The rise of the prince

Chapter 259: Luzhou's Call for Help + Something Is Bad
On the streets of Guazhou City, Shi Gong reported to Li Xingzhou the situation in Guazhou while walking. People in Guazhou are now in a state of panic, and the food supply is accurate. In some places, one stone of food can exchange two children. Many people in the village are afraid that the officers and soldiers will run into the mountains. take refuge.

Li Xingzhou asked the prefect of Guazhou carefully, and learned that Yang Hongzhao killed more than 200 people to suppress them in order to deter the people, and asked the people to pay food.

Yang Hongzhao's lieutenant became anxious when he heard this, and he hurriedly said to the side: "My lord, the general is also helpless. You must not listen to the words of the family. This matter is definitely not that simple."

Li Xingzhou raised his hand to stop him, he naturally knew it was not that simple.

There are many things in the world that are not right or wrong, such as the so-called kindness does not control soldiers.

More than 3 soldiers gathered here, not in front of the village or in the back of the store. If food cannot be obtained immediately, the army without food will mutiny, and more than 3 trained soldiers will disperse and become bandits all over the mountains. For Guazhou Said it was a disaster.

What Yang Hongzhao did is worse than a beast in anyone's eyes, he is devoid of conscience, and the local people also hate him, but people with more vision can know that he saved Guazhou. No one will appreciate it.

"Is General Yang going to pay back the food?" Li Xingzhou asked.

The adjutant hesitated and nodded: "Indeed, the general wanted to release food when the imperial army arrived. The army brought enough food and grass from the capital, and it was enough to open a warehouse to return the food to the people, but the people dared not come to collect it." .”

He nodded, Yang Hongzhao was probably like Yan Luo in the eyes of the people in Guazhou, who killed so many innocent people, who would dare to come to receive his food, would be afraid of being chopped off by him again, and many people ran to the mountains to seek refuge, there was no way Dare to come down the mountain.

Li Xingzhou understands the hidden dangers in this. There are many entanglements in this matter, and the mess must be cut quickly, otherwise there will be endless troubles. It's just that most people don't see the pros and cons. He thought for a while and said, "I'll take charge of the food distribution."

Both looked at him in surprise.

Li Xingzhou explained, "I'm an outsider, and I didn't interfere in this matter. The people don't resent me. I'm still the king of the imperial court. With my status, I have prestige and appeal. The people are willing to trust me."

Shi Gong thought for a while, and seemed to think that this was a good idea.

"I will discuss this matter with General Yang personally."

Shi Gong nodded happily, and immediately knelt down to thank him.

Guazhou is actually a good place.

This place is surrounded by mountains in the north and a river in the south. The east and west are open and flat, and the water flow is slow. It is an ideal wharf, and this is the middle of the river that runs through the north and south. If the north-south shipping of the Wangfu is connected in the future, it is a very good choice to choose this place as a supply station. .

The Wang Mansion also has a business contract with the Huai family in Guazhou. After asking, he found out that the Huai family is not in Guazhou City, but has its own villa in the north of Guazhou.

After walking around for a day, when they returned to the camp, the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion were drying the gunpowder they had brought, and removed twelve 120-caliber guns from the car, reassembled them, wiped off the dust and oiled them for maintenance.

The toughness of Xiaogang allows the barrel to be lengthened, but because it is a backward front-mounted gun design, the barrel should not be too long, otherwise it will be difficult to clean.

In the fifth capital of the Shenji Battalion, the specialized artillery soldiers have to follow the repeated training taught by Li Xingzhou every day, how to load and reload ammunition, how to clean the barrel, how to calibrate the shooting elements, and how to disassemble and assemble.

The sharpshooters are all fed with bullets, and so are the gunners. Because the musketeers were produced earlier, they shot more times, and they are already familiar with it. The army set off the next day, and most of the gunners were only familiar with the operation, but the hit rate was terrible.

The accuracy is not enough, but the density can be combined. In fact, most large-scale hot weapon wars in history are like this, but the problem is that the artillery density is not enough. The entire Shenji Battalion currently only has twelve artillery pieces.

This is a treasure, so they must improve their accuracy. Shooting, recording, summarizing, improving, and repeating again and again has become the daily routine of artillery soldiers. Even after a long journey, they cannot rest when everyone else is resting.

The loud noise also aroused the curiosity of many people, but everyone knew that it was the camp of King Pingnan, the imperial court. Curiosity was nothing but curiosity, and they didn't dare to go to investigate as usual.

That night, Li Xingzhou talked to Yang Hongzhao about releasing the grain.

Yang Hongzhao was very happy and agreed almost immediately. Although he was a bad guy and Li Xingzhou gained fame, he didn't care. He was very happy to hand over the deputy general to him to take charge of the distribution of food.

Li Xingzhou could more or less guess what Yang Hongzhao was thinking, that's why he said it.

After all, the status of the county king is not comparable to that of a commander in front of the palace. If he is busy managing the distribution of food, he naturally has no time to interfere with his decision and threaten his power. Degong told him that Yang Hongzhao should be careful. A cautious person, as expected, even though he had explained his purpose to him long ago, he was still worried.

So in the next few days, apart from supervising the training of the Shenji Battalion, Li Xingzhou started to distribute food.

Guaranteed by his statement from the King of Pingnan County, coupled with Shi Gong's persuasion, a large number of official notices were posted in the streets and alleys, at the head of the village and at the end of the village. In addition to word of mouth, the people finally returned one after another, and the grain distribution began to proceed in an orderly manner, but there were also many obstacles. .

It's not just the distrust of the people, but also many people who want to get false claims and get more claims. The key point is that the household registration system at the end of the year is not as perfect as that of later generations, and even if someone does this, it is difficult to recognize.

So Li Xingzhou simply asked Shi Gong to summon officials from all over the surrounding area, mobilize government servants, and carry the Pingnan Wang banner to distribute rice and noodles to each household, once for each household, and measure rice noodles by household registration.

Many people were grateful to Dade, and gradually believed in him. More people came back from the mountains. Of course, some people cried and shouted to see King Pingnan and said they wanted to sue Yang Hongzhao.These are all things to say later, in short, the identity of King Pingnan has saved Guazhou.

Li Xingzhou saw that the biggest crisis lies in the season. It is still spring, and the people return, so that the spring plowing can continue. Otherwise, the spring plowing will be delayed, and there will be famine in autumn and winter, which will cause even greater disasters.

The people in Guazhou were all grateful, and the good news about Pingnan King Li Xingzhou was spread by word of mouth. In just a few days, almost everyone in Guazhou knew about it, and many people praised it.

Li Xingzhou was naturally happy, not only because of his good reputation, but also because he finally became a good person.

Without him as a guarantor, the people would not dare to go home. When Qiudong was short of food, resentment against the Imperial Guard broke out. If it is not handled well, Guazhou may become the second Suzhou.

Yang Hongzhao was also happy. The people of Guazhou hated him deeply, and he was unable to deal with the situation. He handed over the mess to King Pingnan, and kept him away from the center of power. He had to worry that King Pingnan would seize power with him.

While doing these things, Li Xingzhou would also inquire about the situation in Luzhou, and wanted to get some news about his sister-in-law, but most of the time he got nothing.

In mid-March, the spring breeze on the river was even stronger. After the defeat of Anxia, ​​the north-south waterway was cut off in Suzhou, and a section of the waterway in Suzhou controlled by the rebels was really difficult to pass. Therefore, few ships passed through Guazhou, and there were some nearby fishermen.

In the past few days, Li Xingzhou would go to the office to do morning exercises every day. By the way, if he saw that the fishermen had a good harvest, he would also buy some fresh fish. Although he was away from home, he was living a good life.

After the morning exercise that day, he stood at the riverside ferry as usual, watching several small fishing boats in the distance cast their nets in the morning light, and then started fishing. Sometimes he also boarded the boat to fish with fishermen for a while.

Li Xingzhou stretched himself, and Yan Shen had already led "Mei Xue" over.

"Go back." He stretched his body, and just as he was about to turn around, he saw a suspicious ship out of the corner of his eye.

In the distance, small boats on the river come from the west and go upstream, looking like fishing boats.

"What is the prince looking at?" Yan Shen walked a few steps, and asked when he turned around and found that he hadn't come.

"Yan Shen, look at that boat." Li Xingzhou pointed to the boat in the distance.

Yan Shen stepped forward and took a look: "Ordinary fishing boat."

Li Xingzhou looked carefully for a while. There were several boats on the river, and the distance was far away. In addition, the morning fog had not completely cleared. He couldn't see clearly. It’s too light, watch it carefully.”

In order to keep the fish fresh, the fishermen will fill the cabin prepared at the stern to raise fish, so even if there is no harvest, the boat is still very heavy and has a relatively deep draft, which is the case for the surrounding fishing boats, but the draft of that small boat is obviously much shallower. .

Yan Shen stared intently for a while, and couldn't help but nodded: "It seems to be true, do you not want to fish anymore?"

Li Xingzhou looked at it for a while, more than that, the boat was moving too fast, it would easily startle the fish, it was definitely not a fishing boat, but rather a hurry.

They are not fishing, but they are decorated as fishing boats. The fishing nets are still drying on the boats, and they come from the upstream from the west.
"Stop him and ask." Li Xingzhou said decisively, "Care is the best." He untied the Xiaogang sword from his waist and handed it to Yan Shen.

Yan Shen nodded, found a docked boat at the ferry, gave the boatman a few copper coins, and let him row towards the center of the river. The morning mist gradually dispersed, and the sun rose, shining brilliantly
In the distance, after Yan Shen's boat approached, he seemed to say something to the suspicious boat. The two sides started talking, but the distance was too far to hear what they said.

After a while, the boat followed Yan Shen's boat and rowed towards the ferry.

The two small boats docked one after the other, and Yan Shen jumped off the boat and shouted: "Your Majesty, you belong to the Consort's Mansion! You belong to Princess Qing'an!"

Li Xingzhou was taken aback, and quickly walked over. The boat was indeed not a fishing boat. There was only a man in a mess with messy hair and beard on it. When he saw him, he knelt down and cried loudly: "The villain finally saw the Tian family!"

"Who are you?" Li Xingzhou asked.

The man wiped his tears and said: "The villain is Princess Qing'an's servant. The mansion is in a hurry. The rebels in Suzhou asked Luzhou to hand over the princess's head. Otherwise, they will march into Luzhou. In desperation, the princess wrote to us. Go to the capital, present it to the emperor, and ask for help from Tianjia.

But the waters near Suzhou were guarded by thieves. We couldn’t get through, and several brothers died. In the end, only villains pretended to be fishermen and sneaked in!
Please, my son, please save my princess! "As he spoke, he began to kowtow again.

"Show me the letter." Li Xingzhou said.

The man quickly took out the envelope wrapped in several layers of cloth from his arms, Li Xingzhou took it, opened it and looked at it.

The letter paper has been slightly yellowed, with wrinkles wetted by water, oil stains, and the smell is not good. Some words have been rhymed by water, but the handwriting is similar to the letter written by my sister-in-law to myself in memory.

"At the knees of the father and the emperor, I respect you, my daughter is not filial, and has not returned from Beijing for more than ten years. Now the matter is urgent, so I wrote to ask for help.

The rebels in Suzhou overwhelmed the heavenly family and announced that the whole territory wanted to take the life of their daughter. The government of Huaihua was thinly populated and it was difficult to resist. , Li Nianqiu, an unfilial daughter.

Dedicated to Buda, respectfully,
Jin An.

The girl Li Nianqiu kowtowed. "

The handwriting was scribbled, written in a hurry and concisely, the ink behind was blurred, and Li Xingzhou couldn't see the date of inscription clearly.

Looking at this letter, Li Xingzhou suddenly realized a serious problem, his mind was shaken, and he hurriedly asked, "How many days have you been away?"

The man shook his head: "I don't know, the villain was exhausted, and I didn't know how much time had passed on the river. I only know that it was mid-February when I left the Princess' Mansion."

really
Li Xingzhou hurriedly ordered Yan Yan: "Take him to take care of him, and then settle down properly."

Speaking of taking back his Xiaogang sword, he climbed up Meixue in a few steps, and rode away on horseback.

The messenger left the Princess Mansion in mid-February, but it is already mid-March now!A whole month.

And even though this letter was my aunt's call for help, saying that the rebels threatened to kill her, and the prefect of Luzhou faithfully told her, but Li Xingzhou saw clues in it, and vaguely had even worse guesses.

They may be facing an enemy who is smart and ruthless.

And many things gradually became clear in his mind, and many things that he couldn't figure out before became clear in an instant, and the worst situation still appeared.
In the past year, there have been constant turmoil in Beijing. First, Wu De envoy Zhu Yue framed Guanbei Jiedu envoy Wei Chaoren and his whole family was punished, then the emperor was assassinated, the crown prince was defeated in Anxia, ​​and then Li Xingzhou, the eldest son of Prince Xiao, who was murdered in Kyoto, was actually made king of Pingnan County. Later, it was reported that Meng Zhiye, a member of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Rites, was sent to Yushitai prison for resisting the decree and boycotting Li Xingzhou.

All of a sudden there was a lot of scolding, and many people were scolding Li Xingzhou for being crowned king with irrelevant means, and harming the great Confucian scholars in the court. The Meridian Gate forced the palace.

As a result, I went to dozens of them this time, and the Wu Desi sergeants didn't ask indiscriminately, and fought on the grounds of disturbing the imperial city. Several of them couldn't walk, and no one dared to make trouble after that, but the scolding remained the same. Did not stop.

Next, it was unanimously recommended by the ministers that when he was a scholar of the Hanlin University, he was sentenced to Master Chen Yu of the Imperial Academy of Tokyo to concurrently serve as an official of the Ministry of Rites. For this result, not only the officials in the court, but also the common people outside the court, the scholars all agreed.

It has to be said that it is rare in the world to be able to reach the level of Chen Yu.

Many scholars even wrote books specifically for Chen Yu, praising his merits and virtues.

However, there are as many people who praise Chen Yu as there are people who scold Li Xingzhou. In short, Beijing and Beijing are full of topics recently. There are endless words and endless scolding. The matter of the post-prince has continued to this day.

Qiu'er didn't go to the shipyard today, but kept boiling water in the yard, draining one pot and adding another.

Everything in the shipyard is on the right track. After the son changed the contract, the workers are working very hard, and the progress of the project is very fast. If this continues, the first large ship is expected to be completed in May, which is much faster than expected.

"What is sister Qiu'er thinking?" Both Shiyu and Gillian poked their heads curiously.

Qiu'er came back to her senses and took a look at Shiyu. Shiyu was actually pretty good, and she usually listened to what she said, but Qiuer still liked Gillian more, because there was something dissatisfied with Shiyu!

She glanced at the two lumps of fat on the chest of the woman in front of her, how could she be so big.
But Qiu'er didn't say anything, just looked at the steaming kettle in front of her and said, "Your Majesty said that the power of water vapor can also be borrowed."

"What vapor? What did he say again?" Shiyu asked in puzzlement, and Gillian also widened her eyes curiously.

Qiu'er pointed to the beating lid of the kettle in front of her, "It's the force that makes the lid move."

The two were even more confused.

Qiu'er thought for a while, and tried to explain in a way they could understand: "In short, if it can generate kinetic energy, it should be used as an energy source. The direction of force can be changed, and the way of doing work can also be used, so as long as it can be made regular , controllable and usable.”

The two were even more confused.
Qiu'er frowned and sighed inwardly, they are so stupid!

But it's hard to say this, for fear of hurting them, just at this time, Yue'er, who went to buy sweet liquor, came back happily, and immediately attracted their attention.

Qiu'er heaved a sigh of relief, she finally didn't need to explain, she was looking at the boiling kettle in front of her, while writing and drawing, she kept thinking in her head, how to make it regular and controllable
"It's not good! The big thing is not good!" At this moment, the armed He Qian rushed in. The servants of the palace had known her for a long time, and they didn't dare to stop her. She yelled and rushed inside without any hindrance In the small garden of the courtyard.

"Slow down, Xiaoqian." Gillian supported her.

"It's not good, the big thing is not good!" He Qian said while gasping for breath
(End of this chapter)