Hengzhou, Pingcheng.

The spring breeze blows slowly, and the city is dotted with green.

Zu Jue rode a tall horse and looked at Wang Lin beside him from time to time, with a rather proud expression on his face.

Zu Jue has gone back and forth in this way, and Beidi has moved from the late autumn when he left to the beginning of the new year.

In the past few months, many changes have occurred in the Northland.

The ship docked in Youzhou and then rushed all the way to Pingcheng. The scenery along the way made Wang Lin marvel and couldn't believe it.

Along the way, what they saw was an orderly society. Everyone had their own division of labor. The people they saw along the way seemed to be very busy, and the places from Youzhou to Hengzhou had long been owned by Liu Taozi.

, so it has already shown preliminary prosperity, with a dense population, continuous cultivated land, groups of merchants, and new villages appearing one by one. There is no place that is too desolate along the road.

In fact, you can tell the situation of a place just by looking at the expressions of the people. If the people are all thin, pale, and staggering when they walk, it means there is something wrong here. And the people's livelihood situation in the south is probably

so.

What you can see the most in the south are huge forts and tenants who are dying and walking like corpses.

In Hebei, most of the farmers Wang Lin saw were healthy, and disabled people were rare. They had rosy faces, wore complete clothes, and had bright eyes.

The closer you get to the core area, the stronger the contrast with the south becomes.

Zu Jue said proudly: "Your Majesty, this is the purpose for which I persuaded you to come."

"My great king does not use the old methods to govern Hebei."

"In the past, when temples were managed, they would just pretend to send a few people around to inspect and walk around, and then the management was completed."

Zu Jue said disdainfully: "At that time, everyone was vying for the position of patrolling the place. After patrolling like this, there was no change in the place. On the contrary, the property of the people who patrolled increased a lot."

"Northland is different from other places. It is very clean here."

"From the governor to the county magistrate, they are all carefully selected by Xingtai. There may be hidden villains among them, but there will not be a single incompetent person!"

"The forts and temples along the road have all been bulldozed, so they can reach the current level."

Zu Jue showed off his thoroughness here. Wang Lin was not a simple general. He had also been a prince and fought against Chen Baxian in the Southern Kingdom.

He had managed the place before, so he could understand what Zu Jue said.

Wang Lin murmured: "I was in the south in the past, and I heard that the general destroyed Wu Lei and forced the monks to return to secular life. I thought it was just a means of making money for the purpose of enriching the national treasury."

"I just found out today that the general has deeper considerations."

Zu Jue laughed.

He looked at Wang Lin, "Isn't this destiny?"

"My general has made great achievements on his own. He has repeatedly defeated the Puppet Zhou Dynasty. He rode his horse in Chang'an and surrounded himself with generals. He has risen from humble beginnings. No matter what kind of system he wants to implement or who he wants to kill, no one can stop him.

It’s something that neither of those two countries can do!”

"At present, among the three kingdoms, my lord is the cleanest. No one else can match this."

Before Wang Lin arrived, she had heard many rumors about Liu Taozi.

Liu Taozi is currently a hot topic all over the world and has a great reputation. However, in other places, she usually has a bad reputation.

Say he is a Qihu, say he is a cannibal, say he is barbaric, say he uses Qin's methods tyrannically, and say that the people under his rule are living in dire straits.

Anyway, Wang Lin had never heard a positive comment. The only positive comment she heard was from Lou Rui. Lou Rui once told him that at the moment, the only people in Qi who can be named as famous generals as Duan Shao are Liu Taozi and himself.

The Three Heroes mentioned by Lou Rui are obviously different from others.

Although Wang Lin would not be superstitious about the rumors outside, she only regarded Liu Taozi as a powerful military leader, such as the original Tianzhu General Er Zhurong.

The great general back then had a greater notoriety than Liu Taozi, and his reputation was exactly the same.

Qihu, cannibal, savage, violent. Can fight!

Moreover, that one did much more thoroughly than Liu Taozi. Liu Taozi only allowed his subordinates to destroy Wu Fort, while Er Zhurong directly led the troops to massacre hundreds of officials and killed all the officials in the court. Looking at the front

Chao, that can be regarded as a shocking feat!

When the Wuhu started to wreak havoc, they had never massacred all the officials of the imperial court like this.

Er Zhurong was also very good at fighting. Among the many famous generals who competed in the Three Kingdoms later, twenty out of ten came from Er Zhurong.

If he hadn't made a small mistake of "entering the palace alone", it would be difficult to discuss the ownership of the world.

Therefore, Wang Lin has always regarded Liu Taozi as a weakened version of Er Zhurong.

But after arriving in Beidi, Wang Lin realized that Liu Taozi and Er Zhurong were not the same thing at all. Er Zhurong committed massacres to make money and eliminate political opponents, while Liu Taozi did so for the sake of governance.

Wang Lin has not seen such a prosperous scene in many years.

The countless ships moored at Youzhou Pier reminded him of the Jiankang days when the Bodhisattva was in power.

And that sense of order was something Wang Lin had never felt before.

In these years, the north was chaotic and the south was unorganized.

But here, even the staff at the inn are very strict, without any fuss or perfunctory behavior.

This kind of shock can only be felt by those who have personally experienced many years of chaos.

Looking at Wang Lin who was full of admiration, Zu Jue cleared his throat, cupped his hands and said, "Prince, there is actually something I have hidden from you."

Wang Lin said with a smile: "The general never thought of summoning me. It was my grandfather who tricked me into leaving the south for the purpose of making a fortune, right?"

Zu Jue was particularly surprised, and then smiled, "I underestimated the prince. What the prince said was right and wrong."

"It is true that the general did not send me to summon you. I went to see you on my own initiative. However, the purpose was not for any plan to make a fortune. It was because I felt that you are someone who can truly serve my king, so I went to see you."

Zu Jue asked again: "But how did the prince know about this?"

Wang Lin said calmly: "Before Grandfather arrived, the patrolling naval forces under my command had just detained several merchant ships. Nan Monk on the ship said: Our things are to be delivered to the Qi General Liu Taozi."

"I arrested them all and seized the goods."

"It wasn't long before my grandfather came and invited me to go to the north."

Zu Jue laughed loudly, "That's it."

"Then why are you still willing to come with me?"

Wang Lin looked at the distance and whispered: "Just as Grandfather said, I have nowhere to go."

"Emperor Xiaozhao gave me military pay and asked me to form a naval army. Since his death, I have not received military pay. The reason why I detained those southern merchant ships is only because of the scarcity of food and grass."

"If this continues, in less than two years, I will have to disperse my army and become a civil servant in the city, waiting for any enemy to come and claim my life."

Zu Jue nodded, deeply convinced.

"That's exactly what it means."

Pingcheng in the distance became clearer and clearer, and the city gate was extremely crowded.

There were two long queues for those going into and out of the city.

The sergeants hurried out, and under the organization of the city gate officials, they quickly cleared the way for pedestrians. Zu Jue and Wang Lin passed among them. Wang Lin saw that the common people saw the sergeants, petty officials, and even herself.

The 'noble man' didn't have much fear, and he couldn't help but be amazed again.

There are actually some weird things happening under this general's command.

The people are no longer afraid of the army and officials!

Once inside the city, there are even more strange places.

Outside the market, there were actually merchants who dared to go to the streets to sell their goods, but the patrolling soldiers around them seemed not to notice them.

Wang Lin's eyes widened and she looked at Zu Jue beside her.

Zu Jue explained with a smile: "Our commercial tax is not collected when entering the market, it is levied based on the transaction volume. As you have read books, you should know the transaction vouchers from the Han Dynasty."

"I see."

When they walked through the city and came to the entrance of the General's Mansion, Wang Lin saw a burly man standing at the door. The strong man was in his twenties, with sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, slightly dark complexion, and was wearing a military uniform.

Wearing a black cloak, there are two tigers embroidered on the cloak, roaring at each other. A jade belt is tied around his waist, and an antique long sword hangs on it.

Zu Jue hurriedly dismounted, followed closely by Wang Lin.

"Lord!!"

Zu Jue bowed to see him, his face was very respectful.

Wang Lin did not dare to look down upon him and hurriedly went together to worship him.

Liu Taozi glanced at Zu Jue, and then looked at Wang Lin.

He reached out his hand and helped Wang Lin up.

Wang Lin was pulled up without even reacting.

"I was originally going to go out of the city to greet you, but I never thought that you would arrive a few days early, so I could only greet you here."

"How dare you trouble a general who is a defeated general and a lowly man?"

Liu Taozi shook his head, "I read Zu Jue's memorial. He said that you do not join in the troubles with the officials in the south, that you are serious and rigorous in your work, that you are brave and good at fighting, and that you are good at training troops."
To be continued...