Chapter 111: Jin Duoduo Visits

  Gods' New Calendar February 1st, 2012, Spring Begins.

  Chrysanthemum City has gone through a smooth winter and is welcoming its first spring since Li Xie took over.

  Spring is the season when all things sprout, symbolizing the arrival of something beautiful.

  Chrysanthemum City is thriving day by day, and beauty seems not far away.

  The "Chrysanthemum Academy" is about to be completed and will be put into use after the Spring Festival, and registration has already begun. The spring harvest is in full swing, and the benefits brought by the land contract system have led to a several-fold increase in arable land, making Chrysanthemum City no longer worry about food shortages, and even having a surplus. New officials at all levels have become familiar with their work, and everything is proceeding in an orderly manner. Commerce is gradually recovering and prospering due to the solution of people's livelihoods and reduced taxes...

  Everything in Chrysanthemum City is indeed heading towards a brighter future!

  "Ah..." A discordant sigh seemed to disrupt this harmony.

  Castle Lord's mansion, study room.

  Li Xie put down his pen and sat on the chair, with a worried look on his face.

  He who does not think of the future will have a hard time in the present.

  Li Ye has worries nearby and also has worries far away!

  Distant worries, it was that great day when the Da Ri Wang Chao attacked the Tudor Dynasty, and the Sunflower City was calm and peaceful, making Li Xie feel uneasy.

  What else could be a recent worry?

  Money!

  As the year-end approaches, everyone's salary will be doubled, and even more benefits will be given. The tens of thousands of officials, big and small, will receive around 200 million yuan in salaries. As for the 100,000-strong evil army, including benefits, rewards, and other expenses, each person will receive an average of 10,000 gold coins, which is a total of 1 billion gold coins! Additionally, the imperial court's taxes have also been paid, with Li Xie, the lord of the three cities, having to pay 200 million gold coins in taxes for each city, totaling 600 million. Furthermore, adding up the remaining expenses, another 200 million gold coins were spent.

  Chrysanthemum City temporarily has no taxes and almost no profits. All these expenses are taken out of Li Xie's pocket.

  It's only been two months and Li Xie has already lost two-fifths of his gold coins, leaving him with less than 300 million.

  Don't look at his wealth, if it goes on like this, Li Xie will really have to go out and beg.

  Being the head of a family is not easy!

  Li Xie could only spend more energy on his own calligraphy practice.

  "Xie Ge, what's wrong with you? You were fine just now, why the sigh?" asked Xiao An who was watching Li Xie practice his calligraphy beside him.

  In the study, there was Zeinard who disliked noise, and Meowmeow the cat who never left Li Xie's side. As for Li Xie's other two followers, Kano and Vandy, they were busy teaching soldiers martial arts, mostly in the military camp.

  Apart from Zain and Miao, Xiao An is the one who comes to the study most often. Every morning, she would take out an hour to teach Li Xie to write, but recently, Xiao An has been dragging the one hour into two hours. It's said that it's because the big and small matters of Chrysanthemum City have gradually stabilized, so she doesn't need to worry about them.

  Li Xie didn't want her to be too tired either, so he didn't mind it either.

  "There's nothing, just a bit of stuffiness in my chest." Li Xie took another deep breath and said: "Let's not practice calligraphy today, Xiao An, accompany Brother Xie to take a stroll around the city."

  "Oh."

  "Zain, go and tell Lily to prepare the horse, and have Zi Xuan wait outside."

  Just as a few people had just left the study, Kano rushed in and bowed after meeting, saying: "Sir, the envoy of the Great Stick Dynasty requests an audience. This is a letter from the lord of 'Pyongyang Castle' to you."

  "Oh?" Li Xie took the letter, opened it and read it. The general meaning was that Jin Zhi, the lord of Ping'an City, wanted to establish a relationship with Li Xie's Chrysanthemum City and hoped to meet Li Xie in person.

  "It turns out that Kim Jong-un wants to establish a political and economic relationship with us! Pyongyang is just located in the region south of our border, isn't it? Hehe..."

  Li Xie's eyes sparkled, the right corner of his mouth rose high, revealing a small white fang, and the little cat on top of his head, who was also reading the letter, showed an identical sly smile.

  This is not building a relationship, someone wants to give us money!

  Xiao An looked at Li Xie's smile and couldn't help but feel a little nervous, weakly saying: "Brother Xie, your smile is really scary!"

  "Nonsense! This smile is so familiar! Hehe......" Li Xie waved his hand: "Let's go, I, the Duke, will personally go out of the city to welcome our beloved Big Stick Envoy!"

  "Ah?" Xiao An hastily pulled Li Xie, saying: "Brother Xie, you are the Grand Master, they are just messengers, there is no need for you to personally go out to greet them. Letting him come in and pay respects would be enough. If you go out like this, it will only make them look down on you, and in the future when building relationships, you will be at a disadvantage."

  Next to him, Ka No had already gotten used to Li Xie's sly smile, and with the experience in the Imperial City, he unconsciously revealed a sly smile similar to Li Xie's: "Little An, you don't understand, the adults will definitely go out of the city to welcome them personally! The adults are welcoming, not envoys, nor people!"

  "Huh?" Xiao An was completely bewildered: "Not a messenger? Not a person? What is it?"

  Money!

  Li Xie left behind a single word and walked out with a big smile on his face.

  Lei Ting's war horse, the king of purple clouds, has been completely tamed by little kitty. Now it is extremely obedient to Li Xie, especially when little kitty is around, the purple cloud is simply a well-behaved baby without any temper.

  Li Xie rode on the back of Zi Xiao, and couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority. Especially when walking on the main street, the common people saw Li Xie, the Duke of Evil, and they all knelt down to pay their respects, one after another, praising him, making Li Xie feel like he was floating on cloud nine.

  The praise of the people is not flattery, but comes from the heart, and can be seen in their respectful eyes. The people are lovely and simple-minded, whoever treats them well will inevitably be repaid with their respect. Li Xie brought a life that was previously unimaginable to Chrysanthemum City, how could the people of Chrysanthemum City not adore him?

  Li Xie rode on the purple cloud, hugging a kitten, and came to the south gate with Ze Enna De, Ka No, Xiao An and a group of guards.

  Zain and Xiao An both rode black-scaled horses, which were taken from Li Xie's carriage. Now that Li Xie had the Zi Xuan, the few core followers by his side naturally needed to be equipped with good horses as well. The Thunderbolt Warhorses were needed for the army, so Li Xie could only dismantle his carriage.

  Outside the South Gate, the envoys of the Great Stick Dynasty were still waiting. Without Li Xie's order, foreign envoys were not allowed to enter the city at will, which was a matter of etiquette.

  Five envoys arrived, all riding horses. Judging from their simple attire, they were clearly only here to deliver a message. After handing over the letter and paying a courtesy visit to the city lord, they would be done. A formal meeting would require another appointment.

  So when Li Xie rode out of the city on his purple cloud, with guards shouting "The City Master has arrived!", these five envoys were all terrified!

  As the lord of the city adjacent to the Big Stick Dynasty, the Big Stick Dynasty naturally had some understanding of Li Xie, and Jin Zhi, the lord of Pyongyang City, which was directly opposite to Chrysanthemum City, needed to understand what kind of person Li Xie was.

  As a result, Li Xie still did not know that his great name had already spread throughout the Da Bang Dynasty.

  Evil Duke, Gold Coin Reaper, Heartless Duke, Noble Butcher... These are the various titles given to Li Xie by the nobles of the Big Stick Dynasty.

  Although it seems all negative, the Big Stick Dynasty and the Lord of Pyongyang Castle know that Li Xie has a strong military power in his hands and numerous masters around him. His position in the Tudor Dynasty is second only to the pillar of the Tudor Dynasty, Duke Rhein.

  This is the third person in the strongest dynasty.

  He actually came out of the city himself to welcome a mere messenger who had only come to deliver a message?

  How could this not make the five envoys sincere and fearful?

  The five envoys hastily bowed down, the leader shouting: "The Forest God is above! The Pyongchang Castle Envoy Kim Dado pays respects to the Evil Lord! May the divine light forever shine upon the Evil Lord."

  "Master Meng is here!" Li Xie hastily dismounted his horse, quickly walked over and helped Jin Duoduo up: "No need for formalities, come on, follow the host to enter the city. The lunch has been prepared, and the host will treat you well."

  Jin Duo was led by Li Xie towards the city gate, with a face full of terror!

  He recalled the rumors circulating in the Great Stick Dynasty about the evil Duke, who could kill nobles without mercy. It was said that if someone uttered a single sentence that didn't please him, he would be killed on the spot. Once, at the city gate, a certain noble had shown disrespect to the evil Duke and was struck dead on the spot.

  Now that the evil duke is of such a status, not only did he personally welcome him, but also gave him a hand-pulling ceremony, which is a courtesy that can only be seen among equals. And Jin Duoduo knew that his own status was lower than that of the evil duke by who knows how many levels.

  The current situation is too abnormal, too suspicious!

  Could it be that I made a mistake in etiquette somewhere? Could it be? I have offended the evil duke!

  The God of Forest is above! I am still young!

  Jin Duo Duo was getting more and more frightened, her whole body involuntarily trembling.

  Li Xie felt the sweat on Jin Duoduo's palm and the chill on his hand, and showed him a harmless and affectionate smile: "Is the Golden Envoy cold? The weather has cooled down, you should wear more clothes! Don't worry, after lunch, you will warm up. I'll order someone to send you some clothes. Kano! Why haven't you taken care of the other envoys yet?"

  "Yes! Sir!" Kano hastily dismounted and ran over to hold the horses for several envoys, his expression humble and enthusiastic.

  He is now the deputy commander-in-chief of the evil army, and his status is also among the top in the Chrysanthemum City. As a mere envoy, he doesn't even have the qualifications to let Cano lead the horse to greet him, however, Cano is willing to do so with enthusiasm and excitement.

  Why?

  In the Imperial Capital, Duke Ye had told him that these were good people who came to give them money, and they should be protected like their own father.

  No need to mention leading horses, carrying them into the city, Kano would be willing, what we're carrying aren't messengers, but money! Glittering gold!

  With a gentle smile all over his face, Li Xie arrived at the city master's mansion with several envoys who were trembling with fear, and they took their seats in the banquet hall according to their ranks.

  Li Xie's side, Kano, Zeennard, Xiao An, and Xiaomiao accompanied him. On the other side, all five envoys were present. According to etiquette, only Kim Dodo, as the leader, had the qualifications to enter the banquet. Moreover, Li Xie, as a great lord, was not qualified to sit down. However, now, all five of them sat down in the seats of honor.

  "Do you have money in Pyongyang?"

  Li Xie smiled as he looked at Jin Duoduo, and his opening line was just that.

  Jin Duo was stunned on the spot!

  What's going on here? When receiving an envoy, you should at least exchange a few pleasantries, go through the formalities, and then talk about some ceremonial details, introduce each other's superiors, etc. Who starts asking if someone has money in their city as soon as they open their mouth?

  This question, Jin Duo had been an envoy several times, but it was the first time he encountered.

  Li Xie smiled like this, looking at the dazed Jin Duoduo, waiting for his answer.

  Putting this issue first is Li Xie's crazy idea of making money, and of course, it is also Li Xie's first standard for determining whether to build a relationship.

  No money? Get out! Are you kidding me with your hospitality?

  PS: Wishing you a prosperous new year, may good fortune come your way, abundance of gold. ^-^^-^