In Longan, the capital of Longbei Province, bursts of salutes and firecrackers rang out.
Prince of Black Mountain Castle, Marshal of the Griffin Legion, Director of the Black Mountain Special District, and Prime Minister of Zhenjiang Province Lu Ming, accompanied by Princess Alice, visited Longan City.
Longbei Governor Ren Zhonglin led a group of civil and military officials to the airport to welcome them.
Last year, Marshal Lu was still holding the title of "Advisor to the Longbei Provincial Advisory Council", but after he married Princess Alice, his title was immediately changed to "Permanent Honorary President of the Longbei Provincial Advisory Council".
In fact, the Longbei Provincial Advisory Council does not have a president. Its members are all bigwigs from the Longbei factions, and it is a consultative and deliberative body for all parties.
The status of this "Honorary Dean" is implicitly above all the elders of the Longbei faction, and is on par with the governor Ren Zhonglin. It is naturally the highest honorary title in Longbei Province.
That evening, a grand banquet was held at Ren Zhonglin's official residence to welcome His Royal Highness the Prince and Princess.
At the ball, His Royal Highness the Prince and Her Royal Highness the Princess were naturally the absolute protagonists. The military and political elders of Longbei, with their wives, gathered in a circle and applauded the dancing couple, many of them with envy in their eyes.
The image of the two dancing together was recorded by photographers on the scene and has become one of the most precious recorded images in history.
…
Snow Viewing Garden is the villa of Mao Zhongyin, the richest man in northern Longbei and the father-in-law of Ren Zhonglin. It was newly built and no one lives there yet.
You can’t actually enjoy snow in the Snow Viewing Garden, as the fact that it once snowed in the North Region is only a legend. However, the rockery in the garden is rugged and the pines and cypresses are swaying, giving it a bit of the charm of winter scenery.
Today, this garden has been given by Ren Zhonglin to the Prince and Princess, and more than ten days ago, they sprinkled clean water on the garden, burned incense indoors, and cleaned it as carefully as possible.
The sleeping palace was really as magnificent as the imperial palace in the previous life. It was built with seven rooms, decorated with ornate beams and painted pillars. The father-in-law of the Northern Territory warlord was really not afraid of shortening his life.
After entering the dormitory, Lu Ming reached out to dismiss the people around him. Seeing Alice looking inside curiously, Lu Ming smiled and said, "You must be exhausted. Don't take a shower today. Go to bed and rest!"
Banquets, dances, although this little girl is young, she has an innate air of dignity. In addition, she acts in a very strict manner and speaks in a noble and majestic manner, making people forget her age.
Moreover, perhaps she also has a special ability to influence the perceptions of those around her.
Even Lu Ming seemed to have an illusion at that time, as if the person before him was the noble and beautiful princess.
But when he returned to the residence, Lu Ming saw her frowning slightly when she entered the yard. In order to make herself look taller, she wore high heels under her wide skirt, which made her look like she was walking on stilts. It must have been very uncomfortable.
"Just today. From tomorrow, you don't have to show up. The rest are all conspiracies. Just have fun and let us follow you. You don't have to entertain the local ladies. They are not qualified."
Seeing that Alice wanted to say something, Lu Ming reached out and picked up her little body, took a few steps, and put her into the moon-shaped bed.
When Lu Ming moved, Alice did not struggle and let him do what he wanted.
The bed was very big, probably four meters long and more than two meters wide, and was covered with brand new bedding, bright yellow quilts, which were extremely soft.
Lu Ming untied the laces of Alice's homemade high heels from her skirt, took them off her snow-white lace feet, and said with a smile, "Have a good rest, and take a shower tomorrow morning. I'll change your bedding and blankets for you tomorrow."
Alice didn't say anything, her big blue eyes blinked as she just looked at Lu Ming quietly.
Lu Ming smiled, reached out and took out a lollipop from his arms, "Do you want more today?"
Alice's green eyes lit up and she nodded her head.
"You can do whatever you want today!" Lu Ming handed her the lollipop, "But don't forget to ask Emily to get the toothbrush to help you rinse your mouth before going to bed."
Alice nodded and said crisply, "Yeah, I know."
Lu Ming was very happy. No one in the Northern Territory had ever called him a bad guy, and he seemed very well-behaved and obedient.
I wish it could stay like this forever.
But when he came out of the bedroom and saw the beautiful girl with silver hair and silver eyes standing outside the bedroom, Lu Ming's heart trembled.
Emily is Alice's personal maid and has been with Alice since she was born.
Lu Ming had a vague feeling that this guy was quite strange, probably similar to Bizhu or Liuli, and was the guardian of Alice.
I didn’t know whether I was happy or sad for a moment, and walked towards my dormitory with all sorts of thoughts in my mind.
…
Although Ren Zhonglin also liked to take a few puffs, the more intimate the meeting was and the closer he was to the person, the more he liked to talk about things in the smoking room.
But he and Lu Ming prepared fragrant tea and snacks, obviously knowing that his Royal Highness the Prince hated the Fu Shou Cream.
The tea room where he had a secret conversation with Lu Ming was in the backyard of the Governor-General's Mansion. Basically, even his closest subordinates had never been here. It was usually where he played cards with his concubines.
Ren Zhonglin was a skinny old man, his eyes were a little cloudy from smoking opium, but occasionally when he rolled his eyelids his eyes sparkled, and he was obviously a very shrewd person. His addiction to opium was a root he had developed in his youth, and as a child of the upper class in northern Longnan, there was nothing he could do about the trend.
"My dear brother, you also know that the affairs of Longbei are not decided by me alone. Damn it, my old brothers are more cunning than the other!" Ren Zhonglin drank tea, shook his head and sighed.
Half an hour ago, he proposed to establish a patriarchal relationship with His Royal Highness the Prince. No matter what Lu Ming thought, he had to agree.
Lu Ming understood that for the people of Zhongzhou, the oath of eight sworn brothers was probably more reliable than any secret agreement.
If you don't agree, it means that you don't really want to cooperate with him sincerely in your heart, and it means that you are just using him for your own benefit.
Of course, sworn brotherhood is also a combination of interests, but at least, there will be certain constraints from a moral perspective before both parties betray each other.
Ren Zhonglin's proposal of sworn brotherhood was a test, but also a prerequisite for true cooperation.
If we don't agree to Ren Zhonglin, then there will be no way we can reach any conclusion today.
Hearing Ren Zhonglin's words, Lu Ming smiled and said, "Sun, Ma, Zhao, and Chen have all sent me invitations. In the next few days, brother, I think my schedule will be very full."
Sun, Ma, Zhao and Chen are the four major families in Longbei. Together with the Ren family, they rule Longbei.
Ren Zhonglin slapped his forehead, "Damn it, they are so impatient! Seeing that I have been suppressing them and not taking any action, they think I just want to maintain the status quo and have no ambition to make progress, so they want to convince me through you!"
Lu Ming smiled and said, "They can't wait to go to Anshan to share the fruits, but the people of Anshan are tough, so it's better to plan before taking action. Marshal Qi of the Northern Frontier couldn't wait and sent troops into Anshan ten days ago, but I heard that he suffered instead."
Ren Zhonglin said with a "Pooh", "This Qi Huaide only knows how to play with women's belly buttons. He is the belly button commander, and he is good at playing with women!" He glanced at Lu Ming, "Brother, is that bastard An Laoheng dead or not? Why do I feel that your information should be more accurate than mine?!"
Lu Ming pondered for a moment, "From my Black Mountain intelligence network, I judge that there is a 90% probability that he has passed away. There must be an expert in the An family who is keeping the death a secret in order to maintain this period and allow the successor to take over smoothly."
"Damn it! I knew it!" Ren Zhonglin slammed the table, "So, why should we send troops there now? Isn't it too unrighteous? Lao Qi is the most shameless, he will take advantage of anything he sees. Besides, if you ask me, Anshan is dirt poor. If we really want to take care of the things over there, we have to feed those poor people, otherwise we'll have to worry about them rebelling. Collecting that little bit of tax is not enough to worry about!"
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Brother, I don't agree with this. In this era of large-scale industry, labor is very important, especially cheap labor. As long as they have food to eat, they will not rebel. That is a very precious resource."
Ren Zhonglin glanced at Lu Ming and said, "Brother is old and doesn't understand these things anymore!"
Lu Ming pondered and said, "We can wait a little longer until the civil unrest in Anshan breaks out. Then, our Black Mountain Army and Big Brother's Longbei Army can take joint military action to maintain peace. An Laoheng owes Big Brother 20 million, right? We have to get this back. In fact, this is not a private loan, but a public account, right? It is owed by Anshan Province to Longbei Province. Of course, this account cannot be cancelled just because Anshan changed its ruler, right?"
Ren Zhonglin smiled, "Yes, brother, you are right. This is a public account. When I lent it to An Laoheng, I didn't lend it to him personally." He let out a sigh of relief, "Then let this guy die! I was very angry at first!"