Jinghong Tower

Emperor Yonghe's special talents made He Ran look at him with new eyes.

Among the emperors in history, there were poets who amazed later generations, talented painters, musicians and carpenters, and now there is a gambling god.

The God of Gamblers is addicted to gambling, but He Ran cannot touch him for the time being.

On the nameless island, Azhi put down his clairvoyance, slid down the rope from the watchtower, and ran to report the news.

"Master Zong, they are back! They are back!"

Zong Qi was overjoyed and said, "Okay!"

Five days ago, the navy took its first action, attacking a pirate camp three hundred miles away. They used only the most common sand ships, not the warships built by the shipyard.

That pirate camp had existed for five years. There were seven or eight such pirate camps in the East China Sea. In the early days, the pirates were all poor fishermen. Later, as their power grew, they gradually attracted the attention of the government and some aristocratic families.

The demise of the Zhou Dynasty did not begin when Prince Jin raised his army, but at least ten years earlier.

During that period, the areas under the emperor's feet and in the Jiangnan region were still able to maintain superficial peace and prosperity. However, in the northwest, southwest and southeast, where the emperor was far away, the officials and bandits had long been colluding and the people were living in misery.

Along the coast of Fujian, fishermen were oppressed by heavy taxes and were forced to become pirates. Then, as the pirates grew increasingly powerful, the government did not send troops to eliminate them, but instead extended an olive branch to them. The local garrison even teamed up with the pirates to rob merchant ships.

The noble families and merchants, fearing that their cargo ships would be robbed, would offer silver to support the pirates. Later, they began to train their own troops.

By the time the Prince of Jin started his rebellion, chaos had already broken out in the country, and there were more and more refugees everywhere. These noble families began to take action. In addition to raising pirates, they also gathered refugees and expanded their original troops into an army of thousands of people.

Before Emperor Yonghe fled south, the four major families in Fujian had joined forces to build a navy with hundreds of ships.

Jing Chongguang has been trying hard to build good relations with the four great families. The empress and four concubines of Emperor Yonghe all came from the four great families.

But even so, the four great families still did not hand over this navy to Jing Chongguang, but promised that once the Ran army attacked, they would definitely help.

After Jing Chongguang came to Fuzhou, he had been training his own navy. He used the selection of concubines for Emperor Yonghe to make money, and invested all the money he received into the army. However, even though the soldiers he brought were not from the north, they were not good at naval battles. However, the four major families had people who were good at naval battles, and Jing Chongguang also secretly heard the news that there were close ties between the four major families and those pirates. Jing Chongguang decided to avoid the eyes and ears of the four major families and get in touch with the pirates.

The group chosen by Jing Chongguang was the Dong'an Village that Zong Qi sent people to encircle and suppress.

Half an hour later, Zong Qi saw the captives brought back from Dong'an Village, among whom was Wang Xiaohai, the youngest son of Wang Huzi, the leader of Dong'an Village.

Wang Huzi and his other two sons were all killed by the thunderous cannon. Wang Xiaohai, who was only fifteen years old, had already wet his pants with fright when he was dragged off the boat.

Zong Qi looked disgusted and said, "How could Wang Huzi have such an unpromising son?"

Geng Xizi laughed and said, "This Wang Xiaohai is the son of Wang Huzi and a prostitute on the shore. He is a bastard, not even as good as a fart. He is not even worthy of carrying shoes for Wang Huzi's other two sons."

Wang Xiaohai glared at him with resentment: "You are talking nonsense."

Zong Qi snorted coldly: "Kill him. Such a useless dog will not know anything about Wang Huzi. Go and bring Wang Huzi's women here. If any of them know about Wang Huzi, let them go alive and give them some money to let them go ashore."

Geng Xizi agreed, holding a knife in one hand and picking up Wang Xiaohai with the other hand like a chicken.

Wang Xiaohai was so frightened that he blurted out, "Don't kill me, I know about my father, I really know, I was there when he met the Japanese, it's true!"

Zong Qi sneered: "Wang Huzi will bring a bastard like you with him when he meets the Japanese? I don't believe it!"

Wang Xiaohai was anxious: "I am not a bastard, I am my father's child, my father loves me the most, and that Japanese even gave me a knife."

Zong Qi winked and Geng Xizi loosened his hand. Wang Xiaohai fell to the ground with a thud. He didn't care about the pain and said to Zong Qi: "If you can let me go ashore, I will tell you everything about my father. In addition to that group of Japanese, my father also accepted three hundred-year-old ginsengs sent by the Regent!"

Geng Xizi said: "We did find three hundred-year-old ginsengs."

Wang Xiaohai immediately shouted, "Look, I didn't lie. My father treated those three hundred-year-old ginsengs as treasures and said he would keep them for his life. We have robbed many things, but we have never robbed such good ginsengs."

Zong Qi said, "In that case, I'll give you a chance. Talk about Wang Huzi, the Japanese, and the so-called regent. Pick out the useful things to say. If you talk nonsense, you'll be fed to the fish."

Wang Xiaohai hurriedly said: "No, no, I promise to tell the truth, you must let me go, I am still a child!"

In the capital, He Ran received a secret letter from Zong Qi. After reading the letter, a hint of disdain flashed in He Ran's eyes.

Zong Qi said in the letter that Jing Chongguang not only won over the four major families, but also established contact with the Japanese through pirates.

He Ran narrowed her eyes and thought, Jing Chongguang, this is a desperate move.

It doesn’t matter whether he goes up the wall or not, but if he wants to let a wolf into the house, he has to see if she agrees!
At the Zhenjiang Shipyard, Dong Jinzhen supported herself and stood up. The maid beside her quickly supported her and said, "Master Dong, you should rest now."

Dong Jinzhen shook his head: "Come on, help me get on the boat and take a look."

This was the ninth warship built under the supervision of Dong Jinzhen. Just after the warship was tested, Dong Jinzhen fell ill.

Before she recovered, she went back to the construction site, but this time, she wrote a batch of letters to He Ran on her sickbed, asking He Ran to choose at least ten apprentices for her.

She told He Ran that she felt overwhelmed and was worried that one day she would fall down and not be able to get up again, so she wanted to bring out a group of talented people who could succeed her while she still had the energy and will.

When He Ran saw the letter, the image of the pretty woman sweeping the library appeared in front of her eyes.

Seven or eight years have passed in the blink of an eye. The girl from the Dong family who escaped that year has already made great contributions.

Everyone knows He Ran, and that she has Feng Xieying in literature and He Xiulong in martial arts, but few people know that she has another most powerful magic weapon, which is Dong Jinzhen.

Without Dong Jinzhen, there would be no Benlei Cannon; without Dong Jinzhen, there would be no warships being built.

Now, Dong Jinzhen is suffering from illness due to overwork.

Her master Dong was not yet 30 years old. He Ran selected ten people from a group of young craftsmen, and ten people from the descendants of Jinghong Tower and Hejia Village, a total of ten men and ten women, a total of twenty people.

The Jinyiwei investigated the backgrounds of these twenty people and confirmed that there were no problems before sending them to the Zhenjiang Shipyard.

From now on, they will follow Dong Jinzhen and be her attendants, followers, and students.

In a blink of an eye, it was the Spring Festival again. He Ran received a letter from Zhou Cangyue. This time, he came to announce good news.

The Huwei Army won three consecutive victories, and the Thunder Cannon was invincible. Zhou Cangyue was very proud and wrote a letter to show off to He Ran. He said that over the past year, he and his Huwei Army had become accustomed to the environment and climate of Yunnan. More importantly, through several battles with King Baoxiang, he gradually understood the fighting style of King Baoxiang's army. If he were given three years, he would be able to eradicate King Baoxiang.

He Ran smiled. It had been several years since she last saw Zhou Cangyue. The last time she saw him, she almost didn't recognize him. He was a head taller than her. She didn't know if he had changed much now.

The first impression is so important that even after more than ten years, every time she thinks of Zhou Cangyue, the person who comes to her mind is still the little black girl she saw when she opened her eyes.

He Ran thought about it, walked to the easel, and drew Hei Mei based on her memory.

The black girl in the painting is wearing a floral dress and has two buns on her head. She has pretty and delicate features and a pair of expressive black eyes.

She did not give the painting to Zhou Cangyue, but framed it and put it in a box. She already had two paintings in her collection, one of Zong Qi and Lu Chang, and the other of Hei Mei.

Zhou Cangyue not only sent her a letter, but also a bag of dried mushrooms.

Zhou Cangyue said in the letter that he had learned to identify whether the mushrooms were poisonous. These mushrooms were all selected and dried by him personally, so he guaranteed that they were non-toxic and she could eat them with confidence.

Zhou Cangyue also told her that one time he was poisoned by eating mushrooms and saw that everyone around him had turned into giant pandas.

He also told He Ran with regret that until he left Shu, he didn't know whether the flower he raised was a boy or a girl, and of course there would be no little flower, so the flower he promised to give to He Ran would have to wait.

He Ran was afraid that he would send people to Shu to catch pandas, so she quickly wrote him a letter, asking him not to send her a panda, because bamboo in the capital didn't grow well, and if she really sent a panda, it would escape.
But at this moment, Zhou Cangyue was not as relaxed as he wrote in the letter. The Huwei Army was facing the most powerful enemy they had ever faced.

When Zhou Cangyue wrote this letter to He Ran, he was recuperating in bed. He had been stabbed in the back and it almost took his life.

He was in a coma for three days, and when he woke up he thought he was in the underworld.

After making sure that he was still alive, Zhou Cangyue endured the pain from his wounds and wrote the letter while lying on the bed.

In the letter, he only said that he had won the battle, but did not mention that he was seriously injured.

In fact, this was not the first time Zhou Cangyue was seriously injured since coming to Yunnan. He was also injured once just half a year ago.

After writing the letter, Zhou Cangyue instructed the messenger to make sure it was delivered to the capital before the Spring Festival. He wished He Ran a happy New Year every Spring Festival, but never asked He Ran for a red envelope. He wanted to save them up, and when he saw He Ran in the future, he would give her all the red envelopes from those years.

Three years, after another three years, he will definitely go to the capital to ask Sister Ran for a red envelope.

Three years, this is the goal Zhou Cangyue set for himself. For this goal, he must completely defeat King Baoxiang. For this goal, he must make Jiaoying pay tribute again. For this goal, he must stay alive and well.

The Chang'an Palace in Longxi County was decorated with lights and full of joy.

Today is the Spring Festival. Wu Guochang, the prince of Chang'an, was held by the hand by his nurse, staggering in front of He Shuting. The nurse whispered to him, "Prince, kneel down quickly."

Wu Guochang knelt down and, as his nurse had taught him, wished He Shuting a happy new year: "I wish you a happy new year, mother. I wish you good luck and success in everything."

He Shuting smiled and picked up Wu Guochang, kissing him on the cheek: "You can even say such a long sentence, my son, you are so smart."

At this time, the maid came in and said, "Princess, my uncle is here."

He Shuting hurriedly said, "Please ask him to come in."

A moment later, He Zongqun walked in and bowed to He Shuting and Wu Guochang with a smile: "Happy New Year, Princess, Happy New Year, Prince."

He Shuting hurriedly asked the maid to seat He Zongqun, and asked the nurse to carry Wu Guochang out. The brother and sister exchanged a few words, and He Zongqun said to He Shuting: "Princess, I just received a message."

He Shuting asked hurriedly: "What news?"

He Zongqun said: "The Tartar Empress Xiao has been deposed."

Empress Xiao was the eldest daughter of Xiao Wenyuan, the girl who had been engaged to Wu Ju and Meng Cheng's son respectively.

He Shuting looked sad: "Alas, this is only a matter of time. It's a pity that she will be left alone in the future."

Xiao Wenyuan is dead, and all of his sons, except Xiao Ying, were killed by the Chang'an army. Now, Empress Xiao has been deposed, her natal family is gone, and she has no place to stand among the Tartars.

He Zongqun added: "I also heard that Empress Xiao disappeared right after she left the Tartars. It is said that she was abducted by the Dark Lord."

He Shuting exclaimed, "Dark Lord? Doesn't that mean she has lost her innocence? Oh my god, is the Dark Lord so bold? Miss Xiao was once the queen, after all. How dare the Dark Lord kidnap her?"

He Zongqun took out a sheepskin map from his arms, pointed to a place on the map, and said to He Shuting: "Princess, please look, the Dark Lord kidnapped Miss Xiao at this place."

He Shuting didn't understand why He Zongqun took this matter so seriously. Miss Xiao was no longer the queen or the princess of the Xiao Kingdom. She was just an orphan. It didn't matter whether she was dead or alive.

She glanced at the map and hummed absentmindedly.

He Zongqun seemed not to notice her indifference, and pointed to another place on the map and said, "Princess, please look, this is our Beidaying."

He Shuting had never been to Beidaying. She only went to the army twice out of necessity. It was He Zongqun who said that she had to carry Wu Guochang to meet the soldiers in person, so she had to go.

To be honest, those two military trips were not pleasant. The way those soldiers looked at her made her feel uncomfortable all over.

The Chang'an Army was divided into five camps: East, West, South, North and Central. She had only been to the Central Camp. As for the North Camp mentioned by He Zongqun, she only knew about it. (End of this chapter)