The autumn rain continued, and in the afternoon, Captain Hu Yan returned to Dongdu.

I didn't have time to meet my family and friends, so I galloped in through the self-built Chunmen, went up Tian Street to the north, crossed Xinzhong Bridge, crossed Chengfu Square, and went straight to the "Island in the Lake" where Jing'an Terrace is located.

It is indeed an island in the lake. This autumn rain obviously has a huge impact. The water system around Jing'an Terrace, which is the downstream of the drainage of Ziweigong and Shanglinyuan, has obviously surged and flooded directly to the shore, causing several external bridges to lose their bridge decks.

Not only that, the Luoshui water on the road also seemed to have swelled a bit too much... This made Hu Yan a little uneasy, because he had been in Jing'antai for many years, almost when the place was first put into use, and he had never seen anything like this.

Look.

It’s not like I’ve never seen heavy rain or heavy rain, and it hasn’t been as high as this, right?

"The Luoshui River is blocked." Bai Shou, an elder who was on duty behind the bridge, easily gave the answer. "No one has cleaned it for two or three years."

"Is the blockage so serious?" Hu Yan was even more puzzled. "The river is so wide and deep..."

"It's not just that the inside of Luoshui is blocked, but also that the ditch leading into Luoshui is blocked." Bai Shou said with a bitter smile. "Especially in Xiyuan and Ziwei Palace, no one takes care of the decorations there. It's been a dry summer.

, the ditches were all clogged with dead branches and leaves. As a result, a heavy rain flooded the entire Xiyuan, and everything rushed into the river. Then the water gate in the west of the city was not blocked, but the water outlet in the east was blocked... Jinwu Guard

There are only three melons and two dates left, and we all went to salvage and clean up the debris."

Hu Yan heard it desolately, but knowing the whole story, he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he honestly went in, tied the horse, and went to the black tower. I don't know if it was an illusion, but the black tower actually looked strange in the autumn rain.

It was somewhat dilapidated, which in turn deepened the uneasiness that Captain Hu was suppressing.

After giving his name, he entered the tower. After a while, with the sound of wind chimes, he was summoned, saying that Uncle Cao Huang was at the top of the tower. With fear and uneasiness, Hu Yan came here, saluted, and gave the two messages simply and directly.

After finishing speaking, he then bowed his head and stood in silence, folding his hands, waiting for instructions.

Unexpectedly, Lieutenant Hu stood there and was speechless for a long time. He could only hear the rain dripping outside.

After a while, probably because he was really uneasy, Hu Yan raised his head carefully and saw a scene that surprised him - the majestic pillar of the country, the great master, the Prime Minister of Jing'an Taichung, Emperor Cao, with his beard and hair in disarray and his eyes red.

He was obviously listening to his subordinate reporting on important military information, but he was actually in a trance, seemingly just staring at the rain outside in a daze.

Hu Yan just glanced at it and lowered his head.

And this action alerted the Grand Master, who finally said: "I understand... Were you here, Lao Hu, during the first battle in Yancheng?"

"Here." Hu Yan immediately lowered his head and said again.

"How did you lose specifically?" Although Cao Lin spoke, his movements remained unchanged. "I want to hear your side of the story."

Hu Yan did not dare to be negligent, let alone lie. Starting from the fact that he heard that the Huaixi Army was dispatched to support Yancheng in a hurry, he did not miss any details and explained the battle of Yancheng clearly.

"So it's just God's will?" Cao Lin sighed.

Hu Yan was about to speak but stopped.

"Speak if you want to." Cao Lin finally turned around. "Even old Jing'an like you, who followed me from the Western Capital to the Eastern Capital, is unwilling to speak. Who else can I talk to?"

Hu Yan did not dare to be negligent and immediately replied: "To be honest with you, I think God's will is God's will, but the slackness of people's hearts is the most important thing... I just said that the water came out that night. The reason why it was so fast and urgent is different from this year's

The drought in China and the disrepair of water conservancy are directly related, but in places like Yingchuan, which is close to Dongdu, no one cares about water conservancy maintenance. This is something that I never dared to think about before."

Cao Lin thought of the recent flooding in Dongdu. He nodded and agreed, but then asked: "How can people deal with it?"

Hu Yan responded with silence, as if he hadn't thought of this level, or rather he didn't dare to talk about it.

"Actually, people's hearts are easy to control." Cao Lin suddenly laughed. "Some people advised me not to count on Jiangdu. I should help the emperor's eldest grandson up early and respect the saint as the supreme emperor. Then I will issue an order to let the army from Jiangdu return to the court.

, Jiangdu's imperial guards missed their hometown and would definitely take advantage of the situation to return. Some people even said that they could take the opportunity to grant amnesty to the world and resettle them on the spot. Zhang San was granted the title of King of Qi, Xiao Hui was granted the title of Prince of Liang, the British Crown Prince was granted the title of King of Jin, and Li

Hong was granted the title of King of Xiliang... When the imperial army came back, he would first sweep Xiliang and resist the Wu clan, then go to Xiangfan and go down the river to annihilate Jiangnan. Then he would gather the wealth of Jiangnan, the craftsmen of Bashu, and the military force of Guanxi.

Take the land of Jin and go to Hebei..."

Hu Yan didn't dare to speak anymore.

"But how can things be so simple?" Cao Lin suddenly changed the topic. "Not to mention that the hearts of the people in the hometown of Dong Qi and Nan Chen will never return. Just a grandson who supports the emperor may not be able to win the hearts of the people. On the contrary,

We must first disgrace people... There are so many rebels now, and the world is known as the four hundred states and counties. There are probably two or three hundred of them who use weapons and taxes and take their own taxes. But they are as powerful as the Bai family, and they rise suddenly like the Xiao family.

As cunning as the Zhang family, they have not proclaimed themselves emperor, or even proclaimed themselves king... If I were to depose him first, I would probably break the hearts of the last loyal ministers of the Wei Dynasty and be taken advantage of by others. Li Twelve Lang

They still think simply."

Only then did Hu Yan know that this plan came from Li Qingchen.

Thinking about it, before he left, those elites who were at the peak of Jing'antai's final lineup seemed to be the only ones still there now, including Li Qingchen and Qin Er, but Qin Er... probably couldn't hold on any longer, that is, Li Qingchen

Such an idea would come up.

As for the others, the few eunuchs are mostly brave and foolhardy. It is already remarkable that the first eunuch and the second eunuch can hold up a county. But for old people like me, they were already wasted by the officialdom of the Eastern Capital before they left.

.

At this thought, Hu Yan was somewhat touched, but he forcibly violated his daily philosophy, raised his head, and spoke sincerely: "Zhongcheng, Li Twelve Lang definitely has good intentions... and the situation has reached this point.

, they young people are always unconvinced, and often don’t know that one thing affects the whole body.” Girlfriend.

"I'm not convinced either." Cao Lin's face became a little more lively, and then he looked at the old subordinate in front of him again. "In the nearly twenty years since I received the order of the late emperor, I have never had the slightest deviance or slack off...

Even though my talents and virtues are slightly lacking, my cultivation can be considered useful here... But since the conquest of Dongyi seven or eight years ago, things suddenly went wrong. Looking at the situation,

Things are getting worse day by day, people's hearts are getting worse day by day, but I seem to be powerless to do anything. Why should I be convinced by such a situation?"

Hu Yan was silent for a moment, and finally gave up: "Zhongcheng, Zhongcheng thought it was wrong seven or eight years ago, but I think it was wrong twelve or thirteen years ago."

Cao Lin was slightly startled and immediately asked, "When was that?"

"That was when the imperial court succeeded in splitting the Wu Clan, especially when the western tribes of the Wu Clan were directly attached to it, and the leaders came together to see them." Hu Yan answered seriously. "It was His Majesty who issued an order to wrap silk around all the great people in the east capital.

That time about the tree... At that time, I was worried about the betrothal gift because I wanted to propose marriage to my wife. At that time, I thought that I might as well become a thief and steal a few pieces of silk... but I didn't dare."

Cao Lin was silent for a moment, and then nodded with difficulty: "What you said makes sense... I only felt that this matter was inappropriate at the time. It wasn't until I became the head of my own business in the past two years and interfered more in finances and people's livelihood that I realized

It’s too bad, because my family, officials, soldiers and civilians are all poor, so how can there be any reason to take out so many things and just tie them to a tree to save face?”

"Then," Hu Yan continued. "I once heard someone say that Zhang Xing decided to rebel because of something else that day..."

"What's going on?" Cao Lin became more serious.

"In Nanchen's hometown, he found out that when he went to Jiangdu to supervise the autumn tax, he found out that one acre of land was reported as three acres and three times the land tax was collected." Hu Yan also took it seriously. "I came back then.

I noticed that his mood was much worse, but later I heard what other people in the team said... It was said that Zhang Sanlang told people in private at that time that since the imperial court had done such a thing and had done it for decades, it would be impossible not to do the opposite.

Yes, otherwise it would be against the law of heaven..."

"Fart!" Cao Lin was still trying to endure it, but when he heard the word "Tiandao", he suddenly shouted loudly. "What qualifications does he have to discuss the Tao of Heaven?! The four supreme beings only dared to discuss it after they became enlightened!"

When the wind chimes suddenly sounded, Hu Yan immediately woke up and then kept silent.

Everyone below knows that Uncle Cao has been stubborn from the beginning, which is also an important reason why he became a conservative in Nanya. That is, when he was young, he happened to experience the founding process of the Wei Dynasty. He firmly believed that the founding emperor actually raised

His eldest brother was the most amazing and powerful person in the world. For this reason, the great master almost unconditionally supported the late emperor's various policies.

The most important one is to implement Guanlong-oriented thinking by discriminating and squeezing the hometown of Nanchen and Dongqi, storing money and food in large areas, relocating local Ningdan and above masters, including Jing'an Taiwan itself, which regularly inspects and monitors local powerful people.

Suppression is essentially based on the same type of thinking.

A bolt of lightning flashed across, and a moment later, there was a rumble outside the black tower, and the sound of rain began to rain rapidly again. Uncle Cao Huang also inexplicably extinguished his anger, and instead continued to ask: "Did he really say that?"

"Yes...it should be, right?" Hu Yan said cautiously.

Cao Lin shook his head: "No matter how arrogant this person is, he is still a little Zhang Shizhao. You can still listen to Zhang Shizhao's words... However, he means this from the perspective of the people of Dongqi and Nanchen.

, I also admit that in the current situation of the Wei Dynasty, we can only go back to the time when the three kingdoms stood side by side, and then use Guanlong as the foundation and annihilate the other two kingdoms before we can make great achievements again."

Hu Yan was inexplicably confused: "But, the Wei Dynasty... isn't the most fundamental purpose of the Wei Dynasty to unify the world?"

"Of course."

"But if that's the case... why should we let the policy of disintegrating the world and returning to the situation of three families coexisting?" After Hu Yan asked this, he immediately lowered his head.

Cao Lin did not reply to the other party. Maybe he already had the answer in his heart, but he was unwilling to admit it. In fact, after being silent for a long time, the royal master suddenly asked his old subordinate a seemingly irrelevant question: "You know

What did I visualize when I became an elixir?"

Hu Yan shook his head repeatedly: "The people below have a lot of speculations, but the officials really don't know the truth."

"It's a rope." Cao Lin sighed. "It's a rope that binds people and ourselves... It's not a law that I tell others in private... In my life, I have been tied to the late emperor and the great Wei Dynasty.

Yes." Girlfriend

Hu Yan was both a little surprised and a little surprised.

"Let's not talk about this... Now that we are here, I am short of manpower, so do me a favor." Cao Zhongcheng continued to give instructions. "I said, you write it, and then hang it on the rope hook on the wall in front of me."

Hu Yan naturally bowed his head and said yes.

"Zhao Tuo, the governor of Huaiyang, Cao Wang, the governor of Liang County, Feng Wuyi of Zhao County, Yuan Baocun of Wuyang County, Chen Ling of Diaoyin County, Zhao Yan of Brazil County, Gong Gao of Lelang..." Cao Lin blurted out,

He said more than a dozen names in one breath.

Hu Yan also wrote a dozen names and local states and counties, and then hung them side by side under the rope hook on the wall on the top floor of the tower as required. He knew that these people were probably imperial officials, and then changed their flags or did not change their flags.

, an independent or semi-independent individual state and county power.

"The second highest official in Daijun, Mang King Kong of Huaiyang, Chen Kuo, the king of Hengshan, Wang Zhuo, the internal servant of the army, Zhu Zhou of Yiyang..."

These are all rebel armies, occupying an area generally less than or at least the size of a county, and there are actually more than a dozen.

"Li Ding of Wu'an County and Xue Ting of Jincheng County." Cao Lin continued. "Hang these two names side by side, then pull off the rope and raise the position so that it is half a height higher than the other dozen or so."
To be continued...