Xiling Mingyue and Nie Ying, master and servant, were also among them, setting off with the common people. She wanted to go back to see Jiang Jian's wife. The last time she went back, she was in such a hurry that she didn't have time to send a visiting card.
Seeing that Jiang Jian was ready, Ji Wan nodded and said, "Fellow villagers, get good treatment when you get to Qingshi Prefecture. I will be waiting for you to return home in Shicheng."
There were a few people in the crowd who still had energy and nodded in response to Ji Wan, but most of them had wooden faces and looked pale and sick.
After seeing off the people, Xie from outside the city sent a letter sealed with wax.
Ji Wan read the contents of the letter. It was a banquet invitation from Xie Xun. The original text was full of flowery and pedantic language. It said that the Little New Year was approaching some time, and Xie Xun had specially arranged a banquet in Yuntan Mountain, the closest to Shicheng, and invited Ji Wan to celebrate the New Year together.
Ji Wan turned his gaze to the leather map. Yuntan Mountain had a very interesting geographical location. It was located within Fanzhou, at the intersection of Shicheng and Dancheng. It was a relatively flat and open small mountain.
"What does this letter mean? Aren't we fighting the Xie family to the death, neither of us is willing to give in. Are they going to invite Your Highness to the Hongmen Banquet?!" Jin Lie spoke loudly, and he was the first to guess.
Cui Min picked up the letter and looked at it carefully again and again. Seeing that the handwriting was skinny, with bones but no flesh, and the corners of the hook were sharp, he frowned.
"The handwriting clearly reveals the writer's stubborn character and unwavering pride, like a bamboo standing tall between heaven and earth, unyielding and unyielding. Ruo Min was right, this letter didn't look like it was written by Xie's second son, Xun.
Instead, he looks like the straightforward General Yao Cheng, who has a grudge against the Cui family. He's probably a straightforward person, and you can see a bit of his style from this."
Everyone knows that children of aristocratic families are cunning and all of them are like sesame-stuffed dumplings. If the handwriting of Xie's second son Xun is really like the one in this letter, Ji Wan's battle will be easier to win.
Pan Zhuo took the letter from Cui Min and studied it carefully for a while before speculating, "Given General Yao Cheng's character, he certainly wouldn't surrender so easily. So, the purpose of this letter must be suspicious."
Jin Lie was completely bewildered. Gong Xu also stared at him with his watery eyes, curiously asking, "What are you two talking about? The letter only mentioned spending the New Year's Eve together, not these things..."
"Wei Xiao, given General Yao Cheng's unyielding character, it's highly unlikely that he would be sent here to show weakness to us. Besides, given his straightforward personality, if he really showed weakness, he would definitely put up a direct surrender statement instead of this ambiguous one." Cui Min shook his head and looked lovingly at Gong Xu and Jin Lie, who were half-hearted.
Forget it, why bother with two stupid kids.
Zuo Yue couldn't help herself next to Gong Xu, she covered her mouth and nose with her sleeves, and suppressed the smile on her lips.
"Ah? But wasn't this letter sent by Xie Xun? What does it have to do with Yao Cheng?" Gong Xu still looked confused.
This time Zuo Yue couldn't help but laugh out loud.
This caused Gong Xu to glare at him: "What are you laughing at! You know what? Mr. Rucheng and Mr. Yuqing are both scholars. Their thoughts are complicated and difficult to understand."
Zuo Yue shyly and embarrassedly glanced at the two counselors with helpless eyes, shook her head and explained to Gong Xu.
"I just know that Yao Cheng is obviously a retainer of the Xie family, so his opinions can naturally represent the opinions of the Xie family.
Besides, inviting an enemy to a banquet doesn't sound honorable. Xie Xun wouldn't be so foolish as to publicize it. Most likely, only his close associates knew about it. His close associates represented his opinions. Gong Weixiao, Gong Weixiao, please use your brain more.
Gong Xu didn't feel embarrassed after hearing this. Instead, he glared at Zuo Yue angrily: "Zuo Zhongyang, don't laugh at me. Humph! If you have the guts, come to the arena and compete!"
"Wei Xiao, you and Zhong Yang are both military generals, and anyone of you can fight with the other on the arena. Why don't you compete with the gentlemen who are not military generals, and give these cunning gentlemen a good beating on the arena!" Ji Wan couldn't help laughing and teasing Gong Xu.
After hearing this, Gong Xu's eyes widened, as if he was thinking about the possibilities in Ji Wan's words.
Everyone couldn't hold back their laughter, and Jin Lie didn't care about Ji Wan's face: "Wei Xiao, don't listen to His Highness's nonsense. His Highness is going to lead you astray! If the gentlemen are challenged by you on the arena and lose face in front of everyone, you don't know how they will punish you in the future."
The subordinates all burst into laughter. Ji Wan nodded secretly. It was rare for Jin Lie to see it so clearly.
It was Yang Guan who brought the topic back to the main point: "Your Highness, if this letter was not written by General Yao Cheng, but by another retainer of the Xie family, then we must be more cautious, after all, it is unknown."
Ji Wan nodded. She always knew when to stop. Now that she had taken the stone city of Fanzhou and the natural pass between Donglin and Beirong, she could use it to station troops, cultivate land, and develop herself.
She naturally knew when to stop and knew the truth. She also understood the principle that greed is insatiable. If she still wanted to quickly capture the other two cities in Fanzhou, she would easily fail and end up losing her life and property.
She had just fought a great battle with Wu Run of Shicheng, and her soldiers had not yet recovered. Naturally, she did not want to fight again with the 70,000 troops of the Xie family.
Spring plowing will begin in a few months. The right thing to do is to delay it as much as possible and conserve your energy.
The enemy probably calculated this point, so Ji Wan had to attend the banquet whether she wanted to or not.
There is still one and a half months left until the New Year, so there is no need to rush for now.
The important thing now is to build good facilities in the city, restore livelihoods in the city as soon as possible, and then fill your pockets through reasonable taxation to prepare for future battles.
Nowadays, the people in the city are also busy, building facilities in the city in full swing.
As usual, Ji Wan set up four public toilets in the city. However, because the teleportation array occupied the two most important streets in the city center, the geographical location of the public toilets was slightly different from Qingshizhou. This time, Ji Wan set up the public toilets in the four corners of the city, close to the city wall.
Moreover, based on the original buildings, Ji Wan replanned the residential areas in the city, moved the residential areas that were originally scattered all over the city to the west, and set up the commercial areas in three streets that ran through the entire north and south of the city.
The remaining Dongcheng District was converted into a military zone and industrial manufacturing area.
If you have a bird's-eye view of the stone city, you can find that the transportation hub of the entire city is located on the edge of the teleportation formation.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
