flstandardbreds Chapter 164 The world has suffered from Emperor Tai'an for a long time!
Chapter 164 The world has suffered from Emperor Tai'an for a long time!
Qianyue Town.
Baili Dongjun, Nangong Chunshui and Yin Luoxia traveled day and night and had been traveling through the mountains and forests for five or six days.
On this day, Nangong Chunshui suddenly changed his plan and decided to go to the nearby town, which is now Qianyue Town.
Baili Dongjun was quite happy. He pulled the reins and turned west, driving all the way to Qianyue Town.
"Master, how much of your power has recovered now?"
Baili Dongjun sat on the shaft and drove the carriage and asked.
Nangong Chunshui and Yin Luoxia sat opposite each other in the carriage. He smiled slightly and asked:
"Why are you suddenly concerned about this?"
Baili Dongjun responded:
"Nothing, just asking... But Master, are there any old friends of yours in this town?"
"It's only a half-day's walk to reach Jincheng in Shuzhong. Why do you insist on stopping here?"
Nangong Chunshui stuck his head out of the carriage road:
"We're going into the city soon. Don't call me Master all the time. From now on, both of you should remember to call me Brother Nangong!"
"Well... you'll know once you get into the city. Stop asking so many questions and just drive your carriage!"
Baili Dongjun curled his lips and muttered:
"Hmph, you're always being so mysterious...why not just say it? Why are you being so secretive..."
Yin Luoxia was sitting upright in the carriage at this time, practicing the breathing exercises taught by Nangong Chunshui.
Hearing Baili Dongjun's complaints, he couldn't help but smile:
"Grandmaster... Oh no, Brother Nangong, Junior Martial Uncle Baili is teasing you!"
Nangong Chunshui held a sword technique in his hand and gestured to himself, saying:
"He's a complete novice. When we get there, I'll make a bet with you!"
"This kid must thank me!"
Yin Luoxia squinted her eyes and smiled:
"Okay! Brother Nangong, whatever you want to bet on, I'll be there for you!"
Nangong Chunshui suddenly put away his sword technique and said seriously:
"If I win, you will teach me all the gambling techniques you taught that kid Liu Yue!"
Yin Luoxia was a little puzzled:
"Brother Nangong has never liked gambling, so why do you suddenly want to learn gambling techniques today?"
Nangong Chunshui smiled cunningly:
"Well... when we have the chance to return to Tianqi City, I'll take you to Qianjin Terrace and you'll understand!"
Yin Luoxia frowned when she heard this:
"I now agree with Junior Master Baili's words. You just like to keep things mysterious!"
Nangong Chunshui stared and said:
"Yo? You two are wearing the same pants again now, right?"
While the three of them were chatting and laughing, the carriage had already entered Qianyue Town.
The town is only two or three miles in radius. Although it is a small town on the border of Beili, it is located at the junction of Xichu, Nanjue and Beili.
There are endless streams of peddlers, merchants and pedestrians coming and going, which can be called prosperous.
There are shops, taverns and inns on both sides of the street, and there are also many vendors setting up stalls and selling their wares on the street, making it very bustling and lively.
"Brother Nangong, let's find a tavern to stay and have something to eat first, okay?"
Baili Dongjun got down from the shaft of the cart, led the horse along the way, and carefully avoided passers-by.
Nangong Chunshui stuck his head out, took a deep breath, and then sighed:
"Huh... I'm finally in a populated area. I don't have to eat pheasants and rabbits and drink spring water every day!"
"There's a small tavern up ahead. Their braised pork trotters are pretty good. Let's go there!"
Baili Dongjun responded, drove the carriage forward, and walked all the way to the tavern that Nangong Chunshui mentioned.
After placing the luggage in the carriage, the three of them filed in.
Baili Dongjun looked around the tavern. Compared with the ones in Tianqi City, it was naturally much simpler.
However, the restaurant was almost full of customers, which was enough to prove that the food and wine here must be delicious.
"Waiter, what's the best wine you have? Give us three a jar. If no one is around, give them one first."
"My friend said your braised pork trotters are great. I want three of them, a smoked chicken, a pickled fish, three pounds of beef, and three bowls of vegetarian noodles!"
Baili Dongjun was the first to order something. Yin Luoxia couldn't help but laugh when she saw him acting like this:
"You must be starving..."
Nangong Chunshui also laughed and said:
"Of course she'll get hungry quickly when she's seventeen or eighteen years old!"
Baili Dongjun suddenly turned his head and rolled his eyes at him:
"Aren't you seventeen or eighteen years old now..."
Seeing that the three people were handsome and elegantly dressed, the waiter naturally did not dare to neglect them.
"Okay! Please take a seat at this table near the window..."
"The only wine we have is Qianyue rice wine brewed in our town. It has a light and sweet taste. I wonder if it suits your taste!"
Baili Dongjun didn't mind and nodded:
"That's fine, just do as I say. I'll pay you later!"
When the waiter saw that this noble young man was so approachable, he ran into the back hall happily.
The three of them sat down, and Nangong Chunshui sighed as he looked out the window at the people passing by.
"Only a small border town like this can be so prosperous!"
Baili Dongjun asked in confusion:
"Brother Nangong, why do you say that? I think all the towns in the world are pretty much the same... What's so special about Qianyue Town?"
Before Nangong Chunshui could speak, Yin Luoxia sat next to Baili Dongjun and said softly:
"You don't know that those small towns north of the Central Plains are no longer as prosperous as they once were."
"Take Luoxia Town, located at the foot of Luoxia Peak, for example. Compared to Qianyue Town, it's much more dilapidated and run-down!"
Nangong Chunshui nodded:
"You're right. Those famous cities and ancient towns in the Central Plains have lost their former glory in recent years..."
"Dong Jun, how is your Qiandong City?"
Baili Dongjun tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said:
"Although Qiandong City is also a small border town, it is much larger than Qianyue Town!"
"And it's much more prosperous than Qianyue Town. After all, Qiandong is an important border town in Beili."
Nangong Chunshui nodded:
"Indeed, you haven't been to more places. Right now, seven out of ten states, prefectures, and counties in Beili are in a state of decline!"
"If you go to a farmer's house again, you'll find that those who can eat their fill year-round are considered lucky!"
Baili Dongjun was surprised when he heard this:
"Why?!"
Nangong Chunshui snorted coldly:
"You should ask the Emperor Tai'an who is sitting in the palace!"
"Beili was once the most vast and prosperous country in the world. Back then, Beili's ancestor Xiao Yi was also a heroic ruler!"
"The grace of a gentleman will decline after three generations and be destroyed after five! The descendants of the Beili royal family have sat back and enjoyed the fruits of their labor without striving for progress, blindly pursuing power and wealth. After generations of exploitation and bloodsucking, the Beili clan has long been depleted."
Yin Luoxia also sighed:
"Yes, Brother Nangong is right!"
"Take the new gamblers that have appeared in Luoxia Town in recent years, for example. They were originally good people who farmed and traded!"
"Because taxes became heavier year by year, many people gradually lost their land and homes."
"Some people, desperate to get rich overnight, resort to usury and borrow money from loan sharks in order to try their luck at the gambling table!"
"Most of them ended up with their families broken up!"
What the two said was something Baili Dongjun, who had grown up in a wealthy mansion and lived a life of luxury, had never heard before.
He frowned and asked:
"So... the current Emperor Tai'an is exactly the kind of tyrant ruler described in history books!"
Nangong Chunshui poured a bowl of large-leaf tea and shook his head helplessly:
"A tyrant? If it weren't for my connection to his ancestors, I would have taught him a lesson last time in the palace!"
"He killed loyal ministers and generals, listened to the eunuchs' slander, and imposed heavy taxes... What else could this be but a tyrant?"
"I am a banished immortal, why should I tell you about the sufferings of this world?"
After hearing these words, Baili Dongjun was stunned:
"Hearing what Brother Nangong said, the current Emperor Tai'an is truly a foolish and incompetent emperor!"
"Grandpa always said he had changed... So that's how it is!"
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