Hold His Hand

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On New Year’s Eve, while Xie Chengze was reading the letters, thinking about Lu Yanzhou, Lu Yanzhou was also thinking about Xie Chengze.

Lu Yanzhou, who went by the pseudonym Yan Hang, was in no hurry to move around after arriving in Jiangnan. First, it was the new year, and second…his beard hasn’t grown long yet.

When Lu Yanzhou was in the capital, he spent most of his time at Xie Chengze’s manor and rarely appeared in front of people, but some people still knew him.

In order to avoid being recognized, he planned from the beginning to wait until his beard grew longer before appearing in front of others.

His beard grows very quickly, but it will take some time to grow. Recently, Lu Yanzhou has found other things to do, such as refining weapons.

However, on New Year’s Eve, he didn’t do anything. Instead, he gathered Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding and other people that came to Jiangnan with him, and then they all had a meal together to celebrate the new year.

“I don’t know if AZe has received the things I sent or if he was thinking about me.” Lu Yanzhou sighed.

Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding are not very young, therefore Lu Yanzhou treats them as children and teaches them. They have a good relationship with Lu Yanzhou.

They recently realized that Lu Yanzhou and Xie Chengze have a very good relationship, so they are even closer to Lu Yanzhou: “Don’t worry, young master Yan, master must be thinking of you!”

They didn’t know what to call Xie Chengze before, after all, if they were not careful, Xie Chengze could easily be discovered. After thinking about it a lot…they simply asked Lu Yanzhou what to call him.

Lu Yanzhou did not hesitate: “Isn’t he master? Just call him master.”

Therefore, Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding and everyone else also called him that, although their current master was actually Lu Yanzhou.

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At this moment, everyone said one after another: “Young master Yan, master must miss you very much.”

“Master likes you the most.”

“Master has never liked anyone else!”

…

“It’s true, he only likes me, so he must be thinking about me.” Lu Yanzhou agreed with their words.

It’s impossible for Xie Chengze to like anyone else except him!

Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding and the others also nodded in agreement. Xie Gonggong always has an expressionless face when facing others but he has always spoken softly, was gentle and considerate, and was affectionate to Lu Yanzhou. He must have loved Lu Yanzhou very much.

Although they like women and don’t quite understand how two men can be together, young master Lu and their master are really an enviable couple!

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Lu Yanzhou reminded them again: “Remember to write a letter and tell him that I have been thinking about him.”

Everyone immediately agreed to put in good words for Lu Yanzhou so their master will not forget Lu Yanzhou!

The atmosphere was very lively, but Lu Yanzhou and the others actually didn’t eat well.

DaYan’s demise is related to the fact that influential families and the imperial family have been enclosing land, causing the people to be displaced. Climate change and natural disasters in recent years is also another cause.

If there’s no natural disasters, DaYan would have been able to survive for a few more years, but now natural disasters are so severe that many places have experienced food shortages. The price of food is not cheap, and the price of meat is even more expensive.

Lu Yanzhou and the others celebrated the new year in a careless manner.

By the time the new year was over, Lu Yanzhou’s beard had grown out, and he even deliberately tanned himself a little. Coupled with a completely different dressing style…He had transformed from a handsome young man to a tall muscular bearded man.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Lu Yanzhou couldn’t help but say to Xie Jia: “If AZe sees me like this, will he dislike me?”

Xie Jia has long been used to being asked this question, so he also knows how to answer: “No, master likes you the most!”

Lu Yanzhou was really satisfied with the answer, so he added: “He likes me now, but if I was like this when we first met, he would definitely not take me home!”

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Xie Jia: “…” He couldn’t answer this, and he felt…this was true.

It was impossible for Xie Gonggong to snatch a bearded man he saw on the road home.

During this lean year, many people starved to death.

Some people are used to being enslaved and bear all the suffering silently, but there are also people who are ready to fight when they face death.

But how can these people defeat the fat and strong guards raised by the big family? They couldn’t rob the granary of influential families at all. These scrawny gangsters ended up robbing tenant farmers or peasants who were struggling at the bottom like them.

The farmers who were robbed would not be able to survive either.

Some people who robbed even went too far. They not only robbed food, but also burned houses and killed people, leaving many people homeless.

Displaced people will become bandits when they are desperate. This is a vicious cycle.

What’s even more frightening is that when the weak can’t survive, they will bully the weaker people. At this moment, women and children can hardly even survive.

Lu Yanzhou did not wait any longer. He took hundreds of trained soldiers and began to fight against bandits and thieves.

Kill the evildoers, organize the remaining people into an army, while the old, weak, sick and disabled are allowed to farm…With sophisticated weapons and disciplined men, Lu Yanzhou quickly occupied an area.

At this time, people in other places had already conquered large areas of the country.

Lu Yanzhou was not in a hurry. He worked hard to manage his territory and divide the land among local tycoons. He did not ask for anything else but to keep more people alive.

In addition, he also gathered children and teenagers from the areas he occupied.

Lu Yanzhou asked people to teach them to recognize simple characters and learn arabic numerals. He will definitely need many officials in the future, so he should start training them now.

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What these people learn was decided by Lu Yanzhou long ago. The textbooks were written by him when he was in the capital and can be used directly now.

In order to quickly popularize knowledge, Lu Yanzhou also promoted sentence reading and improved papermaking and printing.

While he was busy, Lu Yanzhou also kept contact with Xie Chengze.

It’s just that in these troubled times, he doesn’t send things very much. He only lets people send letters, and he only dares to write some romantic things in the letters. He doesn’t dare write any secrets.

Occasionally, if there are confidential letters or important things to be sent, then a special person would be arranged to send it.

The same goes for Xie Chengze. Every time he receives a letter from Lu Yanzhou, he will ask the sender to bring a reply letter to Lu Yanzhou. The letter he writes is not long and does not involve any confidentiality.

However, from time to time, Xie Chengze would arrange for people to send Lu Yanzhou some supplies that Lu Yanzhou was short of, such as iron.

At this point, it must be said that Xie Chengze is a man of great power. He can always get what Lu Yanzhou needs without anyone noticing or exposing himself at all.

Sometimes those who help deliver supplies don’t even know who asked them to deliver so many supplies.

Lu Yanzhou has knowledge reserves that far exceeds ordinary people and he also has Xie Chengze’s secret support. Although the territory he occupies is not large, it’s developing well and steadily. The fields in the area he occupies are not abandoned and are all planted.

However, in the eyes of the officials in the imperial court, he did not have many people under his command, nor did he expand wildly. He was a non-threatening person, so no one cared about him.

Their armies are dealing with those who make the most trouble.

Lu Yanzhou quietly developed like this.

Time flies very fast, a year has passed in the blink of an eye. This year, the grain harvests in various places are still not very good. However, the area Lu Yanzhou occupied, the harvest is not bad because he pays special attention to them.

At this time, in the capital, Xie Chengze’s power was growing.

War broke out frequently in various places. The influential families felt that it was the emperor’s fault, while the emperor felt that it was all the influential family’s fault. The conflicts between the two sides became more and more serious, and Xie Chengze benefited from it.

At the end of the year, the palace will always hold a banquet, and today there is another palace banquet.

This year, there were many more people attending the banquet than usual – there was chaos in some places, and the nobles there fled to the capital, filling the already crowded capital.

These people kept clamoring for the emperor to send troops to regain the lost territory, but sending troops to fight would cost a lot of money, so the emperor was naturally not happy.

In the afternoon, carriages were already crowded at the entrance to the palace.

Countless people got off the carriage, slowly entered the palace, and then found their seats and sat down as arranged.

Some of these people often come to the palace, but some are here for the first time. At this time, a young man who had just arrived in the capital and was entering the palace for the first time was talking to the people around him: “The capital is really different. There’s a lot of things that I have never heard of before but it’s extremely prosperous.”

“Indeed,” the person next to him said, “There is a lot more delicious food in the capital recently.”

“What a pity, the imperial court is controlled by that wicked eunuch!”

“That Thief Xie is really hateful, he acts arrogantly and doesn’t take us seriously at all!”

The two of them were discussing when they saw a man in dark red clothes with a peerless appearance slowly coming in from the door.

After he came in, the entire banquet was silent for a moment, then he glanced around and raised the corners of his mouth. The smile strangely gave people the feeling that he’s looking down on the world.

The young man who entered the palace for the first time even stopped breathing, his heart was beating fast, he couldn’t help but ask: “Who is this beauty?”

The person who was chatting with him inhaled sharply, calming down: “He is Xie Chengze.”

That Xie Chengze, who everyone shouted to beat, actually looks like this? This young man, who had just arrived in the capital not long ago, was stunned.

Xie Chengze was relatively low-key a year ago and had a good temper, but this year…he suddenly became overt and his temper was even more volatile.

In response to this, officials in the capital not only cursed but also gloated.

Xie Chengze has done too many bad things and will be punished! Now, his man is dead!

It’s just…without that Lu Yanzhou, Xie Chengze is even more difficult to deal with!

Xie Chengze, who was considered more difficult to deal with, was actually in a good mood. Not long ago, Lu Yanzhou sent him many things, including sugar.

Then, he sold the sugar to his majesty at a good price.

He planned to exchange the money for supplies and send them to Lu Yanzhou in a few days.

A year has passed, and he now feels that Lu Yanzhou may really be able to change this dynasty…which is good.

It’s a pity that more and more people are getting in the way in this capital.

He will raise them for a while, when the time is right, he will kill all those who deserve to be killed.

At this palace banquet, sugar appeared.

The sweet and sour pork ribs and pastries made with white sugar amazed everyone. White sugar surpassed vegetable oil and instantly became the most popular thing in the capital.

No matter how hard life is for the common people, people from influential families will still spend a lot of money for a jar of sugar.

Lu Yanzhou made the sugar, but after he made the sugar, he didn’t keep any of it and sent it all to the capital.

First, he can’t let people know that he made it, and second…What he needs is food, not such ‘luxury goods’.

“I wonder how AZe is doing in the capital, did he lose weight.” Lu Yanzhou celebrated the new year with Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding as usual.

Xie Jia said: “he shouldn’t lose weight.” There must be no shortage of meat in the capital, but it’s different here.

They usually don’t have much meat to eat, but there is no shortage of fish.

Lu Yanzhou knew a lot of things. He improved his boats, occupied an estuary and recruited some fishermen, so they could fish in the sea.

Lu Yanzhou sighed again at this time: “I’m exposed to the sun and rain every day, so I’m getting rougher. I don’t know if AZe will dislike me when we meet again.”

Xie Jia: “…” Answering the same question too many times, he doesn’t want to answer anymore.

Jia, Yi, Bing and Ding all tilted their heads and fell asleep.

They have started to expand recently and have been really busy and haven’t had a good rest for a long time.

Lu Yanzhou ate all the uneaten food, tilted his head and fell asleep.

In the first year, Lu Yanzhou was inconspicuous, but as time went by, he became more and more eye-catching.

Within DaYan, many people who rebelled were no different from bandits. They burned, killed, and looted before disappearing.

Some of the people who rebelled were quite capable, but after several battles, there were victories and defeats.

As for Lu Yanzhou, either he doesn’t fight, or if he fights, he will definitely win.

The lives of the people in the areas he occupied were far better than elsewhere!

In the end, there was a scene where people rushed to welcome Lu Yanzhou’s army wherever they went.

In the blink of an eye, another four years have passed.

DaYan is still there, but the defeat is obvious. Apart from DaYan, there are two other most powerful forces.

One of the forces is the force of the new emperor who entered the capital in the original historical trajectory. This man’s surname was Sun, and his name was Sun Chongshao. He was born in a scholar family but it was a small family. He also had to bear a lot of suffering when he was young, then his family later suffered misfortune. After that, he became ruthless and rose up, and now he has hundreds of thousands of troops in his hands.

As for the other force…it’s the force led by Lu Yanzhou.

Both sides were equally powerful and were in a stalemate.

In the capital, Wang family, Wang Tingyun is discussing with his clan members.

The influential families have begun to consider their options, and some families have already chosen who to join.

“Many people have already taken refuge with Sun Chongshao. If our Wang family goes there at this time, we will definitely have to lower our heads when the time comes!”

“There are not many people on Yan Hang’s side, but it was rumored that Yan Hang was born in poverty and disliked officials and influential families the most. Most of his officials come from humble backgrounds, there are even ordinary people. If we go to find him, we will definitely be liquidated first.”

“The son of the Zhou family has defected to Yan Hang, and is now working with a bunch of idiots!

…

Everyone was talking about it, then Wang Tingyun said: “Who do you think will win?”

Everyone looked at each other, and finally said: “Now the two sides are equally powerful. Although Yan Hang has even fewer soldiers, Yan Hang has won the hearts of the people…Since ancient times, he who wins the hearts and minds of the people wins the world.”

“Yan Hang has strong soldiers and horses with strict military discipline. Even if he cannot win at the moment, as long as he lives, he will win.”

“Yan Hang loves people like his own child…Previously, when Sun Chongshao’s soldiers encountered his soldiers, they directly surrendered to the enemy.”

…

Whether it was Wang Tingyun or other members of the Wang family, they were more optimistic about Yan Hang.

However, Yan Hang has always treated everyone equally, and one must act in accordance with his rules when a past influential family joins them. Some families surrendered and couldn’t keep their fields. They could only keep their gold and silver property, and they would never be forgiven if they committed any crimes.

They are also cautious about taking refuge in Yan Hang.

Wang Tingyun continue: “If we join Sun Chongshao, do we have the ability to make Sun Chongshao defeat Yan Hang?”

Everyone thought for a long moment, then finally said: “I’m afraid it’s not possible.”

Wang Tingyun said: “In that case, it’s better for us to make a decision early and go find Yan Hang.”

An old man from the Wang family hesitated: “Why not wait?”

“We have been waiting for a long time, and if we wait any longer, it will be in vain,” Wang Tingyun said, “What’s more…The capital is also going to be in chaos.”

Wang Tingyun knew his nephew very well. Ever since the world was in chaos, his nephew’s behavior had become more and more extreme.

Xie Chengze…wants to destroy this DaYan.

If they don’t leave, they might be buried with DaYan!

The Wang family finally made the decision to take refuge with Yan Hang.

Xie Chengze heard about this very quickly. After hearing about it, his face turned dark.

The Wang family is going to seek refuge with Lu Yanzhou, what will Lu Yanzhou do?

However, it’s impossible for him to stop them, and he couldn’t stop them.

Now he is dispensable to Lu Yanzhou.

When the capital was destroyed, it was time for him to die.