291, Rumors
291, Rumors
“Da da da—”
Snowflakes were falling from the sky, and at this time a convoy was traveling on the official road.
This convoy was the group of people coming down from the mountain. At this time, Lu Mingfei was sitting in the carriage. In front of him were guards on horseback, and behind him was a carriage pulling goods. There were also a few people riding horses at the back.
This time he stayed in the mountains for half a month before he brought a group of people down the mountain.
This time, among the people he brought down the mountain, in addition to the four guards who had followed him, he also selected a group of people from the mountain to go down.
These forty people were the first group he brought out of the mountains.
In the future, they will continue to select people from the mountains. This is the first batch, but it will definitely not be the last batch.
Of course, those people he brought out were all willing to go with him. No one said they were unwilling, and he would not force those who were unwilling to go out with them.
They recruited men from the mountains. If they did not want to go to the training camp, they would go to the workshop to learn the craft from the master. Only men with good physical fitness and willing to go to the training camp would enter the training camp for training.
In short, they don't keep idle people in that base. Apart from children under three years old, there is really nothing they can do.
In order to facilitate this trip, they got some medicinal herbs and dry goods in the village and temporarily formed a caravan.
In fact, the cargo in the car was used to conceal their whereabouts. In fact, the main things they brought this time were a batch of crossbow parts.
They would take these crossbows to Beijun and assemble them there. Otherwise, if they brought pre-assembled products, Lu Mingfei would worry about accidents on the way. As long as he was there, it wouldn't take much time to assemble these crossbows.
This time on the mountain, they also upgraded and modified the original crossbows. The upgraded crossbows are much more powerful than the previous two versions.
He was very much looking forward to seeing what kind of surprise Zhao Lang would have on his face when he saw the bows and crossbows he brought!
[I don't know if you're doing well in Beijun, and if everything is okay.] Listening to the sound of wheels turning outside the window, Lu Mingfei thought of the man he hadn't seen for two months. He was a little worried that Zhao Lang would be plotted against by his brother if he returned to Beijun, and worried about Zhao Lang's situation after returning home.
However, he thought that with Zhao Lang's intelligence, he should be able to avoid it.
On the evening of the third day after their departure, their convoy arrived at a small county town.
When they arrived at the city gate, the accompanying horse guard, who was now the caravan's horse manager, showed the prepared documents to the general guarding the city and stuffed a bag of silver into his pocket as a toll. "Sir, we have some medicinal herbs and dried goods on our cart."
"The one sitting in the carriage is our second young master. Please be flexible."
The general weighed the purse in his hand twice, glanced at the people in the carriage, and then asked someone to check the cargo inside. After finding that it was just some worthless medicinal herbs and dried goods, he waved his hand and said, "Go in."
"Thank you, sir." Manager Ma thanked him and signaled his brothers to quickly take their master into the city.
The curtain was lowered, blocking the sight of people outside, including Lu Mingfei. At this time, he was sitting in the carriage and did not get off. He just rode the carriage into the city.
These people took the silver they gave them and did not make things difficult for them. They let the convoy behind them pass, and the group entered the city smoothly.
In fact, this is also because they brought all the identification documents and travel documents with them this time. Otherwise, without the identification documents, they would have been arrested at the city gate.
They had already paid for all these formalities in advance. These days, there's nothing you can't do with money. If money can't get you there, it's probably because you didn't give enough.
***
“Da da da—”
After entering the city, Lu Mingfei lifted the car window curtain and looked out. On both sides were low tiled houses and shops, and dilapidated bluestone roads. The entire small county town looked old and decayed.
Of course, this small place cannot be compared with Kyoto Prefecture.
This time when they came to the city, they did not stay in any inn or restaurant. There were too many people in those places and they were carrying things in their car that must not be discovered by the government. So they simply rented a small courtyard in the city and lived in it.
After getting off the carriage, Lu Mingfei glanced around the courtyard and said to his brothers, "Everyone, take a break. Manager Ma, please find two people to go out and buy some food. Everyone, fill your stomachs and have a good rest tonight."
"Okay, second young master, please go inside and rest for a while." The steward Ma, who was named, was asking his brothers to drive the carriage into the yard. Upon hearing this, he responded to their master from a distance.
After Lu Mingfei finished his instructions, he walked into the house and sat down on a chair in the living room. Even with his feet on solid ground, he still felt as if his whole body was swaying, and it felt like he was sitting in a carriage.
He was not prone to motion sickness, but the road was so bad that he felt like he was on a roller coaster sitting in the carriage, the kind that lasted the entire day.
It seems that what people in later generations said, "If you want to get rich, build roads first," is very reasonable.
If the road is repaired, everyone will like to walk more. But now the road is so bad, and there are bandits who pop up from time to time to rob people. These days, people with less courage really don't dare to travel far.
Not long after, Steward Ma personally brought a pot of hot tea into the room and poured a cup of tea for their master from the teacup they brought with them. "Second Young Master, have a cup of hot tea to warm yourself up."
"Thank you." Lu Mingfei took the teacup and said thank you.
"Second Young Master, you don't have to be polite with your subordinates." Guard Ma said a little uncomfortably.
Since following their Lord Lu, he found that their Lord Lu and their master had completely different personalities. Their real master always had a young master's temper, but this Lord Lu was always polite to them.
They felt respected by this Lord Lu.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that their prince is a bad person. These two masters each have their own strengths, and they are both masters to whom they swear allegiance until death.
However, since they learned about the relationship between Lord Lu and their Crown Prince, they, his subordinates, sincerely respected and treated Lord Lu as the Crown Prince's consort.
Let me ask you, in this world, apart from the extremely talented Lord Lu, who else can be worthy of their family's prince?
Watching Lord Lu sipping his tea, Guard Ma couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Their Crown Prince had good judgment, having abducted Lord Lu so early. Back in Kyoto, he'd witnessed firsthand how many people wanted to marry their daughters to Lord Lu, only to find they'd missed the mark. Their Crown Prince had already snatched up the mantle.
Lu Mingfei put down his teacup and looked up at Guard Ma. Why was he looking at him like that? Was there something on his face?
Meeting the gaze of their master, Guard Ma quickly came to his senses, coughed and asked, "Second Young Master, I have asked someone to clean up the room next door. Would you like to go back and lie down for a while?" He noticed that their Master Lu did not look well, perhaps because of the bumpy ride in the carriage.
"No need. Let's go out for a walk." After sitting in the carriage for a whole day and taking a nap, Lu Mingfei did not feel sleepy at this time.
"Yes, I'll arrange it right away."
"No need to make arrangements, we can just walk out."
"……yes."
However, Guard Ma still came out and selected a few brothers to go out with their master.
It was already dusk, and the streets were deserted, with most of the shops already closed. The only ones still open were restaurants and inns.
Perhaps because there are not many people on the streets, this small county town looks a bit depressed.
There was no good place to go at that time, so Lu Mingfei chose a restaurant with many people, asked for a private room, and everyone sat there to eat.
The compartments here are separated by wood in the lobby, with a curtain hanging at the door. The sound insulation effect is not very good, which makes it convenient for them to hear people talking outside.
The waiter brought the wine and food, said, "Enjoy your meal, gentlemen," and went out.
There were people talking on the other side of the wall from them, and they could clearly hear the voices of people outside from inside.
At this moment, four men were sitting at a table in the corner. One of them lowered his voice and said to his companions, "Hey, have you heard? There are rumors outside that our new emperor..."
The man deliberately lowered his voice for the last few words.
But because Lu Mingfei was behind the wall, he could still vaguely hear the voices of several people talking.
Guard Ma had sharp ears, and he heard it too. How dare these people speak so openly about the current emperor? Aren't they afraid of being overheard and arrested by the government officials?
"Brother Ma, get out..." Lu Mingfei motioned for guard Ma to come over and gave him a low order.
Upon hearing this, Guard Ma nodded and went out.
Not long after, Guard Ma came back from outside and told their masters some news he had heard.
"Those people should have taken action." The people Lu Mingfei mentioned were the princes. At this time, the rumors circulating outside that the new emperor killed his brother and father and came to the throne illegitimately were most likely spread by those princes.
However, it had been three months since the new emperor ascended the throne before these people started to take action, which was much slower than he had expected. He had thought that on the first day of the new emperor's ascension, these people would jump out and claim that the new emperor had killed his brother and father and that his position was illegitimate.
This is probably because the flow of information in this world is relatively slow. Since Kyoto was captured, the late emperor died, and the third prince succeeded to the throne, these news were brought back by the princes who reclaimed their fiefdoms. For the princes to take any action, it would take several months to go back and forth.
Lu Mingfei calculated the time in his mind and was afraid that this winter would be the beginning of a storm. By the beginning of next spring, the world might be a completely different scene.
It seems that he still needs to find Zhao Lang as soon as possible and discuss countermeasures with Zhao Lang.
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