On the last day of the first lunar month, Su Ci followed Yang Yanzong and set out to swim south across the river.

She was quite happy. She liked going on business trips, especially when she saw King Qian coming to the dock in casual clothes and a dark crane cloak. Her mood was just like the sunny weather. It couldn't be better.

But unfortunately, before she could see clearly, she was pulled into the cabin by Yang Yanzong.

There were really a lot of people swimming south on this trip. In order not to attract attention, she wore men's clothes. When she arrived at the Yangdu Wharf with the large group, the Fourth Prince Ji Ying had already arrived. There were also a few people that Su Ci did not know but who she knew at a glance were the core staff of the Seventh Prince's Mansion. Together with the guards and other officials of their party, there were a lot of people, probably seventy or eighty.

This is still what is happening in the open. There are probably some secret guards and other people who have set out in secret.

In addition, the Fourth Prince and Ji Yuanhao also arrived. This was the first time she had seen the Fourth Prince Ji Lin. He was a young man with a naturally noble demeanor and a very heroic and dignified appearance. He looked quite like that, but it seemed that his relationship with Ji Yuanhao was just average - although the two were standing together, Ji Yuanhao was smiling, and Ji Lin was listening attentively and nodding in agreement from time to time, they seemed to be very close and had a harmonious relationship, but for some reason, the aura of these two people always gave Su Ci a feeling that their actual relationship was not that harmonious.

Su Ci gossiped, "Some people say that Ji Yuanhao is the Fourth Prince's illegitimate son? That can't be true, right?" So the Fourth Prince feels uncomfortable?

Yang Yanzong: “It’s fake.”

He jumped onto the deck easily, then reached back and pulled Su Ci aboard. This was a large ship, and even though the harbor was dug very deep, a large ship could not dock as smoothly as a small boat. There was a gap of about three feet between the deck and the dock.

Su Ci jumped onto the big boat. The river breeze was rustling and a little cold, but it made people feel very comfortable. Her eyes were busy all the time. She looked left and right from time to time and saw her sister followed Yang Yanzhen to jump onto the boat and quickly went to the bottom cabin. After the two sisters made a gesture similar to "OK" to each other, Su Ci's eyes slipped back to the other boats. Suddenly, she heard the hurried and messy sound of horse hooves on the shore.

The last group of people arrived.

People from the imperial court, or to be more precise, people from the old emperor's side.

The leader was Uncle Kun, who was accompanied by several high-ranking civil and military officials. Su Ci glanced over and saw King Qian, whose fair face and dark crane cloak fluttered in the wind. Her eyes lit up.

However, before she could take a clear look, Yang Yanzong pulled her into the cabin.

There was nothing left for the immortal man to watch, and Yang Yanzong said in a bland tone: "What are you looking at?"

Su Ci reacted so quickly. She hadn't forgotten the last time she was caught peeping at the fairy man in the attic by Yang Yanzong. Upon hearing this, she immediately looked confused: "What are you looking at? What's wrong?"

It was such a quick glimpse and there were so many people around, so it was normal that she couldn't recognize them clearly.

Yang Yanzong squinted his eyes and looked at her for a long time, but Su Ci's acting was so realistic that she blinked her eyes and looked puzzled: "What are you looking at? Is anyone here?" After saying that, she deliberately wanted to lean out to take a look and recognize them, but was pulled back by Yang Yanzong.

Okay, she passed.

"Who else could it be? Uncle Kun."

Yang Yanzong believed her for the time being and held her in his arms as they walked towards the cabin. The ship was very large, with three floors of cabins. Their room was in the innermost large cabin on the second floor. Because it was a court ship, after all the people from the Six Princes' Mansions had boarded, some other people came on board later.

Su Ci was a girl, and although she didn't deliberately disguise herself to hide it, neither Su Ci herself nor Yang Yanzong wanted her to attract attention, so there was no need for him to remind her, and Su Ci didn't plan to leave the cabin for the next few days unless it was necessary.

"How many days will it take us to reach the Swim River?"

After the two entered the room, Su Ci ran around the inner and outer rooms. The cabin was quite nice, worthy of being an official ship. In order to avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings, she had to bid farewell to the handsome man with regret, pushed open the porthole facing the other side, lay down and looked around, and seeing that most people had boarded the boat, she turned around and asked Yang Yanzong.

"If there are no accidents, it will take about six days to go downstream." The official ship will surely have a smooth journey southward, so there will be no accidents.

Yang Yanzong stood behind her, facing the biting river breeze, squinting his eyes slightly as he looked at the two large ships opposite, and answered her casually.

That was very quick. I remember it took them several days to get to Wuchuan by water. Swimming downstream is even farther than to Wuchuan.

Everyone boarded the big ship, and at the end came the ceremonial guard holding the bright yellow imperial flag and five hundred imperial guards - although there were people from various forces in the team, in fact, they were generally considered to be an imperial envoy team, who were sent by the court to the Swing River to salvage the sunken silver and handle subsequent matters, so there was a bright yellow imperial flag on every boat.

It was mid-afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly. The golden spring sun shone on the bright yellow flag with dragon pattern, making it very eye-catching and dazzling.

Yang Yanzong narrowed his eyes and stared for a moment, then lowered his head and told Su Ci: "Now it's different from usual..." As for what was different, he didn't say it, but Su Ci, who had experienced the hidden knife incident in the palace together, understood it as soon as he heard it. He lowered his voice and said: "The emperor may have spies, perhaps in places where you and I are not paying attention. You must be careful at ordinary times. Secrets must not be known to more than six ears. Do you understand?"

He should have reminded them of this two days ago, if they weren't busy getting married.

Su Ci understood immediately and nodded rapidly. Of course she knew, but... why did she say "maybe it's somewhere you and I don't care"?

"What do you mean? Do you suspect anyone?"

The river breeze was howling as two people stood close to the porthole, one in front of the other. The man was handsome and the woman was beautiful, with their clothes fluttering. The scene was very pleasing to the eyes, but they seemed to be whispering to each other, but the content of their conversation was absolutely unexpected.

Yang Yanzong listened attentively for a moment, and when he was sure that there was no one around, he said, "There is no specific target. It's just that the late emperor had spies under his command when he was the crown prince. They were active in the court, the army, and the market. They were all kinds of people, including those who took the imperial examinations, joined the army, did business, and peddled."

This was a very successful secret agent team, which had played a crucial role in the previous emperor's crushing of the Zhenjiang Prince's rebellion, which had once shaken half of the world. It gradually disappeared when it came into the hands of the current emperor, but according to reliable sources, it was not really disbanded, but the old emperor thought that it was inappropriate for the secret agents to be too famous, so he made drastic cuts to the team and turned it from semi-open to secret again.

"I don't know the identities of these people, but what is certain is that this organization still exists. Members have a plum blossom mark on their bodies, most of which are on their arms or shoulders."

The emperor has been in power for forty years. Officials have been promoted or demoted, military generals have killed enemies or made meritorious service or died, merchants have traveled among the people, and other identities have emerged. Over the years, these people should have perfectly integrated into the environment around them. So even though Yang Yanzong has repeatedly cleansed his subordinates, he dare not say for sure that there are no such people, so he specifically reminded Su Ci.

"Plum blossoms for inner guards?" It seems that this also existed in the Tang Dynasty, but why do people like to use plum blossoms instead of peach blossoms and chrysanthemums? Is it because plum blossoms sound more upscale and majestic?

Su Ci suddenly realized, but she was sure that there were no plum blossom marks on Yang Yanzong's shoulders and arms. She blinked and asked, "Then how did you know?"

This should be very confidential, right?

She moved her head closer to him while gossiping. Yang Yanzong smiled at her shifty look, lowered his head just enough to kiss her lips, and closed the window to deepen the kiss. For the sake of secrecy, Su Ci endured it.

But who would have thought that this bad guy would curl his lips after kissing her, and utter four words with a half-smile: "I won't tell you."

Yang Yanzong was still busy, so he loosened his grip and turned away, leaving Su Ci, who was so amused that her hair stood on end. She stood with her hands on her hips, her eyebrows raised, and her eyes wide open like a puffer fish.

Yang Yanzong curled the corners of his lips slightly, dodged and closed the door without waiting for her to catch up.

…

Yang Yanzong was in a good mood. He pushed the door open with a slight smile on his lips.

But unfortunately, this smile did not last long and disappeared without a trace soon.

In addition to Yang Yanzong, there were many civil and military officials of the imperial court who appeared in this battle. One of them was Zhang Boqian, the commander-in-chief of the Left Guard.

Yang Yanzong was the deputy commander of the Left Guard, in other words, Zhang Boqian was his immediate superior.

But unfortunately, the first private meeting between the two was not so pleasant.

The ship moved, the sails were inflated, and it quickly left the harbor and drifted downstream. Yang Yanzong glanced at the large anchor that had just been pulled up, climbed up the stairs, and finally reached the first cabin on the top floor.

There were four military officers from the Left Guard Camp who were ordered to go south, and all of them were on this ship. Zhang Boqian was naturally no exception. As the newly appointed deputy commander, Yang Yanzong was of course the first to pay a visit to him.

But the meeting was obviously not satisfactory.

Zhang Boqian was in his early forties, with slightly dark skin and sharp eyes like an eagle. His personal soldiers led Yang Yanzong in. He glanced at him indifferently. His eyes were not only not enthusiastic, but even had a kind of condescending indifference and contempt. From behind, he looked at Yang Yanzong not as a deputy, but more like an outsider.

This man is the emperor's confidant and has been in power for a long time. It is very obvious from his performance that he is aware of the hidden knife incident.

"Yang Yanzong, right?"

Zhang Boqian was holding a file related to the silver that sank in the river. He glanced at it and showed no sign of friendliness towards Yang Yanzong. He only spoke lightly about the hidden rules and regulations of the Zuowei Camp, and added coldly at the end: "Remember what you have to do, and don't even think about delaying it!"

You can't afford to delay. You must know that His Majesty is not someone you can be perfunctory about.

The other party kept knocking and hitting me, and finally gave me a cold warning in a condescending manner. The whole meeting lasted less than ten minutes in total.

Yang Yanzong pushed the door open and walked out.

Zhang Boqian, right?

After passing the two guards at the gate, Yang Yanzong pulled the corners of his lips and revealed a cold smile without any smile at all.

…

Yang Yanzong had been out for most of the day and when he came back he looked indifferent, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry. But Su Ci was very familiar with him now and could tell at a glance that he was in a bad mood.

Thank you for your hard work, boss.

Su Ci quickly poured him a cup of hot tea to calm him down.

"What's going on?"

But she quickly thought of Zhang Boqian. A Kang had just given her a brief introduction of several people on the ship that she needed to be careful of. "Zhang Boqian?"

"Does this person know our background?"

Su Ci recalled the startling glimpse she had seen when they were watching the boat boarding. She felt that he didn't look like someone who was easy to get along with. She also had an idea in her mind. Yang Yanzong pulled her to sit on his lap and sipped his tea with his eyes downcast. She smiled and hugged his neck and said, "Don't be angry. Let him be proud first. Who knows who will have the last laugh!"

Moreover, according to the original book and her current understanding of Yang Yanzong, this man is just good at bringing down the top leader and taking his place. Who knows what he is thinking at this moment?

Yang Yanzong was amused by her, and his gloomy mood subsided a little. He snorted and glanced at her: "Are you so confident in me?"

Su Ci raised her eyebrows and gave him a smug look: "Of course, even if I don't believe you, I still believe in my own judgment!"

At the end, he didn't forget to brag about himself.

Who are you trying to praise?

Yang Yanzong snorted and laughed. He now knew her weakness very well. He put his hand on her ribs. Su Ci let out a sigh and immediately bounced up like a spring, but unfortunately she failed to bounce away successfully. She was held down by Yang Yanzong and severely punished.

The two of them tangled in the bed, their hair was disheveled, and in the end they accidentally had sex.

After that incident was over, Yang Yanzong's mood was completely restored. He did not comment on Zhang Boqian, but said calmly: "Let's go to the Swing River and fish out the sunken silver first."

As for what happens next, we’ll talk about it later. It’s too early to discuss anything now.

"Do you think the old emperor will take any other actions?" Su Ci brushed her hair, feeling uncomfortable with the sweat sticking to her hair. She leaned close to Yang Yanzong's ear and asked in a low voice.

After all, Yang Yanzong was not a confidant. According to common sense, the old emperor would definitely not place all his hopes on him.

Yang Yanzong said calmly: "I don't know."

Yes, it's too early to talk about this now. She should make some money first. The victims are still waiting. Although she is skeptical about whether Anantga and other countries are willing to sell such a large amount of medicinal materials and food, she will buy as much as she can.

Su Ci wiped the sweat off her face with a handkerchief, but she still felt uncomfortable because of the stickiness. She kicked Yang Yanzong and said, "Go get me some water."

She pointed her chin at the warm cage not far away.

Yang Yanzong glanced at her sideways. Su Ci looked lazy, with one of her white and tender feet raised up and her toes moving leisurely. He was furious. Other women served their husbands afterward, but she dared to order her man around!

Su Ci understood what he meant when she saw his vicious look. She glanced at her feet, smiled, and quickly threw herself on him, flattering and coquettishly saying, "Husband, it hurts there~"

She whispered: "You are so strong! Okay, okay, go ahead, go ahead~"

Yang Yanzong was both angry and amused. He pinched her chin and chuckled twice. The two rolled over and over again. Finally, when Su Ci screamed, kicked, laughed and begged for mercy, he turned over and got to the ground. He pulled the warming basket over in his slippers and poured water into the copper plate.

He didn't mind compromising and accommodating her for such a trivial matter in the boudoir that did not involve any principles. He wrung the handkerchief, and the two of them wiped themselves clean and put on clean clothes. It was already dark, and Yang Yanzong opened the door and asked for dinner to be sent in.

Su Ci opened the window to let in some fresh air and unexpectedly saw a starry sky. She exclaimed, lying on the side of the boat and looking up for a long time. It was so beautiful.

With such good weather, we should reach the Lujiang River Basin in about three or four days, right?

…

Of course, the weather was not so good every day in the next few days. After two days of sunshine, it began to become cloudy, and finally it started to drizzle. However, no matter whether it was sunny or rainy, the only common feature was the strong wind.

The sporadic drizzle did not hinder the sailing speed at all. The strong wind filled the three sails. On the third day after leaving Yangdu, we entered the Sushui River from Lingshui, and went down along this river that was entwined between the vast mountains and plains. We arrived at the target Sujiang Quxian section in the afternoon of the sixth day.

The temporary dock built in the deep water area of ​​Hequ was crowded with local county officials who came to greet them. Uncle Kun did not waste any time and exempted all of them from formalities. He also immediately streamlined the staff. Except for a few relevant leaders, all irrelevant officials left to avoid interfering with the subsequent salvage of the sunken silver.

The rain stopped and dark clouds were circling in the sky. This is the weather most of the time in spring, so no one took it seriously. Su Ci followed Yang Yanzong onto the shore and looked into the distance. They saw the river was broad and flat, the sky and water were the same color, and the hazy green mountains were at the end of their sight. The air was fresh and moist.

However, based on the information she heard on the road, she knew that this section of the river was extremely deep. The deepest point was said to be nearly a hundred feet, which is about two or three hundred meters. It was indeed deep enough.

The strong wind should be a hurricane or typhoon, and it is very likely to be accompanied by a tornado. Qu County is about a hundred miles away from the estuary. The shipbuilding technology in ancient times was limited, and the silver-carrying ship was heavy, so it is possible that it would sink in the strong wind.

This strong wind was estimated to be very strong. Su Ci looked around. In fact, the first task was to find local villagers to understand the wind conditions. However, she did not have to do this job. Kun's uncle Zhang Boqian, Ji Lin, Ji Yuanhao, Yang Yanzong and others had already acted separately.

Su Ci followed Yang Yanzong, but Yang Yanzong was not responsible for asking about the wind conditions. Su Ci looked around and followed not far behind him. She was inconspicuous among Akang and his group. Yang Yanzong, Ji Lin and Ji Yuanhao quickly united the two groups of water experts, divided them into dozens of small teams, and immediately arranged for the distribution of water rescue equipment.

The salvage operation is urgent and will begin today.

There are two groups of people responsible for the salvage. One group is urgently gathered from the vicinity of Yangdu and has gone south with the large ship. The other group is those who responded to the emergency warning from the local government and have just crossed mountains and rivers and hurried over.

In short, the first batch of salvage personnel was in place, and the location of the shipwreck had been locked down by the local government. The sailors quickly took action, and the first eight who were the best swimmers went into the water to determine the depth and specific location. The scope of this first salvage operation was first determined to be concentrated in the middle where three ships were connected together.

Eight sailors went into the water first to check the environment. The waiting time was a bit long, so the county officials hurriedly ordered their servants to bring in armchairs, square tables and other items, and invited the superiors to take a seat, while they themselves stood to keep them company.

Today, Yang Yanzong also has a seat at this time. The county officials were considerate enough to put the chairs of the officials of the Six Princes' Palace together. It happened that Ji Yan and Yang Yanzong were sitting next to each other. They looked at each other, and a faint smile appeared on their faces, which they both knew was fake. After a quick glance, there was a deep and unfathomable coldness in the depths of their eyes.

Ji Yan, Mr. Fang and others sat down. Ji Ye behind him made eye contact with Yang Yanzong, then separated as if nothing had happened and sat down silently.

Su Ci stood behind Yang Yanzong. Some people saw her, but no one said anything. After experiencing what happened with the old emperor and the young Prince of Zhao, it was difficult for most people to look at her from the perspective of an ordinary woman, so they pretended not to see anything.

The commotion gradually subsided, and soon after it calmed down, the eight sailors quickly went ashore.

Their mission was to conduct an investigation, and the results were ideal. The shipwreck was stuck in the mud at the bottom of the riverbed. The hull was heavy and sank very firmly. However, the silver-carrying ship was one of the largest official ships, and more than four-fifths of it was exposed, which did not affect the salvage at all.

The water is about thirty zhang deep, which is about ninety meters. When you dive to about seventeen or eighteen zhang, you can see the broken mast. Part of the cabin board of the sunken ship has been damaged during the sinking process. In some places, you can directly see the silver box and you can salvage it by going down.

Uncle Kun nodded: "Very good, pass the order, salvage will begin immediately!"

More than a hundred skilled swimmers wearing water jackets jumped down one after another, in pairs of four, in two teams, to salvage the sunken silver box from the bottom. In addition, each team brought a thick rope. Once they floated to a certain depth and the buoyancy decreased, they would pull the rope to signal everyone on the table to pull together!

The silver box was very heavy, and a lot of manpower was needed. Even Yang Yanzong's personal guards such as Akang were assigned most of them to prepare to pull the rope. The rest of the people quickly cleared a piece of open space where the imperial guards holding bright yellow flags gathered. This place was prepared to store the salvaged silver.

All preparations are in place.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.

But who knew that they guessed the beginning, but could never guess the ending!

In fact, no matter whether it was Yang Yanzong or Su Ci, or Ji Yan, Ji Lin, Ji Yuanhao, and Mr. Fang, they had all anticipated the emergency situation. No one was willing to let the emperor take advantage so easily - how many lives did they sacrifice in Wuchuan before they were the first to find the big silver mine? Even the pensions had to be paid out of one's own pocket, and the emperor easily put half of it into his own treasury or private coffers.

——Not to mention the other one-third that has been shipped to the capital and Yangdu, the more than 50 million taels of silver in these 17 ships alone are definitely not enough to buy medicinal materials and food! Can Anantga sell so much to you? Even if you have three bumper harvests a year, you can’t afford to buy it this way!

Therefore, at least half of the 5,600 taels of confiscated public and private silver were returned just for show.

How can the kings be willing to accept this?

There must have been some manipulation. If nothing else, the compensation should at least be recovered, right?

But after all, this is official silver that has already been recorded, and there are certain reasons for this tampering, such as fire loss and transportation loss. At worst, if they can't compile it, they will just steal it. So the number will definitely not be large, and even the people who will take the blame have been arranged. Yang Yanzong and others can fill the gap as soon as possible. If they can't, they can make arrangements on the spot.

They had anticipated many emergencies, but they never expected that this one would happen so quickly, suddenly and shockingly! !

Soon, both above and below the water exerted their strength together! The first batch of dozens of huge camphorwood silver boxes inlaid with iron sheets were quickly salvaged. Due to the short time they had been submerged in water and the strong sealing wax and beeswax, not only were the seals not completely torn, but the insides of many of the silver boxes were still dry and intact.

But even with such an intact speaker, when it was turned on, everyone was shocked!

With a "pop", a little bit of water shot out, and it was dry inside. The silver box turned over and a pile of stones rolled out! ! !

Except for the two shallow rows of silver ingots on the top for cover, the silver box was actually full of stones! !

There were stones of different sizes, some deeper than others, and they were said to be silver boxes dragged out from a cabin inside. Not even enough space to cover the silver ingots! !

At the moment of opening the box, because the silver box was too heavy, the shovel was strained with a "pa" sound, and the silver box turned over, and stones of all sizes rolled to the ground. All the unspoken sounds were instantly blocked in the throat.

Everyone opened their eyes at the same time!

Yang Yanzong, Ji Yan and others who were sitting in front of Su Ci stood up at once. Everyone stood up, even those who had knocked over their chairs, were speechless for a moment, and only the loud bang of a stool being overturned was heard!

It was as if the pause button had been pressed. Then everyone rushed forward quickly. Uncle Kun's face changed drastically: "Quick, go down! Continue to salvage, salvage other ships! Go!!"

With the loud shout, all the confused sailors finally regained their composure and turned around and rushed into the water in panic.

Not to mention Su Ci, this sudden and obviously wrong change made everyone present stunned, and an atmosphere of panic quickly enveloped the entire river bank!

Yang Yanzong frowned at this development, lowered his eyes for a moment, and quickly stepped back. He waved to Yang Yanzhen and A Zhao, "Our people, immediately arrange for someone who is good at swimming to go into the water and find out the situation of the sunken silver!"

"yes!"

Azhao Yang Yanzhen took the order and turned around quickly. Su Yan was also in the crowd. She heard it clearly and immediately raised her hand: "I, I can go down!"

When she was young, she followed her father to fight in the southwest and lived by the river for a very long time. Su Yan was outgoing and talented in martial arts, and she was also very good at swimming.

Su Ci got anxious when she saw how deep the water was. "Sister!"

But Su Yan insisted that she was not here for fun, she was so happy that her sister had fought for this opportunity for her that she could not sleep all night. Since she was here to do serious work, she must not make herself special!

Su Ci understood the reason, but she was glared at by Su Yan and couldn't say anything for a while. Yang Yanzong on the other end had already spoken: "Okay, get ready and get in the water immediately!"

They whispered to each other and selected seven people, including Su Yan. The other four princely palaces and seven princely palaces also took the same action. Obviously, everyone wanted to investigate personally and grasp the most real situation.

Su Yan stretched her arms and legs and slid silently into the river. She was indeed a very good swimmer and took the lead with ease. The group quickly dived to the location of the shipwreck, circled the shipwreck first, opened several boxes on the periphery, found they were all stones, and finally A Zhao pulled out a dagger and pried open the cabin door. They wanted to go directly into the depths of the cabin to check.

Due to the deformation of the cabin passage, only Su Yan and her two thin companions were able to enter. She was also reckless and took the lead and dived in. She swam very quickly, and when she reached the center of the narrow corridor, she grabbed a silver box and pried it open with great effort. "Bang!" She lowered her head and felt around, and all she felt were rough, uneven stones of various sizes in the semi-turbid, dim water.

The three of them opened more than a dozen boxes in a row, and they were all filled with stones. Their hearts and lungs were almost suffocated at this time, so they left quickly and floated up quickly!

Su Yan went into the water more than ten times in a row, panting. When she came out of the water for the last time, it was already dark. Su Ci rushed over to help her and put a dry coat on her. Su Yan took a few breaths and shook her head: "There are only stones under the water, all of them. There is not a single box of silver!"

Su Ci's heart was shocked and she quickly turned around to look at Yang Yanzong.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yanzong's face darkened.

Then he looked at the others. Obviously, Uncle Kun, Zhang Boqian, Ji Lin, Ji Yuanhao and others had already received the accurate news from their side.

Five hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, all turned into stone.

No way! Everyone’s heart sank!