Su Chen finished arranging the fleet affairs and was going back to the Governor's Mansion to talk to Li Chengqian and Fang Xuanling.
When he walked to the door, he found a steward waiting for him at the door.
The steward, Lao Liao, stepped forward excitedly and said, "Master, I have been in Panyu for a while."
"I heard that a large number of naval fleets have entered the port. As expected, young master, you are back!"
"Master, you have been away from home for more than a year..."
Su Chen smiled and said: "It's true that I've been away for a long time this time. Why don't you come back now?"
"Go in and ask, why are you here in Guangzhou?"
Lao Liao was one of the first people to follow Su Chen, but Su Chen remembered that he sent him to the Japanese country, so why did he come to Guangzhou?
Lao Liao followed Su Chen into the house and replied: "Master, the princess said that our family will send a fleet to Nanyang in the future. If we need to dock in Guangzhou for supplies, I asked Lao Nu to come to Guangzhou to make a forward stop."
"Wang Qian is also in Panyu. He is recruiting and training sailors here."
Su Chen: "Wang Qian?"
"Weren't you all in Japan before?"
Hearing Su Chen's question, Lao Liao sighed and said, "Young Master Li just came back from overseas, and I haven't reported it to you yet."
"Master, all our gold mines in Japan are gone!"
Su Chen frowned: "When did it happen?"
Lao Liao: "It disappeared last year!"
"A few days after the young master led his army to leave the Tang Dynasty, pirates broke out everywhere in the Wuhu Sea, Whale Sea and other northern seas."
"There are still people behind the scenes who are inciting the Japanese people to rebel."
"So the princess withdrew all our family members from Japan."
Su Chen nodded: "Forget it, we'll talk about it later."
"Lao Liao, does our family have a fast boat in Guangzhou?"
Lao Liao: "Yes, there are two clipper ships!"
Su Chen: "That's good. By the way, how many flying shear ships have been built?"
"This old slave doesn't know very well. There are about seven or eight ships."
Su Chen: "So few?"
Last summer, Su Chen gave the blueprints of the clipper ship to the shipyard. More than a year has passed before so many ships were built.
"Master, I heard that the shipyard has been busy building warships for the imperial court."
While the master and servant were chatting, someone from the governor's office came to greet Su Chen, saying that he was invited by the governor.
Lao Liao: "Master, you go and do your work first. I am waiting for you here."
Su Chen also wanted to ask Fang Xuanling about something, so he went to see Fang Xuanling first to see if he had anything to do with him.
When I arrived at the main hall of the Governor's Mansion, I saw Li Chengqian and Fang Xuanling there.
"Lord Protector, when will the naval fleet head north?"
After a few pleasantries, Fang Xuanling asked directly.
"We plan to set sail in three days. What are your orders from the Prime Minister?"
Fang Xuanling waved her hand: "How dare you!"
"But I do have something to ask the commander for help."
Su Chen smiled and said: "You are so polite, Mr. Fang, what can I do?"
As long as it's within my ability, I won't shirk it."
Fang Xuanling nodded: "Then I'll just tell you the truth."
"When the commander leads his army north, can he go to Liuqiu and take a look around?"
Su Chen was stunned: "Liu Qiu?"
"That big island on the other side of Fuzhou?"
During the Tang Dynasty, the island was called Liuqiu, which could easily be confused with the Ryukyu Islands to the north.
Fang Xuanling nodded: "That's right there."
"This is not a difficult task for the commander's fleet, right?"
Su Chen: "That's not difficult. It's only a day's flight from Fuzhou to Liuqiu."
"However, can the Prime Minister tell me what you want me to do and where specifically?"
Fang Xuanling shook his head: "I don't know very well, and I don't know what the commander will find there."
Su Chen's eyes widened: "Fang Xiang, you are in trouble now."
"Liuqiu Island is more than 800 miles long and 300 miles wide. If you go to any specific location, the naval fleet can wander around such a big road!"
Fang Xuanling sighed: "It's not that I'm embarrassing the commander-in-chief, it's just that I don't know the specific situation."
"I'd better tell you from the beginning..."
"Fang Xiang, it's up to me to tell the teacher!"
Li Chengqian said.
Su Chen was happy: "What on earth is going on?
It is so difficult for His Highness and the Prime Minister to speak."
"It's hard to speak?
no."
"It's just that it's a bit long to say."
Su Chen drank coconut juice and listened to Li Chengqian speak slowly.
"Teacher, do you still remember that when we passed Fuzhou last year, we accidentally discovered that the number of ships passing from the north to the south was wrong?"
Su Chen thought about it for a moment: "About this, the governor of Fuzhou said that he only saw ships going south, but no ships going north."
"After we arrived in Fuzhou, there were no ships heading south."
"Didn't His Highness report it to His Majesty?"
Li Chengqian nodded: "The Prime Minister told me today that my father sent someone to investigate this matter."
"Qisi has been investigating along the coast for several months and only figured it out at the end of spring this year."
"It turns out that the ships heading south started heading east to sea after arriving in Nghe An."
"Father suspected that they went to Ryukyu."
Su Chen was stunned: "Yi'an?"
Fang Xuanling asked someone to get a map and said: "When I came to Panyu, I found that there were many ships coming from the southwest, and then after arriving in Nghe An, they also headed east to sea."
Su Chen looked at the map and saw that the place Fang Xuanling was pointing at was not Chaozhou?
From there, heading east to the sea, you can indeed reach the southern end of Liuqiu.
Li Chengqian continued: "My father once sent people to Liuqiu to investigate, but none of the ships sent came back."
"Judging from what we encountered in Malacca, there is probably a maritime force of considerable strength near Liuqiu."
Su Chen frowned. The remnants of the family occupied Liuqiu?
"So the Prime Minister wants the Navy to go to Liuqiu and see what's going on?"
Fang Xuanling: "That's true."
"I don't have any available ships, and your fleet happens to be competing, so I want to ask the commander to take a detour."
Su Chen looked at the map, but did not agree directly. He asked with a smile: "What is the prime minister's idea of asking the fleet to go to Liuqiu?"
Fang Xuanling sighed and said: "The commander-in-chief has been in Dashi far away for more than a year, and he still doesn't understand some things well."
"There is a very huge force overseas now.
It has seriously threatened my country, the Tang Dynasty."
Su Chen smiled and said: "Those remnants of the clan, right?"
Fang Xuanling nodded: "In the more than a year since the Marshal's expedition to Dashi, great changes have taken place in the Tang Dynasty."
"Those dormant aristocratic families have quietly transferred the strength they have accumulated for hundreds or thousands of years overseas."
Su Chen: "Has this started a long time ago?"
"I remember that before leaving Guangzhou last year, the prime minister asked my son to ask me that strange question, which shows that the prime minister had already noticed it."
Fang Xuanling sighed: "I was just suspicious at the time, but I didn't expect them to be so decisive."
"No one in the court expected that their strength would soar so quickly after they arrived overseas."
"It is rumored that they have established several countries overseas to unite with each other to deal with me, the Tang Dynasty."
