Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 111

Sizhou is a water and land hub, and there are many merchants, so the city is quite prosperous.As soon as you enter the city, you can see beautiful buildings such as temples, temples, towers, buildings, temples, nunneries, ancestral halls, and altars everywhere, and rivers and ditches intersect in the city.Boats pass by, and the ditches are full of bridges. In Ye Chen's view, it seems to be a small Venice in the east.

To the east of Sizhou City, in the Siyuan Inn, Ye Chen took people to check in. After washing up, Li Junhao brought people back.

"My lord! The construction of the sluice of the Sizhou Canal has been nearly half completed. The villain found out that Dou Shihai, the magistrate of Sizhou, personally brought most of the officials in the prefect's yamen, commanded more than 7000 laborers, and worked overtime to rush to repair the sluice. No matter in terms of speed and quality, compared with the previous The prefectures and counties we passed were fast." Li Junhao took a sip of the cold soup that Ye Chen pushed over, and told the news he had found out.

Hearing this, Ye Chen breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "That's good, no matter whether Dou Shihai colluded with the grain gentry for personal gain, or whether the grain he raised has reached the amount stipulated by the court, as long as he can use the grain The sluice was built on time, so I didn't bother to care about him. Well... There are ten scenic spots in Sizhou, and we will take a good tour in the past few days."

In Chuzhou, Wang Xin and Hu Zhengyi made a secret investigation and exhausted all kinds of means. Although they caught a few small fish, they did not achieve much.

After Wang Xin discussed with Hu Zheng, Wang Xin came to see Zhao Dezhao.

When Zhao Dezhao saw Wang Xin, he was the first to ask, "Master Wang, how is the investigation going?"

Wang Xin's face was ugly, and he said: "Your Highness, the thief must have heard the news and made preparations before. Therefore, we have exhausted our minds these days, but the results are not great. If we have enough time, we will search slowly. Naturally, the official can find out who is behind the manipulation of the grain market in Chuzhou, but the time left for us is too limited. It is the following official who came to ask His Highness for instructions and wanted to find another way."

Zhao Dezhao nodded and said: "I haven't seen any news from you for a few days, and this king has guessed a bit. Whether it is corrupt officials or grain merchants, it is their nature to seek profit. They think that there are many people who are rich and unkind. They gather money to transport their capital, take advantage of the time when the rice is raging, and buy it at a low price. They raise their heads and feet, and when it is green and yellow, they sell it at a high price. When buying rice, they use clever means to repeatedly lower the price. It is the most unkind and unrighteous thing to lose chaff to a bucket of dendrobium, and still not be satisfied, but to stockpile grain and only hope that the world will suffer from frequent floods and droughts, and the people will be hungry and have nothing to eat. It's so difficult. But as you said, the fire is imminent and time is running out. Please tell me, Mr. Wang. I will fully cooperate with you if you need me to do something." Some of the complaints heard were replaced by his words.

Wang Xinxi said: "That's it, the next official will be blunt. We have two lives. We can't stay here for long. Those unjust food gentry have seen this point, so they have no fear. But this matter is really important. The so-called heavy codes should be used in troubled times, and at this special time when time is tight, the lower officials want to use some special means to find out the culprits with a thunderous force, punish them severely, and give warnings to the Jianghuai states and counties."

Zhao Dezhao asked curiously, "What special means."

Wang Xin took a deep breath and said, "I have already had several suspects in the past few days, but they are all of low status. I want to arrest them, torture them to extract confessions, let them name the real person in charge, and find out the case." Only in this way, officials from Chuzhou will definitely write to the imperial court to impeach Xiaguan and Hu Zhengyi, and the Zhongshu Zhengshitang will definitely write a letter of censure. Therefore, Xiaguan wants His Highness to stand up to the imperial court’s censure. "

Wang Xin told his plan one by one, Zhao Dezhao pondered for a moment, remembering that it was the first time he was sent out by his father to handle such a big event, even if he slightly offended Mr. What Hu Zhengyi and the others did can be blamed on them afterwards, um...you can even follow Ye Chen and Luo Gongming, leave Chuzhou or go to the river dam to have a look while Wang Xin and the others are tortured to extract a confession. It is also a good choice.

Thinking of this, Zhao Dezhao nodded and said: "Master Wang, you can do it anyway, as long as you can make an example of killing everyone."

A small boat that looks ordinary in appearance but is extremely exquisitely decorated is moored by the river outside Sizhou City.

At this time, a middle-aged man got on the boat, opened the cabin curtain and got in.This middle-aged man was in his thirties, with an unremarkable appearance, a slippery and treacherous face, two slender mouse whiskers, a slightly bulging belly, and a little fat, but he did not conceal his vigorous demeanor.

The man got into the boat, knelt down to the two women inside and said, "Saint! Elder, my subordinates have returned after inquiring about the news."

A pair of beauties in the cabin who were playing chess had returned to their original appearance, standing up gracefully, it was Yu Daoxiang and Li Siyan.

Li Siyan glanced at Yu Daoxiang, and asked, "Has Uncle Xiang Fu come to Sizhou City, where is he now, and what are he doing?"

The man said: "Xiang Fubo has already stayed at the Siyuan Inn. Before entering the city, he sent Li Junhao to the Hongze Lake sluice building in the east of the city to investigate secretly. After that, Li Junhao entered the city and went to the Sihong Inn to meet Xiangfu Bo. Hmm... Li Junhao's martial arts are not weak, and his subordinates were afraid of being discovered, so they didn't dare to approach, so they don't know what they said."

When the man said this, Yu Daoxiang snorted suddenly from beside him, the man's face turned pale immediately, fine sweat oozes from his forehead in an instant, and he quickly said: "However, my subordinate asked the waiter of Siyuan Inn, and found out that Xiang Fu Bo personally asked Xiaoer about the route to the famous Puzhaowang Temple, so he judged that they will probably go to Puzhaowang Temple tomorrow."

When Li Siyan heard this, she was also relieved. With the contact with this saint, she has roughly figured out her temper and character. She is cruel and ruthless. Big deal.For this purpose, it can be said that unscrupulous means are used.Just yesterday, another competent subordinate she brought out from Kaifeng, was pointed out to be dumb on the spot because she didn't report Ye Chen's movements in detail enough, and she didn't know what to ask.If she hadn't knelt down to plead for mercy, she might have died unexpectedly.

The middle-aged man in front of her is another capable person she brought from Kaifeng. Don't look at him doing small things like stalking Ye Chen, but his real identity is one of the largest grain merchants in Kaifeng Prefecture.Speaking of Kaifeng Qianning, everyone in the business community in Kaifeng is well-known, even in the Jianghuai area, he has some reputation.And this Qian Ning is also an old man in the church, although his status is not as high as that of Li Siyan, the elder of the outer hall, but it is not low.But such a person, in front of Yu Daoxiang, seemed to be no different from a dog, and he would kill him at will.

Fortunately, Qian Ning can become Li Siyan's right-hand man. He is very capable and courageous. Not to mention mature and prudent, he is more comprehensive. Otherwise, if he didn't send someone to follow Li Junhao and his party, he would just come back and report to Ye Chen. Dong Xiang, even if he didn't die, he still lacked something on his body.

"Saint! Elder! My subordinates have found out the identity of the grain gentry secretly colluded with Sizhou prefect Dou Shihai. He has a close relationship with Wang Hongtao. In response to this situation, the subordinates have set up a bureau, and now that they speak out, ask the saintess and the elders to see if it is feasible?"

"This is the plan. The subordinates will send someone tomorrow..." Qian Ning detailed the plan he had thought up in advance.Li Siyan opened his mouth to modify and improve some places, and then waited for Yu Daoxiang to make a final decision.

Qian Ning originally thought that it would be a great thing to follow Li Siyan to Jianghuai this time and serve this saint, but at this time he felt a little regretful. I don't know if it is good to do things by this side, but if If you don't do it well, the consequences will be unimaginable, and you will lose your life if you are not careful.As for my backer at the inner gate of the temple, looking at Li Siyan's attitude in front of this person, I knew that it was impossible for my backer to protect me. As for running away, it was a dead end. The whole family will definitely be hunted down by killers sent by the Holy Church.

Qian Ning was secretly lucky, and his heart was very dangerous. Fortunately, he had a good mind, inquired about Ye Chen's destination tomorrow, and thought of a game, otherwise, even if he didn't die this time, he would still be the same as the original Boss Liu. Liu Dumb is the same as that unlucky guy.

Li Siyan didn't speak, but looked at Yu Daoxiang, waiting for her decision.

Yu Daoxiang's eyes were fluctuating, and he was obviously calculating the situation Qian Ning and Li Siyan set up for Ye Chen.

Li Siyan is now very clear about Yu Daoxiang's purpose and needs, and has already guessed what Yu Daoxiang is planning now.Just like Yu Daoxiang trying to get closer to Ye Chen, Li Siyan wanted to get closer to Yu Daoxiang.

"Drive Li Junhao away from Ye Chen. Otherwise, there will be variables." After a while, Yu Daoxiang said.

"Qian Ning! Is there a solution to what the saint said?" Li Siyan considered the danger of Qian Ning being around Yu Daoxiang these days, and wanted to give Qian Ning this opportunity.

Qian Ning is also a good person, so he couldn't understand Li Siyan's kindness. He first glanced at Li Siyan gratefully, and then began to think.

After a while, Qian Ning suddenly remembered that one of his subordinates said before: Li Junhao had committed crimes in Sichuan and Shu before, and he was murdered. After entering the Northern Han Dynasty, and the border city of Yongle was occupied by the Khitan, it was only then that they went south to Kaifeng.Now it seems that it was used by Uncle Naxiang Fu.Although it has been five or six years, the government must still have a record, and such serious crimes and repeat offenders were to be notified to the states and counties at that time.

Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration flashed in Qian Ning's mind, and he couldn't help showing joy, and said, "This subordinate thought of a way to drive Li Junhao away from Uncle Xiangfu in a short time."

(End of this chapter)