Feng Shuo's fiefdom in the south included two wealthy prefectures, Yuzhou and Hengzhou. Hengzhou was on the sea and almost monopolized the official salt supply of half of the Daxuan Dynasty, while Yuzhou had always been known as a granary.
After moving to Xizhou, the imperial court cut off the supply of salt and grain to the Xizhou camp, and all the salt and grain were transported from Yuzhou and Hengzhou.
Before he rebelled, the grain route naturally would not intercept the grain and grass transported to Xizhou, but now he has to take this issue seriously.
Many ordinary people in Xizhou were still hungry, so where would the surplus food come from to supply the military camp? If the imperial court sent troops to attack Xizhou, it would directly cut off the food supply, which would be like cutting off the firewood from under the cauldron.
The staff below pondered for a moment and said, "Yuzhou is located in the central part of China. Going south, you can reach Yuzhou and Hengzhou by water. Going north, it borders Xingling, and then Xizhou. If we want to protect the grain route, we must take Yuzhou."
"Yuzhou is under the jurisdiction of Xing'an Hou, who holds the military power. If we attack by force, we will suffer heavy losses."
"Since ancient times, people have always emphasized the importance of using courtesy before force. We might as well send an envoy to negotiate peace and test the attitude of the Marquis of Xing'an."
One of the staff members spread his hands and shook his head, saying, "Who should we send? Xing'an Hou is a fierce general. If he is loyal to the court, then most of the people who go there will not come back alive."
Of course they want to win over the Marquis of Xing'an, so if they send a coward and a waste, he might get beheaded if he disagrees with them in a few words. It also shows that they do not take this alliance seriously.
But if they sent someone with courage and strategy, and he was killed by Marquis Xing'an, it would be a big loss for them.
The staff had not yet come to a conclusion when Fu Xi came into the room to add tea and whispered to Feng Shuo, "Your Majesty, Miss Jiang is here."
Feng Shuo pinched his brows and said, "Be attentive, it will probably take me a while to get over here."
As Fuxi just walked out of the room, Chi Qing came in again.
He presented the two written statements to Feng Shuo: "Your Highness, Yuan Yi went to confirm that it was the woman who escaped last night. The woman's confession was consistent with what Lu Linyuan said. She had been living in Lu Linyuan's house since she arrived in Xizhou City a few days ago. On the night of the murder in Huajie, she had an argument with Lu Linyuan and ran away from home in anger. She went to Huajie by mistake and was molested. She was later rescued by the escaped Turkic prince."
"The deceased was killed by a Turkic prince. The woman was timid. When she saw the soldiers searching, she ran away out of fear of getting into trouble. Lu Linyuan tried his best to conceal the incident because he was afraid of damaging the woman's reputation."
A decent girl was molested in a red-light district and even murdered, which was indeed detrimental to her reputation.
As soon as these words came out, the staff and generals in the room couldn't help but talk about it.
Feng Shuo asked: "Can the woman's identity be verified?"
Chi Qing said: "The household registration documents on her body don't look fake. Her surname is Li and she is from the capital."
When Feng Shuo heard that the woman was from the capital, he remembered that day in the carriage when Jiang Yanyi asked her to check the people who came from the capital. He couldn't help but feel the same strange feeling as before.
Is this another coincidence
He temporarily suppressed these doubts and slowly sorted out the doubts he found after listening to Chi Qing's report: "Ogusdan saved her? I'm afraid Ogusdan is not so kind."
Chi Qing also had doubts about this. He said helplessly, "Ogusdan is a stubborn man. We have used all the torture instruments we can, but we still can't pry his mouth open. The woman surnamed Li seemed to be unaware of Ogusdan's identity and even thought he was a girl. When I interrogated her, she kept pleading for Lu Linyuan and Ogusdan."
Feng Shuo thought about it but did not make a decision immediately.
If neither Lu Linyuan nor the woman surnamed Li lied, then what happened last night might really be just a misunderstanding, and Lu Linyuan went through so much trouble just to protect his beloved. The woman surnamed Li did not commit a crime, and if Lu Linyuan was held accountable, at most he was guilty of not reporting the crime.
Feng Shuo held the teacup with blue and white porcelain glaze in his hand, and felt the pattern on the lid with his fingertips, but he didn't drink. He said, "Take the woman to the dungeon. Make sure Ogusdan sees her being locked up, but don't let the two of them have any communication."
Chi Qing understood Feng Shuo's intention and said with a smile, "Your Highness's plan is the best."
They now suspected that the woman was an accomplice of Ogusdan, but both the woman and Lu Linyuan denied it. So just by looking at Ogusdan's attitude after seeing the woman being thrown into prison, they could deduce whether the woman was innocent or not.
Seeing that it was already noon, Feng Shuo asked his staff and generals to go downstairs for lunch first, while he went to look for Jiang Yanyi.
***
As soon as it snowed, the glazed tiles of the Feng Mansion's flower room were covered by heavy snow. The light inside was poor, and the growth of the peppers was not as good as before. Jiang Yanyi even found that the skin of several peppers that were growing more luxuriantly had turned into white shells.
She found it difficult to order the servants of Feng Mansion around, so she asked the boy who was in charge of the greenhouse to find her a wooden ladder and a thin bamboo pole. She climbed onto the roof using the ladder and used the bamboo pole to clear the thick snow off the glazed tiles.
The bamboo pole was quite long, and because one had to use one hand to hold the wooden ladder, it was really tiring to push the snow away with one hand. After just a few tries, Jiang Yanyi felt his hand was sore and painful, and it was almost useless.
She used her other hand to pick up the bamboo pole and started to clear the snow. As she was busy, she suddenly heard a deep shout: "What are you doing?"
Jiang Yanyi looked down and saw that it was Feng Shuo who came over. He seemed to be concerned about her safety. Seeing that she climbed so high, Feng Shuo's face looked a little ugly.
Jiang Yanyi said, "I'm clearing the snow off the glazed tiles! There's not enough sunlight, and the peppers are turning white."
Feng Shuo looked up at her and said, "Come down. I will send someone to clean up later."
The bamboo pole was too short to clean the area near the roof. After Jiang Yanyi handed the pole down, she was about to climb down the wooden ladder. However, the servant who was helping her to stabilize the ladder used one hand to receive the pole, and he could not hold the ladder steady with one hand, so the whole ladder tilted sharply.
The sudden feeling of weightlessness frightened Jiang Yanyi so much that her heart almost stopped beating. Fortunately, she often swung a knife to chop big bones and flipped pots and pans with one hand. Compared with a real lady, she still had some strength. She held on to the wooden ladder tightly and did not fall down.
Feng Shuo was quick to act and quickly grabbed the wooden ladder, allowing Jiang Yanyi to stabilize himself.
The servant's face turned pale with fright, and Jiang Yanyi herself was still in shock. Only when she stepped back on the wooden ladder did she feel a little more at ease.
Feng Shuo's face was particularly ugly, but he was afraid of scaring her, so he held back his temper and said, "I'll hold the ladder, you just come down step by step."
Jiang Yanyi nodded with lingering fear, turned around and was about to tell Feng Shuo that he was fine and asked him not to worry too much, but because he was standing too high, he saw Jiang Yanxi being taken away by Chi Qing on the other side of the wall.
At first she thought she was dazzled, but when she looked closely, Jiang Yanxi seemed to sense her gaze and looked over here.
The snow was flying, and the two people's eyes met in the wind and snow. One of them was as beautiful as a crabapple, and the other was as pale as a daisy.
There was shock and hesitation in both of their eyes, but there was also a hint of panic in Jiang Yanxi's eyes. She quickly retracted her gaze, and her steps became flustered.
Jiang Yanyi looked at Jiang Yanxi's back as she walked away. After being shocked, he became thoughtful.
Seeing that she hadn't come down from the roof yet, Feng Shuo couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking at?"
Jiang Yanyi came back to his senses and said, "It seems I saw an old friend."
She climbed down the wooden ladder and her hands were already red from the cold. Feng Shuo grabbed her hands and used his palms to warm them. He lost all his dignity in front of his subordinates and said with a dark face:
"You almost fell down, but you didn't learn your lesson. Do you have to break your arms and legs before you regret it? Next time you climb a ladder, don't be distracted even if you see an old friend or even the king of heaven."
Jiang Yanyi felt that he was scolding her like a child. There was a servant who was in charge of the flower room next to her. Her face was burning: "I know. Why are you so fierce?"
Feng Shuo glared at her and said, "If I don't get angry with you, you'll learn your lesson."
After he finished scolding the man, he asked about the old friend Jiang Yanyi mentioned, "Who did you see just now? I was stunned for most of the day."
Feng Shuo's words made Jiang Yanyi a little confused. Jiang Yanxi was already in his house, and Chi Qing was leading her personally. How could he not know
Jiang Yanyi looked at Feng Shuo suspiciously: "Chi Qing just brought a woman through the corridor on the other side of the wall."
When she said that, Feng Shuo knew who she was talking about. He held her hand and walked back slowly: "Didn't someone die in Huajie? That woman was related to the murder. Why, do you recognize her?"
Jiang Yanyi thought that enemies really do meet on a narrow road. Her noodle shop could be related to the heroine of the original book, but Feng Shuo really seemed to be unaware of Jiang Yanxi's identity
Under Feng Shuo's surprised gaze, she spoke with mixed feelings: "That's my half-sister."
These words were like thunder from a clear sky.
Feng Shuo thought of the two confessions obtained by Chi Qing during the interrogation and laughed angrily. His sharp phoenix eyes suppressed a hint of anger: "It seems that Lu Linyuan is really making a fool of me!"
His words startled Jiang Yanyi. Is this matter related to Lu Linyuan
It’s no wonder that Jiang Yanyi is confused. In the original book, neither Lu Linyuan nor Jiang Yanxi had any connection with Feng Shuo.
Now, because of this variable because of her, the Chu family moved to Xizhou. Also because Chu Changping had rushed to Xizhou before and brought the news that Fan Yaonian had arrived in Xizhou, Feng Shuo was able to follow the clues and arrest the Turkic prince, and see through the conspiracy of Fan Yaonian and Xie Zhizhou.
Feng Shuo and Chu Changping would not take the initiative to tell her about these military secrets, which resulted in Jiang Yanyi being completely in the dark about the current situation. Occasionally, Feng Shuo would tell her something, and she would be able to pick out some useful information from the sadomasochistic plot that occupied 90% of the book, just like a blind cat catching a dead mouse.
However, considering the degree of Lu Linyuan's infatuation with the heroine in the original book, which allowed him to live out his life alone and never marry, it is not surprising that he helped Jiang Yanxi conceal her identity.
Feng Shuo had obviously thought of this as well. He had looked up a lot of Jiang Yanyi's past and naturally knew about the entanglement between the three of them.
She once loved Lu Linyuan so much that she was willing to sacrifice half of her life for him.
Feng Shuo has been restraining himself from thinking about the past between her and Lu Linyuan. Now that she has exposed Jiang Yanxi's identity, he doesn't know whether Lu Linyuan has anything to do with it.
But Feng Shuo could feel his heart subconsciously tightening.
It feels bad when you treasure someone but there is a corner in her heart that she is thinking about someone else.
Feng Shuo wrapped Jiang Yanyi in his arms, hugged her tightly, and finally asked the question he had wanted to ask countless times before, but avoided because of pride: "If I deal with Lu Linyuan, what will you do?"
The author has something to say: Feng Hanhan: Today is also the day I’m afraid that my wife doesn’t like me.
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