The weather is getting colder day by day, and the dew on the grass and trees is gradually changing to hoarfrost, and I see that the long winter is coming again. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The battle report of Chang'an reached Qingzhou through the post station yesterday, and the news of King Zhao's capture caused a thousand waves for a while.

The people cheered, not only to celebrate the victory in the war, but also to look forward to the return of their sons and husbands from afar.

The officials naturally thought much more than the people, and the king of Zhao was captured, and the divided Great Chongqing Kingdom was once again condensed into one, basically speaking, the Great Chongqing State was superficially unified.

And this unified situation is even stronger than when Xiao Wenxuan was there, after all, the king of Wei, the king of Yan, and the king of Liang are all dead, and this king of Zhao will inevitably die in the end.

In this way, the only remaining vassal kings were the king of Chu, the king of Huainan, the king of Yong, the king of Ruyang and the king of Shu.

In the eyes of the ministers, except for the king of Chu, who can be called a threat, the other vassal kings are no longer worried.

"Your Majesty, the army has consumed a lot of money outside, and now that the war is going well, you only need to leave Luo Hong's army to attack Zhaodi, and the rest of the army should return to their respective stations as soon as possible."

In the political hall, Pang Yukun said loudly.

Xiao Ming nodded, the army that was fighting abroad during the Western Expedition almost emptied the treasury, and now Xiao Ming really realized that the so-called war was really making money.

In addition, in this war, he requisitioned 390,000 strong men to transport grain, grass and ammunition, and these strong men also needed to eat and drink.

And because of their participation in the war, the production of grain in the states has also been somewhat affected this year.

There are no strong men in the family, which has caused many people to reduce the land they cultivate, and even some people have to abandon the land.

However, this is only one of the negative effects of the Northern War, and the most headache for Xiao Ming is the former Yandi, Liangdi, and the royal land west of Yunzhou.

Not only were these captured cities unable to bring him any taxes, but the plundering and wars of the Three Kings had displaced the people of these regions, and the governors of the prefectures and counties had instead asked him for money and food to help the victims.

In the past, the Qingzhou treasury was relatively wealthy, but now after expanding the scope of its rule to the entire north, it is really like water entering the sea.

"Quasi-play!" Xiao Ming spit out two words, "In addition to Niu Ben, let the armies of King Huainan and King Yong also return to their respective feudal countries, otherwise my treasury will be eaten by them." “

All the ministers smiled helplessly when they heard this, and this time King Yong and King Huainan showed a very positive attitude in the war, which made the court very satisfied.

It's just that the grain and grass for the expedition of these two armies are borne by the imperial court, and King Yong needless to say, Yongdi is now poor, and if there is no money and food, his soldiers may have mutinied long ago.

When the king of Huainan attacked Yingzhou, he paid for his own food, but after marching to Chang'an, he asked the court to provide grain and grass.

The king of Huainan is not taking the opportunity to blackmail, this Huainan country is a second-class feudal country, talent and financial resources are limited, Yingzhou is very close to the king of Huainan, and the grain and grass can be supplied, but he can't maintain the supply of grain and grass all the time on the expedition to Chang'an.

In general, he was self-sufficient in the first half of the war, and ate to the imperial court after the battle of Juyongguan.

Nearly 200,000 more troops to eat at once was naturally a heavy pressure on the Qingzhou treasury, after all, he also spent a lot of silver in order to buy various mineral resources to make guns and ammunition.

At the same time, the north was broken, and the business chain in the north was also broken, which reduced the profit of the chamber of commerce a lot.

Now the maintenance of the profits of the Chamber of Commerce basically depends on trade with the King of Chu and the Dutch.

Talking about the withdrawal of the army, Pang Yukun continued: "Your Majesty, this time General Niu has been like a bamboo, and there are seven in Shangzhou, fifteen in Zhongzhou, thirty-six in Xiazhou, and a total of one hundred and sixty-three counties under the state. ”

As the saying goes, it is easy to fight the country and it is difficult to defend the country, Xiao Ming's army laid so much land, and then faced the problem of management.

He said: "As Pang Shoufu said, there are indeed not so many officials in Qingzhou now, and now there is an urgent need for a group of experienced officials to manage these places for me and restore the people's livelihood, and I have received news that the barbarians have withdrawn their troops from Goryeo, and then the barbarians will inevitably launch an attack on the passes on the first line of the Great Wall. ”

"Your Majesty, in fact, it is very simple to solve this problem, there are many officials in this Chang'an City, and when General Niu attacked the prefectures and counties, there were also many local wealthy families to help, and there were always clansmen in the prefectures and counties among these wealthy families, as long as the emperor could appoint them, the management of these prefectures and counties would not be a problem."

"I have naturally thought about this question, but can these officials and wealthy families be trusted?" He was thinking about this when he received the war report, and found that the only way to appoint the old officials of the states and counties was to appoint them.

Now he finally understood why when Cao Cao fought Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, those advisers shouted surrender one by one.

Because they knew very well that with a different master, that master would still need their help in managing the conquered land.

It's just that even so, this official has to choose and choose, try to keep the good officials, and let the bad officials go home.

"Your Majesty, when the lower officials were in Chang'an, they all knew a little about the officials in the Great Chongqing Kingdom, and the lower officials were willing to take on this position to select useful officials for the emperor." Fiji said positively.

Seeing this, Pang Yukun suddenly laughed: "Fei Ge Lao has always been concerned about his own affairs, how can he be so concerned about the appointment of this official now." “

"Pang Shoufu's words are wrong, it is the duty of a minister to share worries for the emperor." Fiji said with a smile.

Pang Yukun was vigilant in his heart, the appointment of this official was an extremely sensitive matter, and if Fiji was allowed to monopolize power, he was afraid that he would gather a large number of officials for himself.

Now that the conservative's voice in the court is getting bigger and bigger, he is becoming more and more uneasy, so he said to Xiao Ming: "Your Majesty, the old age of Feige is high, and I am afraid that some things are beyond my strength, and the lower officials are willing to share this matter for Feige Lao." “

Xiao Ming's eyes roamed back and forth between the two of them, and he said, "In this case, this matter of selecting and appointing officials will be jointly drawn up by you, and then handed over to me for review after it is decided." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." The two said in unison.

After a pause, Xiao Ming continued: "Feeling the rebellion of the feudal kings this time, I am determined to learn to strengthen the Qin and change the law to strengthen the country, and officials are the top priority in the implementation of the new policy. ”