Yizhou, east of Linhai City.
Throughout the winter, Chu Qian and Jian Shuo relentlessly urged the conscripted laborers to build the Crown Prince's temporary palace.
Although the emperor ordered that the palace should not be built to be too magnificent, it should at least be presentable. The crown prince and his subordinates could not be crammed into the government office.
Chu Qian and his group had clearly underestimated the Crown Prince's influence among the laborers.
Although these laborers were originally Parthians, under so much indoctrination, they had come to identify themselves as Han Chinese.
For those who enjoyed the generous policies of the Han Dynasty, their support for the Han emperor was no less than that of the Han people with impeccable revolutionary lineage.
Therefore, these laborers showed great enthusiasm for the upcoming arrival of His Highness the Crown Prince.
Therefore, throughout the construction site, the laborers worked tirelessly to build the palace in the wind and snow without the slightest complaint or dissatisfaction.
Aside from the laborers who were working hard to build the palace, the nobles and wealthy people in the city who had submitted to the Han were also extremely excited.
These people have already abandoned their original country and nation, so in their eyes, only by clinging to the Han can they preserve everything they have.
The Crown Prince's imminent arrival was seen by them as an excellent opportunity.
As a result, nobles and wealthy people began to dress up their daughters carefully and invited Han scholars to teach them Chinese and Han etiquette, hoping that their daughters would be favored by the Crown Prince and rise to great heights.
Families without daughters would spend a lot of money to search for beautiful women.
Chu Qian and Jian Shuo were quite disdainful of this trend. Although the governance of Yizhou did indeed require the help of these people, they did not think that the daughters of these people were worthy of the status of the Crown Prince.
If you hadn't suggested making her a concubine earlier, even just having her as your first maid would have been a blessing. As for her rising to great heights, that was simply wishful thinking.
Although they were disdainful, they didn't say it outright, since such matters were not something they, as subjects, could interfere with.
While they were busy in Linhai City, Liu Cheng and his entourage also entered the territory of Yizhou.
Riding on his horse, Liu Cheng looked at the faint footprints on the road ahead and some litter on the ground. He smiled at Zhou Yu beside him and said, "Gongjin, look at these marks ahead. They must have been left by a merchant caravan, right?"
Zhou Yu smiled and nodded: "Yes, Your Highness. Before His Majesty attacked Kushan, he had already ordered Yizhou to build a trade route to the southwest of Kushan in order to control Kushan's economy and trade, and to facilitate the subsequent recovery of Kushan's production!"
Upon hearing Zhou Yu's explanation, Liu Cheng exclaimed with admiration, "Father's foresight is truly beyond our reach. He even considered such a desolate place and made arrangements in advance!"
"Indeed, Your Majesty's talent is far beyond what ordinary people can fathom!" Zhou Yu nodded in agreement.
"The more this is the case, the more we must achieve something, so as not to disappoint our father's expectations!" Liu Cheng looked up at the vast wasteland in front of him, and a sense of pride rose in his heart.
With that, Liu Cheng looked around at the crowd and said loudly, "Gentlemen, how about we have a horsemanship contest? Let's see who can go the farthest, and the winner can make a request to me!"
"OK!"
"After traveling for so long, it's time to relax!"
Upon hearing Liu Cheng's suggestion, Sun Ce and Ma Chao immediately agreed, while Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and others, though silent, were also eager to try.
"Alright, listen to my command, let's go!"
At Liu Cheng's command, the group of young people spurred their horses and charged forward.
Soon, the group of young people broke away from the group and headed towards the vast, desolate grassland ahead.
The group, who had been busy traveling, now completely let loose and soon disappeared from the sight of the guards.
"Send a few men to follow His Highness and the others!"
Upon seeing this, the leading Imperial Guard officer immediately dispatched a cavalry unit to pursue Liu Cheng and his group.
These Imperial Guards cavalrymen rode excellent warhorses carefully selected from the Danyang military horse farm, and with their superb horsemanship, they quickly caught up with Liu Cheng and his men who were chasing each other.
From a distance, one could see Ma Chao and Sun Ce riding their horses side by side in front, Liu Cheng and Cao Zhang behind, and Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and others at the very back.
Ma Chao and Sun Ce were arguably the most talented in martial arts among these second-generation individuals, and thus, they had been competing against each other since childhood.
Therefore, they were giving it their all in this horse race, whipping their horses with all their might, determined to determine the winner.
As the two men increased their horse speed, they quickly distanced themselves from Liu Cheng and the others behind them.
"These two rude fellows are a real headache!" Cao Zhang, who was standing next to Liu Cheng, frowned with displeasure as he watched the riders disappear into the distance.
In his view, all of them were the Crown Prince's subordinates, and in this kind of competition, the Crown Prince should be in the lead no matter what. However, Ma Chao and Sun Ce actually ran ahead of the Crown Prince in order to compete, showing that they didn't understand any rules at all.
"Haha, it's alright. Bo Fu and Meng Qi are just used to fighting each other, they don't have any other intentions!" Liu Cheng waved his hand with a smile, not taking Cao Zhang's words to heart.
Zhou Yu stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, we've strayed too far from the main force. Let Bo Fu and Meng Qi come back!"
Liu Cheng nodded and looked at Cao Zhang: "Go and bring them back!"
"Here you go!"
Cao Zhang agreed and then spurred his horse to chase after Sun Ce and Ma Chao ahead.
Cao Zhang's warhorse was a Ferghana horse that his grandfather Cao Song had bought at a high price. It was much better than the horses of the others and quickly caught up with Sun Ce and Ma Chao ahead.
Just as Cao Zhang was about to reprimand the two, he suddenly heard the clanging of weapons.
The three were taken aback for a moment, then jumped off their horses and ran quickly toward the earthen slope ahead.
Parting the waist-high weeds, one could see a band of bandits besieging a Persian caravan on the plains not far away.
"What's going on? This trade route has been open for a long time, so why are there still bandits? What are the officials in Yizhou doing?"
Watching the fierce fighting ahead, Cao Zhang only frowned and complained about the Yizhou government, but he didn't take the robbery to heart.
Ma Chao, however, said nonchalantly, "Brother Cao, who cares? As long as they don't rob our Han Chinese merchant caravans, it's fine. After all, bandits need to eat too..."
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