The Chen State was much richer than the Chu State. The main reason was that the Chen State occupied the land south of the Yangtze River.
Jiangnan is rich in products and provides Chen with a large amount of tax revenue every year. Even though Jiangnan is not close to the capital, the court's binding force on the local areas is weakened, and local officials can still play a lot of tricks in taxation, the benefits the court gets from Jiangnan are still considerable.
And because the people lived a prosperous life and had lived in peace and stability since ancient times without causing any trouble, there were many Jiangnan officials above the court who had a great say. The court and even the emperor had no control over certain chaos in Jiangnan.
Turn one eye and close one eye.
A certain state in Jiangnan.
A tall mansion.
Although Jiangnan is far away from the political center of Chen State, it has many wealthy families and businessmen. In terms of wealth, even the capital is far from being able to compare with it.
For this reason, luxurious mansions can be seen everywhere in Jiangnan states, and in Jiangnan, where people are generally wealthy, the level of luxury in this mansion is rare.
A young man in rich clothes strode out of the mansion. An old woman chased him out of the mansion and stopped in front of him. She said anxiously: "Your Majesty, the prince died of illness within a few months. Logically speaking, you have to observe mourning for three years.
During these three years, you must wear mourning clothes and are not allowed to gather to visit friends..."
"Three years?" The young man in Chinese clothes looked at her and asked: "In special times, you don't have to worry about these things. A big event is coming soon. Can we wait three years?"
"Your Majesty, you shouldn't be so anxious. Jiangnan is extremely important to the Chen State. Once trouble occurs, the imperial army will march straight in. By then, our many years of arrangements will be destroyed..." The old woman looked at him and said, "Retreat.
Ten Thousand Steps said, the prince's body is still cold, and the prince should not wear such gorgeous clothes..."
The young man in rich clothes looked at her, his face darkened, and he said: "Bai Jin, you'd better figure out your identity. You're just a slave. What qualifications do you have to tell me what I should do?"
After saying that, he gave Bai Jin a cold look and turned to leave.
An old man with a gloomy face walked out of the house, glanced at the old woman, and followed the young man.
Su Mei walked out of the house, covered her mouth and yawned, looked at the old woman, and said lazily: "King Qian has passed away, is there any point in all you have done?"
The old woman looked at her and said solemnly: "Although the King of Guizhou unfortunately passed away due to illness, there is still a prince. He is still an orthodox member of the royal family. There is no difference between supporting the prince and the King of Guizhou."
Su Mei glanced at her and asked, "Would King Qian also talk to you like that?"
The old woman looked away and said: "The prince is still young, I will lead him to the right path."
"Then take your time..." Su Mei yawned again and asked, "When are we going back to the capital? It's been months since we've had a comfortable sleep..."
"I will go back when it's time." The old woman glanced at her and strode towards the direction where the young man disappeared.
Su Mei glanced at her, turned around lazily, and walked deeper into the house.
The two guards at the door slowly turned their heads, glanced sideways, and swallowed countless times in a short period of time.
…
After traveling for half a month, the weather has gradually become more pleasant since we crossed a certain mountain range a few days ago.
The imperial court held a small exam for local officials every year and a major exam every three years. This time it was the big exam, which is why the civil service department was so busy.
In two days' journey, they will enter Jiangnan West Road. Although Tang Ning's purpose of this trip is Jiangnan East Road, she still has to do some superficial exams. Once there, it's time to slow down.
The content of the imperial court's assessment of officials was very complicated. Civil servants were different from military officers, Beijing officials were different from foreign officials, principal officials were different from assistant officials. The direction of the assessment also ranged from personal moral character, land management and folk customs, to agricultural and forestry reclamation, tax collection, population increase, etc.
There are dozens of items on social security, etc., which are very detailed.
Naturally, it was impossible for Tang Ning to inspect all of these things every time he went to a place. There were many low-level officials accompanying the official department this time, who were specialized in doing these things. Every time he went to a place, he assigned one person to take charge and two more to do so.
The members of the Blade are kept safe while the rest can move on.
Tang Ning was sitting on the carriage. At a certain moment, someone knocked on the carriage. Chen Zhou opened the curtain and said, "General, ten miles ahead, we will reach the city of Anzhou."
It's not too late now, but if we go beyond Anzhou City and go further, we won't be able to reach the next resting place within today, so we can only camp on the spot.
Tang Ning thought for a while and said, "Then let's rest in Anzhou City for the night. Rest for a quarter of an hour and set off for Anzhou City in a quarter of an hour."
He jumped out of the carriage, and the curtain of the carriage behind was opened. Yushi Zhongcheng looked at him and asked: "Master Tang, why did you stop?"
Tang Ning said: "I plan to rest for one night in the city ahead. What do you think, Lord Qi?"
"It's all up to Mr. Tang to make the decision." After the censor Zhongcheng said this, he lowered the curtain.
Tang Ning stood on the side of the road and took a few breaths of fresh air. The fatigue caused by the hard work of driving and horse racing immediately dissipated a lot.
Since the first day when he had a discussion with the Yushi Zhongcheng about the weak edge of the Shangfang Bao sword given to him by Emperor Chen, Master Qi from the Yushitai had never had a dispute with him along the way. He himself also
One ear will be pure.
After passing Anzhou, the journey might not be so peaceful. He didn't know what was going on in Jiangnan for the time being, and he couldn't be sure whether the troubles in Jiangnan were caused by Su Mei and the others.
Before leaving, Tang Ning learned Bai Jin's true identity from Gongsun Ying, and Tang Ning also tried to guess their purpose.
The Chen State occupies the Central Plains and Jiangnan, and most of the northeast is occupied by the Chu State. The perished Liang State is located in the Yunnan-Guizhou area. If they can occupy the east and west sides of Jiangnan, they will have a steady stream of food and money. Once they can pull in
Assemble a team and march straight into Guizhou to sweep away the remaining local forces...
And with food and money, they can also pull up teams in Guizhou at any time, and Jiangnan is the top priority in this area.
Of course, whether they can achieve their wish depends on the fact that Chen Guo will sit idly by and ignore what they do in Jiangnan, but this is obviously impossible. Jiangnan is Chen Guo's granary and money bag. I am afraid that they have not yet caused any trouble in Jiangnan.
, the imperial court has sent troops south to nip the signs of rebellion in the bud.
It was not easy for the imperial court to defeat the barbarians on the grasslands, but it was very easy to go south, and it did not take much effort to put down the rebellion.
Unless Chen State encounters something more serious than the Jiangnan Rebellion, such as the invasion of the Sushen people, or the invasion of the Western Regions, the possibility of this happening is extremely small. There will be chaos in the south, west, and north at the same time. By that time, Chen will
There is a high probability that the state-owned enterprises will not be able to survive, so they will naturally have no time to take care of Jiangnan. And by then, it will be meaningless whether to take care of Jiangnan or not.
Tang Ning looked at Gongsun Ying who was standing next to the carriage and asked, "I remember you said that Bai Jin will not rebel?"
"Once there is a change in Jiangnan, it will be easy for the Chen court to send troops to pacify it." Gongsun Ying looked over and said, "She is not that stupid. There should be some other hidden secrets about the Jiangnan incident."
Gongsun Ying seems to be very certain about certain things. It seems that during this trip to Jiangnan, there is a high probability that he will meet Bai Jin, and it will most likely be an unpleasant meeting.
But this is not what Tangning cares about. It doesn't matter whether you are happy with Bai Jin's bad old woman, as long as you are happy with other people...
The ten-mile journey didn't take long, and it arrived in an instant. When the motorcade arrived at the gate of Anzhou City, they lined up and entered slowly.
Anzhou was just a small city, but there was still a queue to enter the city. Tang Ning opened the curtain and took a look, and found that they happened to meet two caravans. Three caravans entered the city at the same time, which made it seem a bit crowded.
The accompanying members of the Blade looked at a group of rugged giants with expressions of interest, while the officials, including Yushi Zhongcheng and his entourage, looked at several foreigners in another team who had their arms and navels exposed.
