In the Blade

In terms of raising money and grain, the arrangement of Prime Minister Jia Wen, at least from the beginning, was not a problem.

As always, due to the urgency of the matter, Prime Minister Jia Wen apportioned the share - as for the showdown targets, they were naturally the civil and military officials, as well as the aristocratic families in the capital of Jiankang.

They usually get so much salary, and now that the court is in trouble, they have to donate generously, right?

"Didn't we share the grain and salary for the northern expedition before?"

Although they cursed, the civil and military officials and the aristocratic families simply paid a part. It was not just one family that paid, and the amount was not too much for each family, so they could still afford it.

As for the other part...

"What? Collect again?"

After seeing the notice of collecting grain and salary posted by the yamen runners, the people in various states and counties of Dachen were all dumbfounded.

"Hasn't the grain and salary for the northern expedition been collected once before? What? You said this is the grain and salary for suppressing the rebellion?"

So, the people who had already been collected grain and salary once had to pay it again.

For those aristocratic families who had accumulated for hundreds of years, this amount of money and grain was only enough to make up for the deficit, but for the people who had already been collected once, this was worse.

For a time, all the prefectures and cities complained, and the people were even more miserable.

In fact, it was not just the people who suffered.

The incident happened to a clerk in a government office in Yangzhou Prefecture, Huainan Road. Although he had the status of an official, it was inevitable that some money and grain would be collected - fortunately, this clerk paid more attention to savings on weekdays, so it was not to the point of breaking his bones.

But just when the clerk was glad that he had survived this disaster and was about to go home to rest, an accident happened.

"Why is it collected again?"

The clerk was very puzzled. He had obviously paid it, why did he have to do it again?

But soon, the clerk knew that things were not that simple.

Soldiers only need money and food to go to war, but masters need more than money and food. At present, there are masters in the Yangzhou Governor's Office who are ready to join the army to suppress the rebellion, but they also need some preparations in advance - and the master who practices the Xuanpin technique needs to prepare, which is the clerk's unmarried wife.

According to the general, his Xuanpin technique has reached a critical moment, and he needs the help of a tripod to reach a higher level. The beautiful appearance of the clerk's unmarried wife has long been noticed by the general.

"But the Xuanpin technique..."

The clerk was dumbfounded. He never thought that he would face such a reason - you know, he also knows about the Xuanpin technique. No one has ever cultivated anything with this thing. At best, it can only be a pleasure for couples to be close to each other. How can anyone really take this as a practice method?

However, no matter what the clerk said, no one believed him.

Just because, that general really has a lot of skills.

That is a far superior courage, even beyond imagination. In the past, the clerk had heard that this general could smash a straw target with a knife from two or three feet away. Now, after seeing him resist, this general actually drew his knife and smashed a wall in the air!

This is a strong man, and what a strong man says is not wrong.

The strong man does not even need to care about what the weak think.

The general came here this time just to inform him. As for whether the clerk agrees or not, this matter is not important.

Can a mere clerk compare to the evil general?

So that night, the clerk learned that the in-laws who had already made an engagement had cancelled their engagement, and the fiancée who had been his childhood sweetheart had been sent to the general's mansion.

The distraught clerk instinctively walked to the gate of the general's mansion, wanting to ask for an explanation, but the general did not even show his face this time, and only two gatekeepers beat the clerk out.

After a beating, the clerk was covered in blood and bruises.

On the way home, the clerk's brain had completely stagnated. The excessive pain even made him unable to think normally. The pain on his body, coupled with the grief in his heart, made the clerk no different from a dead person at this moment.

It is said that the closer a person is to death, the more the brain will make people recall those happy pictures, thereby alleviating the pain brought by death.

But the pictures that the clerk could remember were all related to her.

The first time they met, the first time they talked, the first time they held hands, the first time they looked at the stars, he still remembered that in order to bring her a rare lantern cake in Yangzhou, he skipped his teacher's class for the first time, so he was pulled to be beaten with a stick. Similarly, because she took the needle and thread at home to mend his clothes, she was scolded by her mother for a long time.

Fortunately, he eventually became a minor official, and had a foothold in Yangzhou. He was so excited at that time. He finally could come to the door to propose marriage openly after earning some status.

But what happened later?

He couldn't remember what happened later.

Between life and death, his brain had blocked out those overly painful memories.

At this moment, all he had left was an infinite prospect for a better future.

Yes, he should have married his childhood sweetheart. They were childhood sweethearts, and they had endless things to talk about after they got together. During the day, he went to the government office to report for duty, and his wife would do some housework at home. After work, he would go to the market to buy some vegetables and meat, and cook a delicious meal with his wife - as for letting his wife cook alone, this was absolutely not allowed, as his wife's cooking skills were far inferior to his, which was also a little secret between the couple.

After eating and drinking, he would read some books, and his wife would occasionally read some interesting stories from storytelling books to him, until nightfall, when the two would go back to their rooms to rest and practice the great way of human relations. Although this was to allow the elders of both sides to see their children and grandchildren as soon as possible, occasionally using some of the mysterious techniques circulated outside could add a different kind of interest between the couple.

"Yes, that's it, that's it, she's still waiting for me to go back..."

Thinking of this, the clerk stumbled all the way back to his humble home.

The next day, when the official office was called for attendance, the clerk showed up as usual - but this ordinary move shocked the rest of the people.

The reason was simple, they all knew what happened to the clerk last night.

You know, the servants sent by the general were all strong and muscular, and they beat him without holding back. With the clerk's body, even if he was not beaten to death, he would probably be a cripple in his life - but now, looking at the clerk's appearance, it is clear that nothing happened to him. How could this be possible?

The incident was abnormal, and the news spread quickly, and even the general knew about it.

He even rushed over specially.

"He has gone crazy, you guys retreat quickly."

The general's face was quite ugly, and the long sword at his waist was unsheathed.

"Be careful, he may not recognize his relatives and suddenly kill you."

"Crazy? I'm not crazy, I'm very sober."

The clerk just shook his head.

"You insulted me yesterday, and I haven't settled the score with you yet."

As he said this, the clerk drew out the sword from his waist.

It's called a sword, but in fact it can only be regarded as a decoration at best. Although the Chen Dynasty advocated martial arts, most men had the custom of wearing swords, but not all people would wear fine iron war swords - just like the so-called sword worn by the clerk on his waist, it was just polished bamboo wood. It might look good in the sheath, but after it was pulled out, it could only make people laugh.

But at this moment, the general couldn't laugh at all.

"No need, I will return your wife to you. Besides, you have such a skill, you can have any woman you want, why do this?"

"What return? What are you talking about?"

The clerk frowned.

"My wife is right next to me, don't you see it?"

"What..."

The general was stunned.

He saw that there was clearly nothing around the clerk, so where did someone come from?

But the clerk didn't think so.

"He said he couldn't see you. Do you think there's something wrong with his eyes?"

After whispering a few times to the empty space beside him, the clerk turned back again.

"Are your eyes broken? How could you ignore such a beautiful woman like her?"

"I..."

The general instinctively raised the sword in his hand.

At this time, the clerk shook his head.

"If the eyes are useless, then don't use them."

Buzz——

The old bamboo sword was just swung in the air, and the general's eyes flew out.

With half of his head.

Seeing that the strong general who was not human could die as he said, the whole government office was in chaos. Soon, the Yangzhou Governor's Office also learned about the bloody case and quickly gathered the troops to kill the clerk here before the situation escalated.

But even if the strong bows and crossbows surrounded and shot, they could not do anything to the clerk.

Whether it was arrows, javelins, or the evil knife handles from the arsenal, they all stopped within a foot of the official's body and could not move forward any further.

But the official was already crying bitterly.

"Why are you standing in front of me? They are all coming for me... It's you! It's all you!"

When he looked up at the palace soldiers, his eyes were already red.

"How dare you hurt my wife!"

As the bamboo sword was swung, no one knew how many people died that day. People only knew that as the richest state city near Jian'an, Yangzhou had changed its flag in just one day.

And this was just one of the smoke of war.

There were fifteen roads and two hundred and forty states in Dachen, and more than sixty of them rebelled in one go.

At the moment, Yizhou, which had raised the flag of rebellion the earliest, became inconspicuous in the chaos.

After all, unlike those states that were fighting in full swing, Yizhou really did not make any moves.

The second update is finally done. I'll take a nap and get up in the middle of the night to continue writing.

Also: Thank you all for your recommendation votes and monthly votes. Thank you all for your encouragement and support.

Thank you for the reward from Endless Fire Domain. It really cost me a lot.

I'll take a break. See you all in the middle of the night.