Chapter 420
"Jiangnan Dao is the most affluent Dao among the five Daoes of Ningguo, and it is also a Dao that Ji Tai has cultivated for many years!"

In Peach Blossom Villa, Zhong Lisu looked worried.

"Guangling Prefecture is under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province, but Guangling Prefecture is located at the northernmost point of Jiangnan Province. Among the [-] states under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province, Guangling Prefecture is considered the most remote."

"If you go to Shuzhou now, if you go by land, you will pass through three states on Jiangnan Road!"

"How about waiting for the thaw next year and entering Shuzhou by water?"

Li Chenan shook his head.

"That still has to wait three or four months. I want to go to Shuzhou earlier, and I can take Ruoshui to Yueguo in the early summer of next year."

Zhong Lisu pondered for a moment, "Yu Wanzhi of the Jiangnan Daotai, since Ji Taideng's phase, he has been placed in the position of the Jiangnan Daotai!"

"Over the past ten years, not to mention all of Yu Wanzhi's cronies who have been placed in various states in the south of the Yangtze River, but at least [-] to [-]% are his people!"

"Merchant, the current Jiangnan Shang family is not the Shang family that was when Prime Minister Shang was a hundred years ago."

"In addition... Jiangnan Road is rich, and there are more than [-] soldiers in each prefecture!"

"Song Shiming, the governor of Jiangnan Road who is in charge of troops and horses, was once a general of the eastern frontier army and the second prince's servant... Did you really kill the second prince in Shuangjiao Mountain?"

It's a mystery.

Li Chenan returned to the capital from Shuangjiao Mountain, but did not bring back the body of the second prince Ning Zhixing.

But the second prince did not return to Kyoto.

No one dared to ask about it.

Because killing the prince is a matter of blasphemy.

Li Chen'an did bring back Ji Tai's eldest son, Ji An, but he did not hand Ji An over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for interrogation, but instead placed him in the Imperial City Department and imprisoned him in a cell of MI[-].

At this moment Zhong Lisu asked about the second prince Ning Zhixing, Li Chen'an pondered for a moment, raised his eyes, and said in a low voice: "After all, the battle for the throne is a big trouble, and if there is one less person to fight for, it will always be less for the eldest son to return to the throne." hinder."

This statement is ambiguous.

He didn't answer whether Ning Zhixing was dead or alive. Zhong Lisu was a sensible person, so of course he couldn't ask further.

Li Chen'an is actually very familiar with Jiangnan affairs.

Because there are a lot of news from the Jiangnan states in the Imperial City Division, and Wen Zhuyu was also the chief housekeeper of the Shang family in Pingjiang City for three years.

The 20 years that Changsun Jinghong lay in the Imperial City Division were not in vain.

As the top priority of Ningguo's Five Dao, Ji Tai is deeply cultivating, and Changsun Jinghong is not idle.

It's just that the emperor doesn't care about state affairs, and the imperial city secretary caught many officials' braids, but they couldn't report them to the emperor, so that those officials would be punished as they should.

You can't hand it over to Ji Tai!

This made Ji Tai's power grow wantonly throughout the south of the Yangtze River, and what Huangcheng Secretary did was just silently remembering it.

As for the Jiangnan Shang family, Wen Zhuyu specially reminded Li Chen'an, because the Shang family can develop by leaps and bounds in Jiangnan, which has a great relationship with Jiangnan Daodaotai Yu Wanzhi——

The Shang family and the Yu family are in-laws!
Wen Zhuyu also said that Shang's account books are very complicated, especially those related to water transportation.

The entire water transport in the south of the Yangtze River, except for the Yuguangda Canal, which was not controlled by the Shang family because of the Shuangjiao Lake water bandits, all other water transport operations belonged to the Shang family.

And even if he, Wen Zhuyu, was the chief housekeeper of the Shang family, he still had no access to the account books of Water Transport.

But he has access to the books of the rest of the business.

From the income and expenditure of those books, he saw some problems——

The silk and satin business operated by the Shang family has been sluggish these years due to the economic depression of the entire Ning country.

But the expenses of the entire Shang family are huge!
If the meager profits earned from the silk and satin business alone were not enough to support Shang's expenses.

Then it is obvious that the business that the Shang family has really made money in these years is not the silk business, but the tank boats in their hands!
Wen Zhuyu believes that with the speed at which Shang’s wealth accumulates, if the water transport is doing a legitimate business, it will not be able to earn that huge profit.

Because the downturn in the country's economy will inevitably lead to those big businessmen shrinking their business scale, the large amount of goods that need to be transported by tank ships will naturally decrease, and the profits brought by tank ships will naturally decrease accordingly.

However, not only was the Shang family unaffected, on the contrary, it was still outshine among the three great families in the south of the Yangtze River these years!

Wen Zhuyu suspects that half of Shang's boats are engaged in shady business——

For example, smuggling ordnance, or privately selling salt and grain from the south of the Yangtze River to other places, etc.

His reason is that the Wangjiang Wharf in Pingjiang City is not responsible for the security of Pingjiang City's police, but a group of Jianghu masters!
That place is extremely tightly guarded, and the one who is resident at Wangjiang Wharf is the eldest son of Shang Chunqiu, the next Patriarch of the Shang Clan, Shang Zhongxun!

In this regard, Li Chen'an checked the file in the Sihei Building of the Imperial City again, and there was no information about the Wangjiang Wharf in it, but there was one piece of news that caught his attention——

Down from the Yangtze River, you can reach the sea.

After three days out to sea, there is an island named Dongli.

It is the territory of the Ning Kingdom hanging alone in the sea. There are families and cities on it. It is the ancestral home of the Huai family!
White!
That is the Huai family of Duke Huai!
Duke Huai led his troops to surround Yunji Bieye during the change in the capital... It is said that the mansion of Duke Huai, one of the five great princes, had fallen into disrepair ten years ago, and now it has even faded out of everyone's sight.

But he just brought so many soldiers!

So will there be more soldiers on Dongli Island?
Raising soldiers requires a lot of material.

Their weapons, armor, food, etc... Could it be that they were transported by Shang's ship?
This matter is now being secretly investigated by the Third Division of the Imperial City Division's Military Intelligence.

"Since you dare to borrow Jiangnan, you must have a way to deal with it, so uncle will stop talking."

Zhong Lisu quickly exposed the second prince Ning Zhixing's matter, and stopped talking about Jiangnan Dao's situation, "Has the matter of the sixth princess recruiting Huo Shufan from the Huo Mansion as her son-in-law been implemented?"

Li Chen'an nodded, "Generally there will be no changes, but after the prince died, Huo Shufan's father was the former prince's close minister Huo Baiyang, but his whereabouts are unknown."

Zhong Lisu frowned slightly, "This Huo Baiyang seldom returns to Guangling City. According to news from the capital, whether this person belongs to Ji Tai or His Royal Highness... No one seems to be able to say for sure."

"What? You have some doubts about him?"

"Well, because the crown prince's death... is not suicide!"

Zhong Lisu was startled, didn't he commit suicide?That is murder!

"You doubt Huo Baiyang?"

"It doesn't make sense!"

Zhong Lisu said to himself: "Whether he belongs to His Royal Highness or Ji Tai, he has no reason to kill the prince!"

"This is also what my nephew is wondering about... Don't worry about him, let's talk about it. The death of the crown prince saves a lot of trouble for the eldest son of the emperor to return to the court and ascend the throne!"

"This matter, stop here, as long as you know, uncle."

"Well, by the way, do you know what happened to Shen Qianshan's Shen family?"

"The defeat of Jiangnan Autumn Grain, the Shen family...has been devastated!"

Li Chen'an smiled slightly: "That's the Shen family's own fault, but the Shen family still has children, these days are busy, I've forgotten about that Miss Shen Qiaodie."

"I remember that Shen Qianshan has a son. Back then, I beat him up. He was called... called Shen Jiye?"

(End of this chapter)

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