bestfiction Chapter 77 looks like it's almost over.
Chapter 77 looks like it's almost over.
With the support of a large number of refugees and common people, Yang Zheng had a continuous source of soldiers, and his rebel army continued to grow. According to the official gazette, Yang Zheng's army had expanded to 100,000 people and successfully occupied half of the prefecture. Liangzhou only had three prefectures in total, which means that Yang Zheng had occupied one-sixth of the entire Liangzhou and had already established his own base of operations!
"This news is from a month ago."
Xu Zhiwen seemed unsurprised by Li Hu's shocked reaction, and sighed, "A month ago, Yang Zheng had already occupied half of the prefecture, and now I'm afraid the entire Liangshan Prefecture has been occupied by Yang Zheng."
Liangshan County is the southernmost county in Liangzhou, bordering Qingzhou. This means that Yang Zheng could lead his troops south and enter Qingzhou at any time.
Once Yang Zheng enters Qingzhou, Taiping County will be the first to suffer, because Taiping County is the northernmost county in Qingzhou, bordering Liangshan County of Liangzhou.
"This……"
Li Hu stared wide-eyed and said, "Where is the imperial court? Why isn't it sending troops to encircle and suppress them?"
"Court?"
Xu Zhiwen scoffed and said, "The imperial court is probably still busy with its own struggles right now! It probably won't be able to send out troops for at least three months."
After saying that, Xu Zhiwen continued, "Moreover, it is still unknown whether the current court has the ability to send troops. At present, the barbarians outside the Great Wall are eyeing us covetously, and the country is suffering from severe disasters, resulting in a sharp reduction in tax revenue. Where will the money and food come from to send troops?"
Setting out a large army requires money and supplies, and not a small amount. From what Xu Zhiwen understands, the current imperial court is probably too busy to take care of itself, let alone send troops to suppress Yang Zheng, this rebellious traitor.
"Is the imperial court just going to sit idly by and watch Yang Zheng grow stronger?"
Li Hu asked incredulously, "Yang Zheng is rebelling! This is an outrageous act, yet the imperial court hasn't reacted at all."
"The imperial court was naturally unwilling to sit idly by and watch Yang Zheng grow stronger."
Xu Zhiwen said, "I suspect that the imperial court will most likely send troops to suppress the enemy symbolically. If the suppression fails, they will choose to offer Yang Zheng amnesty."
After saying this, Xu Zhiwen continued, "In fact, Yang Zheng is not the first person to rebel. Since the cold disaster swept through, countless people have rebelled in the three northern states, but most of them were all bark and no bite and were quickly suppressed. Only Yang Zheng has caused such a big commotion."
"Has the situation deteriorated to this extent?"
Li Hu's eyes widened even more. He, who was in Taiping County, was unaware of the information Xu Zhiwen was talking about. Only an official like Xu Zhiwen could learn about such things from the official gazette.
The thought that rebellions had broken out everywhere in the three northern states sent chills down Li Hu's spine. It seemed that the Xia Kingdom was doomed.
"Can it be prevented from becoming eroded?"
Xu Zhiwen sighed softly, “The cold disaster has already left most of the people in the north with no harvest. The court is constantly conscripting people and levying taxes, and the people are already overburdened. Yang Zheng is just the first rebel to cause such a big commotion, and he will definitely not be the last.”
"This is also why I am determined to eliminate the Zhu family. If the refugees outside the city are not properly resettled, there may very well be a second Yang Zheng in Qingzhou."
Xu Zhiwen looked at Li Hu and said, "Does the master think that you, as a martial artist, can withstand Yang Zheng's army of 100,000?"
"Of course not."
Li Hu shook his head without hesitation. Martial artists are not invincible. In a one-on-one situation, as a seventh-rank martial artist, he could easily defeat ordinary people, and even take on ten opponents at once. But once he was surrounded and attacked by a large number of fearless soldiers...
Li Hu didn't think he had any chance of winning. Even the strongest martial artist has a time when they are exhausted. A martial artist can kill five people or ten people, but he can never kill a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand people!
"This is it."
Xu Zhiwen said, "We must treat those refugees outside the city well, at least give them something to eat, otherwise... once these refugees rise up in rebellion, we will be the first to suffer."
…………
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While Xu Zhiwen and Li Hu were talking, Chen Dao had already arrived in front of a pharmacy. Standing outside the pharmacy, he looked up at the pharmacy's signboard, which read four large characters: Yuan's Pharmacy.
It's easy to tell from the name that this is a pharmacy owned by the Yuan family, and it must sell medicinal herbs used by martial artists.
After gesturing for Chen Da and the others to wait outside, Chen Dao stepped into the pharmacy.
There weren't many people in the pharmacy; only a couple of customers were selecting herbs, and the shopkeeper was sitting behind the counter.
The shopkeeper glanced at Chen Dao as he entered and then looked away. This was Yuan's pharmacy, and customers who wanted to buy medicine would naturally bring their herbs to the counter to pay.
As for those who took the medicinal herbs and ran away...
The shopkeeper wasn't worried about such a problem at all. In the entire Taiping County, no one dared to take anything from the Yuan family for free, not even martial artists.
"Shopkeeper."
Chen Dao walked to the counter and asked, "Do you sell Blood Lingzhi, Phoenix Tail Flower, Iron Heart Bamboo, and Bear Blood Flower here?"
These medicinal herbs were naturally the materials Chen Dao used to upgrade his Little Panda and Blood Feather Chicken. Chen Dao's main purpose in coming to the city this time was to obtain these medicinal herbs.
"Of course."
Without looking up, the shopkeeper said, "Blood Ganoderma, Phoenix Tail Flower, and Bear Blood Flower are 2 taels of silver per plant, and Iron Heart Bamboo is 2 taels of silver per tael. How much do you need?"
so expensive?
Chen Dao clicked his tongue in amazement and began to calculate in his mind.
To advance a Blood Feather Chicken, it needs to be fed medicinal herbs for at least five days, which means it takes 10 taels of silver to raise a Blood Claw Chicken or a Crimson Blood Chicken.
Advancing a red panda is also not cheap; it requires feeding it medicinal herbs for five days. Moreover, if Chen Dao wants to advance into a more powerful golden-clawed red panda, he will need to feed it two kinds of medicinal herbs at the same time, which means... 20 taels of silver.
This price really stung Chen Dao.
After a moment's thought, he gritted his teeth and said, "I plan to buy 5 taels of iron heart bamboo, 5 bear blood flowers, 20 blood spirit mushrooms and 20 phoenix tail flowers. Please have the shopkeeper fetch the goods for me."
so much?
The shopkeeper's expression finally changed. Buying such a large quantity of medicinal herbs at once, this was a big customer!
When dealing with major clients, we can no longer be as indifferent as before.
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Please wait a moment, sir, I'll get it for you."
Before long, the shopkeeper took out a large quantity of medicinal herbs from the medicine cabinet and placed them on the counter, saying with a smile, "Guest, these are the medicinal herbs you requested. You can count them."
Chen Dao stepped forward to check the money. After confirming that everything was correct, he took out 100 taels of silver from his money bag and handed it to the shopkeeper. Then, he put all the medicinal herbs into the cloth bag given to him by the shopkeeper, turned around, picked up the cloth bag, and walked out of the pharmacy.