Water Margin people

Chapter 1445 Using yourself as bait

"I know my crime. I will send someone to investigate right away!"

Huang Zhongfu knelt down and said quickly.

"No need for that. I already knew you didn't think of this. I've already asked my navy to check it out!"

Sun Lei waved his hands.

"My lord, my lord..."

Huang Zhongfu looked terrified, like a child who had done something wrong.

"Forget it. Guangzhou is a big city that is busy enough for you. You have limited manpower and you have to guard against the rebellion of the barbarians. It is indeed not easy. But you should know that you are now a frontier official, the highest official in charge of a city. You have to take everything into consideration."

Sun Lei did not blame Huang Zhongfu. It was not easy for a young man to take on such a big task. Not everyone was like him, who had experienced the era of information explosion and had enough knowledge and experience. Now he could mobilize the strength of the entire country and had a large number of good brothers to help him.

"I will remember your Majesty's teachings!"

Huang Zhongfu bowed solemnly and made up his mind secretly that he would consider everything carefully in the future and live up to the trust of His Majesty the Emperor.

"Okay, let the kitchen prepare the food so I can taste this Guangzhou cuisine."

Sun Lei looked at Huang Zhongfu and nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Huang Zhongfu took the order and went out. He had already called all the best chefs in Guangzhou Prefecture.

……

The sensation of the emperor's visit to Guangzhou Prefecture continued. The people were talking about it after dinner, and some even speculated how long the emperor would stay in Guangzhou Prefecture.

However, the emperor did not appear in the next two days, and seemed to have been living in a temporary "palace".

“I didn’t expect it to be so hot in October!”

Lu Zhishen was lying on a chair under the shade of a tree. For some reason, it suddenly became hot here in Guangzhou, and it didn't look like late autumn at all.

"This is Guangzhou, a place where it's rare to even snow in winter!"

Sun Lei took a sip of tea and said, Guangzhou is the southernmost city in mainland China, so it is normal to be hot here.

"Brother, what's the reason why you have been staying in the palace these past two days?"

Lin Chong looked at Sun Lei and asked. Along the way, Sun Lei would go out to understand the people's sentiments, but it was different when he arrived in Guangzhou. He didn't go out at all in the past two days.

"Pretend to be bait and go fishing!"

Sun Lei said.

"fishing?"

Everyone was puzzled. They had fished at sea many times, so why did they come to Guangzhou to fish?

"See if anyone is coming to assassinate me!"

Sun Lei said with a smile.

"assassinate?"

Everyone was shocked, and Lu Zhishen even crushed the wine glass with one force. Assassinating the emperor was a big deal, who would dare to do such a thing with them around?

"I feel that Guangzhou is different from Quanzhou! Although Quanzhou and Fujian Road have a large population, most of them are people who have fled from Liangzhe Road and Central Plains. They are more receptive to the country's rule."

"But Guangnan Road is different. Here, the emperor is far away. There are chieftains, barbarians, prominent families, big merchants, foreigners, and other national forces. What will these people do when they gather together?"

"What's more, the emperor has come to Guangzhou Prefecture now. This has never happened before. If they succeed, Qi will be theirs!"

Sun Lei said with a smile. "How dare these people be so bold!"

Wu Song shouted angrily.

"Over in Guangnan West Road, the Li Dynasty, Champa, and Dali are all restless people. I'm afraid these people have already received the news. Let's see if they dare to do it!"

Sun Lei said with a smile, but he was not worried about anything. A group of chieftains and barbarians could not amount to anything, and the enemy army could not easily pass through Guangnan West Road. He had elite troops around him, huge ships on the sea, and Wang Jin and Yue Fei's army in secret.

"Those people in the southwest are actually like this?"

Zhu Wu took a deep breath. He didn't expect that this time he would go to war with several southwestern countries.

"Your Majesty, we will lead the troops to destroy them!"

Lin Chong immediately requested a battle, saying that countries like Dali, Ly Dynasty, and Champa were not considered strong and the Qi army could easily destroy them.

"We can't rush this. The southwest is different from the north. It's mountainous and humid, full of snakes, insects, rats, ants, and miasma. These are the biggest enemies!"

Sun Lei shook his head and said that fighting in the southwestern jungles was far more difficult than in the northern grasslands. Even if those barbarians did not resist and just hid in the mountains, that environment could cause huge casualties.

Sun Lei was well aware of how much loss the expeditionary force had suffered along the way. The casualties caused by the environment were far greater than those caused by the war. That was in later times, when the southwest had been developed and roads existed.

But now the southwest is still a primitive jungle with no roads, and the native chieftains have an absolute advantage.

Everyone fell silent after hearing Sun Lei's words. They had never fought in this kind of environment so far and had no idea what they would encounter. This unclear situation was a big taboo in military strategy.

"So I'm going to fish those guys out and finish them off on our turf!"

Sun Lei pointed outside Guangzhou city. There was a strong city there and the area was relatively flat, making it a good battlefield.

"Brother, if we don't send our navy out to fight, the Ly Dynasty and Champa are all by the sea, and I guarantee they won't be able to get out to sea even with a float!"

Ruan Xiaoqi said that the small countries near the sea rely on the sea for their livelihood, and Qi’s fleet can blockade the coastlines of those small countries and starve them to death.

"No hurry, wait until they all jump out, then we'll know who the enemy is."

Sun Lei nodded and said that the navy was an ace card, but it could not be played out so hastily.

"By the way, aren't there some pirates causing trouble in Qizhouyang (the islands in the South China Sea)? Merchants in Guangzhou and Quanzhou have been complaining about this for a long time. Go and wipe them out with your navy."

Sun Lei looked at Ruan Xiaoqi and spoke.

"I understand!"

Ruan Xiaoqi understood Sun Lei's meaning at the first moment. The navy ships were in Guangzhou Port. Under such deterrence, the villains dared not show up. The navy needed to pretend to go out to sea to paralyze the enemy.

"You're the only one with a clever mind!"

Sun Lei said with a smile that Ruan Xiaoqi was the first one to follow him and he understood what he meant without any reminder from him.

The Guangzhou government quickly posted a notice that the Qi navy would go out to sea to encircle and suppress the pirates in the Qizhou Ocean to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes.

The merchants were extremely excited when they saw this notice. The pirates were entrenched in the South China Sea and hiding in those islands. The government had no way to deal with them. Every time the merchants went out to sea, they had to gather together and form a fleet with their merchant ships.

But even this could not deter the brutal pirates, and they could only pray for the protection of the gods every time they went out to sea.

But some people's eyes flickered after seeing the notice, and they unconsciously looked towards the Guangzhou Palace, where the emperor lived.

The navy acted quickly. As soon as the notice was issued, they left the port and headed for the South China Sea.

Some people wanted to send people to follow to see if the fleet really went there, but it was just an idea. The sea was flat and there was no obstruction. It was impossible to track the naval fleet secretly, and the consequences of being discovered would be very serious.

Huang Zhongfu did not care about these things. In the past few days, he forced the Fanfang to accept inspection and told all the Fan people that they must abide by the laws of Qi in the future and that the government would directly manage them.