Starting with helping Zhao Kai ascend the throne in the snow

In the heart of the Baiyue barbarian territory, a village built against a mountain range erupted in deafening battle cries.

Countless barbarian soldiers in different outfits clashed and fought each other, with flames shooting into the sky and plumes of black smoke rising everywhere in the camp.

After an unknown amount of time, as the deafening shouts of battle subsided, all the resisters in the camp were wiped out. Countless severed limbs were scattered everywhere, and the entire camp was a scene of carnage, with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Groups of panicked women and children were taken to an open area outside the camp.

"Reporting to my lord, the Lin Yue tribe has been breached. These are their elderly, weak, women, and children. Please advise on how to deal with them?" A barbarian warrior, his armor stained with blood, bowed to a burly man with a fierce expression.

"Any fish that slipped through the net?" the burly man asked without looking up, continuing to stroke a large tiger with piercing eyes and a white forehead. The tiger squinted its eyes comfortably under the man's touch.

"Lord Chi Hu, please rest assured, I have already laid a tight net around the area, and I guarantee that no one will escape and report back."

"Sha Keliang did a good job. I've noted your contribution. Once this mission is over, you'll be promoted to commander of a thousand men." Chi Hu nodded in satisfaction upon hearing his subordinate's report.

"Thank you for your kind offer, Lord Chi Hu. I am willing to dedicate all my loyalty to you." Upon hearing this, Sha Keliang was overjoyed and immediately bowed to express his gratitude.

“This is the Lin Yue tribe, so it’s only three tribes away from the Li Yue tribe, right? If they knew that they were attacking the Li Yang people in the front, and then our Jiu Chi tribe raided their lair, wouldn’t they be furious?” Chi Hu said, laughing maniacally. Sha Keliang and the soldiers around him were used to this and kept their eyes straight ahead.

Chi Hu is the young chieftain of the Chi Yuehu tribe in the Nine Chi tribes. He is greedy, lustful, cruel, and bloodthirsty, but he is also born with superhuman strength and has formidable combat power. His strength has reached the level of a barbarian warrior, and he is only one step away from being called a barbarian warrior. His combat power is equivalent to a master of the second rank of the Li Yang realm.

When news of Emperor Zhao Dun's scheme against Yuezhou reached Nalan Youci's ears, he arranged for the Jiu Chi tribe to send troops to take advantage of the weakened military strength of several tribes near the Li Yue tribe. He planned to swallow these tribes in one fell swoop, preparing for the Jiu Chi tribe to unify the Baiyue region, especially intending to destroy the Li Yue tribe.

In recent years, as King Yan's foundation in the southern borderlands has become increasingly solid, the Baiyue barbarians, an unstable factor, have long been in Nalan Youci's plans. Therefore, they secretly supported the Jiuchi tribe as a puppet in front of the emperor, in order to unify the Baiyue, bring them under their control, stabilize the rear defense line of the southern borderlands, and prepare for the future northward conquest of the world.

However, unifying the Baiyue tribes was not easy. There were some tribes that could rival the Jiuchi tribe, which were a thorn in their side. The Liyue tribe was one of them.

"Lord Chi Hu, what should we do with these people?" Sha Keliang asked after Chi Hu's laughter subsided.

Chi Hu's scarlet eyes swept over the old, weak, women, and children in the arena. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, then sneered, "The old rules apply. Anyone who is old and faded will be beheaded, and any child taller than a cartwheel will be beheaded. The rest will be reduced to slaves. In addition, some beautiful virgins will be selected and sent to the Yan Chi Prince's mansion, and the remaining women will all be given as rewards to those who have made contributions this time."

At Chi Hu's command, the surrounding barbarian soldiers all shouted Chi Hu's name and cheered. Although Chi Hu was cruel, he was not stupid. On the contrary, he was very good at winning people's hearts and was very generous to his subordinates. Therefore, despite his many shortcomings, he was still supported by his men.

Kuaiji City.

As scouts continued to report back, Shen Qing confirmed that the barbarians had retreated. He then abandoned the blockade of Kuaiji City and opened the city gates to allow the remaining residents to enter and leave freely.

People are often attached to their homes, after all, it is hard to leave one's homeland. As long as the news of the barbarians' retreat spreads, the people who had fled or hidden away will surely return to Kuaiji County, bringing new life to the place.

However, with the end of the war, a pressing and thorny problem also confronted Shen Qing: a financial crisis.

Money may not be everything, but you can't do without it. Even a single penny can stump countless heroes.

Kuaiji City is ravaged by war and urgently needs government funds to stabilize the region, provide relief to civilians who have lost their homes in the war, and also compensate the local militia who died in battle. However, since Shen Qing took over Kuaiji City, even rats in the treasury are reluctant to look at it, and the powerful families in the city have fled one after another, leaving there with absolutely no source of revenue. Moreover, this year, Kuaiji Prefecture was invaded by barbarians, and many fields have been abandoned, so there is no hope of even collecting taxes this year.

One can see the whole leopard from a single spot. With the example of Kuaiji City, Shen Qing could foresee that the treasuries of all the counties in Yuezhou would be as empty as those of Kuaiji City. This huge financial crisis was enough to plunge Yuezhou into a predicament and even cause it to lose the support of the people of Yuezhou.

The common people don't care about anything else; they will blame all the crimes on the ruling authorities. Even if it's a dirty trick by the Li Yang court, the Yue Prince's Mansion will have to pay the price in the end.

"It seems that the journey to the pirate world is urgent." Shen Qing rubbed his temples and muttered to himself.

If an ordinary person were faced with such a situation, they would be helpless. Shen Qing believed that even if the world's top strategists were in his position, they wouldn't perform much better than him. A skilled cook can't cook without rice; without money, nothing can be solved.

Shen Qing was fortunate to have the Black Ship as his ally and the pirate world as his backing, which gave him the confidence to calmly face this situation.

Sometimes he thought that the world of Snow World was actually not suitable for ordinary people to travel through. Even a senior like Huang Longshi spent most of his life before he could stir up trouble, and even then he had to avoid the protagonist's halo.

Just then, a thunderous sound of hooves suddenly rang out outside the prefectural governor's mansion, causing Shen Qing's expression to change drastically. He knew there were very few horses in Kuaiji City at the moment, and such a sound of hooves definitely didn't belong to his side.

But Shen Qing quickly became puzzled. Although he opened the city gates and lifted the guards, if it were really a barbarian cavalry rushing in, there would definitely be a warning coming from the city walls, instead of the current situation where the sound of hooves was almost at the prefect's mansion and there was still no movement from the city walls.

"Get out of my way, I am Lord Shen's fiancée." Suddenly, a domineering voice rang out from the entrance of the prefectural governor's mansion. The next moment, a familiar purple figure appeared in front of Shen Qing.

"Qingfeng, what brings you here?" The moment Shen Qing saw Xuan Yuan Qingfeng, a huge sense of surprise welled up in his heart. Xuan Yuan Qingfeng's appearance was completely unexpected.

However, upon seeing the exhaustion on Xuan Yuan Qingfeng's face, Shen Qing felt a touch of emotion. He knew that Xuan Yuan Qingfeng must have rushed to Kuaiji City in such a short time after learning the news.