixian Village were finally completed.

The workshops are divided into several areas, including tying, spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing, and garment processing.

This is an ancient version of a textile city; the Northern Dynasty would never find another like it.

At this time, Shen Jianfeng and Wan Xiumei were installing equipment in various districts, all of which were purchased from the south.

Zhao Xian carefully examined the ancient textile equipment. These devices were mostly operated by human power, which was already very advanced for that era.

Modifying these textile equipment to use mechanical force would greatly improve work efficiency, but Zhao Xian didn't want to do that.

In this era, all industries relied on manual labor; the era of large-scale industrial production had not yet arrived. We could only follow the tide of history and could not change it.

Installing all the equipment in so many workshops is no easy task. After installation, it needs to be debugged, which will take at least another month or two.

At this time, the temperature is rising, the annual rainy season is approaching, and the canal from Shuixian Village to Yingkou Town is basically completed.

The wharf that Li Zheng is building in Shuixian Village has already been completed and will be put into use once the canal is open to navigation.

Zhao Xian estimates that the canal will not be open to navigation and the docks will not be put into use until the rainy season arrives. In this way, the canal will have a large amount of water stored, ensuring that ships can pass through the canal without hindrance.

Once the canal is open to navigation, it will greatly facilitate transportation in large areas on both banks. At that time, the canal will not only carry a large number of merchant ships, but also passenger ships of all sizes.

A few days later, after days of continuous rain, the river began to rise, and the rainy season finally arrived.

The arrival of the rainy season does not mean it rains every day; it simply means that the rainfall is concentrated and intermittent during this period, causing rivers to rise rapidly.

The village headman saw that the water level in the canal was almost full, meeting the conditions for navigation. After discussing with Zhao Xian, they prepared to hold a canal opening ceremony.

On the day the canal opened to traffic, the weather was fine, and people from all around came to watch the excitement.

This is a great thing for the people living on both sides of the canal. With the canal, travel by boat will be much more convenient.

Not only did the local people from the surrounding area turn out, but officials from Zhengyang County and Qing'an Prefecture also came to Shuixian Village, where a grand canal opening ceremony was to be held.

Now, Narcissus Village is famous. The villagers spread the word and flocked to the dock outside the village to watch the grand canal opening ceremony.