...

In Meihe Town, dozens of local officials and gentry were dressed in the Great Zhou uniforms. At this moment, everyone looked sad and anxious on their faces, and they were pacing back and forth in the conference hall with fear...

"Oh, now I hope the chief general of this army is easy to talk to and can leave me a complete body, so it will be better than my family..."

The leading gentleman in his thirties looked outside the gate of the palace hall and sighed, then closed his eyes and shook his head.

He surrendered to the rebels, knowing that the officers and soldiers would definitely die after entering the city, and he did not dare to seek more life. He only hoped that his family would not be implicated. However, the Great Zhou law clearly stipulated that gentry surrendered thieves and killed nine clans, and it was afraid that even this last wish would be difficult to achieve...

However, this was not the first time he surrendered to the thief Xiancheng. The last time was three years ago, when Meihe Town was occupied by the thief, he also surrendered to the thief. However, he was lucky at that time. He met Liu Ce's Jingwei Camp and recovered Meihe Town in one fell swoop. Later, Liu Ce was ordered to become an official army by the imperial court. Liu Ce protected him in front of Wei Yang and then escaped the disaster and continued to serve as a county and town here.

This person is Liu Ce's "old friend", Wu Liwen...

Wu Liwen didn't know what his future would be like, and he was uneasy and worried. The previous time he had Liu Ce as a guarantee, what should he do this time?

"It seems that we have to deal with it. After all, it is a helpless move. Let's take one step at a time..." Anyway, I couldn't think of any effective solution, so Wu Liwen could only wait for the arrival of fate in great confusion.

At this time, a heavy footsteps accompanied by Jia Ye's shaking whisper, slowly rang in front of the conference hall. Wu Liwen and others were stunned when they heard this, and they hurriedly knelt in the town hall.

The footsteps were getting closer and heavier. Wu Liwen now felt that his heartbeat was beating rhythmically with the pace frequency, and sweat kept dripping onto the bluestone floor in the palace hall...

"Dang thump..."

The calm and powerful footsteps were getting closer and closer, and Wu Liwen's heart was about to jump into his throat. He lowered his head and squeezed his sweaty palms tightly, trying to keep himself calm.

"Dang~"

A crisp sound of stopping echoed in Wu Liwen's ears. When a pair of black cowhide iron boots came into his eyes, he couldn't even think about it and quickly called out loudly, "The criminal Wu Liwen, welcome the Great Zhou Tianjun!"

After shouting, he bowed and the officials behind him bowed and kowtowed when they saw this. His posture was very respectful, so that people could not find any fault...

Just when Wu Liwendu was as anxious as he was in a panic, a familiar and unfamiliar voice came into his ears, "Master Wu? I haven't seen you for many years, can you be safe?"

Wu Liwen was slightly stunned when he heard this, and his mind was quickly looking for any news about the sound, but now he was nervous that he could not remember who the source of the sound was, so he mustered up the courage to look up, and his expression became extremely excited after looking at this look...

"Brave, hero, it's really you..."

"Mayor Wu, it's been a long time since..."

Wu Liwen seemed to be in a dream, and still couldn't believe that all this was true. The young man in a arrogant military uniform was actually Liu Ce, who had never violated the people of Meihe Town back then.

Although Liu Ce's appearance changed, the white hair scattered between his hair was clearly visible, his face after being tempered by the war was more heroic than before, and his tiger eyes were more confident than when he first met. Only the momentum he exuded was different from the past, with an indescribable majesty...

Liu Ce looked at Wu Liwen quietly for a while, and a smile appeared on his face and said, "Master Wu, don't kneel down, get up, we are old friends, this military governor finally came back, should you do your best to be a landlord?"

Wu Liwen finally breathed a sigh of relief, then stood up and said excitedly to all the gentry kneeling on the ground behind him who was trembling with fear, "Get up, get up quickly, you all see who the general is in front of you?"

"So he is a hero..."

"It's really a hero, so good. Now we're fine..."

"I'm scared to death. It turns out that the hero is back..."

After seeing clearly that the person who came was Liu Ce back then, the people immediately breathed a sigh of relief. There was a joyful joy in the aftermath of the disaster. Many people were excited and even burst into tears, which made Wei Ding, the evil man standing next to Liu Ce, unable to help but show an extremely strange expression...

After some greetings, when Wu Liwen learned that Liu Ce was now the commander of the Far East Army, he showed a surprised expression and hurriedly bowed to him, "Mr. Military Governor, I really don't know that you are the former military governor who rushed to Gaoyang to help. I hope you will forgive me..."

In just three years, Liu Ce has been in a high position where he cannot reach his sleeves, which makes Wu Liwen extremely respectful.

Liu Ce smiled and patted his shoulder and said, "Mayor Wu, you are still the same for so many years. You will be spared this kind of etiquette. Now that our army temporarily takes over Meihe Town, we still need Mayor Wu and everyone here to cooperate. After the bandits are destroyed, our military governor will definitely ask for credit for you..."

Wu Liwen was flattered and replied, "The military governor is so serious. At this point, the officials of the heavenly army should cooperate with the heavenly army to eliminate the rebels. This is also the duties that the officials should do now, and they dare not ask for credit..."

Liu Ce nodded, "Okay, Mayor Wu, I'll spare you polite words. This military governor knows what you are afraid of. He ordered people to prepare wine and food. Let's talk about some things at the dinner table. By the way, remember to cook six liters of rice more..."

As he said that, Liu Ce glanced at Wei Dian who was rubbing his stomach intentionally or unintentionally. Wei Dian felt Liu Ce's gaze coming and immediately stood up straight to hide the embarrassment caused by hunger. Unfortunately, his stomach betrayed him without cooperation and made a "gurgling" sound...

"Okay, okay, please make arrangements now, let's make arrangements now..." Wu Liwen was stunned for a moment, looked at Wei Dian, immediately understood, and agreed repeatedly.

Soon, under Wu Liwen's arrangement, the two tables (Wai Dian eats one table) were quickly placed. Wu Liwen was afraid that the heat would affect Liu Ce's appetite, so he specially ordered people to put the fruits and melons soaked in the well water on the table...

Wu Liwen respectfully filled Liu Ce and himself with a glass of wine, then picked up his glass to greet Liu Ce, "Mr. Military Governor, I wonder if Mr. Qin and Mr. Ye are safe now?"

Liu Ce took the wine glass on the table and gently touched Wu Liwen's cup. "Master Wu really cares about them. Don't worry, Mr. Qin and Ye are safe. When this military supervisor handles this matter, he will definitely say hello to them when he goes to Beijing to meet the Saints and turn to the Far East.

However, now, I have a few questions to discuss with Mayor Wu. Since entering Heyuan, I have been breaking several places and found that the people seem to support Fuchang, including Meihe Town. I want to hear what you think about this..."

Wu Liwen was stunned when he heard this. He heard a hint of cold chill from Liu Ce's second half of the words. He quickly put down his wine glass and bowed and said, "Mr. Military Governor, the people are stupid, and they are all deceived by the thieves' false benevolence and righteous methods. I hope you can tell me clearly..."

"Mingjian?" Liu Ce snorted coldly, tilted his neck and drank the wine in the glass, and swept the circle with his cold eyes. "Then are you also blinded by the thief's false kindness and righteousness?"

"Mr. Military Supervisor, we are all in control..."

Wu Liwen and the gentry were so scared that they immediately knelt on the ground and begged for mercy to Liu Ce. When Wei Ding, who was eating a chicken leg on the other table, saw this scene, he immediately looked fierce and alertly picked up the two iron halberds placed on the edge of the table, waiting for Liu Ce's order to bring about a bloody storm...

Liu Ce looked at Wu Liwen and others who were kneeling on the ground, snorted slightly, and said, "Master Wu, what are you doing? I am just a joke. Get up, sit down and tell me about the thief's false benevolence and righteousness..."

When Wu Liwen heard Liu Ce's tone, he seemed to have no intention of blaming him, so he stood up and sat back in his seat with fear with the others.

"Mr. Military Governor, to be honest, these bandits are really different from three years ago..." Wu Liwen said to Liu Ce carefully, "Other local officials dare not say much. Just talking about Meihe Town, after Duan Hong took down Meihe Town at the beginning of this year, they will be exempted from labor, tax exemption, and even encourage the people to open pits around the land, which will not be violated by the people. Over time, the people will have greatly improved their views on the bandits, and even support them to make great rebellious acts of proclaiming emperor..."

Liu Ce pondered for a moment when he heard this, closed his eyes and thought for a while, then understood Duan Hong's methods and asked Wu Liwen, "So, how do you think about this? As a parent official in a town and has been an official for many years, you shouldn't be able to see through Duan Hong's intentions, right?"

Wu Liwen said, "The military governor is wise, how could the subordinates not understand Duan Hong's trick of winning people's hearts? In fact, the so-called tax reduction and exemption are not just Meihe Town. The entire Heyuan has been in war for decades and the people are displaced. How can they pay taxes? If you force them, you will just be dead. Instead of doing this, it is better not to collect them.

It is even more ridiculous to exempt labor from the land reclaimed outside the city, isn’t the people working on their own? Although Duan Hong clearly stated that the land reclaimed belongs to the people, the military governor asked you to think carefully that the river source has been drought for years, the canals in various places are exhausted, and mules, horses and farm tools are scarce. How deep can the land be plowed? How much harvest can the crops be?

Even if there is a harvest, it will still be bought by Duan Hong with money. In name, there is no tax collection. But what is short of Heyuan now is food. What is the difference between this and robbing? Alas, in fact, it is all because of Governor Zhao that he was too arrogant to impose excessive taxes, which made the thieves take advantage of the loopholes.

The current methods of thieves are different from those of the previous robbers. In fact, I think its essence is still the same. Once the Heyuan is fully controlled by the thieves, it will return to its cruel nature!”

Listening to Wu Liwen's analysis, Liu Ce nodded slightly. What he said was almost the same as what he thought in his heart. Any power from extreme to other extremes requires a gradual process, but in just two years, the thief changed from a cruel image to an extremely benevolent and righteous person-loving appearance. It seems too incredible no matter how he looks at it. If there is no conspiracy, he can only use the word saint to describe it. However, are there saints in the world? Including this world, Liu Ce has never seen it yet...

Wu Liwen said, "Mr. Military Supervisor, the official also wants to remind you, a few days ago, I heard the news that the bandit general Luo Song was leading his troops to Meihe Town. He was walking the gorge where you plundered the bandits back then. Pay great attention..."

"Luo Song?"

Liu Ce murmured to himself, and then his tiger eyes instantly became cold...
Chapter completed!