The Young and Vigorous Eighth Prince

Jiang Fan felt that the army's marching speed was too slow and he did not want to be too conspicuous, so he only took twenty good fighters from the White Robe Army, as well as the Chu brothers and Zhong Ling to go ahead.

They changed their clothes and looked like ordinary traveling merchants. Jiang Fan left the group and wanted to go on a secret visit.

After all, this matter is of great importance. Some things cannot be seen openly, or you can get the answers you want by secretly visiting.

Of course, there is another important reason, which is the saltpeter mine. According to the information Chu Yan'er obtained, there is a saltpeter mine in Huangliu Prefecture in Hejianzhou.

Saltpeter is usually only used by alchemists, so no one would mine this kind of vein. He came here just to confirm whether the vein is real.

Along the way, Zhong Ling always seemed to want to say something to Jiang Fan, but she could never find the opportunity.

Jiang Fan looked at her conflicted, cute, and a little silly look, and knew that something was wrong with her. However, he was more surprised by Zhong Ling's performance.

After getting along with this woman for a long time, apart from being a little cold, she really has nothing to do with the dreaded Blood Rose.

How could there be such a cute and adorable Blood Rose? She acted just like a little girl. Another thing was that she didn't seem to know how to get along with others.

When she talks to people, she usually doesn't say more than a few words. She only says a few more words when she's serious.

Normally, when the Chu brothers or other brothers of the White Robe Army spoke to her, she would either ignore them or just utter a few words.

Jiang Fan knew that she was not aloof, but she was really not good at communicating with people. She was very frugal with words when talking to people she was not familiar with.

Jiang Fan signaled the Chu brothers with his eyes, then rode his horse forward to walk side by side with Zhong Ling in front.

The Chu brothers behind him waved their hands, signaling others to lag their horses several feet behind.

A tacit understanding has already formed between them and Jiang Fan, and they can understand each other's meaning with just a glance.

Jiang Fan glanced behind him and saw that everyone was far away. He looked at the beautiful profile of the girl beside him and said calmly, "Do you have anything to say to me?"

Hearing this, Zhong Ling glanced at Jiang Fan, then turned around and looked behind her. Seeing that no one had caught up with her, she thought for a moment and said, "I..."

She opened her mouth to say this, as if she had thought of something, her face slightly reddened, and she paused before continuing, "I have some information about the theft of tax grain in Hejianzhou."

Jiang Fan heard this, looked at the girl, smiled faintly, and asked irrelevantly: "You brothers and sisters should have an intelligence network in your hands, right? Is it the intelligence network of the Blood Cloud Tower?"

Hearing this, the girl looked at Jiang Fan in astonishment, as if she was shocked by Jiang Fan's sudden question.

Without waiting for her to speak, Jiang Fan smiled and said, "By the way, was the assassination in Huaining last time ordered by Lao Liu? What is his relationship with the Blood Cloud Tower!?"

As soon as Jiang Fan finished speaking, Zhong Ling looked at him in shock.

Jiang Fan smiled and said nothing more. Zhong Ling's behavior had already told him that his guess was correct. The Sixth Brother who always looked low-key was the most hidden wolf.

Sure enough, this guy is ranked the same as him, number six! He looks harmless, but he is the most insidious and vicious.

He had actually wanted to ask Zhong Ling about the assassination a long time ago, but he had never found a suitable opportunity. He was also afraid that Zhong Ling would not tell the truth.

"Tell me, what information do you have?" Jiang Fan did not continue to ask. If Zhong Ling wanted to say it, he would definitely say that he knew something about this woman.

If she doesn't want to talk, then it's useless to ask her more. If she wants to talk, she will talk without you asking.

He felt that when getting along with Zhong Ling, he should not push her too hard.

If he makes the other party wary of him, it would be difficult for Jiang Fan to subdue her!

Everything should be done in moderation, just enough is enough!

He hasn't expressed his request yet, isn't it just a tacit understanding between him and Zhong Ling?

In this way, he could keep Zhong Ling by his side for a while longer. When this woman got used to it and became familiar with him, it would be easier to conquer her.

After hearing this, Zhong Ling stared at Jiang Fan in a daze. She was a little confused by Jiang Fan's fantastic conversation.

When she was struggling over whether to tell Jiang Fan something, Jiang Fan stopped asking, which made her feel a little upset.

But she felt a little reluctant to say it out loud.

In fact, many things were related to her own secrets. She didn't know which things she should tell Jiang Fan and which things she couldn't tell Jiang Fan.

If Jiang Fan asked further, she wouldn't be able to answer! However, she was relieved that Jiang Fan didn't ask.

"I know where the tax grain from each continent goes every year. In fact, most of it flows overseas and to Northern Mongolia. Of course, there is also the Great Western Dynasty and the Great Vietnamese Dynasty! In addition, they seem to have transactions with the Red Lotus Sect as well."

"There are many people involved in these matters, including the Right Prime Minister Ye Ren... and..."

Zhong Ling told Jiang Fan everything she knew in detail.

Jiang Fan listened quietly, his eyes becoming increasingly deep, with a hint of murderous intent and anger flashing in his eyes.

Although Zhong Ling's intelligence did not contain much useful information on river taxation, it was not completely useless.

At least, he had a rough idea of ​​where the tax grain from Hejianzhou went.

He didn't expect that this would also involve the corruption of officials such as Ye Ren and Huang Zhenren.

These parasites are really after money. They even disregard the interests of Dayan and sell their own grain to the enemy country.

According to the court's practice, part of the tax grain was kept in the granaries of the prefectures, and part was exchanged with local grain merchants. The silver was then transported to the capital.

Food is the foundation of the country, and foreign trade is absolutely not allowed. Ye Ren and others are destroying the foundation of the country for their own interests.

The most corrupt official in Hejianzhou is Ye Shixuan, the governor of Hejianzhou, and Ye Ren's nephew. The disappearance of tax grain is definitely related to him.

He was in charge of the finances of Hejianzhou. If the tax grain was lost this time, the person most responsible would probably be the governor.

But the problem is that this time it was the chief clerk of the Governor's Office who made the accusation before his death, pointing all the fingers at Su Yuanguang. In order to suppress Jiang Fan, Ye Ren and others were extremely vicious.

"By the way, the tax grain from Hejianzhou should not have been shipped out of Hejianzhou yet. If we can get the grain back and uncover the corrupt official who actually stole the grain, Su Yuanguang will be safe."

Zhong Ling finished her words and looked at Jiang Fan with a serious expression.

Jiang Fan nodded after hearing this. What Zhong Ling said was true. The key to this matter was the whereabouts of the tax grain and finding out the real person behind the scenes.

Jiang Fan was not very sure about this matter, but he was not completely unsure. As long as he acted simply and roughly, he would have no problem solving it.

Moreover, he suspected that the grain had most likely fallen into the hands of the Red Lotus Cult. After all, Hejianzhou was the place where the Red Lotus Cult preached its doctrine most widely.

The group continued on their journey, and when they reached Huangliu Prefecture, Jiang Fan went to see the place where the saltpeter vein was that Chu Yan'er had mentioned.

This is a barren land with no villages or farmland around. The saltpeter environment has damaged the land and it is impossible to grow crops.

Seeing the saltpeter vein ahead, Jiang Fan was slightly delighted. He quickly sent one of his white-robed guards to deliver the message back, and then asked Chu Yan'er to send people over to mine.

The management personnel will come from Huaining County. Huaining County now has a lot of talents.

As for the mining workers, they can be hired from the surrounding areas of Huangliu Prefecture.

After solving the problem of the saltpeter mine, Jiang Fan and others rushed to the next prefecture, Hejian City, Hejianzhou Prefecture.

However, they had just driven out a short distance, and when they passed through a dense forest, Zhong Ling stretched out her hand to block the way forward. She looked forward with a burning gaze, and a trace of fear flashed in her eyes.