After resting for a day, the anti-rebellion army set out again and arrived in Qingzhou Prefecture three days later.

The capital of Qingzhou Prefecture was Yidu. Five thousand soldiers from the Four Guards camped outside Yidu. Yin Chengyu was welcomed into the city by Marquis Anyuan, the Shandong patrol officer, the prefect of Qingzhou and a group of others.

Because of the Red Army's rebellion, many people responded to the call and joined the rebels. They looted government offices and wealthy households. Now Yidu City is in a mess, with few pedestrians on the streets and a desolate scene.

"Is the Red Army still entrenched in Xiashizhai?" Yin Chengyu followed a group of officials to the government office and asked about the situation of the Red Army.

"Yes, the rebels are really rampant, and the ignorant people are deceived by them. Now the people in several counties and villages around Xiashizhai have joined the Red Army with their families. Once the soldiers approach, these people will go to Xiashizhai to report the news."

Speaking of the Red Heroes, Anyuan Marquis Xu Hui's face was filled with grief and anger. He patted his injured left leg, which made him walk slightly lame, and said, "This leg was injured by those fools when I was leading the troops to search for the whereabouts of the Second Prince!"

Yin Chengyu had noticed his limp before, and it didn't look like a fake injury. He raised his eyebrows, but did not follow An Yuanhou's words to ask Yin Chengzhang, but continued to ask about the Red Army: "What ability did the Red Army's thief leader have to deceive so many people in such a short time?"

Dayan had experienced small-scale rebellions in the past, and the fact that the refugees could gather together thousands of people was already a large number.

Rebellions like the Red Army, which gathered 20,000 to 30,000 people in just two months, are extremely rare.

Speaking of this matter, Qingzhou prefect Ding Shunchang knew more about it.

"The leader of the Red Army was originally the head of a nunnery in Putai, named Gao Youwen. Gao Youwen claimed to be the reincarnation of the 'Buddha Mother', who could know past and present lives. She also founded the Red Lotus Sect, which has seduced many believers in the past two or three years. She said that as long as believers can sincerely worship the Red Lotus Buddha Mother in this life, they will not suffer in the next life and will be reborn in a wealthy family. Shandong has been hit by disasters in recent years, and the people have a hard time surviving. However, in order to pray for a good family in the next life, they still save money and donate their only food and money to the sect."

"Before Gao Youwen started the rebellion, he claimed that he had a feeling and dug out a stone box from under the Buddha statue he was worshipping. The box contained a heavenly book and a precious sword. Afterwards, Gao Youwen raised the banner of rebellion on the grounds that the heavenly book had issued an order and the divine sword could kill evil. Because the Red Lotus Sect had a large number of followers, many people followed it. Even the people who did not follow the uprising were inclined to the rebels, and were willing to inform them of the situation. Therefore, the Qingzhou Guards lost the initiative in the several times they sent troops to encircle and suppress the rebels, and it was really difficult to deal with them."

Yin Chengyu frowned when he heard this.

Natural disasters and man-made disasters continue to occur, and people's lives are difficult, so they are often easily deceived by some evil cults.

But it is true that the evil cult misleads people and the people are ignorant, but in the final analysis, the famine in Shandong is too severe and the people can no longer survive, so they can only pin their hopes on the illusory afterlife.

If everyone lived a prosperous life, how could so many people easily believe Gao Youwen's lies?

Both Marquis Anyuan and the prefect of Qingzhou quietly blamed the unrest on the ignorance of the people and the Red Lotus Sect, without reflecting on their own mistakes.

Yin Chengyu remained silent for a long time before he said, "Send people to keep an eye on Xiashi Village. Only by knowing ourselves and the enemy can we fight a hundred battles without danger." After saying that, he looked at An Yuanhou again and finally mentioned Yin Chengzhang, "Is there any news about my second brother?"

Marquis Anyuan shook his head and sighed, "The mountain road is steep and it is night. I have sent hundreds of people to search everywhere, but there is still no trace of him."

"Order people to continue searching. If there are not enough people, send more." Yin Chengyu finally pretended to be a brother and said, "Since I have come to Yidu, I will definitely bring my second brother back. I want to see him alive or dead."

Marquis An Yuan carefully observed his expression, but did not notice anything unusual, so he felt relieved and bowed in response.

…

After a long journey, Yin Chengyu arrived in Dayidu in the evening. After listening to several people's general report on the current situation, he went to the inn to rest.

Marquis Anyuan escorted the man to the door and watched the car drive away. He had just returned to his residence, dressed up, and went to a farmer's house outside Yizhou City in a low-key manner.

Yin Chengzhang was recuperating here. When he saw him coming, his face was gloomy and he asked, "Is the prince here today?"

The news reported by Marquis An Yuan was half true and half false.

It was true that he had taken a shortcut to attack the Xishi stronghold at night, but halfway through the journey he realized something was wrong and wanted to retreat. However, the rebels were cunning and cut off their retreat in advance. They were caught in a dilemma with wolves in front and tigers behind, so they had no choice but to force their way out.

Because they did not fall into the trap, they actually only lost a thousand people.

However, Yin Chengzhang was arranged to be the last one to guard the rear. Unexpectedly, he ran into the rebels who were surrounding him from behind. In the melee, he accidentally fell into the mountain.

Marquis An Yuan led his men to search the valley for two days before they found the person.

Although his life was not in danger, the battle was a disastrous defeat. If the news was reported to the court, being punished would be a minor matter. The most serious problem was that it would leave an impression of incompetence in the minds of the emperor and the court officials.

This time, Concubine Wen Gui went to great lengths to arrange for Marquis Anyuan to accompany Yin Chengzhang to suppress the rebellion. She wanted Yin Chengzhang to make achievements, firstly to reassure the court officials who supported the second prince, and secondly to accumulate funds to compete with the crown prince.

I just don't want to start off badly and end up making things worse.

Moreover, after the first battle, Marquis An Yuan realized that this time the rebels were different from the usual ones and might not be as easy to deal with as they had imagined.

After all, he had been in the officialdom for a long time. After thinking for a night, he came up with a plan - let Yin Chengzhang pretend to be missing, and then deliberately exaggerate the strength of the rebels, designing a plan to lure the prince to Shandong to quell the rebellion.

The second prince is missing and Shandong is in chaos. There is no one more suitable than the crown prince.

Marquis An Yuan was at least 70% sure that the prince would come.

As long as the prince arrived, he could take advantage of the time when the prince was fighting the rebels to plot his assassination.

Regardless of whether the assassination was successful or not, as long as something happened to the prince, the army would be in chaos. Then, if Yin Chengzhang was "resurrected from the dead" and the situation was reversed, the previous shame could be washed away.

By then, no one will remember the previous defeat. Everyone will only remember that the Second Prince turned the tide at the critical moment and defeated the Crown Prince.

"As I expected, the prince has already moved into the inn." Marquis An Yuan stroked his beard, laughed, and looked at Yin Chengzhang with concern: "Is your injury better?"

Yin Chengzhang nodded: "It's much better now. The doctor said that he will be fully recovered in five days at most."

When he slipped and fell, he was blocked by trees several times. He did not injure his bones or internal organs, only some minor injuries.

"That's good." Marquis Anyuan said, "Your Highness, take good care of yourself here. Now that the Crown Prince has arrived in Yidu, I will not come here again in the future to prevent any accidents. If there is any more news, I will have someone else bring it to me."

Although Yin Chengzhang was spoiled by Concubine Wen Gui, he was still clear-headed on major issues. He knew that Marquis An Yuan was sent by his mother to help him, so he respected him very much. Even though he was already feeling uncomfortable living in this shabby place, he still endured it and agreed.

Yin Chengyu rested in the inn for a night. The next morning, he summoned the inspector Pang Yi and the prefect Ding Changshun to come with him to inspect the disaster situation in Qingzhou.

The three men rode on horses and, under the protection of the guards, inspected the surroundings of Yidu.

Pang Yi and Ding Changshun did not hide the tragic situation in Shandong. Outside Yidu City, people with ragged clothes and numb faces could be seen everywhere. When these people saw Yin Chengyu and his party, they did not react at all. They just chewed the tree roots in their hands, with only despair and indifference in their eyes.

Perhaps because Yin Chengyu had been watching for too long, Pang Yi sighed and explained, "These civilians have no strength left. They can only wait here for the kind donations of porridge and rice from the rich families. Those who still have some strength have gone to Xishizhai. They think the rebels will provide them with food and drink. But they don't know that if they stay in Yidu City, they can at least get a bite of food occasionally. If they go to Xishizhai, they can only wait to die."

His face was filled with sorrow and he sighed repeatedly.

Yin Chengyu didn't move his eyebrows, but just asked, "Where is the disaster relief grain? Why didn't you open the warehouse to store the grain?"

In places like Shandong where disasters are common, the imperial court has prepared disaster rations. Once a natural or man-made disaster occurs, the prepared rations can be used to deal with emergencies.

Pang Yi said: "We have already distributed the food a long time ago, but the disaster affected a large area and many people, so the food prepared for the disaster was not enough to distribute and it was already distributed. We originally planned to get food from the surrounding granaries, but before we could send people, the rebellion broke out."

Yin Chengyu frowned and thought for a while, then said, "I will draft a letter. You should first transfer food from the surrounding granaries for disaster relief."

Pang Yi and Ding Changshun were delighted and bowed to Yin Chengyu, saying, "We would like to thank Your Highness for your generosity on behalf of the people of Shandong."

Yin Chengyu glanced at the two people, concealed the coldness in his eyes, and said, "I already know the disaster situation, so let's go back to the inn first."

…

Pang Yi and Ding Changshun respectfully escorted the person to the inn. When they saw Yin Chengyu enter the inn, they looked at each other and rode back to the government office.

Inside the hotel.

As soon as Yin Chengyu got off his horse, he saw Xue Shu who had just returned from the military camp outside the city.

He raised his chin, motioning Xue Shu to follow, and then went into the study first.

"Send a few spies to gather information about Gao Youwen and the Red Lotus Sect. The more detailed the better." He wrote down a line and continued, "Send a few more good fighters to secretly monitor Xu Hui, Pang Yi, and Ding Changshun. Don't make any surprises. Just record their whereabouts and interactions."

He picked up the paper he had written on, blew away the ink, folded it up and threw it to Xue Shu: "Finally, go get your regular clothes. I have to go out incognito."

Xue Shu took the paper and put it away, saying disapprovingly: "Now the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light. If Your Highness leaves rashly, it may be dangerous."

"Just now, I followed Pang Yi and Ding Changshun to inspect the city of Yidu. I saw that the people of Yidu were poorly clothed and hungry. I think it is the same in other places. But Pang Yi said that the disaster relief food has been distributed. I have to see it with my own eyes to believe whether what they said is true or not."

Seeing that he insisted, Xue Shu had no choice but to find a set of his own casual clothes for him.

Yin Chengyu went behind the screen and put them on.

Xue Shu's clothes were a bit too big for him, but they also blurred his figure. The green robe made him look a bit more frail.

He came out from behind the screen, with his shoulders hunched and his head lowered. At first glance, he looked like a timid little eunuch.

"Is it possible to hide it like this?" But when he raised his face, his delicate features instantly washed away his previous timidity, and even his ordinary robes seemed to add a bit of nobility.

Xue Shu stared at him for a long while before speaking: "When you leave, Your Highness, remember to keep your head down."

With this delicate and beautiful face, even if she were wearing a sack, she would probably still be recognized.

Yin Chengyu glanced at him, took note of it secretly, and then went out with him.

Xue Shu strode ahead, while Yin Chengyu lagged behind half a step, his chest hunched and shoulders hunched, his head bowed. He even changed his pace deliberately, not as steady and calm as usual, but with a bit of panic, he followed behind with small and fast steps.

The two of them successfully left Yidu City. After making sure that no one had noticed them, Yin Chengyu stopped pretending, looked to the west, and said, "Let's go to Linqu first."

Qingzhou Prefecture governs three states and sixteen counties, among which Linqu, Shouguang and Changle are all near Yidu. Yin Chengyu plans to explore all three states and counties on this trip.

Xue Shu had already asked his confidants to prepare horses outside the city. The two men mounted their horses and galloped towards Linqu.

Yin Chengyu spent most of the day visiting three counties, all of which suffered similar disasters as Yidu. However, when Yin Chengyu and Xue Shu went door to door to ask whether the government had opened warehouses to distribute grain, the people all shook their heads.

The statement is completely opposite to that of Pang Yi and others.

Yin Chengyu asked Xue Shu to write down the names of the farmers he had interviewed and the number of people in their families, and keep them for verification when he returned.

There is a clear procedure for distributing disaster relief rations. First, the local government records the number of people affected by the disaster from house to house, and then compiles the list and reports it to the higher authorities. After verification by the authorities, the affected people can receive relief rations. People who are not on the list are not eligible to receive relief rations.

The amount of grain stored in the granary and the number of disaster victims who received it were all recorded in a book.

Yin Chengyu traveled through three states and counties, asking and recording the names of hundreds of disaster-stricken people. Afterwards, he only needed to go back and check whether the names of these people were on the archived list to determine which ones were true and which were false.

So many people would not lie at the same time. Yin Chengyu had already made up his mind, but when he judged a case, he always insisted on solid evidence.

When the two returned to Yidu City from Changle, it was already the hour of Xu.

The city gate was already closed. Xue Shu showed the token and led Yin Chengyu into the city through the corner gate.

The horses were left outside the city, and Yin Chengyu disguised himself as a little eunuch with his head bowed and shoulders hunched, following Xue Shu.

At this time, there were no pedestrians in the city except patrol officers and soldiers. Only the brothels and the blockhouses were lit with red lanterns, music, and laughter. Guests dressed in rich clothes were chatting and laughing, which was out of tune with the darkness and silence.

Yin Chengyu glanced at him from the side and sighed, "The rich are feasting and drinking, but the poor are lying on the streets."

Xue Shu followed his gaze, his eyes fixed, and he suddenly grabbed Yin Chengyu and hid in the open door nearby.

After they entered, the heavily made-up madam came up to them, and then they realized where they had entered.

Yin Chengyu looked unhappy and glared at him.

Xue Shu quickly mouthed to him: Someone is following.

Yin Chengyu understood immediately, stopped talking, and followed him upstairs.

The madam invited the two of them to a private room with a big smile on her face, asked someone to bring some hot tea, and then she twisted her waist to call the girl.

Things have been increasingly turbulent these days. Their building is small and business is much worse than before. It is a rare opportunity to have two distinguished guests.

While everyone was out, Yin Chengyu walked to the window, opened it a little and looked out, but saw nothing: "Who is it?"

Xue Shu shook his head and couldn't explain clearly: "The light is dim and I can't see clearly what it looks like."

"Either they are the second brother's men, or they are the rebels." Now these two groups of people are most likely to be paying attention to his whereabouts.

"Is the person still there?" Yin Chengyu asked. He didn't see anything just now.

Xue Shu narrowed his eyes and looked at it for a while, then closed the window and nodded, "It's still there."

Yin Chengyu raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Then let's catch him for a while. Send a message to call people, don't let him run away."

Xue Shu responded and quickly went downstairs to send the signal.

There are spies in the city who are gathering information and will rush over as soon as they see the signal.

After Xue Shu sent the signal, he went upstairs and saw the madam leading three girls to the room. She was introducing them with a smile on her face: "These three are the best girls in our building. Would you like to pick one?"

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