Chapter 1389

"Just a small felt towel to wash away the dust of the journey for you all." But when the palace guards took the baskets, they found them very heavy; clearly, the gifts inside were more than just "felt towels."

In fact, besides a piece of fine, soft felt made from frost-sheep wool worth ten gold, the baskets also contained a fragrant bead that could absorb sweat odor, a piece of mutton-fat white jade pendant, and five small gold fish, each worth ten gold.

Just upon meeting, Island Master He had gifted them each hundreds of thousands of coins, which caused Commandant Zhao's serious expression to loosen slightly: "Island Master He is very thoughtful."

He Lingchuan exchanged a few polite words and asked Fan Shuang: "Brother Fan, have the gifts been verified?"

The carriages were already packed and ready to go; there were sixteen boxes of gifts in total.

"Verified." Fan Shuang laughed, "Commandant Zhao and I verified them together; they are excellent, no problems at all!"

"Seal the boxes."

At He Lingchuan's command, the members of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce climbed onto the carriages and sealed the boxes with labels.

Everyone boarded the carriages, and the wheels rumbled as they moved eastward.

The journey to the Yao Nation had finally begun.

At the hour of the sheep (1-3 PM), heavy rain poured down.

The Weng brothers were still huddled in the mountain hollow.

This natural stone recess was too narrow to fit two grown men; the leaves on top were a bit sparse and couldn't block such heavy rain.

Water droplets flowed down the rock crevices, creating a series of tinkling sounds at their feet.

They were already soaked through, but fortunately, they were strong and robust.

Weng Su was still staring at the valley entrance; the curtain of rain reduced visibility, and he could barely see the situation on the ground.

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

Being rained on like this didn't seem like a good solution. But if they moved to another spot to keep watch, they wouldn't be able to see the valley entrance.

The brothers waited eagerly for several hours; the hour of the sheep was almost over, and they still hadn't seen a shadow of Xue Zongwu's troop.

"The weather is bad; he might have changed his itinerary temporarily." The weather in the mountains changes in an instant; no one can be sure.

"Then what do we do?" Weng Xing touched his belly; the few pancakes from breakfast had been consumed, and he was hungry again.

Although they still had dry rations, he particularly longed for a bowl of steaming hot oil-splashed 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 skin. "Drink some wine to warm your body."

Weng Xing took it and gulped down a few mouthfuls.

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

￥￥￥￥￥

He Lingchuan finally stepped into the Yao Nation.

This was the core area of the entire Flash Gold Plain, an unadulterated blessed land; for many years, the weather had been favorable, and the produce had been abundant. Seventy percent of the Yao Nation's territory was plains; it was a country of plains in every sense of the word, and its area was second only to Luodian, but its soil, water, and climate were much better than Luodian's.

A great river—the Baiquan River—ran through the Yao Nation from north to south, and countless branches extended from it, like capillaries spread throughout the Yao Nation, transporting river water to all parts of the plains.

After entering the Yao Nation, Fan Shuang, as the guide designated by the Yao King, actively introduced the local customs and conditions to He Lingchuan.

From the border all the way east, the towns and villages He Lingchuan passed became increasingly prosperous, and the popularity became more and more flourishing.

Although they were all in the countryside, the road conditions and maintenance were more than a notch higher than in other parts of the Flash Gold Plain; carriages and travelers were in an endless stream.

He Lingchuan also visited two or three markets and found that the goods sold here were exquisitely handcrafted and rich in variety; he even saw hundreds of types of candies and pastries in a small rural market, all lined up in a row, colorful and very eye-catching, and children surrounded them and refused to leave.

From a merchant's perspective, He Lingchuan saw that the Yao people's clothing, food, housing, and transportation were far superior to other places, and trade was quite developed; it was indeed more vibrant and worthy of investment than other countries on the Flash Gold Plain.

Fan Shuang smiled and said to He Lingchuan: "Our country is the most prosperous place on the Flash Gold Plain, and dignitaries and ambitious people from all countries hope to settle in the Yao Nation."

"Prosperous and stable, everyone yearns for it." He Lingchuan laughed, "Who wouldn't want to come to a good place?"

The Flash Gold Plain was miserable and barren; only the Yao Nation was stable and prosperous, so others naturally broke their heads trying to squeeze in here.

People move to higher places, and money flows to places with more. For so many years, the Yao Nation had gained both people and wealth, living exceptionally well in this so-called "Land Abandoned by Heaven."

Two days later, they arrived at Dou County.

Just as described in He Lingchuan's intelligence, although it was also a county seat, the area and population of Dou County were less than thirty percent of Tao Water's. No high officials or influential clans had ever come from here; it was just an obscure little county. The wealthiest household in the area had only built a gate tower one zhang high.

The Yao King's birthday celebration was approaching; logically speaking, officials, merchants, and transport teams heading to the capital usually didn't take this route.

Dou County was not their first choice.

However, He Lingchuan's party wanted to stay in Dou County, and they found that two or three inns were actually full! Fan Shuang was very surprised: "Oh my, are there so many people in Dou County recently?"

He Lingchuan's heart stirred: "Is it not like this usually?"

"Uh, it's usually very quiet here." They happened to pass by an eatery, which was bustling inside, full of people.

Fan Shuang expressed his apologies for the poor arrangements again and again, and then intended to use his connections to get a superior room for He Lingchuan at the best inn in the area.

As for the others from the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce, they would have to stay at other inns.

"No need, absolutely no need." He Lingchuan refused very decisively, and it didn't look like he was being hypocritical at all. "When traveling, one doesn't need to be so particular; just find me a clean inn. I want to stay with my brothers; it doesn't matter if the location is a bit remote."

If they didn't stay together, it would be inconvenient to act.

He insisted repeatedly, so Fan Shuang had no choice but to comply, and he indeed found a quiet place to stay on the edge of the county seat.

The inn was clean and spacious, but the location was a bit remote.

This was exactly what He Lingchuan and the others wanted.

With fewer miscellaneous people, it was easier to act. Like the current Dou County, with people coming and going, it was no longer a suitable cover location.

For this operation, He Lingchuan brought Wang Fubao and a dozen Yangshan warriors with him, along with Fan Shuang and his entourage, as well as the six palace guards specifically sent to He Lingchuan by the Yao King! On He Lingchuan's journey into the Yao capital, if no complications arose, there was almost no danger, so the Yao King only sent a few people symbolically. Both sides knew that the real trouble would only arrive after he met Qingyang.

Wanqi Feng led his men to roam the periphery, secretly gathering intelligence for him and tracking Xue Zongwu.

Therefore, He Lingchuan had actually brought two teams this time, one in the open and one in the dark.

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

He had an ominous premonition.

It wasn't dark yet when Wang Fubao came in and quietly handed He Lingchuan a note: "Intelligence from Wanqi."

He Lingchuan finished reading it in a few glances, his face as heavy as water.

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

"Xue Zongwu didn't enter Tao Water, but bypassed it." He Lingchuan pressed his knuckles. "Not just Xue Zongwu, many dignitaries also bypassed Tao Water. Tao Water is not as lively as Dou County right now."

"Why is that?" Dong Rui wondered, "Didn't you say that these dignitaries all wanted to go to Tao Water to visit the Feng family and pull strings?"

"The Feng family has also closed its doors to guests." Wanqi Feng specifically walked around the Feng family's area and found that carriages and horses were sparse, the Feng family's main gate was tightly closed, and almost no one was visiting. "It seems there have been some changes in Tao Water."

This disrupted He Lingchuan's arrangements.

Xue Zongwu hadn't even entered Tao Water, so the original ambush plan naturally fell through.

Plan One failed before it even began.

He Lingchuan wouldn't give up easily: "We have to hit the road tomorrow. With Fan Shuang, our speed is a bit slow."

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

Dong Rui suggested: "Where will Xue Zongwu's next stop be? Having missed Tao Water, they have to find a place to stay."

"Troublesome." He Lingchuan stroked his chin. "They abandoned Tao Water and turned northeast; I'm afraid they are going to the ferry to take a boat!"

"Are we going too?"

"We were going to go anyway." Taking a boat is the least strenuous.

That night, the eyeball spider He Lingchuan had secretly placed on Fan Shuang also sent news.

Changes in the Feng family of Tao Water—

The Grand Overseer impeached the Left Chancellor Feng Zhirao in court, accusing him of accepting huge sums of money and forming cliques for private interests! Officialdom rarely has clean hands, especially since the Yao Nation is a wealthy place; small bribes wouldn't even be put on the table. However, the amount the Left Chancellor was accused of accepting was a bit large: over four million taels of silver.

Four billion coins; when this number was announced, the people of the Yao Nation's capital were in an uproar.

Commoners couldn't earn that much money in ten lifetimes.

And the "over" in "over four million" taels was still being further verified; no one had the authority to round it down.

Of course, the people's attention was focused on the huge amount of bribes, but He Lingchuan and Qingyang's focus was on the four words "forming cliques for private interests."

Corruption is hateful, but these four words truly touched the monarch's taboo.

This matter had only just broken out less than seven days ago; people in remote small cities hadn't heard of it yet, but the upper-class nobles knew everything. Fan Shuang had been on a diplomatic mission abroad for too long; when he asked someone tonight, he was shocked.

No wonder everyone was afraid to go to Tao Water; they were just avoiding suspicion during this highly sensitive period, so as not to be seen as the Feng family's "clique."

Xue Zongwu naturally wouldn't go either; with Qingyang eyeing him covetously in the royal court, he didn't want to get stained at such a time.

Baiquan River, Dragon Mouth Ferry.

Looking down from a high vantage point, this ferry looked like a wide-open dragon's mouth, with whiskers and teeth clearly visible, hence the name.

The Weng brothers stood halfway up the mountain, looking at the thousands of sails competing for passage below, and were momentarily stunned.

"Th... this many boats?"

The Dragon Mouth Ferry was full of sails like banners, boats coming and going; just the large boats numbered in the dozens, and there were no fewer than two hundred small boats.

"We passed through this ferry three months ago, and at most there were five?" Weng Xing muttered, "What's going on? Xue Zongwu is taking this route, so all the other officials and nobles are coming to join the fun?"

"I don't know what happened in Tao Water; they aren't going there anymore, and they're all crowding here to catch a boat." Weng Su's brows were almost knotted together. "Troublesome, so many people!"

Dignitaries rushing to the capital weren't going to Tao Water, so they all turned to Dragon Mouth Ferry.

Thanks to the reward from the user "Desire is Motivation," we have another new Meng Lord~!

(End of chapter)