This year, no, it should be said that from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, the people of Xinzhou were experiencing tremendous changes as if they were dreaming. Many people who experienced the period of the gentry entering the pass more than ten years ago were even terrified and were waiting for a catastrophe. However, miraculously, the chaos subsided in just two months, and it did not affect many ordinary people during this period. However, when people came to their senses, most of the gentry people in Xinzhou who showed off their power had disappeared, and the people guarding the city had also changed, and those who relied on the power of the gentry people seemed to have calmed down.

It was like, when I woke up from a dream, I suddenly changed into another world. Everyone was still at a loss.

Chu Ling did not entangle with the Southern Army, which occupied the two small cities on the border, and directly ordered the withdrawal of troops. No matter what those people wanted to do, the Jingbei Army, which had suffered heavy losses just now, should not be too entangled with them. Outsiders could only see that the Jingbei Army killed nearly 10,000 cavalry at the cost of more than 10,000 people, which was a great achievement that shocked the world. However, these people did not see how much Jingbei Army had paid privately for this victory. Chu Ling almost emptied most of the savings of Heilongzhai for so many years, and the soldiers who died in battle this time were almost the most capable of fighting among the Jingbei Army. Not to mention, the Jingbei Army itself was a newly established army that had almost never been hit by any wind and rain. At this time, the outsiders were filled with awesomeness and helplessness of the sudden death of the people around them. If they continued to fight, all the soldiers would collapse and be defeated.

When Chu Ling brought his men into Xinzhou City, Zheng Luo personally brought them in. Zheng Luo was a little surprised when he received the news from Chu Ling, but he didn't ask any more questions and directly led his troops to besiege Xinzhou City. Ge Danfeng from Wei County sent troops to help. Although it took some effort to capture Xinzhou, it was not hurt.

"Brother, second sister, thank you for your hard work." Looking at Zheng Luo and Ye Erniang standing side by side, Chu Ling couldn't help but smile.

Zheng Luo shook his head and said, "We just obey orders and do whatever we have to do. But you... I heard from the fourth brother that you are very tired these days."

Chu Ling said: "Although I'm a little tired, the result is finally satisfactory. Taking down Xinzhou City means that most of Xinzhou is in our hands. It's much more convenient than being controlled everywhere before." Ye Erniang nodded and smiled, "This is a good thing. Xiao Wu is still powerful. We people can't imagine Xiao Wu's comprehensive plan, nor does Xiao Wu's courage and courage."

Ge Danfeng stood aside and smiled, "Little General, Commander Zheng, let's go to the city to speak first?"

Zheng Luo nodded repeatedly, "General Ge said it well, Xiao Wu, come to the city quickly."

The city of Xinzhou is much quieter than before, but the people walking on the streets were less than 300% as usual. None of the people of the Clan saw it. Chu Ling frowned slightly and said unexpectedly: "Second sister, why aren't there any people in the city?" Ye Erniang snorted softly: "Those Clans are fast seeing the opportunity. Many people left before we came. Some people died in battle when they wanted to resist stubbornly. As for the rest, you said that you should let them go first and don't move them, but we didn't move them, just let people pay attention to their movements. Maybe they were scared and dared not come out."

Chu Ling nodded, and Ge Danfeng next to him asked, "What do you plan to deal with these people?"

Chu Ling said: "Send people to find out, all those who have never done evil have been expelled from Xinzhou, and those who have died in their hands will be killed."

Ge Danfeng raised his eyebrows slightly, looking a little surprised. Although he had seen Ling Chu's methods, it was against the enemy after all. It would inevitably be different to ordinary people. Originally, he thought that the young general was young, and he could not help but be ruthless or did something extreme in a moment of extreme and unwilling to do anything extreme. Now it seems that he is quite sensible. But even... "There are probably many people who will be involved."

Chu Ling said lightly: "If we have time and capital, we can think about it carefully. Unfortunately, we don't have that capital now, so we have to be simple and crude. Those expelled people can't be very pitiful. If we continue to look at them carefully, where do they come from now? I'm just pursuing whether they have killed people, which is already a pity."

Ge Danfeng nodded, "The young general said yes."

Xinzhou City is Xinzhou Prefecture City, so there is a prefecture in charge. However, as long as there are garrisons in the Northern Jin Dynasty, civil servants will basically have no sense of existence unless they have strong backstage and outstanding abilities. Xinzhou is the territory of the Ming King, and the prefect is naturally a member of the Ming King's Mansion. Unfortunately, because it is a Tianqi people, they can only give in to Xinzhou every time, and the Xinzhou governor took a lot of blame for him. Usually, they always feel that their reputation is not obvious. When Zheng Luo invaded Xinzhou City, he directly surrendered with his whole family, and was simply neat and without hesitation.

Zheng Luo and others did not deal with it without authorization, but just detained the person in the Xinzhou Prefectural Office, waiting for Chu Ling to come back to deal with it.

After Chu Ling met everyone and settled all the troops, Ye Erniang mentioned whether to gradually ask for the governor of Xinzhou. Chu Ling nodded immediately and agreed. Seeing that, of course, she was short of money now. The governor of Xinzhou is definitely a rare fat sheep.

The governor of Xinzhou is an old man in his fifties. He looks a little thin, tall cheekbones, and a mustache. Maybe he has been frightened in the past two days and looks a little sick. It is said that his surname is Hu, and his name is Yi Tong. He was a Jinshi in the early years of Yongjia. He has always been an official in other places. Later, when the clan entered the pass, he surrendered to the clans. After going around in circles, he climbed to the position of the governor. It is not a simple role.

Chu Ling leaned lazily in the wide chair, watching the old man walking in tremblingly, and couldn't help but yawn.

"Hu Tong?" Chu Ling asked lazily.

Hu Tong nodded quickly, "Secretary Hu Tong... has seen the young general."

Chu Ling looked at him carefully, then suddenly chuckled, "Mr. Hu is so good at protecting himself."

Hu Tong laughed awkwardly, but there was no half-dead shame on his face, and there was no anger of being humiliated. He was like a lord who could bend and stretched. He had heard of the commander of the rebels. Although he didn't know how a child who looked only sixteen or seventeen years old had achieved this position, he didn't look like a puppet of others. When he sent someone to inquire about the news about the Jingbei Army, Hu Tong naturally also heard about Ling Chu's attitude towards Qin Zhijie and Ge Danfeng. He realized that since people like Qin Zhijie and Ge Danfeng could do well in Ling Chu's hands, he could do it.

Chu Ling asked, "Mr. Hu surrendered so quickly, aren't you afraid that I will kill you directly to attract the hearts of the people? You know... your reputation in Xinzhou is not very good." Chu Ling would not kill people casually, but that would also be a score. Qin Zhijie Ge Danfeng, who has a good reputation and a bottom line, naturally doesn't mind, but it doesn't mean that she will accept anyone, right?

Hu Tong rubbed his hands and licked his face a little, saying, "Little General Rong Bian."

Chu Ling nodded, "Tell me, let me see."

Hu Tong: "Xiaguan also has difficulties. Xiaguan's family, the old and young, failed to follow His Majesty south in time. In order to ensure the safety of the family, they had to temporarily surrender to the people of the Clan. However, although Xiaguan was in the Northern Jin Dynasty, his heart was always towards the Southern Dynasty. Now the young general bravely drove away the Clan, Xiaguan was moved and wished that he could kneel down and bow to welcome the young general and the rebel army into the city. I just hope that the young general can restore my mountains and rivers as soon as possible and uphold the orthodox." As he spoke, he was really crying and looked extremely excited.

Chu Ling and Ge Danfeng and Ye Erniang, who were sitting on the side, felt goosebumps all over their bodies. Ye Erniang hurriedly looked at Chu Ling, afraid that she would be poured by this old guy's bowl of miscellaneous soup and didn't know that the east, south, west and north really believed him. But he saw Chu Ling holding his chin with one hand and said carelessly: "Oh? Did I say I want to uphold the orthodox?"

"Ah?!" Hu Tong was stunned, and his tears suddenly froze.

Looking at Hu Tong's expression froze on his face, Chu Ling sat up with a smile and asked the question he had just now, "Did I say I want to uphold the orthodox? This general is just a matter of making a living. Since Lord Hu is so concerned about his hometown, this general is not a person who is not a human being. I will send someone to send you back to the Southern Dynasty. What do you think?"

Sent back to the Southern Dynasty?

This strange operation scared Hu Tong. As a person who could get from the Apocalypse Yongjia Dynasty to the present-day Northern Jin Dynasty and still became the governor of Xinzhou as a Jinshi of the Yongjia Dynasty, he naturally knew what he had done.

Although there are quite a few scholars who are officials in the Northern Jin Dynasty, there are not many who are a serious Jinshi. After all, most of the officials of the court fled to the south with Emperor Yongjia, and some of them were swearing to death and died. Some of them returned to the mountains and forests with their names. Only a small number of people who were reluctant to live, who were reluctant to give up their lives, but who were able to give up their faces and conscience were still mixed in the Northern Jin Dynasty.

Like Hu Tong, he was sent back to the Southern Dynasty and had only one way to die. Even if the Northern Jin Dynasty knew about it, he would not talk to Tianqi for just one person.

"Little...Little General?!" Hu Tong was so scared that his face turned pale, "Xiaoguan...Xiaoguan really defected to the young general. In the future, the young official will be loyal to the young general and ask the young general to take him under his belt."

Chu Ling waved his hand and said, "Don't, I dare not ask you to be loyal. Lord Hu, ask you a few things. If you can cooperate, I can be the master of saving your life. Do you think this deal is worthwhile?"

Hu Tong hesitated and wanted to discuss the conditions.

But Chu Ling obviously had no interest in negotiating the terms with him and said, "If you agree, nod your head. If you don't agree, you can go out first."

Looking at the boy sitting on the seat who seemed to have a faint smile but actually had a cold look, Hu Tong finally lowered his head in frustration. This boy was not as easy to fool as he thought. Before he even spoke up to his own price, the other party blocked his way out.

Chu Ling nodded with satisfaction and said, "Very good, I like someone who is tactful like Lord Hu."

Hu Tong looked up at Chu Ling and whispered: "If you have anything to say, just ask. The official... the young man must know everything."

Chu Ling smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. I just want to ask... Xinzhou's tax revenue last year was still in the prefectural treasury, right?"

Hu Tong: "Now the entire Xinzhou city is in the hands of the young general. Isn't it possible to send someone to see it? Why ask the young old man?" Chu Ling turned his head and smiled, "This is different. What I am really curious about is, what do you share with the imperial court in Xinzhou's annual tax revenue? How many yuan can you get?"

"What?!" Hu Tong's face changed suddenly, and he looked at Chu Ling in shock. It seemed that in front of him was not a handsome and smiling boy, but a ghost staring at him who was about to peel him off and cramp him at any time. After being shocked, Hu Tong finally came back to his senses and took a deep breath and said, "The young general is joking, the people of the Clan are harsh, I... how dare I..."

Chu Ling smiled and said, "The Clan people are harsh, but they are stupid. They can't figure out the Central Plains people and various taxes from the people. So they have always been one-size-fits-all. As long as you pay enough what the Clan people want, will the rest be yours?"

Hu Tong also wanted to make a quibble, and Ge Danfeng next to him said, "Mr. Hu, everyone here is from Xinzhou. If you hide it, it will be meaningless. Not to mention anything else, I have heard of some in Si'an. The taxes of the people of Xinzhou are much heavier than those of Runzhou."

The taxes of the people of the Clan are all-size-fits-all, that is, they do not matter whether your place is rich or poor, or a good year or a disaster year. They only divide all prefectures into three levels, middle and lower, and pay taxes according to households. Xinzhou is just medium, but as he knows, the education income tax of the people in Xinzhou far exceeds the upper and higher states stipulated by the Northern Jin court. Of course, there are also embezzlements of troops from various places, but it is a joke to say that a magistrate does not know at all.

Chu Ling pulled down the hair on his forehead and said, "I am not interested in whether you are a corrupt official or a civil servant, and I don't have the time to check it out. Let's talk about Lord Hu's home." As he said that, he picked up an account book from the side and said, "I won't talk about Lord Hu's parents who passed away a few years ago. Let's just say that Lord Hu has a full family, six side rooms and several concubines. These people gave birth to eight sons and six daughters for you. Then... In addition to your legitimate wife, you have more than twenty side rooms and more than a dozen grandchildren. This is a rare prosperity."

Hu Tong looked at Chu Ling and wanted to say something. But Chu Ling continued, "Then, Lord Hu has 30 shops in Xinzhou, two thousand acres in two days and six other courtyards. Your wife, children, and even underage grandchildren also have industries. According to statistics on silk and jewelry shops in the city, the monthly expenditure of your mansion is as high as four or five thousand taels. It turns out that the emperor is far away. This level is almost the level of a Duke and Marquis family in Shangjing, right?" Anyway, Tuoba Xingye Mansion could not spend so much money last month, and of course it has nothing to do with the empty backyard of Tuoba Xingye. This Lord Hu has a lot of wives and concubines, and it is indeed a bit troublesome to raise it.

"Little...Little General..." Hu Tong said tremblingly.

Chu Ling smiled at him and said, "There is a word that Lord Hu must have heard of?"

"Please...please give me some advice."

Chu Ling said: "Dissues money and eliminates disasters."

"..." Everyone was stunned, and the expressions he looked at Chu Ling were a little hard to describe. Chu Ling was very calm. They were poor now, and increasing revenue and reducing expenditure was the right way. She was increasing revenue. Is there any problem?

Hu Tong was also a very tactful person and immediately said: "The young one, the young one is willing to offer half of their property and support the young general to fight against the Northern Jin Dynasty."

Chu Ling sneered, "Half? You made a mistake, I want it all."

Hu Tong was shocked and a little reluctant, "Little General, are you..."

Chu Ling smiled and said, "You don't think I'm joking, right? You can save money and eliminate disasters. You can count all the property in your family within three days, including the things in your children and grandchildren. I've asked for it all. One tael of silver is missing, don't blame me for being ruthless. In addition, I'm not discussing with you, I'm an order. Tell you well, because I'm too lazy to send someone to investigate for your trouble. If you don't give me face, I won't be able to give you face."

Facing Chu Ling's cold eyes, Hu Tong had to lower his head even if he was unwilling to give up. The young general looked at Siswen with a smile and easy to talk, but unexpectedly he was a real bandit! It was indeed from the bandit village like Heilong Village!

After someone pulled Hu Tong down, the study room was still silent. After a while, Di Jun couldn't help but say, "Xiao Wu, you just..."

Chu Ling raised his eyebrows in confusion and said, "What's wrong with me just now?"

Di Jun whispered, "You... were really like a bandit just now." He asked for all the property of others unreasonable. Chu Ling smiled and said, "Did you forget? I was originally a bandit." Di Jun was stunned, thinking that they were not so greedy when they were bandits.

But Ge Danfeng smiled and said, "Is the young general worried that the Jingbei Army will not have enough military salary?"

Chu Ling sighed lightly and said, "Although I defeated the Northern Jin people this time, the casualties were too great. I always have to give some pensions. In order to win this battle, I have taken out all the assets of the Heilongzhai. There are still several months before this summer harvest, so I have to hold on to this period of time. What's more, I won't feel embarrassed to snatch people like Hu Tong. If I let him go like this, outsiders would think that my Jingbei Army was specially used to hide dirt."

Ye Erniang and others naturally would not sympathize with Hu Tong, and soon threw him behind his head. Ye Erniang said, "What Xiao Wu said is that people like Hu Tong cannot stay, and it is also a disaster if they stay."

Chu Ling looked at Zheng Luo and others and said, "Now there are basically no people in Xinzhou except the southern army in the north. Our current threats are mainly from Runzhou and Huizhou. There is Cangyun City in Runzhou, so we should not be able to spend time to deal with us. In Huizhou... there are brothers and second sisters."

Zheng Luo nodded and said, "Don't worry, even if the elder brother tries his life, he will not let the people of the Clan step into Xinzhou again!"

Chu Ling shook her head and said, "The elder brother is going to work hard no matter where. No matter what, the safety of the elder brother and second sister is more important."

Ye Erniang smiled and said, "Don't worry, Xiaowu, I will look at my elder brother."

Chu Ling nodded and smiled. She was not worried about her elder brother at all with her second sister.

He looked at Ge Danfeng again and asked, "Mr. Ge, are you planning to... continue to join the army or..."

Ge Danfeng raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "What? The young general intends to seize my military power?"

Chu Ling was not angry and smiled and said, "Mr. Ge also knew that we are all born in the grassroots and never studied any books. Now the Jingbei Army can be considered scholars, namely Qin Zhijie, Duan Yun, Yun Yi, and Mr. Ge. Yun Yi was young and was not a member of the Jingbei Army, so if Mr. Ge was interested..."

Ge Danfeng refused to show any mercy, "Thank you for your appreciation, but I have forgotten what I read back then. Now Ge is just a rough man."

Chu Ling sighed lightly in his heart. He knew that Ge Danfeng was determined to join the army and was not forced to do so. He could only sigh: "In this way, Mr. Ge will teach the defense of Xinzhou and the fourth brother."

Di Jun turned his head to look at Ge Danfeng. Ge Danfeng thought for a moment and nodded silently. Chu Ling pressed Di Jun who wanted to speak and said, "Fourth brother, General Ge is also a descendant of a famous family. If you have time, you can learn more with him." Di Jun said a little unhappy: "What do I want to learn from him?"

Chu Ling smiled and said, "If you think you don't need to learn, I will transfer Duan Yun back. There is a shortage of people everywhere now. You can't let Xiao Duan follow you all the time to do those trivial matters for you, right?" Di Jun thought of the trivial matters that made him look three times wide, and then looked at Ge Danfeng, who looked at the scars on his face with a smile on the other side, and couldn't help but tremble and nodded in response.

It was already late at night when Chu Ling finished the matter and returned to the room arranged for him in the prefectural palace. Chu Ling stood at the door and looked at the lights still on. She thought it was the attentive person who was serving the underground in the mansion and wanted to sell it. She opened the door but saw Jun Wuhuan sitting at the table in the room reading a book. When she heard the door pushing, Jun Wuhuan looked back at her and smiled and said, "A Ling is back?"

Chu Ling walked in and looked at a big box next to the table with him and said in confusion: "It's so late, why haven't you sleep?"

Jun Wuhuan put the book in his hand aside, sighed lightly and opened the box in front of him, and a strong fragrance floated out of it.

While taking out the food from the food box and putting it on the table, Jun Wuhuan said helplessly: "I'm leaving, I have to wait for A Ling to come back and say goodbye. Unfortunately, A Ling has been very busy today..."

Chu Ling felt a little guilty when she heard this. She had not rested for half a quarter of an hour since she entered the city this morning. Not to mention seeing Jun Wuhuan, she even ate her meals. Jun Wuhuan had told her before that she was leaving today, but she had forgotten.

Jun Wuhuan looked at the guilty look on her face and couldn't help but chuckled. He pulled her to sit down and said, "I heard that you had eaten a few bites of rice in the afternoon. I have someone prepare some things you like, and eat some first."

Chu Ling sat down, looked at her and asked, "When will you leave? Have I delayed your trip?"

Jun Wuhuan said: "It doesn't matter if you leave tomorrow morning, it doesn't matter if you delay it for a day or a half."

Chu Ling said: "You have been with me in Xinzhou for so long, but now I am so busy that I don't even have time to say goodbye to you. When I come here, will I go to Cangyun City to see you?"

Jun Wuhuan laughed and said, "It is of course best if A Ling is willing to come to see me. I just hope that A Ling will like Cangyun City."
To be continued...