Chapter 233

After disappearing for a few days, the Governor of Liaodong returned to the Governor's Mansion with a young girl named Pang Yue holding a child. Most of those who were unaware of the situation thought it was the Governor's romantic affair. Those who knew about it were limited to the women who had seen Pang Yue in the backyard of the Governor's Mansion. They would never reveal Yue'er's identity, and they were already used to what happened between Yue'er and Pang Jun. Therefore, Yue'er's entry into the backyard of the Governor's Mansion did not cause any waves among the women. However, Fei Qingyu, who often made trouble, came to the Governor's Mansion to take a look at Pang Yue after hearing about it, and then teased the Governor with a meaningful look. As a result, of course, she was raped by Duke Qin in the study for a whole afternoon and returned home with a sore body.

　　After occupying Langzhou and Zhaozhou and reaching an agreement with Ji Yanrao, Pang Jun now controlled five states in Liaodong and two states in Lianghe, a total of seven states. In addition, after counting the treasures of Zhenzong worth 30 million taels of silver, he had truly become a force that could not be ignored by the people of the world. The next thing he planned was to improve the internal governance and expand the military.

　　With the support of a group of wealthy families headed by the old governor Fei Lin, Pang Jun began to carry out drastic reforms and adjustments in the territory under his jurisdiction. Cheng Chaolun was appointed as the governor-general of Liaodong Province, a fourth-rank official, responsible for assisting the governor in handling government affairs. Of the seven provincial governors, in addition to the original five provincial governors of Liaodong, the new governor of Zhaozhou was appointed by Guo Youtang, the former Tongpan of Songzhou, and the governor of Langzhou was appointed by Xu Shixun, the former Tongpan of Yanzhou. Together with Pang Jun, the governor-general of Liaodong, a total of nine people formed the "Liaodong Political Affairs Office", which was responsible for the institutional reform and implementation of Liaodong, and began to implement the official village system like Songzhou, to increase income, free up young and strong people, and enrich the army.

　　In terms of the army, after the merger of the original Liaodong Border Defense Army, the former Yanzhou Garrison Commander Fei Longhai was promoted to the commander of the 40,000 Liaodong "National Defense Army". The deputy commanders were Ji Yanrao, the former deputy commander of the Liaodong Border Defense Army, and Wu Xiang, the former commander of the Songzhou Garrison Army. Under the deputy commanders were several captains, who were from Liaodong nobles or Hong Yanzhang and Ling Tianfang. Lin Rui and Sun Zihan served as scout commanders.

　　The 4,000 most elite and valuable black-armored heavy cavalry were formed into an independent army, led by Pang Jun himself. Daily affairs were handled by Qi Lin, and the training of the cavalry was the responsibility of Pang Jun's concubine, Lyudmila.

　　As for the Governor's Mansion, Pang Jun will also have new moves. In addition to "Sui Feng", he will secretly set up a new intelligence organization "Inner Guard". The person in charge of the Inner Guard is the sisters Su Ying and Su Yan. The two sisters are assistants left by Pang Yingtian for himself. Not to mention their high martial arts skills, they were also responsible for the command and implementation of a large number of actions of the "Tianyi Sect" for a long time. The most important thing is that they are absolutely loyal to Pang Jun. It is impossible for Pang Jun to keep such talents in the backyard as vases.

　　In addition, Pang Jun also solemnly returned to the almost secluded little house in the backyard and invited Shen Qiong, who had been enjoying herself there, to come out as his "female councilor". Although everyone did not understand why the governor respected and trusted this woman so much, they also understood that Pang Jun never did meaningless things, so they just let it go.

　　As soon as the reform decree was issued, the bureaucratic systems of the seven states under Pang Jun's command began to move like a war machine. These places had all experienced major changes, and a considerable number of powerful families had been eliminated. The bureaucrats under Pang Jun were either powerful families with common interests or Pang Jun's confidants. The implementation of the decree was naturally unstoppable, and the young and strong who were liberated also eager to join the army because of the generous rewards it brought. In just one month, more than 10,000 people rushed to Yanzhou from all over the country for selection to join the army.

　　"At the beginning of the month, news came from Jiangnan that Huo Wuji of the 'Tianyi Dao' was recruited by the Jiangnan court. The emperor of the Jiangnan court, Yang Sheng, named him the 'King of Dingbei', established a government, and gave him military and political power over the two rivers and one province, in charge of the attack on the Tianjing court." In the study, Shen Qiong, Pang Jun's new female official, was standing beside him in the study, reading the news from Jiangnan.

　　Pang Jun took a look at the beautiful Shen Qiong and felt a sense of unreality. This extremely noble and beautiful woman who lived hundreds of years ago has now become his secretary.

　　Perhaps noticing Pang Jun's gaze, Shen Qiong turned his gaze away from the intelligence, glanced at Pang Jun and asked, "What's wrong?"

　　Pang Jun shook his head: "Nothing. According to Tianjing, the death of Yang Shao was all blamed on the Tianyi Sect. Now the Jiangnan court accepted Huo Wuji, a remnant of the Tianyi Sect. This is a bit against the will of the world."

　　"What's the problem?" Shen Qiong replied, "Don't forget who is Yang Sheng's current queen? Nan Feifei was Yang Shao's last favorite concubine. As a son, he married the emperor's concubine and never intended to take this title. His current goal is to unite all the forces that can be united to deal with Yang Man in Tianjing. I'm sure that the envoys from Jiangnan will soon come to Liaodong to negotiate with you."

　　"Come to negotiate with me? I have already accepted the title from Tianjing and even married someone. Isn't it a little late for him to come now? What's more, Yang Sheng accepted Huo Wuji originally for the sake of the entire Lianghe River. Now half of it has been taken away by me. He wants to kill me. Will he still send someone to make peace?" Pang Jun asked back.

　　Shen Qiong chuckled and said, "Politically, there are no eternal enemies. Originally, accepting Huo Wuji was a windfall for Yang Sheng. And Huo Wuji was obviously the type who would not listen to orders, and he only accepted the amnesty in name. Do you want such a separatist force to be stronger or weaker? So Yang Sheng will not be angry because you took Zhaozhou and Langzhou. On the contrary, he is likely to be secretly grateful to you for weakening Huo Wuji's power, right? What's more, similar to Tianjing, asking you for help is just a casual thing. What's more important is your attitude. If your attitude at this time makes them think that you will stand idly by, then you have achieved your goal."

　　Pang Jun pondered for a moment and said, "You are right. In the current Jiangnan court, apart from Yang Sheng, the Nan family is the only one in power. The empress, the empress dowager, and the prime minister are all from the Nan family. Although he relied on the Nan family to establish the court in the two provinces of Jiangnan, the Nan family has become too powerful to be eliminated. Yang Sheng claims to be a powerful leader and will definitely not sit idly by. Introducing a new force that is neither too big nor too small to balance the power of the Nan family in the court has become an important option. The powerful families in the Jiangnan province only follow the lead of the Nan family. The powerful families in the southeast province have intertwined forces and fierce internal struggles, and none of them can make a difference. At this time, Huo Wuji, who controls the two states and does not belong to any powerful family, will become the best choice."

　　"But what Yang Sheng doesn't know is that all of this is an illusion woven by a woman named Qin Jiuyuan. Both the Nan family and Huo Wuji are pawns in this woman's hands. Perhaps in the entire Jiangnan court, only the woman named Wang Fangmei, whom you hooked up with a few years ago, is not controlled by Qin Jiuyuan. But human hearts are too hard to tell. Maybe that woman no longer thinks highly of you and is willing to sell you out." Shen Qiong has experienced countless things, and she sees the darkness of human hearts more clearly than Pang Jun.

　　Shen Qiong was right. Wasn't Yan Dai also Zuo Xuanzhen's wife? When she got ruthless, she could even kill her husband. She said that the reason she hated Zuo Xuanzhen was because of her mother, but who knew how much truth there was in this, or whether Yan Dai was actually planning to kill Zuo Xuanzhen with Pang Jun's help and take his place.

　　So Pang Jun wisely used poison to control Yan Dai in Songshan, Dong Yunxuan in Tiejianbao, and Shen Luohua who was far away in Xichuan. They were all women who were greedy for power and cherished their lives. Only when he held their lives in his hands would they obey his orders.

　　Shen Qiong looked at the silent Pang Jun and continued, "When you are not powerful, it is understandable that you use poison to control those women far away, but once you become powerful, you have to change your mentality and behavior. After all, poison is a secret method and cannot be used in a big scene. Instead of controlling lives, you should use benefits to control them. Only by using benefits to bind your subordinates can you be a king. Then your subordinates will work harder instead of being in a state of panic all day long."

　　"I will keep your teachings in mind." After listening to Shen Qiong's words, Pang Jun stood up solemnly and bowed to her respectfully.

　　Shen Qiong waved his hands and said, "You have done a good job in these matters. I am just giving you another warning. Let's talk about other things. The world is now divided into four parts: Tianjing, Xichuan, Jiangnan, and Liaodong. Tianjing is the strongest and Liaodong is the weakest. However, Tianjing attracts the wind because of its size. We must persist and hide behind the Tianjing court to develop ourselves quietly. The Xidi people and Xichuan in the west will contain Tianjing. Our strategic target is the original territory of Chaoguo and Jiangnan."

　　"Chaoguo is not a problem, but how about attacking Jiangnan? If we capture the entire coastline, the endless harassment from the Japanese will make us exhausted. What's more, once Tianjing has dealt with the northern Hu and the enemies in the west, its strength will be greatly enhanced, and Liaodong will not be their opponent by then." Pang Jun said with a frown.

　　"balance..."

　　Pang Jun suddenly realized: "I understand, thank you for your teaching."

　　Shen Qiong smiled calmly and said no more.

　　Not long after, a subordinate came to report: The envoy of the Jiangnan court came to pay a visit! Pang Jun looked at Shen Qiong with an incredible look, and the latter continued to read the information calmly. Then, someone else came to report that Cao Yuan of the Jiangnan fleet wanted to see him. This time, Shen Qiong raised his head with interest and looked at Pang Jun meaningfully.

　　Pang Jun smiled bitterly and said, "If it weren't for your identity, you wouldn't be able to walk out of this room alive."

　　Shen Qiong smiled: "If you were the emperor, I would have died in some mass grave long ago."