Women dressed as men: powerful officials

The candlelight lit up a corner, and Xuyuan's expression was extremely cold.

She sat on the chair impartially, lowered her eyes and looked at the uneasy Wei Chenggong beside her, and said slowly: "Wei County Magistrate, you don't have to think about sending people to kill and silence me. I can come here alone, so I naturally have a plan to escape. Instead of thinking about how to deal with me, you might as well think about my conditions."

Xu Yuan spread out the letter paper, looked at the contents, and said, "I didn't quite understand these letters today, until I saw all the contents, I realized that the game of chess in Sishui County is much bigger than I thought."

After hearing Xu Yuan's words, Wei Chenggong felt a chill on his back. "What exactly do you want to do?"

"The military pay for the war in Sishui County is coming from Hanzhou. If I guess correctly, it is already on the way and will arrive tomorrow. I want all the military pay and food. We will trade them ten miles north of Sishui County at dusk tomorrow. A moment later, these letters will fall into Xie Xiaocheng's hands. You should consider it carefully."

When Xuyuan first received the letter, he only saw some useful things.

That was the Wei County Magistrate teaming up with Geshu to launch a fake war in order to defraud military pay and food.

The two of us split it 30-70.

Wei Chenggong collected money, and Geshu collected grain recklessly.

This is why there were constant wars between the Geshu tribe and Sishui County.

However, after talking with Geshu Wang today, Xu Yuan learned that Wei had one more condition for success in this war.

That would mean Xie Xiaocheng's life.

Xie Xiaocheng used to be indifferent to things and lived in the military camp.

Perhaps it was because she had gone to court in the name of Xie Xiaocheng two days ago, which made Wei Chenggong aware of the crisis, so he sent someone to deliver a letter overnight, demanding Xie Xiaocheng's head and also gave him a topographic map of Xie Xiaocheng's camp.

This led to the night attack on the military camp by Geshu's troops.

However, the person that Geshuwang captured was not Xie Xiaocheng, but Zhang Yue.

After hearing Xu Yuan's words, Wei Chenggong immediately said, "You want all the military pay and food! Xu Yuan, your appetite is a bit too big, isn't it?!"

Wei Chenggong stood up and slammed the table in shock. "If it was in the past, we could still discuss it, but you also know that the military pay this time is from Hanzhou. It's not just me who's eyeing this thing, but also that young man from the capital. How do you want me to give it to you? You might as well take my life!"

Wei Chenggong looked like he had given up hope.

"Magistrate Wei, General Xie is a general. The military camp is outside Sishui County. All military pay and food must pass through your hands and then be distributed to the military camp one by one. Isn't there a lot of room for maneuver in this?" Xu Yuan asked in return.

"This is a crime against the wind!"

"County Magistrate Wei has done a lot of things against the will of the law, right? In that case, let's not talk about it. You should wait for General Xie to come to you tonight. I want to see how he would react if he knew that his brothers fought and died in the battle to defend the country, but it turned out to be a play staged by you and Geshu Wang."

Xuyuan said this and was about to get up and leave.

One is to die now, the other is to fight and still have a chance of survival.

Xu Yuan knew that Wei Chenggong would not hesitate for long.

As expected, before Xu Yuan had taken two steps, Wei Chenggong gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I promise you! However, you must give me all these letters, and...if this matter is leaked out, you and I will both be in trouble!"

"Okay, this is so simple." Xu Yuan smiled faintly, "See you in the desert tomorrow evening."

The successful negotiation with Wei went much more smoothly than he had imagined.

Xu Yuan felt inexplicably happy, however, just as she walked out of the county government office, someone grabbed her arm and dragged into an alley.

It was so fast that Xuyuan had no reaction.

As soon as she stood up, she heard a cold voice.

"Xuyuan, you are colluding with foreign nations and committing treason!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Xu Yuan rubbed his aching arm and said, "Master Shen is not staying in the barracks, why did you come to see me?"

"I came to you to make things clear."

Beiyao fell silent after he finished speaking.

After returning to the military camp, he thought about it over and over again and felt that something was wrong, so he decided to find Xu Yuan to talk it out.

But what he didn't expect was to hear the conversation between Xu Yuan and Wei Chenggong.

After Xu Yuan jointly escaped from King Geshu's tent today, Bei Yao immediately thought of why Xu Yuan said that.

He wished to give all the money and food to the Geshu tribe to solve their urgent needs.

This behavior can be regarded as treason.

"What is there to explain clearly? We can't explain it clearly anymore."

Xu Yuan looked at Bei Yao, his voice was small but firm, "Look, we have different positions and different desires. We can't be friends, nor can we be enemies. So, why don't we just do it this way, you do what you should do, I do what I should do, and as for who wins and who loses, it all depends on our own abilities."

"But you are committing treason! Xuyuan, you are a scholar, where are all your books? Are you helping foreigners like this?"

"Then do you want me to watch them starve to death one by one?" Xu Yuan asked in return, "Do you know what it feels like to be starved to death? When people are extremely hungry, they will eat tree bark and gnaw on grass roots until there is no food left. Others fight and die on the battlefield, but what about you? You are going to starve to death the elderly, the weak, women and children first!"

"Aren't they starving now? As long as they surrender, and only if they submit to Tianqi, Tianqi can provide them with food, and no one will continue to starve. This is truly good for them. Don't you understand the principle that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish?"

"Supplying food? I want to ask you, do you know how much tax Sishui County pays every year?"

Beiyao said nothing.

He didn't know, but he could guess that it must be very high.

Sishui County is close to the desert and has few grain crops. After paying taxes, every household does not have much food. The situation is only slightly better than that of the Geshu tribe.

For example, in Xu Yuan's family, there was almost nothing to eat. Not only in Xu Yuan's family, but in the entire Sishui County, the only family that had a little money was the Cheng family.

Seeing Bei Yao was silent, he made a wish: "In the capital city, every household wears gold and silver, and a meal of a wealthy family can match my family's annual expenses. Do you know that the wealth of the capital city is built on the high taxes borne by the people from all over the country?"

"Once Geshu surrenders, the Geshu people will be the lowest class in Tianqi. The desert is already barren. Do you think they can afford such high taxes? Or can you exempt Geshu from taxes?"

Xu Yuan asked back, and then she continued, "For example, if you can, the Geshu tribe does not have to pay taxes, then what will the people of Hanzhou think? What will the people of Sishui County think? Why can foreigners not pay taxes and still receive food, but the people of Tianqi have to bear such high taxes?"

Bei Yao was silent for a moment, then said, "Unifying the world is what every emperor wants to do. After conquering Geshu, the monarch and his ministers will discuss and naturally come up with a better plan. Xu Yuan, you are a citizen of Tianqi, you cannot do treason."

"But in this world, not every loyal person will be rewarded. Compared to being loyal to the emperor, I would rather be loyal to myself and do what I want to do. In your eyes, the people of Tianqi are human beings, and the people of Geshu are not human beings. But in my eyes, everyone is the same, whether they are Tianqi people or Geshu people, they all deserve to live well."

Xu Yuan's eyes dropped to Bei Yao's boots, "If you want to stop me, then kill me."