Chapter 822: Spring Tour of the Divine Lake
May, the fourth year of Guangwu's reign.

The weather had just gotten hot.

After two months of negotiations, the Nalanda Mountain in the Western Region was only willing to pay tribute and was not willing to directly incorporate the Western Region into the Great Shu Kingdom.

The envoys returned from the Western Regions.

There was immediate noise in the court of Dashu.

The old ministers of Western Shu and Western Chu quarreled over the position of the commander-in-chief this time.

In the end, Su Mingzhe made the final decision and gave the position of general to Cao Changqing:
"Lord Cao, I appoint you as the Grand Marshal of Anxi and command you to lead an army of 100,000 to conquer the Western Regions!"

"My lord, take the order!"

Cao Changqing had long known that the position of head coach was his, and he had made full preparations.

"Let's prepare as soon as possible and send out the troops in half a month!"

Su Mingzhe and the civil and military officials of the Great Shu had guessed this result long ago, so they had already deployed food and fodder in advance before sending out envoys.

This is it: Speed ​​is of the essence in war!
Without any worries, the 100,000-strong army of Da Shu, and more than a thousand Yulin Guards, left Tiemen Pass and moved upward like locusts, toward the Snow Lotus City on the Western Plateau.

There were thirty-six city-states and more than one hundred cities in the Western Regions, with a population of approximately one and a half million households, less than five million people.

There are five cities on the Western Plateau, which are further divided into three city-states.

Among them, Xuelian City is the only big city on the Western Plateau.

The total population on the plateau is only 500,000, and a city like Snow Lotus City accounts for one-third of it.

Thirty thousand light cavalry were stationed here, accounting for half of the military forces on the Western Plateau.

As long as we take over Snow Lotus City, the entire plateau will be within our grasp!
Not to mention Cao Changqing leading troops to attack the Western Regions.

As the army set out on the Western Expedition, Su Mingzhe also began to travel around the five countries with Nangong Pushe, Xu Weixiong, Hongshu, Lin Ya, Qingniao and a dozen other concubines and beauties, under the protection of more than a hundred Yulin Guards.

After leaving Jinguan City, they first took a horse-drawn carriage and headed south to Nanzhao.

Nanzhao was the territory of Prince Rui of the Liyang Dynasty. It had only six cities, many mountains and rivers, and a dangerous terrain.

Prince Rui was the uncle of Liyang Emperor Zhao Dun.

Because the six cities of Nanzhao were completely surrounded by Da Shu, after the restoration of Da Shu, the six cities of Nanzhao could only restore contact with the Liyang Dynasty through the sea route.

The sea is constantly stormy.

Prince Rui sent out several fleets, but all of them ended up in vain.

Seeing that Nanzhao and the Liyang Dynasty had lost contact, the Miao people in Nanzhao continued to kill officials and rebel.

In the autumn of the second year of Emperor Guangwu's reign, Prince Rui gritted his teeth, stamped his feet, and submitted a "letter of surrender" to Da Shu, requesting to "submit".

When Liyang Emperor Zhao Dun learned about this, he dared not say a word and watched helplessly as Da Shu gained six more cities and more than 100,000 households.

When Su Mingzhe brought the girls to Nanzhao, he enjoyed the hospitality of the Nanzhao people.

After the founding of the Great Shu Kingdom, an order was issued to exempt the people from taxes for ten years.

Although the six cities of Nanzhao were established two years later, they were also granted a ten-year tax exemption policy.

With such good governance, the Miao people of Nanzhao quickly returned.

Whether they were raw Miao or cooked Miao, they all warmly welcomed the surrender of the Great Shu Kingdom. Especially when the Great Shu army arrived, every household prepared food and drink to welcome the Great Shu army into Nanzhao.

Seeing that the people of Nanzhao were living well, they had already returned to Dashu.

Su Mingzhe and the girls stayed for two days, then took the water route and headed for Qingzhou.

There were three large ships in total. They sailed on the river for several days, went downstream, and arrived at Chunshen Lake outside Xiangfan City.

Xiangfan City has a strategic geographical location. It is not only an important transportation route for Beiliang to enter the Central Plains of the Liyang Dynasty, but also a barrier that curbs the eastward advance of the Great Shu Kingdom.

If the world falls into chaos and the Shu Kingdom cannot capture the city of Xiangfan, it can only go through Nanzhao and take the sea route to the heartland of the Central Plains.

More than ten years ago, when the Liyang Dynasty unified the world, it was blocked for ten years by the master Wang Mingyang in Xiangfan City, Qingzhou.

Ten years later, the city of Xiangfan, which once had a population of 200,000 households, turned into a ghost town with no living people left.

"It's really resentful!"

Su Mingzhe was lying on the deck. Even without his soul leaving his body, he could easily feel the resentment coming from the city of Xiangfan in Qingzhou.

"Your Majesty, the situation in Xiangfan City is much better now than before."

Pei Nanwei, who had lived in Qingzhou for ten years, couldn't help but speak to Su Mingzhe after hearing his words:
"Over the past decade, masters from Longhu Mountain, Wudang Mountain, Liangchan Temple, Lantuo Mountain in the Western Regions and other places have made great efforts to liberate the souls of the dead. However, up to now, the wronged souls under this city have not been freed!"

Hongshu was sitting on the bow deck, making tea for the Emperor of Shu. Looking at the vast sky and earth, he suddenly felt a sense of joy in his heart that he wanted to express.

However, although she had studied literature and martial arts since childhood, she had only a superficial understanding of literature and had no ability to compose poems.

After a long time, seeing that the joy in his heart had faded away and he could not think of any poem, Hongshu could only sigh in a low voice:
"Hey, it would be nice if Chudong sister was here too."

Wang Chudong, described in the book as the 'chosen girl', the daughter of Wang Linquan, the richest man in Qingzhou, who is 'both talented and beautiful'.

More than three years ago, Wang Chudong was adopted as an "adopted daughter" by King Jing'an and sent to Dashu for "marriage".

Wang Chudong was indeed good-looking, with a face like a silver plate, skin like cream, bright eyes, and a plump and delicate figure.

For a period of time after entering the palace, Su Mingzhe particularly liked to favor Wang Chudong.

However, half a year later, in the early years of Guangwu, Su Mingzhe could no longer stand Wang Chudong's "literary style".

By this time, Wang Chudong had gradually fallen out of favor and was only favored by men once or twice a month at most.

The crow next to him laughed after hearing what Sweet Potato said, and then said:

"Since Chudong is not here, don't we still have Yufei? On the Rouge Ranking, Yufei's talent is ranked higher than Chudong's!"

Xu Weixiong and Wang Chudong were both on the second list of the Rouge List.

Among them, Xu Weixiong ranked first.

And Wang Chudong can only be sent in second place.

After Xu Weixiong and Wang Chudong entered the palace, Wang Chudong was only favored for half a year before she became a "folk".

However, Xu Weixiong has always been regarded as the "right-hand man" by the Emperor of Shu and sits firmly in the imperial study.

In this comparison, Xu Weixiong's talent and reputation are indeed better than Wang Chudong's.

Xu Weixiong, who was sitting cross-legged next to the man, heard several "sisters" talking about him, and saw the man looking at him, so he could only curl his lips and directly refuse:
"I can't compose poetry!"

Not only could Xu Weixiong not compose poetry or prose, his handwriting was also so sloppy that it was unsightly.

Seeing Xu Weixiong refuse, Su Mingzhe said indifferently:

"Chunshen Lake is the hometown of Chudong. If we write poetry here, wouldn't it be like 'playing with a big axe in front of Lu Ban'?"

When everyone heard Su Mingzhe say this, they immediately stopped encouraging him to speak.

Seeing the atmosphere getting cold, Su Mingzhe smiled again:
"Do you know what's so strange about this Spring God Lake?"

After hearing the man's question, the women all shook their heads.

At this time, Pei Nanwei, who was sitting next to him, straightened his posture and slowly said:

"Your Majesty, this Spring God Lake is 800 miles long from east to west, with misty waves, accommodating six rivers and swallowing up the Yangtze River. It has always been a place of life and death for military strategists and a tourist attraction for poets."

“There are many strange places.”

"However, the most bizarre thing is that on the second day of every February, many water columns will spurt out from the bottom of the lake and rush straight into the sky. It is rumored that these water columns can reach a height of 100 meters!"

"On this day, the people living nearby will not enter Spring God Lake, for fear of provoking the gods!"

"However, more than ten years ago, this amazing sight of water columns stopped appearing!"

"I don't know the specific reason."

After the fall of Western Shu, Pei Nanwei wandered in Qingzhou for more than ten years.

If we were to say who among the people present knew the most about Spring God Lake, it would definitely be Pei Nanwei.

Because Pei Nanwei was stunningly beautiful since childhood, she never dared to go out in public in order not to cause trouble for her family.

Therefore, for many Qingzhou people, Pei Nanwei had never seen this wonder, which was something they could see as long as they wanted to.

"Also, I've heard someone say that there's a candle dragon at the bottom of the Spring God Lake... The water column that's rushing up into the sky is what's coming out of the candle dragon's mouth!"

Su Mingzhe heard Pei Nanwei explaining these old stories, and when she paused, he continued:
"The 'water monster' at the bottom of the Spring God Lake is not the Candle Dragon, but the mount of the Great Emperor Zhenwu of the Immortal Realm, Bixi, also known as the Dragon Turtle, or Baxia!"

When the women present heard that Su Mingzhe actually knew the secrets of the Spring God Lake and the Great Emperor Zhenwu, they immediately became interested. They stared at the man with their brows and eyes wide open, asking him to tell them more.

Su Mingzhe did not hide it and continued to speak:

"This Zhenwu Great Emperor is one of the Five Great Emperors of the Immortal Realm, guarding the north. According to convention, the immortals should have called him the 'Northern Black Emperor'."

"However, the Great Emperor Zhenwu disliked the name 'Black Emperor', so he changed his title to 'Great Emperor Zhenwu'."

"More than a thousand years ago, the Great Emperor Zhenwu was dissatisfied with the situation in the immortal world, so he came down to earth and reincarnated. After several reincarnations, he became the emperor of the Qin Dynasty in one of his lives. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and met a jealous queen named Luoyang."

"..."

Su Mingzhe slowly told him some of the things he knew.

After hearing this, all the women present couldn't help but sigh.

A great Immortal Emperor, unexpectedly, brought the finally unified Qin Dynasty to an end just because of the jealousy of his empress!

It's really not worth it!
After Su Mingzhe finished talking about the past and present life of the 'Zhenwu Great Emperor', he looked at the girls with a gloomy gaze:
"You must not learn from that jealous Queen Luoyang!"

Su Mingzhe has the "Red Thread of Lovesickness" and is not afraid of his woman cheating on him or having an affair.

However, women are all jealous, and no one can change this nature.

After traveling through so many dimensions, there were countless jealous women who caused all kinds of trouble for Su Mingzhe.

In this life, the women in "The Snowy Swordsman" have distinct personalities.

Su Mingzhe was naturally afraid that these women would do something weird.

Fortunately, these women listened to the men and quickly lowered their heads and said:
"Chen and concubine dare not!"

Ugh--

These women are all saying "I dare not", which means they have ideas!
Su Mingzhe sighed, stood up from the deck and stretched:

"It's getting late, let's get ready for dinner!"

(End of this chapter)