Chapter 546: Authentic Northern Specialties

After waiting for a while, there was light in the Manna Hall.

Monk Li Xuan, the chief steward, did not wait long and was quickly led into the palace by Wang Xi.

Emperor Yongyuan was wearing a red-gold lining and sat behind the dragon case. He still had his eyes closed, as if he had not yet fully woken up.

"Where's the letter?"

Manager Shang immediately presented the letter sent by Li Xuan.

Emperor Yongyuan rubbed his eyebrows, then opened his eyes to open the letter.

Seeing the dragon seal fire paint on the letter, Emperor Yongyuan's face darkened slightly.

Then, he opened the letter and began to read the contents carefully.

But the more Emperor Yongyuan looked at it, the more he frowned.

There is a lot of content in the letter. In addition to the intelligence summary written by Zhao Feng himself, there is also a report written by Wei Zhen from his own perspective.

After Emperor Yongyuan looked at it carefully, he couldn't help but fell into deep thought.

After a while, he rearranged the letter in his hand and handed it to Wang Xi who was beside him.

Wang Xi understood immediately and went downstairs to look at it with the chief monk.

"Axuan."

After being summoned by Emperor Yongyuan, Li Xuan immediately jumped on the dragon case.

“Is the cold wave really expanding?”

Li Xuan thought for a moment, and then wrote with his tail what he witnessed at that time.

In fact, from his and Zhao Feng's perspective, it was difficult to confirm that the cold wave had really expanded. The most important thing was the information from Wei Zhen and other hunting officers.

Therefore, Li Xuan only truthfully explained what he saw and heard from his own perspective.

"If the White Wolf Guards of the Desert can mobilize so many troops and send a Daru Huachi to personally lead the team, I'm afraid they will be inseparable."

Emperor Yongyuan sighed, obviously this matter gave him a headache.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs allocated some energy to investigate this matter and pay close attention to the trends of the cold wave."

"If there are any abnormalities, be sure to report them in time."

Manager Shang immediately accepted the order: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"After the people from the northern team come back, let them have a good rest in the capital. I will assign another task next year and let them stand by in the capital. Hunting activities in the north will be temporarily suspended."

"Pay close attention to the movements of the desert, record all external and internal activities, and master everything down to the smallest detail."

Emperor Yongyuan's order suddenly made the pressure on the Ministry of Internal Affairs several times greater.

But their job is to share the worries of Emperor Yongyuan, so naturally they cannot say "no" at this time.

Manager Shang took orders one after another. Zhao Feng was not here at this time, so he could lead the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

After Emperor Yongyuan issued a series of orders, he carefully checked whether there were any omissions.

"If there is insufficient manpower, private power can be used as an emergency measure."

Finally, Emperor Yongyuan added another sentence.

Manager Shang breathed a sigh of relief silently in his heart.

On weekdays, the tasks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are very heavy. After all, Emperor Yongyuan is now in a situation of internal and external troubles, and there is no room for any omissions.

But now there has been a huge change in the cold wave, and more forces need to be dispatched to monitor the desert and the north.

The colorful eunuchs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are not Chinese cabbage. They can grow out of the ground every year. They need to be carefully cultivated for many years, and the elimination rate is extremely high.

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are increasingly not enough elites who can go out to perform field duties, and there must be enough power left in the palace to support the imperial power and intimidate Xiaoxiao.

Previously, Manager Shang fully agreed to Emperor Yongyuan's request, knowing that Emperor Yongyuan was not an unreasonable leader.

Even if he didn't say it, lack of manpower has been a perennial problem for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since Emperor Yongyuan suddenly added so many tasks, he must have thought of a way to deal with it.

This kind of trust still existed between their master and servant.

Although Li Xuan didn't know exactly what this folk power was, since it could be used as a backup force by the Monk General of Emperor Yongyuan, it was obviously worthy of use.

Li Xuan just listened silently to the various arrangements made by Emperor Yongyuan. Anyway, they had nothing to do with them yet.

At this time, Chief Monk Wang Xi also took the time to read Zhao Feng's letter and understood the problem of the expansion of the cold wave.

Immediately, Manager Shang asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, the envoys from the Desert are still imprisoned in prison. Perhaps we can also get some information from them."

Obviously, Chief Shang wanted to punish the envoys.

All along, the Desert Mission was ignored for a long time after being imprisoned.

After all, they were just a trigger for this conflict.

Emperor Yongyuan did not want to embarrass the envoys too much. After all, there would always be time for peace talks with Da Mo in the future.

Even if he really wanted to kill the envoys and fight to the death with Da Mo, the ministers in the court would not agree.

Otherwise, Bileg and others would not have been imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, and it would not have been to prevent Emperor Yongyuan from playing dirty tricks.

"Are you sure?"

Emperor Yongyuan asked.

"If it is just an interrogation, the ministers will not be too obstructive."

Manager Shang didn't say it too fully.

Emperor Yongyuan also felt that he would not suffer any loss if he gave it a try, so he nodded and agreed to the matter.

"Then give it a try."

"Otherwise, we will neglect the guests, which is not our way of hospitality."

Next, Emperor Yongyuan confirmed some specific relevant details, and then asked them to retreat and continue to rest.

It's not easy for him to be the emperor. He sleeps until midnight and has to be woken up to handle official business if something urgent happens.

Li Xuan and Master Shang resigned together, and after coming out of Ganlu Hall, they were also ready to go back and have a rest.

On their way back together, Li Xuan asked questions about his journey.

Emperor Yongyuan was there just now, and Li Xuan felt it was not good to ask in front of him, so he planned to ask Shang Zongguan privately first.

"Shang Zongguan, I saw some bad things on my way back."

Li Xuan used his tail to write down the scenery he saw along the way, especially the large number of refugees in the north who became bandits.

"Did the north also experience some natural disasters?"

Li Xuan's question made Shang Zongguan silent.

"You didn't ask in front of His Majesty just now, I'm afraid you already have some answers in your mind, right?"

Shang Zongguan couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head.

"Ah Xuan, as you expected, it is not a natural disaster."

"As far as I know, many places in the north have started to annex land, and large landlords have appeared one after another in recent years."

"These landlords are all local aristocratic families. If you look up, many of them have been officials. At the very least, they are wealthy businessmen. Officials and businessmen collude to oppress the people."

"This has been going on for many years, but it is not easy to manage, because it is not illegal on the surface, it is a fair transaction, and both parties are willing. One is willing to fight and the other is willing to be beaten."

"There is no one to sue, so how can we talk about a solution?"

Shang Zongguan's words made Li Xuan frown.

Can this kind of thing be ignored?

This is a sign of the country's demise!

When the land flows into the hands of a few people, what can the people do when they can't live?

Apart from rebellion, is there any other way to survive?

If you don't rebel, you will be oppressed to death and suffer humiliation.

Rebellion may also be a dead end, but at least you can vent your anger.

It was obvious how to choose.

Li Xuan thought of something and asked tentatively, "Did King Zheng do it?"

After all, this kind of thing was very beneficial to King Zheng's rebellion.

"If you say it's all King Zheng's responsibility, it's a bit unfair to him. He can only be said to have picked the first one." Shang Zongguan replied with a smile.

"Human greed is endless, like a bottomless abyss."

"It's not time to solve this matter yet. When the government is stable in the future, we must make them spit out everything they have eaten!"

A cold light flashed in Shang Zongguan's eyes.

If it weren't for the special situation now, these pests who dared to dig the foundation of the country would have been removed by their Ministry of Internal Affairs.

When he thought of the opportunity to personally remove these wealthy and powerful families who dominated the country and bullied the people in the future, Shang Zongguan couldn't help but feel itchy.

For this matter, he had to live a few more years.

After understanding the whole story from Shang Zongguan, Li Xuan also felt a little powerless.

Since it was not a sudden disaster, but a long-lasting chronic disease, it really cannot be solved overnight.

Just thinking of those refugees wandering aimlessly in the wilderness, Li Xuan seemed to see a group of lonely ghosts.

For the people of Daxing, losing their land means losing their roots, which is really no different from lonely ghosts.

"Ah Xuan."

Shang Zongguan touched Li Xuan who was lying on his shoulder.

"In the future, we will definitely have the opportunity to rebuild the mountains and rivers of Daxing and cure all the chronic diseases!"

Shang Zongguan said very seriously.

What Li Xuan didn't know was that the eunuchs in the palace were generally of extremely humble origins, most of them came from the lowest level of ordinary people's families.

No matter how poor the family is, they will regard the continuation of the family line as the top priority, and they will raise a boy no matter what.

Unless it is a family that really can't make ends meet, no one will send the male in the family to the palace.

In ordinary people's families, males have the mission of continuing the family line, and they are also the labor force and combat effectiveness of the family.

If there are many male members in the family, other people in the same village dare not come to bully them at will.

The same is true for the same clans and villages.

As for the richer families, male members are even more important. If there is a successful one, the whole family can take off.

Therefore, unless the family is broken and the people are dead, few people will take the initiative to give up the male members in the family.

Most of the eunuchs in the palace are of humble origins, and a few are descendants of criminals who were confiscated.

Even among the flower-clothed eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs who have been selected through layers of selection, many of them are of humble origins, and many of them still remember the situation when their families were bullied by the powerful when they were young.

For this reason, the flower-clothed eunuchs are so enthusiastic and excited to deal with the "superior people" of the aristocratic families, the rich families, the big families, or similar attributes.

This is also the reason why the emperors of Daxing have always been willing to use these eunuchs.

Unlike other people in the court, they would show mercy if they could, after all, they would meet each other every day, and what's worse, they were all related.

Only the eunuchs in flowery clothes were never vague in executing various imperial orders, and they always uprooted the grass, cleanly and neatly.

After Li Xuan and Shang Zongguan discussed the wealthy and powerful families that were not worthy of being human, they separated halfway and went back to their own homes.

Li Xuan returned to Jingyang Palace and sneaked to the head of Princess Ankang's bed, and found that the little girl was still sleeping soundly.

It happened that there was still some time before dawn, and Li Xuan also planned to take a nap. After a big yawn, he hugged Princess Ankang's head and fell asleep.

...

"Ah Xuan, is this the specialty you brought back from the north?"

The next morning, Princess Ankang found that Li Xuan was back, and she was so happy that she shouted loudly, and Yu'er was scared and hurried over to check.

When they saw that it was Li Xuan who came back, the two girls held him tightly and kneaded him.

But when Li Xuan took out the local specialties that he had "carefully prepared", the two girls couldn't help but frown.

Li Xuan nodded vigorously on the side.

"That's right, meow!"

"Local specialties from the North meow!"

The two girls were busy studying the specialties and didn't realize that Li Xuan had improved to the point where he could say five words in one breath.

But Princess Ankang still had a suspicious look on her face and didn't seem to believe it.

"But isn't this just a candied haws?"

Princess Ankang asked from the bottom of her heart.

Hearing this, Li Xuan's heart skipped a beat, but he still pretended to be calm on his face and gently raised his cat paw and waved it.

"No, no, meow."

"Northern Candied Haws meow!"

"Crunchy meow!"

"Crunchy ice meow!"

"If you don't believe me, lick it meow!"

Li Xuan became more and more anxious as he spoke, and almost spoke with a Xinjiang accent, for fear that the two girls would notice any flaws.

These two girls are usually silly, but when it comes to snacks and desserts, they are more cunning than each other.

Princess Ankang curled her lips and licked the candied haws in disbelief, but her expression changed.

"Hey, it seems to be colder than the ones sold on the street."

That nonsense, Li Xuan specially used the cold breath to freeze it!

After he found out that he forgot to bring the gift last night, he hurried to the West Market, and finally found a family selling candied haws. He took a few from the pile, left money in a hurry, and carried out the localization transformation of the Northern Territory along the way.

This is how the Northern Territory specialty candied haws, which is now colder than the candied haws in Beijing.

"But it doesn't feel as sweet as the candied haws in Beijing?"

Princess Ankang asked in confusion.

"Northern specialties."

Princess Ankang and Yu'er had never been to the North, so they naturally let Li Xuan make up stories.

Although the two girls were a little skeptical, they were gradually convinced and sat down to lick the authentic candied haws from the North, and listened to Li Xuan's experiences along the way.

After hearing that Li Xuan and Zhao Feng had encountered a master like Shi Bailangshan and almost failed, they were attracted by the adventure and gradually ignored the candied haws in their hands.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Li Xuan was quietly relieved and told the story more diligently.

And hearing that the cold wave might be expanding, the two girls were stunned.

"Ah Xuan, is the cold wave really expanding?"

Princess Ankang confirmed in disbelief.

Li Xuan thought about it, shook his head gently, and wrote with his tail:

"It can only be confirmed that the border of the cold wave has moved. Whether it is expansion or migration, it is still uncertain."

"But no matter which one it is, if the desert really masters this method, it will be a disaster!"

Princess Ankang swallowed the last candied haws, then frowned and said:

"I read in a book that the cold wave should be a good sign, indicating that the prosperity is coming, but I don't know why this cold wave has become a disaster..."

After a long silence, Princess Ankang suddenly said:

"I really want to see what the cold wave looks like with my own eyes."