The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 120 What is the Prince's Plan?
After waiting for a while, the prince's team arrived.

Cui Weihua stood on the top of the city wall and saw a large team coming from afar.

The troops leading the way were undoubtedly those of King Gong. Cui Weihua had dealt with King Gong several times before and could recognize at a glance several weapons unique to King Gong's army, such as muskets and hammers, which were not seen anywhere else.

In the middle of the team, there was a young man riding a tall horse, dressed in gorgeous clothes. His face could not be seen clearly from a distance, but the way he dressed was not something an ordinary person could do.

Behind the team was a huge crowd of people like a tsunami. Almost all the villagers from dozens of miles around came and followed behind to watch the fun.

Cui Weihua couldn't help but think in his heart: It seems that at least half of the rumors in the countryside are true. The prince really drifted to Guanhai Salt Field and has been with Prince Gong in recent days.

There are two possibilities here!

One is that once the prince fell into the hands of the palace king, he was placed under house arrest and was not allowed to leave.

Second, the prince was injured and should not be moved from where he is recuperating at Prince Gong's place.

No matter what the possibility is, Cui Weihua can only go to meet him. He cannot go to meet him on the city wall. If the prince walks to the city gate, he, a county magistrate, is still on the city wall. Do you want to look down on the prince from a high position?

He quickly came down from the city wall, walked out of the city gate, and waited respectfully.

The chief clerk and the officials were all waiting respectfully at the back.

Madam Gong Er led the army and walked to Cui Weihua first. She dismounted, smiled, and said nothing.

Cui Weihua didn't dare greet her. If he said, "Long time no see," wouldn't that be like telling the onlookers that they had met before? That would more or less lead to the charge of "collaborating with thieves."

The rebel soldiers spread out at the city gate to protect the middle area.

The prince finally approached on his tall horse. When he got close, he fell off the horse. Although his movements were not as smooth as those of a military general, they were very smooth. This showed that he often rode tall horses and performed ceremonial processes, and was not the kind of person who was acting out a show on the spur of the moment.

Cui Weihua quickly said, "I am Cui Weihua, the Magistrate of Jimo County. I don't know..."

I didn’t know how to ask for a moment. Should I just ask: I don’t know if you are real or fake?

A gentle smile appeared on the young prince's face. In fact, Yue Wenxuan was controlling him. "There's no need for courtesy, County Magistrate Cui. My young prince, Zhao Shi, has fallen on hard times and disturbed the people. I'm truly uneasy."

When Cui Weihua heard it, he immediately knew, Zhao Shi, this is the seventeenth prince.

He was captured by the Jin Kingdom during the Jingkang Incident and is said to be imprisoned in Wuguo City now. Combined with the stories I heard a few days ago about "killing 100,000 Jin thieves and breaking out, falling into the sea and drifting to Jimo", when put together, there is really some connection to the story.

Cui Weihua had only heard of this prince before, but had never seen him in person. He did not expect him to be so gentle, polite and without airs.

Cui Weihua couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, did you really...break through the Jin army and escape from the Jin Kingdom?"

Zhao Zai spread his hands and smiled bitterly, "How is that possible? That's just a rumor spread by ignorant folks in the countryside. How could Xiao Wang be so powerful? To be honest, Xiao Wang and Fifteenth Brother staged a play. Fifteenth Brother pretended to kill Xiao Wang, and Xiao Wang escaped by faking his own death. He fled to the coast and found a small boat, hoping to row south of the Yangtze River... Shortly after rounding the Jiaodong Peninsula, we were suddenly hit by a strong wind. My followers desperately rowed the boat towards the shore, but it still capsized. Xiao Wang and his entourage all fell into the sea. Alas! Xiao Wang also drank a lot of seawater. After finally floating to shore, he was saved by these heroes."

A righteous man? Cui Weihua glanced at Madam Gong Er and thought: All right! The other thieves are indeed thieves, but it is reasonable for King Gong to be called a righteous man.

The story is so smooth that there is no flaw to be found.

Cui Weihua couldn't figure out whether the prince in front of him was real or fake. Anyway, he waited respectfully and called him "Prince". Who cares? He asked carefully, "What are your plans next?"

After saying this, he turned to Madam Gong Er and asked, "What are Prince Gong's plans?"

Madam Gong Er: "I don't have any plans. Once I get the person to the county town, I'll be fine and can leave anytime."

"Huh?" Cui Weihua was secretly shocked. "Wasn't Prince Gong holding the prince in his hands?" It seems I was judging others by my own standards.

Zhao Ye said, "The young prince has no plans, so he will stay here for the time being. Please quickly report to the governor of Laizhou and ask him to send a team of soldiers to escort the young prince back to Yangzhou to see his brother the emperor."

The more he talked about wanting to go back to Yangzhou, the more genuine he seemed.

Cui Weihua's doubts were mostly dispelled. He quickly invited Zhao Zai into the city and arranged accommodation for him. Then he quickly wrote a letter to the prefect of Laizhou, saying that Wang Zhao Zai was with him and asking the prefect to make a decision...

Yue Wenxuan threw the plastic Zhao Ye to Cui Weihua temporarily, and immediately switched his focus to Master Ye.

He wanted to follow the perspective of Wu Jialiang and his group to see what was happening outside.

In ancient times, transportation was slow and there were no telephones, so news transmission was extremely slow. Jiaodong was not a very important place and was a corner forgotten by the court. Any important news would probably not be sent to the Jiaodong Peninsula immediately. Just like the news of Zong Ze's death, it was still Ma who found out, and the court had no intention of sending it to Jiaodong at all.

But this time when Wu Jialiang went to Jinan, he was able to take Master Ye "into the center of the vortex of war", and this was all first-hand intelligence.

There was no reason for Yue Wenxuan not to go and explore.

As soon as he switched his view to Master Ye, he heard the sound of rapid hooves. The warhorse under him was galloping wildly. Wu Jialiang and his group were running beside him. Luo Tuimao, the scout, was on a small hill far ahead. He turned around and waved to everyone, shouting, "Brothers, come and see... There's something going on up ahead..."

Everyone rode their horses quickly to the hillside ahead, climbed up and looked out into the distance.

In the distance at the foot of the mountain ahead, a large group of cavalry were galloping southward, passing by everyone like leeches. Although the details could not be seen clearly from a distance, it did not take a second to guess that they were the Jin cavalry.

Luo Tuimao approached Wu Jialiang and said quickly, "Brother, the Jin cavalry is heading south. Could it be that Jinan Prefecture has been captured?"

Wu Jialiang was panicking, and was really worried about Guan Sheng and his brothers in Jinan Prefecture. He could only console himself by saying, "No, the Jin bandits won't break through Jinan City that quickly. This Jin bandit cavalry didn't even go to Jinan City. They are not part of the Jin bandits in Jinan."

"That's right!" Yue Wenxuan, who was possessed by Master Ye, spoke up: "This is the army that launched a surprise attack on Yangzhou."

"Ah? Brother Ip Man." Wu Jialiang was shocked. Master Ip and Bruce Lee usually didn't talk and were very quiet. Occasionally, they would blurt out words that ordinary people couldn't understand, but they were definitely not such clear and organized words.

Wu Jialiang was shocked and asked quickly, "Brother Ye Wen, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)