Chapter 615: Rising Army and Expansion

Chen Hengchang was stunned, and then looked out the door, but there was no figure outside.

Just when he couldn't help but want to continue asking questions, footsteps came from the door.

Two people came, one was a familiar person, Ji Feiyu, and the other was a figure covered in a cloak.

The two walked into the tea room, and Ji Feiyu bowed and said: "Your Highness, I, Ji Feiyu, greet you! I greet the leader!"

Chen Hengchang hurriedly stood up and helped him up, and said in surprise and joy: "Uncle, when did you come back?"

After the death of King Qing, Chen Hengchang was entrusted to Ji Feiyu. For more than 20 years, Ji Feiyu has been assisting Chen Hengchang wholeheartedly.

"Just came back yesterday!" Ji Feiyu showed a stiff smile, and there was a little more warmth in his sinister eyes.

Chen Hengchang happily pulled Ji Feiyu's arm and was about to sit down.

"How has my uncle been these past two years?"

"Yes, Your Highness, let me introduce someone to you!"

At this time, Chen Hengchang paid attention to the figure standing beside Ji Feiyu.

Under the cloak, an ugly face and a pair of calm eyes were revealed.

The reason why it was called ugly was that the face was covered with hideous scars.

Chen Hengchang felt that this person had an inner character that was completely inconsistent with his appearance.

The scars on his face were extremely ugly, but the eyes were deep and calm, and the temperament of this person, even if the whole body was covered in a cloak, gave people a feeling of elegance and nobility.

"Who is he?"

"Lv Hua, the former admiral of the Zhenbei Division of the Secret Guard." Ji Feiyu said.

Yes, the person in front of him was Lv Hua.

As for why he was with Ji Feiyu.

This is a long story.

Since Chen Zhongshu cleared out the people planted by the Shenyang Cult in Kyoto, many secrets of the Secret Guard had been in the hands of the Shenyang Cult, and even many of the Secret Guard's spies had been bought by the Shenyang Cult.

Later, Wang Zhongzhi reshaped the Secret Guard, but he did not clear out all the Shenyang Cult members hidden in the Secret Guard.

Even as time went on, the power of the Shenyang Cult in the Secret Guard grew stronger and stronger.

The Secret Guard could not find any trace of the Shenyang Cult, not because the Secret Guard was not strong enough, but because the Shenyang Cult had already cannibalized the Secret Guard.

Later, Wang Zhongzhi passed away, and the Secret Guard was completely out of control and was almost controlled by the Shenyang Cult.

When Lu Hua discovered this, he originally wanted to investigate the Secret Guard and catch all the people of the Shenyang Cult in one fell swoop, but unfortunately, before he could do anything, the Secret Guard took him down first.

He became a prisoner of the Shenyang Cult, but the Shenyang Cult did not treat him as blood food, and Ji Feiyu wanted to subdue him.

He was imprisoned by Ji Feiyu for five years. He had been on Heishan Island for five years. It was not until three months ago that he decided to surrender.

"Your Highness, I, Lv Hua, pay my respects to you!" Lv Hua bowed, but he only bowed to Chen Hengchang and did not bow to Lin Fuan.

"It turned out to be you!" Chen Hengchang looked at him in astonishment.

Then he looked at Lin Fuan beside him and asked, "The person the master is talking about is Lv Hua?"

"Yes, it's him!" Lin Fuan looked at Lv Hua deeply and said.

Chen Hengchang was a little puzzled. He knew that Lv Hua had been imprisoned on Heishan Island. After all, Heishan Island was his territory, but he didn't understand why Lin Fuan had to wait for Lv Hua to come.

Could a Lv Hua still affect the overall situation?

Lin Fuan said, "We need him to form the Blood Robe Guard!"

"Blood Robe Guard?" Chen Hengchang looked at Ji Feiyu.

Ji Feiyu said: "The Blood-Robed Guard is a spy organization established on the basis of the Secret Guard. Although we now control most of the Secret Guard's power, we still don't know many of its secrets. The operation of the Secret Guard also requires a familiar person to be responsible, so we thought of Lu Hua!"

They kept Lu Hua because they valued Lu Hua's ability. Rebuilding the Secret Guard is much more difficult than destroying it. Now the Secret Guard has basically been destroyed by them, and many secret lines and spies have lost contact, making it impossible for them to completely control the Secret Guard.

Therefore, they need a real high-level of the Secret Guard to rebuild the Secret Guard. Of course, it will not be called the Secret Guard in the future, but renamed the Blood-Robed Guard.

"Are you willing to help me?" Chen Hengchang said.

"I am willing to serve your highness!" Since Lu Hua is here, he will naturally not refuse again.

"Hahaha, good, good, with the help of Eunuch Lu, this king is like a tiger with wings, great good!"

Chen Hengchang laughed happily, and he pulled Eunuch Lu to sit down to show his closeness.

He called himself the King because his father was the King of Qing, and he inherited his father's throne, so he was naturally the King of Qing.

Lu Hua sat next to him calmly, without saying much.

After Chen Hengchang laughed, he looked at Lin Fuan with bright eyes, "Should we start a rebellion next?"

Lin Fuan said, "As long as Your Highness is ready, then start a rebellion!"

Chen Hengchang's eyes flashed, "Master doesn't plan to help me?"

He and Lin Fuan are master and apprentice, but not master and apprentice.

Becoming a disciple is just to bring the two sides closer, but everyone understands that they are just a cooperative relationship.

Lin Fuan shook his head slightly, "Shenyang Sect is just the backing of Your Highness, but it cannot stand in front of the stage!"

"Shenyang Sect has a bad reputation. If Your Highness starts an army in the name of Shenyang Sect, it will only be rejected by the world."

"So Your Highness wants to start an army in his own name, and Shenyang Sect will secretly help Your Highness!"

This is the experience he summed up based on the previous experience of the Shenyang Sect's uprising. Although that happened more than 150 years ago, the world still retains the memory of the Shenyang Sect, and those memories have already formed a stereotype.

Once the Shenyang Sect rises again, it will inevitably be attacked by the court and various forces.

Therefore, this time they must not expose the existence of the Shenyang Sect.

For the Shenyang Sect, the uprising is just the beginning. Next, the Shenyang Sect will hide behind Chen Hengchang, helping Chen Hengchang to gain the world while continuing to accumulate strength.

At the same time, Lin Fuan will also clean up the Shenyang Sect, wash away the dirt of the Shenyang Sect, and let the Shenyang Sect be reborn.

If the Shenyang Sect wants to see the light of day again, it must stand in front of the world cleanly, otherwise the Shenyang Sect will not be able to subdue the world.

He doesn't want the Shenyang Sect to continue to be a rat in the gutter. He wants the followers of the Shenyang Sect to become human beings and live under the sun.

Of course, doing so would cost the Shenyang Sect a heavy price, and even lose the foundation for rapid growth, but Lin Fuan was still determined to do so.

Because he had had enough of living in the gutter, he also wanted to be upright and praised by the world.

In short, he also wanted to be a good person, and he also wanted to lead the disciples and believers of the Shenyang Sect to become good people.

It sounds a bit funny that a group of extremely evil people want to be good people.

But this is what Lin Fuan wants to do most. He is not a born evil person, he is just a poor man who cannot choose his life.

Now he wants to break free from the shackles of fate and wants to become a superior person in an open and aboveboard manner. This is not difficult to understand.

As for those Shenyang believers, they are just tools for him to break free from fate.

Therefore, he is willing to cooperate with Chen Hengchang and assist Chen Hengchang.

Xingyue sixteenth year, that is, August eight of the third year of Jianxing.

Chen Hengchang summoned 8,000 warriors in Jiujiang Prefecture to start a rebellion, and raised the banner of "punishing the tyrant, destroying the treacherous ministers, rebuilding Darong, and saving the people".

Chen Hengchang started the rebellion in the name of the grandson of Prince Zhaoyuan, and it was fair to use the banner of rebuilding Darong.

Emperor Chengping was named Chen Zhaowu, and before Emperor Chengping ascended the throne, Chen Zhaoyuan was the prince of Darong. It was only because Chen Zhaoyuan died of illness that Emperor Chengping inherited the throne.

Chen Hengchang and Emperor Jianxing Chen Zhaojun were brothers. According to the generation name, Chen Hengchang should be called Chen Zhaochang. In fact, he was originally called Chen Zhaochang. After Prince Qing was defeated and fled to Heishan Island, he changed his name to Chen Hengchang.

The reason for changing the name was, first, to sever ties with the Darong royal family, and second, to hide his identity.

The 8,000 warriors under Chen Hengchang were actually the descendants of the navy of Heishan Island. Now they are back.

There is no mistake in the content of the first issue of the book. Take a look at the 6-9 book forum!

Shenyang Sect and Chen Hengchang were very well prepared.

On the eighth day of the eighth month, they started the army and occupied Jiujiang Prefecture.

Then they successively captured two states and nine counties under the jurisdiction of Jiujiang Prefecture. In just one month, they occupied the entire Jiujiang Prefecture.

And the soldiers under his command increased to more than 18,000, and they called themselves the righteous army.

So far, the soldiers under Chen Hengchang and the followers of Shenyang Sect have become one army, and they will be the righteous army to reshape Darong in the future.

Of course, Shenyang Sect is just hiding behind the scenes and has not disappeared.

The high-level members of Shenyang Sect did not completely submit to Chen Hengchang. Those followers of Shenyang Sect who submitted to Chen Hengchang were originally the people prepared by Lin Fuan for Chen Hengchang.

They can't even be called followers of Shenyang Sect because they did not practice the soul-refining and blood-refining skills.

In short, on the surface, the righteous army led by Chen Hengchang had nothing to do with the Shenyang Sect.

…

Early September.

Taiping County was a completely different scene. Longnan Province in the north had suffered from a severe drought for three years, and Taiping County also had a slight drought. However, in the past three years, Yang Mingzhao organized civilians to dig wells and canals, extract water from underground, and divert water from rivers. Not only did the farmland in Taiping County not suffer from drought, but it also reclaimed tens of thousands of acres of paddy fields.

Even for farmland far from the water source, Yang Mingzhao asked his soldiers to organize the people to carry water for irrigation.

Today, Taiping County is full of harvests.

It is the time of the new rice harvest, and it is also the time for the people to pay the autumn tax.

Without waiting for the county government officials to go to the villages to collect taxes, the people carried rice to the county town or nearby towns to pay taxes.

In the open space outside the county government office, the people who came to pay the land tax were all smiling, greeting each other and chatting.

Yang Mingzhao and Chen Buyu stood inside the county government office, looking at the people outside, their faces were also full of smiles.

The people took the initiative to come to pay taxes, which was probably the greatest recognition of them.

In fact, the land tax they set was not low. The land tax was divided into summer tax and autumn tax. In summer, the upper land tax was seven liters per mu, and the lower land tax was five liters. In autumn, the upper land tax was six liters per mu, and the lower land tax was four liters.

The annual land tax paid per mu of land was two liters more than that of Darong, but the people were still very happy, just because in addition to the land tax, they no longer needed to pay any exorbitant taxes.

Farmers need to pay land tax, and the people in the city need to pay land tax, that is, land tax is collected according to the residential area, which is almost the meaning of property tax. An ordinary house probably has to pay five cents of silver a year, which is not high but not low.

According to the labor force in Taiping County, a strong laborer can earn more than 20 coins a day by selling his labor, and only 6 or 7 coins a month.

That is to say, an ordinary household has to pay a strong laborer's monthly salary to pay taxes in a year.

In addition, shops are calculated separately, and are also calculated based on the area of ​​the shops, which is twice that of residential properties.

Then Yang Mingzhao also set up customs on the official roads entering and leaving Taiping County to collect tolls.

Finally, Yang Mingzhao also included salt, iron and tea into the official business. The salt produced by the salt well, the tea roasted by the tea workshop and the iron ingots purchased from other places are all specially managed by the county government.

But even so, the prices in Taiping County are still very stable and the people are still very rich.

The county government's tax revenue is very high, which is more than enough to support 3,000 soldiers. Every household of the people has stored food, so food and clothing are not a problem at all.

Now Taiping County is thriving.

"Sir, after we harvest the autumn crops, we can send troops!" Chen Buyu said happily.

Yang Mingzhao nodded and said, "It's time to send troops. Gather everyone and let's discuss the plan!"

In fact, the plan had been made long ago, and they just needed to reconfirm it.

Two quarters of an hour later, Yang Mingzhao's team had arrived.

The civil officials included Ma Yan, Lu Bo, Qi Zhang, Zhang Baichuan, Lin Botao, etc.

Ma Yan and Lu Bo were Yang Mingzhao's servants, but now they are the county magistrate and county magistrate of Taiping County, and also the chief stewards around Yang Mingzhao.

Qi Zhang is a teacher in a private school in Taiping County. He is over 40 years old and an old student, but he is the first scholar to join Yang Mingzhao.

Many clerks in the county government are Qi Zhang's former students.

These students actually don't have much knowledge, they can only write and calculate, but they do a good job as clerks. Yang Mingzhao values ​​Qi Zhang and his students very much.

Zhang Baichuan was the second scholar to seek refuge with Yang Mingzhao. He was a poor scholar who went to Yang Mingzhao because he was grateful to Yang Mingzhao for giving him land.

Lin Botao was the young man who was harassed by the yamen runners when Yang Mingzhao first came to Taiping County.

Now he has also gone to Yang Mingzhao and works as a clerk in the county yamen.

There are more than 50 clerks in the Taiping County Yamen now. Some of them are from Sanjian Valley, and they are all young people trained in Sanjian Valley. Some are students brought by Qi Zhang, a total of seven people. The last part is the scholars who took the initiative to seek refuge, which is similar to Zhang Baichuan and Lin Botao.

For a county yamen, more than 50 clerks are definitely too many, but Yang Mingzhao is making a reserve of officials.

In fact, in addition to the clerks in the county yamen, there are also official offices in several towns in Taiping County, and each official office has more than ten clerks.

In addition, Yang Mingzhao also established many schools in Taiping County, which were specially established for training officials.

This is also a helpless solution. Their foundation is too shallow, so they can only try their best to train officials.

Compared with officials, it is much easier to train military generals.

Whether it is Deng Xing, Han Lin, Li Dagui, Yang Ze, or young people such as Zhao Kai and Zhang Mo, they are all qualified to serve as military generals.

In the past two years, they have trained 3,000 soldiers and taught more than 30 warriors. The number is not large, but it is enough to meet their next expansion.