Xu Di made preparations for the reception, and Wang Suiyun soon brought Mr. Zhao and his party to Penglai.
When Mr. Zhao saw the warhorses in the makeshift horse farm, he was quite surprised. He hadn't expected that Xu Di would be able to get so many warhorses. These warhorses had all undergone special care, and each one looked extremely spirited.
Xu Di personally received Mr. Zhao. After some bargaining, Mr. Zhao gave Xu Di 150,000 taels of silver and took away 1,000 horses.
After the silver notes were settled, Xu Di noticed that Mr. Zhao was followed by a group of soldiers from the Southwest disguised as civilians. Each soldier had two horses, and soon the makeshift horse farm looked rather empty.
Mr. Zhao actually wanted to buy all the warhorses, but unfortunately he didn't have enough silver notes. He could only sigh a few times at the remaining horses in the stable before embarking on his return journey.
Xu Di had one worry settled. Although there were still a hundred or so horses in the horse farm, merchants, trading companies, and security escort agencies could easily buy them all by asking around. Xu Di wasn't too concerned about that. What he was most worried about now was his fruit tree nursery and who would inherit Zheng Boyuan's position after he left.
Xu Di didn't want someone who wasn't on his side to come. Most of the Dengzhou navy was stationed in Huangxian and Penglai. They had worked hard with Zheng Boyuan for so long and had already seen encouraging results. With Zheng Boyuan gone, if another person came along, as long as he didn't cause trouble and followed the combat training schedule originally planned by Zheng Boyuan and Xu Di, there wouldn't be any problems with the coastal defense. The real fear was that someone arrogant and conceited would come who wanted to do everything according to his own ideas.
After thinking wildly for a while, he received letters from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War, instructing Xu Di to take charge of the coastal defense affairs of Dengzhou.
Although this was what he had been looking forward to the most, his salary hadn't increased. In other words, he had to do the work of two people without getting paid. Xu Di pondered for a long time and felt that this was probably a punishment for privately selling warhorses. Emperor Liang Cheng was actually a bit stingy. Xu Di always crossed his bottom line, but he was reluctant to punish Xu Di and still needed Xu Di to work for him. So, he was punishing Xu Di through this kind of thing.
Xu Di didn't care about the salary. Since the coastal defense of Dengzhou Prefecture had been entrusted to him, this place, and even this sea, was now under his control. Xu Di took advantage of the evening to stroll along the beach, looking at the fishing boats in the distance. Under the setting sun, they looked like silhouettes, so beautiful that it was heartbreaking.
Xu Di has already begun to consider the subsequent development issues. There are still many islands of varying sizes on the Bohai Sea. Xu Di decided to start with these islands and eliminate them one by one. For those places with pirates, he would try to recruit them if possible. They are people who make a living at sea and have rich experience in surviving at sea, which is their greatest asset. It would be a waste to just kill them. If they cannot be recruited, then they should be killed directly. Since they have such rich experience in surviving at sea and cannot be used for his own purposes, they should be killed as enemies so that they will not pose a threat to his side.
Xu Di is about to get busy, and there are many things that need to be planned in advance. He doesn't have time to think about things in the capital right now, and the capital is actually quite lively at this time.
The biggest excitement was that, for reasons unknown, the Emperor ordered several princes to attend lectures by the Grand Tutor of the court in the hall next to the Imperial Study every day.
The youngest of the princes, the sixth prince, is already eighteen years old, not to mention the eldest prince and the other princes who have long since been assigned to their own residences. Yet now they are putting aside their own affairs to attend the Grand Tutor's lecture. It all seems rather strange.
Emperor Liang Cheng was very persistent. Not only that, he would also check the classroom order from time to time and ask the princes who were attending the class about their listening. It was fine for a day or two, but after this situation continued for several days, the civil and military officials all began to have doubts.
Marquis Yongning and Xu Rao naturally understood why this disaster in Liaodong was caused by these princes. Emperor Liang Cheng, as their father, was to blame, because he had failed in his responsibility to educate his children, allowing them to launch this war for their own selfish desires, disregarding the lives of the common people.
When Zheng Boyuan returned to the capital, the princes had already been attending classes for several days. As a result, Zheng Boyuan's return did not seem so conspicuous. He hurriedly returned to his residence, met with his wife and sister, kowtowed to Madam Zheng, quickly washed up, and then went to the Ministry of War to report for duty.
The Ministry of War's transfer order instructed Zheng Boyuan to arrive in Wuzhou within a month. Zheng Boyuan took the order and then went to the Yongning Marquis's residence.
The Marquis was already waiting. After Zheng Boyuan kowtowed to the Marquis, the Marquis helped him up and said, "Get up, and I'll tell you properly why you went from Dengzhou to Wuzhou."
Actually, it was because Xu Di and Zheng Boyuan were blocking someone's way. The two people that Xu Di and Zheng Boyuan captured at sea were still being held in Penglai County. Xu Di had them given some water and dry bread every day, and the water was always mixed with a powder that could make people's muscles and bones weak. In fact, by this time, the Liaodong War had ended, and these two people were no longer a threat to Xu Di. However, they had not revealed their identities until now, and Xu Di felt that keeping them around wouldn't cost much in terms of food, so he had not released them.
Thinking of the events in Penglai, Zheng Boyuan said to Marquis Yongning, "Grandfather, there are still two people imprisoned in Penglai. They have never explained their origins. My brother-in-law is keeping them imprisoned. I went to see them before I left and I always felt that these two people were not ordinary people."
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