No one knew what the Shadow had promised Fan Xian for him to accept the compensation for that "accident". The next day, he happily left Shazhou. That day, there was a cold winter rain. It was cold and dreary. Like magic, Commissioner Fan and his group, who were stealthily moving through Jiangnan, disappeared into the winter forest on the hills outside Shazhou.
That night, a few officials wearing full-body raincoats entered Sha Lake in the darkness and boarded the Jingdou ship at the Jiangnan Navy dock. The security was tight. Even the navy generals responsible for receiving them did not clearly see the true faces of those people.
Su Wenmao, who was responsible for all matters on the ship, looked at his colleagues boarding the ship in the rain and asked in surprise, "You've all come. What about Sir? The Qinian Unit has to leave a few people behind, right? "
An official said with a pained expression, "Sir said that we have to act more realistically. If we leave the people of the Qinian Unit on the ship and we come back with our faces covered, then the navy will believe that Sir is on the ship. If this news gets out, we'll be able to fool a few people."
Su Wenmao was dumbfounded. "Your Excellency is having fun. Now that we have found traces in Shazhou, you still want to hide a …" He swallowed the dirty word, coughed twice and said, "That's fine. Let's set sail tomorrow and hurry to Jiangnan Road."
"3rd of March." The official of the Qinian Unit said solemnly, "The ship arrives in Suzhou on the 3rd of March. Sir gave us this date."
Su Wenmao panicked. "What ship can move so slowly?" He stood up and waved his hand angrily. "No matter how we go on the river, I can't stay on Sha Lake anymore. I have to leave the port tomorrow."
The official furrowed his brows and asked, "Sir, what's wrong?"
A worried expression appeared on Su Wenmao's face and he said, "After entering the Jiangnan Navy camp, the commissioner and the Third Prince still refused to disembark. Which of the generals in the navy did not have misgivings in their hearts? In the past two days, I don't know how many garrisons and commanders have been finding excuses to come up to the ship. Everyone knows that they are looking for opportunities to curry favor with the two nobles. But since Milord is not on the ship, how would I dare to let them come up? "
The more he spoke, the angrier he became. Presumably, these two days of blocking people on the ship was about to get angry. "I can still block officials of this level, but I heard that the admiral of the navy will be rushing over tomorrow afternoon. This person is a first-level super official. Even if the commissioner is here, he will have to obediently salute. Even the Third Prince will not be able to do anything. How can I block this?"
The official talking to him was also shocked. The status of the admiral of the navy could not be compared to those small fry officials. Once that person came, this lie would naturally be exposed. Even if the admiral could not do anything to Commissioner Fan and the Third Prince, at most he would send a secret memorial to the Emperor to express his anger at being tricked, these people would have to be the punching bags.
"Let's go. Let's leave early tomorrow morning!"
The Qinian Unit left behind on the ship immediately reached a firm consensus. They began to have the navy officers below prepare for departure. At the same time, they notified the Tiger Guard and three swordsmen of the Sixth Bureau left on the ship.
"Milord said that he will send someone else to watch the meeting in Hangzhou. You don't have to go," the official said as he gazed at Su Wenmao. The official looked at Su Wenmao and said, then asked curiously, "These two days … I reckon that the navy must have sent many gifts."
Su Wenmao pointed behind him with his lips. "It's all in the back. The person in charge of the army is really rich. No wonder he is a capable person who protects the water bandits."
The official suddenly had an idea and said, "Weren't you worried earlier about how to drag it to the third of March? I have a plan. How about … "
He leaned close to Su Wenmao's ear and said something like this.
"Good idea! The commissioner will not mind this kind of small matter. We are not allowed to take silver from court officials, but it is not wrong to take silver on his behalf. " Amidst Su Wenmao's happiness, he thought of something and warned, "Right, look after the chest of silver in the back room. The commissioner has given a death order. Now, no one is allowed to go near that chest. "
The official made a sound of acknowledgment, but he was muttering to himself. Although the chest contained tens of thousands of liang of silver, the commissioner's family was so rich. Was it worth keeping an eye on it like a family heirloom?
Early the next morning, the fog on Sha Lake had just dispersed. The 80% new Jingdou ship slowly left the dock under the "reluctant" gazes of the Jiangnan navy generals. It passed through the waterway and out of Sha Lake. Slowly and happily, it entered the waters of the Great River.
Watching the big ship disappear at the mouth of the lake, the three naval ships that were in charge of protection also followed it out. The Jiangnan Navy officers on the shore all let out a collective sigh of relief. They had finally sent away the two untouchable gods of plagues. Thinking that the gifts they had given these days seemed to have gone to waste, they felt a bit of heartache.
As for the matter of the prince and commissioner's ship encountering thieves in the naval defense area, of course, they needed a scapegoat. The gazes the generals looked toward Garrison Shen with were all a bit pitiful, but there was no one to take the lead on this matter. Everything had to wait for the admiral to return to camp in the afternoon.
Actually, Su Wenmao had guessed wrong. The Jiangnan navy generals waited until the second day for the admiral to arrive.
That leading figure of real power in the military, Jiangnan Navy Admiral Shi, was not in a rush to come. He was only anxious not to come too quickly.
Admiral Shi was a lower first-level official and was an old friend of the old Qin family in Jingdou. Naturally, he would not be afraid of Fan Xian. However, this wily old soldier also knew that if he actually rushed to the water stronghold to meet Fan Xian, he would have to lower his status and say something because of the Third Prince and that rumor. To flatter a child who had not even grown feathers on his mouth and had no feathers on his bird, how could he keep his old face?
Thus, while Lao Shi sent someone to send a message, saying that he was in a certain place dealing with official business and was on his way at top speed to pay his respects to the Third Prince, he hugged his most beloved fan and sat in the carriage, swaying back and forth towards the navy. He only hated that the journey was too short.
In the end, Admiral Shi finally succeeded in making use of the time difference. By the time he arrived, the ship had already left like a yellow crane.
On the other side, Su Wenmao sat on the big ship down the river in high spirits. He carried out Commissioner Fan's orders and accepted the suggestion of his subordinate official. Along the way, he stopped at every province he saw and stopped at every port he saw. He didn't care that the docks were broken or that there were only a few thousand people living in a small county town by the river. In any case, he went and stopped. He stopped every day and stopped at one port.
The ship's movements were strange, but it caused the entire Jiangnan Road's officialdom to be in chaos!
Everyone knew that Commissioner Fan of the Overwatch Council and the Third Prince could be on the ship from Jingdou. Since it was so, wherever the ship stopped, the local officials had to go pay their respects. They also had to prepare a good banquet. They also had to have gifts on hand. At this juncture, who dared to be careless?
If the upstream counties sent jade, the downstream counties could not compete. At the very least, they had to send a bag of cat's eyes, right? Our province is poor? Can we dig up a few ginseng? Our county has no money? We also have to bring a few strips of the famous pine needle and cypress smoked golden bacon! What if the two important figures on the ship are used to eating exotic delicacies and like our local food?
What? The city doesn't produce anything? Quickly send workers to pull the ship for them!
Over a month's time, although the officials along the river did not see the high and mighty nobles, they still used all their strength to curry favor with them.
The big ship headed south and stopped at every county. Even if the place was small, they would not miss it. While the Jiangnan officials were happy about this rare opportunity to give gifts, they couldn't help but silently criticize Commissioner Fan and the Third Prince … their appetites were too good. They didn't even let go of those poor counties that didn't produce anything.
"Don't understand? No matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat. " In a manor in Suzhou, an advisor narrowed his eyes and said, "It looks like Sir Fan has truly inherited the style of the Minister. He calculates accounts very carefully."
Another advisor shook his head and sighed. "Official voice! Official voice! Nowadays, these young nobles don't even bother with face! "He then suddenly said with disdain," Besides, that Sir Fan junior is not Sir Fan senior's … "
"Shut up! How dare you discuss such a thing! Without waiting for the Overwatch Council to skin you, I will hang you alive! "
The serious-looking official sitting in the middle yelled angrily. After he calmed his emotions, he raised his teacup and took a sip. "Don't talk behind people's backs. As long as they are willing to accept silver, it's fine. Jiangnan lacks everything but silver."
The official closed his eyes and muttered to himself for a moment. With slight worry, he said, "I'm afraid it's just a smokescreen that the commissioner is putting out. Who knows? Besides, who knows whether or not he is still on that ship? I heard from the gentleman heading south that Sir Fan's carriages are still heading toward Danzhou. Along the way, he has collected a lot of silver. "
On the official road in the central plains, the group with the most people was, under the lead of the fake Fan Xian, carrying a group of servants, guards, and shopkeepers of Qingyu Hall toward Danzhou.
On the river, Su Wenmao steered the big ship and joyfully carried out his gilded journey. He didn't know that he would be rained down on by Fan Xian in the future.
A few pieces of news mixed together and confused the Jiangnan officials. They didn't know exactly where Commissioner Fan was. Even if some clever people guessed that Fan Xian might have other plans, they were unable to grasp any useful information. The people of the Second Bureau of the Overwatch Council were in Jiangnan covering the true whereabouts of Fan Xian and his group.
— — —
In the early February weather, spring had not arrived and winter had not left. The chill domineeringly occupied the fields and roads on both sides of the river, rejecting any hint of spring's arrival. However, the Jiangnan area was close to the sea, so it was slightly warmer than other places. Thus, there had been no snow these days. However, the mud marks that had been dug up on the official road had been blown by months of winter wind until they were incomparably dry and hard. It made the carriages moving on it jolt up and down. The people in the carriages were suffering unspeakably.
Fan Xian couldn't take this hardship. He lifted the curtain and called for the carriages to stop. He jumped out of the carriage and rode his horse forward. Only then did he feel slightly more comfortable. He stretched and breathed in the slightly cold wind that blew against his face. Looking at the gutters on both sides of the official road, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes. He saw that the irrigation ditch had long run out of water. It was completely dry. If it was because the water had dried up during the winter, it would have been fine. The problem was that there were weeds as tall as a person growing in the ditch. Smoke slowly grew along the ditch. It looked barren and had no end in sight.
He was a little puzzled. He thought to himself that it would only look like this if it had been working for many years. With a stomp of his feet, he stood up and looked down from above. He couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. He discovered that most of the ditches around the official road were in the same state. The long grass in the ditches had long been frozen to death, but they were still standing stubbornly, piercing towards the sky … How could such ditches be used for irrigation? What about when it was time to plant in spring?
When Fan Xian had returned from Northern Qi, he had seen that the Qing Kingdom's irrigation system was relatively complete. This Jiangnan area was the wealthiest in the world. How could it have no money to repair ditches? Did those lands not need to be planted?
The official of the Fourth Bureau of the Overwatch Council who had followed him all the way from Jingdou saw the unhappiness on the commissioner's face. He patted his horse forward and explained, "It's just that this area is a bit uncultivated. Suzhou and Hangzhou are definitely not like this."
Fan Xian furrowed his brows and said, "Of course, Jiangnan does not lack grain. The main thing here is that the land is thin, and too much labor has been taken by the palace treasury." He laughed bitterly and helplessly and didn't continue to speak.
Everyone silently followed the weedy ditches. It had been a few days since they had left Shazhou. They had shaken slowly all the way, but they were nearing Hangzhou. The group of people were all a bit tired. Fan Xian didn't have the heart to play the game of inspecting the whole way and visiting incognito.
"The carriages behind, follow up!"
The Fourth Bureau official's name was Wu Mai. Ever since Su Wenmao had stayed on the ship, the logistics and organization of this group had all been given to him.
He could see that the commissioner was not in a good mood and couldn't say much. He could only order the people behind him to follow closely. There were many aces in these unassuming carriages. The problem was that the swordsmen of the Sixth Bureau and the Tiger Guards were not people who lived their lives. They were all old hands at solo assassinations. If they were asked to crawl into the long grass in the ditches and not eat or drink, it would be no problem for them to reach Hangzhou. However, if they were asked to go on a zero-fee tour, they appeared a bit listless.
In particular, 70 li outside of Shazhou, the originally small group of people had bought four or five little girls at the foot of a mountain. They appeared to be dragging their feet and looked very much like a group of wealthy families on a tour.
Speaking of that purchase, it was also a very shocking experience for Fan Xian. Presently, the Qing Kingdom was in a golden age. He had never thought that in the Jiangnan area, there would be such a thing as having to sell one's own children because they were about to starve to death. Although those pitiful people were all exiles from Jiangbei, Fan Xian still felt a bit depressed.
Their group was secretly heading to Hangzhou. It was not easy to bring these people. Furthermore, Fan Xian himself was a cold person. In the end, it was the Third Prince who couldn't bear it and spoke up. Only then did Sisi happily take out a dozen liang of silver and buy the five little girls. The girls' parents thanked him profusely and left with tears streaming down their faces. Fan Xian silently accepted this reality.
This group of people was too conspicuous. An elegant and noble young master, a poor and pedantic scholar, an arrogant child with his nostrils raised to the sky, a proper and generous noble serving girl, and a dozen powerful guards. Anyone who paid attention would be able to guess Fan Xian's identity. Now that there were a few more little girls, it could be considered a small disguise, Fan Xian persuaded himself.
After a few more days, the official road was as smooth as a mirror. The winter trees on both sides of the road stood tall. The bustling scene suddenly appeared in front of this group of people. Looking at the busy road, the people's bright and fresh clothing, and the indistinct green city walls in the distance, only then did everyone realize that they had arrived in Hangzhou so easily.
Fan Xian sat on the horse and waved the horsewhip. In high spirits, he said, "Enter the city. Let's go find Aunt Song!"
…
…
(Too tired. Rest. Rest.)
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