Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

Li Xu was not completely unmoved when he heard about the gold mine, but in the end, his reason overcame his enthusiasm, "If the island is full of pirates, after the sailors are trained and built sea ships, they can go to sea to suppress bandits. Take the island as your own, but you also said that there are still many common people on the island, are you going to kill them all for this gold mine?"

Ye Changqing blushed, luckily he couldn't see it, "This subordinate didn't think too much about it, but the imperial court stipulated that mining gold mines in private is a serious crime of treason, so I got a little excited."

Li Xu sighed, and pointed to the map he hung on the wall, "But the island is obviously not in the territory of the Great Yan Dynasty, and the people on the island are not considered the people of the Great Yan Dynasty, so what rules should be used to restrain them!"

"Then let them go like this? As far as my subordinates know, the Third Prince somehow found the island, and the owner of the island introduced him to the group of pirates surnamed Xu. That's why the town was besieged. Can you tell me?" Do you want to inform the emperor about this?"

Ye Changqing's words brought his own thoughts, his two companions died on the island, it is impossible not to take revenge, but Nanyue's current military strength is limited, if the emperor can order an encirclement and suppression, it will be much easier.

Li Xu tapped on the table and thought for a long time, hypothesizing one by one, denying one by one, and finally said: "If the emperor wants that gold mine, he can only send troops to sea under the pretense that the third prince is colluding with pirates to encircle and suppress the residents on the island. In the end, there must be the only way to kill the island, because only in this way will the matter of the gold mine not be leaked, which is not in line with the original intention of the king. Besides, the gold mine is on the one hand, and the life of his son on the other, which is more important? Judging, maybe he will choose to protect the third prince, then we who promoted this matter should be condemned."

Ye Changqing frowned. There were still his friends on the island, and only a few close friends escaped together this time. If such a thing really happened, he would not want to see it.

He pursed his lips with a stern expression, "My lord, I want to ask myself to join the navy, and I will leave it to my subordinates to lead troops to sea in the future. Don't worry, even if I want to go to the island, I will never hurt the common people." .”

Li Xu likes his fighting spirit. He is really afraid that Ye Changqing will become decadent after going through this ordeal. If he has fighting spirit and goals, he will be motivated.

"Okay, then you go and accompany Jia Ping. A thousand sailors are definitely not enough. The short-term goal is [-]. After this batch of sailors are trained, you can start recruiting. In addition, you have to be mentally prepared, Jia Ping He went earlier than you, he is the chief general and you are the deputy, this is a last resort, but that is only on the surface, this king wants to entrust you with a task."

Ye Changqing didn't feel that he had any grievances for being the deputy general. He is not in good health yet, and it would be difficult to convince the crowd when he went to the military camp. There is nothing wrong with starting as the deputy general.

"You say."

"There are a lot of fishermen along the coast. If you secretly pick out those who have potential and are loyal to South Vietnam, and fund them to go to sea, you can start with maritime merchants, find out the routes in the nearby waters, and then try to find a way to get on that island. You don't have to act rashly. , You can live on the island with peace of mind.”

Ye Changqing knew his purpose, and this was exactly what he was thinking, so he nodded and agreed, "It's just that this matter is a bit difficult to do, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete it in the short term."

Li Xu nodded to express his understanding, and gave him another suggestion, "Don't target the island first, you should build a caravan in the name of building a sea merchant in the palace, and recruit people in the name of the caravan. In charge of shipping, let them travel north and south, and when the time is right, you can choose a few trustworthy ones to complete the matter."

Ye Changqing's scalp is numb, it's okay to ask him to buy a few people to go to sea, but it's too difficult for him to build a complete caravan!

"My lord, didn't you ask me to train sailors? Haha, my subordinates can't leave." Ye Changqing rubbed his hands and smiled and recommended to him, "Why don't you take a look, and find someone to take the lead, and your subordinates will follow suit. "

Li Xu squinted at him, "If someone is available, this king will still choose you? Look at you now, I feel sorry for Commander Lin if you don't take a good rest for half a year, but there is really no one available. This king is also relieved to sit in the town, you go to make a name, this is what you really want to do. Don't underestimate this caravan, the most effective and most concealed way for businessmen to collect information is to travel north and south, and can It can be said that this caravan is the intelligence network of the palace, and everyone must be loyal, and it is no easier than training a navy."

Of course Ye Changqing knew that it was not easy, it was equivalent to training a group of dead men for the palace, or a group of dead men who could act on the bright side and make money.

With the support of the caravan, this group of people can go anywhere, and it is easy to make friends with officials. It will be more convenient to send people to the island in the future, as long as they pretend to be lost at sea.

Thinking about it this way, Ye Changqing didn't want to shirk it any more, it would never be more difficult than fleeing at sea, and not many people knew about his return this time, so it was a good time to switch identities.

Li Xu and him thought of going together, and suggested: "Everyone thinks you died at sea, why don't you change your identity, from light to dark, so that you can act more conveniently."

When Ye Changqing got up in the morning and looked in the mirror, he almost couldn't recognize himself. Even if he went to the capital with his appearance, not many people could recognize him, "My lord's advice."

"It just so happens that the government is re-registering the household registration, so you can just arrange an identity to settle down. When the time comes, ask Wu Jin to accompany you, and say that you are the new guard hired by the king, and go through all the procedures."

"My lord, there are seven more people who came back with my subordinates this time. They are all brothers who died under my command. Some of them are fugitives from Lingnan, and some are savages from the sea. I wonder if they can settle down together?"

"The ones who can help you escape are all your benefactors. It is not convenient for me to come forward and reward them. You can take them and settle in a family. This is a precedent. Some small tribes living in groups on the mountain moved down the mountain. , using the same method, looking at your current appearance, even if you think about it, your companions will not be able to see it, it is still very convincing."

Ye Changqing was stabbed in the chest, and said sadly: "My lord, you will lose your subordinates like this. Am I already ugly like a savage?"

It's not easy for Li Xu to beat him, and continued the topic just now: "These people will be your personal guards. You can look at the arrangements yourself, just remember to distinguish between public and private."

Ye Changqing hesitated for a while, but did not agree, "They are different from my subordinates, they want to settle down after wandering for too long, so my subordinates want to buy them a house in Minzhou, and buy them a few acres of land , let them have a peaceful life."

Speaking of the house, Ye Changqing naturally thought of the brick and tile house, and leaned in front of Li Xu and asked cheekily: "My lord, let your craftsmen build a two-story house for your subordinates, and I owe you the cost first. Deducted from the monthly money of the subordinates."

Li Xu is helpless, more and more people come to him to buy a house recently, he wants to go back to his old business and become a real estate agent, but the glass has not been made yet, and the built house is too simple to sell. Pay a high price.

"How about this, the land for resettlement houses is still vacant. The king ordered people to build a row of houses as military houses for high-ranking officers in the army. As for who you want to live in, the king doesn't care." On the one hand, Li Xu considered that Ye Changqing and Jia Ping did not have a house in South Vietnam. On the other hand, he also wanted to use this to buy people's hearts. Houses are just needed no matter what dynasty or generation they are in. People who have a house will be determined .

Speaking of which, the most pitiful is himself, who still doesn't have his own house yet.

"My lord, you are really..." Ye Changqing was so moved that he almost cried, and he released a long series of rainbow farts from the bottom of his heart, and his flattering skills were about to surpass Liu Shu's.

"Come on, it's not just for you. Also, your group of brothers are used to living a free life, some of them are even fugitives, but in South Vietnam, they have to abide by the laws and regulations of South Vietnam. If there is any violation, how to deal with it , don’t come to this king to beg for mercy.”

"It's natural, the subordinates will tell them." Ye Changqing also had a little hope to bring people back, but he didn't expect things to go much smoother than he thought.

He asked worriedly: "My lord, the government has re-registered the household registration, regardless of the origin, you are not afraid that someone with a heart, such as this subordinate, will change their identity and start a new life. If they do anything wrong to Nanyue, there will be bad things in the future, right?"

"Even if there are not many such people, Nanyue has nothing to gain after all, and those who settle down this time will get a household registration certificate, which must be taken with them wherever they go in the future, otherwise they will not even be able to enter the city gate. There are secret works lurking among the people, and this king has nothing to do with it."

Speaking of this, the corners of Li Xu's mouth turned up again, and he excitedly said to Ye Changqing: "Do you know how many people have been registered in South Vietnam so far?"

Ye Changqing had no idea about this number, but he thought it would not be a lot. He shook his head and said, "Can there be 100 million?"

Li Xu's eyes were very bright, "According to the statistics on the previous household registration, the number of people is only a few hundred thousand. After re-registration, there are already more than 130 million, which has fully doubled."

Ye Changqing knew about the new policy, so he said with some heartache: "But you also gave away 40 catties of salt for nothing, this..." Not too bad, Ye Changqing was frightened to death when he calculated this number, "It costs 40 catties , Does Manager Xiao Liu know that you let him dry the salt so that you can give it to others?"

Naturally, it is impossible for Li Xu to be indifferent to this number, but this kind of favor must be paid, otherwise he will not be able to bribe the people below to do things for him. When there are more people, his roads will be repaired quickly, and all of them are free labor. One time, year after year, the labor cost saved here alone is more than 40 catties of salt.

"Xiao Liu is a good comrade, he will understand my painstaking efforts." Li Xu thought to himself, he still had to send some condolences to Liu Shu, so as not to chill his heart.

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That afternoon, Ye Changqing went to do the household registration and changed his name to Ye Xuran. Others may not know the origin of this name, but if Lin Zhaozai definitely knows, this is the name he gave Ye Changqing, but he has never shown it to others. .

After recuperating in the palace for a week, Ye Changqing quietly left Minzhou. His arrival did not attract anyone's attention, and no one paid attention when he left. Instead, it was about Li Xu's plans to build an army building, and the news flew like wings. Out of Minzhou City.

The happiest person is Guo Fu, "I really want to do whatever I want, it must be Master Ji's welfare for everyone, and I will definitely come to thank you someday."

Kou Xiao looked at his overjoyed appearance, and said with a sneer, "Why does this general feel that Vice General Guo's heart is a little shaken, do you want to join the prince?"

Guo Fu was taken aback, and hurriedly expressed his opinion: "No, no, General Mingjian, how could one of my subordinates be bought by a single house? It's absolutely impossible."

Zhao Gang gave him a hand and winked at him. The general's mood has obviously fluctuated these days, and he doesn't know what stimulated him.

Army Master Jiang walked forward, shaking his fan, pushed Guo Fu away, and asked shyly, "General, do you have any subordinates in this military house? The prince said that only high-ranking officers are there, at least at the rank of lieutenant general." , but this military division seems to be just a handyman."

Kou Xiao looked at him sympathetically, feeling a little connected to fate, "A total of ten buildings, eight lieutenants and two newly promoted navy lieutenants each have a building, what do you think?"

Jiang Qiuming's smiling face froze, and he asked with a bitter face: "Is it because my subordinates don't show their faces enough in front of the lord, so he forgot about them? No, why don't you have any generals?" In terms of generals, who has the highest official position? , that must be General Kou.

Kou Xiao gritted his teeth and said, "My lord said, this general's house is bigger than the entire resettlement house, so don't compete with the people for profit."

Zhao Gang beeped in a low voice: "My lord is right."

"Bullshit, that Kou mansion was built by the old man's generation, isn't this general worthy of having his own general mansion?"

Guo Fu quickly comforted him: "Don't be angry, general, the prince still has to build a palace. Your general's palace can be built exactly like the palace. How can such a small house like your subordinates be worthy of your noble status? You don't want to be neighbors with us."

Everyone silently agreed, yes, we don't want to be neighbors with the general at all.

Kou Xiao also had the same idea, and his mood was immediately appeased. He glanced at the lieutenants who couldn't hide their joy, and sent a signal of sympathy to Jiang Junshi. "Military commander, don't worry, think optimistically, good things are coming, let's not worry."

Jiang Qiuming was not comforted, but he didn't really care about a house, he just wanted to give himself some benefits, and he had money and land, but he only had a team of craftsmen who could build brick houses.

At present, only the craftsmen in the Shun Palace can build such a house in the whole of Nanyue and even in the whole of Dayan.

"Hey, it doesn't matter if my subordinates have a house or not. The house is something outside of me. Since Mr. Ji left, one of my subordinates has been teaching thousands of soldiers. I feel very tired and lack of energy. I hope the general will allow me a few days off to let my subordinates Take a good rest."

Kou Xiao looked at him speechlessly, "Why don't you ask Mr. Ji about important people? He is now the governor of the county, and he has many servants. Isn't it easy to appoint one or two people to be his master?"

A little awkwardness appeared on Jiang Qiuming's face, "With a pearl like Mr. Ji in front, another master may be hard to convince."

"It's just teaching a group of warriors how to read, what else do you need to convince?" Kou Xiao waved his hand indifferently, "Just find any master who can read and write. Do you really want to teach every soldier to be a well-educated writer?"

Jiang Qiuming actually understands this, but when asked him to come forward to find Ji Hanyu's important person, he always felt that something was wrong. Just imagine, when the two of them were teaching and educating people together in the military camp, he was a military adviser after all, and the other party was just a young master of the palace. , it is inevitable that some deception.

As a result, in just a few months, the little master transformed into Lord Cheng in the blink of an eye. He was still a nominal military adviser, and the counterattack was too fast, and he was not yet mentally prepared how to face that person.

Kou Xiao thinks a little more than he does. The Navy has now become a vassal of the prince. Although he has the title of the Kou family army, it is self-evident who he really listens to. It is not because he maliciously speculates on Li Xu, but because of this One of King Shun's hands was inserted into the military power, and it's hard to estimate how much this hand will hold in the future.

At the beginning, he let himself guard against the Lei family's seizure of power, but he didn't know that he was the one who should be guarded against the most. The Lei family could not compare to him with a finger.

Kou Xiao glanced at the group of lieutenants, and looked, just one house would make this group of people happy. If gold and silver were to be smashed down, there would be some integrity. Of course, if it was to smash himself, he would definitely He is also happy to fall into the arms of King Shun.

"Since the military advisor has been working with Mr. Ji for a while, it's better to develop a relationship with him. At any rate, Mr. Ji can say something nice for us in front of the lord."

Jiang Qiuming looked at Kou Xiao foolishly, and asked heartbrokenly: "General, you don't need to belittle yourself like this, have we reached the point where we need someone to speak well in front of the prince?" It must be the person who walked closest to the prince.

The stable development of King Shun in South Vietnam is inseparable from the support of General Kou. People outside say that the prince and General Kou both live under the same roof and wear the same pair of pants. Maybe in a few years they will be like a family. up.

"That's different. In case of disagreement, we can't even have someone to help make peace. Ji Hanyu is the most suitable candidate. You can figure it out, and you must win him over."

Jiang Qiuming thought that if he had known this earlier, he would have bullied him less. Is it too late to kneel down and apologize?

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Jiang Junshi entered the city in the evening, went straight to the sheriff's mansion, and then chose a nearby tea house to sit and drink tea, staring at the gate of the sheriff's mansion without blinking.

I heard that Mr. Ji moved into the backyard of the government office. The backyard is not behind the sheriff's mansion, but opposite this teahouse, where many officials with their families live.

It was getting dark soon, and Jiang Qiuming hesitated between continuing to wait and going to have dinner first, afraid of missing the opportunity, so he endured hunger and continued to wait, pouring pots of tea, feeling even hungrier.

Ji Hanyu didn't come out of the Sheriff's Mansion until the hour of Hai. Ordinary people went to bed early at this point. Because the teahouse was open outside the Sheriff's Mansion, it closed later. The whole street was only lit here.

Jiang Qiuming was hungry and sleepy, and the moment he saw Ji Hanyu, he couldn't summon up the energy to say hello, but after waiting for so long, it would be useless if he didn't say a few words.

He stood up, walked straight out of the teahouse, and shouted at Ji Hanyu from a long distance: "Is Master Ji up ahead?"

Ji Hanyu is now the magistrate of the county, and there are guards around him when he goes out, and everyone draws their swords to warn when they hear the movement: "Who is in front?"

Jiang Qiuming felt a toothache, look, it's been a few days since I saw him, this posture, this pomp, tsk tsk, enviable.

He took a few steps forward, and both sides could see the person opposite him clearly. Every step Jiang Qiuming took, he wondered whether the person surnamed Ji would treat him like this as if he didn't know me.

But Ji Hanyu spoke out before him, "It turned out to be Junshi Jiang, why did you appear here so late?"

He waved his hand and asked the guard to put away the knife, but he didn't continue to move forward. He stood upright and waited for the other party to come to him, saluted and greeted him, and then smiled, "Mr. It’s an old acquaintance.”

Jiang Qiuming straightened up, suppressed the broken thoughts in his heart, and said with a smile: "Master Ji is now the governor of the county, and the etiquette is undeniable. It is fate to meet by chance in the middle of the night."

Ji Hanyu looked back and forth, this county guard's mansion is not on a downtown street, how could Jiang Qiuming just pass by here at night, not to mention that he just saw him coming out of the teahouse opposite.

But he didn't need to point it out, and sincerely invited: "Since there is a fate, Jiang Junshi might as well go to the humble house for a cup of tea?"

Jiang Qiuming was waiting for this sentence, and naturally nodded in agreement.After entering Ji Hanyu's residence, he found that it was only a very small courtyard with only two or three rooms, which was not much different from his residence in the military camp, and his heart instantly felt balanced.

Ji Hanyu walked ahead and introduced him along the way, "There are more than a dozen families living in the backyard of this small government office, and it is a bit crowded. This yard was vacated by Mr. Lei for me as a place for his lunch break."

Jiang Qiuming closed his eyes and flattered, "Although the sparrow is small and complete, this yard is very elegant."

Ji Hanyu has only lived in for a short time, and he hasn't tidied up his things. Of course, it can't be really elegant. There are three rooms, one is his bedroom, one is his study, and the other is a room for two personal servants. The only guest is the study.

As soon as they were seated, a servant came in with a pot of boiling hot water and put it on the tea table, with a box of tea beside it.

Jiang Qiuming felt his stomach hurt when he saw the tea. What he needs now is not this, but a bowl of hot white rice.

"Master Ji has dinner?"

Ji Hanyu nodded, "There is a cafeteria in the county guard's mansion, and the dinner time is fixed. Hasn't the military division had dinner yet?"

Naturally, Jiang Qiuming couldn't admit it, otherwise Ji Hanyu knew that he had waited for him for several hours and didn't even eat dinner, so where would he lose face.

He looked down at Ji Hanyu making tea seriously, he recognized the tea bag, which was produced in King Shun's tea garden, and then looked at the whole set of dark gold tea set and golden nanmu tea tray, his heart choked again, "Master Ji Do you like drinking rock tea?"

Rock tea is the name of King Shun. It is a collective name. The tea leaves produced in the tea garden are given several nicknames according to the types of tea trees. They are all arty names. up.

"It's average, but the tea is refreshing. Now I'm used to drinking some every day."

"Is that because Mr. Ji is busy with official duties, so you don't get off work until this time every day?" King Shun also called off work, and everyone got used to it over time.

"Not necessarily, it's been easier recently, and I came back a little early."

A little early?Jiang Qiuming looked at him in shock, a pang of sympathy suddenly rose in his heart, and then he couldn't help grinning, and then thoughtfully advised him to rest and take care of himself.

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small theater:

Lao Gong: "Is it because my wife doesn't build a house for me to continue being my neighbor?"

Li Xu: "No, it's for the convenience of poaching people from you."

Old Gong: "Then why waste eight buildings, just give me a kiss, and I'll give you the Kou Family Army."

Li Xu: "Is my kiss only worth eight buildings?"