When Gu Hui and her two companions set off from Qulong City, it was already the end of November. There was no snow in the Goddess Kingdom, and the weather was neither too hot nor too cold, making it quite suitable for traveling.
Meanwhile, in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the imperial court has already dispatched officials to take over the southern border.
Now the King and Princess of Southern Xinjiang are imprisoned in the capital. Southern Xinjiang has been fully incorporated into the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The emperor directly named Southern Xinjiang Linzhou, and the capital of Southern Xinjiang was established as the prefecture of Linzhou. The largest city under its jurisdiction, formerly Southern Xinjiang, was established as Southern Xinjiang County.
After several months of discussion in the imperial court, it was finally decided that Linzhou would have a total of nine county towns, and the towns and villages below would be specifically arranged by the newly appointed county magistrates.
The emperor appointed Xie Chunfeng, who ranked first in the second class of the examination that year, as the assistant prefect of Linzhou Prefecture.
This Xie Chunfeng is Xie Nanfeng's half-brother, the favorite grandson of Minister Xie of the Ministry of Rites. He originally had the talent to become the top scholar, but he ended up meeting Gu Shouxin and Huo Junhao.
As for the other county magistrates, four were directly selected from the graduates of that year's imperial examinations, two were transferred from other places, and three were locals from southern Xinjiang.
The emperor has already chosen a candidate for the prefect of Linzhou, but some handover work still needs to be done. Therefore, Xie Chunfeng will temporarily take over the position. When the new prefect takes office, Xie Chunfeng will hand over the reins to him.
From then on, the Southern Frontier Kingdom would cease to exist, and the Great Zhou Dynasty would gain a new territory: Linzhou.
After handing over the reins to Xie Chunfeng, Lu Zheng planned to return to Kuncheng with some people. He also needed to send some people to help these new officials with some matters, and among these people, Lu Zheng kept Xie Nanfeng.
Xie Nanfeng has been serving in the army in Kuncheng for two years and is no longer the young master of the Yuzhou prefect's family. After Lu Zheng came last year, he did many missions with Lu Zheng and has now corrected many of his bad habits.
Before leaving, Lu Zheng told Xie Nanfeng, "Whether it's the spring breeze that prevails over the south wind, or the south wind that prevails over the spring breeze, we'll find out in Linzhou. Xie Nanfeng, remember, the Peng family is your mother's family. As long as you don't violate military regulations, the Peng family will be your support, and so will I. I don't like illegitimate sons, but if the legitimate son is unworthy, don't blame the illegitimate son for taking his place!"
Xie Nanfeng respectfully clasped his hands and bowed: "Yes, Your humble servant will remember the General's teachings!"
Lu Zheng nodded and said, "I've already spoken with General Xue. Here, you just need to act according to the habits you've developed in the army over the past two years. As long as it's good for the Great Zhou, just do it. Alright, I'm leaving the brothers to you now."
After saying this, he mounted his horse and led his army away.
Xie Nanfeng still has 5,000 soldiers under his command, which shows that Lu Zheng has given him a lot of power.
Xie Nanfeng also figured it out. This General Zhou's identity was probably not simple. He didn't like illegitimate sons, and he guessed that General Zhou had a similar experience to Xie Nanfeng.
Alright, let them try their best. If these illegitimate sons want to rise up and are restless, they should at least ask us, the legitimate sons, for our opinions. We can't let these illegitimate sons disrupt the rules set by our ancestors.
Xie Nanfeng wasn't born a spoiled brat; otherwise, he wouldn't have listened to Madam Xie so much. It was only because his father ignored him and Madam Xie was misled by Xie's concubine during the years she was recovering from giving birth to Xie Zhiyi that he became like that.
It's not too late for someone to turn over a new leaf at the age of twenty.
Even though he wanted to steal the Gu family's recipe, Lu Zheng was still willing to help him, which meant he knew what kind of person Lu Zheng was, and also about Xie Zhiyi's relationship with Gu Xin.
He was willing to help anyone who was genuinely good to Gu Xin, but of course, he wouldn't help those who were unrepentant and beyond redemption.
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