In the blink of an eye, it has been a month or two since Li Mu and Shen Yi left Jiankang. In these two months, except for using relatively alternative methods to find out the Wangjiatong Japanese, the two of them have not made any achievements. .
In particular, there was some controversy before about whether the Wang family had connections with the Japanese.
As for the Linhai Guards' defeat by Japanese pirates outside Linhai City, Li Mu did not even dare to report it in detail, lest the court would get angry.
In addition, later, two people directly ransacked the Wang family's home and "appropriated" the Wang family's property, which caused a lot of controversy in the court.
Added together these various things, Li Mu, the imperial envoy, had to bear a lot of pressure from the imperial court.
But now, with the great victory of the anti-Japanese army, these pressures have finally disappeared.
Although the result of fighting against about a hundred Japanese pirates is not very great, judging from the achievements along the coast over the years, this is already a very good result.
What's more important is that this time the anti-Japanese army did not win with numbers, but with equal numbers of people, they almost defeated the Japanese pirates in a crushing situation.
Therefore, Shen Yi told Li Mu that they had some clues about their work. This sentence was a little vague. If it was more straightforward, it could be said that this time the most difficult part of the patrol work going south was Already done.
The next step is nothing more than promoting Langzhen, expanding the anti-Japanese army, and then, with the expansion of the anti-Japanese army, spreading the intelligence network of the Di News Agency.
None of this is difficult. The really difficult first step has been completed by Shen Yi.
With a smile on his face, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince took Shen Yi's hand and got into his carriage. He smiled cheerfully and said, "Don't be afraid to tell Zi Heng honestly. My father has written to me a few days ago, asking me to consider returning to Jiankang to unload my car." I'll give up this imperial envoy's job to avoid getting into trouble for the Jin Palace."
"I'm also a little shaken in my heart."
"but now…"
The Crown Prince of Jin laughed loudly and said: "Zi Heng, you have given me a great reassurance. You and I, brothers, will work together to successfully complete this patrol mission."
He pointed at Shen Yi, then at himself, and said with a smile: "It's no problem that Shen Ziheng will be ranked in the middle school in the future. Even if I can't find the words "hereditary" and "displaced", I might be able to stay there for life. The title of prince."
This sentence is quite exaggerated. Even if Shen Yi manages his errands well this time, he will only be able to get the position of director of the Ministry of War at most. He is still far away from being the Prime Minister of Zhongshu.
Mr. Shen did not accept this trick. He looked at Li Mu, squinted his eyes and smiled: "The prince said this just because he wanted my younger brother to work harder. Our two families have some connections to put it nicely, and to put it badly. , Prince Jin’s Mansion provides food, clothing, and food for my father and son. I originally went out with the prince on errands, so I should do my best, but..."
Shen Yi looked up at Li Mu and chuckled: "It's just that the prince will have to handle some of the next things in person."
At this moment, Li Mu's carriage was slowly moving. The Crown Prince of Jin looked at Shen Yi and thought thoughtfully: "What errand is the errand that Zi Heng is talking about?"
Shen Yi smiled and said: "Before we came to Taizhou Prefecture, I mentioned to the prince that the Wang family in Taizhou Prefecture is the hardest to investigate, so we have to come to Taizhou Prefecture first to avoid disturbing the public."
"Since we come to Taizhou Prefecture first, it means that the Di Reporting Department has already found out a lot about Japanese communication in other places. Some of them are conclusive evidence, and others, even if they are not certain, are at least 89% certain. "
Li Mu's expression in the carriage changed slightly. He looked at Shen Yi and couldn't help but swallowed: "How many families did you...find?"
Shen Yi looked directly at Li Mu, and after a moment, he sighed slightly: "Together, there are estimated to be twelve or thirteen families, most of them are local wealthy families, and only one is a wealthy businessman who has just made his fortune."
Li Mu swallowed again.
He looked at Shen Yi and confirmed: "Zi Heng means that these ten families are all nobles?"
Shen Yi saw Li Mu's concerns and smiled: "Don't worry, Prince, I have sent people to check the backgrounds of these families. Although many of them have family members serving as officials in the court, their grades are not too high."
"The tallest one is a fourth-grade Beijing official, which is not worth mentioning to the Crown Prince..."
"Fourth grade imperial official..."
Li Mu glanced at Shen Yi with wide eyes, and took a breath of cold air: "Which yamen is the fourth grade?"
"Zhan Shifu, less Zhan Shi."
Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the name of this yamen.
Because the Zhanshi Mansion was an official agency prepared for the prince of the East Palace, the emperor had just married not long ago, and although the empress was pregnant, she had not been born yet, so Da Chen did not have a prince now.
Without the establishment of a crown prince, Zhan Shifu would become just a decoration, so Li Mu was really not very afraid.
And if it is some senior civil servants of the fourth rank in some powerful yamen, they are really not characters that can be provoked by the Jin Palace. After all, the relationship between these civil servants is complicated, and someone may be someone's teacher.
Shen Yi smiled at Li Mu and said, "Your Majesty, we have prepared all kinds of evidence for these families' collusion with Japanese invaders. We are just waiting for the Crown Prince to punish them personally..."
This time when we went south to patrol the sea, Li Mu was undoubtedly the protagonist, because there were some things that he had to do.
For example, go and harvest the nobles who are in these places and are in trouble with the Japanese.
Many of these noble families were local wealthy families. They communicated with the Japanese pirates, and not all of them were supporting the Japanese pirates. They just wanted to maintain their status in the local area, or do some business with the Japanese pirates in private.
What's more important is that many of these noble families have backgrounds. For example, there is a Jinshi master in the family, or a Jinshi uncle serving in the court.
If it was about two families, Shen Yi might grit his teeth and go ahead with it, but offending more than a dozen noble families at the same time was not something that he, the eighth-level newspaper secretary, was qualified to handle.
This sea patrol has not been completed yet, and his body may be cold.
Only members of the Li family can bite the bullet and offend so many people.
Li Mu took a deep breath for a long time, then looked at Shen Yi intently, and said with a wry smile: "With the virtues of you civil servants, each one of you is pulling out the carrot and bringing out the mud. There are more than a dozen civil servants, and the forces involved behind them will probably involve half of them." A civil servant class."
The carriage drove slowly, Shen Yi smiled and nodded: "Your Majesty, if you want to do something, you must not be afraid of offending people. Today, I am the Crown Prince, and everyone you offend will be recorded in your future credit book."
"Say it."
Li Mu lowered his eyebrows and said, "What should I do?"
Hearing his words, Mr. Shen smiled slightly, with a kind smile.
"It's very simple. Your Majesty, please lead a team of people and check the list along the way. After checking, arrest those who deserve to be arrested and kill those who deserve to be killed."
"The main thing is to check the cash."
Mr. Shen looked sincere and said: "In this world, many things do not involve anything but cash. With enough cash, the expansion speed of the anti-Japanese army will not be a problem."
"Copycat more than a dozen families..."
In the carriage, Li Mu had a complicated expression, he was a little scared but also a little excited.
"Okay, I will set off in a few days. According to the list you gave Ziheng, I will arrest them one by one."
Having said this, he smiled slightly, his tone full of emotion,
"I just hope that when I do things for the court, my family won't be affected..."