Chapter 356: There is a reason why Cangzhou is rich
Another day passed, and when the caravan stopped, Ran Qingxuan stood on the shaft of the carriage and looked to the south in front of the left, and could not help but sigh.
"These mountains are connected one by one. Could it be that Cangzhou is surrounded by mountains?"
"Yes!" Gu Yanchen carefully helped Ran Qingxuan get off the carriage without looking at his feet. Even Duan Yi couldn't help but glance at them.
It’s not that Ran Qingxuan is ignorant, but this is the second time she has seen such spectacular mountains besides Qianchong Mountain.
“Where do all these mountains connect to?”
Gu Yanchen glanced and pointed to the southernmost horizontal line: "Do you see that dark line?"
"See, what is that?"
"That line is the border area between the Yi and Gui." Ran Qingxuan has excellent eyesight, but he can only see a black line thousands of miles away.
"That line is Hanshan Mountain, which is over 2,400 feet high. For hundreds of years, the Yigui people have not been able to cross that mountain and enter the territory of Northern Qi. When they occasionally launch a surprise attack, they only dare to make a noise around Hancheng."
"Hanshan?"
The second brother Gu Yanchong disappeared in Hanshan. Ran Qingxuan was afraid of bringing up Gu Yanchen’s sad memories, so he quickly changed the subject.
"These mountains are like natural barriers, so we don't need to build city walls..."
Gu Yanchen smiled and pinched Ran Qingxuan's cheek, his movements very gently.
The last time Duan Yi was attacked, the people in the escort agency were injured, so Shan Qi and others stayed temporarily and followed the team. They knew that the two had a good relationship, but they didn't expect that Gu Yanchen would be so inconsiderate of other people's opinions in public.
Noticing that Shan Qi and the others were looking at him, Gu Yanchen simply turned his head and scared them so much that they fled away from the spot.
There were more and more pedestrians and convoys passing by. When she took a break, she could clearly see that the people passing by were wealthier than those in other places.
"Although not all of these people are wearing silk and satin, almost everyone has no worries on their faces. It can be seen that Cangzhou is indeed a good place to raise people."
Gu Yanchen patiently explained: "Cangzhou is the last continent before entering the West Sea. Although it is closer to the grasslands of the Yigui tribe, it is still nearly 700 to 800 kilometers away from the defense line of the North Gate.
There are five major cities in the entire Cangzhou, namely Yinyue City, the largest city entering Cangzhou from the southeast, Tianchi City in the east, Fengxi City in the north, Hancheng in the west, and Cangwu City sandwiched between Yinyue and Hancheng.
The Han City in the west, the Cangwu City slightly in the center, and the richest Yinyue City all belong to the fiefdom of Marquis Zhenbei.
The population of Yinyue City is equivalent to the total population of Fengxi City and Tianchi City. In addition to the people of these three cities, there are many villages around it, which is twice that of the other two cities. ”
When Ran Qingxuan heard this, and heard about that Marquis Zhenbei again, he suddenly wanted to slap himself twice.
But Gu Yanchen seemed to be simply explaining to her, without any personal emotions mixed in...
"You may not know that the reason why these three cities, especially Silver Moon City, are richer than the other two cities is because the Marquis of Zhenbei needs to rely on the taxes from these three cities to support his 200,000 troops."
"Raising troops? Isn't this the dog emperor's job?" Ran Qingxuan thought he had heard it wrong.
I knew that she might not have turned the corner, so I continued to explain softly.
"The 200,000 troops given to the Marquis of Zhenbei were almost all old, some with injuries and sickness. It sounds like a lot, but in fact, they were all unwanted by other military camps..."
Ran Qingxuan understood immediately: "You mean survival of the fittest, keep the good ones for yourself, and throw the unwanted ones to Zhenbei Hou?"
Gu Yanchen nodded.
"The late queen had caused such a commotion that it was impossible to resolve it, and the late emperor made this decision just to dampen the Duan family's morale.
Those remnant soldiers were considered as the private soldiers of Marquis Zhenbei, and they were awarded together with the fiefdom. Not only were the 200,000 private soldiers given to him, but they were also supported by the imperial court. It seemed like the emperor's grace was magnanimous, but it was all for show to outsiders.
Moreover, it was not easy to feed 200,000 sick and disabled people. In the first few years, the little salary from the court was not enough. Finally, the Marquis of Zhenbei was forced to do nothing. During the more than ten years of guarding the North Gate, the most he did was farming.
In addition, the Duan family was good at business, so they took out the only reward money from the Marquis of Zhenbei and distributed it to the people in the fiefdom, asking them to farm and grow food together. After the harvest, some was left for the people, and the rest was sent to the military camp.
In addition, the Duan family would also trade with the merchants who came and went. Gradually, the people of Cangzhou became prosperous, and the soldiers under his command no longer starved to death. ”
Ran Qingxuan listened quietly, not knowing what to say for a moment.
To a certain extent, the disaster that the Zhenbei Marquis' family suffered was all caused by his sister, the late queen.
Duan Yinghe did not immediately send troops to rescue his old friend, perhaps because he was worried that he would make a wrong step and follow in his sister's footsteps.
If it was her, if she needed to challenge the imperial power to save people, she would go without hesitation if there was no one behind her, but...
Besides his family, the Marquis of Zhenbei also has the fiefdom he built with great effort and the reputation and prestige he established. It is obvious how he should make the decision!
For a moment, she felt...
His eyes suddenly widened, Ran Qingxuan took a deep breath and immediately threw the idea out of his mind. This idea was simply too terrible. If he forgave him easily, then what would be the point of Gu Feng, who was abducted and tortured by the barbarians!
Gu Yanchen seemed not to notice her expression and spoke.
"After the death of the previous emperor, Emperor Mingde felt unhappy that the Marquis of Zhenbei collected taxes from his fiefdom and used the imperial military pay to support his soldiers, so after discussion he issued an edict to cut off the monthly military pay.
From now on, unless there is a war, the court will not allocate a single copper coin to the Marquis of Zhenbei..."
After listening to the whole process, Ran Qingxuan was almost laughing at Emperor Mingde's behavior.
"Isn't he worried that the Marquis of Zhenbei might get pushed into a corner one day and use these 200,000 soldiers to...revolt?"
As she spoke, she carefully looked at the people around her, and when she saw that no one was paying attention, she looked at Gu Yanchen.
"Won't."
He just raised his chin towards Duan Yi and said calmly, "Because of him!"
"Because of him?"
Ran Qingxuan glanced at the sickly Duan Yi, and after a few breaths, he seemed to understand something.
Gu Yanchen turned the weeds in his hand and looked into the distance with no emotion in his eyes.
"His mother gave birth to him during a war. By the time Zhenbei Hou and my father defeated the enemy and found him, his mother had already died.
My father said that his entire body was purple at the time. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to meet a disciple of the Miracle Doctor Sect who was traveling in Cangzhou, he would not have grown so big. ”
"He's lucky. The medicine to treat his cold is in the hands of the dog emperor. If anyone from the Zhenbei Marquis dares to pick it, his entire clan will be killed!"
Ran Qingxuan frowned. What she heard today completely overturned her understanding of the Duan family.
It's bad enough that the father is restrained by the dog emperor, but after his son was born, he was also restrained because of an illness. It's simply laughable.
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