Xie Changshi glanced at Gu Yuzhi, who had unwavering trust in Liu Dianyi's abilities, and pondered silently, wondering if he should be the one to go on this trip to Dingzhou.

The people in the manor are too capable; I can't even stand out.

Xie Changshi sighed softly, and when he looked up, he saw Gu Yuzhi looking at him with eyes full of admiration.

Shu Xiaohan exclaimed with deep emotion, "That's right, that's right, Your Highness. Liu Dianyi is so capable, he'll definitely come back. But speaking of which, Chief Secretary Xie is truly remarkable. There are many hidden talents in the manor, but they all respect Chief Secretary Xie. What does that tell us?"

Gu Yuzhi looked up at Chief Secretary Xie, his eyes sparkling, and silently said, "This shows that Chief Secretary Xie is even more capable!"

Wen Xiuzhu glanced at Gu Yuzhi and saw the trust and reliance in his eyes for Chief Secretary Xie. He sighed deeply.

Human hearts are unpredictable. This Chief Secretary Xie doesn't seem to have any selfish motives now, diligently teaching His Highness and managing important matters inside and outside the mansion. But it's hard to guarantee that as time goes on, Chief Secretary Xie won't develop other thoughts.

The Emperor of Sangchao had ulterior motives in exiling the young prince to the northern desert. Even if he knew that Chief Secretary Xie had ulterior motives, he probably had no intention of eliminating the potential threat to the young prince.

"His achievements overshadowed those of his master" is not as simple as just a phrase.

But now...

Wen Xiuzhu couldn't bring himself to tell the young prince to be wary of Chief Secretary Xie.

Xie Changshi, who had been on guard against by Wen Xiuzhu, was finally satisfied: "Liu Dianyi has been in Dingzhou for three days now. Good news should come in a couple of days. At the same time, I also had Guard Qi deliver a letter to Vice Minister Su, asking him to find out who in the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of salt permits."

Not only that, they also mentioned this matter in their secret letter to the Emperor, asking him not only to help stop Li's Trading Company from purchasing salt permits, but also to investigate whether Li's Trading Company's previous purchases of salt permits were in accordance with regulations.

If Li Ji Trading Company did indeed collude with the former Minister of Revenue, then the Emperor could simply order their annihilation without Li Ji Trading Company even having to lift a finger.

Of course, in order not to arouse the King of Chu's suspicion towards the young prince, it is best to keep a low profile and treat the matter of Li's Trading Company as a competition between trading companies.

Gu Yuzhi clearly thought of the secret letter to his elder brother, and his face showed a hint of excitement. He rested his chin on his hands and spoke in a low voice, as if afraid of being overheard: "If my elder brother can find out what bad things Li Ji Trading Company has done, can we also convict Prince Chu?"

Chief Secretary Xie shook his head slightly: "It's not that simple."

Although the King of Chu was arrogant, he was still quite meticulous in his work. His failure in the previous flood in Jiangnan was purely because he did not expect the emperor to bring all the disaster-stricken people to the northern desert.

Because of the Emperor's baffling solution, the Prince of Chu not only lost thousands of civilians, disaster relief supplies and money, but also a prefect of Huizhou.

Xie Changshi continued, "After Qi Chengjun took office in Huizhou, he removed two of the Prince of Chu's confidants. The Prince of Chu was also fined three years' salary for failing to provide timely disaster relief and for negligence in supervision."

Xie Changshi only learned of this news recently. Although he was unwilling, he had no other choice.

Gu Yuzhi was stunned when he learned of this. After a long while, he said, "So many people have died, and Brother Chu only had to be fined three years' salary?"

The news that Qi Shiwei's elder brother had moved into the epidemic area in Jiangnan spread throughout Sangchao. Gu Yuzhi naturally knew about it as well, and was filled with curiosity and admiration for Qi Chengjun.

Xie Changshi once said that the downfall of the previous dynasty was closely related to epidemics.

Natural disasters continued, people were displaced, and after the outbreak of epidemics, the former emperor trusted corrupt officials, so relief grain and medicines were not delivered to the epidemic areas at all. Instead, the patients were massacred...

After learning about this matter, Gu Yuzhi specifically studied history and discovered that the downfall of dynasties throughout history was inextricably linked to these events.

That is why Gu Yuzhi was so angry about his brother, the Prince of Chu, disregarding the lives of the people in Jiangnan and leading the disaster-stricken people north to cause trouble for his brother.

But he never expected that the King of Chu had made such a big mistake, almost becoming a criminal of the Sang Dynasty, but in the end he was only fined three years' salary!

Gu Yuzhi's face puffed up with anger, and his eyes widened: "Your Majesty should lock up Prince Chu in the Imperial Clan Court!"

Chief Secretary Xie...

His tone carried a hint of helplessness: "Your Highness, we know that the Prince of Chu did these things, but we have no evidence. The Emperor cannot do whatever he wants."

Gu Yuzhi pouted and said "Okay" with great dissatisfaction.

In the past, Gu Yuzhi would have thought that a prince's annual salary was a lot, but now that he knew that Li Ji Trading Company was the property of his brother, the Prince of Chu, and that his brother actually had many profitable businesses behind the scenes, he suddenly felt that a three-year salary penalty would be nothing to his brother.

He jumped off the chair, clenched his little fist, and grumbled, "Master Xie, I'm going to study now."

He couldn't grow up to be like his brother, the King of Chu, overnight, but he wanted to be the upright and strong young man that Marshal Huo spoke of, so now he had to do what he was supposed to do.

Gu Yuzhi had just stepped over the threshold and was about to walk out when he suddenly patted his head and his tone returned to its previous liveliness: "Oh dear, I forgot, Chief Secretary Xie, who would be the best person to send to support Qizhou?"

He tilted his head and thought for a moment. Usually, when things needed to be resolved by force, the first person he thought of was Guard Qi, but now Guard Qi had gone to deliver a secret letter.

He looked up at Zhang Yuankai, then shook his head slightly. "Guard Zhang can't go. He still has to rush to Xinliang."

Just as Gu Yuzhi was about to tell Guard Fan to come back, he heard Chief Secretary Xie say, "Chief Guard Zhang, we'll have to trouble you to make a trip to Qizhou."

Gu Yuzhi stared wide-eyed, looking puzzled: "But, but didn't Commander Chen tell Chief Guard Zhang to go back to Xinliang?"

Marshal Huo will return after sending Vice General Yuan to Xinliang, since his most important task right now is to teach Gu Yuzhi military strategy.

However, Vice General Yuan and others were still unaware of Xin Liang's situation, and the city guards needed Chief Guard Zhang to take charge of the overall situation.

Chief Secretary Xie smiled and said, "The prefect of Qizhou needs more than just military support. After capturing those镖头 (bodyguards) and镖师 (bodyguards) and others, the subsequent interrogation is also a very important part. Guard Zhang is good at these things, so he is the most suitable to go to Qizhou."

Gu Yuzhi then nodded his head as if suddenly realizing something: "Oh right, oh right, I forgot what Chief Guard Zhang is best at."

It was Chief Guard Zhang who pried open the mouths of those bandits.

This time, Gu Yuzhi's admiring gaze fell on Zhang Yuankai again. Zhang Yuankai subconsciously straightened his back and smiled faintly: "Your Highness, please rest assured, I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer when I go to Qizhou."