Xinning County was just a remote county in the Chu State. It had many mountains and few people. Its entire county had less than 200,000 people. Its weight in Da Chu was as light as a feather. It was adjacent to the four non-government areas where bandits were rampant. It was common for all the thieves who ran into Xinning to burn, kill and loot. To use one word to describe Xinning County, it was poor. If it was two words, it was very poor.

All officials from some channels in Dachu regard coming to Xinning County as a fear of being an official. It is precisely because of this reason that Wu Teng, a military man, has been in Xinning County for many years. First, he was a general brought out by Cheng Wuben. If he didn't look at the monks and Buddha's face, he would have to look at Cheng Wuben's face more or less. Even if Cheng Wuben never spoke up for his subordinates' official positions, secondly, no one is willing to come here.

Wu Teng was willing to stay in this remote countryside, with no one intrigue. With his troops in his hands, he firmly stood firm here. Here, he was the local emperor, and he knew very well how much he had. If he really wanted to be the leader of a county in those rich places, he would be afraid that he would be cured in a dilemma of life and death.

But even he himself did not expect that it would be in the future when he was nearly sixty years old. Ming Dynasty got Izumo County from Qi State, where Princess Zhaohua Min Ruoxi started a massacre, and wiped out the bandits who had been rampant for many years. Then, the new county magistrate Geng Qiancheng showed his strength. In a short time, Izumo County was built into a commercial city connecting the four countries. The Ming Dynasty did not originally border the Ming State, but with Izumo County, the two conveniently had a narrow passage.

It was this passage that made Xinning a must-pass place for Chu goods to Ming. Xinning County immediately turned into a phoenix, and suddenly became popular.

In the past two years, with the Ming people opening up maritime trade, the demand for Chu's goods became stronger, which made Xinning County prosperous. When the Ming Dynasty completely annexed Qin and the Qin territory, the narrow passage before became a large area of ​​land bordered. The strength of the Ming people also greatly promoted the development of Xinning County.

Wu Teng seized this opportunity tightly. He vigorously developed transportation in the county and built avenues among the mountains and ridges. In this regard, the Ming people helped him without hesitation. Not only did they send technicians who were good at building roads to guide him, but they also even controlled materials and cement to provide him with the ability to connect the land passages of Chu and Ming countries, so that Xinning County could connect the land passages of Chu and Ming countries. These major transportation routes have now become Xinning's blood vessels, but not blood, but countless wealth.

With wealth, more people are naturally needed. Wu Teng tried every means to move the people living in the mountains. During this period, many unpleasant things naturally happened, and it is certain that they could not leave their hometown. Moreover, leaving the place where they originally lived to go to a strange place, the people naturally resisted at first. However, Wu Teng, who was a soldier, was not so dedicated to explaining facts to them, and directly burned the houses of the people, destroyed their fields, and then put out a rope.

Of course, Wu Teng was such a bad way of acting, and during that time, Wu Teng was a demon in the hearts of the people. Of course, in the eyes of these forced migrations, Wu Teng was as respectable as a Bodhisattva.

These people were selected to place the areas suitable for cultivation in Xinning, because at this time, Xinning no longer relied on agriculture, but relied on developed commerce, but the number of people farmed was insufficient. Later, Wu Teng and the Ming army jointly invaded Lingchuan County, an important town in the northwest of Qi, and after snatching Anju County, his desire for population became greater.

At present, almost all the population of Xinning County is located near the town, and the towns are leaning against the main roads of the intersection.

Because of a large number of personnel gaps, Wu Teng even drew a large number of troops. He cut off 10,000 troops from 20,000 troops. For Wu Teng, his number of soldiers was too small, which was not very helpful to the safety of Xinning County. He could not defeat any of them. Of these 10,000 people, half of them were arranged by him in Anju County to guard against the Qi army in Lingchuan. After all, since the Qi people lost their jobs, they have always wanted to find an opportunity to take them back. The Leye County controlled by the Ming people did not have the courage to mess with them, but they just took a look at Anju County, which they controlled, and then they had to fight one after another.

After fighting, Wu Teng discovered a benefit. His troops were getting stronger and stronger. Wu Teng, who was intrigued, kept sending his troops there in rotation to fight with the people of Qi. Now his troops were incomparable to the past. Because of his good relationship with the Ming people, he could always get the best equipment from the Ming people. Now his troops were pulled out and if he didn't shoot a flag, he would definitely be considered a military force of the Ming army.

After a year or two, the Qi people did not get any advantage. Instead, they suffered repeated losses in Anju County and retreated. However, Wu Teng did not want to stop working. If the Qi people did not come, he instead fought to get rid of the opponent.

For Wu Teng, although there are only 10,000 soldiers now, it is stronger than the previous 20,000 soldiers.

Now Xinning County is like a paradise, a little stronger than Anyang, and has become one of the most stable sources of taxation in the State of Chu. Of course, it has become a good place for some people to compete for. However, when Cheng Wuben was alive, he did not dare to pay attention. Cheng Wuben died, and it was not that no one had any thoughts, but with a little temptation, he lost his mind. Who would have come to Xinning, just stand in front of him and go out sideways. Wu Teng has been in Xinning for more than ten or twenty years, and his influence has long been deeply rooted. He has been controlled by him strictly, especially the army, who is only his own will. Although the troops are fewer than before, his combat power is stronger. Now he is not able to move when the Chu court wants to move, but he must carefully curry favor with him.

Wu Teng is living a very comfortable life now. But he also knew very well that such a happy life would eventually come to an end. The honeymoon period between Ming and Chu had already passed, and one day he had to make a choice.

When the news of Guo Jiuling's death in the capital came, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seemed that this time was still earlier than he expected.

He has always had contacts with the senior management of Izumo County in Ming Dynasty, and the temptations on the other side have become increasingly explicit. In fact, Wu Teng knew very well that he did not have many choices, and Xinning's lifeline was in the hands of the Ming people, especially after the Ming Dynasty occupied Qin territory, opened up the natural barrier of Luoying Mountains, and connected Anyang and Qinghe, they had more choices.

Once Xinning loses this business road, it will be immediately defeated. Everything it has now will be vain. The people will not have enough food, and the soldiers will no longer have enough military pay. In the past, they could have relied on the court to pay more or less, but now there is no need to expect it.

If the Ming people want to deal with him, they don’t need to move troops. Cutting off this business road is enough to suffocate him to death.

In fact, his thoughts had long shifted to the Ming people's side. When people asked themselves in the middle of the night, he had already understood this point. It was just that Cheng Wuben's death shocked him a lot. On the one hand, he was angry at Min Ruoying's ruthlessness, but on the other hand, he was moved by Cheng Wuben's determination to die resolutely.

He is a veteran of Cheng Shuai! If he really wants to embark on this path, how can he be worthy of Cheng Shuai!

This is his only knot in his heart now.

Zhang Chao, the commander of the inner guard of the Great Chu, stepped in, and said, "The county magistrate, the court, sent the emperor's will."

"What's that kid going to do?" Wu Teng said angrily.

Xinning's inner guard Zhang Chao had already completely surrendered to him, but now he is a powerful weapon in his hand. Any moves of the inner guard of the Great Chu, he knew clearly through Zhang Chao.

"I asked us for money again." Zhang Chao, like Wu Teng, had no respect for Min Ruoying sitting on the dragon chaise in the capital. "The Ming people cut off their loans and did not allow food and other materials to flow into the State of Chu. Now the Great Chu is in danger. The people have no food and the army has no salary. He wants us to pay the tax for the next year in advance!"

Zhang Chao handed Wu Teng the will of the emperor's seal.

Wu Teng threw the imperial edict on the case and said angrily: "Why? We not only paid this year, but also next year's. Now we have to pay the year after year. Will we have to pay the year after year in a few days? Even the taxes for the next ten years will be paid to him? Do we want to live in Xinning? We still have hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of soldiers need to support?"

"That's right, the county magistrate is too unreasonable." Zhang Chao agreed: "This time it's not only us, but also the other end of Anyang, and they are asking them to pay the taxes for the next year!"

"What's the movement over Zhu Yi?" Wu Teng raised his eyebrows.

"There is no news yet, but I guess it's a big deal. They have hundreds of thousands of Bian Wushuang's relatives to support them. This year, they have invested a lot of money to build the road from the Luoying Mountains to Qinghe. It's probably too short of money." Zhang Chao said.

Wu Teng smiled, sat down again, took the order playfully and looked at it, and threw it aside. "I turned around and asked the chief to write a reply letter, saying that I was too poor to put the rice in the pot. Even the soldiers were owed wages, and they were selling their own wealth to pay the soldiers, for fear that it would be difficult to deal with the rebellion!"

Zhang Chao laughed, "Just that's true, even if we lay eggs, we can't kill the chicken to get eggs!"

"We are a golden rooster, I don't know how many more days of golden eggs we can lay!" Wu Teng snorted: "Now the Ming Dynasty does not allow food and other materials to flow to Da Chu. Our business road has been depressed. If we do not allow silk and porcelain from Chu to Da Chu in the future, we will drink the northwest wind."

"No?" Zhang Chao was shocked: "We have always had a good relationship with Mingren. They wouldn't kill us like this, right?"
Chapter completed!