Steel Dynasty - Chapter 628

[Chapter 627 Missionary]

PS: There is another chapter

where a ray of sunshine shines on the broken walls of Jinling City. Under the golden light, the corvees responsible for repairing the city walls are sweating like rain.

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

“Mr. Fei Ge, is the news of His Highness’s enthronement true?”

Fiji stood with his hands behind his back in front of the city wall. The Jinling city wall was seriously damaged due to the war. This was the first thing he did when he arrived at Jinling City. After all, Chu is on the other side of the Yangtze River. The king’s fiefdom.

Although Xiao Ming signed an alliance with the King of Chu, it was only a temporary expedient for the King of Chu to obtain firearms, so repairing the city wall was an important matter in his opinion.

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

Fiji stroked his beard with a smile. The news of King Qi’s enthronement reached Jinling City yesterday, which made him happy all night long. sleep.

For him, if Xiao Ming does not ascend the throne for a day, he is not the emperor of the Great Yu Kingdom, and the longer he delays, the more he will be questioned. Now he has immediately recovered the thirteen states of Wei, and his strength has greatly increased. This is the reason for ascending the throne. At the best of times, Xiao Ming’s prompt decision-making also made him appreciate it very much.

Moreover, once Xiao Ming ascends the throne, Fei Yue’er will become the queen of the dynasty. In this way, the Fei family’s position in Qingzhou will be stable.

The man with Fiji’s figure was an old man wearing a blue silk gown. He was about the same age as 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, and the big families in Jinling City are very grateful to him.” Your Highness is all grateful. If Mr. Fei Ge doesn’t dislike it, how about Tong being willing to go to Qingzhou with Mr. Ge?”

“Tong Tong is really a sensible person. The rumors outside that His Highness will kill all wealthy families without mercy are false. Don’t believe it. !” Fiji said with a smile.

After arriving in Jinling City, he intervened in the affairs of the wealthy families. He was merciless to the Zhang family who were related to the King of Wei in Jinling City. He killed those who deserved to be killed, exiled those who deserved, and confiscated those who deserved.

Because of this incident, all the wealthy families in Jinling City were ready to raise their troops to fight him to the death.

But after dealing with the Zhang family, he suddenly summoned the Tong family. After a heart-to-heart talk, the head of the Tong family walked out of the government office with a smile on his face. Then the decree on dealing with the wealthy family spread among the wealthy families. The wealthy family who originally held the hope of fighting They immediately dropped their weapons and came to visit Fiji.

Tong Hongchang laughed when he heard this and said: “If it weren’t for Mr. Fei Ge, we would have made a big mistake by believing King Wei’s words. Now in order to prove the loyalty of the Jinling wealthy family to His Highness, Tong should also go to Qingzhou.”

Feiji nodded, ” In fact, the most important thing to His Highness is the stability and taxation of the Thirteen States. His Highness has experienced too many empty words, so Tong Yuanwai needs to come up with something effective to show to His Highness. “

Wen Yan .

, Tong Hongchang showed an embarrassed smile. Although Xiao Ming’s decree did not exterminate the wealthy clans, the disbandment of the clans and the return of the land illegally occupied by the common people must still be implemented. Whether these two items can be implemented depends on the local wealthy families such as the Tong family. ‘s cooperated.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Feige, Tong will definitely handle this matter. Tong will not let go of anyone who disobeys His Highness’s decree.” Tong Hongchang said firmly.

Fiji nodded when he heard this, “In that case, member Tong, please go back and prepare.”

Hearing this, Tong Hongchang bowed and chose to leave.

Seeing Tong Hongchang walking away from Fiji, his eyes turned cold. Just as he said to Xiao Ming, the wealthy families in the Thirteen Prefectures are deeply rooted and have deep roots. Even though the Southern Expeditionary Army captured one city after another, the influence of the wealthy families among the people is still the same. huge.

If they were not afraid of the ferocity of the Southern Expeditionary Army this time, it is estimated that the civil strife in the Thirteen Prefectures would not have subsided so quickly.

But even so, it would take some time to deal with the powerful tribes without bloodshed, and for this he chose a pull-and-beat strategy. This Tong Hongchang was the local wealthy family he had won over, and now he was using this Tong Hongchang to intimidate other wealthy families.

Moreover, the autumn harvest season is coming soon. Now the government only controls Jinling City and its nearby counties. There are still many villages without officials from Qingzhou.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to send them, but that the Thirteen Prefectures have basically exhausted their idle officials, and most of the counties and villages now have to rely on these local wealthy families and Li Zheng to govern them.

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 tax collection, there will be great losses in autumn today.

The Southern Expeditionary Army worked hard to conquer the thirteen states for the purpose of taxation. Fiji saw this issue very clearly, so he just mentioned Tong Hongchang. This effective thing is taxation.

While he was thinking, suddenly Wei Yuan, the governor of Jinling, came towards him.

Wei Yuan was originally a sixth-rank petty official in Chang’an, but after he excelled in the written examination at Bowen College and withstood Xiao Ming’s personal test, he was sent to Jinling City to take charge of the governor’s duties.

“Mr. 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 is that the Dengzhou Army has boarded the city wall to be on guard.” Wei Yuan said.

After hearing this, Feiji immediately walked towards the south city wall. The sudden appearance of King Chu’s navy here was not a good sign. Even if it was not to take advantage of the opportunity to get involved in Jinling City, it was probably to guard against them. Just as he thought, The King of Chu never trusted them.

The two arrived at Nancheng and climbed onto 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.

The leading battleship is slightly larger, and someone can be vaguely seen pointing at Jinling City on it.

“He’s a missionary.” Ye Qingyun put down the telescope and said to Fiji.

Fiji took Ye Qingyun’s telescope and looked at the river. Sure enough, he saw a blond man wearing a black robe with a cross hanging in front of him on the leading battleship.

He said: “His Royal Highness sent news that the King of Chu had contact with the French. The King of Chu was once beaten up by the Dutch. Since then, he has been very eager to contact other Western countries to obtain firearms. It cannot be said that this is a missionary from France. “

Just why did they come here?” Ye Qingyun frowned.

Fiji is also a wily man. He said: “Suzhou and Hangzhou are the richest places in the world. Now that His Highness has captured Jinling City, the King of Chu will definitely be worried about the safety of Suzhou and Hangzhou. They are deliberately warning us by passing by like this.”

(This chapter) over)