After the immortal disappeared

"It's just a little felt towel to wash away the travel dust."

But when the palace guards took the basket, they found it was very heavy. Apparently the gifts inside were not just "felt towels".

In fact, in the basket, in addition to a soft frosted sheep felt worth ten gold pieces, there was also a fragrant bead that could absorb the odor of sweat, a piece of mutton fat white jade, and five small goldfish, each worth ten gold pieces.

As soon as they met, Island Master He gave each of them hundreds of thousands of dollars, which made Commander Zhao's serious face relax a little: "Island Master He is interested."

He Lingchuan said politely and asked Fan Shuang: "Brother Fan, have you checked the gift?"

The carriage is ready for departure, and there are sixteen boxes of gifts in total.

"It's been tested." Fan Shuang said with a smile, "I tested it with Commander Zhao, it's great, there is no problem!"

"Seal the box."

He Lingchuan gave an order, and everyone from the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce climbed onto the carriage and sealed the box with strips.

Everyone boarded the car and the car rolled towards the east.

The trip to Yao Kingdom finally started.

…

Soon, it rained heavily.

The Weng brothers were still huddled in the mountain col.

This natural stone recess is too narrow to squeeze two big men in; the leaves on the top are a bit sparse and cannot block such a heavy rain.

Water drops flowed down the rock crevices, making a series of ding-dong sounds at the feet of the two of them.

They were already wet, but fortunately they were strong.

Wengsu was still staring at the entrance to the valley. The rain curtain reduced visibility and he could barely see the situation on the ground.

Weng Xing wiped the water from his face: "Brother, is Xue Zongwu coming yet?"

Watering it like this doesn't seem to be an option. But if they look at the sentry from another place, they can't see the mouth of the valley.

The two brothers waited impatiently for several hours. The hour was almost over and they still hadn't seen the shadow of Xue Zongwu's team.

"The weather is bad, he may have changed his itinerary temporarily." The weather in the mountains changes suddenly, and no one can be sure.

"Then what should we do?" Weng Xing touched his belly. The few pancakes for breakfast were gone and he was hungry again.

Although there was still dry food, he especially longed for a steaming bowl of oily noodles, preferably with a little fragrant meat sauce on top.

Three mouthfuls. He could finish a bowl of noodles in just three mouthfuls.

"Here." Weng Su handed him a wine bag, "Drink some wine to warm yourself up."

Weng Xing took it and drank a few gulps.

"Xue Zongwu will definitely come after the rain stops at the earliest and tomorrow morning at the latest!" Weng Su was full of confidence. "If he doesn't come here, where else can he go!"

￥￥￥￥￥

He Lingchuan finally stepped into Yao Kingdom.

This is the core area of ​​the entire Golden Plains, a truly blessed place, with good weather and abundant products for many years. Seventy percent of the land of Yao Kingdom is plains, making it a well-deserved plains country. Its area is second only to Luodian, but its water, soil and climate are much better than Luodian.

There is a large river, the Baitiao River, which runs through the north and south of the Yao Kingdom, with countless branches extending from it, like capillaries all over the Yao Kingdom, transporting the river water to all parts of the plain.

After entering Yao Kingdom, Fan Shuang, as the designated guide by King Yao, actively introduced the customs and customs of various places to He Lingchuan.

All the way east from the border, the towns and villages He Lingchuan passed became more and more prosperous and popular.

Although they are all in the countryside, the road conditions and maintenance are much better than other places in Shanjin. There are also an endless stream of cars and business travelers.

He Lingchuan also visited two or three markets and found that the goods sold here were exquisitely handmade and rich in variety. He even saw hundreds of kinds of candies and cakes in a small market in the countryside. He refused to leave.

From a businessman's perspective, He Lingchuan found that the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the Yao people were far superior to those in other places, and their trade was also quite developed. They were indeed more dynamic and worthy of investment than other countries on the Golden Plains.

Fan Shuang smiled and said to He Lingchuan: "Our country is the most prosperous place on the Golden Plains. VIPs and promising people from all over the world want to settle in Yao Country."

"Prosperity and stability are what everyone yearns for." He Lingchuan smiled, "Who wouldn't want to come to a good place?"

The Golden Plains were miserable and barren, and only Yao Country was stable and prosperous. Of course, others would break their heads and squeeze in here.

As people go to higher places, money flows to more places. For so many years, Yao Kingdom has had both people and money, and has lived an extremely prosperous life in the so-called "Land Abandoned by Heaven".

Two days later, they arrived in Dou County.

As mentioned in He Lingchuan's information, although they are both county towns, the area and population of Dou County are less than 30% of Taoshui. There have been no high-ranking officials or prominent families here. It is just a small, nameless county. The richest local man could only build a gate tower one foot high.

King Yao's birthday is approaching. It stands to reason that officials, merchants and transportation teams rushing to the capital usually do not go here.

Dou County was not their first choice.

However, He Lingchuan and his party wanted to settle down in Dou County. They found two or three inns, but they were all full!

Fan Shuang was surprised: "Ah, there are so many people in Dou County recently?"

He Lingchuan's heart moved: "Isn't this usually the case?"

"Well, it's usually very quiet here." They happened to pass by a restaurant, which was bustling with people.

Fan Shuang repeatedly expressed her apology for the poor arrangement, and then used her connections to get a room in the best local inn for He Lingchuan.

As for the rest of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce, they have to stay in another inn.

"No, there's no need for it." He Lingchuan refused neatly, and it was obvious that he was not being hypocritical. "You don't have to pay so much attention when you go out. Just find me a clean inn. I want to stay with my brothers. It doesn’t matter if the location is a little off.”

We don’t live together and have difficulty moving around.

He insisted again and again, and Fan Shuang had no choice but to comply, and sure enough, he found a quiet place to live near the county town.

The inn is clean and spacious, but the location is a bit out of the way.

This played right into He Lingchuan's and others' plans.

Only when there are few idle people can we move easily. With so many people coming and going in Dou County today, it is no longer a suitable cover location.

In this operation, He Lingchuan took Wang Fubao and a dozen Yangshan soldiers with him, as well as Fan Shuang and his entourage, as well as six palace guards specially assigned to He Lingchuan by King Yao!

As long as there were no complications on He Lingchuan's journey to Yaodu, there would be almost no danger, so King Yao sent a few people to him as a token. Both parties knew that the real trouble would come after he saw Qingyang.

Wan Qifeng led his men to wander around, secretly spying on information and tracking Xue Zongwu for him.

Therefore, He Lingchuan actually brought out two teams this time, one bright and one dark.

After having dinner with Fan Shuang and returning to his own courtyard, He Lingchuan's face became solemn.

He had an ominous premonition.

Before it got dark, Wang Fubao came in and quietly handed He Lingchuan a note: "Information from Wanqi."

He Lingchuan finished reading it in two or three eyes, his face as dark as water.

Dong Rui's heart skipped a beat: "What happened?"

"Xue Zongwu did not enter the Taoshui River, but went around it." He Lingchuan pressed his knuckles, "Not only Xue Zongwu, many dignitaries also bypassed the Taoshui River. The current Taoshui River is not as lively as Dou County. ”

"Why is this?" Dong Ruiqi asked, "Didn't you say that these powerful people are going to Taoshui to worship the Feng family and build relationships?"

"The Feng family also closed its doors to thank guests." Wan Qi Feng took a special trip around the Feng family and found that there were few cars and horses there, the Feng family's gate was closed, and almost no one came to visit. "It seems that something happened in Taoshui."

This disrupted He Lingchuan's arrangement.

Xue Zongwu had never entered Taoshui, so the original sniper plan naturally failed.

Plan No. 1 failed before it even started.

He Lingchuan will not give up easily: "We have to rush starting tomorrow. With Fan Shuang, our speed is a bit slow."

But they couldn't just leave Fan Shuang and King Yao's palace guards behind.

Dong Rui suggested: "Where will Xue Zongwu's next stop be? If they miss Taoshui, they have to find a place to stay."

"It's troublesome." He Lingchuan stroked his chin, "They gave up Taoshui and headed northeast. I'm afraid they are going to the ferry to take a boat!"

"Shall we go too?"

"We were going to go." Taking a boat is the easiest way.

That night, news also came about the eyeball spider that He Lingchuan secretly placed on Fan Shuang.

Changes in the Feng family in Taoshui——

The Grand Supervisor Guo, who was a member of the imperial court, accused the left prime minister, Feng Zhirao, of accepting huge sums of money and forming cliques for personal gain!

It is rare for officials to be clean-minded, especially since Yao country is a wealthy place, and bribes are not even small enough to be put on the table. However, the amount Zuo Zaifu received during his imprisonment was a bit large, more than four million taels of silver.

Four billion yuan, when this figure was announced, the people in the capital of Yao Kingdom became excited.

Common people can't earn so much money in ten lifetimes.

And the word "more" than four million taels is still under further verification, and no one is qualified to erase the zero.

Of course, people's attention is focused on the amount of huge bribes, but He Lingchuan and Qingyang's focus is on the words "forming parties for personal gain."

Bribery is certainly hateful, but these four words are what really offend the king's taboo.

It had been less than seven days since this incident broke out, and the people in the remote town had not heard about it yet, but the upper-class nobles should have known about it. Fan Shuang has been abroad for a long time. When he asked someone tonight, he was shocked.

No wonder everyone dared not go to Taoshui, just to avoid suspicion in this highly sensitive period, so as not to be regarded as a "party friend" of the Feng family.

Of course Xue Zongwu would not go. There was Qingyang in the royal court who was eyeing him, and he did not want to get dirty at this time.

…

Baitiao River, Longkou Ferry.

Viewed from a high place, this ferry looks like a wide-open dragon's mouth, with teeth like whiskers, hence its name.

The Weng brothers stood on the mountainside, looking at the thousands of sail boats racing below, feeling a little dumbfounded for a moment.

"Th-so many ships?"

The Longkou Ferry was covered with sails like flags, and ships came and went. There were dozens of large ships and no less than 200 small boats.

"We just passed this ferry three months ago. There were at most five or six ships at that time, right?" Weng Xing murmured, "What's the matter, Xue Zongwu wants to go here, and other officials and dignitaries are coming to join in the fun?"

"I don't know what happened to Taoshui. They didn't go. They all crowded here to catch the boat." Weng Su's brows were about to knot. "It's troublesome, there are so many people!"

The nobles who rushed to the capital did not go to Taoshui, so they all turned to Longkou Ferry.