Ming Dynasty: The Crocodile King of Han Prince Zhu Gaoxu's Family

Chapter 285 Hu Tian's Banquet

"Please do not be impatient, everyone. Now that we have arrived in Annam, we will soon find out the reason."

Besides, so what if we're being ignored? After all, we have a lot to do next and will need to ask the military for help a lot! Yao Guan also felt a little disappointed at being ignored, but he suppressed his strange emotions and made the most reasonable analysis of the current situation.

Either this seemingly insignificant maternal uncle of the Han prince was an exceptionally capable person, or the army was simply flattering the Han prince's relatives. But even if it was flattery, it still meant that this maternal uncle was no ordinary person! So, was this unassuming maternal uncle of the Han prince actually a highly capable person?! In the end, Yao Guan came to this unbelievable conclusion in his mind.

"Junior Hu Tian greets the Immortal Master!" Hu Tian approached the old Taoist priest and respectfully bowed. Besides assuming this gentleman was the Crown Prince's teacher, Hu Tian was convinced the old Taoist was an unparalleled master! Otherwise, who could be nearly eighty years old, still with white hair and a youthful face, so agile, and even personally lead a team to a foreign land?! Hu Tian even suspected this nearly eighty-year-old man was stronger than him!

"General Hu, you are too kind. I bow in respect." Faced with Hu Tian's respect, the old Taoist priest remained calm. He flicked his whisk and silently bowed to Hu Tian.

"My lords, welcome to Annam."

Please follow me into the city, my fellow officers. We will rest for the day. This evening, I will prepare a welcoming banquet for you all.

"Tomorrow morning, please follow me into the camp." Finally, Hu Tian approached the scholars and officials, greeted them with a simple bow, and then outlined the schedule for today and tomorrow in a single sentence.

"We are newcomers, so we will trouble General Hu to make arrangements." Yao Guan had no objection to Hu Tian's arrangements. After all, Annam had not yet been fully occupied, and many scholars and officials still had nowhere to go. Right now, the scholars either had to wait idly, or they could help the military with whatever work they could. The scholars were human too; they weren't stupid, and naturally knew which choice was most advantageous.

As for the Imperial Guards within the ranks, no one paid them any attention. After all, they were merely guards in name only. Moreover, the Imperial Guards were a taboo subject for officials, especially civil officials, who held these lackeys in utter contempt!

That night, Hu Tian hosted a banquet in Anzhou Prefecture for the many scholars and others who were heading to Annam.

"Gentlemen, the conditions in the army are simple, please forgive me. I, the general, apologize in advance." Hu Tian had arranged a banquet with dozens of tables in the government office. After all, there were quite a few people present, with nearly two hundred scholars alone. At this moment, Hu Tian was holding a bowl of wine, apologizing to everyone.

"General Hu, you're too kind. We're all doing this for His Highness. We've only troubled you this time." Yao Guan stepped forward again, responding to Hu Tian's words.

"Lord Yao is indeed a scholar, knowledgeable and reasonable."

"I won't stand on ceremony. There are a few things I need to tell you all beforehand." Hu Tian didn't stand on ceremony either, putting down his wine bowl to make it clear that he had something to say.

"General Hu, please speak. We scholars went to Annam to educate this foreign people! We will do our best to help them." Yao Guan was a shrewd man. He didn't make any definitive statements. He only said that we scholars would do our best to help them, and if it was beyond our ability, then we could only apologize.

"As you all know, the documents for the allocation of land have been delivered. Tomorrow, I will summon all the officers and soldiers to read this document aloud."

"I ask that you all make the effort then, as I am a rough man and speak in a crude manner. If there is anything I cannot explain clearly, I will need your clarification." Hu Tian used the pretext of reading the land distribution document to gather everyone in the military camp the next day, and there was no room for refusal.

"This is easy!" Although he said it was easy, Yao Guan was not so naive as to think that gathering everyone in the military camp was just a simple matter of reading the land distribution documents to the soldiers.

"The second matter is something that I'm sure you all know. The matter of land redistribution involves many details that need to be controlled, and just clearing out the land is quite troublesome."

Currently, our army has not yet fully occupied the entire Annam region; even including the progress of the navy, we have only occupied a few prefectures.

Therefore, it seems that you colleagues will have to wait a while before you can take office.

"But I wonder, during this period, would you, my colleagues, be willing to join my military and the Embroidered Uniform Guard in surveying and clearing the land in the occupied areas?" Hu Tian was clearly telling the many scholars and officials that there were still many places that had not been occupied, and some of you had nowhere to go for the time being. Why don't we, the three parties, organize ourselves to measure and reclaim the land in the good areas?

Upon hearing Hu Tian's words, Yao Guan's heart skipped a beat. He knew that without the Crown Prince's approval, Hu Tian, ​​as a regional general, would absolutely not allow the Wen Guan Group to participate in the surveying of farmland in the occupied towns! After all, the interests involved were far too enormous!

"We are naturally safe. Before the expansion of Annam is completed, we will naturally follow General Hu's lead and work together to survey the land!" Having understood the cause and effect of this matter, Yao Guan agreed without hesitation to help with the land surveying. Yao Guan knew that he and his companions had no right to refuse, nor could they refuse! Because the surveyed land would be distributed to everyone present! Therefore, even without being told, everyone would naturally do their best to do so!

Yao Guan had considered the possibility of a trap, but if there were spies of the Crown Prince among the civil officials, how could there not be any in the military? And if even the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the eyes and ears of the Prince's residence, was involved, the situation was truly murky! Moreover, the Crown Prince was probably using this incident to screen the scholars' character! Having figured all this out, Yao Guan felt a tightness in his chest and couldn't help but calm down.

"Prefect Yao is indeed a man of great integrity!" Hu Tian was naturally aware of Yao Guan's identity. As the fourth-ranked candidate in the examination, the top performer among the scholars heading to Annam, and the prefect of Anzhou Prefecture, he was destined to become a powerful figure in the future! If the future Crown Prince were to occupy a large enough territory and Annam were to be re-divided into provincial administrations, this man would undoubtedly be the provincial governor! Therefore, Hu Tian remained quite friendly towards Yao Guan.

"Among the prefectures we've already occupied, I've selected a couple of suitable locations for building prefectural schools, which will save you all some effort." In return for their efforts, Hu Tian, ​​having achieved his original goal, gave the civil officials a small surprise. After all, one of their important tasks was to establish prefectural schools in each prefecture and implement assimilation education for the foreign tribes. And these schools were their most important means of assimilating the foreign tribes!
"Thank you very much, General Hu." Yao Guan was taken aback by Hu Tian's words, but regardless of Hu Tian's motives, this matter was at least beneficial to the entire Annam case management group. Therefore, Yao Guan thanked him very politely.

"Elder Immortal, among the prefectures we've already occupied, some wicked sects and licentious temples have been eradicated by my army. We've also selected suitable locations within the prefectural cities for you to build Taoist temples. We await your arrival to personally determine their locations." Having finished discussing the civil officials, Hu Tian then brought up the matter of the Taoist temples in the prefectures. After all, Taoist temples were the spiritual foundation for consolidating rule. Therefore, Zhu Zhanhe instructed Hu Tian and his men to clean up some of the more famous temples and monasteries in the area during the expansion. After all, one's own people are the most reliable!
(End of this chapter)