Chapter 135: A Ray of Hope

"Who did it!"

In front of the boundary monument between Yuanyang County and Shuyang County, Yuan Li had a gloomy face.

After getting the news, he rushed here the next day to see what happened.

Yuan Mu, a son of the Yuan family who managed the farm, knelt on the ground, trembling with fear.

"It was too dark and we couldn't see what they looked like. When they saw our people, they beat us without saying anything. Hundreds of people were beaten and injured on the farm. At dawn the next day, we found that all the rice was gone. "

"We heard that King Yan led troops to Yuanyang County the day before yesterday. They must have done it." Another Yuan family member said.

Guo Tu was stunned. It was obvious that King Yan was retaliating with tooth.

He secretly thought, this King Yan is really capable of being both a gentleman and a villain, which is awesome.

When Yuan Li heard this, he cast a fierce gaze on Yuanyang County. The general beside him said, "Tonight you lead your troops across the border and cut their rice, and burn whatever is left unfinished."

In one night, his Yuan family's 8,000 acres of rice disappeared. How could he bear it?

"Yes, sir," the general said.

As he finished speaking, he suddenly saw a group of people coming from Yuanyang County.

The leader was actually Chang Wei.

When he came to the boundary monument, Chang Wei did not cross the boundary. He just sneered and took out a sickle from his back.

Then he waved his hand, and Chang Wei and the soldiers started cutting rice along the boundary marker.

Subsequent soldiers continued to arrive, each holding a sickle.

Behind the soldiers were the people of Wuyangyang.

They distributed to various locations and cut off the rice one by one near Shuyang County.

Finally, he saw Zhao Xu coming leisurely on a horse.

"King Yan, you are so despicable." Yuan Li angrily scolded Zhao Xu when he came to the boundary monument.

"In terms of despicableness, I want to worship Yuan Zhoumu as my teacher, burn wheat, and let the soldiers pretend to be gangsters to rob merchants. What else will happen in the future? The next step is to pretend to be a Beidi person and attack Yan County." Zhao Xu sneered.

Yuan Li was furious, "King Yan, don't talk nonsense and have no evidence. Be careful that I will impeach you for slander."

"King Yan, you are a noble prince after all. By doing such a despicable thing, aren't you afraid of losing the royal face and making people laugh?" Guo Tu sneered. At this time, he naturally wanted to help his master.

"If you are a low-ranking official, you must separate people and tasks. To deal with the low-ranking person, you must be even worse than him. As for the royal face, being unable to redress the grievances of his subjects is a loss of royal face and makes people laugh." Zhao Xu despised. He looked at Guo Tu and said, "These despicable methods must have come from you, the despicable person, right?"

"You..." Guo Tu's face turned pale with anger.

Yuan Li gritted his teeth, "What a sharp-tongued King Yan. I lost this move, but I would like to see how His Highness can crack down on the trade route."

At that moment, King Yan ordered people to cut all the rice on the border. Naturally, he could not retaliate.

Otherwise, if his people go deep into Yuanyang County, they will be ambushed by King Yan's people, and the gains will outweigh the losses.

Therefore, he deliberately made King Yan angry about business matters.

"I have also ordered the governors of other counties not to allow merchants to enter or leave Yan County. Humming, Your Highness, although your wine is good, I am afraid that it will not be sold, but I can be a good person, as long as His Highness sold the wine to the Yuan family at a low price, and the Yuan family could buy it for His Highness's sake," Yuan Li said again.

"It's a daydream. Even if I pour out all the wine, I won't give you any advantage to the Yuan family." Zhao Xu frowned.

Compared to Rice, this matter indeed gave him more headache.

Yuan Li felt even more proud when he saw that Zhao Xu could only suffer a secret loss in this matter.

It was just what Zhao Xu said next that made him furious.

"But after Zhang Kang died, the Yuan family would have stopped trading with Beidi." Zhao Xu said lightly.

"King Yan, let's wait and see." This matter has always been on his mind.

He saved the Yuan family's huge fortune bit by bit.

Especially the business with the grassland has kept the Yuan family well fed in recent years.

Now everything is ruined by King Yan.

Zhao Xu snorted coldly, ignored him, and went down to the fields to cut rice.

Last night, he not only used all the soldiers, but also organized many people to cut and transport rice.

All the rice was given to the homes of those whose rice fields were burned down.

He knew in his heart that the Yuan family would retaliate after learning about it, so he asked Ge Dong to organize the people of Yuanyang County to help the people near the boundary monument cut rice to create an open area.

Yuan Li was asking for trouble, but he didn't take advantage. He snorted coldly and turned around to leave.

the following few days.

Zhao Xu did not leave Yuanyang County.

On the one hand, he urged the establishment of rural soldiers, and on the other hand, he led the troops to help the people of Yuanyang County continue to harvest rice.

"Our soldiers come from the people, and they must be able to return to the people. They must be able to fight and cut wheat."

Sitting on the ridge of the field, Zhao Xu rolled up his sleeves and held a sickle in his hand.

He had harvested rice in the modern era, and he still remembers the posture of harvesting rice. He did not lose to the common people at all in his work.

Chang Wei straightened up and laughed, "Your Highness, the general admires you more and more now. I didn't expect that growing up in the imperial city, you can cut rice so neatly."

The people nearby looked at King Yan with reverence.

In the past, they only heard that King Yan was kind and amiable, but now they really saw it.

There is probably only one prince in the world who can go to the fields to harvest rice with the common people, King Yan.

"We are really lucky to have His Highness King Yan."

"Yes, we have suffered some grievances, and His Highness will make up for us now. We will not suffer any loss if we follow His Highness like this."

"Hehe, yes, there will be good days ahead."

"..."

Several peasant women sat under the shade of a tree at the edge of the field, holding a basket of food in their hands. They were here to deliver food.

Now they kept looking at the King of Yan and forgot about delivering food until their husbands shouted loudly.

"Tap tap tap..."

Just then, there was a sudden sound of horse hooves.

Everyone in the field looked up.

I saw a silver-armored cavalry coming from the opposite Shuyang County.

"Chen Hu!"

Chang Wei blocked the sun and looked at the road, shouting in surprise.

Zhao Xu looked over and it was indeed Chen Hu.

At this time, the cavalry led by Chen Hu seemed a little confused when they saw so many people in the field, and slowed down.

He was even more surprised when he saw the King of Yan in the field.

He immediately dismounted and ran towards the King of Yan.

"Chen Hu pays respect to His Highness." In front of Zhao Xu, Chen Hu knelt on one knee.

Then he saluted Chang Wei again.

Zhao Xu helped Chen Hu up and said with a smile: "You are finally back."

Chang Wei said: "Did you encounter anything on the way back?"

Chen Hu was surprised and said: "How did the general know? After entering Fanyang, the city of Fanyang did not allow us to enter. I was afraid of something going wrong, so I could only hide during the day and travel at night. Today I finally got into Yan County."

Zhao Xu and Chang Wei looked at each other. Yuan Li really made trouble again.

Fortunately, Fanyang County is flat and there are roads everywhere.

If there were mountain passes, Chen Hu would have trouble on this trip.

Chang Wei then told him about the revenge of the Yuan family today.

"I see." Chen Hu frowned, but soon relaxed again and smiled: "Your Highness, don't worry too much. This time, the emperor has given your Highness a great benefit. Now Shanggu County is also your Highness's fiefdom, and he also allows your Highness to expand his personal army to 60,000 people."

"Really?" Chang Wei was even more surprised than Zhao Xu, his eyes were as big as cow eyes.

What he cares most about is expanding the army.

Generally speaking, a vassal king can have up to 30,000 soldiers in one county, and can have another 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers in one more county.

The emperor gave 30,000 directly, which shows how much he values ​​the King of Yan.

Chen Hu emphasized, "The imperial edict will arrive in Yancheng soon."

Zhao Xu's eyes turned, and he suddenly felt relieved.

The first thing he thought of was not the expansion of the army, but the trade.

Shanggu County is adjacent to Jinzhou. After Jinzhou, you will reach Sizhou. After Sizhou, you will reach Yuzhou. After Yuzhou, you will reach Ningzhou where Jinling is located.

The most important thing is that you can reach Jinzhou from Feihu Pass in Shanggu County, and then go straight down the Yellow River from Jinzhou. Along the Yellow River, you can follow the water network heading south to the city of Jinling in Ningzhou.

Thus, the trade route was opened.