1631 Luckily, there is no way to hide anymore

The people in Liancheng were all nervous. How could the Ninth Prince deal with Lan Jingyang's affairs in public? Whether it was Lan Jingyang or anything related to him, they could only be dealt with in secret.

There is only one thing that the Ninth Prince will reveal in front of the Four Kingdoms and Nine Cities, and that is the whereabouts of the navy who are looking for the Lu family's wealth and whose whereabouts are unknown.

When the Ninth Prince first entered the Imperial City, the Emperor asked people to look for him, so he should be back by now. As for why the person who was gathering information showed up just when the envoys from the Three Kingdoms and Nine Cities were all there, it can only be said that it was a coincidence.

Whether it was a coincidence or not was not important. The Ninth Prince had already decided to reveal the matter on this day and would not allow the Four Kingdoms and Nine Cities to conceal it any longer.

The man had a scruffy beard, a very tanned face, and his eyes were red and swollen like peaches. His legs were slightly turned outward when he walked. It was obvious that he had been traveling all night and had not rested well.

"General Qi Ming pays homage to His Majesty and the Regent." Qi Ming knelt down. Although he called out "The Emperor", he was actually kneeling in front of the Ninth Prince. Everyone present tacitly ignored it.

"Get up." The Eighth Prince is just a decoration, and all matters are still decided by the Regent, the Ninth Prince.

"Thank you, Regent." Qi Ming stood in front of the prince and told him everything that happened at sea without hiding anything.

When the people of the Three Kingdoms and Nine Cities heard Qi Ming say that there was no one alive on the sea, only rotten warships and rotten corpses washed ashore by the waves, they showed a hint of worry.

Although there have always been rumors that all the navy troops at sea were killed, without seeing it with their own eyes or receiving any confirmed news, the people of the four countries and nine cities were always unwilling to believe it, because because of a wrong decision made by the emperor, tens of thousands of people died in vain at sea.

Although they had announced that they were going to look for Nanling Jinfan, no one from any country or city was doing their best. They always believed that their navy would be back soon with ships full of gold.

As a result, the spies from Dongling came back and directly destroyed the little bit of luck they had in their hearts. The hundreds of thousands of naval forces sent to the sea by the four countries and nine cities died in vain at sea.

"Is there really no one left alive?" The Xiling envoy's legs went limp and he collapsed on his seat.

The Xiling navy was particularly strong. They sent out elite troops this time. They wanted to grab a batch of gold from the sea to ease the financial pressure at home, but they didn't expect that they didn't get the gold, and tens of thousands of navy soldiers died. Such a huge loss was undoubtedly a double whammy for Xiling, which had suffered heavy damage one after another.

"We have searched the area around the map dozens of times and found no one alive. We saw the wreckage of a warship with the Xiling logo floating on the sea." Qi Ming spoke in a heavy tone and described in detail the places he had been to. The Xiling envoy knew as soon as he heard it that the other party was not lying.

"All dead? No one left alive? What about the Lu family island?" The envoys from Nanling also stood up. They had complicated feelings. Originally, it was Nanling Jinfan who was to blame for telling outsiders about the wealth. Now...

They now have to start worrying about whether the people of the four countries and nine cities will vent their anger on Nanling.

Qi Ming glanced at the Ninth Emperor's uncle, and after getting his approval, he said, "We looked around the sea area several times according to the map, but we didn't see any island at all." The man was very firm in his words. Thinking of the rumors on the Kyushu Continent, he added, "Maybe the island was flooded. Anyway, there is no trace of it now."

The envoys from the four countries and nine cities turned pale when they heard this. As long as they sent someone to check, they would know the truth. The Ninth Prince would not lie to them about this. They could no longer hope for the best. The people they sent out to sea were truly gone and never returned.

Liancheng's envoy secretly looked at the Ninth Prince. At first, the Ninth Prince did not agree with Liancheng's interference in this matter and said that it would be enough to just show his appreciation. However, they always wanted to be independent in terms of money and did not listen to the Ninth Prince and secretly sent elite troops to go. This time, they failed to gain anything but ended up losing the rice.

The Nine Cities envoys continued to ask some questions about the sea, and Qi Ming answered them one by one. When talking about the bodies washed up on the shore by the waves, Qi Ming's eyes turned red, and he knelt down with a thud: "Regent, tens of thousands of men in Dongling died in vain at sea. It is too unjust. Regent, you must avenge them."

"I will not let the men of Dongling die in vain." The Ninth Prince did not have any fancy words, but this sentence was enough to reassure people. Qi Ming kowtowed to the Ninth Prince: "Long live the Regent, long live a thousand years."

The Ninth Prince waved his hand, signaling Qi Ming to withdraw, and stood up and said to the envoys from the Three Kingdoms and Nine Cities: "I believe the envoys are not in the mood for a night of drinking. Today's banquet ends here. Come on, escort the envoys out of the palace."

"Ninth Uncle..." An envoy dressed in royal blue clothes stood up.

"An envoy from Yuncheng? What's the matter?" The Ninth Prince had a good impression of the people from Yuncheng. He had seen people from Yuncheng and Yucheng on the sea, and they were quite smart.

“I wonder how you plan to deal with this matter, Uncle Ninth Prince?” As soon as the Yuncheng envoy said this, the other envoys also stopped.

All four countries and nine cities suffered losses in this incident. It would be a good thing if the subsequent handling could be consistent.

The Ninth Prince glanced at the envoys, and finally stopped at the envoy from Night City: "The dead cannot be resurrected, and the living must live."

"What does this mean?" The messenger from Ancheng found himself confused, and looked at the people around him, who seemed to not understand either.

"The soldiers who died at sea are my Dongling men. Although they are dead, their families are still alive and will be taken care of in the best possible way. As for other matters, I will decide after I have settled the follow-up matters. My Dongling men can die in battle but must not die in vain. Those who cause their deaths in vain must pay them back a hundredfold."

The Ninth Prince's words were so powerful that the envoys from Yecheng and Nanling looked even more embarrassed. They always felt that the Ninth Prince's words were spoken to them.

The Nanling envoy did not want to get into trouble, so he quickly distanced himself from Nanling Jinfan: "Uncle Nine, Nanling has also suffered heavy losses."

"That's right, my Yecheng also suffered countless casualties." The Yecheng envoy hastily agreed, fearing that if he spoke too late he would be classified as the same as Nanling Jinfan, the murderer who murdered the navy of the four countries and nine cities.

"The truth is not up to a few emissaries to decide. I, Dongling, will investigate this matter thoroughly and will never let go of the person who killed my Dongling navy. Of course, I will not wrongly accuse him."

As soon as the Ninth Prince finished speaking, Xiling and several other cities immediately echoed him: "That's right, this matter cannot be let go like this. We will definitely find out the truth. You dare to touch our people, you are really tired of living."

"That's right. How dare a little prince tease us like this? I will report to the city lord and issue a city-wide arrest warrant for Nanling Jinfan. As long as he appears in our Ancheng territory, he will never be given a chance to walk out alive."

"You Yecheng and Nanling are not good people either. You are birds of a feather with Nanling Jinfan."

The envoys started a war of words in the hall, and worse, they directly put the blame on Nanling Jinfan without considering the authenticity of the rumors.

And this is exactly what the Ninth Uncle is happy to see...