Dynasty Call: Low-key Struggle for Hegemony

In the next two days, Li Yuan and Li Sibingzhu talked at night, and they had a great time talking.

Mainly Li Yuan was listening. Based on the findings during this period, Li Si put forward some key suggestions for the Chu Palace to control Lingzhou and even the future states.

Lingzhou is now in the integration stage, and various policies are easy to implement. Li Yuan immediately decided to ask Li Si to start from Lingyun Mansion and Linlie Mansion, and let Xun Yu and Jia Xu coordinate in each government.

A few days later, after Li Yuan finished handling the various matters reported by Xun Yu and Jia Xu, he took Ah Qing and Xiao Ye Zi to leisurely walk through the towns they passed, checking out the customs and customs of various places.

Since Li Yuan came to this world, apart from the days in the palace, this was the first time that he had such a leisurely time to appreciate the scenery of the Yu Dynasty.

In the past, when I was on the road, I was always worried. I was weak, not strong, and couldn't control my life. Every time I was on the road, I was forced to walk. On the road, I was always thinking about what I was about to face. What is my next plan? Even every time, we have to calculate the final result of the disastrous failure and how to remedy it.

Now he has a lot of civil servants and generals under his command, such as Li Si, Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Yuwen Chengdu, Zhong Lizhen, Ma Chao, Xu Chu, etc. With them, Lingzhou will basically have nothing to worry about.

He did not point fingers, but relied on modern knowledge to make some suggestions to discuss with them and implement them in line with the world's conditions.

"Your Highness, the front is Jingze City, are we still going in?"

Fan Jianqiang held the carriage and turned around to ask Li Yuan inside the carriage.

In the carriage, the carriage is very stable, and the tea will not spill when placed on the table. Xiao Yezi is sitting upright in front of the small table, making tea smoothly, looking at the big panda in the corner from time to time, showing a very emotional look.

Furry and chubby!

So cute, I really want to touch it!

Unfortunately, when he looked at Ah Qing's cold face, he quickly gave up his thoughts.

This woman is capable of killing the venerable with one sword, so she should give up her request and touch the giant panda.

Xiao Zizi has stayed in the palace for a long time and is very cautious in his behavior and actions. He knows how to restrain himself best in the palace.

Those who cannot restrain themselves in the palace will die miserably.

Ah Qing looked at the little leaf that handed him the tea respectfully, his eyes moved slightly, and a very clear voice sounded:

"Little Ye Zi, if there is a bamboo forest ahead, please take Big Fatty to find some fresh bamboo shoots later."

Xiao Yezi's eyes lit up, "Okay."

Ah Qing maintains a certain degree of goodwill towards people who like giant pandas, and she has always been very generous.

Li Yuan ignored the interaction between A Qing and Xiao Zizi, but looked at Jingze City in the distance with some confusion.

This is Jingze City.

That was where he first received start-up capital.

He had a particularly deep memory of the Lord of Jingze City and the heads of the various families in the city, who spoke well, were good at singing and dancing, and were generous with their actions.

He likes it here so much.

"No need, next time!"

Li Yuan shook his head. Now he still returns to Kyoto secretly, so that his identity will not be exposed easily.

"good!"

The carriage quickly crossed Jingze City, left the border of Lingzhou, and arrived at the border of Lianzhou.

Five days later, Li Yuan's carriage was driving slowly on the main road in Yinghui County, Liancang Prefecture, the largest of the eight prefectures in Lianzhou.

Li Yuan looked quietly through the car curtain at most of the people on the official road. They were walking on the road with sallow faces and dull eyes.

The eyes of the people on the road stared at this luxurious carriage, their bodies shrank, their eyes showed awe, and some even had a hint of hatred.

They didn't know who was inside, but they must be those high-ranking officials or those hateful gang leaders.

Li Yuan felt very heavy in his heart. He originally thought that Lianzhou would be much better without war, but he didn't expect that it would be even more chaotic here. Officials protected each other, and various forces were mixed with each other. They took advantage of the troubled times to seize treasures and waste people's lives, causing the common people to suffer. The people are in dire straits.

Gangs and bandits are rampant in various cities and places, stealing treasures and robbing people.

"Oh, this damn troubled world!"

A motorcade gradually ran parallel to Li Yuan's carriage. The speaker was a merchant boss with a round face and a big belly, but there was a look of sadness between his eyebrows. He was sitting on a carriage pulling goods. Several people around him also had sad faces. .

"The price of entering the city has increased again! It has increased twice this month!"

"Sigh, business is hard to do, and there are many robbers passing by. If we continue, it will really be a loss-making business."

"Well, who says it's not the case? There are more and more bandits now. We will be lucky if we can communicate with each other. At worst, we will lose some money due to tolls.

We are afraid that we will meet those desperate thugs who will steal money and kill people. Hiring warriors will cost us a lot of money. "Another merchant sighed.

"Hey, let's go quickly. I hope we can reach the county town safely." One person looked at the road ahead, showing a trace of fear, as if there was a tiger blocking the road ahead.

"Ma Dan, after this trip, I won't do it anymore."

"well!"

The convoy was very large, with thirty or forty carriages carrying goods, and hundreds of strong men guarding it. A few Houtian realm warriors were at the front.

It looks like several traders are walking together in cooperation.

Suddenly, the fat-bellied and round-faced merchant noticed that Li Yuan on the carriage in front of him was looking at the passers-by on the roadside. He paused and quickly looked at the gorgeous-looking carriage.

Li Yuan lowered the car curtain and said to Fan Jianqiang outside:

"Be strong and drive faster."

"Yes, sir!"

Fan Jianqiang heard Li Yuan's words and immediately accelerated the carriage.

"drive!"

The carriage quickly overtook the caravan.

"Drive!" The carriage was driving in a hurry, and Fan Jianqiang was driving faster.

"Wait a moment!"

"The carriage ahead, wait a moment!"

Behind him, a hurried voice sounded.

Fan Jianqiang was now at the peak of his master's cultivation. He could hear the sounds from behind very clearly. His face moved and he stopped the whip in his hand, but he did not stop immediately.

"Stop it."

Li Yuan's voice sounded inside the carriage.

"yes!"

The carriage slowed down and stopped after traveling dozens of meters.

The fat merchant behind him breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the carriage stop. He jumped out of the truck and trotted over. The merchant bosses around him looked at each other in confusion, wondering what he was going to do.

"Master, please excuse me."

The fat merchant came to the carriage panting and spoke to Li Yuan in the carriage.

"Why did you intercept us?" Fan Jianqiang looked at him coldly.

"My surname is Zhou. I am a merchant in our Yinghui County. Others call me Lao Zhou. Are you going to Yinghui County?"

The old Zhou didn't wait for Fan Jianqiang to speak, pointed his greasy and fat fingers at the road ahead, and continued:

"There is only one road to the county town, which is hundreds of miles away. Now this road is very dangerous. There are several groups of bandits entrenched on this road and often rob caravan travelers. Why don't you go with us, sir? We have a large caravan. , there are hundreds of masters, several acquired warriors, and an innate master standing guard. Those bandits don’t dare to act rashly when they see us, so we have someone to take care of us when we go together.”

Li Yuan opened the car curtain and looked at the old Zhou with a gentle smile, frowning and asked:

"Are there so many bandits now? When I walked here last year, it was a safe journey. Does the county and city not care about this?"

When Lao Zhou heard Li Yuan's words, he smiled bitterly and said:

"Care? How to care? Those officials in the county don't care about our life or death. Now as long as the city is stable, that's enough. This road is densely forested and steep. Bandits will run into the mountains after intercepting it. Most of them are desperate people. A little oil and water None, the officers and soldiers are not willing to go out and work hard to catch the bandits."

Li Yuan heard this and retaliated with Lao Zhou.

"Then I'll bother you all."

"Don't bother, don't bother." Lao Zhou said with a smile.

While they were talking, the caravan had already walked up to them.

Under Lao Zhou's arrangement, Li Yuan's carriage merged into the middle of the caravan.

At the front of the caravan, several merchants who were partners with Lao Zhou frowned when they saw Lao Zhou letting a carriage merge into the caravan.

"Old Zhou, who is on the carriage?"

"Old Zhou, in this situation, how can you easily let others enter the caravan? What if he is with the bandits ahead?"

"Yeah, we don't even know any details about him."

"Look at that groom, he's not an ordinary person."

Lao Zhou smiled and said: "There should be a young man from a certain family on the carriage. He is out and about, so please help me."

"Oh, you, that person called you likes that young master, don't cause any trouble because of him."

"No problem. When we get to the county town, I'll be the host!"

With Lao Zhou's promise, several merchants no longer struggled with this issue. With Lao Zhou's eloquence, everyone changed the topic.

It seemed that they were tired of talking and returned to their carriages.

Lao Zhou also quickly came to a large carriage in the middle.

"Daddy!"

When Lao Zhou entered, a clear voice sounded.

In the carriage, there was also a beautiful lady with a delicate face. She smiled when she saw Lao Zhou coming back, her eyes twinkling, and she looked a little shrewd.

Lao Zhou looked at the apple of his eye and sighed:

"Xiuyu, I told you to stay at home, but you insisted on coming. Look at how many bandits we encountered along the way. Now you must regret it."

The woman named Xiuyu saw Lao Zhou sighing and gently stroked his chest, showing a sly smile:

"Dad, aren't I worried about you? Besides, I have never been in business. Didn't you say that you would leave the burden to me in the future and always come out to see what I have to do?"

"That was before, what time is it now? Look at how many bandits there are now, how dare I let you come out."

"Dad, you are so powerful, haven't you solved all the bandits you encountered?" Xiuyu praised Lao Zhou quickly when she saw that he was angry.

"Those are all ordinary bandits, but can the bandits in front be the same? These are bandits close to the county. The closer the bandits are to the county, the more powerful they are. The bandits here are either too strong, or they are behind..."

When Lao Zhou said this, his face darkened and he kept sighing.

"Okay, okay, dad, I know your good intentions. Why did you suddenly let an unknown carriage enter the caravan? This is not like you." Xiuyu knew Lao Zhou very well and saw his sad face. Change the subject immediately.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Lao Zhou immediately became energetic for a while, carefully lifted the curtain, looked at the carriage that had just joined behind, sighed, but smiled, lowered the curtain, and said to Xiuyu:

"It's not because of you."

"Because of me?" Xiuyu's cheeks suddenly turned red. She had just heard Lao Zhou say that there was a young master in the carriage, and she said in a hurried tone:

"Dad, why are you like this again? Do you think your daughter is so worried about getting married?

If I wanted to find a husband publicly, would you believe that the people who wanted to marry me would line up from the west to the east of the city? "

"What are you thinking about?" Lao Zhou looked at Xiuyu's angry look and tapped her head:

"I want you to marry him, but you may not be worthy of him."

Lao Zhou approached Xiuyu and his voice became softer three times.

"Let me tell you, that young master is extraordinary. I have seen no other son of the governor of Yinghui County have the same temperament as him."

"Ah, then why did you let him come to our caravan? A person like this must be protected by a strong person and does not need our help." Xiuyu opened her eyes wide. In her opinion, the son of the governor of Yinghui County is already a He is a top-notch young man, but there is someone better than him.

"He doesn't need it, we do!"

Lao Zhou looked at Xiuyu's surprised expression and smiled proudly:

"It wasn't because of you, otherwise dad, why would I be so embarrassed to beg that young master.

I think that groom is no ordinary person. He is more magnanimous than the two innate masters we invited. He must be a powerful guard. With his presence, we have a little protection when we encounter bandits.

Remember, if our caravan is robbed by bandits and it becomes difficult to resist, you should run towards the carriage. "

"Dad!" Xiuyu saw Lao Zhou's proud look, her eyes turned red and her nose felt sore.

She knew that all this was done for her own safety. If she hadn't sneaked out before, her father might not have to worry so much.

"But dad, if we get involved with such a top big shot, it will be difficult for us to get rid of him. If he knows that we are using him and makes even the slightest move, we may be dead."

"Okay, okay, don't worry. I took a closer look at the young master. He has a handsome face and a righteous attitude. He seems to be an easy person to get along with. We will be fine."

Lao Zhou comforted in a soft voice, his face full of confidence, but a trace of worry deep in his eyes betrayed him.

He could only hope that Li Yuan was a good person, otherwise it would be over if he turned out to be that kind of young man with a human face and a beast heart.

If Lao Zhou opened the curtain now, he would find Fan Jianqiang staring at his carriage with very cold eyes. He would say that these merchants are only motivated by profit. How could they help others for no reason? They originally wanted to take advantage of them. them.

In the carriage, Li Yuan calmly tasted the fragrant tea brewed by Xiao Ye.

"Aren't you angry?"

Ah Qing looked at Li Yuan curiously.

They heard clearly the conversation between father and daughter in the distant carriage.

A dignified king of Chu was actually plotted by a merchant. If his opponents knew about this, they would be laughing their heads off.

This is simply a disgrace.

"Why are you angry?"

Li Yuan gently put down the tea cup with a faint smile on his face:

"Seizing opportunities is applicable to everyone. He has this look in his eyes and this courage. We just have nothing to do, so why not do it casually."

"Did you know what he was thinking from the beginning?" Ah Qing's clear and bright eyes flashed, very beautiful.

"Is this important? Everyone has a little cleverness." Li Yuan played with the tea cup, his eyes indifferent.

"What he said is right. A carriage like ours driving on a road robbed by bandits is just a big fat sheep. There are many bandits who are unscrupulous. With the caravan here, we may be able to avoid a little trouble. .”