Iron Dynasty

PS: One more chapter

A ray of sunlight shone on the broken walls of Jinling City, and under the golden brilliance, the corvés who were responsible for repairing the city walls sweated like rain.

Although it has entered autumn, Jinling City is still hot, and the clothes of the corvées are soaked after only one hour of work.

Elder Feige, is the news of His Highness's enthronement true?

Fiji stood in front of the city wall. The Jinling city wall was severely damaged by the war. Since he arrived at Jinling City, this was the first thing he did. After all, the opposite side of the Yangtze River was the king of Chu.

Although Xiao Ming signed a covenant with the King of Chu, this was only a temporary expedient for the King of Chu for the sake of firearms, so repairing the city wall was an urgent matter in his opinion.

Of course, this matter can still be false? When the late emperor was dying, he handed over the edict to Du Heng.

Fiji stroked his beard with a smile on his face. Yesterday, the news of King Qi's ascension to the throne reached Jinling City, which made him happy that night and never fell asleep.

For him, if Xiao Ming does not ascend the throne for a day, he is the emperor of the Great Yu Kingdom, and the longer he delays, the more he will be questioned. Now he has regained the thirteen states of Wei land immediately, and his strength has greatly increased. At the best time, Xiao Ming's quick decision also made him very much appreciate.

And once Xiao Ming ascends the throne, Fei Yue'er will be the queen of the dynasty, so the Fei family's position in Qingzhou will be solid.

The Fiji figure was an old man wearing a blue silk gown, and his age was similar to Fiji. He said, If this is the case, our Tong family should also go to Qingzhou to congratulate His Highness on his enthronement. His Highness is kind and generous. Your Highness is all grateful to Dade, if Mr. Fei Ge does not dislike it, and Tong is willing to go to Qingzhou with Mr. Ge, how?

Member Tong is indeed a sensible person. It is a false rumor that His Royal Highness will kill the nobles without mercy. Don't believe it! Fiji said with a smile.

After coming to Jinling City, he intervened in dealing with the affairs of the wealthy family. He showed no mercy to the Zhang family who were related to Jinling City and the King of Wei by marriage.

Because of this, all the wealthy families in Jinling City are eagerly waiting, ready to raise troops at any time to defeat him.

It was just after disposing of the Zhang family that he suddenly summoned the Tong family. After a long talk, the patriarch of the Tong family walked out of the government office with a smile on his face, and then the decree about the disposal of the wealthy family spread among the wealthy family. All of a sudden, they dropped their weapons and came to visit Fiji.

Tong Hongchang heard the words and said with a smile: If it weren't for Mr. Feige, we would have believed the words of King Wei and made a big mistake. Now, in order to prove the loyalty of the Jinling noble family to His Highness, Tong should also go to Qingzhou.

Fiji nodded, Actually, the most important things for His Highness are the stability and taxation of the thirteen states. There are too many unfounded things His Highness has experienced. Tong Yuanwai needs to show His Highness something effective. It is.

Hearing this, Tong Hongchang showed an embarrassed smile. Although Xiao Ming's decree did not kill off the wealthy clan, the disbanding of the wealthy clan and the return of the land illegally occupied by the common people must still be implemented, and whether these two items can be implemented depends on the Tong family. The cooperation of the local clans.

Old Feige is at ease, Tong will definitely handle this matter, and Tong will be the first to disobey His Highness's decree. Tong Hongchang said decisively.

Fiji nodded when he heard the words, Since that's the case, let's go back and prepare.

Tong Hongchang heard the words, bowed and chose to leave.

Seeing Tong Hongchang walking away from Fiji, his eyes became cold. Just as he said to Xiao Ming, the wealthy families in the thirteen states are deeply rooted, and the roots are deep. huge.

If it wasn't for the fear of the ferocity of the Southern Expedition Army this time, it is estimated that the civil unrest in the thirteen states would not have subsided so quickly.

But even so, it will take some time to solve the clan's trilogy without bloodshed, and for this, he chose a strategy of pulling one and a dozen. This Tong Hongchang is the local clan he attracted, and now he is using this Tong Hongchang to deter other clans.

Moreover, the autumn harvest season is approaching, and now the government only controls Jinling City and its surrounding counties, and there are many villages without officials from Qingzhou.

It's not that he doesn't want to send it, but that the thirteen states have basically run out of free officials, and now most counties and villages have to rely on these local nobles and Lizheng to govern.

Now, although the people of Wei have been influenced by some Qingzhou ideas, traditional concepts cannot be changed in a day or two. If there is no one to supervise the collection of taxes, the loss today will be huge.

The Nanzheng Army worked so hard to lay down the thirteen states for taxation. Fiji sees this issue very clearly, so he just mentioned Tong Hongchang just now. This effective thing is taxation.

He was thinking when suddenly Wei Yuan, the prefect of Jinling, came towards him.

This Wei Yuan was originally just a rank six petty official in Chang'an, but he achieved excellent results in the written test of Bowen College and withstood Xiao Ming's personal test before he was sent to Jinling City to take charge of the prefect.

Elder Ge, King Chu's navy has appeared on the river. Wei Yuan said nervously.

King Chu's navy? Fiji frowned, When did it happen?

The news from the guards on the dock just now shows that the Dengzhou Army has already mounted the city wall to be on guard, Wei Yuan said.

When Fiji heard the words, he immediately walked towards the southern city wall. The sudden appearance of the navy of the King of Chu here is not a good sign. Even if it is not to take the opportunity to take a foot in Jinling City, I am afraid it is also to guard against them, just as he thought, The King of Chu never trusted them.

The two arrived at Nancheng and boarded the city wall. At this time, Ye Qingyun was looking at the river with a telescope. The warships sent by the King of Chu this time were all warships loaded with artillery, and they were moving from west to east at this time.

The battleship headed by it is slightly larger, and someone is vaguely pointing at Jinling City on it.

It's a missionary. Ye Qingyun put down the telescope and said to Fiji.

Fiji took Ye Qingyun's binoculars and looked at the river, and sure enough, on the battleship headed by him, he saw a blond man in a black robe with a cross hanging in front of him.

He said: His Royal Highness sent the news that the King of Chu had contact with the French. The King of Chu was beaten by the Dutch, and since then he has been very eager to get in touch with other Western countries to obtain firearms. It is impossible to say that this is a missionary from France. scholar.

Just why did they come here? Ye Qingyun frowned.

Fiji is also a wily man. He said: Suhang is a place of wealth in the world. Now that His Royal Highness has taken Jinling City, the King of Chu will definitely worry about the safety of Suhang. They are so arrogant to warn us.