Only then did Qi Chengjun finally put his deepest worries to rest.

My second brother has gradually grown up and is now able to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of the Duke of Qi's mansion!

He felt that even if he died in Huizhou, he wouldn't have to worry about the Qi State Duke's mansion having no successor.

After bandaging his wound, Qi Chengjun wrote a letter to Qi Chenglang. He first affirmed Qi Chenglang's desire to join the army and praised his growth before writing to dispel his doubts.

"Joining the Northern Desert Army to guard the frontier and resist the Northern Barbarians is also Your Highness's mission. So your joining the Northern Desert Army is not a betrayal of Your Highness at all, but rather a change of location to fight alongside Your Highness."

"His Highness is still young. What he wants is to be with those he is close to. You can explain this to him personally. I believe that with his intelligence, he will understand what you mean."

Qi Chengjun's subsequent letters became much more cryptic, subtly implying that he intended to entrust the Duke of Qi's mansion to Qi Chenglang.

It was a month later when the letter reached Qi Chenglang's hands.

During this month, the Emperor's secret guards secretly set off for the Jiangnan region and clashed with the Prince of Chu's secret guards several times. Both sides had their victories and defeats, but overall, Qi Chengjun's situation was safer than before.

Meanwhile, news that Qi Chengjun had sent assassins to kill Ling Changshi gradually spread throughout several prefectures in Jiangnan.

On the advice of the advisors, Ling Changshi's wife submitted a petition accusing Qi Chengjun of murder to the Chu Prince's residence.

Upon seeing the petition, the King of Chu couldn't help but burst out laughing.

At that moment, the slightest bit of guilt the King of Chu felt for killing Chief Secretary Ling vanished completely.

He even thought that if he had known that Ling Changshi's death would make the remaining staff so loyal and know how to please him, he should have killed Ling Changshi sooner!

The King of Chu tossed the petition aside listlessly, a contemptuous smile on his face. His irritability, fueled by the constant losses of his secret guards, was relieved at this moment.

By placing so many guards around Qi Chengjun, Gu Yuchen made it clear to the King of Chu how much he valued Qi Chengjun.

The more of his secret guards died, the more determined the King of Chu became to win over Qi Chengjun!

After a short while, the King of Chu's smile vanished, and he picked up his teacup and smashed it to the ground.

If he had known he could kill Qi Chengjun so openly and honestly, why would he have sacrificed all his secret guards?

The King of Chu suddenly stood up, strode out, and loudly ordered, "Send word to Commander Chen, ordering him to take three hundred city guards and immediately follow me to Huizhou to capture the murderer Qi Chengjun!"

At the King of Chu's command, the entire Chu royal residence sprang into action. Steward Mu sent someone to deliver the message to Commander Chen, while the Queen Consort personally helped the King of Chu change his clothes and prepare the carriage and other items for his journey.

The distance between Jiangzhou and Huizhou is not far. The group rode at full speed and arrived outside Huizhou in less than half a day.

However, to the King of Chu's surprise, they were unable to enter Huizhou at all.

The Ling family's lawsuit against Qi Chengjun for the murder of Ling Changshi was very high-profile. From the moment they left their home to the Chu Prince's residence, the Ling family servants talked about it as they walked, making it known to all the people of Jiangzhou.

Their original intention was not to let the King of Chu protect Qi Chengjun because of his status as the heir of the Duke of Qi, but they did not expect that there were many people in Jiangzhou City whom Qi Chengjun had saved who had been abandoned because of the plague.

In the hearts of these people, Qi Chengjun was their second father, the only upright and just official among all the officials in Jiangnan.

The people who were saved vowed to repay Qi Chengjun's great kindness.

So when the Ling family made a big fuss, someone who knew the King of Chu well quietly left Jiangzhou and arrived in Huizhou before the King of Chu.

He first told Qi Chengjun about this, then rallied the people of Huizhou and closed the city gates himself. Even when Qi Chengjun wanted to open the city gates, he was refused.

Qi Chengjun looked at the crowd of people on the street, who were holding all sorts of weapons: brooms, kitchen knives, axes, and so on...

From the city gate all the way to the government office, the people protected him tightly behind them.

Qi Chengjun's eyes burned, and his nose felt sore.

When Qi Chengjun came to Jiangnan, he only wanted to save the people from suffering and share the emperor's burdens.

Even after becoming the prefect of Huizhou, Qi Chengjun only believed that he was doing his duty.

He truly never expected that what he had done would be seen by the people of Jiangnan, let alone that they would be willing to stand against the King of Chu for his sake.

Faced with this scene, Qi Chengjun was speechless for a long time.

Who else could act like a prefect like himself?

He felt that even if he died right now, it would be worth it!

The head guard let out a soft sigh: "Lord Qi, you deserve the people's love and respect!"

The Jiangnan region has always been an extremely prosperous area throughout history. Many imperial merchants made their fortunes in Jiangnan. Since the King of Chu's fiefdom was in Jiangnan, his life was already better than that of ordinary princes.

But the King of Chu was not satisfied with this.

He wanted the Jiangnan navy, private soldiers, advisors, and renowned scholars...

He wanted to cultivate his own power, which required spending a lot of money. So the first thing the King of Chu did after arriving in Jiangnan was to increase taxes.

The second thing was to win over the previous prefects of several prefectures in Jiangnan. If they couldn't win them over, they would find a way to kill them and replace them with their own people. In just one year, the tax revenue of several prefectures in Jiangnan increased several times.

While it didn't lead to widespread poverty, people's lives became much more difficult.

It wasn't until Qi Chengjun arrived in Huizhou and abolished those inexplicable exorbitant taxes that Huizhou's economy experienced a rapid boom within just a few months.

Moreover, after Qi Chengjun took office, he reviewed the previous case files, handled more than a hundred wrongful convictions, redeemed the people, and executed corrupt officials in the government offices as well as those wealthy and unscrupulous merchants and landlords.

Even without sharing the hardships of the plague, Qi Chengjun was like a second father to the people of Huizhou.

They believe in Qi Chengjun, and they will absolutely not let Qi Chengjun be taken away!

So, after that person arrived in Huizhou and found someone he knew to explain what had happened in Jiangzhou, the news spread like wildfire, and the people of Huizhou quickly and spontaneously protected Qi Chengjun at the back.

The King of Chu harmed the people and only cared about his own pleasure. Such a person was not even as good as King Wen, who was only a few years old. He did not deserve the support of the people!

At this moment, the densely packed people standing on the city wall glared angrily at the King of Chu!

The King of Chu never expected that his eager trip to Huizhou to capture Qi Chengjun would lead to such a scene...