All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 211 Seeking the Skin of a Tiger!

As night fell, the night watchmen beat the watch along the streets, but there were no pedestrians in Qingzhou city.

Chen Ran, accompanied by Hua Rong and more than ten soldiers who came with him, arrived at the Guandi Temple in the wasteland of South City with ease.

"You stay outside." Chen Ran instructed Hua Rong, "Don't let any of those who escape go."

"Don't worry, brother." Hua Rong raised the strong bow in his hand, "I will definitely live up to your trust!"

Holding the machete, Chen Ran led his men to the outside of one side of the wall, built a human ladder and climbed over the wall one after another.

Not long after, screams were heard from the Guandi Temple and the fires became brighter and brighter.

Figures kept escaping from the Guandi Temple, but no one could escape Hua Rong's magic arrows.

About an incense stick of time later, Chen Ran, covered in blood, walked out with murderous intent.

The machete in his hand had turned blood red.

"Light a fire." He ordered those around him, "Burn down this den of thieves!"

"Big boss, this is Guandi Temple"

"Master Guan must have wanted to slaughter all these beasts a long time ago. He would be happy if we helped him do it, and he would never blame us." Chen Ran waved his hand impatiently. "Master Guan would not want to stay in such a filthy place!"

Most of the buildings were made of wood, so fires started quickly.

In a short while, the entire Guandi Temple was engulfed in thick smoke and flames, becoming extremely conspicuous under the night sky.

Most of Qingzhou City was alarmed, and the military patrol stations and fire-fighting teams that rushed over tried frantically to put out the fire.

That’s right, this is the fire brigade of the Song Dynasty.

Things like nursing homes, kindergartens, various welfare homes, etc., actually exist in the Song Dynasty.

The concept is definitely advanced, but if the people who do the work are too greedy, no matter how good the concept is, it will become a joke.

It was not until dawn that the fire here gradually died down.

In the following days, the people in Qingzhou City unexpectedly discovered that the streets had become much calmer.

The beggars who used to extort money and behave like scoundrels have almost disappeared.

The number of cases of children being lost in the city also decreased to almost nothing.

A few days later, in a brothel called "Tongxiangguan" on a street of customs, all the people, from the madam to the guards, were beheaded. Many women in the brothel fled, most of them were trafficked.

This matter was not over yet. On the next day, Mr. He, a famous gentleman in the city who often built bridges and roads and gave porridge to beggars, had his house caught fire. Dozens of people in his family were unable to escape.

There is a rumor circulating in the city that Mr. He is the behind-the-scenes boss of the "Tongxiang Pavilion".

Some people said that this was a punishment from heaven, others said that it was a heroic act of the Jianghu who saw injustice and came to the rescue. There were all kinds of reports, it was like wild history.

As for Chen Ran and his group who had truly eradicated all evil, they had already finished their mission and returned to Qingfeng Town.

Prefect Murong was a man of great integrity. He accepted property worth tens of thousands of strings of cash, as well as the heads of Yan Shun and other major bandits who had been captured by the police, and immediately helped with the matter.

First, Hua Rong immediately became the chief of Qingfeng Town, and both Qingfeng Town and Qingfeng Village were nominally under his jurisdiction.

Then he wrote a letter and sent someone to Tokyo City to lobby for a post as an anti-bandit commander for Hua Rong.

There were many such temporary official positions in the Song Dynasty, and the number of various envoys was countless.

With this righteous title, Chen Ran could openly eliminate the bandits and robbers who were plundering everywhere, and even label the local tyrants as bandits and send troops to destroy them.

In fact, local tyrants are basically local bullies, and it is common for them to rob merchants and travelers.

If we slaughtered them all, there would probably be some innocent people, but if we killed nine out of ten, they all deserved it.

With Qingfeng Town as the center, the influence expands in all directions.

All the villages and towns in Qingzhou received official documents regarding conscription and reasonable allocation of labor.

According to the agreement with Governor Murong, he would get half of these incomes.

Chen Ran naturally agreed to all of them. After all, Governor Murong was helping him save the money, and he could just take it back when the time came.

Thousands of soldiers stationed in Qingzhou, including local troops and transferred imperial guards, watched Chen Ran's power expand to all parts of Qingzhou.

They reported the matter to Governor Murong, but the result was either no response or a scolding.

After a long time, naturally no one will bother to meddle in other people's affairs anymore.

Chen Ran used the strategy of surrounding the cities from the countryside to gradually take control of Qingzhou.

If the local tyrants in a stubborn place refuse to give in, we will just send troops over to defeat them.

If there were any gentry families who wanted to cause trouble by relying on their status, Governor Murong would step in to suppress them.

The so-called gentry were all scholars with achievements in their careers, whose relatives or classmates served as officials in the court, or they were powerful people who retired and returned to their hometowns.

They have great power and have many connections with ministers in the court.

But the problem is that Governor Murong’s backer is his sister, Imperial Concubine Murong.

No matter how much say a court official has, it cannot compare to the words of a concubine.

Prefect Murong, who came to Qingzhou to gild himself, did not expect to have an unexpected gain. He regarded the reasonable burden proposed by Chen Ran as his own extra income and was very enthusiastic when helping.

As for the fact that various places in Qingzhou gradually began to only listen to the words of the Recruiting Envoy, Governor Murong, who came here to gild his reputation, would not care about this.

The time for hard work has come, so I will return to Tokyo to enjoy myself.

With a population of hundreds of thousands in Qingzhou under their control, and with the human resources and various food and fodder supplies provided by them, and with the help of Governor Murong, who allowed the use of military equipment in the city to help with arming, the power of Qingfeng Town expanded rapidly.

By training soldiers and stockpiling supplies, Chen Ran planned to expand towards the nearby Jeju.

Jizhou is right next to Qingzhou and has four counties under its jurisdiction: Juye, Jinxiang, Rencheng and Yuncheng.

Yuncheng County is where Liangshan Lake is located. How can I allow others to snore beside my bed? Liangshan must be eliminated.

Chen Ran plans to gather everyone to discuss actions against Liangshan.

However, a group of special guests came to Qingfeng Town.

They were passing by here and took a rest.

They used their status to demand the best reception, and it turned out that they were an envoy from the imperial court.

Chen Ran met Ma Zhi again. Looking at his worried face and the weird atmosphere in the delegation, he knew that the Song-Jin Maritime Alliance was probably aborted for the time being.

After dinner, Chen Ran saw Ma Zhi walking around the yard with his hands behind his back, sighing and groaning. He took the initiative to go in and said, "Master, I am polite."

Ma Zhi looked up at him. "Who are you?"

"I am the local deputy envoy."

"Oh." Ma Zhi smiled. "Banditism is almost extinct in Qingzhou. Merchants and travelers can go out without worry. You have done a good job."

When he went out to sea, he went from Qingzhou to Dengzhou and Laizhou to board the ship, and when he came back, he also returned by the same route.

Dengzhou and Laizhou were full of bandits and tyrants, and even his delegation was almost robbed.

But once you enter Qingzhou, it feels like you have arrived at a Buddhist kingdom on earth, and you can no longer see any trace of bandits or bullies.

This contrast naturally attracted attention.

By asking local people along the way, we learned that it was Governor Murong who arranged for the bandit suppression and suppression envoys to wipe out all the bandits in Qingzhou.

Although there were many complaints from the villages and towns along the way, saying that the conscription and reasonable burden of the Recruiting Envoy were unreasonable, Ma Zhi didn't care at all.

It takes people to suppress bandits, and it costs money, food and military supplies, so naturally the people have to pay for it.

It is reasonable to sacrifice people and supplies in exchange for local peace.

In the Song Dynasty, he met too many so-called literati who were only good at empty talk. It was very rare to find those who could actually work down to earth.

Ma Zhi himself is a man of action, otherwise he would not have gone to the Sea Alliance in person.

He really admired Chen Ran for his initiative in doing things.

After talking about the bandit suppression for a while, Chen Ran changed the subject, "Master, you look so worried, is there something bothering you?"

In the Song Dynasty, officials with sufficient status and experience were addressed respectfully as "Xiang Gong".

Apart from these, they are all titles of official titles.

Ma Zhi was a Han Chinese from Liao. After he voluntarily defected to the Song Dynasty, he was granted the official title of Zhilongtu Pavilion, which Bao Zheng also had.

And the Zhilongtu Pavilion is the scholar.

Of course, if they are ordinary people, they usually cannot meet high-level officials, and at most they can meet local officials.

Usually, they call out "old parents~~~"

This is how the term "parent official" came about.

As for calling him "Sir", in the Song Dynasty, "Sir" is the title for father.

"You don't understand." Ma Zhi wanted to laugh. How could a low-ranking official who was temporarily assigned to a place understand the country's major policies? Naturally, he had no interest in talking to him.

Chen Ran said with a smile, "Master, the negotiations with the Jin people didn't go through, did they?"

Ma Zhi was shocked, "How did you know?!"

This is really shocking, he was on a secret visit!

Chen Ran, who had taken the lead, smiled again, "The scholar's followers, those who sell Liao land in the town participate in Dongzhu."

This points out that you have gone to the Jin people.

"The scholar is the secretary and the editor of the Right Hall of Literature. He did not stay in Tokyo, but traveled thousands of miles to Denglai to go out to sea, and even disguised himself as a merchant."

At this point, Chen Ran stroked his chin and said, "If you go to Goryeo, you don't need to disguise yourself. If you go to Liao, you can just go by land. After all, you must have gone to the Jin people."

Ma Zhi, who gradually calmed down, simply asked, "Then how do you know that you are going to negotiate with the Jin people?"

"Everyone knows that we should make friends with people far away and attack those near." Chen Ran spread his hands. "I have a brother who went to Dongjing City on a business trip. When he came back, he told me that even the common people in Dongjing City were discussing the matter of recovering Yanyun. The whole world knows what the emperor and the ministers are thinking."

"You are the Secretary-General. You are secretly going to the Jin people at this time. Naturally, you are negotiating cooperation with the Jin people and making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones."

"it is good!!"

Ma Zhi suddenly clapped his hands hard and said, "Well said!"

"I never thought that there would be a talented person like you in such a remote place!"

He looked at Chen Ran seriously, his eyes full of appreciation.

In the past few years since I came to Song State, this is the first time I have met such an outstandingly smart person. He can determine his tasks and results simply through analysis. He is truly a talent!

"I don't know who you are yet"

"My name is Chen Ran, courtesy name Zihou."

It was just a chance meeting before, and I didn’t even bother to ask our names.

After all, after leaving tomorrow, we probably won’t have the chance to meet again in this life.

Now, it can be said that it has been truly recognized.

"Oh." Ma Zhi said with a smile, "Zihou, do you think it is a good or bad thing to form an alliance with the Jin people?"

Chen Ran said earnestly, "There is only one outcome of forming an alliance with the Jin people, and that is to seek the skin of a tiger!"

(End of this chapter)