"Lao Fang, have you figured out anything about the scenery along the way these days?" Li Yuanzhao asked proudly while riding on his horse.

Fang Zhengyi felt puzzled: "What secrets are there? What secrets can there be in the scenery?"

Li Yuanzhao laughed, raised his whip and pointed at the mountain in the distance: "Look at the mountain."

"What happened to the mountain?"

Li Yuanzhao shook his head and sighed: "You said you were a smart person, but there are some things you just can't find out."

"When we entered the Red Peak Basin, all the mountains we saw were bald. Is there a tall tree?"

Fang Zhengyi recalled: "It seems that there is no, but what exactly does Your Majesty want to explain?"

"I see, this place is still some distance from Sangak, many tall trees have been cut down by them, most likely to be used for shipbuilding, and short trees are also scarce, so they have cut down trees all the way here."

"The people we saw on the way here simply can't afford to come here to cut wood for heating. So, I guess the size of their fleet must be extremely large. If they send a fleet to attack the Holy City, our army will probably have a difficult battle." Li Yuanzhao sighed, "I don't know what the situation is over there. When I return, I will definitely replace all the warships with ironclad ships!"

Fang Zhengyi didn't know how to answer.

It is not clear whether the attack was launched there, and it is also not clear what the result would be if the attack was launched.

We can only wait until the frontal battle is over before going back to check.

However, after Li Yuanzhao said this, he felt a little panicked and his fear of insufficient firepower came on.

Five ironclad ships do feel a little too few.

There are only fifty ships left.

"We have entered the Hongfeng Basin for three days. If we continue to march, the two sides will meet each other. I estimate that the enemy troops will appear in a few days." Li Yuanzhao looked forward and changed the subject.

Fang Zheng said, "Your Majesty's guess may be correct soon. There is no need to wait for the enemy's army to arrive."

"Oh? How do you mean?"

"Your Majesty forgot that the Brotherhood is still on the other side. If the enemy army sets out in full force, they will definitely not stay with the other side and will definitely take the opportunity to contact us. If we are fast, we will most likely get the news in advance."

"That makes sense. I hope they can come here soon and provide some information."

As soon as Li Yuanzhao finished speaking, a group of soldiers escorted four people into the formation.

The four foreigners were pressed to the ground with cloth stuffed into their mouths.

The guarding soldier shouted, "Your Majesty, Lord Marquis, our army just captured a few enemy spies who surrendered and can speak Dajing dialect. They claim to know Lord Marquis. Please see them in person."

"Let them loose."

The cloth was removed from their mouths, and the four of them immediately looked at Fang Zheng with tears in their eyes and shouted, "Lord! It's me! I'm Xiao Shuai! The president of the Brotherhood!"

"I am....., Lord, you taught me to sing, The Red Sun Rises in the East..."

"Oh, that's enough, stop singing!" Fang Zheng laughed.

This is really the case. The timing is pretty good!

"We are one, untie us."

The ropes were untied, and Xiaoshuai and the other three looked radiant. Fang Zhengyi walked up to Li Yuanzhao and introduced him, "This is the current emperor."

The four of them bowed hurriedly and glanced at Li Yuanzhao out of the corner of their eyes.

Li Yuanzhao raised his hand and said, "No need to be polite. Are you from Sangjak? Has Sangjak sent a large army here?"

"That's right!" Xiao Shuai said hurriedly, "They are crazy, trying their best to prepare for the battle! The entire Sangjak has been plundered, they must be preparing for the decisive battle, and they are rushing here now."

"A million troops! They have a million troops! Including the baggage and supplies, I don't know how many people there are in total. There are too many people... There are people everywhere and you can't see the end."

"We ran out under the pretext of gathering information. At their speed, they will probably be here in another ten days or so. Apart from this... we don't have any other useful information. We don't know how many firearms they have."

Li Yuanzhao looked at Fang Zheng and smiled complacently.

I guessed it right!

Fang Zhengyi bowed his hands in admiration, walked to Xiao Shuai's side, and asked, "Do you guys usually get to interact with the King of Wu?"

"Of course! Since the Brotherhood provided intelligence to Sangjak, we have stayed in Sangjak most of the time and can often see him. If we say we have something important to report, the King of Wu will definitely meet us."

"Very good!" Fang Zhengyi gave the four people an affirmative look, "I now have an important task to entrust to you, I wonder if you are willing to do it?"

"No." The four answered in unison.

Are you still willing? You've been fooled for so many years, even a pig should have figured it out!

The other party refused without even listening. Fang Zheng said with a stern face: "What's the matter? As a Jinyiwei, you don't want to serve the country but shirk your responsibilities. How can you be so shameless!"

Xiao Shuai and his companions were extremely tired and too lazy to pretend at this moment, so they complained loudly on the spot.

"My Lord! We have already completed the mission assigned by our superiors and should have returned home long ago! But the court keeps adding new missions again and again."

"We have no control over the current battlefield situation, so what else can we do? We are not young anymore, and we don't want to take risks. We just want to go home and enjoy our lives as soon as possible."

"And there's more..."

"That's enough!" Fang Zheng stopped Xiao Shuai and the others from complaining, and said unhappily, "There are always people like this. They complain when their superiors ask them to do more tasks. Do you know? I can give tasks to anyone. Do you think that in the current situation of Dajing, we still lack people who are eager to do things?"

"Why did I pick you guys? This is to create opportunities for you to be promoted. Complaining, confused, and unwise!"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!