Since the Jin Dynasty moved eastward, there was little stability in the north and most of the time it was in a melee, but the population has been growing slowly. After Zhou included Qi in his territory in the sixth year of Jiande (557 AD), the population of Qi alone was 3.3 million, 20,200 households, totaling 20,600. With the population of Northern Zhou itself, the population in the north has reached more than 35 million.

Now it has been six years since the Great Zhou unified the north. Without mutual conquest between the two countries, the population has grown even faster. As people walked along the way, they could see many hard-working farmers cutting down the bushes on the plains and reclaiming wastelands in some villages.

Despite this, the population of more than 30 million is not as large as that of later generations. Faced with the vast land in the north, the population still seems to be a little sparse. Yang Yong saw more lush forests and clear flowing water along the way. For a long time, there were few people on the official roads except for merchants who came and went from south to north.

This kind of scenery is undoubtedly more valuable than the tall buildings that are all steel and concrete in later generations, or the bare loess slopes. However, Yang Yong did not sigh much. He has been integrated into this generation for seven years and has been used to seeing this kind of scenery. The memories from later generations are less and less in his mind. In addition to some useful things, Yang Yong has deliberately forgotten other things.

As the weather turned colder, the leaves of the trees on both sides of the road gradually began to fallen leaves. Yang Yong couldn't even remember how many prefectures he had walked through, but only knew that there were six more carriages filled with seeds from all over the country in the team.

On that day, the team was moving. A scout who was fighting in front of the station returned to report to Yang Yong: "Your Highness, Qingzhou is ahead."

"Qingzhou." Yang Yong couldn't help but sigh. He had arrived at the ground in Shandong without realizing it. Qingzhou was his last stop on this tour. After passing Qingzhou, he should return to the capital.

Qingzhou was one of the nine states in the world in ancient times, covering a large area from east to the Bohai Sea. At this time, Qingzhou only refers to the northern region from east to south of Shandong, connected to Zibo in the west, Changle County in the east, Yimeng Mountains in the south, and the northern Shandong Plain and Bohai Sea in the north. Qingzhou is the throat area and has always been a place that military strategists must fight for.

"Your Highness, do you want to notify the Qingzhou Governor to come and greet him?" Lu Mulin asked.

“How far is this place from Qingzhou?”

"It's less than thirty miles." Lu Mulin replied.

"Okay, just send someone to notify me."

"Yes." Lu Mulin nodded. When the two guards received the order, they clamped their legs, and their mounts screamed, leaving the brigade and rushed towards Qingzhou.

Yang Yong did not hide his actions along the way. Qingzhou probably received the news he was coming a few days ago. Even if he didn't know that he would arrive today, he could guess it almost. There was no need to conduct a private visit on the covers.

Qingzhou was indeed prepared. As soon as he received the notice of the guard, Qingzhou governor Wei Yi immediately took officials from Qingzhou from all over the city to greet him. The two sides met seven or eight miles away from the city.

Yang Yong was at the forefront. After a day of rushing, his body was covered with dust and was hugged by everyone in the center. The officials from Qingzhou confirmed the identity of the prince at a glance. Under the leadership of Wei Yi, dozens of officials from all over Qingzhou bowed together: "I am looking for the prince."

"Dear friends are exempted from the gift."

"Thank you, Prince." Everyone quickly stood up and let them go aside. Only Wei Yi brought several officials to Yang Yong to lead the way. Qingzhou belongs to Shangzhou, and the governor of Shangzhou is a third-rank high-ranking official. The so-called top-ranking no poor family. Wei Yi was born in the Wei family in Duling, Jingzhao.

Because Wei Xiaokuan stood on the court during the rebellion of Yuchi Jiong and became the chief general to wipe out the rebels of Yuchi Jiong, after Wei Xiaokuan's death, Yang Jian did not forget the contributions of the Wei family. In the past few years, there were many senior officials of the Wei family, including Wei Shikang, Minister of Rites Wei Chong, General of Yingzhou, Wei Feng, General of Cavalry, and Wei Ding, Minister of the Secretariat... If Wei Xiaokuan had not died early, the strength of the Wei family in Duling, Jingzhao, may not be under the Taishi Li Mu and Taiwei Yuyi.

As a disciple of aristocratic families, Wei Yi can be neither humble nor arrogant even when facing the prince. He stayed by Yang Yong's side all the way, and introduced some customs and customs in Qingzhou to Yang Yong as he walked.

Qingzhou is indeed a good thing for Shangzhou. The city walls in the distance are particularly tall and majestic. When many people in Qingzhou heard the news of the arrival of the prince, they crowded on both sides of the road to watch. The soldiers on both sides tried their best to maintain order on the official road. Yang Yong's guards also set up a wall on both sides to prevent the people from colliding with the prince.

"Where is the prince? Where is the prince?"

"Did you see it?"

"What does the prince look like?"

...

After the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, the court divided the land evenly and reduced the labor service and rent service. In addition, Qingzhou was originally a city with very developed handicrafts and commerce, and the lives of the people were much better than those of Qi and Zhou Shi. They were naturally grateful to the court. When they heard that the prince was visiting Qingzhou, they wanted to see the prince's style.

For safety reasons, when approaching the crowd, the guards of the East Palace had already surrounded Yang Yong on the inside and outside. Most of the people could not see the prince's face at all, and many people couldn't help but squeeze forward with all their might.

"Back, back." The Qingzhou soldiers on both sides were sweating profusely. These people were all the people of Qingzhou. They were all the villagers in the village. They were not going to go too far, but they really wanted to rush in and scare the prince. Even if they had a few heads, they wouldn't be enough to cut them down.

"Mr. Wei, it seems that the people of Qingzhou are very enthusiastic. Hasn't this the palace told me not to disturb the people?"

"Your Highness is the blessing of the people of Qingzhou. My uncle has not notified the people. They are all coming to welcome your nobles spontaneously." Wei Yi has lost his composure, and sweat beads flowed down his face one by one. He is also afraid that one or two bold people will squeeze the soldiers who maintain order and hit the prince.

"Forget it, I have guards to protect me, so you don't have to worry. Let everyone be careful not to hurt the people." Yang Yong walked along the way, although he did not hide his whereabouts, he basically entered the city quietly and rarely let the people watch like this. It was just that the people were full of enthusiasm. He could not hurt the people's feelings because the soldiers were too rough.

"Yes." Wei Yi wiped a cold sweat and finally let go of her heart.

The guards in front had already started to enter the city. Seeing that the prince's convoy had passed by most of the time, a few loud noises suddenly came, and several long arrows quickly cut through the air. Before the soldiers and the guards could react, they could only hear "por, por" sounds. A cluster of blood splashed out from the chests of several guards, and several long black arrows were trembling on the chests of the guards.

"There are assassins! There are assassins!" a shrill voice shouted.

Wei Yi was so scared that he almost fell off the horse's back. Someone was so brave that he dared to assassinate the prince. He was afraid that someone would hit the prince just now, but he didn't expect that an assassin would come in a blink of an eye.

"Your Highness is shocked, I will go and see what happened right away?"

Wei Yi was about to pull the horse away from Yang Yong, "Zheng." Several sounds of weapons hit me, and several guards from the East Palace pointed at Wei Yi with their weapons: "Don't move."

"Let him go and let Wei Qing go out." Yang Yong looked a little bad. He was rebelled along the way. He didn't expect that he would encounter another assassin in Qingzhou in the end. However, he did not lose his calmness and knew that Wei Yi was unlikely to be related to the assassin.

The places where several guards fell were already in chaos. These people just wanted to see the prince's appearance. They didn't expect to encounter assassination. Seeing the living guards falling under their noses, blood splashed everywhere, and they had already become messy and fled. Many people were squeezed to the ground and were stepped on. After a while, there were only a dozen people who were trampled in panic and moaned loudly, and some shoes that were trampled off.

"Where is the person?" Wei Yi had already arrived and asked in a daze at the open space.

Several soldiers from the palace pointed cowardly in front of them: "Sir, everyone has gone there."

Wei Yi looked forward and saw that many people were far away from the official road. Some people had already run into the woods next to him. The thoughts of these people were actually easy to understand. If they stayed there, they would probably be charged with Prince Xingla or accidentally injured by the assassin. But once they ran away, the assassins must have followed him.

"Quickly, surround them, and the assassin must be hidden among them."

The soldiers of the palace immediately reacted and several teams of soldiers rushed towards the direction away from the crowd.

"Run quickly, the government army is going to kill people."

Someone shouted in the crowd. When he saw the government army coming with weapons, the people who were a little scared when they saw them coming with weapons ran down all directions like a burst of fire.

"Don't run, don't run, squat down, don't move, otherwise you will be treated as an assassin." The officers and soldiers shouted and chased, finally blocking some people, but some people have already run into the dense forest. It is extremely difficult to track down the forest.

The guards of the East Palace did not participate in the pursuit. They had surrounded Yang Yong's position in a circle. There were three guards injured by the arrows. When they were lifted to Yang Yong, they could no longer speak. Lu Mulin checked the injuries of the three people and shook his head at Yang Yong: "Your Highness, the arrows they were heavily poisoned, and there is no help."

The entire guard team suddenly felt sad. Although some of these 300 people came from the East Palace and some came from the General's Mansion of the Left Guard, they had a deep relationship with each other after months of getting along with each other. Unexpectedly, nineteen of them died when they left the capital in Wanrong County, and twenty-one of them died in this assassination.

"Murder them well, write down their names, and each person will be given a pension of 200 stakes after they go back."

"Yes." Lu Mulin's voice also became low.

Human life is as low as grass. If the court's pension standard is followed, if the soldiers die, they can only get up to twenty guan. However, the government soldiers recruited by the court will be killed and cannot even get a permanent money. Although the 200 guan cannot be bought for a life, the guards next to him were still moved when they heard His Highness the Crown Prince's words.

"Yang Shi, Liu Hu, you two each lead a team of troops to assist Qingzhou assassins to investigate the assassins. Be sure to catch the murderer. You must not let the murderer who killed our guards escape the net." Yang Yong said in a sequel.

"Abide by the orders." The circle surrounding Yang Yong finally opened, and the two of them rode fifty horses and headed towards the direction where Wei Yi was.

"Let's go, let's go to the city first. Let Yang Shi and Liu Hu be responsible for the pursuit of the assassin."

"Yes." At this time, the people around were already far away, and no one blocked the road in the convoy. Just as Yang Yong was about to enter the city, a quarrel came from beside him, and everyone couldn't help but look in the direction of the dispute. Who was so bold that he dared to argue so loudly after the assassination of the prince.

As everyone expected, the people who were arguing next to him were two officials. They were all dressed in blue clothes and were not of high rank. One showed disdain on his face, while the other was passionate, pointing at the disdainful official and talking loudly, as if accusing the official.

Yang Yong was stunned for a moment, and a sense of anger surged in his heart. His guard was dead. The two officials were still quarreling by his side. He couldn't bear it anymore. He didn't care about going to the city first and shouted: "Bring them both here."

"Several guards stepped forward and quickly separated the two of them, lifted them like a chicken, and threw them on the ground with a thud. Their bodies were immediately covered in mud, and they quickly got up in a mess. They were just clamoring, but they were about to ask, and when they looked up, they saw the prince staring at them fiercely, they were shocked: "I am going to see His Highness the Prince."

"Why are you making noise?"

"Your Highness, this man is not chasing the assassin, and he actually wants to send troops to rescue the untouchables on the ground. When the empress refused his request, he kept chatting with the empress and cursing, Your Highness, this man may have an affair with the assassin. Please order him to arrest him, and you will know in the first instance." The official who had just looked disdainful and quickly replied.

"It's nonsense." Another official was so angry that his face turned red and his neck was thick when he saw his colleagues slandering him loudly.

"What kind of nonsense is that these people may be hiding assassins. You just need not arrest them. Instead, I will divide my troops to save them. What are you not an assassin's party?"

"Your Highness, this person is nonsense. These people are all good people. They have to suffer misfortune only to see Your Highness's appearance. If you don't treat it in time, you may be in danger of your life. Please order them to be treated for the sake of life."

Yang Yong looked in the direction the two of them said, and saw more than a dozen people lodged on the ground. Most of these people were injured when they were trampled. If there were assassins hidden inside, this assassin would be too stupid.

"As he said, I will pass the orders of this palace to help the trampled people."

"Thank you, Your Highness, your Highness has lived more than ten lives with just one thought of kindness." The official hurriedly thanked and was about to step down, Yang Yong hurriedly asked, "What's your name and any position?"

"Go back to Your Highness, the empress Fang Yanqian is the Sima of Qingzhou."

"Fang Yanqian, Sima of Qingzhou." Yang Yong thought again: "Okay, I will remember you, let's go down."

Hearing Yang Yong's words, the other officials were both envious and envious of Fang Yanqian. The officials who had just argued with Fang Yanqian were even more regretful, for fear that Yang Yong would punish him, and he was immediately uneasy.

Yang Yong shook his hand: "You go down too, help Fang Aiqing rescue the wounded. I thought I didn't hear what he said just now."

"Yes." The official also hurried down, but he felt relieved. With the order of the prince, the rest of the people would no longer dare to refuse to send troops. The more than ten injured people were quickly supported by the soldiers or carried them towards the direction where the doctor in the city was.

After searching for a long time, Wei Yi naturally returned in vain. When he came to the Qingzhou Governor's Mansion, Wei Yi reported to Yang Yong with a frustrated look on his face.

"Since you can't find the clue, you have a rough range."

Wei Yi gritted his teeth: "I think this matter cannot escape the scope of Shandong's high-ranking sects."

There are many high-ranking families in Shandong (generally referring to the Northern Qi region), and the most famous ones are the five surnames and seven families. The five surnames refer to the five surnames Cui, Lu, Li, Zheng, and Wang. Among them, the Li surnames are divided into two Lis in Zhaojun Longxi, and the Cui surnames are divided into two Cui in Qinghe Boling. These aristocratic families have hundreds of years of history. Families like the Pei family in Hedong can only be ranked second-rate.

If Zhou was established by Guanlong nobles, then Qi relied on the support of Shandong Gaomen. The two sides fought each other for decades when the East and West Wei split, and the Zhou and Qi dynasties fought each other for decades.

Although the final result was that the Great Zhou, which represented the Guanlong nobles, was not completely convinced. In order to weaken the resistance of the Shandong geniuses, Emperor Wu of Zhou frequently recruited scholars from Shandong to the court as officials. When Emperor Wu of Zhou destroyed Qi, he summoned 18 most famous scholars from Northern Qi, including Lu Sidao, Yan Zhitui, Li Delin, Xue Daoheng, etc., followed him to Chang'an.

Not only that, the Great Zhou also made many gentry in the city move to the inner city. In the first year of Zhou's demise, in the sixth year of Jiande, there were 40,000 soldiers who moved to Guanzhong. However, the results of this measure were still not ideal. Various families had already developed skills and scattered all over the country. Many gentry traveled to the countryside and did not return to office. Even when they arrived in Chang'an, they tried every means to turn around. For example, Xue Daoheng once believed that the Zhou Dynasty gave him a small official position and left, and it was not until Yang Jian usurped Zhou that he would re-enter the official position. Li Zhongju, Lu Changqi, Song Hu and others simply used their mother's illness as an excuse to escape the court's enlistment.

When Yuchi Jiong was in rebellion, the followers of Zhao and Wei followed him. In a few days, more than 100,000 people gathered in groups. These were the result of being supported by the Shandong High Sect. With Yuchi Jiong's failure, a group of Shandong high mountains were also brought in. The Lu family of Cui, Lu, Li, Zheng, and Wang almost all fell into it. Only one Lu Sidao was left in his direct descendants. That was because Yang Jiannian Lu Sidao was more talented than Lu Sidao.
Chapter completed!