Xiangshui County is located in the northernmost county of Shangzhou. On the last day of the first lunar month, Che Mingde and Yang Dian stood at the dock of Xiangshui County, waiting for the Ninth Prince's fleet to arrive.
In the afternoon, there was a report from the front that the fleet was about to arrive, so Yang Dian led everyone over to wait. However, it took a long time before he saw a fleet consisting of more than a dozen large ships slowly approaching.
This time, the Ninth Prince came with him. In addition to some of the entourage from the Ninth Prince's palace, there were also a thousand imperial guards. Moreover, during the Chinese New Year, the Ninth Prince was officially canonized as King Yong and gained the right to open the palace.
Che Mingde also learned about this news later. The title of King Yong is really fascinating, because when His Majesty had not succeeded to the throne, he was King Yong. Now he has a prince, but he also gave this title to Jiu. The prince is really hard to fathom.
As the ship arrived at the dock and docked, everyone saw the young man standing on the bow. His figure was no different from that of an adult, but his face looked slightly childish. However, under the background of Taiwei Liang, he had an air of youthfulness. The taste of youth and maturity.
After putting down the plank of the boat, the young man took the lead to get off. Yang Dian, the Mu of Shangzhou, also led thousands of waiting officials. He bowed respectfully and said: "Mu Yangdian of Shangzhou, led the hundreds of officials of Shangzhou to pay homage to His Highness King Yong. .”
"Yangzhou Mu doesn't need to be polite. The fleet went all the way upstream and wasted a lot of time. It's getting late now. I came here by water this time and brought some supplies along the way. Many of them are good food. Plant, leave part of it to Shangzhou, and send the rest to Tangzhou. I hope that after the spring this year, Tangzhou can regain its former vitality." The Ninth Prince talked directly about things without being polite.
Yang Dian had also heard about the Ninth Prince a long time ago. Seeing him like this, regardless of whether he was acting or not, at least it did bring benefits to the southeastern states, so he immediately said: "Your Highness's kind deeds, we and Tangzhou The people will definitely remember it, and I will order someone to do it immediately."
"His Highness has been tired all the way and has not had a good rest during the night boat trip. Yangzhou Mu, there is no need to work hard for a while. You can select some officials to host the dinner for His Highness and let His Highness rest early." Liang Changmao started to give instructions again at this time.
"Yes, Lord Taiwei, I have prepared the carriage and temporary residence." Yang Dian said immediately.
Perhaps because they were really tired all the way, neither Liang Changmao nor the Ninth Prince exchanged much greetings with the other officials. They just got into the car as a formality, and even Che Mingde had no chance to talk.
However, after arranging a place to live, Che Mingde finally got the news that the Taiwei would take time to meet him after dinner. As for the Ninth Prince's dinner, Che Mingde's official rank was too low, so he was not qualified to sit together. After all, this was an official event. rule.
After dinner, Che Mingde waited for a while, and finally Xiang Fei came over and told Che Mingde that Lord Taiwei invited him over.
When Che Mingde followed Xiang Fei to Liang Changmao's room, Che Mingde discovered that in addition to the Taiwei, the Ninth Prince was also here, and he looked in high spirits, and it didn't look like he was tired from the journey.
"I have met His Highness..."
"There is no one else here in Mingde, so don't be polite to me. Come and sit." The Ninth Prince immediately acted very easy-going before Che Mingde finished speaking.
Che Mingde and the Ninth Prince only met once, but the Ninth Prince was particularly kind to him, and he didn't know if it was because of Liang Changmao.
Che Mingde did not dare to be careless. Before sitting down, he took out the letter Zhang Feng asked him to deliver from his arms, then handed it directly to the two of them and said: "Your Highness, this is what Master Zhang asked me to deliver to His Highness and Mrs. The letter from the lieutenant said that there was something important."
Upon hearing this, the Ninth Prince immediately opened the letter and read it. After a while, a look of surprise appeared on his face, and then he gave the letter to Liang Changmao.
Liang Changmao frowned slightly after reading it. Apparently, what was written in the letter made both of them feel troubled.
"Did Zhang Fengke say anything special before Mingde came back?" Liang Changmao asked.
"It's nothing special. I just asked me to give the letter to you two. You can't hand it over, I can only hand it into your hands." Che Mingde recalled.
"You should read it too." Seeing what he said, Liang Changmao gave the letter to Che Mingde, obviously trusting him.
When Che Mingde got the letter, he saw that there was not much in it, but it was really shocking. The letter actually mentioned that there was a huge gap in the amount of ordnance obtained by the Zhennan Army and the southeastern states, at least three to five. The whereabouts of tens of thousands of ordnances are unknown, and what is clear from the investigation is that those ordnance supplies did arrive at the Zhennan Army, but were quickly sent away, but not to several southeastern families, nor to other families, which is the strangest thing. The items were not sent to the Bai or Kun countries, but with so many things lost, one can imagine the great responsibility.
After reading it, Che Mingde's expression also changed, and he said in disbelief: "How is this possible? The shipments to several southeastern states were made by people from the southeastern states who were deployed in the Zhennan Army, as well as some from other states. The children of the aristocratic family have learned from each other and have done the same. After all these have been found out, how come some of them are missing? Why are some of them missing? They did not go to Bai Country and Kun Country. Could it be that they were sent to the black market of Changlong Country? If so, Who is so capable of doing this?"
"His Majesty sent someone to send a letter to His Highness on the way. Although he didn't mention it explicitly, he gave a reminder. Along with the letter, there were also tiger symbols for mobilizing the Zhennan Army. At that time, I realized that there might be changes in the south. I thought it was because some of the Southeast families were unwilling to give in and had their own little ideas, but I didn't expect this to be the case." Liang Changmao also sighed with emotion.
"How can you still believe that the Zhennan Army is like this?" Che Mingde was a little surprised.
"Since Zhang Feng can be found in the Zhennan Army, there are naturally trustworthy people. However, it is indeed dangerous. Moreover, several aristocratic families in the southeast have decided to move to the suburbs of Beijing. If they know that it is impossible not to tell them, they are most afraid at the moment. What's more, that batch of things did not go to Changlong Kingdom, but to other places. With tens of thousands of people armed, what are they going to do?" Liang Changmao punched the table hard.
"Master Liang, you don't have to be like this. The other party is so secretive. It shows that he is not unscrupulous. According to my guess, there are only two possibilities for the loss of these things. The first is for financial gain, and the person who can do this is
, and can avoid several aristocratic families in the southeast, there should be only a few, and besides, they want to plot evil, but now that the aristocratic families in the southeastern states have joined, I feel that this is an opportunity to test them, and also an opportunity to win over them."
At this time, the Ninth Prince changed his previous worries and started talking with a smile. He didn't feel like he was in trouble at all.