On May 17, Governor Lei Haomiao informed the whole state that the warships outside the territory had self-destructed, capturing nearly half of their bodies, and the state government regained its prestige.
For a time, the chief officials of various counties and counties sent congratulations one after another, including many words of loyalty.
Ranzhou's army numbered 30,000, and Chen Bing was at the junction of Ruinan and Longfeng counties. The governor's envoy forcefully questioned Ruinan's military envoy Yan Luo, and a war was about to break out.
All the forces in Dingzhou, including Yan Luo, Lu Ding and other large and small forces, kept silent and did not want to rashly provoke Lei Haomiao.
But at this juncture, on May 18, Zhou Bai circulated an official document to all parties, and the Anbei Governor's Office was officially established.
What is this, a blatant provocation?
Yan Luo, who had just gained a foothold on his own feet and had yet to gain a foothold on his own, cursed loudly, "It's not you who are in front, why are you jumping like this when you have nothing to do?"
The governor was a loyal uncle conferred by the new emperor. He had received great favor from two generations of emperors and was loyal to the court.
Now he is bringing the power of victory to suppress the situation in Dingzhou. You must provoke him.
In fact, who doesn't know that the Governor is most likely just trying to show off, and if he continues to fight, no one will get any benefits.
How much manpower and material resources were invested in order to destroy the extraterritorial general ship in Longfeng County.
As a major cultivator in the Yangshen Realm, True Lord Shao Yuan is a being who can suppress a sect and suppress the luck of a great state.
Even he was seriously injured in this battle and could not come out of seclusion. It was difficult for the state army, including the Taoist priests, to gain favor.
Just how huge the number of those killed and wounded in battle was, let alone the fact that the state army was exhausted and the members of the Taoist Corps were in urgent need of time to adjust their breathing and recover, this could all be seen on the surface.
So why did Yan Luo still keep his eyebrows down after becoming independent? Because he knew that the governor would not take action easily, at least not now.
As for Zhou Bai taking the initiative to provoke, that's really not the case.
When I received the news that the state army was heading north, it was just a coincidence that the county dynasty was over.
He still did not expel any court officials in the Anbei Governor's Mansion, nor did he prohibit official interactions with the court. This was just a declaration.
Of course, Zhou Bai did not explain to the governor.
If you are willing to acquiesce, then everything will be fine for the time being. If you insist on suppressing it, then give it a beating.
The main thing is that, based on the information from various sources, the state government really has no conditions for war.
There are eight counties in Dingzhou: Biancheng County, Pinghe County, Xingyun County, Yongquan County (Dingxi), Beian County, Ruinan County, Longfeng County, and Dingzhou County (Dingdong).
The other military state, Cangbei County, which belongs to Dingzhou but is under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court, now only exists on the map.
Among the four counties of Dingxi, the Lu Ding family is the only one, and now basically controls the two counties of Pinghe and Xingyun. However, there is still a foreign warship entrenched in it, which is difficult to eradicate.
Yongquan County was the richest in Dingxi. However, due to the chaos caused by Daizhou's rebellion, the county was also in chaos. All forces were involved, and the state government could only maintain basic control over Yongquan County.
Border City County, as the name suggests, is located on the border, surrounded by grasslands or deserts on three sides, and is extremely barren.
As for the four counties of Dingdong, Zhou Bai of Beian County, Yanluo of Ruinan County, and Longfeng County, most of them were corrupted by the presence of generals.
At a glance, you can see that the governor, who was originally thought to be extremely powerful and difficult to resist, can only barely control half of the territory.
And among them, Biancheng County is an "enclave", Longfeng County still needs support from Dingzhou County, and only Yongquan County can be self-sufficient.
In other words, the only thing that Lei Haomiao can fully control and rely on to suppress the local area is Dingzhou County, the largest and richest base.
This is also similar to the pattern in Zhou Bai's memory of his previous life. Lei Haomiao, the governor of Dingzhou, followed the imperial court's policy, sticking to the foundation and waiting for the right time.
If your court only wants Zhongyu, or even Zhongzhou, then he can only want Dingzhou County.
Zhou Bai, who knew the inside story, really wasn't worried about Lei Haomiao going crazy unless he suddenly changed his personality.
On May 20, when the state government still had no response to the public statement of the Anbei Governor's Office, Zhou Bai "submitted a letter" to Lei Haomiao, reminding the state government to pay attention to the drought and not to engage in war without authorization.
Lei Haomiao actually used this letter to step down from office because of such a light and flamboyant letter, without even any sign of submission.
On May 23, 30,000 state soldiers withdrew from the border of Ruinan County. The state government sent a message to all counties to pay attention to protecting people's livelihood and resisting severe drought.
Zhou Bai's letter really reminded Lei Haomiao that there will be a severe drought after a major flood. This year, it has not rained in Dingzhou for two consecutive months.
When the spring planting began, it was the Dragon King of Ningjiang who helped. He diverted water vapor from the Ningjiang River to rain in Dingzhou so that the spring seedlings could survive.
The continuous military disasters and major droughts that caused the most concern during the peacetime were also deliberately ignored.
But the hero who really wants to run the place can't ignore it no matter what.
The summer harvest is around the corner, and production is about to be reduced again. If we continue to fight, the consequences of running out of grain reserves...
For a time, drought relief and food rescue became the main theme in Dingzhou.
Bei'an County is not connected to the Ningjiang River, so the drought is more obvious. The summer harvest reduction should have been a foregone conclusion, but Zhou Bai had already anticipated this severe drought and dug countless weirs and ponds to store water.
The former county governor, Yin Mu, is a person who listens to advice. Even if other counties are not as good as Pingcang, it can still be regarded as a major water conservancy construction project.
Originally, people like Lei Haomiao and Lu Ding knew what was happening and felt that even if there was a drought, they could get through it relying on the Ningjiang River.
But the rules of heaven and earth are automatically balancing water vapor, and heaven cannot issue rain decrees to intervene during this period.
The water in the Ningjiang River evaporates much faster than before, and before June, the water level has dropped ten feet.
In order to protect the source of water veins from serious losses and successfully survive the severe drought, Ningjiang Dragon King no longer supplies water vapor unconditionally.
There is a quota for the amount of water flowing out of each branch, which cannot guarantee basic irrigation for all acres, especially in areas far away from the Ningjiang River and out of reach of the priesthood.
This made the government, powerful forces, and families extremely anxious. While offering sacrifices to the Dragon King Temple, they searched everywhere for other water sources.
For example, Lu Ding even directly offered a reward. Anyone who could provide the location of springs, underground rivers, nameless streams and other water sources would be given an official title and rewarded with silver.
After the summer harvest, there will still be an autumn harvest. The entire first year of Tongzhi should be a severe drought, so Zhou Bai will not sit back and rest.
The water storage in various counties will definitely not be able to sustain the autumn harvest. At that time, is it difficult to ask the Dragon King for help every day?
The water system is blocked. In the absence of heaven's decree on rainfall, every time Ningjiang Dragon King comes to rain, it will consume a lot of divine power and the source of Ningjiang's water veins.
It’s okay to ask Him to help you once or twice, but if you ask Him for more help, you just don’t know what to do.
However, the Dragon King cannot help, and there are gods in Bei'an County who can help Zhou Bai.
At least it shouldn't be a problem to ensure water supply for the fields in the core areas of the vast plains around the county town.
On May 28th of the first year of Tongzhi, Zhou Bai led all the civil and military officials of the Dudu Mansion to go to Tingshan to worship the gods.
One is to offer sacrifices to the mountain god, and the other is to offer sacrifices to the water god.
At the top of Tingshan Mountain, Zhou Bai climbed up the stairs alone.
In the clouds and mist, the mountain god of Tingshan appeared for a while, but no formal sacrifice was needed to wake him up.
Because Zhou Bai couldn't avoid people when he arrived, the Qianlong Fortune who followed him was too eye-catching.
"I didn't expect that the little guy with a mean face and lack of luck in being a scholar is now the head of a county and has completed the most critical leap from dragon to carp." The words of admiration were not stingy in the mouth of the mountain god.
Zhou Bai bowed his hands and said, "Thank you to the mountain god for providing the information, which enabled our army to win a great victory."
The mountain god didn't take it seriously. He knew how much strength he exerted. The key was the person in front of him.
The more he observed Zhou Bai, the more he felt something strange in his heart. How close? Even awe?
He is an innate god, even if he is a hidden dragon, how can he be awed by him?
The mountain god suppressed his strange emotions and asked with some confusion: "Why are you offering sacrifices here? It's not time to fulfill the agreement, right?"
Zhou Bai put his hands on his back and leaned down to look down the mountain. The gurgling stream there was getting smaller and smaller.
"It cannot be fulfilled in full, but it can be fulfilled in part."
"Using the dragon soul from the same source as me and the Canglan River as a guide, using the wishes of millions of people in Bei'an as a sacrifice, I will burn the great fortune and revive the Canglan Water God."
…
After the county was stabilized and the Anbei Governor's Office entered normal operation, Zhou Bai began to inspect the seven counties.
Not only to familiarize themselves with their own territory, but also to see if there are any deficiencies in the local drought resistance. Well, by the way, we can eliminate some restless people.
In order to quickly unify Ruinan County, Yan Luo compromised with the major family forces, which made some people in the Dudu Mansion look down upon him, believing that such an unstable regime would make it difficult to fight a tough battle.
However, Zhou Bai did not make many compromises. He did not engage in violent purges in the four counties in the south of the county and Yuanmin County in the north of the county.
Even though many local wealthy families had a lot of resentment, he tolerated them all.
Xuanyiwei collected a lot of "criminal evidence" during this period, including that these people secretly colluded, resisted government orders, disobeyed officials, blocked the construction of militia teams, etc.
The transfer of imperial power to the countryside did, to some extent, touch upon the fundamental interests of local wealthy families.
For example, in the Junbei area, when many villagers have conflicts among themselves, they first go to the rural bureau to report the matter to the local squire instead of asking the "officials" to resolve the case.
Pingcang County, which has the most complete rural militia system, no longer recruits squires to serve as grain chiefs even for the most critical grain taxes. All taxes are collected by retired militiamen serving as village chiefs and district chiefs in cooperation with the militia.
Zhou Bai was patrolling from north to south, and he was accompanied only by Zhou Qi, the new commander of the Xuanyi inner guard, and a group of soldiers who were selected from the army and were successful in martial arts, with average per capita above the mid-term Houtian realm.
They followed Zhou Bai on his tour, not only as thugs, but also as martial arts instructors in each county.
Whenever he arrived at a certain place, Zhou Bai would sit directly in the county government office and personally summon the heads of the wealthy families in the county and township listed in Xuanyiwei's files.
If Zhou Bai is willing to come and has a good attitude towards admitting his mistake, he will hold it high and put it down gently according to the "crime".
If they don't arrive, soldiers will be sent to claim it. If a crowd gathers to resist, troops will be dispatched to suppress it. The grain and money obtained will be enough to fill the treasury.
With the 300,000 immigrants from Cangbei County and the several wars in the process of unifying Bei'an, no matter how rich the savings are, it will inevitably be spent too much.
Originally, when Sun Yucheng went on a military rampage and captured Bei'an City, the grain storage in major warehouses was less than 20%.
By the first year of Tongzhi, it was impossible to use money to purchase grain on a large scale.
The merchants are willing, but the imperial court and Jiedushi who rule the place are not willing.
Of course, if you kill a group of people to establish your authority, you must support a group of people to appease them.
Under Zhou Bai's order, many families on the white list brought their children to meet at the county government office.
The time to hold the imperial examination was not ripe, and he did not have time to talk one by one. After just a natal test, the quotas for a group of township officials and township officials were distributed.
After traveling through seven counties, Zhou Bai did indeed get a group of talents, and there were more than ten people who were appointed by him.
There are also two real treasures left in the ocean, Zhao Xi and Wen Hongchang. One has a light yellow natal life, and the other has a red and yellow natal life.
The two of them definitely no longer need to start as village officials, but are directly taken away by Zhou Bai and appointed as the ninth-rank secretaries of the Secretary Pavilion.
Is it fair? It is certainly unfair to others, but valuable talents will be treated like this wherever they are placed.
Zhou Bai doesn't have the ability to change the rules yet, he can only adapt to the rules and make use of them.
After a bloody suppression without the use of an army, all the strange sounds disappeared, and confiscated food and money filled the treasury.
The amount of money is almost as large as the total profit since controlling the grassland trade routes, and the amount of food is comparable to the total output of Pingcang County in a year.
This also made Zhou Bai sigh, no one is rich without windfall, and the same is true for a force.
No wonder Sun Yucheng was able to launch an army, because he occupied the county and the Qi family's property alone was an astronomical figure.
Historically, including in today's troubled times, what many grassroots like to do most is to confiscate homes.
Robbery from the rich and giving to the poor is a slogan that will never fade.
It's just that the destiny pattern of this world means that he is destined not to go too far, otherwise he will kill the goose to obtain the egg, and it will be difficult to unify the world.
In early June, the inspection tour ended, and all martial arts training in each county was sent to each county and township.
Zhou Bai ordered the establishment of martial arts official schools, which were divided into three levels: county, county and township. The higher the talent and martial arts training of martial arts students, the easier it would be to enroll in county-level martial arts schools.
In addition, in order to prevent the folk martial arts from losing control after the arrival of the spiritual tide, martial arts official schools also allow students to enroll in martial arts.
As long as martial artists have reached the acquired realm or above, they can enjoy the benefits of county-level martial arts, including simultaneous teaching of innate skills.
Of course, as long as they learn the innate skills, the warrior must choose to serve the governor, join the army, serve as a teacher, join other yamen in the governor's mansion, etc.
Civilian warriors have always loved freedom and did not like to be controlled, but after all the news spread from the Dudu Mansion, all the warriors went crazy.
The technique taught by Wu Banxian? Direct access to Xiantian, and even hope to follow the path of Wu Banxian and explore the scenery above Xiantian?
Civilian warriors would definitely not believe this statement if it were any other force, but who is the Governor of Anbei?
He is a Jinshi Celestial Being, the successor of the Heavenly Lord and Demon-Suppressing General. For such a figure who is closely related to Heaven, who dares to say that the news is false.
What's more, the county-wide military deployment promoted by the Anbei Governor's Office has officially begun.
The third-level martial arts official school is free on a large scale and teaches basic exercises to the people. The main content is derived from the body-forging realm method of innate skills.
Any boy who is over nine years old and under fourteen years old and successfully exercises within one month can enter the martial arts official school.
After verification by some martial arts seniors, the basic skills taught by the martial arts official school are indeed better than most of the skills circulated in the martial arts. The follow-up skills are very worth looking forward to.
Xiantian, martial arts banished to immortality, can also become an official with martial arts achievements...
Soon, not only the martial arts community in Bei'an, but also martial artists from other counties in Dingzhou flocked to Bei'an County to report to the martial arts official school.
The spiritual tide of June is approaching, and martial arts has become popular.
Zhou Bai really wanted to see who the unlucky extraterrestrial demons who invaded his Anbei Governor's Mansion were.
(End of chapter)
