Chapter 798 The Greed of Profiteers

With the announcement of the appointment of the sheriffs, Zhou Haichen suddenly entered the public eye and became the hottest figure in the territory. Zhou Haichen's background and resume were thoroughly investigated.

Cui Shousi, who was previously promoted to the county guard, had the support of the Cui family at any rate, and Cui Yingyou, the long princess, was mediating in the Duhu mansion, so his official career was already very promising.

Zhou Haichen is different. He came to the territory as a refugee. He has no relatives or reasons in the territory. It is only through his personal efforts and the appreciation of the emperor that he has come to this position step by step.

The only connection is probably that he was cultivated by Fan Zhongyan when he was in the Administration Department.

Ouyang Shuo still remembered that when he set up the subsidiary territory Youyi County, he had a trade-off between Zhou Haichen and Qin Shijian.

The final result is that Zhou Haichen will serve as the magistrate of Youyi County, and Qin Shijian will serve as the director of merit examination of the Administration Department.

To this day, Zhou Haichen has become a great official in the frontier, and Qin Shijian is still the director of merit examination. However, the Department of Examination of Merit at this time is already a division under the Administration of Officials under the General Administration.

From this point of view, it is better to go to the local area to practice, to gain more political achievements and get promoted.

As for the twists and turns of Lei Fan's appointment, out of the protection of Lei Fan, except for Ouyang Shuo, Xiao He, Zhang Tingyu and a few others, outsiders don't know the inside story.

Even Lei Fan himself is not very clear about this.

Ouyang Shuo considered promoting Lei Fan to the post of governor of Yizhou. One reason was that Shanhai City did not find any outstanding historical talents when it took down [Yunnan City-State].

The second reason is that Lei Fan was born in the mountain barbarian clan, and he has a good understanding of the multi-ethnic policy of the territory, which is conducive to starting work in Yizhou County, a county where the population is dominated by indigenous Gaoshan people.

In addition, Ouyang Shuo also had political considerations to appease the mountain barbarians. As Ouyang Shuo was the [Barbarian King], the mountain barbarian warriors made great achievements on the battlefield one after another, it was time to give the mountain barbarian clan a greater say.

Lei Fan's promotion will undoubtedly further enhance the centripetal force and cohesion of the Shanman clan towards the territory.

This will also lay a solid foundation for conquering the mountain barbarians in Shu in the future.

Of course, Xiao He's concerns were not unreasonable. Before Lei Fan became the magistrate of Gushan County, he was just a tribal leader who had no orthodox education and was born with defects.

Just based on this alone, Lei Fan cannot be vetoed by one vote.

In history, there are very few people who were born in a reckless family and eventually entered the prime minister. Even Xiao He himself was just an inconspicuous county magistrate in Pei County at first.

Only talent refers to talent, not background.

Ouyang Shuo had confidence in Lei Fan, and the evaluation team led by Zhang Tingyu might bring surprises to Xiao He.

*************

January 15th of the fourth year of Gaia, Dongchuan County.

During this period of time, Dongchuan County was full of disasters. First, it was plowed by the imperial guards, then it was destroyed by the allied forces and the allied forces, and then the swordsman city army made trouble in the territory.

The Swordsman City army didn't stay for long, and the imperial guards left and returned again.

The people in Dongchuan County are miserable. Due to the lack of information in ancient times, the common people did not know the situation of the war in Yunnan, and when they woke up every morning, they did not know who was the hero who ruled the city.

On this day, Huo Qubing led the Imperial Guards to come outside Yongren City again.

The corpses outside the city have been wiped out by the system, leaving only the land stained red by the sea of ​​blood, which proves that a monstrous battle took place on this land not long ago.

The soldiers of the First Legion of the Imperial Guard were even more dazed. Many of them had been buried here before being miraculously resurrected and set foot on this blood-stained land again.

Yongren City, a place of shame that the imperial guards cannot erase.

As early as when the imperial guards had just stepped into Dongchuan County, the lord of Yongren City had already abandoned the city and fled. [Yunnan City-State] has disintegrated, and [Yanhuang League] has also been beaten by Shanhai City. Facing the menacing and vengeful Shanhai City Guards, the lord of Yongren City really can't think of anyone else who can help him.

Regardless of Feng Qingyang's arrogance, the Swordsman City army didn't even stop here, and quickly retreated to Shu, stationed fifty miles away from the border, obviously not wanting to fight hand-to-hand with the Shanhai City army.

Staying here at this time is tantamount to waiting to die.

The lord of Yongren City simply rolled it up softly and ran away cleanly. As for the promise given to him by the [Yanhuang League] before the war, he is not going to exchange it.

Going to reason with [Yanhuang League] at this time, I'm afraid I will be eaten by Di Chen and others.

Since the end of the Wenshan City War, the forum in China has never stopped. There are endless discussions on the war, the post-war situation in China, and the future fate of the two major alliances.

Just a little bit of uncanny consistency.

No matter what everyone discussed, they were unanimously optimistic about the future of Shanhai City and bad-mouthing [Yanhuang League].

[Yanhuangmeng] The hired sailors wanted to show their presence, to speak up for their master, and to change the direction of public opinion, but they were immediately overwhelmed by tap water players, and they couldn't even make a bubble.

Dichen and the others had never encountered such a severe situation.

Someone well-informed said that the members of the [Yanhuang League] have met frequently these days, presumably they are trying to find a way to resolve the immediate crisis.

At a time like this, if the lord of Yongren City tries to meet Dichen and the others, isn't he courting death? !

Therefore, seeing the imperial guards coming outside the city, the only remaining city guard brigade in Yongren City immediately left the city and surrendered. Along with the city guard brigade, there were also hundreds of gentry and wealthy merchants in the city to greet them.

The first sentence they asked made Huo Qubing dumbfounded.

"General, you are here, so you won't leave?" When he asked this question, his expression was so nervous.

Huo Qubing smiled in his heart, he didn't have any good feelings for Yongren City. It's just that as a commander in the army, not only must he be proficient in military affairs, but he must always consider the interests of the territory.

Commanding represents not only military power.

"Don't worry. The entire [Yunnan city-state] has been captured by our army. Tell me, should we go?"

As soon as the news came out, the hearts of the gentry, wealthy businessmen present trembled again.

"Good guy, it turns out that the sky in Yunnan Province has really changed." Thinking this way in their hearts, the gentry and wealthy businessmen finally breathed a sigh of relief and stopped worrying.

For them, who rules the city is not the most important thing, the most important thing is stability.

"The general is mighty, please come inside, please come inside!"

The gentry and wealthy businessmen immediately put on their smiles, which was brilliant.

Huo Qubing didn't take this kind of thing, he was naturally noble, so he didn't want to associate with businessmen. Furthermore, "Once bitten by a snake and afraid of well ropes for ten years", Huo Qubing would not just enter the city so recklessly.

Although the detailed work of the Military Intelligence Department has confirmed that the lord of Yongren City has indeed left, the stele of the territory is still standing in the city lord's mansion, and the teleportation array is still operating effectively.

No one can guarantee whether [Yanhuang League] will make another surprise attack.

Huo Qubing arranged a battalion to enter the city first and destroy the stele of the territory. In this way, he led his troops into the city with confidence and officially completed the occupation of Yongren City.

It was Huo Qubing who was thinking too much, Di Chen and the others really didn't have such thoughts at this time.

…………

It was night, the gentry and wealthy merchants in the city jointly hosted a banquet for the generals of the imperial guards.

Huo Qubing couldn't refuse, even though these gentry and rich merchants are now humble, it doesn't mean they are really insignificant. The officials sent by Shanhai City must have the support of these people if they want to manage Yongren City well.

The wilderness has been Gaia for four years, and it is no longer Gaia's year. Even the player's territory has spawned various classes, with intricate entanglements of interests.

Now is no longer the era when a new official took office and could wipe out all ghosts and monsters.

Otherwise, Ouyang Shuo would not have launched a month-long inspection after the Lingnan Battle was over and dealt with urgent matters, in order to appease the hearts of the people and deal with wealthy gentry and businessmen everywhere.

When the wine was hot, the true face of the businessman was revealed.

A businessman came up to Huo Qubing with a wine glass, and with a typical businessman's smile on his face, he bowed and said, "General, the younger one is Zhu Jin. I'm doing some small business in the city. I'll toast the general."

As he spoke, he drank it first.

Huo Qubing calmly raised his glass and said, "Zhu Jin, Zhu Bancheng monopolizes more than 90% of the cloth, sesame oil, and rice noodle business in Yongren City. His personal wealth can buy half of Yongren City. Is this also a small business?"

How could Huo Qubing not do his homework in advance when he came to such a Hongmen banquet. Although Huo Qubing doesn't like dealing with businessmen, it doesn't mean he can't handle this situation.

On the contrary, the other generals of the imperial guards were all very cramped under the greeting of the businessman's praise, wine and delicacies, but Huo Qubing sat at the main seat leisurely, with the demeanor of a nobleman.

Huo Qubing was able to deal with businessmen with ease.

During the day, Shanhaiwei sent detailed information to Huo Qubing. Zhu Jin was highlighted, and the information was the most detailed.

This person is not a refugee from Yongren City, but the president of the chamber of commerce that the lord of Yongren City recruited from Dali Royal City at a high price. Because of this, Zhu Jin can monopolize the cloth and rice noodle business in the player city.

Undoubtedly, this person is the representative of the merchants in Yongren City.

How could Huo Qubing underestimate such a God of Wealth?

Zhu Jin didn't care much about being exposed, which was expected.

Seeing Huo Qubing drink the wine in his glass, Zhu Jin smiled even more, and said: "The general is too famous, I dare not say anything else, if there are any supplies in the army, the small ones can still help a little."

Speaking of which, Zhu Jin suddenly changed his tone and said with a mournful face, "To tell you the truth, before the damn Swordsman City army left, they ransacked us and emptied our treasury and warehouse. We couldn't even pay our employees' wages." Now that the Duhu Mansion is in power, do you think the Duhu Mansion wants to compensate us?"

"exactly!"

The people around immediately followed suit.

Apparently, this was the purpose of their banquet for Huo Qubing, not to comfort the soldiers on the surface.

After hearing this, Huo Qubing cursed in his heart: "Shameless profiteer!"

Fortunately, they figured it out, they were ransacked by Swordsman City, and they expected Shanhai City to compensate.