It's better to be an empress than a county magistrate

The flag with the character "Ji" on it represents that they are soldiers from Jizhou, and the flag with the character "Lu" on it represents that the commander-in-chief's surname is Lu.

Isn't the prefect of Jizhou surnamed Kang? How could his surname be Lu?

"Put down your weapons, dismount, kneel on the ground, hold your head with your hands, and then I will tell you the reason." Lu Xingchen said.

Pei Jun knew that he had no other choice at this point.

He put down his weapon, dismounted from his horse, and slowly knelt on the ground.

Ling Xiao came up calmly, took their weapons, and took away their war horses.

Only then did Lu Xingchen ride his horse to Pei Jun.

She dismounted and helped Pei Jun up.

Pei Jun didn't expect it to be a woman.

And her appearance is still so stunning.

"My surname is Lu, my name is Lu Xingchen, and I'm currently the military governor of Jizhou." Lu Xingchen said to Pei Jun.

This was an era of war, and the speed at which local officials were replaced was so fast that it was sometimes really unexpected.

"Since you are the governor of Jizhou, my Rao County is the territory of Yongzhou, and we all belong to Daliang, what are you going to do?" Pei Jun looked puzzled.

"Of course, Rao County will be incorporated into the territory of Jizhou." Lu Xingchen said indifferently.

Pei Jun was surprised how this woman could say such domineering and shameless words.

"If His Majesty knew you were doing this..."

"Well, Your Majesty, let's talk about it after you know." Lu Xingchen nodded.

She wanted more than just Rao County.

By the time the emperor knew about it, she should have already obtained Yongzhou.

“Now I give you two options. The first is to surrender to me and hand over Rao County to me, making it part of Jizhou.

The second option is that I chop off your head, then lead my three thousand troops to attack Rao County and incorporate it into Jizhou’s territory.”

"For me, the endings of these two paths are the same, but for you, the endings are slightly different."

Pei Jun moved his lips and wanted to curse in his heart.

Is this a little different for him? It's totally different.

"I choose the first path..." Pei Jun quickly gave the answer.

"But, what are you going to do with me?"

"I heard that you were a commander before?" Lu Xingchen asked.

Pei Jun nodded.

"If you are willing, you can join my army and start as a company captain." Lu Xingchen said.

"But I still need to test your ability to be the company captain."

"How many people are there in your company?" Pei Jun asked.

"Not many, nearly two hundred people, to be exact, one hundred and eighty people." Lu Xingchen replied.

Pei Jun showed a disappointed look.

But at this time he had no choice.

"Okay, I'll take you into Rao County."

So Lu Xingchen led four hundred men and followed Pei Jun into Rao County.

The remaining troops of Rao County were transferred by Pei Jun to outside the city of Rao County.

Lu Feng took over the entire Rao County.

Pei Jun handed over all of Rao County's account books, population registration books, and warehouse keys to Lu Feng.

Overall, Pei Jun is still a very pragmatic person.

But a few of the local gentry were very emotional.

Because although Pei Jun understands military affairs, he knows nothing about government affairs.

Therefore, the political affairs of Rao County were basically in the hands of the gentry.

The bureaucrats working in the Wanxian government were also selected by the gentry.

In fact, they are the sons of local gentry.

"I have no choice. There are three thousand of them surrounding our one hundred. What else can I do if I don't surrender?" Pei Jun said helplessly to the gentlemen.

"You're just a coward." A squire pointed at Pei Jun's nose and said angrily.

Pei Jun was not angry when he was scolded.

After all, he was a homeless vagrant before, and it was these gentry who took him in, and one of them even married his daughter to him.

He was very grateful to these gentry.

"No matter what, I'm afraid of death. If you want, go ahead and make trouble." Pei Jun played the main game of playing badly.

"We can go to Yongzhou to file a complaint," said one of the local gentry.

"Sure..." another squire echoed.

"What they are doing is tantamount to rebellion."

So after discussing it, several local gentry selected representatives to leave Rao County and go to Yongzhou City to file a complaint.

However, these people were caught before they could get too far out of the city gate.

"What do you want to do?" Lu Feng asked the people who were captured.

"Let's, let's go out and do something." said one of them.

Lu Feng snorted coldly, "Take off their clothes and see what's hidden inside."

The guards came up and quickly stripped the men of their clothes, and found several letters inside.

In this day and age, one has to go through connections to file a complaint.

After Lu Feng finished reading the letters, he said, "Tell me, who sent you all? If you don't tell me, I'll chop off your heads right now."

Naturally, they didn't believe that Lu Feng could have such means.

But they completely misjudged Lu Feng at this time.

Soon one of them was dragged out and beheaded.

Seeing this, the others had no choice but to confess.

So, in the middle of the night, with the lights on in Rao County, several gentry were all arrested and taken to the Rao County government office.

"Originally, I was not going to deal with you. I thought we should keep the status quo and treat the property in your hands as your own."

Lu Feng looked at them coldly.

"Now it seems that I was too kind."

"Hand over all your property, including land and shops..."

"Otherwise, you won't be able to leave here alive."

"Robber, you are a robber." One of the local gentry stood up and shouted in indignation.

"Drag him out... and chop him off." Lu Feng ordered in a cold voice.

So the squire was dragged out and beheaded.

Everyone else was terrified.

No matter how important money is, it is not as important as life.

So every family handed over their land and shops.

Lu Xingchen was right, what they wanted now was to break the old order and establish a new order.

If Rao County remained in its original state, less than 30% of the land would be in the hands of ordinary people, and almost all of the rest would be in the hands of these gentry.

In addition to farmland, there are also shops. Almost all the shops in Rao County are controlled by these few families.

Do not break or stand.

How can you establish the new order you want without completely breaking the old order?

Only true order builders can hold power.

Otherwise, you will have to deal with these gentry in the future. If you want land, silver, or shops, you will have to ask them for them. At that time, the initiative will no longer be in your hands.

So now is the most legitimate time to snatch.

If you miss this opportunity, it will no longer be legitimate.

Of course, these gentry cannot be killed with one blow, and they still need to be left with enough assets for survival.

Because only the children of these gentry have been to school and can read and write, they are indispensable to the bureaucratic institutions to be established in the next step.

Of course, Lu Feng didn’t kill anyone from Pei Jun’s father-in-law’s family.

It is obvious that Lu Xingchen has taken a fancy to Pei Jun's military talent.

"One hundred miles southeast of Rao County, there is a city called Tangcheng." Pei Jun said to Lu Xingchen.

"But Tang City was not named Tang a few years ago...it is the second largest city in Yongzhou."

"If you really want to train your troops, you might as well take over Tang City."