The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 1186: Swords and arrows have no eyes
Chapter 1186: Swords and Arrows Have No Blindness
“After these Xiliang people leave today, it will take at least ten days for the starving people from Xiliang to arrive…”
After Bai Qingyan said this, Bai Qingqi immediately understood.
He nodded. At the beginning, Bai Jintong raised the price of jade brocade and furs, causing the people to give up farming. He also joined forces with the eight major families in Xiliang to not allow any news to be sent to the emperor. He also hoarded food, intending to strangle the people with food… and reaped the hard-earned money that the people earned from jade brocade and furs, causing Xiliang to suffer from a severe food shortage.
Later, the Tianfeng Kingdom came to Xiliang and plundered food everywhere. The people of Xiliang were miserable. Not only did there become many refugees, but famine had already broken out in some places. It was said that no grass grew where people passed by, and the bark of the trees was stripped off.
And because Ye Shoucheng has always been the territory of the Ye family, Ye Shouguan has the final say most of the time. So although Ye Shouguan failed to stop most of the people from giving up farming, at least Ye Chengguan has a lot of grain stored!
In addition, because the Ye family had been powerful in Yechengguan for generations, neither the Xiliang court nor the Tianfeng Kingdom dared to come to Yechengguan to plunder food, which allowed the people of Yechengguan to survive.
But the people in other places in Xiliang were not as lucky as the people in Yechengguan, who could rely on local governments to survive the famine.
“When the famine hit Yanwo, Ajue led people to southern Xinjiang, so Ajue had a small part of the Bai family army! Yan State… also knew the importance of people, so at that time they secretly led the victims to Yan State!” Bai Qingyan paid attention to his feet, holding his stomach with one hand, and walked downstairs with Bai Qingqi. “If my guess is correct, the reason why Yan State also chose to divide its troops into two groups to attack Xiangyunjing was not to compete with our Great Zhou for territory, but to lead a larger area of Xiliang people to Yan State!”
“Soldiers… come from the people, and if we want to make the Great Zhou’s military force large and strong, we must have a large population. Although we in the Great Zhou have already reached an agreement with the State of Yan in private that the two countries will compete with each other in national politics and merge into one country, we still need to make preparations for both situations and not put all our eggs in one basket!” Bai Qing spoke in a gentle and measured voice.
Bai Qingqi smiled faintly: “But my elder sister let the people in Yecheng Pass out of the city today, so that these Xiliang people can tell others about the situation in Yecheng Pass and how the Great Zhou treats the people of Xiliang!”
She nodded: “Compared to the various promises made by the Yan army to the people of Xiliang, do you think the people of Xiliang are more willing to believe what they say… Come to Yecheng Pass, or are you willing to go with the Yan army?”
“Of course, the words of our compatriots are more trustworthy!” Bai Qingqi’s smile deepened. The eldest sister always saw through people’s hearts and used the most open and aboveboard methods.
Its energy is extremely strong.
If one cultivates things with integrity and without causing any harm, then they will fill the space between heaven and earth.
With an emperor like the eldest sister in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the future will surely be what the ancestors and grandfather of the Bai family hoped for. Inside and outside the court, across the country, there will be righteousness and integrity, and everyone will use open and honest methods without any conspiracies or tricks.
“If by then, more people who went out of Yecheng Pass come back, it will attract more people from Xiliang from all over the place to come to Yecheng Pass,” said Bai Qingqi.
“That’s right…” Bai Qingyan nodded with a smile, “Just like the mighty rivers, the sea can hold them, making it vast and boundless! The people are the foundation of a country, and if a country can hold the people of a hundred countries, it can achieve eternal prosperity.”
Walking down from the city wall, Bai Qingqi let go of Bai Qingyan and followed Bai Qingyan slowly: “So, elder sister plans to stay until the refugees are attracted here, and then settle them down… or even take them to other cities to settle them down, and then set off back to Dadu?”
“Well, I have sent someone to deliver a letter to Dadu. I will rush back before the palace examination and set the date for the palace examination on March 15.” Bai Qingyan looked up at the brightly shining sky and exhaled a puff of mist. “I hope that by that time, we will have pacified Xiliang. If… it is us brothers and sisters who return to Dadu together, grandfather will definitely be pleased if he sees it.”
Hearing this, Bai Qingqi lowered her eyes and pursed her lips to think for a while. After walking a distance with Bai Qingyan, she said, “Eldest sister, before March 15th, Aqi will do her best… to pacify Yunjing! Capture Li Tianjiao alive!”
“Don’t be reckless!” Bai Qingyan was still worried when he thought of General Cui Shanzhong leading the expedition. “You are facing the resourceful General Cui. My grandfather once said…General Cui Shanzhong is cunning and will do anything on the battlefield! He is not as upright as General Ye. Yun Poxing’s tricks are not enough in front of General Cui Shanzhong. So you need to be careful and cautious in everything, and put the overall situation first. Don’t rush!”
Bai Qingyan didn’t want A Qi to destroy Xiliang before this date just because of his casual comment, or do something rash, which would cause him and his brothers and sisters to get hurt. That would be a loss.
“Aqi knows, elder sister, nothing is more important than having all the family members alive and well!” Bai Qingqi smiled, “Eldest sister, I’m really happy… that my brother is still alive, and that Ayu is still alive! I’m happier than anything else!”
“Eldest sister knows!” Bai Qingyan raised his hand but couldn’t reach the top of Bai Qingqi’s head. Looking at Bai Qingqi’s white hair, his heart was sad. If there was no hatred in his eyes, he would not believe that there are white hair in the world.
Since Bai Qingqi came back, except for the coronation ceremony, which was the first time he came back, he had never spoken his true feelings to anyone like this.
She patted Bai Qingqi’s shoulder with a smile: “You are all back and safe. I am also…happy more than anything else!”
·
On that day, there were quite a few people from Xiliang who wanted to leave Yechengguan. At first, Bai Qingyun asked people to process them one by one, but later he found that there were too many people, so Bai Qingyun simply asked them to line up at the city gate and gave them money to leave.
On this day, Da Zhou distributed travel expenses until dark, but people still lined up in an endless stream, and Da Zhou had no intention of stopping them. Many people from Xiliang who originally did not dare to leave… and who were afraid that Da Zhou would kill people in secret, saw that their neighbors had left, and they became shaken and discussed with their families about leaving.
Unexpectedly, before more people from Xiliang lined up to leave, some people who had received travel money to leave the city in the morning turned back and wanted to enter the city, but were stopped outside the gate of Yecheng.
The gatekeeper of Ye Shouguan glared at the Xiliang people who were about to enter the city gate and said, “You are not the people of my Great Zhou. Leave quickly and don’t linger on the edge of my Great Zhou city, otherwise you will be attacked by swords and arrows!”
As soon as the general defending the city finished speaking, the soldiers drew their swords and bows. The ordinary people had never seen such a scene before, and they immediately fell to the ground, their legs so weak and trembling that they could not stand up at all.
The third update, good night, my little ancestors!