The Qi Kingdom was once the most powerful country in this land. The country was prosperous and its people were at peace. The rivers were clear and the seas were calm. Its military prowess intimidated its neighbors.
However, that was in the past.
Several years ago, the Jing Kingdom rose at an unstoppable speed and left the surrounding countries far behind. The Qi Kingdom was prosperous and its people were at peace. The Qi Kingdom was at war … The glorious history of the Qi Kingdom became a thing of the past.
Of course, that was only in comparison to the dazzling Jing Kingdom.
In fact, other than being unable to catch up to the Jing Kingdom, the Qi Kingdom was still powerful. It was much more powerful than the Wu Kingdom and the Zhao Kingdom. However, even this had changed not long ago.
The development of the entire matter could be said to be full of twists and turns.
The Emperor suddenly passed away. The Crown Prince happened to be away from the capital. The Third Prince took the opportunity to launch a coup and seize the capital.
Then, the Crown Prince came back from the brink of death. In an extremely short period of time, he took control of all the military forces in the capital region. He was in a stalemate with the Third Prince for more than a month now.
In order to conquer the capital as quickly as possible, the Crown Prince used almost all the resources and power in the capital region. He disregarded the consequences. In order to gather enough money, countless rich and powerful families had their properties confiscated. No one knew how many commoners were mobilized. At that time, there were countless refugees. In order to prevent the loss of population, many states in the capital region even sealed the city gates and forbade anyone from entering or leaving …
Although this policy had been loosened, one still had to go through strict checks when entering or leaving the city.
"Hey, you guys, stop right there!"
When the guards saw someone come in, they immediately shouted and quickly walked over.
In recent days, most of the people entering and leaving the city were refugees. It was rare to see such well-dressed people. Naturally, they had to be more careful.
In this group of six, three were white-haired elders. The other three were a burly man, a young man, and a young man. This was a rather strange combination.
The guard took a look and quickly waved his hand, saying, "Let's go, let's go …"
Although these people did not look like refugees, they did not carry any weapons. They were also not the important people that the First Prince had asked them to check. There was nothing to check.
As long as the spies on the Third Prince's side were not released, they would not receive much punishment.
Li Yi and the others walked into the city, planning to find a place to settle down.
This was the capital of Shengzhou. It was where they were when he received Lin Wanru's last letter.
The city of Shengzhou wasn't big. It couldn't be compared to the big cities in the future, but it was bigger than the counties in the future. Even so, it wasn't easy for them to find them in the city.
After all, this was not the capital, nor was it Shuzhou, nor was it Ruyi …
This was an area occupied by the Qi Kingdom. They did not have any influence here. It was not an easy task to find a few people.
Xu Zheng walked around the street, and when he came back, he said, "I found a few strongholds of the Holy Religion, but this place is very close to the capital, so it's not easy to get in touch with them, just in case."
Li Yi nodded and said, "Don't act rashly for the time being."
In addition to Chang, Xu and Tian, Fang and Xu Zheng also came on this trip.
Fang had nothing to do, and Xu Zheng had something important to do. Finding Wanru was the most important thing, and if possible, he wanted to establish the Holy Religion …
Of course, they couldn't act rashly now. This place was close to the headquarters of the Holy Religion, and it was in someone else's territory. If Taoist Nun found out, it would be a little troublesome even if they had three Grandmasters.
After all, even a Grandmaster couldn't fight against so many people. If they really surrounded the city with tens of thousands of soldiers, even a Grandmaster couldn't do anything, although the possibility was very small.
In Shengzhou, several shops of the Qian family had been closed, and even sealed. The Qian God of Fortune was Zhao Yi's number one henchman. If Zhao Zheng got the chance, he would naturally not let the Qian family go.
The Lin family's business had not had time to expand to Shengzhou, but looking at the fate of the Qian family, even if the Lin family had a shop in Shengzhou, it would be difficult to find them.
Almost all the clues were cut off.
Li Yi also thought of putting up a notice, but this was Shengzhou, and the Lin family had long been labeled as King Feng. This would be too ostentatious, so he immediately ruled it out.
"If you can't find her, let her come out to find you. Do you really need to make it so difficult?" Chang's voice was always so gloomy.
Fang said in surprise, "We don't even know where Miss Lin is. How can we let her come out on her own?"
Chang De looked at him and said, "If we strip you naked and hang you on the city wall, everyone in Shengzhou will know. If Miss Lin sees you, she will know that we have arrived."
Fang silently hid a little further away. This old man could not win in a fight, nor could he win in an argument. It was best to hide a little.
He remembered that the son-in-law had said before that people who were physically handicapped would often be mentally handicapped. It seemed that it was true today.
He turned to look at Li Yi and said, "Son-in-law, I think it is better for us to take our time to think about it."
"The longer we delay, the better." Li Yi shook his head and said, "I think there is some truth in what Chief Steward Chang said."
Fang looked at him and moved to the side.
What Chang said made sense. Naturally, it was not to strip Fang naked and hang him on the city wall.
It was the most time-consuming and laborious way to find him, and the efficiency was the worst.
Only by breaking the rules could it be effective.
In this Shengzhou, the one with the greatest authority and the greatest influence naturally belonged to the provincial governor of Shengzhou.
Once he became the provincial governor of Shengzhou, the remaining work would be easy to carry out.
Fang stood on the street and stopped a passerby who was hurrying by. He asked, "May I ask how to get to the provincial governor's manor?"
That person looked at him and asked, "Are you also going to attend the wedding banquet of the young master of the provincial governor?"
"Wedding banquet?" Fang started and asked, "What wedding banquet?"
… …
A moment later, Fang walked back again and said, "Son-in-law, the provincial governor's manor is holding some kind of wedding banquet tonight. It's said that the young master of the family of the provincial governor of Shengzhou is going to marry some number of concubines. Should we go and join in the fun?"
Li Yi thought for a moment. Today, they were going to the provincial governor's manor of Shengzhou to cause trouble. Picking an auspicious day for the wedding of the son of the provincial governor to cause trouble, wasn't this a little too much?
"This provincial governor is really not a good person. What time is it now, and he's still using the excuse of marrying a concubine to extort the wealth of the people. The commoners outside are very resentful …" Fang had an indignant expression and said, "It's said that the son of the provincial governor of Shengzhou has already married seven concubines …"
Li Yi suddenly felt that it wasn't too much. He thought for a moment and said, "Let's do it tonight."
… …
Today was an auspicious day. The son of Provincial Governor Ma was going to marry his eighth concubine today.
Of course, it was an auspicious day for the Ma Residence, but it wasn't for the commoners of Shengzhou.
Every time the son of the provincial governor married a concubine, they would have to pay a tax for this reason. In the past, it was still fine. It was a good year, and they could still endure such a tax every year. But not long ago, they had already been extorted by the crown prince. If they were extorted by Provincial Governor Ma again, they would be a little tight on money.
However, in the current Shengzhou, the words of Provincial Governor Ma were like the imperial edict. Those who listened could still live, but those who didn't would only have a path to death.
The commoners secretly complained about this, but on the surface, they didn't dare to say anything even though they were angry.
At the city gate.
A few soldiers guarding the city were leaning on the city wall. One of them looked at the sky and said, "Tonight is a big banquet at the provincial governor's manor. If we close the city gates earlier, we might be able to get a bowl of wine to drink …"
"Extremely right, extremely right …"
"It's not common to see a banquet at the provincial governor's manor …"
"Although we can't sit at the table, we can still stand outside and drink a mouthful of wine …"
"Why don't we close the city gates earlier!"
… …
His words received the unanimous approval of the people around him.
The young master of the provincial governor was marrying a concubine. Although the etiquette wasn't very complicated, and there was no need to bow to the heavens and the earth, the banquet wasn't shabby at all. Even if they passed by the entrance of the provincial governor's manor and said a few auspicious words, they would still be able to get some wine to drink.
The few of them discussed for a while and decided to close the city gates earlier. However, when the city gates were closed halfway, they suddenly heard the hurried sounds of horse hooves in front of them. The few of them raised their heads and saw a huge horse charging over. The three of them were so scared that they lost their spirit and hurriedly dodged.
That steed brushed past them and disappeared into the city. Only then did the few of them regain their senses. They cursed loudly, "Which idiot is it …"
That person had already disappeared. The few of them cursed and closed the city gates again.
At this moment, in Shengzhou City, a white-robed female stopped a passerby and asked, "How do I get to the provincial governor's manor?"
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