Feng Yuheng roughly counted them and found that among the people kneeling on the ground, there were less than ten Dashun officials who came to celebrate the birthday, including their families, and most of them could not be saved.
One of them knelt forward and crawled a few steps, wiping his tears and saying, "I am the governor of Haizhou. I am afraid that my humble name will pollute the ears of His Highness and the Princess, so it is better not to mention it. This time I came to the Northern Territory with the intention of currying favor with Duanmu Anguo, in order to make another step forward in official position in my lifetime. But I didn't expect that Duanmu Anguo had such wolfish ambitions that he actually defected to Qian Zhou. Our bribery instantly became treason. The twists and turns are really our own fault. We can't live without it. We thought we couldn't escape the disaster, but we didn't expect His Highness and the Princess to rescue us with all their strength and actually dug us out of the ground alive. The grace of rebirth can never be repaid, and we are willing to spend the rest of our lives to atone for our sins. I am willing to stay in the Northern Territory to help it revitalize and restore its former vitality!"
Under his leadership, a number of officials expressed their willingness to serve Dashun.
Xuan Tianming nodded, but did not answer the ministers. Instead, he said loudly to the people of Songzhou: "I will speak fairly. In fact, it does not matter to the people who governs the people, whether the three provinces of the northern border belong to Qianzhou or Dashun. If they belong to Qianzhou, you will still live here. If they belong to Dashun, you will still not be able to see His Majesty every day. The division of land and administrative divisions is a matter of the court, and what really concerns you is whether you can live a better life. Whoever can make you live a good life is the king you should support the most."
His words caused the people to think deeply. They instantly became quiet and stopped talking to each other. All their energy was focused on Xuan Tianming, and their minds kept thinking about what he said.
Xuan Tianming's words did not end, he continued: "For more than a hundred years, the biggest mistake of the Dashun court was to trust the Duanmu family's rule over the Northern Territory, especially Duanmu Anguo. He instilled in you the idea of Qianzhou as your roots, making you feel that Qianzhou is good and that your roots are in Qianzhou. But in fact, your roots are here, on this land. This land has not moved or migrated, and you have lived here for generations. What has changed from the past? Instead, it was Duanmu Anguo who used the benefits of tax reduction to force you to send your daughters who had not yet reached the age of marriage to the Winter Palace, either to die or to endure humiliation and survive. But you don't know that for more than a hundred years, Dashun has exempted all your taxes!"
This immediately caused an uproar among the people, and the Dashun officials in the crowd, including Zhao Tianqi, began to help Xuan Tianming tell people about the good policies that Dashun had originally given to the Northern Territory. The people of Songzhou only realized now that they had all been deceived by Duanmu Anguo, and this deception had deceived several generations.
Among the people, an old man was the first to react. He came forward, trembling, and knelt on the ground, saying loudly: "Your Highness, please make the decision for the people of the Northern Territory. Your Highness, please give us the stable life we deserve!"
To stabilize the country and ensure its security, the soldiers fought hard for thousands of miles to win the hearts of the people. At this moment, even Feng Yuheng was excited.
She half raised her head to look at Xuan Tianming, and saw that the profile outlined by the golden mask was so proud and resolute, and her eyes were like starlight, shining through the wind and snow, giving people infinite confidence.
Xuan Tianming said: "Dashun will not abandon any of its subjects, no matter whether they are rich or poor, happy or miserable, as long as they are loyal to Dashun, Dashun will not let them fall into dire straits." Having said this, he glanced around the crowd, and finally, his eyes stopped at Zhao Tianqi, the governor of Guanzhou, and then he said loudly: "Zhao Tianqi, come forward and listen to the title!"
Zhao Tianqi was invigorated, took a few steps forward, and knelt on the ground with a plop. "Your Highness, Zhao Tianqi, is here!"
Xuan Tianming said: "Zhao Tianqi, I am here on the order of the Emperor to personally lead the Northern Territory Qianzhou. I have the absolute power to command and manage affairs here. The appointment and dismissal of Northern Territory officials are also within the scope of my duties. Duanmu Anguo has colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country. From now on, he will be officially removed from his post as Northern Territory Governor. The whole country will issue a warrant for his arrest, confiscate his property, and execute his nine clans. From now on, I will appoint you as the new Northern Territory Governor. I hope you can put the people first, petition for the people, protect the people and love the people, so as to live up to my love for talents. When Qianzhou is pacified, I will return to the capital and personally ask for an imperial decree to confer a title on you and rectify your name."
Zhao Tianqi's eyes were filled with tears. He knocked his head to the ground and, regardless of his status, began to sob.
For more than ten years, he had watched the Northern Border fall into chaos under the rule of Duanmu Anguo, and had seen that all the policies that the Dashun court had given to the Northern Border could not be implemented under Duanmu Anguo. This was a fatal blow to Zhao Tianqi, who had great ambitions and wanted to make a difference in Guanzhou.
Over the past ten years, he had submitted memorials to the imperial court more than once, but they were always hijacked by Duanmu Anguo's men. Gradually, he stopped submitting them and instead secretly kept an account for Duanmu Anguo, recording all the Dashun officials who traveled to and from the northern border.
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This day finally came for Zhao Tianqi. He promised Xuan Tianming and all the people of the Northern Realm present: "I, Zhao Tianqi, will dedicate my entire life to the Northern Realm and will not let you down."
Xuan Tianming's army stayed in Songzhou City for another five days. The soldiers camped inside and outside the city, helping the people to repair the houses damaged by the war and resume business. At the same time, all the gold and silver excavated from the Winter Palace were sent to the Zhizhou Mansion, which had been changed to the Dutong Mansion. Zhao Tianqi and his men made records and began to distribute them to the people.
Xuan Tianming and Feng Yuheng used these few days to understand the huge underground palace dug out by Duanmu Anguo with Qian Zhou's financial resources in Songzhou, and at the same time repaired the city defenses.
The troops who had originally stayed in Guanzhou also arrived one after another. One day, Feng Yuheng was walking on the street and unknowingly turned to the gate of the original Fu Mansion. Although the Fu Mansion was not a very high-ranking family in the past, it still had a courtyard, walls, and a proper gate. The house was not big, but it was a proper family.
But today, the main gate had been chopped down and used as firewood, half of the courtyard wall had collapsed, and there were obvious signs of fire inside. The main hall as soon as you entered the courtyard was burned beyond recognition.
Wang Chuan followed her and said helplessly, "The soldiers have not repaired the damaged houses yet, but it has been two days." She asked Feng Yuheng, "Miss, do you want to go in and take a look? Miss Fu Ya went home early this morning, and Huang Quan is with her."
Feng Yuheng was stunned. "She went home?" There were a lot of things going on in the military camp these days, and there were many wounded soldiers. She really hadn't had time to go see Fu Ya. When she heard that Fu Ya was inside, she hurried in.
The front yard of the Fu family was badly damaged, but the back house was OK. When Feng Yuheng walked in, he saw Huang Quan standing at the door of a small house. When he saw Feng Yuheng coming, he ran forward and whispered, "It seems to be the Fu family's ancestral hall inside. I heard Miss Fu Ya crying inside."
Feng Yuheng sighed and walked forward, knocked on the door and said, "Fu Ya, can I come in?"
There was silence inside for a while, and then Fu Ya's voice came: "The door is not locked, come in."
Feng Yuheng pushed the door open and entered. A scent of sandalwood filled her nose. She looked up and saw several tablets on the table opposite.
She glanced at Fu Ya, then stepped forward and lit three incense sticks in her hand from the incense table. She bowed three times to the tablet and inserted the incense into the incense burner. Then she turned around and said to Fu Ya, "I'm sorry. This matter is ultimately due to my lack of consideration and poor arrangements, which has implicated you and your family. I don't know how to compensate you. If you are willing, I can bring you to the capital when the army returns, and I will take good care of you."
Fu Ya looked at the girl in front of her. She had heard that she was the famous Princess Ji'an of the Dashun Dynasty. Although they looked the same, their status and position were very different.
As the two looked at each other, they were both a little dazed. Even Feng Yuheng once again had a question mark in his heart: Are there really people in the world who look so similar?
"Fu Ya." She called her again, "Please consider my proposal."
Fu Ya smiled bitterly, "You can't be blamed for this. This is our family's own choice. Even without you, I would still have entered the Illusion House and would have had an 80% chance of being selected into the Winter Palace. Then, with Duanmu Guoan's escape and the fall of the Winter Palace, I might have died in the ground now. How could I stand here today and burn incense for my parents and ancestors? It's possible that my parents would send me off. With my mother's body, how could she withstand such a blow? In the end, she would definitely die. In this way, I have to thank you."
Fu Ya was also an open-minded person. She told Feng Yuheng, "Princess, don't feel guilty. You are our family's benefactor. If you really want to help me with something, then ask someone to help me repair the house and yard, and give me some money. I want to buy a good coffin for my parents."
Feng Yuheng's nose felt sour, and he turned his head away. After a long while, he turned back and reached into his sleeve. He quickly took out a small bundle from the space. "Here are some silver dollars, take them first. I do have silver notes, but under the governance of Duanmu Anguo in the Northern Territory, all the banks cannot exchange them with the capital. Even if I give them to you, you can't use them. These are for emergency use first. When you go back to the prefectural government with Huang Quan later, I will give you more."
Fu Ya glanced at the small bag of silver in her heart, and quickly shook her head and said, "No need to give more, this is enough."
Feng Yuheng patted the back of her hand gently, "Just think of it as making me feel better." As she spoke, she took out something from her sleeve, and pulled her to the table and chair beside her while Fu Ya was puzzled. "I see that you and I look so much alike, and I feel close to you from the bottom of my heart. Please fulfill my wish of being a sister for once. Come, let me trim your nails."
Fu Ya's nails had grown a little long because she hadn't taken time to trim them for a while. She wanted to withdraw her hand in embarrassment, but Feng Yuheng held it tightly. Fu Ya was also very curious about the trimming tool, so she didn't refuse and carefully observed the process of trimming the nails.
Even after trimming all ten of her fingers, she kept exclaiming, "Is this something from the capital? It's really nice."
He was so focused on being amazed at the wonder of the nail clippers that he didn't notice that Feng Yuheng took away half of the cut nails and put them into his sleeves.
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