The first county magistrate in history

An Dehai did not answer directly, but said: "Your Majesty, the results of the secret review of the military expenditures of the Four Borders Army have been released."

"What's the situation?" Xia Mochu asked.

An Dehai said, "Over the years, the Four Border Armies have used war as an excuse to increase their military spending year after year. However, we have verified this with our country's spies stationed in the outer vassal states and have obtained reliable intelligence. The Four Border Armies have falsely reported at least one hundred incidents of war..."

"False report?" Xia Mochu stood up in surprise, his eyes filled with anger. "In other words, every year, they overcharge the imperial court by at least tens of millions in military funds?"

An Dehai nodded. "The Privy Council, which oversees military expenditures, has always been under the Prime Minister's charge. Even when he claimed to be ill, he never relinquished this power..."

Xia Mochu didn't say anything, his brows furrowed as he paced around the study.

After a long while, he suddenly asked, "So, his brother-in-law, Minister of War Qu Zhengzhuo, is no longer one of ours?"

An Dehai bowed slightly: "Exactly!"

"Hehehe..." Xia Mochu suddenly laughed.

He smiled miserably. "My most trusted uncle actually harbored evil intentions? He actually started plotting before my father passed away. My father trusted him so much and told me that I could distrust anyone in the Daqian Dynasty, but Uncle An, the Minister of Revenue Chen Pingzhang, the Minister of Punishment Zuo Zhongliang, the Minister of War Qu Zhengzhuo, and Prime Minister Xia Bitu were the most trustworthy and were the pillars of Daqian."

An Dehai was filled with murderous intent: "Your Majesty, I will lead the Jinyiwei to secretly execute these ministers who plotted rebellion!"

The Embroidered Uniform Guard is a secret force hidden by the Xia family since the founding of the Daqian Dynasty. Apart from the emperors of each generation, absolutely no one else knows about it.

An Dehai knew this because when Xia Mochu ascended the throne, her ministers rebelled, forcing Empress Xia Mochu to mobilize the Imperial Guard. However, even with the Imperial Guard's intervention, no one knew their true identity, let alone the fact that the Empress had a mysterious and powerful private army.

On that occasion, the empress was busy and could only appoint her most trusted An Dehai to lead the Jinyiwei to quell the rebellion.

During that bloody battle, the empress gained power throughout the world, and the foreign vassal states did not dare to attack Daqian for five years.

But, often, some people forget the pain once the scar has healed...

Xia Mochu pondered for a long time and shook his head. "Old An, the timing is wrong! Xia Bitu has been hiding so deeply. If he has been planning this for so long, how could he not have cultivated his own private army? The four-border army has over five million soldiers, guarding the four directions to defend against foreign enemies, but it is equivalent to encircling Daqian. Even if we carry out a decapitation operation, we will not be able to control the morale of the army. Besides, Xia Bitu's combat power is comparable to yours!"

An Dehai was worried: "Your Majesty, what good plan do you have?"

Xia Mochu suddenly walked to the desk, opened a book and started reading.

An Dehai glanced at it and saw the cover of Hongtong County Governance Measures

There is also a signed compiler Qin Zheng

An Dehai's eyes narrowed. Could it be that this book contains a strategy to defeat the enemy?

In his opinion, this was an unsolvable deadlock, and no matter what he did, the outcome would be a loss of both sides.

His Majesty did not let him leave, so An Dehai had to stand aside.

suddenly.

"Hahaha, Qin Zheng, you're so good! You took advantage of our situation, fabricated something out of nothing, fished in troubled waters, looted, sowed discord, used the excuse of attacking the State of Guo as a pretext, killed someone with a borrowed knife, and defeated them one by one. You're really amazing! Hahaha..."

Xia Mochu suddenly burst into laughter.

An Dehai was shocked. It's over. Has His Majesty gone mad with anxiety?

But, savor it carefully.

Think carefully about what Your Majesty just said.

An Dehai's eyes suddenly lit up: "Your Majesty, what a great idea!"

I was extremely shocked. Is this what I saw in the Hongtong County governance measures?

A small county magistrate would have such a strategy...

On the carriage heading to Liangjin, Su Xiaoman was sewing inner armor with copper coins.

Xia Mo Ning was puzzled: "There are soldiers' armor, why do you use copper coins to make the inner armor?"

Su Xiaoman smiled and said, "I sewed it for my master. He is not a soldier, and his body cannot support the heavy armor."

Xia Mo Ning looked at Su Xiao Man: "You are so nice to your master. Do you like him?"

Su Xiaoman's pretty face flushed instantly, but she didn't deny it: "Who among the women in our Hongtong County doesn't like my master? Unfortunately, my master doesn't like women and is a non-marriageist."

Xia Mo Ning was surprised: "There are still men who don't want to get married? Is your master not sick?"

Su Xiaoman was unhappy: "Miss Xia, don't talk nonsense, my master is in good health."

Xia Mo Ning chuckled: "Okay, I was just kidding."

As he spoke, he took out the Dream of the Red Chamber and began to read. As he read, he sighed with emotion: "I have to say, the book written by your parents is full of emotion and moving. It's really good!"

Su Xiaoman said proudly, "That's right. Besides the Four Great Classics, my master also wrote many other books. Did you know? In fact, the books written by our master were the first to make the most money in Hongtong County. Even now, the annual sales are worth tens of thousands of taels of gold."

Xia Mo Ning was shocked: "So many?"

Su Xiaoman's face changed. She was in a bad mood, she had let the cat out of the bag. She quickly said, "I was just guessing!" Xia Mo Ning snorted inwardly. Just a guess? No one would believe it.

Xia Mo Ning felt a mixture of emotions. How much did the Daqian Dynasty earn annually? Hongtong County had earned that much from just a few books, and with so many other profitable projects, how much would the annual income be?

There's no comparison!

Seeing that Su Xiaoman was already alert and would not reveal anything more, Xia Mo Ning read the book with great interest.

Qin Zheng was chatting with Zhang Shaoyong, the Yihui Captain, in another carriage.

He will cooperate closely with the Imperial Guards in this disaster relief effort.

However, he and Zhang Shaoyong were unfamiliar with each other and needed to build some rapport first so that they could work together more smoothly. He was also trying to gather information about the situation in the capital.

Because the disaster in Liangjin was serious and imminent, Qin Zheng and his party traveled day and night to speed up their journey.

Xia Mo Ning discovered that there were always pigeons flying around in the team.

Moreover, Qin Zheng actually took a carriage alone, as if he was intentionally avoiding them.

Xia Mo Ning observed carefully but could not see anything. She only saw a pigeon flying over, and the soldiers would hand it over to Qin Zheng. Soon, the pigeon flew away.

Little did she know that Qin Zheng was collecting intelligence on Liang Jin.

She asked Xiaoman, and Xiaoman said that adults like to play with pigeons.

How could Xia Mo Ning believe it?

The journey went smoothly, and on this day, the team arrived at the border of Yangping County in Liangjin.

What comes into view is the vast expanse of farmland, but the scorching sun has ruthlessly drained away the moisture. It is already turning yellow and is about to lose its vitality.

The sky was scorching hot, and it seemed as if it was made of molten gold all day long. The boundless blue was replaced by scorching heat.

The earth cracked, the rivers dried up, and all things showed the cries of struggling for survival.

The drought demon is like a greedy beast, devouring every inch of greenery and pushing the land into the abyss of despair.

The people along the way were pale and thin, with their eyes flashing with desire for life and fear of the unknown.

The breath of despair raged across the land like wildfire.

"So serious?" Qin Zheng frowned in surprise, a little surprised.

Zhang Shaoyong said worriedly, "Master Qin, this is just one county, and the situation is so severe. One million taels of gold is a drop in the bucket. It is impossible for the people in the entire Liangjin disaster area to fill their stomachs."

Wu Xiaoyou was worried: "It's okay for now, but what will happen in the future? Who knows if there will be disasters next year?"

"I will make my own decision!" Qin Zheng seemed to have a solution.

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance, and dust was flying.

"Look, sir, it should be Prefect Yang Ping bringing people to greet us." Wu Xiaoyou said, pointing to the front.

A group of people wearing tattered and even patched official robes, riding tall horses, surrounded a blue-roofed sedan chair and came quickly.

"Damn, he's really good at pretending!" Qin Zheng was so angry that he laughed.