Xiao Cunzhi hurriedly returned to Beijing, told Wanyan Zongwang what happened in Tokyo, and then knelt down to plead guilty: "The villain failed to complete the task and betrayed the trust of the second prince. I also ask the second prince to punish me."
Wanyan Zongwang helped them up, laughed, and said: "You three don't need to blame yourself. I didn't expect that I could succeed this time. After all, this incident has been in the past for a long time. If it had just happened, then I wouldn't need to send you at all."
Go and get up." He said and shook his head with a smile: "You are such a good cook. As far as talking skills are concerned, I am really convinced. I just don't know what your other skills are like?"
Xiao Cunzhi said: "Second Prince, this person is just a talkative person, so there is nothing to worry about!"
Wanyan Zongwang waved his hands and said: "You can't say that, his economic construction is beyond what ordinary people can imagine. However, no matter how powerful he is, so what, with such a weak emperor, how can the Southern Dynasty be destroyed?
Ha ha."
"Report!"
Following a long shout, a man rushed in quickly and said: "I would like to report to the Second Prince that General Wanyan has discovered traces of A Shi'er near the north."
Wanyan Zongwang opened his eyes suddenly and said, "Is this true?"
"The villain dare not deceive the second prince. General Wanyan also asked the villain to send a message to the second prince. A Shi'er is already a turtle in the urn, so the second prince should be prepared."
"Okay, okay! This is really a great happy event! But ---." Wanyan Zongwang hesitated, seemed to have thought of something, walked a few steps in the room, and suddenly said: "Go back immediately and tell Zong Han
.Let him not rush to capture A Shi'er first, and find a way to force A Shi'er near Yanshan Mansion."
"ah?"
Wanyan Zongwang smiled and said: "That's what you said. Ah Shi'er is the best excuse for us to send troops to the Southern Dynasties. Zong Han will understand. Go quickly."
"yes."
.......
Fuzhou!
Han Shizhong was sitting in the room, holding a letter in his hand, lost in thought.
After a while, a young woman in a red dress came out of the side room. Seeing Han Shizhong's sad face, she asked curiously: "Husband, why are you worried?"
Han Shizhong was slightly startled. He turned around and saw that it was his wife Liang Hongyu, and said, "It's Hongyu! You came just in time. Please give me some advice for your husband." After a pause, he continued: "The emperor has decreed.
Let me send some fleets to Hangzhou and other places to help those merchants transport goods."
Liang Hongyu heard this and said curiously: "Since the emperor has already issued the decree, why do you still hesitate?"
Han Shizhong sighed: "If that's the case, my husband should obey the emperor's order and dare not violate it. However, Commander Bu also sent a letter." He handed over the letter in his hand as he spoke.
Liang Hongyu curiously took it and took a look, with a look of surprise on her face, and said: "Shuai Bu asked you to lead all the navy in Fuzhou to Chuzhou by transporting goods?"
Han Shizhong said: "Look further down."
Liang Hongyu continued to read, and after a while, she exclaimed: "The Kingdom of Jin is going to start a war with me, the Song Dynasty."
Han Shizhong sighed and said: "This is what makes me embarrassed. If this news is true, then why did the emperor personally order me to go? It can be seen from this. This is just Bu Shuai's meaning, not the emperor's. Bu Shuai
I am the commander-in-chief of Sanya, and I don’t have the tiger talisman. If I transfer the troops to Chuzhou without authorization, I will be disobeying the military order and be punished with death."
Liang Hongyu lowered her head and remained silent for a moment. After a moment, she suddenly said: "Since your husband knows that this is illegal, why are you hesitant?"
Han Shizhong said: "Commander Bu has shown me the kindness of knowing me. If I listen to him, it will be against military law. But if I don't listen to him, I will let Commander Bu show me the kindness of knowing me. It's really disappointing."
It’s difficult to live a good life for your husband.”
Liang Hongyu said: "In that case, why don't you put all this aside and start from the overall situation."
Han Shizhong snorted and said, "Based on the overall situation?"
Liang Hongyu nodded and said: "If what Bu Shuai said in his letter is true, then the Jin Kingdom is likely to go south. I remember my husband once said that the defense north of the Yellow River is in name only. If the Jin Kingdom suddenly invades, then the north of the Yellow River will soon be
If it falls into the hands of the enemy, it will directly threaten Tokyo. If my husband goes, the most we will lose is our couple's lives. But if my husband doesn't go, once the Jin Kingdom really sends troops, then our couple will be eternal sinners."
Han Shizhong was stunned for a moment, nodded and said: "You are right, I, Han Laowu, almost became a sinner through the ages." He said and shouted towards the outside: "Here comes someone!"
"What are your orders, general?"
"Transmit my military order. Three days later, all the naval forces will follow me to Chuzhou."
"As commanded."
...
Dengzhou.
Zongze sat on a chair, closing his eyes and meditating. He also held a letter in his hand. After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Here comes someone!"
After a while, a person walked in.
Zongze said: "Go down and organize ships to dock at Yanzhou and Qizhou immediately, and be on standby at any time."
"Lord Zhizhou, why is this?"
"This is an order."
"As commanded."
...
Bianliang, Tokyo.
Fan Lou.
"Oh, the economic envoy came to visit, it's really brilliant!"
Fan Lou had just opened the door when a distinguished guest was welcomed, it was Li Qi. Fan Shaobai hurried out to greet him.
Li Qi said angrily: "Come on, come on, these words make my ears tingle. Is it necessary to say the same thing every time?"
Fan Shaobai chuckled and said, "I don't have the eloquence of a financial expert. I can only say these few words back and forth."
"Don't come here."
Li Qi snorted lightly, and then whispered: "Can I take a step to talk?"
Fan Shaobai was stunned, nodded, invited Li Qi into the back room, and then called all the servants out.
Li Qi got straight to the point: "Shaobai, you and I are old friends. I don't want to talk nonsense anymore. I'm here to borrow money."
"Borrow money? You---you want to borrow money?"
This surprised Fan Shaobai. How much money Zuixianju had now. Although he didn't know clearly, he knew that it must be far more than Fan Lou.
"Exactly. I know that you and I both run restaurants. It is indeed inappropriate to come to you to borrow money. If it were not an emergency, I would not come to trouble you. But don't worry, this money has nothing to do with the business. It is
My own business."
Fan Shaobai frowned and said, "Can you tell me what it is?"
Li Qi shook his head.
Fan Shaobai pondered for a moment and said, "How much do you want to borrow?"
Li Qidao: "How much can you lend?"
Fan Shaobai said: "Economic envoy, although you have helped me a lot, when my father was still alive, he also helped you in Zuixianju. Our two families share weal and woe. This is a business where I can borrow money to make ends meet.
I understand, but you said this is your private matter. And you refused to tell me the reason, so I think we should keep things official so as not to hurt the relationship between the two families. What do you think?"
Li Qi nodded and said: "That's reasonable. No matter how much you borrow, I will pay it back within two years." As he said that, he took out a piece of paper from his arms and said, "This is the IOU."
Fan Shaobai saw that Li Qi had even prepared the IOU. Knowing that he was definitely not joking, he picked it up and looked at it carefully, and said in surprise: "You mortgaged all the shares in Zuixianju to me?"
Li Qi smiled and said: "Zui Xianju's shares are not as valuable as you think."
After all these words, Li Qi even gave away his family property. Naturally, Fan Shaobai couldn't say anything more. He said, "Wait for me for a while."
"Please."
"Excuse me."
Fan Shaobai went out as he said that. After a while, he walked in and said, "I can only spend 50,000 yuan at most now."
"Thank you."
"Li Qi, did something big happen?"
Li Qi smiled and said: "It's nothing big, just some personal matters, but I hope this can be kept secret. Even Gao Yanei and the others can't tell."
Fan Shaobai nodded and said: "Of course I know that. I will send someone to deliver the money when the time comes."
Li Qi stood up and said, "Thank you very much."
After coming out of Fan Tower, Ma Qiao asked: "Bu Shuai, where are you going next?"
Li Qidao: "The Zhou family's autumn harvest is coming soon. This year's autumn harvest is far better than last year. Those grain merchants will definitely release some more grain. It's the best time to buy grain. I can't let this opportunity slip away from my hands. Let's go."
"
As he said this, he got into the carriage. Because he was so tired from running around in the recent days, he had to use the carriage instead to save his energy.
Ma Qiao drove the carriage for a while, and suddenly the carriage stopped, and a childish voice sounded in front of him, "Is this Uncle Ma Qiao?"
Li Qi opened the car curtain and took a look, only to see a little girl blocking the way.
Ma Qiao nodded dullly.
The little girl quickly came forward, handed a paper ball to Ma Qiao, and said, "Someone asked me to give this to you."
Ma Qiao took the paper ball out of curiosity and was about to ask the little girl who asked her to give it to him, but the little girl skipped away after handing the paper ball to him.
Ma Qiao was stunned for a moment and looked at Li Qi again.
Li Qidao: "Open it and take a look."
Ma Qiao opened the ball of paper and saw only one sentence written on it---Meet you at Qiao's Dried Preserved Store in Zhouqiao Night Market at 3:00 today.
There was no name, no reason, just such a simple sentence, but Ma Qiao was horrified and exclaimed: "This---isn't this---?"
Li Qi asked curiously: "What is it?"
Ma Qiao said: "Commander Bu, do you still remember that someone tipped me off when you were assassinated?"
Li Qi raised his eyebrows and said: "Of course I remember, if it hadn't been for that person, I would have become a dead soul by the sword. It's a pity that we didn't find out who did it at that time? Why do you ask this?"
Ma Qiao said: "Because--the handwriting on this paper is exactly the same as the handwriting on the original note!"
"What?"
Li Qi exclaimed and said, "Did you remember it wrong?"
Ma Qiao said angrily: "I even got this wrong. Because something happened suddenly that night and I almost lost my life, so I still remember the handwriting on the note fresh."
After many days, the mysterious man appeared again, and he was still at this critical moment. This made Li Qi's mind very confused. You must know that any small accident now may cause his overall plan to fail.
.
Ma Qiao said: "Bu Shuai, shall we go?"
Li Qi pondered for a moment and said: "On the surface, the man said that he was giving it to you, but in fact he wanted you to notice his handwriting. In fact, he was asking me to go. Go. Why not go? Since he saved me, he must have