Six sea-going ships were lined up in a row, occupying a long section of the pier. The goods on these six sea-going ships made the merchants guarding the pier jealous, and the soldiers who came off the ships were even more intimidating.
The traders were jealous of the goods on the ship, but they did not dare to bully newcomers, and the prices were still fair.
The sea breeze is blowing, and the pennants on the ships are ringing!
It seems to show the strength of the owners of these ships. Now that the business has been negotiated, the merchants who left with the goods will also look back at the soldiers on these ships.
The costumes are unified, but I don’t know which force the general is from. I must find out clearly when I go back, so that I can have an idea next time I do business.
Of course, some of these spies were sent by the palace steward.
Except for what he kept for himself, all other cargo was emptied. Ye Fei walked to the bottom cabin and said to the hundreds of pirates squatting inside: "Since you have decided to surrender and submit to our princess, you must be loyal in the future. If you let me
I know whoever dares to stab him in the back will not be spared, I will definitely tear off his head and kick him with a ball!"
After that, Ye Fei got out of the stuffy cabin first. The soldiers who came in behind drove all the prisoners out of the cabin and asked them to disembark and prepare to go to the military camp first.
If these pirates can live in that sea area for more than ten years, they must have excellent skills. Since they are now surrendered to the princess, they must receive training next.
However, the thousand elites who went to sea this time will select soldiers who are not seasick, train with these pirates, and organize them into a navy to prepare for future voyages.
The spies reported back. When Zeng Yan learned the news, he did not dare to delay for a moment and reported back to King Qian.
King Qian was shocked when he heard the news heard by Zeng Yantan, "What did you say? The princess brought back six ships of supplies from one trip to sea? And she sold them all directly at the port?"
When he heard the news, he could no longer care about the princess going to sea for a few days. His attention was completely attracted by several ships of supplies.
The two gentlemen who stayed with King Qian looked at Zeng Yan with the same surprise, suspecting that he had got the news wrong.
After going out to sea, she got six ships of supplies. Isn't there gold and silver on the sea for her to pick up?
Seeing King Qian's shocked expression, Zeng Yan felt a little more balanced. When he first got the news, he was also shocked. He gave Xia Jing a thumbs up in his heart. There was no one in the palace who could not tolerate her!
However, at this moment he answered King Qian's question with great certainty, "This is absolutely true. The person in charge at the time was Captain Ye who was with the princess. After the goods were sold out, Captain Ye took the soldiers back to the military camp. Stopping at
The six ships at the dock have also sailed away. It should be that the princess has her own port."
King Qian and the two gentlemen looked at each other and felt numb. His princess always walked in front of him when doing things, making it difficult for him to catch up behind her.
Mr. Zhang sighed, "The Princess is thoughtful about everything and moves a few steps ahead of us. We have been working hard to strengthen the power on the mainland these days, and she is already building a maritime power. The Princess is forward-looking.
It’s something I couldn’t catch up with, so I’m really ashamed!”
Mr. Yan, a person who likes to be silent, couldn't remain silent at this moment. He said: "Actually, these things are ultimately about lack of money and food. I have no food in my hand and feel panic in my heart! I have no money in my pocket and lack of courage! So,
Money and food limit the depth of our thinking about problems.
Now that the troops and horses in the hands of the prince have reached a certain scale, according to Lingnan's taxes this year, they may not be enough to feed and clothe them. If we want to expand further, we will be in danger of running out of food, unless we can purchase food from other places."
Leaving aside ordnance for the moment, several iron mines have been discovered in Lingnan, and there is no shortage of ironware in Lingnan for the time being.
After hearing what he said, King Qian turned to look at Zeng Yan and asked, "Can you find out where the princess got her several ships of supplies?"
Zeng Yan wiped the sweat from his face and expressed his guess: "According to the spies' report, they found that when Captain Ye led the team back to the military camp on the outskirts of the city, there were hundreds of prisoners in their team. These prisoners looked very well-dressed.
She behaves a bit like a pirate, so do you think the princess’s several shiploads of supplies were stolen from pirates’ lairs?”
Mr. Zhang nodded, "It's possible that the princess likes to make strange moves, and raiding pirates' lairs seems like her style."
King Qian had been living in the capital and had never been out of the capital area since he was a child. He knew very little about maritime affairs. He asked the two gentlemen, "Are all pirates rich?"
In his impression, the sea is vast and boundless, there are absolutely few passing ships, and the environment is harsh. In such a predicament, shouldn't pirates be so poor that they can only drink seawater?
Why did he take what they said to mean that pirates were richer than bandits on land?
Mr. Yan has some knowledge of this aspect, "Ships often have fixed routes when sailing on the sea. Pirates can easily find targets as long as they stick to fixed routes and wait. If they find that the target is something they can deal with, they will attack. Generally,
When pirates attack, the attacked fleet will not be able to escape unless there is an accident, and will only have the fate of being plundered."
King Qian was not familiar with the sea, but he was interested in everything about it, so he couldn't help but ask a few more questions, "From what you said, pirates seem to be very powerful. Why did the princess plunder six ships of supplies as soon as she took action?"
Do you think these pirates are too weak or the princess is too strong?"
"Pirates are distributed according to their work, and they are definitely willing to fight for wealth. Sea-going caravans are often servants or hired crew members who receive wages. It is a bit unrealistic to expect salaried crew members to find pirates to exchange their lives for their lives." As for the princess.
Why he was able to defeat the pirates again? Mr. Yan guessed: "The princess may have raided the pirates' lair this time because she was unexpected and attacked them unprepared!"
After hearing this, Mr. Zhang glanced at Mr. Yan thoughtfully. This young man did not understand the situation and dared to say anything. From what he said, it seemed that the princess had become omnipotent.
King Qian seemed to have thought of something, his eyes lit up, and he asked the two gentlemen, "My king's soldiers and horses are no worse than the princess's. Do you think it would be okay if I also sent a team of men to raid several pirate nests at sea?"
Transport a dozen ships of supplies back?"
"Ahem!" When Mr. Zhang heard this, he was so shocked that he choked on his own saliva. Under the gaze of several people, he stopped coughing and asked a very practical question: "Your Majesty's proposal is a good idea, but we
Now that all the troops and horses have been sent to pacify Annan, where will the troops and horses come from to go to sea?"
King Qian also thought of this incident and asked with some regret: "Now that our army has limited pay and food, and our troops and horses are out on the battlefield, what do you think we should do?"
There's no way he can ask Xia to borrow it!
These words stopped the two gentlemen for a moment. If they can't change the money and food, what should they do?
They have also tried their best recently. According to the princess's wish, they cleared the fields and helped pay, suppressed bandits, and raised a lot of food and wages.
It's just that the government health office in Lingnan was so bad and corrupt that when he took over, even all his efforts could not fill this huge hole!
When Mr. Yan saw the memorial on King Qian's desk, he suddenly had an idea.
He pointed to the memorial on the desk and said, "Your Majesty, the border guard station on the Annan border did not submit a memorial last time to increase food and salary. We can intervene from here to reduce our food and salary expenses."
King Qian looked at the memorial on the desk and did not understand its meaning for a moment, "What does it mean? Please explain your method to me in detail."
Mr. Yan took a sip of tea and continued: "According to Wei Chen's understanding, it was common practice for the guards in various places in the Yu Dynasty to pay empty wages. Even if they were registered soldiers, most of them were just using their weapons to fill their positions. Wei Chen believes that the same situation should be the same for the guards in Lingnan.
We can reject their memorial and ask them to report their true strength, and our food and salary will be distributed based on the actual strength of the army, so we can save part of our food and salary."
King Qian was overjoyed that this matter could be done, but before he decided, he turned to Mr. Zhang and asked, "What do you think of this proposal, sir?"
Mr. Zhang thinks Mr. Yan’s proposal is very good. “We have previously implemented policies such as re-digging the land and clearing out hidden households in Fucheng. In fact, the two have similar approaches and results. Now we are pursuing another round of funding and rectifying the health centers.
It’s not impossible.”
In recent years, the imperial court's control over local areas has become increasingly weak. Anyone with some power or position is thinking about how to make money. Who in the official position would be so stupid that he would act independently and fight against the entire officialdom?
Therefore, it became a tacit understanding among everyone that the guards camp was on empty wages.
Of course, it is different now that Lingnan is a prince's fiefdom. It is impossible for the master to ignore it and develop based on it knowing that his slaves have committed corruption.
"Since it is feasible, then send people to various military stations to check!" King Qian must be happy that his burden can be relieved. He turned to Anu, who was standing behind him, and said, "It's up to you to arrange who to send there."
Anu did not refuse and agreed without hesitation.
At this time, Mr. Zhang added: "If you encounter a servant pretending to be a guard soldier, the palace will not provide money to support it. If it is a servant, then whoever's servant will support it himself. If you want the palace to support it, then just
The servants can be confiscated, and they can be given two days to think about it. After they have considered it, they can make their own choice."
During the Huiyuan period, the imperial court could not collect taxes and taxes, and the national treasury was empty. This resulted in the imperial court being in arrears with military pay for the army.
Neither the guards nor the border garrison soldiers received military pay. Without food and military pay, these teams were so hungry that they had no choice. Some elites were raised by the commander in the name of servants. In fact, they were personal soldiers, private soldiers, in order to avoid others.
The ears and eyes are called servants.
No one would be stupid enough to expose anything that goes beyond the rules.
King Qian looked at Anu.
Anu nodded, indicating that he had written it down.
When Xia Jing returned to the palace, she rushed into the bathroom, washed herself and went to sleep. She didn't know what happened in the study in the front yard.
It was already dark by the time she woke up.
"Do you want to have a meal, princess?" Bai Mei asked from outside.
"Um."
Xia Jing responded, stretched, put on her clothes and got out of bed. She wandered around on the boat for a few days. She felt uncomfortable after getting off the boat. Maybe she hadn't gotten used to it yet.
Hongmei came in and lit a few more lamps. Seeing that Xia Jing was not energetic, she asked: "The princess has not recovered yet?"
Xia Jing rubbed her cheeks and nodded: "I am exhausted, I feel weak and uncomfortable!"
"After you finish your meal, I will massage it for you. I will use the essential oil I made last time to massage you. Maybe you will feel more comfortable after a good sleep."
"Okay, you can have this."
The so-called essential oils were made by Xia Jing while she was hiding at home some time ago and she asked the maids to make them. The utensils used were all brought out from her dimension.
There are many flowers in Lingnan. It was a pity that these flowers were ruined, so they asked the maid to make essential oil.
Due to her physical exhaustion, Xia Jing didn't eat much in the evening, so she had her food taken away after a while to satisfy her stomach.
After taking another bath and letting Hongmei massage her gently and gently, Xia Jing soon fell asleep again.
The next day, King Qian got up early. After exercising, he wanted to have breakfast with Xia Jing.
But when he finished washing and rushed to Yiguiyuan, Xia Jing had already left the house with her maid and bodyguard.
King Qian looked at the empty room, the expression on his face changed several times.
Anu noticed the expression on his master's face. His dead eyes were looking straight away, and his cold face was trying hard to maintain his character.
After a long time, I heard the resentful words of King Qian coming from above my head, "My heart and soul have been wasted!"
Then he threw up his sleeves and left.
Anu glanced at the empty room and quickly followed without saying a word.
After Xia Jing left the house, she went to the iron workshop first, and then came out. Her carriage was followed by about ten carriages.
In a teahouse near the North City Gate, Tong Song stood by the window and noticed a dozen carriages on the street. The leading double-headed carriage was from Prince Qian's Palace without asking.
Looking at the style of the carriage, we can tell that the person sitting inside is Princess Qian.
But where is Princess Qian going with a dozen carriages?
Niu Yongcheng saw him standing by the window staring in one direction, so he stood up and went to the window, "Master Tong, who are you looking at? Did you see a beauty?"
After that, he craned his neck and looked out, only to see a long motorcade queuing up at the Beicheng entrance.
He said "Huh", "Whose fleet is this? It's a big green carriage. It's quite a handiwork."
Tong Song said calmly: "From Prince Qian's Mansion."
"Prince Qian's Mansion?" Niu Yongcheng was slightly surprised, and stretched his neck to look outside. Now he focused his attention and saw the two-headed carriage in the front, "This is Princess Qian's carriage!"
Tong Song didn't answer him, turned around and sat back on the chair, "Speaking of it, we were lucky the last time we went to Luofu Mountain to suppress bandits. As soon as we abandoned Luofu Mountain and came out, we heard that the prince's uncle was injured."
Niu Yongcheng also sat back in his chair and ignored the extra carriage team. He took over the conversation, "Who says it's not the case? Fortunately, we gave up Sima Lu's command. Otherwise, with the strength of Sima Lu's command, even if we found their
We can’t do anything to them in our lair, and they might even encounter danger.”
Even Li Chengshang, who was protected by layers of guards, could be assassinated. They felt that their protection could not be stricter than Li Chengshang.
In this way, if they find Sima Lu's troops, it is not known whether the other party will be harmed, but the teams organized by several of their forces will be destroyed.
"I heard that the prince's uncle is dead? Have you heard the news?" Tong Song felt that the news was not true, so he asked Niu Yongcheng to confirm it.
Niu Yongcheng pointed to his brain and whispered: "I heard that the wound infection caused a fever. The fever lasted for three days, and in the end the person was burned into a fool."
Some people say that this book should be about farming or not. First of all, let me declare that this book is not about farming~