As expected of a young master, his mind is incredibly sharp!
And what about me? I was only thinking about getting back to the lower levels as soon as possible to reorganize things, but I never expected that I would be able to do so much more while things were going smoothly!
With the young master in trouble, most of those opportunists will likely abandon him and side with the eldest young master. The truly loyal retainers, however, will not abandon him simply because his fate is unknown. In this way, a passive purge can be carried out—truly brilliant!
This made him feel even more at ease eating and drinking at the Qin family's house! Recently, his appetite has been really good, and he seems to have gained weight.
Xiao Chang'an looked at him and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. If they kept eating like this, they would both become so fat that even their own fathers wouldn't recognize them!
Xiao Chang'an's thoughts drifted away. If the news of his disappearance reached his father's ears, would he be heartbroken? Would he be saddened by his disappearance? Until now, he had never seen his father lose his composure. He truly had no idea which of them held more importance in his father's heart.
His elder brother, Xiao Wanli, was born to his father's concubine. In an ordinary family, he would only be considered the eldest son of a concubine, but in the Liang Prince's mansion, where the family was not large, being the eldest son of a concubine gave him a certain advantage. When he was born, Xiao Wanli was already eight years old, and he enjoyed the father's affection for more than eight years.
His mother, the Princess Consort of Liang, injured her body during childbirth and passed away not long after. In recent years, although he was the legitimate son of the Prince of Liang, he had lived a very difficult life as the son of a concubine. The reason for this was not that the Prince of Liang favored his concubine over his wife, but rather that he was often away on campaigns and had no time to care for her!
If it weren't for the fact that year, Xiao Chang'an discovered there were other suspicious circumstances surrounding his mother's death, he wouldn't have had the thought of competing with her.
This time, he was tricked into coming to Lin'an for an audience, partly by Xiao Chang'an and his concubine, and partly because he wanted to use the opportunity to contact his maternal family and win over his old subordinates. The mother and son had already arranged several assassination attempts before even leaving Yongzhou. But who would have thought their influence would extend to Jiangnan? And how could they mobilize so many bandits, who clearly spoke with southern accents? This indicated that Xiao Wanli had already become one of the accomplices of other forces!
The collapse of the Great Sheng Dynasty happened in an instant. If it were to unite with other vassal kings, it would be tantamount to seeking help from a tiger. The current emperor is already wary of this. If the supply of provisions to the border troops is cut off, their lifeline will be seized. Therefore, even a powerful army like the Yongzhou Army can only submit to the emperor.
Mr. He's words resonated with me deeply and hit the nail on the head. In order to gain the upper hand in the competition, in addition to being steady, accurate and ruthless, it is also necessary to stabilize morale. In times of famine, being able to have enough to eat is enough.
After recovering, I must choose a safe route to sneak back to Yongzhou and catch him off guard, ideally when Xiao Wanli is completely relaxed...
In He County, the patrol teams around the county seat continued their regular patrols, but many people were getting lazy, since it had been more than ten days and they hadn't even seen a shadow of bandits.
As Qi Yuchen strolled around, he noticed that the patrolling soldiers were somewhat lax, which infuriated him. He thought to himself, "These short-sighted fellows don't understand military strategy at all!" He turned around and complained to Chief Clerk Qi. This can't go on.
Cai Bo sighed helplessly. The young master was still a hot-blooded youth! No wonder the master and mistress were worried. Fortunately, Magistrate Qi was one of their own; otherwise, who knows how much trouble would have ensued with someone else! In Cai Bo's opinion, those bandits wouldn't attack the county town at all. Attacking the county town was tantamount to rebellion, and no one wanted to truly turn against the court unless absolutely necessary! Mere banditry was really not enough to make the mighty court wary!
Qi Zhubu listened attentively to Qi Yuchen's nagging and said he would reorganize the patrol team. He hadn't been idle in the past few days either, contacting wealthy people in He County; everyone was willing to contribute to protecting their homeland.
Of course, how much of this was voluntary? That wasn't his concern! Otherwise, who would pay for the bandit defense? If bandits were rampant, their residences would certainly be the first to suffer heavy damage. Nobody was stupid; if they helped the county government now, seeking protection later would seem reasonable. So they all stepped forward, reluctantly and generously contributing their money…
By this time, Qi Yuchen's temper had calmed down, and he realized he had been somewhat disrespectful to Chief Clerk Qi. He awkwardly prepared to leave. Chief Clerk Qi, however, suddenly called out to him, "Achen, do you know the Prince of Zhennan's heir?"
Qi Yuchen's heart skipped a beat. Of course, he knew this Prince Zhennan!
When Qi Zhubu addressed him by his childhood name, it was clearly a sign of closeness. He paced back, turned around, and sat down, saying, "You mean Xiao Zigui? Of course I know him, but not well. He inherited the position of heir apparent two years ago, and I heard he's quite popular in Jingzhou. But why did you suddenly think of him, brother?"
"I received word that this person has arrived in He County," said Qi Zhubu, lightly brushing the dust off his clothes.
The Qi family's spies were widely distributed, and as the second son of the Qi family head, he had even more access to secrets.
Qi Yuchen's eyes widened in surprise. "What?! This guy actually came to He County?" She glanced outside, then quickly lowered her voice. "What's he doing in He County? It's the dead end of the place!"
Qi Zhubu glanced at him sideways and said, "Why is Young Master Qi here to join in the fun in a place where even rabbits wouldn't poop?"
Qi Yuchen wasn't embarrassed at all, scratching his head and saying, "Hey, didn't I just blurt it out? How can I compare myself to royalty? I'm thick-skinned, I can stand anywhere. But it's not normal for someone like the Prince of Zhennan's heir to be here! Maybe he's up to something bad!"
Although everyone says that Young Master Zigui is a polite, virtuous, and upright person, he just doesn't like that guy's manner! It's... so fake!
"Alright, whatever they're here for, let's pretend we don't know. But make sure you keep your people in check and don't offend any important people! Otherwise, you might not even know how you died. Also, recently all the regional princes are going to Lin'an to pay their respects. There was an incident at the Jiangzhou docks a few days ago; I heard that the eldest son of the Prince of Liang was assassinated! I know you're friends with that person, but don't act rashly!"
Qi Yuchen's carefree expression vanished instantly, replaced by a solemn expression as he asked, "Brother, do you know how badly he is injured?"
Qi Zhubu sighed softly, "I don't know. I only know that there are many bandits in the mountains, and the whereabouts of that person are unknown."
Upon hearing this, Qi Yuchen breathed a barely audible sigh of relief. It was good that he wasn't dead; that person was incredibly lucky to survive, how could he possibly perish here? That night, he would inevitably have to go out of the city to investigate.
Seemingly sensing his thoughts, he said sternly, "These next few days, you are not allowed to leave the city without my order!"
Seemingly sensing his resentment, Chief Clerk Qi sighed and advised, "Achen, I know you two have a very good relationship, but don't forget, you have your entire family behind you! This matter is clearly not simple; there are countless forces involved, and you might even be under surveillance yourself. So even if you find him, it will only bring him danger!"
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