Yecheng.
The soldiers lined up in formation, carrying big Liu character flags, and strode towards the city.
The flag flutters in the wind.
The armors collided together, making a pleasant sound.
The gate of the city was open, and the defenders inside the city looked at the soldiers in the distance at a loss.
The knights mounted their horses, and the sound of horse hooves resounded on the road. The knights, four in a row, holding spears and not looking sideways, rushed into the city of Ye.
The crisp sound of horse hooves appeared on the street.
The people hid in their homes and looked out onto the street through the cracks in their doors.
They saw knights riding outside one after another. The armor and flags of the knights were different from those they had seen before. They did not make any noise or screams, and just moved forward in silence. The knights quickly went
Each city gate controls the twelve large city gates of Ye City.
The knights came all the way to the palace. The soldiers who were left behind in the palace were also a little frightened at the moment. They slowly retreated looking at the knights who were constantly pressing forward.
On one side of the north city gate, Gao Yuanhai watched the soldiers filing in, and looked at Gao Mai aside with a smile.
The young Gao Mai looked indifferent and just watched the troops under his command break into the capital of the dynasty one after another.
Next to Gao Yuanhai stood many ministers, all of whom were left to manage the affairs of the government when the emperor left.
"King Qinghe."
Gao Yuanhai stepped forward and asked with a smile: "I wonder when the general will come?"
"I can present a gift to the general in person."
"The general has no time to come here to waste time. He has important things to do in the north."
Gao Mai replied coldly.
Gao Yuanhai was a little confused. When entering the capital, wouldn't such a thing happen?
What could be more important than advancing into Yecheng?
Looking at Gao Yuanhai's face, Gao Mai said slowly: "The general always prioritizes his work. Why is it so trivial that the general needs to come in person?"
Gao Yuanhai felt the other party's arrogance and the humiliation directed at him.
But he didn't dare to refute.
A disintegrated Qi State was no match for Liu Taozi, who had strong soldiers and horses.
In Gao Yuanhai's view, Liu Taozi's usurpation of the throne was only a matter of time.
He smiled and nodded, "What you said makes sense."
Gao Mai watched the army march into Yecheng and the nobles standing aside with their heads bowed, but he couldn't feel the slightest excitement in his heart.
He never thought that advancing to Yecheng was a big achievement.
Daqi has long been rotten.
Except for the Jinyang soldiers in Bingzhou, the officials everywhere were alienated, the soldiers were incompetent, and there was no resistance at all.
Gao Mai came all the way and didn't even experience the feeling of fighting.
Gao Mai looked at the deputy general on the side. The deputy general nodded and stood beside Gao Yuanhai and others with a smile. "Gentlemen, I'm sure there are still thieves in Yecheng. You should go back to the house first and wait until we clear them out."
Thief, Yushi Hu should be here soon, and then we can meet him again to discuss important matters."
Gao Yuanhai dared not disagree.
Gao Mai then rode into Yecheng.
The sky in Yecheng is still gloomy. For some reason, the sky here has always been so gloomy in these years. Even if there is not much rain, there seems to be no sunshine.
Yecheng was very large, several times the size of an ordinary city. The roads were spacious, and a royal road was built for the emperor to travel alone. Most of the buildings on both sides were tall, and there was no shortage of luxurious buildings among the residences.
However, everything is broken.
The roads are in disrepair and are full of potholes, and the buildings are always covered with a layer of dust and dirty.
The supposedly gorgeous door was stained with unknown blood and gave off a stinky smell.
The courtyard door could not be closed, leaving a gap that seemed to open with a push.
Gao Mai rode a tall horse and looked at the situation along the road.
The drains on the street corners were clogged, accumulating a lot of filth, even dirtier than the border fortress.
Tang Yong, the minister of state affairs, proposed to overhaul several major cities in the frontier fortress, and built complete drainage and garbage disposal equipment in the eight important cities. The other counties followed suit. Although the environment was harsh, the cities were clean.
of.
Gao Mai arrived in front of the palace all the way.
Within the dilapidated and dirty capital, the imperial palace remains the same, luxurious and majestic, a city within the city, with tall walls separating the inside and outside, and a faint fragrance coming from inside.
Gao Mai stood at the entrance of the palace.
There was no one left in the palace, and the remaining soldiers did not dare to stop him at this moment.
"General, do you want to go in?"
An officer came forward and asked Gao Mai for his opinion.
Gao Mai looked at the palace in front of him and finally shook his head.
He turned his back to the palace and looked at the city under the clouds in front of him. He simply sat down. The steps were relatively clean and he was not afraid of getting his clothes dirty.
Gao Mai was young, had no pretensions to being a prince, and was familiar with these officers.
Several officers stood beside him, watching the distance together.
Gao Mai laughed and said, "I didn't even expect that one day I would be able to lead troops and surround this place."
"However, this is really not a place."
"Whoever comes will go crazy."
"No matter how brave you are, how kind you are, how smart you are, once you enter this wall, you will no longer be able to see the ruin outside and become a selfish monster."
"Anyway, I don't want to go in here anymore."
Several officers looked at each other, not quite understanding Gao Mai's words. Gao Mai smiled and pointed into the distance, "Let's take care of the things outside first. None of these officials and officials in the city are really useful.
Before General Kou and the others arrive, we will step up our guard and ask these people to stay in the official offices and not to go out again until our people arrive."
"only!!"
Gao Mai did not enter the palace, let alone Santai, but he temporarily requisitioned the Yecheng magistrate's office.
The officials in the original Yecheng government office were directly detained by him temporarily.
The city was filled with frontier soldiers. These soldiers patrolled everywhere. Gao Mai summoned the officers several times and asked them to observe military discipline and not to tarnish the reputation of the general in Yecheng.
Inside Yecheng, there was still deathly silence.
The sky is dark.
A farmer opened the door uneasily and peeked outside.
Several children hid behind the man and did not dare to show their faces.
The man looked at the street until he heard footsteps from far away, and then he quickly closed the door.
The sound of footsteps gradually passed away, and the man came to the courtyard again.
Suddenly, a head appeared from the partition wall on the side.
"Lao Xie, what happened in the city?"
The neighbor man also looked confused, "Who is here?"
"I don't know."
"It's been three days, and no officials have come to the door for three days. Yesterday I opened the door to check and met some soldiers. They ignored me and went straight over."
"Then do you want to go out and take a look?"
"Wait for another day. If nothing happens yet, then go out and have a look."
"become!"
The people of Yecheng have always been troubled and troubled, but since the martial law began that day, it has been several days. No officials have come to collect taxes, no soldiers have sneaked in to plunder, and there are not even those who torment people.
Various commands.
This is really a bit abnormal.
After waiting until the next day, the official's voice finally came from outside.
An official was beating a gong and reading the order loudly, "The general has an order. Regardless of officials or soldiers, no one is allowed to invade the people! Anyone who violates it will be executed!"
There is only this one command, no unnecessary gossip.
The man stuck his head out and saw that those officials were not ordinary county officials. They were military officials, and each of them was very strange.
After a few days passed peacefully, people began to go out.
Some patrolling military officials can still be seen on the streets, still reading out orders repeatedly.
Sure enough, things are different. Military officials have been replaced at the gate of the city. Their attitude is not gentle. They no longer ask for money, and they no longer go out of their way to embarrass people coming in and out. The inspection is just stricter. If you can't prove your identity, you won't be able to leave the city.
.
The farmers were the first to leave the city. They still had crops.
Next came some bold merchants, who plucked up the courage to reopen the market and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make more money.
Yecheng recovered little by little and returned to its normal state little by little.
It was at this time that Kou Liu finally led his army to Yecheng.
Kou Liu rode his war horse and looked at Yecheng in the distance with mixed feelings in his heart.
When he was living a hard life in Cheng'an, he never thought that such a day would come.
Some order has been restored inside and outside the city, and just like in the past, everyone is struggling for life.
The farmer was still busy on the barren land, watching the soldiers passing by, trembling with fear. However, his own hunger and the children at home defeated this fear, so he pretended that he had not seen anything and gave up.
I thought of escaping and continued to work hard.
The woodcutter in the distance was carrying a heavy load of firewood. When he saw the oncoming army, he was so frightened that he crouched aside.
It wasn't until these people gradually disappeared into the distance that the woodcutter stood up tremblingly, chanting the names of various gods and Buddhas, thanking himself for today's luck, and picked up the heavy firewood without daring to walk too hastily.
.
The two armies finally joined forces.
Gao Mai stepped forward to greet them with a smile, and they all returned to the Yecheng magistrate's office.
Without much refusal, Hu Changcan took the upper seat without hesitation, and Gao Mai and Kou Liu sat on either side of him.
"All the governors, governors, and unqualified officials in the north have been sent to Pingcheng. The only ones sent are the officials from the Qing capital."
"Liu, you will start catching people and send them to Pingcheng together."
Hu Changcan looked at Kou Liu, who hurriedly stood up, took the order, and then asked: "Mr. Hu, what should we do with the many important ministers in the court?"
"Where is the imperial court here?"
"Sent to Dahangtai, North Road for trial."
"only."
Kou Liu walked out quickly. Kou Liu was not responsible for government affairs, he was only responsible for arresting people and killing people.
Yecheng is no exception. When it comes to people-eating ghosts, Yecheng ranks very high. Those famous villains from all over the world are all unknowns in Yecheng.
This is where the real big ghost lives.
Kou Liu had a kind smile on his face, holding the handle of the knife firmly in his hand, smiling proudly.
Gao Mai watched the other party leave and asked with some concern: "General Kou won't kill too many people, right?"
"I heard that he beat the governor Gao Ji in Dingzhou. Is this true??"
"Fake."
Gao Mai breathed a sigh of relief, "Let me just say, how could a person like General Kou do something like beating up the princes and kings? They are all just rumors."
"I did it."
Hu Changcan said calmly.
Gao Ma made a sound and looked at Hu Changcan in shock, "You hit me? Why?"
"If you are disrespectful on the stage, humiliate the general, and humiliate the soldiers of the three armies, I will punish you with twenty lashes for the crime of gross disrespect."
Gao Mai was stunned for a long time.
Hu Changcan said seriously: "Ye City is full of evil spirits. It would be better to let the bandits kill more."
"This time we set out from Sizhou and successively pacified the states and counties north of the river. Except for Bingzhou, the rest are all under the control of the general."
"This is similar to what Zu Jue and others predicted. Zu Jue even made arrangements with the officials in the Qing capital, as if he could predict the future."
Gao Mai narrowed his eyes. Of course he didn't believe the lies of the prophet. He asked: "Does Mr. Hu think that the emperor's outing has something to do with Zu Jue?"
"I think Zhao Yanshen and Zu Jue are in the same group."
Gao Mai's eyes widened, "Is Zhao Yanshen a member of the general?"
"No, I just suspect that he is from Zu Jue."
"Zu Jue secretly colluded with Zhao Yanshen? I remember that the relationship between Zhao Yanshen and Zu Jue was very bad."
"Zhao Yanshen used to be extra cautious. He refused to show his face no matter what happened. He never treated officials with intimacy and never neglected his duties."
"But since Zu Jue began to gain power in the North, Zhao Yanshen suddenly became more active. I felt something was wrong about Gao Rui."
"Zhao Yanshen cherishes his feathers very much, why did he deal with Gao Rui for Hu Changren??"
"If he had to choose between Hu Changren and Gao Rui, would he still choose Hu Changren?"
"Later on, Hu Changren's appointment, from the governorship of the ten northern states to the promotion to general, and even the Daxingtai of Beidao, none of these matters had anything to do with Zhao Yanshen, and many things were even detrimental to him, yet he actually
You can still do it, why?”
"The last thing is to take the emperor out this time and go to Jinyang."
"He didn't let Duan Shao send troops, didn't let the south send people to respond, and didn't make any plans to defend the city. He didn't even think about letting Duan Shao come over, but wanted to go there himself."
"Let go of the entire Qing Dynasty, and force the two forces with many differences into Jinyang."
"In my opinion, it is definitely not a good idea for the emperor to come to Jinyang. The emperor today is not the original Emperor Xiaozhao, and the people in Jinyang are not the same nobles as before."
Gao Mai listened very carefully and waited until the other party finished speaking before he nodded, "If Mr. Hu said this, then many things can be explained clearly."
"Zu Jue can see through the temple's ideas every time and can even prepare in advance."
"Is it all because someone in the temple is secretly helping him?"
"Zhao Yanshen is the best at saving lives, but he has repeatedly opposed the general because he defected to Zu Jue very early?"
The absurd and disorderly things that happened in the past few months were connected in Gao Mai's mind. Are Zu Jue and Zhao Yanshen?
Seeing the solemn look on Gao Mai's face, Hu Changcan said again: "Don't worry too much about these."
"These are just my guesses. In any case, it has nothing to do with us."
Hu Changcan's eyes looked at Gao Mai much softer, "I have already reported to the general, requesting that you be appointed Yin of the Qing capital."
"ah??"
Gao Mai was even more shocked than when he heard Hu Changcan beating Gao Ji.
"Shall I be the Yin of the Qing Dynasty?"
"But I never did"
Gao Mai was subconsciously afraid. Qingdu refers to the capital area, and Qingdu Yin is the governor of the capital area, but his status is higher than all the governors.
Thinking of his age and qualifications, Gao Mai suddenly felt a little uneasy.
Hu Changcan laughed, "Don't worry too much. Qingdu is just a name now. The situation here is complicated and it's hard to leave it to anyone else. You are just right."
"Besides, you boy is different from other clans. There is no shortage of wise men in the Daqi clan, but most of them have obvious shortcomings. But you are the only one who has good abilities, a stable character, neither arrogant nor arrogant, neither humble nor overbearing, nor too weak.
Not too tough.”
"I think you will be very promising in the future. Perhaps you are more suitable than Gao Jun to serve as the prime minister to govern the world."
"Prime Minister"
Gao Mai's eyes widened. Gao Mai had great ambitions and had thought of doing great things, but being the prime minister of the world was still slightly beyond his ambition.
Hu Changcan was very optimistic about this young prince.
"Being a governor is not that difficult, you don't have to be afraid."
"In the future, your subordinates will no longer be the losers they are now. There may be evil people, but mediocre people will be rare."
"I can teach you how to govern Qingdu well."
"Please inform Mr. Hu!"
Hu Changcan said seriously: "If you want to govern this place from now on, don't keep an eye on the people, don't keep an eye on the petty officials, just keep an eye on those high officials."
"The purpose of the governor is to investigate one party, not to govern one party. Governance matters can be handled by a few orders from Qingdu. You only need to keep an eye on them and prevent them from doing evil or violating the rules. As long as you can
If you keep an eye on them, they will be able to keep an eye on their subordinates, then you, the governor, will be successful."
"While you are young, look more, stare more, and ask more questions, and you will be like an evil ghost, haunting these high officials, making them restless, making them feel that everything they do is being watched, and making them dare not act recklessly.
Let them not dare to indulge their subordinates."
Gao Mai rubbed his hands, feeling a little excited.
"Should governors be appointed everywhere?"
"I heard Zu Jue say before that he wanted to divide the northern states into ten counties."
"Hengzhou remains unchanged and will continue to be directly managed by the general."
"Tian Zili, the governor of Shuozhou, has governed Shuozhou in the past as a long history and learned administrative methods in Xingtai. Shuozhou is the hometown of the general, so there should be no need to worry if he is allowed to govern."
"Shi Yao, the governor of Yanzhou, Shi Yao, served as the governor of Liyang in the past and did an outstanding job. He was also close to the general, could carry out benevolent government, and had great righteousness."
"Yuan Yuxiu, the governor of Yingzhou, is a fair and honest man, upright, benevolent and caring for the people. He was deeply loved by the people when he served as a local official in the past."
"Tang Yong, the governor of Youzhou, was a cruel man, harsh in his administration, suppressed powerful men, fair and reasonable, and decisive in his work. When he first served as governor, none of his officials dared to violate the law."
"Cui Jie, the governor of Jizhou, is thrifty, diligent and prudent, employs people properly, and handles affairs well. He once governed Qingzhou and has the qualifications."
"Li Zhilian, the governor of Zhaozhou, is a veteran with great qualifications. He is intelligent, has good political skills, is famous for his fairness, and has achievements in governing the place."
"Weijian, the governor of Bingzhou, has been following the general for a long time. He has governed Beishuo and other places in the past, and his political achievements are very outstanding."
"Gao Mi, the governor of Qingzhou, is the king of the clan. He is fair and strict and has no offense against the people."
"Gao Changgong, the governor of Lingzhou, cherishes the power of the people and is good at fighting. It is safest to sit on the front line."
"With you, the candidates from all over the world are like this."
Hu Changcan laughed and said, "With you, Beidi will be ready."
Chapter completed!