Chapter 1 An Arrow

"Buzz!"

An arrow struck a roe deer.

"Your Lordship's archery is superb! I admire it!"

Zheng Fan smiled. He enjoyed Gou Moli's flattery because Gou Moli's own skills were actually quite ordinary.

When sending Tian Wujing off the other day, Tian Wujing had said: a sixth-rank martial artist is good enough.

That was the meaning: to achieve something in one area, other areas would inevitably be suppressed.

Gou Moli was a very standard example; the Sword Saint was another, corresponding example.

"It's a pity, what a great place, and now it's become a wilderness." Zheng Fan sighed.

When there were fewer people, the animals came out.

"Your Lordship, rest assured, in two or three years, this place will be densely populated again. After all, this is truly a good place, and a good place never lacks people."

"It feels strange for you to comfort me about this."

Gou Moli smiled with some embarrassment upon hearing this.

Indeed, the culprit behind this area becoming a "hunting" ground was the short guy with a scar on his face in front of him.

"Your Lordship, shall we take a break?"

"Okay, let's rest."

Zheng Fan dismounted his Pixiu and sat on the ground. A guard handed him a water pouch.

After taking a few sips,

Zheng Fan said, "How did you feel when you went to Yupan City the other day?"

Gou Moli had gone west to Yupan City. He now had a lot of freedom, but he had applied before going, and after Zheng Fan, in fact, after Blind Man approved it, Gou Moli really left the military camp and set off.

"Reporting to Your Lordship, I wanted to see the disaster situation."

"It's already winter." Zheng Fan twisted his neck, and the joints cracked, "Hasn't the disaster situation been alleviated?"

Since the beginning of summer, heavy rains had fallen in Jin, and the Yan people's so-called construction of river embankments was actually a covert operation to attack Chu, which also led to a breach in a section of the Wangjiang River.

Therefore, Tian Wujing was right when he said that he didn't care about the world.

Yan was suffering from drought, and Jin was suffering from continuous floods, and the areas where the disasters occurred were relatively rich and fertile lands in both countries.

"Reporting to Your Lordship, have you noticed that this winter is colder than in previous years?"

"Oh, I really didn't feel it much."

Zheng Fan was a martial artist, so he had more internal heat, and he had been busy fighting, just resting for a short time. He hadn't even tasted the last winter, let alone this winter.

Moreover,

From Beifeng County at the beginning, then to Shengle City and then to Xuehai Pass,

Except for Cuiliu Fort in the middle, the Yinlang County, also known as the Little Jiangnan of Yan, had a more pleasant climate. In Zheng Fan's opinion, the other places were not very suitable for raising people.

"Your Lordship, I was born in the snowy plains. We barbarians live by nomadism, fishing and hunting, while the Xia people focus on farming and care about the weather. In fact, the barbarians on the snowy plains are even more sensitive to this."

To a certain extent, nomadism was much worse than farming in terms of resisting natural disasters and stability.

"Continue."

"After a great freeze, there will be a great disaster. I think the weather in Jin next year will not be good, and I estimate that disasters will continue."

Zheng Fan narrowed his eyes and said, "How confident are you?"

"It's hard to say, this is just my own inference based on experience."

"So, next year will be another restless year." Zheng Fan sighed.

He hoped for "national prosperity and people's peace." What was the point of fighting for pieces of barren land if the people were completely destitute?

Shanggu County, a county, wasn't it just left there?

"I think this is an opportunity. If the disaster in Jin continues, Your Lordship and our Pingxi Marquis's Mansion will become increasingly attractive to the disaster victims in Jin.

Because our Jin East area has few major rivers, disasters are unlikely to affect us. When the harvest is hopeless again next year, the people of Jin will most likely start to move here on their own initiative."

Zheng Fan nodded.

Time, in the end, was still time.

With enough time, he could train enough iron cavalry that could be pulled out, and he could also absorb enough population.

Although the Barbarian King was nominally a town general, he was also clear about the limits. Now, he had military power, but he must not be too enthusiastic, so he could join forces with the Blind Man to find places where he could exert himself in other aspects.

"There's one more thing, and this comes from my own guess."

"Wasn't your last thing a guess?"

"It's just that this one is even more unbelievable."

"Speak."

"I calmed down and reviewed the war against Chu, and combined it with the natural disasters in Yan and Jin this year, I have a feeling..."

"Why are you hesitating?"

"Combining the arrangements and measures taken by the Regent of Great Chu in the war, I wonder if he had already foreseen this natural disaster. I heard several gentlemen say that the Regent also has the spirit of a fire phoenix hidden in his body."

"Foresee, natural disasters?"

"Yes, this idea of mine is really too absurd."

"No, it's not absurd, it's possible."

In the historical time and space that Zheng Fan was familiar with, there was a Little Ice Age, which was also believed to have affected the change of dynasties.

Large areas in the north were suffering from disasters, which was no longer a simple coincidence. Was there also a certain climate pattern in this world?

If you want to find a pattern,

Then you have to...

Zheng Fan suddenly thought of a person,

An old man who returned to Chu from the capital of Yan before the start of the war against Chu. That old man was also the former teacher of King Jingnan.

The compiler of the history books of the four countries... Meng Shou.

Many mysteries suddenly became clear.

The commander's command on the battlefield, giving up Yingdu, seemed to be convinced that Yan could not continue the war, and began to use the Yan people's knife to scrape the bones and heal the poison.

"Heh, my brother-in-law really believes in science."

"Your Lordship, what is science?"

Zheng Fan looked at Gou Moli. After all, he was the Barbarian King, and he could actually think of this.

"After you go back, tell the Blind Man what you just said."

"Yes, Your Lordship, I understand."

Zheng Fan stood up, ready to move around again and hunt more prey to take back, but suddenly heard a string of Buddhist bells coming from the distant forest.

There were many kinds of bells, but the reason why he could tell it was a Buddhist bell at once was because the sound of the bell washing away the dust was too clear.

Zheng Fan didn't say anything. The guards around him were all heroes who had fought in battles, otherwise they wouldn't have been selected into the personal guard camp to protect the Marquis of Pingxi himself;

People with blood on their bodies were particularly sensitive to this kind of aura.

Zheng Fan got on his Pixiu.

This time, he didn't bring the Sword Saint, because last time when he and Si Niang consummated their marriage, he asked the Sword Saint to guard him all night. The Sword Saint seemed to have detected some clues and was on the verge of a possible attack, so the Marquis of Zheng really didn't dare to call him for hunting.

If you overdraw too much favor at once, you have to take good care of it.

For example, arrange for the Sword Saint's wife again, arrange for that Liu Dahu again, and arrange for that old woman to be the head of the street sweeping team.

The devils were all very busy and were not brought out.

Even Ah Ming had been busy improving the production efficiency of the workshop recently and had no time to spare, otherwise the Marquis of Zheng would not have been reduced to shooting roe deer to practice archery.

After all, it was too inhumane to hurt these poor little lives. Where was it as practical as shooting Ah Ming?

However,

This did not mean that the Marquis of Zheng did not bring any experts with him.

He always cared about the people and knew that he alone was involved in the future well-being of the entire army and people of Jin East, so how could he not cherish himself?

"Great Hero."

"Hmm."

Chen the Great Hero came out and stood at the front of the team.

The Marquis of Zheng frowned slightly.

Fortunately, Gou Moli understood and immediately shouted:

"Protect the Marquis!"

For a time, the guards collectively shrank back.

In this way,

Chen the Great Hero was in front, and the guards were behind.

In fact, it would be best for the guards to be in front and Chen the Great Hero to protect the Marquis of Zheng.

But,

Chen the Great Hero,

Well,

The Marquis of Zheng could understand.

From the forest,

Walked out a bald monk whose size was not inferior to Fan Li;

The monk had large earlobes and two symmetrical fleshy bumps on his neck. Behind him, he was pulling a cart.

On one side of the cart, a string of Buddhist bells was hung, making a sound;

On the cart,

Sat an old woman.

The old woman was wearing a red dress and had flowers in her hair.

The skin on her face had completely wrinkled and drooped down, and her eye sockets were very deep, vaguely revealing a deep green light.

The Marquis of Zheng thought of the fox demon in his mansion that was used as a toy every day,

The old woman in front of him really gave people the feeling of a senile fox demon.

"Great Hero."

Chen the Great Hero, who was standing at the front, turned his head,

And said to Zheng Fan:

"The monk is a fifth-rank martial artist, it's okay."

Excluding extreme situations,

Generally speaking,

On the premise of one-on-one, swordsmen are invincible at the same level.

What's more, Chen the Great Hero was vaguely already at the fourth rank, although after he learned swordsmanship from the Sword Saint, he became a little neurotic, as if he had thrown the realm behind him.

In this way,

The Marquis of Zheng was relieved.

In fact,

Unless you encounter a third-rank master, you don't have to worry too much about the rest of the masters, as long as you have a certain number of guards around you.

And real third-rank masters are not roadside cabbages, how can they be so easy to encounter.

"A'da, get out of the way."

The monk let go of the cart and stood aside.

"A'da, kneel down."

The monk knelt down.

The old woman on the cart then smiled;

"If I'm not mistaken, the distinguished guest is the world-famous Marquis of Pingxi of Yan, right? This old woman is really lucky to have met you in this wilderness."

"She's lying. When this monk approached earlier, he deliberately concealed his aura. They came closer on purpose. The reason why the bells rang earlier was because they knew that if they got any closer, they wouldn't be able to hide it from us, and they were afraid that we would take them away in one wave before they had time to speak."

"..." Old woman.

As expected of Chen the Great Hero, a straightforward man who was unyielding, upright, quick-spoken, and straightforward.

In Chen the Great Hero's world, there was no need for such hypocritical politeness, even if they both knew it in their hearts.

The old woman quickly relieved her embarrassment,

And said;

"Please forgive this old woman for her inconvenient legs and feet, and for being unable to salute."

"What do you want from me?"

"This old woman is here to find someone."

"Who?"

"A woman, a woman with big hips. This old woman is her maternal grandmother.

I've been inquiring about it for the past few days,

And heard that,

She was fortunate enough,

To be taken into your room, Your Lordship?"

"..." Zheng Fan.