Chapter 280: Finding Someone to Support You (Two Chapters in One)
Li Qing is not a young man who has just entered the officialdom.
He came from a humble background, and the fact that he could sit in this position was related to Xiao Zhen and the Fourth Prince.
Back then, the person designated for this position was Deng Zheng, the prince of Duke Dingguo.
However, Deng Zheng was also among those who participated in the Shijishan hunting trip.
Xiao Zhen died, the Fourth Prince was seriously injured, and all those who went to Shiji Mountain that day were implicated. Deng Zheng lost his position as the governor.
Without Deng Zheng as an obstacle, all the people that people wanted but didn't dare to accept before came out. Jinyiwei commander Lu Gan was annoyed and decided to go all out and directly promoted Li Qing, who had no background.
Therefore, no matter what others say, Li Qing himself has a special feeling for Xiao Zhen and the Fourth Prince.
It was the death and injury of these two people that made him successful.
And now, at the turning point of his career, these two people appeared at the same time.
From the day Li Qing met Xiao Zhen who had come back from the dead, he felt that his luck was coming back.
But Li Qing never expected that this luck would be so scary.
He stood there for a long time. Why did the Fourth Prince do this?
It goes without saying that it was just to get him away.
Thinking of the ten ships of food that were lost, Li Qing had nothing to understand.
The Fourth Prince was probably inspired by this incident. He didn't need bandits to rob, he himself was the bandit!
He couldn't help but look at Xiao Zhen: "Master Xiao, the Fourth Prince didn't show up in person, this matter..."
Xiao Zhen smiled and said, "Why don't you wait and see what happens, Governor Li? What do you think?"
Li Qing nodded. At this point, this was all he could do.
The next day, fifty large ships loaded with disaster relief grain slowly sailed out of Huiji Warehouse Wharf and headed towards Tongzhou.
Liu Wang looked at Huiji Warehouse which was getting farther and farther away, feeling very proud.
Without those Jinyiwei, even the fishy river breeze became fresh.
He already regretted that he should not have cooperated with the Jinyiwei last time, otherwise what happened later would not have happened.
From the very beginning, His Highness the Fourth Prince was told that all the people involved in this deal were his own people, and even if he couldn't eat the meat, he could still get the soup.
By cooperating with those vicious Jinyiwei, he and Zhang Hui were the weaker party and were at the mercy of others. Not to mention eating meat, in the end they couldn't even get a sip of soup.
Liu Wang sighed, not knowing where Zhang Hui’s body had gone. Alas!
But Liu Wang soon became happy again because he saw Old Dai waving at him desperately!
We have arrived in Baofeng.
After leaving the village, Lao Dai no longer needed to wear a hat to cover his head and face. He dressed like a rich man, wearing gold and silver, and put powder on his face to cover the bruises that had not yet faded.
Having learned from the previous lesson, this time, Lao Dai brought not only 30 porters to be responsible for the transportation, but also more than 20 bodyguards. These bodyguards were all strong and muscular, and looked domineering.
Unlike the desolate river beach last time, this time their handover location was chosen at the Baofeng Old Wharf.
Baofeng has two docks. People often talk about the new dock, and this old dock has not been used for many years. However, the transportation here is convenient, and it is very convenient whether it is for murder and robbery or for escaping after a robbery, which is far better than that wild beach.
When Liu Wang got off the boat, twenty prince guards immediately followed closely behind him. Liu Wang suddenly felt that his image had become taller. He liked the feeling of being surrounded by people.
"Did you bring the silver?" Liu Wang asked.
"I brought it, all of it!" Old Dai still had that smiling face. He pointed at the big man behind him and said, "Show it to Master Liu."
The big men untied the slings on their backs and took out thick stacks of silver bills from them.
In fact, Liu Wang wanted cash, hard cash.
But Lao Dai did not agree.
They traveled a long way to Baofeng, and all they brought with them was silver notes, six hundred thousand taels. If it was cash, it would be too eye-catching.
If they wanted to exchange the banknotes for silver, they could do so, but it would take a lot of time. No bank would keep 500,000 taels of silver in the counter. If they wanted to exchange the silver, it would take at least five or six days.
Old Dai could wait, but the Fourth Prince couldn't. After five or six days, he still hadn't received the silver, and Li Qing came back.
Therefore, after some negotiations, it was finally decided to trade in silver bills.
Liu Wang checked them one by one. Every silver note had the seal of Wanjinhao and used the unique gold ink of Wanjinhao, which could not be faked.
Liu Wang checked the banknotes one by one and found that they were real!
"Okay, unload the boat!"
Fifty boats were lined up in the river, and the porters began to unload the grain. Baskets of grain were unloaded one after another and loaded onto the mule carts that had been waiting on the shore.
In a mule cart not far away, Li Qing put down his clairvoyance and said to Xiao Zhen, "Are we just going to let them take the grain away like this?"
Xiao Zhen said: "Don't worry, I have sent someone to follow."
Li Qing sighed deeply and said with a wry smile, "I don't know how I'm going to explain this to His Majesty when I get back."
Xiao Zhen glanced at him and said, "Just tell the truth, Governor Li. No need to explain."
It was the Fourth Prince who should give an explanation for this matter, not him, Li Qing.
Having said that, Li Qing could only smile bitterly.
After all, he is the emperor's son. Although the fourth prince has far less face in front of Emperor Yongjia than the third prince, the emperor only has two sons he can use now. If any one of them dies, the emperor will not be happy.
Li Qing was only there to appease the people. He had not yet had the opportunity to face the emperor directly. However, he had already realized that this emperor was by no means the humble gentleman he appeared to be.
Li Qing sighed again and said quietly, "My first wife died young. I have a son and a daughter. My son is named Fang Zhuo and is only ten years old. My daughter is named Ci'en and is only eight years old. I'm out on an errand and have left them in the care of my sister. My sister is married out, so she shouldn't be implicated."
Xiao Zhen sneered: "Raise your own children by yourself, there is no need to entrust them to others. I don't have the hobby of raising children for others."
Li Qing smiled bitterly again: "I don't mean anything else, I just hope that if the emperor blames me, you can protect me."
This is because they are worried that their family will be destroyed and their children will be implicated.
Xiao Zhen didn't say anything. He thought of Zhao Shiqing. What crime had the Shi family committed?
He took a look at the clairvoyant and said, "It's almost finished unloading. Let's get started. If we're late, they'll start mixing sand into the grain."
Li Qing gritted his teeth, the arrow was on the string, he had to shoot it even if he didn't want to!
......
Looking at the carts of grain, the tense muscles on Liu Wang's face finally relaxed. He said to Lao Dai, "Let them start loading the sand. Let's count it."
Of course, this amount was not the amount of grain, but the amount of silver notes!
I just checked whether it was real or fake, but didn't count it.
Old Dai waved his hand, and the big men packed the silver bills they brought with them into a big box. The whole box of silver bills made Liu Wang smile.
He squatted on the ground and began to count the silver bills. There were five thousand silver bills worth one hundred taels each. Liu Wang had never seen so many silver bills in his life, the previous life, or even several lives combined.
He was so excited that his hands were shaking. He counted the stack of banknotes three times but still couldn't get it right. He was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, but this did not affect his good mood.
He was so happy. The transaction went very smoothly and he got 500,000 taels easily.
Most of his body was buried in the box, like a busy groundhog.
Suddenly, everything became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
But Liu Wang didn't realize that his heart, his mind, and his soul were all on these countless silver bills. Everything around him was no longer important to him.
Something pulled him, but he twisted his butt and ignored it, continuing to count.
But the next moment, his body soared into the air, and the silver bills flew out of his hand, dancing up and down in the air. Liu Wang became anxious. The silver bills, his silver bills, flew away!
"Ah, ah, put me down, put me down!"
As luck would have it, Liu Wang was thrown heavily to the ground, his tailbone felt like it was broken, and the pain was excruciating.
But his mind became clear after this fall.
He subconsciously raised his head and met Li Qing's enlarged face.
"ah--"
Liu Wang let out a shrill scream. What a ghost! He actually saw Li Qing in broad daylight!
The pain in his butt was so real that he had to admit that this was not a dream, this was reality, all of this was true, Li Qing really appeared in front of him.
"Mr. Liu, why don't you explain why all this food was loaded onto the cart?"
There was undisguised sarcasm in Li Qing's words, and he looked at Liu Wang as if he was looking at a mouse struggling to death under the claws of a cat.
"Yes... His Highness was worried about encountering robbers if we took the water route, so he asked me to change to the land route here. Yes, the land route is safer, much safer..."
Li Qing sneered, "Can Tongzhou be reached by land? Master Liu, can you tell me which land route to Tongzhou has not been washed away by the flood?"
Liu Wang wanted to slap himself. How could he come up with such a stupid excuse?
Tongzhou is already a vast ocean, so how can there be any land transportation?
"What the student means is, yes, we should first deliver the grain to Baofeng City, and then transfer it to another ship at Baofeng Wharf. Yes, we should transfer it to another ship. Government grain ships are too conspicuous and will be targeted by those vicious bandits. Switching to civilian ships will be safer and more concealed."
It has to be said that Liu Wang was quite quick-witted. If Li Qing had not been with him and had not seen with his own eyes how he was almost buried by the banknotes, he would have really believed him.
"So that's how it is. Then, Mr. Liu, could you explain where these banknotes came from? There are so many of them, probably about 500,000 or 600,000 taels. How come Huiji Warehouse has not only grain but also banknotes? Not only can we transfer disaster relief grain from Huiji Warehouse, but we can also withdraw disaster relief silver?" Li Qing asked.
Liu Wang was speechless. No matter how eloquent he was, he couldn't explain how so many banknotes came about.
It's impossible to say that the Fourth Prince was worried that the Prince's Mansion would be robbed, so he took all his belongings with him when he went out?
Seeing Liu Wang's face flushed and speechless, Li Qing waved his hand and said, "Capture all these people!"
As soon as he said that, Li Qing remembered that there was no one of his here.
He looked at Xiao Zhen embarrassedly.
Xiao Zhen nodded and winked at Jiang Ping. Jiang Ping waved his hand, and dozens of guards and yamen runners in plain clothes rushed up and headed towards the guards of the prince's mansion.
The guards had already drawn their swords when Liu Wang was restrained, but Li Qing's appearance prevented them from rushing forward.
As long as Li Qing is there, the Embroidered Uniform Guard will be there.
They walked all the way with these Jinyiwei. Even if they couldn't remember the names of Li Qing's men, they were familiar with each other. However, among the people following Li Qing at this time, there were no familiar faces. These people were not the Jinyiwei they had seen before.
But this does not mean that there are no Jinyiwei nearby. Li Qing cannot appear here without his men. Those Jinyiwei must be lying in ambush around.
Even the guards of the prince's mansion were wary of the Jinyiwei. They never expected that Li Qing, as the Jinyiwei pacification officer, was actually alone. There was no other Jinyiwei here except him.
They hesitated and did not move forward.
Someone suddenly cried out, "Oh my God, Xiao Zhen!"
Ever since the Fourth Prince was injured, there has been a major reshuffle in the Prince's Mansion. Most of these guards came after that incident, but a small number of them are veterans of the Prince's Mansion.
They have met Xiao Zhen!
And at this moment, the handsome young man standing next to Li Qing, isn’t he Xiao Zhen?
Isn’t Xiao Zhen dead?
Although the other guards had never seen Xiao Zhen, they had heard of this name.
Because this name is associated with the fourth prince's disability.
Who in the capital doesn’t know that one of these two people is dead and the other is disabled?
"You're not mistaken, isn't Xiao Zhen dead a long time ago?"
"How could I be wrong? That's Xiao Zhen. I even received a reward from him."
Some people couldn't help but look up at the sky. It was a sunny day today, with a bright red sun that was dazzling.
"It's broad daylight, there are no ghosts, right? Isn't it said that ghosts can't see the sun?"
Just when they were suspicious, Xiao Zhen gave an order and dozens of guards and Tongzhou yamen runners pounced on them like wolves and tigers.
The porters who had just been working tirelessly under their command now drew out the weapons hidden in the mule carts and joined the battle.
What else did the guards not understand? They had fallen into a trap!
Liu Wang is such a waste!
When they came out of Tongzhou, they only knew that they had to transfer food. The Fourth Prince told them to listen to Liu Wang in everything, and they didn't think much about it. It was not until just now, when they saw Liu Wang trading with the businessman, that they understood what was going on.
Some of them cursed Liu Wang as a good-for-nothing, but they were only cursing in their hearts. Since the Fourth Prince asked them to listen to Liu Wang, it meant that the Fourth Prince knew about this matter.
They are the Fourth Prince's men. They share the same fate. They know what they have to do.
Now that the Jinyiwei have arrived, they have no choice but to fight to the death.
Xiao Zhen swung his sword and struck one of the guards on the shoulder. The guard felt pain and retreated while asking, "Xiao Zhen, are you a human or a ghost?"
Xiao Zhen smiled: "I am a human!"
Before he could finish his words, the sword in his hand pierced the man's chest. The man groaned and died.
Li Qing joined the battle, brandishing his embroidered spring sword. He could only win this battle, not lose. He shouted as he fought, "Leave them alive, we must leave them alive!"
Half an hour later, the battle was over. Most of the guards in the prince's mansion were tied up with cowhide ropes and thrown onto the boat.
Liu Wang had already fainted from fright. As a mere scholar, he had never seen such a scene before.
Li Qing looked at the mess on the ground and smiled bitterly.
"Mr. Xiao, my two children..."
Xiao Zhen knew that he still wanted to entrust his orphan to someone else, so he said impatiently, "Forget it. Seeing that you are so afraid, find someone to take care of you."
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