Dao Fruit

This city is not majestic, but it was also a frontier of a country in the age of nations, so the foundation is still there. Taking advantage of the dangerous surroundings, it is still larger than some cities in the hinterland of China. ?

Now, above the city, wisps of smoke are gathering, appearing in Qiu Yan's eyes, and turning into lines of text, constantly flowing.

For ordinary people, these smoke and words are difficult to detect.

Not to mention, after the smoke rose, it did not go up. Instead, it turned eastward and seemed to be converging somewhere.

Looking along the way, you can see the rolling clouds and mist on the eastern horizon. They are not made of water vapor, but the mysterious destiny of the people.

"Master Marquis, let's hurry up and process it. All the officials are waiting for us."

A figure on the side interrupted Qiu Yan's thoughts. He followed the sound and saw a square face with Chinese characters. The beard on his face was neatly trimmed, giving people a sense of grandeur. .

This person was Yu Siyan, the prefect of Zezhou. When he heard the news about Qiu Yan early in the morning, he mobilized the power of the prefecture and five counties to prepare. As soon as Qiu Yan's troops entered the territory of Zezhou, the prefect immediately greeted them. come over.

When Yu Siyan came, he not only welcomed them, but also held a banquet in the city and mobilized people to congratulate along the way. It can be said that he mobilized the troops and mobilized the people.

"Since Magistrate Yu has made arrangements, I am disrespectful and wasteful. It's just that I didn't know about this matter before. Now that it's here, we can't do such a waste of people's energy again. It won't be an example next time." Faced with the kind invitation, although Qiu Yan accepted it, he also warned and beat him, which shocked Yu Siyan and said yes again and again.

Secretly, he also realized that he was flattering the horse's leg. He failed to grasp the temperament of the Marquis Dingguo and made the other party unhappy.

Speaking of which, although Yu Siyan, the prefect, was not well-informed, he did not have many connections in the court and was not well-informed. In addition, Qiu Yan had temporarily changed his schedule a few days ago, so everything happened too suddenly. After Si Yan received the news, he didn't have enough time to understand Qiu Yan's personality and preferences, and then fall in love with him. I can only make rough estimates and use this method to show sincerity, but in the end, it is still self-defeating.

After obeying Qiu Yan's instructions, Yu Siyan also followed the etiquette and kept his posture very low. He even showed courtesy to the guards and led many officials and subordinates to accompany them.

"If you just look at this person's face, you won't be able to tell. He is a flatterer." Qiu An walked beside Qiu Yan's horse, holding the reins.

Although he has a high level of cultivation and even has a good reputation among the southern military strategists, he has not left his country. He has no official position. In terms of status, he is still a servant of the Qiu family, so he does not sit on the horse in this situation. Not to mention him, many of the guards themselves came from the Beijing camp, and their family backgrounds were not simple. Now we have to dismount as many as possible.

However, what Qiu An said was not loud, and only Qiu Yan and the two guards around him could hear it.

The two guards obviously looked down on Yu Siyan's fawning appearance. Hearing this, they whispered in agreement: "Brother Qiu is right. The prefect of Zezhou is a man who is good at adjusting to the wind. This Zezhou is under his control. Under his rule, he probably won’t get any good results.” The elder brother Qiu they were talking about was, of course, not Qiu Yan, the Marquis of Dingguo, but Qiu An.

At this time, Qiu Yan said: "Water flows to lower places, and people go to higher places. If this person wants to take advantage of the situation to climb to the top, it is not necessarily a bad thing, let alone bothering people because he doesn't like him. Just deny what he did.”

As soon as he said this, both Qiu An and the two guards calmed down.

Qiu Yan added: "After I entered Zezhou, I paid close attention to the local customs and customs along the way. I found that several new laws promulgated by the imperial court were obviously implemented smoothly here. The faces of the people along the way were rosy and nourished. There is not much anger in him. Now when he comes to the city, many merchants and people have been mobilized by the labor force. There is not much impatience and disgust, and there is no strong look on his face. It can be seen that he does not resent the order of the Zezhou prefect. , maybe you can see the reason?"

The two guards did not dare to say anything, but Qiu An thought for a moment and asked, "Is it what the people want?"

"The conflict between the people's hearts and minds may be distorted and affected by many factors, but at least it is the most direct reference point in terms of benefiting the people themselves." After Qiu Yan said these words, the people dismounted and passed the city gate.

The city was full of flowers, and it was obviously carefully arranged. Yu Siyan looked very uncomfortable. He obviously knew that Qiu Yan didn't like such a trick, but time was tight and he had no time to disperse them. Besides, if Qiu Yan had arranged it, To dispel it with just one word would not only be more wasteful, but also make Qiu Yan's heart even more unbearable. If word spread, it might also affect Qiu Yan's reputation, which would be a great offence to the Marquis.

In fact, Yu Siyan can be considered a capable person. He is very capable of governing the local area, but he is not good at taking sides in the officialdom. After several political struggles, he almost lost his qualifications to go further. Now that Qiu Yan is here, he is naturally As a life-saving straw, if you want to give it a try, you have the intention of taking refuge, so you pay special attention to Qiu Yan's opinion.

On the other hand, although he initiated the layout of the city this time, several major families contributed a lot to it, and they took the initiative to bear a lot of money without him having to waste any words.

Here, Qiu Yan entered the city and saw the specially arranged scenes in all directions. He knew it was not the time to do other things, so he followed Yu Siyan's lead and entered the mansion to attend the banquet.

"This time, the Marquis can come to our Zezhou, which really makes our mansion glorious," before entering the banquet, in front of the screen wall, Yu Siyan had a flattering smile on his face, and suddenly changed the subject, "The purpose of your coming here this time, the Marquis, I know a little bit. To be honest, the four major merchants in Zezhou City have contributed a lot this time, but I think it's just a glimpse in my heart. If you have any instructions, the Marquis, I will collect them carefully to avoid future troubles."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Qiu Yan took back his steps, squinted his eyes, and carefully looked at the prefect in front of him.

Now the position of the two can be said to be very clever. Due to the restrictions of etiquette and status, there will not be many people behind the screen wall, and the officials and clerks following behind dare not approach, so although it is under the watchful eyes of the public, it is not easy for people to hear what is said.

Of course, if one has deep cultivation, or simply uses magical powers, he can still hear the content, but it is impossible to stop eating because of choking, otherwise there is no need to speak, but it can also be seen from this that Yu Siyan is indeed a bold and careful person.

Moreover, the meaning of his words is also quite profound, reflecting his personal characteristics-

First of all, he guessed one of the purposes of Qiu Yandong's visit, which is not a simple matter, because Qiu Yandong's purpose is to recruit people on the surface. As for the memorial he submitted, it seems that many ministers know about it, but most of them are the upper echelons of this dynasty. Perhaps these new civil and military officials will expand the news within their factions to a certain extent, but the detailed information has not yet been passed on.

Besides, Yu Siyan has no backing in the court, and it is even more impossible for someone to tell him these detailed news. Most of them are inferred by himself from clues.

On the other hand, the governor's ability to gain a foothold in Zezhou City was obviously inseparable from the support of the big merchant families, but now that he saw the situation, he immediately and decisively betrayed those families. The timing was very good, even...

Qiu Yan looked back at the door. He knew that the big merchants were also in the crowd outside the door at this time. They would not come in until he and Yu Siyan sat down.

"Selling out others in front of others, this Yu Siyan... is a bit interesting. This time I came to Zezhou, my original intention was just to lay some groundwork, but now it seems that there may be unexpected gains."

After thinking about this, Qiu Yan nodded slightly at Yu Siyan, and then walked around the screen wall one after another and entered the courtyard.

The courtyard had already been set up with rows of tables and chairs, and Qiu Yan had seen similar formations many times, so there would be nothing he was not used to.

A quarter of an hour later, the banquet was opened, with singing and dancing, a harmonious scene.

During the banquet, officials of all sizes in Zezhou Prefecture came to toast. After the officials had passed by, the local nobles came to get close to them.

There were also several aristocratic families in Zezhou, but most of them declined in the war and could no longer control the local lifeline. Instead, the four ancient families took their place.

When the old man Lu led Lei Yuan and others over, Yu Siyan immediately tensed up because he saw a strange and familiar figure in the group.

He said strange because he, Yu Siyan, had never really come into contact with this person, and he said familiar because this person had come to Zezhou twice before and after, and his behavior was quite suspicious. Yu Siyan had long been eyeing him, sent people to track him, and drew a portrait. He followed the situation and found that this person was an important figure in the anti-army.

This shocked him a lot. No matter how Yu Siyan was, he would not think that the anti-army could do anything, let alone take his future with a few merchants.

Merchants can take risks for profit, but Yu Siyan values ​​power more.

This is actually the important reason why he decisively abandoned the four merchants and eagerly joined Qiu Yan, and planned to use these four merchants as his token of surrender.

Now, the person who prompted him to make such a decision is approaching Qiu Yan with Lei Yuan and others!

"They don't want to kidnap Dingguo Hou!" Yu Siyan couldn't sit still when he thought of this, but just when he wanted to take action, Qiu Yan spoke first--

"Huang Yan, I didn't expect that you, as a wanted criminal of the court, dared to come to me in broad daylight!" (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!

ps: Thanks to "fanfusuzi" and "Melancholy Demon" for the monthly votes!