Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 168 Escape from the Sea of ​​Fire
The night was very quiet and dark.

The night on the canal is gloomy, and I don't know if it's smoke...or fog?

Looking from a distance, the grain boats led by the two deputy gang leaders of the Jianghuai Gang had only a few lights and sail shadows left, but they were still driving very fast. Barely keep up with it.

Ye Chen stood on the bow of the boat, staring at the boat in front of him momentarily, making sure not to lose track of him.

At such a distance, it was night, and only his extraordinary night vision could see it.

At some point, the boat in front slowed down, and the distance between the two boats gradually shortened. Although the fog was thicker, the outline of the big boat was already clearly visible.

Did the people on the big boat also see the small boat?

Ye Chen was about to tell the boat to go slower, and to increase the distance between the two boats, when he suddenly noticed a strange stench in the river wind, he couldn't help but said: "This smell...is not good... ...Quickly get the boat behind..."

He found a black greasy sheen flowing from the upper reaches of the river, surrounding their small boat.

Ye Chen's voice was interrupted by the sound of a sharp arrow piercing through the air, only to see a flash of fire, and a rocket shot into the center of the river from the forest next to the canal.

Then, with the sound of "Peng", in an instant, with the boat as the center, within a radius of [-] feet, the water in the entire canal seemed to have been ignited, turning into a huge furnace.

Ye Chen's people and boat were engulfed in flames in an instant.

With such a big fire, everyone including Yu Daoxiang was in despair.

"Jump off the boat and go underwater." Ye Chen shouted.

Everyone felt that Ye Chen was crazy, and he could live a little longer on the boat, so he jumped into the sea of ​​fire because he wanted to die early.

Seeing that no one believed it, Ye Chen stopped talking nonsense and jumped down first.Seeing this, Yu Daoxiang murmured to herself: "It's good to die with you." After saying that, he also jumped down.

Seeing this, the others looked at each other in blank dismay, and since they had nowhere to escape, they also jumped down.

After a stick of incense, the bank of the canal.Everyone swam ashore wet.

"My lord! If it wasn't for you just now, we would have been burned to a handful of ashes." Yu Daoxiang and Li Siyan went to dry their clothes in the woods, and Zhan Xiongwu said to Ye Chen while twisting the water on the clothes .

Ye Chen smiled slightly, but did not speak. Zhan Xiongwu sighed again, and continued: "To be honest, I was completely shocked at that time, and I couldn't figure out how the river would be ignited, and I couldn't imagine how the river would be burned. It’s still water, if the lord and miss hadn’t jumped down first, I wouldn’t have dared to jump down.”

Ye Chen smiled and said, "Before the fire started, did you also smell a strange smell?"

Zhan Xiong Wudao: "That's right... I just smelled this smell, when the rocket came, the fire has already started."

Ye Chen said: "Do you know what that smell is?"

Zhan Xiong Wudao: "I'm stupid, please ask Sir to clarify."

Ye Chen said: "That's a kind of oil."

Zhan Xiong Wudao: "Oil? What kind of oil?"

Ye Chen said: "This kind of oil is called petroleum. It is mostly produced in the northwest. It is a kind of black oil underground. It is easy to ignite, and the fire will be out of control once it breaks out."

Zhan Xiongwu frowned and said, "Yes, I also think the smell is a bit oily, but why is there that black oil on the water?"

Ye Chen said: "Naturally, the other party on the river bank found that we were following the boat in front and fell down on purpose."

He continued: "Master Zhan must know that no matter what kind of oil is poured into water, the oil must float on the water, so it can still burn, but many people forget that since oil floats on the water surface, it must be burned under the water surface." If there is no fire, as long as you have the courage to jump into the fire, you can still jump into the water."

Zhan Xiongwu said sincerely: "Master is indeed a disciple of the gods, and he has a lot of knowledge."

Ye Chen pointedly said: "These people are able to transport the black oil from the Northwest here, and dare to set fire on the Grand Canal. They are really not ordinary people. It can be seen that they must be organized, powerful, rich, and very rich. The power of courage."

"Ye Lang! The heel of the boat is lost, and I don't think you care about it at all." Zhan Xiongwu slapped him, but he didn't know what to say when Yu Daoxiang and Li Siyan came out, and Yu Daoxiang said.After experiencing the life-and-death decision just now, her state of mind and emotion seemed to have changed again.Even speaking to Ye Chen in front of outsiders, he called himself a 'concubine'.

Ye Chen was stunned for a moment, smiled softly at Yu Daoxiang, and said, "Don't worry, Yu'er, I have expected that they would not dare to go to the hinterland of the Song Dynasty in the north, and would only go to the Nantang in the south. I wanted to use the imperial court’s food fleet to deceive others. So, six days ago, I asked Li Junhao and the others to inform Wu Desi’s people to ambush the masters and the imperial court’s [-] forbidden troops at the canal leading to the Southern Tang Dynasty. Now! We just need to Just wait for the good news."

On September [-]th, it was raining moderately in Kaifeng, but the ships sailed back and forth, and the masts were still like forests.

Thousands of flat-bottomed sand boats stretched endlessly on the canal, and the king's flag official ship of Wei Wang Zhao Dezhao sailed in the front to open the way, and the momentum was very huge.

Due to the good timing, the harvest of autumn grain is imminent, and the possibility of production reduction and famine caused by floods, droughts and insect disasters is greatly reduced. Therefore, local governments can free up stocks of grain and transport them to the capital in advance. Treasury, no delay.

On the canal, all boats had to give way to grain boats. The road was mighty, and there were a lot of congested boats behind. Zhao Dezhao was worried all the way, but the local government did not dare to cut corners, and they mobilized a large number of local soldiers , Labor excavation and construction of dams, there should be barrages and dams. Although the water construction site is crudely built, it can last for two or three months without any problem.There were no dangers along the way. The grain ship overcame the difficulty of the river drop and arrived at the capital smoothly with unprecedented efficiency and speed.

On the day when the first batch of grain ships arrived at the capital, it was as if they were seeing each other off on that day. Civil and military officials came to greet each other with umbrellas and raincoats. There were crowds of people on the Bianhe wharf, shoulder to shoulder. As soon as the sun came out, there was a burst of cheers on the pier.

Now that the morning and afternoon hours have passed, it is inappropriate to enter the palace to meet the emperor. All the officials prepared a reception wine and greeted Wei Wang Zhao Dezhao and his party on the pier. They took the wind to wash away the dust, and all the officials dispersed in a hurry.

Zhao Pu handed over his hand and let Wei Wang Zhao Dezhao get into the sedan chair first, and then his servants lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and Zhao Pu also bent down and got into the sedan chair.Zhao Pu sat in the sedan chair stroking his beard and meditating for a long time, then suddenly he lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and waved to the outside.

Zhao Pu ordered softly: "I will send the king of Wei back to the mansion, and I will have to hang around for a while. You go back to the mansion immediately, gather the minister's staff, and write a memorial for Wei Wang's thousand years old, and then select some officials who are suitable to submit the memorandum. , let them know, and tell them to take credit for the king of Wei tomorrow morning. All the credit should be given to the king of Wei as much as possible, remember.”

"Yes, this old slave understands." Kong Qing hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice: "But... are Xiang Fu Bo and Deputy Commander Luo willing to push forward? Just now at the pier, King Wei respected them both very much Ah! All the officials are listening, this trip to the south, especially Ye Chen, has contributed a lot!"

Three days ago, the news that Ye Chen had escaped from danger and returned to Song Dynasty safely had reached Kaifeng and the emperor.In fact, together with this news, there is also a secret letter of meritorious service sent by Wu Desi.

Zhao Pu smiled slightly, stroked his beard and said: "The truth is not to obliterate their credit, but to attribute this credit to the King of Wei. Luo Gongming is a smooth official, needless to say, he will also take the initiative to push these credits to the King of Wei." , As for Ye Chen..." Zhao Pu didn't say the following words, but he secretly sighed in his heart, the food raising plan was all proposed by Ye Chen, hum!The prefect of Sizhou was able to be used by the people of Kaifeng to make an example, because he played a key role in the middle.But for Ye Chen, these credits are secondary. Ye Chen's credit lies in the amount of precipitation in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River in a month, whether the Yellow River will burst, and whether the flood may besiege Kaifeng.If this really happened, even if Kaifeng was not besieged by floods because of the river embankment in Baima County, which has been repaired with all efforts in the past two months, the degree of embankment rupture is much smaller than what Ye Chen said, but as long as there is a dike rupture or it may happen, It can be regarded as confirming what Ye Chen said.

The most important thing is that Ye Chen was kidnapped by the thieves of the Maitreya Sect during the period of raising food this time, and his life and death were at a loss for a time, which made Ye Chen's contribution to the emperor's heart infinitely magnified several times.

Thinking of this, Zhao Pu suddenly remembered that the news from Hedong, Guanzhong, and Kanxi recently reported that as the autumn rainy season came, the rainfall gradually increased, especially the amount of rainfall increased too much compared to previous years.And still growing.

"Is there really an expert in this world who can predict the future by looking at the stars? Then Ye Chen's master is already a fairy-like figure, how much has Ye Chen learned?" Zhao Pu was filled with emotion.This is not the first time he has felt such emotion these days.He knew that he was not the only one who felt this way. No one who knew the truth about the grain raising, from the emperor to the important ministers of the two governments, felt emotional about it.

"Yes, the old slave will go back to the mansion immediately to make arrangements." Kong Qing bowed, and then flashed out a group of people going to Wei Wang's mansion.

Ye Chen returned to Beijing almost at the same time as Zhao Dezhao and his party, but Ye Chen took the road behind.

Therefore, when Zhao Dezhao was greeted by civil and military officials on the pier, Uncle Xiangfu's mansion also received a message that his lord was coming back today.

The guard who came back earlier brought back a message saying that it was a moment of Shenshi (Shishi refers to 15:16 to 59:15, and a moment refers to 13 minutes).But as soon as Weishi arrived (Weishi refers to 14:59 to [-]:[-]), Yu Qingyan stood guard at the door. Yu Ye tried to persuade her several times, but it was useless.

(End of this chapter)