After rebirth, I joined forces with my mortal enemy to seek revenge.

When Pei Jiaoran came out of the soup pool, Li Xiujing was already waiting in the pavilion not far away. When he saw her coming out, he stood up to greet her.

Pei Jiaoran raised his eyebrows as he glanced at the food on the table.

"No reward for no merit. Why did you bring me here?" Pei Jiaoran took a bite of a piece of golden pastry and said in a vague voice, "If it's for exchange, you have to wait a little longer. The list of manufacturing departments has just been announced. Draw it up, I still have some things to do.”

Hearing this, Li Xiujing looked helpless and sighed: "I didn't expect you to find a suitable candidate so quickly. I brought you here just to give you a good rest. Aren't you tired after staying up for two nights?"

Looking at Li Xiujing, whose eyes were full of sincerity, Pei Jiaoran curled his lips. He stretched out his hand and pinched the tender meat from the cheek of the carp in front of him, chewed it carefully and then swallowed it. She picked up her chopsticks and searched for any other food on the table that suited her taste.

Although her ancestors repeatedly mentioned in the letters, do not expose your food and drink preferences easily. But she disagrees. Food is the most important thing for people. If they hide their likes and dislikes on food because they are afraid of cold arrows in the dark, then what is the point of living this life?

Pei Jiaoran ate with gusto, while Li Xiujing watched with great concentration. He also put vegetables in her bowl from time to time.

"Li Xiujing." Pei Jiaoran put down his chopsticks and called out seriously.

When Li Xiujing heard Pei Jiaoran calling his name, the chopsticks still holding the fish stuck in the air and said casually: "What's wrong?"

"Where is the thing I gave you last time?"

"Don't worry. I hid it in a safe place." Looking at Pei Jiaoran suspiciously, Li Xiujing frowned, "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

Pei Jiaoran dodged Li Xiujing's gaze slightly, "It's my thing, shouldn't it be returned to the original owner? What's more, I have already burned the counterfeit part in front of Jia Gonglu, so it's useless for you to keep it. , why not return it to me. As a reward, I will help you control the exchanges between the left and right armies."

"Since you've already cooked one portion in front of Jia Gonglu, what's the point of taking the real one back?" Li Xiujing turned the fish over and followed her example, stretching out his chopsticks to pick up the tender piece of meat on the cheek. Meat.

"This is my business. All in all, the transactions between you and me have always been fair." Pei Jiaoran said in a calm voice.

Looking at Pei Jiaoran helplessly, Li Xiujing sighed and moved her eyes to the chopsticks that fell on the carp's cheek. She directly picked out a piece of thin meat here with her chopsticks. It can be said that he has a quick eye and a quick hand.

"I will return it to you." Li Xiujing said in a dull voice.

Both of them had finished eating, so they called the servants to remove the meal.

Recalling the sumptuous meal just now, Pei Jiaoran couldn't help but sigh. No wonder so many people are trying to get into Shence. In addition to being superior to the Sixth Army of the North Gate in terms of status, they are also far superior to them in terms of salary. Today's meal can at least cover the annual expenses of more than ten families, but for Shence Army, it is just a drop in the bucket.

However, it was understandable that Emperor Wei treated Shen Ce so favorably. He did not dare to rely on him in the feudal town for fear of provoking the Eight Kings Rebellion in the Jin Dynasty. If you want to rely on a central army that can listen to you, in addition to giving them enough preferential treatment, you must also give them status compliance. Only in this way can aristocratic families despise the royal family and the power of the prime minister be restrained.

It's just that there are so many history books, it's not uncommon for aristocratic families to rely on their power to make profits for their families. Not to mention that no family has accumulated wealth through hard work. Power built on barriers is the secret to this.

If you want to gain a foothold in the court, you must join forces with others and build your own strength. If not, even if it is not annexed by other forces, it will be squeezed out.

Thinking of this, Pei Jiaoran suddenly asked, "What do you think of the three towns in Heshuo?"

Hearing this, Li Xiujing poured a cup of tea and handed it to her, and said in a deep voice: "Weibo is the strongest town in terms of finance and military strength. As for the towns of Chengde and Youzhou, Chengde's military strength is relatively weak. Weak and more submissive to the court, while Youzhou, although weaker than the Second Town, pursues the integration of military and peasantry with military and political affairs. His successive military commanders have been diligent and thrifty, and have shared joys and sorrows with his soldiers. Why do you suddenly ask about this? "

"The three towns of Heshuo have been at odds with the imperial court for a long time. This time they suddenly sent so many scholars to participate in the examination, there must be something fishy. As an examiner, I read a very interesting article this time." Pei Jiaoran glanced at him sideways. He glanced at it and said calmly: "They are all criticisms of His Majesty's decrees and dissatisfaction with eunuchs, and there is more than just this?"

"You mean that the vassal town might want to use this to show off the Qing emperor's side?"

Glancing at the steamy tea cup, Pei Jiaoran explained: "Yes. There have always been rebellions in the outer towns and wars in the central government. It's just that the power of the central government was in chaos, and the emperor himself could neither suppress the central government nor control other external forces. To. The three towns in Heshuo, headed by Wei Bo, almost all appoint their own commanders. They also belong to a group of in-laws and are closely related. "

The so-called Qingjun side is just a reason. All the rebels want is supreme power.

Since ancient times, money and power have been exchanged. For the three towns of Heshuo, they have enough troops to look down on the court, but their wealth is a big problem. They don't know how to use wealth to gain maximum power like aristocratic families. They could only rely on the strength of their troops to prevent the imperial court from using troops easily against them, thereby controlling the taxes of the states under their rule. However, this also has many disadvantages. For example, if the soldiers are as strong as Wei Bo, once they are dissatisfied with the military pay, they can easily abolish the commander-in-chief.

The neighboring vassal towns watched from a distance, just waiting for the opportunity to annex them in one fell swoop. As for the tooth soldiers, they don't care who the commander is. What they are more concerned about is whether they can be paid on time and whether their successors can share the joys and sorrows with them. If you are unwilling to share the joys and sorrows and look down on them because of your power, then you can only abolish them overnight.

"The town of Weibo has been run by the Tian family for five generations. In addition to its strength, it is also domineering towards the court. But by the third generation, all the leadership fell into the hands of the Ya soldiers. The Ya soldiers were extremely profit-loving and if they could conquer the three towns. I thought we should attack Weibo first, and then give generous rewards to the Ya soldiers. The strong ones will be defeated, so why worry about the other two towns being dissatisfied."

Li Xiujing seemed to be surprised that Pei Jiaoran had such a clear understanding of the military deployment in the feudal town. Li Xiujing's eyes were stunned. Pei Jiaoran continued: "The imperial power is obscured, the eunuchs are powerful, and the central government is competing for profits. Only by using force to deter foreign vassals from easily causing rebellion can the central authority be guaranteed. The wealth of the Jianghuai River is not enough to maintain the imperial court. Expenditure operation. If the taxes of the three towns of Heshuo can be paid to the imperial court, there is no need to worry about being unable to drive out the Hulu."

"If this step can be achieved, the pressure on the court will be much lessened. All harsh taxes can be abolished, and public dissatisfaction will stop now."

As long as the imperial court is willing to use troops against the three towns of Heshuo. If we unite with other vassal towns that are respectful to the imperial court, there is no need to worry about regaining the lost territory and unifying the power. In the final analysis, the reason why the feudal town was rebellious was simply because it was worried about the precarious situation. He was worried that he would be jealous of the emperor because of his outstanding achievements, and would end up like the great ancestor Yun Mengze who captured Han Xin.