Spring comes to the desperate place

When Song Chunlin returned to the border, news of the old prince's stroke also reached the capital. It was fortunate that the emperor was on high alert, but this is how it turned out.

"My royal uncle may be old, but his health shouldn't be this bad, right?" The emperor was puzzled. The spies only found out that the old prince had suffered a stroke, but they couldn't find out the cause of the stroke. It was clear that the old prince had been very careful to keep the news from getting out.

Although the emperor didn't quite understand, he pretended not to know. At this time, the Pingnan Prince's Mansion was already in the hands of the heir apparent. This fellow had long wanted to take over the throne, but his father just wouldn't relinquish power. Now, his father was still lying in bed, and he was already excitedly taking over military power.

But when he arrived at his father's secret warehouse with his eyes shining, only to find it completely empty, he was so angry that he almost had a stroke like his father.

Once he recovered, he immediately gritted his teeth and summoned his trusted aide, ordering him to conduct a thorough investigation at once.

"Who on earth stole what my father painstakingly accumulated over many years? I want to see if he can even leave Pingnan with all this stuff!"

Meanwhile, Song Chunlin was already halfway back to the border. The crisis was resolved, but a mess was left for the people of the Pingnan Prince's Mansion. Song Chunlin said that this mission was also easily solved. As for how the mansion was in chaos over the power struggle, that was not his concern.

"Gu Fengyue!" Song Chunlin jumped out of bed and pounced on Gu Fengyue. If Gu Fengyue hadn't seen the disposable lunchbox he had left on the table and known that he had returned, Song Chunlin would already be dead.

Song Chunlin was unaware of all this. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the two of them fooled around all night, so they were too tired to get out of bed in the morning.

Gu Fengyue woke up a little late, which surprised all her subordinates.

At noon, Song Chunlin lazily brought over a food box to deliver the meal. Only then did everyone realize that this master had returned. They said, "How could the Grand Marshal, such a diligent person, suddenly be late? It turns out he worked hard last night."

Ignoring the winks and jeers from her subordinates, Gu Fengyue waved them away, took the food box from Song Chunlin, and planned to close the door and have lunch.

The two of them nestled in the study, enjoying a large pizza. While they were eating, Song Chunlin briefly recounted to Gu Fengyue what had happened in Pingnan.

Hearing that the Prince of Pingnan had stockpiled a large amount of grain and weapons, Gu Fengyue didn't seem so surprised.

Why are you expressionless? Did you guess it was him all along?

Gu Fengyue nodded: "I have a guess. Of all the princes, he is the most likely."

Song Chunlin retorted, "Then is it impossible for others?"

Gu Fengyue actually thought about it for a moment, but in the end, she still shook her head.

"It's unlikely. He won't let what happened before at the late emperor's memorial altar happen again."

This emperor is quite good at planning ahead. Song Chunlin smirked, reluctantly admitting that their guess was absolutely correct.

“In the past, it was always difficult to collect taxes from the south, not only because the vassal king was in charge, but also because there were many mountains and little arable land. The annual grain output was not enough to feed the locals. The fact that they were able to accumulate so much grain must have been planned for many years. Your move this time is more ruthless than killing him outright.”

Song Chunlin shrugged. So what if you're ruthless? If you're not ruthless, you'll lose your life. Speaking of life, Song Chunlin suddenly remembered to ask Gu Fengyue if Cai Sheng had returned.

Gu Fengyue said irritably, "You came back a long time ago. Only you would be so bold as to sneak into someone's lair and make a mess of it. If I didn't know your abilities, I would have thought that the Prince of Pingnan was getting his comeuppance."

Song Chunlin said proudly, "Of course! I'm so capable that I quelled a rebellion without firing a single shot. By the way, what should we do with all that grain? Should we give it all to the Gu family army as provisions?"

"...Alright then. Send the weapons and such to the workshop and see if you can modify their design so that the people from the south won't recognize them."

That is a problem. Song Chunlin tried to give some swords and shields to the craftsmen and asked them to change the patterns and such on them. These weapons were made by craftsmen from the south. Although at first glance they looked no different from theirs, you could still tell whose they were by looking at the details. The craftsmen said it wasn't a big problem and that they could make some minor changes.

After saying that, he brandished the longsword and exclaimed, "It really is a good thing. Look how sharp it is, not bad at all."

Song Chunlin chuckled, patted the craftsman on the shoulder, and told him to get ready.

The craftsman didn't understand; he just blinked and asked with his eyes.

Song Chunlin remained silent, waved his hand, and left. Not long after, someone brought in a large batch of weapons, instructing the craftsmen to quickly modify them.

Looking at the mountain of work, the craftsman felt dizzy and wanted to kill himself for saying that it wouldn't be a big problem.

Having dealt with the pile of stockpiled goods in his space, Song Chunlin nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the cleared area. As for the grain, Song Chunlin didn't plan to take it all out at once, otherwise he wouldn't be able to explain its origin. So he decided to take out a portion of it occasionally in the future, as if he had purchased it from the south.