As a result, the labor force in Fengcheng increased significantly, while the number of refugees continued to rise. The capital was in complete chaos, and several nearby prefectures were also affected, with people fleeing to other places.

The fleeing refugees went to two different places. One was to Jiangnan, which was the territory of the wise king. He would take in the refugees and treat them well.

Another one is Xifeng. Although I heard that Duke is dead, his reputation was too great and his methods too ruthless. He killed too many innocent people. The refugees who had escaped from Xifeng were terrified. Not only did they not dare to go back, but they also advised others not to go.

Therefore, most of the refugees eventually fled to Jiangnan, with Xifeng accounting for only one-third.

When Ye Moxun found out, he simply said, "It's their loss if they don't come."

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and good news came from the capital: Bai Pingfeng had won a battle, the Duke of Zheng was captured alive, and none of his family members and confidants escaped. They were all imprisoned in the imperial prison and will be executed on a later date.

Not long after Bai Pingfeng arrived in the capital, Liu Chengyu returned to Jiangnan. The wise king was busy preventing the Hu and Qiang people from entering the Central Plains in the north and was unable to attend to them all, so Jiangnan was left to Liu Chengyu to guard.

Liu Chengyu went to the capital to fight against the Zhengong Kingdom, so Jiangnan was handed over to the second son of the Xianwang, who was also Liu Chengyu's younger brother. Liu Chengwen was highly skilled in martial arts, but lacked wisdom and was easily swayed by others, so Liu Chengyu was not very at ease with him.

So, less than two months after Bai Pingfeng arrived in the capital, seeing that he was a steady and reliable person capable of shouldering great responsibilities, Liu Chengyu entrusted him with the entire task of attacking the Zhengong Kingdom.

The reason this battle lasted so long was because Zhengong Guotai was inhuman; she took the people of the city hostage and threatened Liu Chengyu to withdraw his troops.

Considering the safety of the people, Liu Chengyu had no choice but to temporarily retreat 800 li. His army was stationed in a prefecture city called Changguan. The people of Changguan had already fled, and the city was filled with the bones of the starved dead. There was not a single living person left, and it was already a ruined city.

At that time, Bai Pingfeng ordered people to pile up the corpses in the city, pour oil on them, and burn them to prevent the spread of plague.

After more than a year of outwitting and outmaneuvering Chen Wu, they finally defeated the old scoundrel. It is said that they lured him out to fight a battle, then forcefully stormed into the capital, stormed the palace, and captured over a hundred members of Chen Wu's family.

This old scoundrel actually put on a dragon robe in the palace, proclaimed himself emperor, made his first wife empress, his eldest son crown prince, and his mother empress dowager. He really thinks the world belongs to him, without even considering whether he is worthy of it.

Based on his previous act of disregarding the lives of the people in the city and killing dozens of people in one go just to force back Liu Chengyu's army, everyone in the world has the right to kill him.

Now that the last force of the Great Jin Dynasty has been eliminated, at least the internal strife has stopped. The next step is to drive out the Hu people before construction can begin.

I heard that on the day the Duke of Zheng was defeated, his first wife set fire to the palace. Although Bai Pingfeng quickly arranged for people to put out the fire, a third of it was still burned down, and the harem was burned to ashes. I don't know how much oil was poured on it.

After Madam Chen was captured, she was asked why she burned down the palace. She said that if she couldn't have it, no one else could either, and she wanted to destroy it. Originally, she wanted to perish in the fire along with the palace, but in the end, she was afraid of death and didn't want to be burned to a crisp, so she escaped with the others.

Unfortunately, he couldn't escape; he was captured by Bai Pingfeng's men as soon as he stepped out of the imperial city gate.

Ye Moxun sent a message to Bai Pingfeng, instructing him not to return to Xifeng yet, but to stay in the capital and wait for Liu Chengyu's army to arrive from Jiangnan, and then follow Liu Chengyu's arrangements.

If Liu Chengyu doesn't trust him, he will send him away, but he can only leave on his own. He certainly can't take the army with him. However, Ye Moxun thinks that Liu Chengyu should make good use of Bai Pingfeng.

The saying goes, "If you doubt someone, don't use them." Since he was able to leave Bai Pingfeng behind to attack the Zhengong Kingdom, it means he had high hopes for Bai Pingfeng. Now that the Great Jin Dynasty is riddled with problems and in need of rebuilding, it is precisely the time when people are in need of talent. If Liu Chengyu had any sense, he should know to retain talent.

Leaving Bai Pingfeng with Liu Chengyu was partly to test his attitude, and partly to reassure him that Xifeng was developing too fast and Ye Moxun did not want to arouse the suspicion of the Prince Xian.

He didn't want to fight anyone. The people of the Great Jin Dynasty couldn't withstand any more war. In the end, it was the common people who suffered when everyone was fighting for power. Right now, when the internal strife could be quelled, he didn't want to create more trouble for his own selfish reasons.

"Finally, good news has arrived. The seven-year-long internal strife in the Great Jin Dynasty has finally subsided, and the people can finally breathe again." Song Tantan was filled with emotion. It was truly difficult to achieve a peaceful and prosperous era in ancient times.

Ye Moxun also felt this deeply. He said, "Now we can only hope that the border guards can win the battle and prevent the Hu and Qiang people from invading again for ten years. Only then can the Great Jin Dynasty truly catch its breath and have time to carry out construction and restore farming. Only when the economy is restored and the people no longer go hungry can we truly be considered at peace."

"But I've heard that even in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there were people who went hungry. It's difficult to ensure that everyone is free from hunger. In the 1990s and 2000s, there were still people going hungry in some remote and impoverished counties, let alone now." Song Tantan just said this in the heat of the moment, without any other meaning.

Ye Moxun was quite taken aback. He took a deep breath and said, "Can't you think positively? Why do you have to attack me at this time? What a mess! How did I end up knowing such a nitpicky person like you?"

"You're the one who's being argumentative, your whole family are argumentative."

"Don't forget that your aunt is now my maternal aunt. When you insulted my whole family, you included her in the insults as well." Ye Moxun smirked, glanced at her as if she were an idiot, and then turned and left.

"Hey, wait for me, I'm going back too, I need to close the shop right away." Ye Moxun had been watching the shop for her all day, and they had gotten along peacefully all day, but in the end, they still couldn't escape bickering.

Outside the shop, as Ye Moxun passed by the rouge shop next door, his clothes were suddenly tugged. He looked down and saw a fair and thin little face beaming with joy. Seven-year-old Zhang Shen called out "Brother" in a clear voice.

But Ye Moxun didn't respond. He just nodded lightly and left without looking back. Zhang Shen pursed his lips, his beautiful eyes filled with disappointment.

Song Tantan locked the shop door and was about to quicken her pace to catch up with Ye Moxun when she looked up and saw Zhang Shen standing outside the rouge shop.

"Shen'er, why are you here all alone? Where are your two older sisters?" Song Tantan had watched this child grow up. When he was little, she had secretly fed him milk powder and given him candy. She liked this handsome little boy very much.

Upon seeing Song Tantan, Zhang Shen's eyes lit up. He ran up to her, looked up at her, and smiled, "Sister, what are you doing here? I saw my brother just now, and I called him, but he ignored me."

Song Tantan didn't know what was going on either. Ye Moxun was very cold to Zhang Shen, as if he didn't like him at all. Even when Zhang Shen took the initiative to be friendly, he never responded in the slightest, which made him feel very helpless.

“Then don’t pay attention to him. Why have you lost weight again? Have you not been eating enough every day? You need to eat more,” Song Tantan pretended to rummage in her cloth bag, but actually took out a bag of steamed cakes from the supermarket. “Take this and eat it. You can eat it yourself and don’t give it to anyone else. You need to eat more to grow taller. You’re too thin.”