Yi Xin as a concubine

Chapter 227: Reactions of Various Forces

Inspired by this experience of buying mutton, Xin Baoer chose to go to remote and inconspicuous small towns and villages along the way. Of course, the more remote the place, the more dangers it means, but this did not pose a problem for Xin Baoer.

The further south she went, the warmer the weather became, and the more guards followed her, both openly and covertly. By the time she reached the territory of King Zhennan, Xin Baoer had the largest number of people gathered around her.

The sudden appearance of so many people in a small place would inevitably cause unnecessary trouble, so Xin Baoer only stayed at two stops in the south, both of which were the most remote small towns, but this did not dampen her enthusiasm for collecting supplies.

The south is close to the sea, and there are many fishing villages along the coast. The villagers make a living by fishing. They usually dry a lot of seafood and pickle salted fish.

Xin Baoer had been treated to several meals by the local villagers and thought the food was pretty good. When supplies were scarce, it was difficult for the wealthy families in the north to eat good food, so she bought a large batch of food and discussed some good recipes with the locals, which she would then send back to the north for the Xin family to handle.

Xin Baoer stopped along the way and it was already February when she arrived at the Nanzhao border.

After that, it took another month to reach the inland of Nanzhao after many twists and turns. In March, Nanzhao was full of flowers and flocks of birds. It was truly a wonderful place on earth.

When Xin Baoer and the four people who had entered Nanzhao two years earlier met in the small town of Huatian near the capital of Nanzhao, it was already the drizzling season of late March and early April.

The four of them have been running a business in this small town for over a year and now own two stores that are neither too big nor too small. They get along well with the locals and have made a few like-minded friends.

With a store, people and connections, Xin Baoer began to investigate the market and formulate future business directions as soon as she arrived, striving to break into the inner circle of the powerful people in Nanzhao in the shortest possible time.

Being so busy day after day, she became thinner and had no time or energy to think about anything else. As a result, Xin Baoer paid no attention to the batches of supplies shipped to the north. As for the several letters she sent out, she received no replies. Although she felt a little disappointed occasionally, she did not show it.

While she was busy here, Chu Xingchen also received a letter from a carrier pigeon sent by the garrison officers in the north and northwest border. The content of the letter was brief, but it made several adults who were discussing things in the study, including himself, dumbfounded.

"One hundred oxen, did I hear it right?" An adult pulled out several of his beards due to excitement. He rubbed his chin with a hissing laugh and asked incredulously.

After Chu Xingchen was excited, he quickly calmed down because he knew that this must have been brought to him by Xin Baoer, just like the mutton and dried fish before.

While he was moved, a strong sense of loss came over him again. Her erratic whereabouts made it difficult for him to write to her, and he couldn't even ask, "Are you okay?"

"It must have been bought by Madam Xin. She knew we would need it for spring plowing. It must be Madam Xin who is so helpful and considerate." Wangchuan saw that his master had been silent for a long time, so he said at the right time, and did not forget to praise his future mistress in front of the adults.

"My Lords, who do you think would be the most suitable person to take over? Now is the time to cultivate the land, so it must be distributed as soon as possible."

Perhaps because he had been looking forward to it for a long time, Chu Xingchen was able to quickly control his emotions and devote himself to busier work.

The lords looked at each other. This was a good opportunity to gain reputation. Who wouldn't be tempted? But this new master in the north had always been a man of great ambition. They didn't dare to expose their thoughts easily.

Seeing that several adults' eyes were rolling around but no one expressed any opinions, Chu Xingchen's eyes showed a hint of sarcasm and asked, "Since the adults have no ideas, I will arrange it myself."

"Wangchuan, let Mo Xuan Yifan take his men on a trip and let them decide on how to allocate their troops. Just treat it as a training. They should do some serious work after raising the troops for a thousand days and deploying them for a moment."

"Yes." Wangchuan took the order and went down to make arrangements.

The adults below were all agitated at this moment. They knew that the great scholar Mo Xuan had secretly trained a group of talents for the North, but they didn't know who they were and how many they were. They only knew that Chu Xingchen arranged for people to settle the refugees as soon as he arrived in the North.

Now, from what this gentleman said, he was planning to use these young people. What did they do wrong? It seems that I have to go back and make an appointment with my friends to think about it together, otherwise I will not know when I will lose my official hat.

It is also because of this small temptation that officials in the north have become more proactive and worked hard to make progress.

All of a sudden, there were more and more good ideas for restoring production and life in the north, and they were implemented faster and more conveniently. Common officialdom practices such as putting on airs, showing off one's power, and procrastinating in doing things rarely occurred. It seemed like a beautiful scene of public servants serving the people.

In the spring in the north, everything is thriving. People see hope for life and are full of energy. They get up early and work late, sweating profusely, and are truly smiling with happiness and satisfaction.

At the same time, other places were not as stable as the North.

Speaking of the end of the war, apart from the north, the first place to restore order should be the south. It can be seen that the Prince of Zhennan had ambitions long ago, otherwise he would not have successfully arranged a drama of "using the emperor to command the princes" at the beginning of the palace coup, and succeeded. After that, he occupied two rich lands by himself, which made him the most powerful of the five major forces.

The South Land can be cultivated three times a year, and as it guards the sea, food is always needed. However, due to the occupation of two territories, the military forces are dispersed, the area of ​​the South Land guarded is relatively small, and the successive natural and man-made disasters have made the harvest in the South Land not very ideal.

But now he still has to support the land of Central China, and he is a little stretched for the time being. Moreover, the desire for power of the King of Zhennan is completely learned from his old master, Emperor Ning, and everything he does is very similar to Emperor Ning. He does not take the common people seriously, otherwise he would not have allowed Xin Baoer and his group to pass through his territory smoothly and take away so many useful goods.

The South was originally relatively stable, but in order to aid Central Continent, taxes had to be levied, which made things even worse for the people of the South, which was already slowly recovering. It seemed that it was worse than being in troubled times, and people were angry but dared not speak out against those in power.

Zhongzhou is a land of vastness and rich resources, but due to successive natural disasters and man-made calamities, people from all over the country have flocked to Shengjing and surrounding towns. Even though the local government offices have tried their best to stop them, it is still overcrowded, and the various materials needed are in huge quantities.

After the Prince of Zhennan copied Ningye and occupied Zhongzhou, he ordered the army to help the government office drive out some people, and even killed and buried many refugees. In the end, the refugees rose up in resistance and were not afraid of death. They scared off the government troops and were able to have a place to stay and survive temporarily.

The situations in the East and West were similar to that in Central China, but there were fewer people in the two places, and their attitude towards refugees was much more gentle. They even relaxed the blockade and accepted some people who were driven out of Central China.

Chu Xingchen's declaration of kingship was done in a very high-profile manner and was known almost universally, so all policies in the North would quickly spread to other places and be imitated.

However, under the rule of the Ning Dynasty, talented people were scarce, and those with the ability to govern the country were even rarer, so they only learned the surface but not the essence, and the implementation of policies was bumpy and nothing went smoothly.

When they learned that the North had obtained a large amount of mutton from somewhere and distributed it to the refugees for the New Year, the kings of several major forces were extremely angry and sent out their elite troops to investigate the source of the supplies.

The caravan was easy to investigate, but the goods had already been handed over, and when Chunqiu, Dongxia and others who were in charge of the caravan's transportation came looking for them, the brother and sister were left alone.

Dongxia spread his hands and said, "We are just transporting goods. We don't know where the goods come from. We just deliver the goods wherever the boss orders us to. We dare not ask about other things. What kind of world is this now? If someone is willing to give us money to make money, we brothers and sisters can only thank them a thousand times. We dare not say anything and offend the boss, leaving us brothers to starve."

The people from several forces really had no way to deal with these two stubborn people. There was no need to beat them or scold them. They would take the initiative to answer questions and were extremely cooperative, but what they said was half true and half false. If they really believed them, they would not know where they would be led.