The Empress came ashore and beheaded the meritorious officials, forcing me to wear the yellow robe

Tianjiang is the estuary. All ships in the entire Da Qi have to be transported by water. To go out to sea from here, they have to pass near Qingzhou.

Li Jize has warships, so how could he give up the good opportunity of blocking the waters and collecting "tolls"?

As long as the civilians are decent people and not enemy undercovers, they can enter and leave freely as long as they leave their weapons behind.

But as long as it is a merchant ship carrying cargo, you have to pay "toll" according to the weight.

Not giving?

Either you don't go out to sea via Tianjiang and go back by land, or we will detain people and ships.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in later generations, because customs must pay taxes.

But in this feudal era, how rare is that? How is Li Jize's behavior different from that of a bandit?

The merchants dared to be angry but not to speak out. Who let them have ships and guns? Who let them block the outlet of Tianjiang River?

The profits from maritime trade are extremely exaggerated. These maritime merchants may be able to hide it from the court of Da Qi, Da Qi officials, and even other landlords, but they cannot hide it from Li Jize.

Even with such a harsh tax rate of "one in ten," they could only secretly curse Li Jize as a beast among beasts! Zhou Pa Pi! On the other hand, they had to pay taxes honestly.

"Hmph! Why would the King of Qin send troops to capture Qingzhou? He talks so grandly, saying it's for the sake of national rejuvenation! He talks so much about benevolence and righteousness, but in reality, he's all business-minded."

Zhang Xiaolan's complaint scared all the crew members waiting for inspection around her.

Damn it! What kind of crazy woman is this? She's calling Li Jize's name directly in the waters of Qingzhou, and she's saying it so clearly?

If you want to die, don’t drag us down with you!

For a moment, everyone made way to avoid the two women.

As a result, once they moved aside, the two of them looked very awkward.

At this time, a naval soldier fixed his eyes on the two of them.

It was rare to see a beautiful woman carrying a weapon, so he became more cautious and questioned her...

Everyone was terrified!

Good god! They are actually thieves!

This frightened not only the people on the same ship, but also the soldiers, who quickly surrounded the two and asked them to identify themselves and why they came here.

Li Jize blocked the downstream, not only to collect tolls, but also because he was afraid that if the barbarians and bandits upstream and the southern court attacked him, he would be in trouble.

Fortunately! Li Jize still had foresight. When he went to the trench, he was building a navy. The navy was still very powerful.

Wang Yuanya noticed the tense atmosphere, not far from where some Qin soldiers were even raising their muskets. She immediately explained, "We are here on behalf of the righteous army! Didn't the King of Qin say we should all work together to fight the barbarians? We're here to discuss cooperation! Also, please let me know, my name is Wang Yuanya!"

These soldiers looked at each other with confused expressions.

The bandits sent someone to discuss cooperation? What the hell?

Before, they were fighting these bandits in Qinghe County, but in the blink of an eye, both sides began to shake hands and make peace. Are they going to cooperate?

Anyway...

When two countries are at war, they do not kill envoys. Indeed, the King of Qin also said that there is no distinction between north and south, and no distinction between old and young among people.

So they immediately sent someone to report to the King of Qin to see how to deal with it.

……

Here, Li Jize was holding a meeting, and what everyone was discussing was of course how to govern Qingzhou.

It has to be said that the King of Qin's performance shocked all these scholars from poor families.

We all knew before that the King of Qin had outstanding military achievements and dared to lead 3,000 people to attack 100,000 barbarians. Although he also had some internal affairs later, most of them were about governing natural disasters and man-made disasters.

To be honest, the governance is not very good!

If the governance is good, there won't be more and more bandits.

But now they found out, is the King of Qin in front of them the real King of Qin? Is he the legendary General Tiance?

He instead said that in terms of "martial arts", he was currently in a stalemate with the barbarians and he himself had never been willing to go to the battlefield, so his performance was a bit disappointing. But in terms of domestic affairs, he was really awesome!

For example, fighting against the local tyrants and dividing the land, blocking the Tianjiang River and collecting "tolls", and the upcoming sea transportation with Baekje and East Japan.

All these ideas, even those who have studied for decades, have never heard of them before, and they can't think of how to play it this way even if they rack their brains.

Some people once suspected that the King of Qin might be a god who had descended to earth.

Otherwise, how would he know these things and these countries?

So at the beginning, everyone held a meeting to discuss, but in the end it became a "one-man show" by the King of Qin. He spoke at the top, and the people below took notes in small notebooks.

"The autumn harvest season is almost here, but because of the war in Qingzhou, we don't expect a very good harvest today! Therefore, we must increase our efforts to purchase grain from the south. Also... we have the sea at our backs, and because of Da Qi's recent maritime ban, our fishery resources are quite abundant! We can organize people and go fishing."

brush brush...

The people below were frantically taking notes, especially since people still used brushes in that era, which made it even more difficult.

"Also, there are plants overseas called sweet potatoes, potatoes, and even corn. You can ask people who frequently go to sea to see if they can find these high-yield crops! If we can introduce them, I think the current famine in Da Qi can be resolved."

This is not...

Li Jize once again refreshed everyone's three views!

Ah no...

We are from Qi, so why are you so outstanding?

Why does he know these things, but no one else knows anything?

My Lord King Qin, you make us look like idiots!

"The other thing is the construction of a lathe! Not only do we have the sea at our backs, but we also have an outlet here, so our water resources are very developed. We can develop the textile industry and then sell it to the north, to East Japan, and to Baekje. Of course, the most important thing is to develop a hydraulic drill! Only with this thing can rifling appear! Only with the appearance of rifling can muskets become epoch-making masterpieces. Then... cough cough..."

Li Jize cleared his throat, a little embarrassed, because he wanted to develop the "arms" trade! Chaos in the rear of Baekje and the barbarians.

But what if their firearms fall into the hands of their enemies? What if the enemies use these things to attack me?

The best way...

The weapons have widened the generation gap!

When you use a bow and arrow, I use a musket! When you start using a musket, I already have a flintlock. When you use a flintlock, I already have a rifle!

Everyone listened attentively, taking notes quickly. Just as Li Jize was about to continue speaking...

Suddenly, a guard rushed in from outside the door. He walked up to the King of Qin and whispered something in his ear.

Li Jize was visibly stunned, his eyes widened, and he asked in surprise, "Wang Yuanya? How dare she come to me?"