Chapter 212 211. General Xiang Chong, a man of good character
How could it be the third prince?
Wasn't it said that the Third Prince was a fool with nothing but good looks, a mediocre and mediocre goody-goody? Wasn't it said that his mother's family was not powerful, so how did he become emperor?
Wasn't the Fourth Prince the Queen's legitimate son? Wasn't it said that the Queen's mother's family was very powerful? Why was the Third Prince allowed to ascend the throne while the Fourth Prince died?
Although the Fifth Prince was not in the palace, what about his mother's family? What about his advisors? Did the court officials of his faction just watch helplessly as the Third Prince ascended the throne?
Although the seventh prince is young, his mother's family has the support of the Ministry of Revenue and can also compete.
The second prince is resourceful. If he cannot become emperor himself, he can turn to other princes and gain the credit of being a follower of the emperor. And whether it is the fifth prince or the fourth prince, they are better than the third prince, right?
Lei Li really couldn't figure it out.
Ever since the Third Prince suddenly glanced at him with a smile at the county port that year, he felt that the Third Prince was not as simple as he appeared, but that the Third Prince's succession to the throne was a little too smooth and quick.
The previous emperor had only been dead for half a month, and the new emperor had already issued a general amnesty!
This is a bit too unbelievable.
But there was no need to look for trouble. Lei Li didn't want to think about it anymore. It didn't matter to him who sat on the throne anyway. As long as the new emperor was dedicated to the people's livelihood and not incompetent, it would be fine.
The facts prove it.
The third prince - now he is the new emperor, and it is indeed not by luck that he ascended the throne.
As soon as he ascended the throne, he promptly issued a series of laws and measures in response to the current national conditions.
First, he appointed an old general who had retired long ago as the General Zhenbei, and asked him to lead a large army to support Wuxing. Then he appointed another general named Xiang Chong as the General Fadong, and asked him to lead tens of thousands of elite troops to Dongyuan. Both of them had the power to execute first and report later.
Even the Takin Kingdom on the edge of Xiling has not shown any signs of attacking the Dayu Dynasty yet, and the new emperor has also sent a general to garrison there.
At the same time, he opened the national treasury and ordered the second prince to go to Dongyuan as an imperial envoy to provide disaster relief. He also brought a group of imperial doctors and dozens of carts of herbs to diagnose and treat the people for free.
Prior to this, an imperial edict and a personally inscribed plaque were sent to the Meng family in Zhongchuan, designating them as the First Imperial Merchants and inscribed with the title "A Family of Great Aid to the World." All of the Meng family's rice and grain were then distributed, partly as military pay and part as disaster relief, to the three frontier prefectures of Dongyuan, Wensheng, and Wuxing.
Although Lei Li and Zhou Zui were somewhat surprised by the new emperor's decisiveness and swiftness in implementing the previous policies, it was this imperial edict that made the couple sense some different meanings, but they couldn't figure it out for a while.
Although the Meng family is one of the best rice merchants in Zhongchuan, they are not the richest or the most prosperous. Why is it the Meng family?
And only the Meng family?
But no matter what the new emperor planned, the Meng family had already consolidated their own businesses, closed down one after another, and shipped boatloads and cartloads of rice to the three fronts.
With the support of the new emperor and sufficient food and grass, the army on the front line was greatly encouraged and defeated the foreign tribes on the grassland in one fell swoop. The Wanyi Kingdom was also defeated.
finally.
At the end of autumn this year, the Dayou Dynasty won a great victory and the foreign tribes surrendered.
Unexpectedly, the new emperor refused the submission and tribute from the foreign tribes on the grassland, killed the foreign envoys and kings, and sent officials to the foreign tribes to take over.
There are thirty-six foreign tribes in total, and the fighting between tribes has a long history. Previously, one of the major tribes ruled over the thirty-six tribes and became the royal family, and its leader also became the common king.
At this time, the king was killed.
The Dayou Dynasty wanted to take advantage of the situation and take them under its control, so the thirty-six tribes were divided.
Some tribes wanted to submit to the Dayou Dynasty and did not want to continue fighting and cause casualties among their tribesmen, while some tribes were dissatisfied with the Dayou Dynasty and wanted to continue resisting it.
Therefore, although the foreign tribes have been largely defeated, a lot of adjustments are still needed. It is estimated that it will take several years or even decades for the foreign tribes to truly be convinced and integrated into the Dayou Dynasty.
On the other hand, the Wanyi Kingdom also suffered a defeat and wanted to send envoys to negotiate, but was also rejected by the new emperor of the Dayue Dynasty. The old general and the great general Xiang took advantage of the victory and pursued the enemy, and in the winter of this year, they reached the capital of the Wanyi Kingdom.
The emperor of Wanyi Kingdom abandoned the capital and fled with his royal family, all the way to the west of Wanyi Kingdom. The Dayou Dynasty successfully occupied one-third of Wanyi Kingdom's original territory, and its territory expanded again.
Some of this news was told to Lei Li and Zhou Yi by Meng Luo in letters, while some was heard by them themselves.
Qingmi County has well-developed water transportation, and many merchants come and go. Especially in critical times like war, if you seize the opportunity to resell, you may make a lot of money.
Therefore, rumors spread like heavy snow in the city.
"Do you know General Xiang Chong? I've never heard of him before. Fortunately, His Majesty the Emperor has a keen eye for talent and promoted him from a small guard to a general!"
"This is truly a meteoric rise!"
"This is all thanks to General Xiang's own strength! You didn't see the scene. General Xiang was like a god of death, charging single-handedly into the enemy camp, killing every god and Buddha who stood in his way! That tiny foreign tribe couldn't resist at all!"
"General Zhenbei is truly formidable! He orchestrated the battle formations with divine skill, anticipated the enemy's moves, and fought his way all the way to the capital of the Wanyi Nation!"
"One is a hero with a sharp sword, and the other is a hero from youth! I heard that General Xiang is only in his twenties and hasn't married yet..."
"I wonder which fairy girl is so lucky to marry General Xiang..."
The common people talked about it a lot, and some even compiled it into storytelling pieces and opera excerpts, telling how the great General Xiang was heroic, brave, wise and courageous, and how he defeated the foreign tribes so badly that they howled in surrender.
But Lei Li keenly sensed something was amiss. He frowned and pondered, "It feels... like someone is deliberately flattering General Xiang, creating the illusion that he's too accomplished to be trusted by the new emperor, so that he can... be discarded?"
This is not because Lei Li thinks too much.
Instead, some people said that it was thanks to General Xiang that the new emperor had received help, which enabled him to have a smooth success since ascending the throne and the Dayou Dynasty army to be unstoppable.
Some people also said that this general was a martial god under the Emperor Diguan who came to earth. Seeing that the people of the Dayou Dynasty suffered from the suffering of foreign races and were displaced, he came to help the new emperor pacify the world.
Anyway, the more you talk, the more outrageous it gets.
"I feel a little bit too."
Zhou Yi frowned and said, "I hope the new emperor won't harbor any resentment towards this great general who has made great contributions to the defense of the country because of these rumors."
"I hope so."
Lei Li nodded, and put these national affairs behind him. He said, "Did we stay in the county town or in the village for the New Year? We won the battle this year, and it's the first New Year since the new emperor ascended the throne. The fireworks display in the county town will surely be extra grand and lively.
"Then let's go live in the county town?"
Zhou Yi nodded and said, "It's been a while since I lived in the county town. Let's wait until Jiang starts school before returning to the village. If things are settled, it would be nice to go to Xiling Prefecture City for a stroll."
"good."
Lei Li also agreed.
While these major national events were happening one after another, life in Sanlihe Village, Qingmi County remained ordinary. It was already the twelfth lunar month, and every household in the village was preparing New Year's goods to have a good year.
The Lei family is no exception.
Because they were going to live in the county town at the end of the year, in the middle of the twelfth lunar month, the Lei family had already left the village and took a horse carriage to their second-story house in the county town. Because Xiao Shengjiang was very attached to Xiaobao, they also took Miao Fulang and his family with them.
My grandfather's family has made a lot of money in the past two years and is able to buy a property in the county town.
It is a medium-sized house, which only needs to hire a maid. It is also very close to the Lei family, so it is convenient for you to find someone if you need anything or to visit them on a daily basis.
Little Jiang often drags his brother Xiaobao to go out and play with his sister Huaer and brother Xiaomu.
The adults in the family, Lei Jingsheng, Liu Ye'er, Lei Dashan, or grandparents and uncle would go out with the children.
As the New Year draws to a close, the county town becomes increasingly crowded and bustling, so human traffickers may take advantage of the situation to steal children.
Apart from looking at the account books, Lei Li had nothing to do at home, so he always dragged Zhou Yi out for a walk, but he never brought Xiao Shengjiang with him, so that the couple could enjoy their own world.
Go to the Niangniang Temple outside the city to burn incense, climb the mountains outside the city to see the scenery, go to the hot springs, ride horses and hunt in the farm, and roast rabbits and pheasants.
The rich people in the county town love to play and know how to play. Some of them built large farms outside the county town and raised rabbits, chickens, ducks, deer and other animals for them to hunt, ride horses and have fun.
There are hot springs in this village, so it is quite popular in winter. People have to queue up to make reservations. Lei Li and Zhou Yi waited for three days before they could take a bath.
This was a bit novel to Zhou Yi.
He thought that the world of Dayou Dynasty also had relatively complete money houses that could exchange silver notes or silver. Although Dayou Dynasty openly prohibited sea transportation, there were many sea merchants in Baihui City and maritime trade was also very developed.
There is no logistics yet.
That is the escort agency.
It’s a pity for Zhou Yi.
Merchants in the Dayou Dynasty, especially traveling merchants, traveled back and forth to resell goods, which was actually quite dangerous. There might be bandits on land and pirates on water, so merchants always traveled with companions. For example, Yuger's father always traveled with the Meng family fleet.
Capable merchants would also form their own caravans and take fixed trade routes to connect the north and the south.
The war during the Dayou Dynasty had led to the emergence of many gangs of pirates in Dongyuan and Henan River, while Songyong, Wensheng and Wuxing were more populated by bandits, and the government offices had no manpower or time to deal with them.
It's like we're at war.
These bandits and pirates are in small groups. They run away very quickly when the officers and soldiers arrive. How can we catch them just by wanting to?
As long as it doesn't get out of hand and become a big force, the government will turn a blind eye.
But now that the war has been won and the world is at peace, most of the bandits will choose to go back to farming. As for the remaining small number, they will definitely be dealt with once the new emperor and the government come to their senses.
Zhou Yi thought for a while, and then felt his lips getting hot. It was Lei Li who came over and kissed him.
"What are you thinking about?"
Lei Li glanced at him with a smile, "Didn't you even notice me approaching?"
"I was thinking about the bandits."
Zhou Yi said everything he was thinking, "This new emperor is very decisive. If he wants to deal with these bandit problems, it will probably be gone within a month."
"But the Fifth Prince is about to return to the capital from Dongyuan. I wonder if there will be any more trouble..."
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