Zhao Cheng slowly opened his eyes.

The dew on his face gave him a cool touch. The sky was gray, and the fresh, damp air filled his nostrils. Zhao Cheng judged that it was early morning.

twitter.

The birdsong completely woke Zhao Cheng up. He subconsciously shook his head and then sat up.

A blanket slipped off her chest.

"Young Master, did you sleep well?"

Upon hearing that familiar, clearly elderly voice, Zhao Cheng, without even seeing the person, immediately burst into a tirade: "Lian Zhongyi, you old fox, you tricked me!"

"Young Master is in such a bad mood, I'd better leave first."

"You dare?!"

Zhao Cheng practically jumped to his feet, looked around, and didn't see Lian Zhongyi. Instead, he saw Yang Taozhi walking towards the fallen people one by one, placing wet cloths over each person's mouth and nose.

"These people are about to wake up, so I'd better come out and meet you, young master."

After he finished speaking, three people walked out from behind a tree trunk ten steps away from Zhao Cheng.

The man in front was clearly old, with gray eyebrows, but he had a friendly smile and was in good spirits. He had a goatee and was dressed in a scholar's robe with a feather fan. Behind him were two soldiers from the Right Prime Minister's Office, wearing black armor and carrying long spears.

Zhao Cheng raised his fist and ran over.

Lian Zhongyi quickly raised his feather fan to block the view, saying, "It has nothing to do with me; it was all ordered by the Right Chancellor."

"The old man is indeed alright!"

Zhao Cheng was more pleased than upset. He looked behind Lian Zhongyi and asked, "Where is he?"

“We were attacked on our way back. The Right Chancellor was slightly injured and is recuperating on the mountain.”

"Take me to see him quickly."

Neither Lian Zhongyi nor the soldiers from the two prefectures made a move.

Zhao Cheng's eyes widened, and he asked, "What do you mean?"

Lian Zhongyi looked at Yang Taozhi and said, "Taozhi, this kid is a bit stubborn, so slow down a little."

“I know,” Yang Taozhi replied.

"Great! Sis, you're all in cahoots!"

Lian Zhongyi immediately grabbed the complaining Zhao Cheng and led him to the bushes nearby, saying, "Young Master, it's inconvenient for you to see the Right Chancellor."

Zhao Cheng was stunned for a moment and said, "Dead?"

"What kind of lousy brain do you have!" Lian Zhongyi immediately tapped Zhao Cheng on the head with his feather fan.

"What's inconvenient about it?"

No sooner had he asked than Zhao Cheng suddenly realized and said, "There's another group of people on the mountain, and that's you! You're the ones who killed the Seven Generals of Yangmen?"

Lian Zhongyi glanced behind him, covered his mouth with his feather fan, and said, "After the Right Prime Minister's troops were disbanded, some veterans were unable to join the army and had no other means of making a living, so they lived a miserable life. When the Right Prime Minister learned about their situation, he couldn't bear to leave them alone, so he settled them here."

“Lingshan is a no-man’s land. They are high up in Lingshan. As long as they keep their tracks hidden, they will not be discovered.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Cheng's eyes narrowed, and he asked, "How many people?"

"Hmm... three hundred."

"in the end?"

"five hundred!"

"in the end?"

"It really is five hundred!!"

"Five hundred people! Is the old man just going to keep supporting them like this?"

"I knew I couldn't hide it from you."

Lian Zhongyi stomped his foot on the ground and said in a low voice, "There is an iron mine in Lingshan. These five hundred people work in the mine on a daily basis."

Holy crap!

Zhao Cheng instinctively uttered the most quintessential Chinese curses from both his past and present lives, exclaiming in surprise, "So after all this fuss, it turns out this iron ore mine was actually mineed by our family!"

Lian Zhongyi exclaimed in surprise, "You've also discovered there's iron ore here?"

"That's why I came!" Zhao Cheng coughed twice, then added, "Of course, mainly to find the old man!"

"With the Right Chancellor absent, there's no need to add that sentence."

"You killed those people from the Xiao family who came to do geomancy, didn't you?"

Lian Zhongyi nodded and said, "So it's someone from the Xiao family. Just a merchant, no wonder there was no follow-up after he disappeared."

Zhao Cheng pointed to Xiao Luofeng lying in the crowd and said, "The eldest son of the Xiao family is not a merchant. He is the garrison commander of Qingdong City. If he is interested in investigating the iron mine, he can make full use of the garrison resources of Qingdong City."

Lian Zhongyi winked at the two soldiers behind him.

The soldiers from both prefectures immediately raised their spears and walked towards Xiao Luofeng.

"Are you crazy?!" Zhao Cheng yelled. "Stop right there!"

The soldiers from both prefectures completely ignored Zhao Cheng, who angrily shouted, "Mr. Lian!"

"Alright, alright, this is the eldest young master, we must listen to him."

Lian Zhongyi waved his feather fan, and the soldiers from the two prefectures returned.

Zhao Cheng glared at Lian Zhongyi and said, "Keeping private soldiers and operating iron mines are both capital offenses. You old fox, what exactly are you and my father up to?"

"Young Master, you are mistaken."

Lian Zhongyi explained in detail: "Speaking of privately maintaining military forces and privately operating iron mines, to put it bluntly, even among the viscounts and dukes in our Jingguo, some lieutenant generals have privately maintained armies far exceeding the limits set by the imperial court. And if these people were to discover iron mines in remote, mountainous areas, do you think they wouldn't try every means to mine them privately?"

"As for what the Right Chancellor and I are planning?"

"That's absolutely not the case."

"Things are just as I said. We can't ignore our old brothers' difficulties. They've followed the Right Chancellor for half their lives and survived the treacherous battlefields. The Right Chancellor can't just stand by and watch them be driven to their deaths by life."

Seeing Lian Zhongyi's righteous and stern demeanor, Zhao Cheng was powerless to refute him, nor did he want to.

If it were him, he wouldn't be able to ignore these veterans either.

He just didn't expect that his father, Zhao Huan, would dare to take such a risk and do something so dangerous!

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