Flying Clouds in Another World

Chapter 115: My territory, I’m back!

Anping County was originally just a small border county under the jurisdiction of Anya County in Yunzhou. Less than a hundred miles north of Anping County is the Yannan Mountains. Beyond the Yannan Mountains is the eastern region of the Beihuang Prairie.

As a border county, Anping County was often burned, killed and looted by the barbarians in the northern wilderness. The people lived a very miserable life, and the officials were uneasy in their jobs. They always wanted to use their connections to quickly transfer to other places.

Nearly thirty years ago, the Tiger Army commander Liu Shihao destroyed the Northern Wilderness and massacred hundreds of thousands of people from the Northern Wilderness tribes, shocking the world. The name of Liu the Butcher spread from then on. For a time, many self-proclaimed benevolent and famous people criticized him, but the people in many border counties of the Northern Wilderness respected him.

Later, Liu Shihao was stripped of his military command and demoted to a small county lieutenant in Anping County. Afterwards, he was granted the title of Earl of Le'an Township. From then on, he settled down in Anping County and laid down his roots.

Over the past decade or so, the strength of the tribes in the Northern Wilderness has gradually recovered. In addition to swallowing up each other, they also occasionally invade the border counties bordering the Empire and the Northern Wilderness.

However, although Anping County is right under the nose of the Eastern Region of Northern Wilderness, few people from Northern Wilderness dare to come and plunder. This is because the presence of Butcher Liu has left many previous generation of Northern Wilderness people with psychological trauma.

Occasionally, some young people who didn't believe in evil came to rob, but they were defeated by the Tiger Guards led by Liu Shihao, the Anping Township Soldiers, and the temporarily armed border residents. Only one in ten people who escaped back to the Northern Wilderness survived. After losing several troops in succession, no one from the Northern Wilderness tribes dared to easily invade Anping County anymore.

If Liu Shihao saved the people of Anping County from robbery and allowed them to live a stable life, then Chu Bihe's Green Willow Chamber of Commerce ensured that the people of Anping County had food and clothing and saved them from the cold and hunger.

The Green Willow Chamber of Commerce not only simply traveled around to sell goods, but also established many factories and workshops in Anping County, operated several mineral forests, and bought a lot of fertile land. These many industries and fields required a lot of manpower. At least half of the people in Anping County worked directly in the Green Willow Chamber of Commerce, and the livelihoods of the remaining half were also related to the Green Willow Chamber of Commerce. With the growth of the Green Willow Chamber of Commerce in recent years, Anping County has become more and more prosperous.

Chu Bihe was called the Female Bodhisattva by people in Anping County and even the surrounding counties because she strictly ordered the people in the Chamber of Commerce not to treat ordinary people harshly like many other aristocratic families and wealthy merchants. Working for the Liu family, you can get wages every month to ensure that your family has enough food and clothing; farming for the Liu family, you can have more surplus food in a good harvest, and you won't suffer from hunger and cold in a bad harvest. Even if you are a slave in the Liu family, as long as you follow the rules, you can live a much more comfortable life than many poor free people.

According to Chu Bihe, "My Liu family eats meat, but we must at least let the common people who work for my Liu family have soup to drink, and they must not freeze or starve to death!"

It is also because of this that the lives of the people in Anping County have been greatly improved compared to before, and it has attracted countless refugees to come here to settle down.

As a result, the number of households in Anping County increased year by year, and taxes also rose year by year. The original poor border county developed into a populous and wealthy county. The position of Anping County Magistrate, which had been unpopular before, became a popular one, and one needed to pay a lot of money to get it.

If he just wanted to be the chief official of Anping County, he would never be able to stay in the position for long without having a good relationship with Le Anbo. Because although Le Anbo's autonomous territory had only a few thousand households, accounting for only one quarter of the total number of households in Anping County, the entire Anping County was actually the territory of the Liu family.

Liu Feiyun walked on the busy streets of Anping County, feeling emotional: "This is my home! My territory! I am finally back!"

After returning to his own territory, Liu Feiyun was finally much happier. During this journey, he had seen many scenes of people's livelihood being in decline and the people suffering from hunger and cold. Although he was not a loyal minister who "worried about the worries of the world before he enjoyed the happiness of the world", he still felt a little sad in his heart!

Now that I have returned to Anping County, I have seen that although most of the ordinary people here cannot be said to live a rich life, at least they are not suffering from hunger, cold, or displacement. The occasional poor and destitute people are mostly refugees from other places.

"It seems that my father, a great noble and a petty bureaucrat, and my mother, a big landlord and a big capitalist, have not yet oppressed the common people to the point where the heavens are angry and the people are resentful! At least they still have some conscience!" Liu Feiyun sighed in his heart again! But he seemed to have forgotten that his Liu family was also a big slave owner with nearly ten thousand slaves.

During the few days of recuperation and waiting for news at Nanhe Station, he only put on a very simple disguise. At the same time, he asked Liu Shihu to retrieve a few things that he used to carry with him at all times: close-fitting soft spiritual armor, black crystal amulet, and black gold Xiliu sword.

After learning that the traitors had been basically eliminated, Liu Feiyun set out on his final journey home. This journey was less dangerous than before, and Liu Feiyun wanted to get a better understanding of the current situation in Anping County, so he did not rush on his way, but walked slowly like a tourist.

By the time the two arrived at Anping County, it was already noon. There was still nearly thirty miles from Anping County to the Earl's Mansion in the territory, so Liu Feiyun simply went into the city alone to take a walk and have lunch, leaving Liu Shihu alone to ride a fast horse back to the mansion to deliver the letter.

Before leaving Nanheyi Town, except for the night when he revealed his identity and met Qin Cheng, he had not contacted his family, so no one knew his specific whereabouts. This time, he planned to show up in public in Anping County to show outsiders, especially those enemies who wanted to kill him, that he had finally returned to Zigong's territory.

After Liu Shihu left, Liu Feiyun wandered aimlessly on the bustling streets of Anping for a long time before walking towards a restaurant, ready to have a good meal.

But just when they arrived at the door of the restaurant, they saw a group of people coming from the opposite side. One of them was forcibly dragging a young woman, while an old woman was holding the woman's thigh and refusing to let go, and kept crying and begging for something.

"You old fool! You are such a fool! It's a blessing for your family that my Master Gao likes your girl! Why are you crying so hard? Let go!"

"My little beauty! Just give in to my young master! Otherwise, you and your daughter will suffer!"

"That's right! Once we get into this restaurant, have a good meal with my master first, and then let him find a good place for you to stay. Isn't that a hundred times better than wandering around?"

Several people dressed as servants kept threatening and tempting the mother and daughter. The young man dressed as a young master who forcibly dragged the woman said with a lewd smile: "Yes, yes! Little beauty, just obey me! Come on! I will invite you to this restaurant for a good meal! After you are full, I will let me taste you, little beauty! Hahaha!"

Liu Feiyun was speechless: Isn't this the legendary scene of robbing a woman in broad daylight? I actually encountered such a ridiculous thing! Should I also be a hero to save the beauty?

But when he saw the mother and daughter clearly, he smiled helplessly: It seems that I have to be the hero who saves the beauty today! Alas! It's really a coincidence, how could it be her!