Detective Di Renjie: The Mysterious Dynasty

Chapter 380: Traveling on the River

Seeing that Zhao Ji didn't say anything and instead sighed with Di Renjie, Li Yuanfang felt anxious.

He winked at Zhao Ji and signaled with his eyes: "Chengyuan, say something!"

Zhao Ji glanced at Li Yuanfang and rolled his eyes helplessly.

Li Yuanfang showed no sign of weakness, and continued to make faces: "Aren't you the most eloquent? Speak now!"

In desperation, Zhao Ji had to say: "Sir, we are about to reach Yangzhou. The urgent need of the people of Wuping has been resolved, but the people of Yangzhou are still in dire straits. You must cheer up!"

There was no other way. Direct persuasion was of no use, so Zhao had to resort to the same old tricks, diverting attention and using provocation to involve the common people.

Di Renjie is most susceptible to this trick, it works every time and never fails!
Sure enough, Di Renjie shook his head and laughed when he heard this.

He knew that Zhao Ji had guessed his thoughts, so he provoked him.

"Zhao Chongguo once said, 'Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.' Now we haven't even reached Yangzhou, let alone seeing it, we haven't even heard about it! Even if I am really the god you say I am, how can I perform my duties out of thin air?" Di Renjie said with a smile.

Zhao Ji couldn't help laughing when he heard this, and then waved his hand and pointed to the cabin: "The wind is strong on the river, sir, please follow me into the cabin to discuss in detail!"

Di Renjie smiled and nodded in agreement, then turned and walked towards the cabin.

Seeing that Zhao Ji's words showed initial results, Li Yuanfang couldn't help but smile and gave Zhao Ji a thumbs up.

So the three of them walked into the cabin together.

At this moment, the sails on the tall mast of the official ship began to flutter in the wind.

A gust of wind suddenly blew up, bringing with it a vast sea of ​​dark clouds that could be vaguely seen in the distance. The moonlight was bright just now, but now it seemed that the weather was going to change.
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Zhao Ji, Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang walked into the cabin and sat down one by one beside a small table.

Li Yuanfang poured tea for the three of them. Zhao thanked him and began to introduce some specific situations in Yangzhou: "There are two important things to do when you go to Yangzhou, or you can say one."

After hearing this, Di Renjie frowned slightly and asked in confusion: "What do you mean?"

Zhao Ji explained: "One is to investigate the boat capsizing in the Han Canal and reform the canal transport; the other is to investigate Ying Wang Yuanqi, as entrusted by your majesty!"

"Prince Ying Yuanqi?" Li Yuanfang frowned. After all, he was a military officer and still young. He was not familiar with the honors and strategies of the court.

Di Renjie looked calm as he introduced Li Yuanfang, "This man rose to prominence during the Xu Jingye Rebellion many years ago. He is said to be quite powerful in Yangzhou and made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion."

"Therefore, His Majesty appointed him to Yangzhou. Unlike Xue Qinglin, he has a good reputation in the officialdom and has never been involved in political affairs. He is law-abiding and keeps to himself!"

"Behave yourself?" Zhao Ji almost laughed out loud when he heard Di Renjie say this.

Li Yuanfang was puzzled again. He looked at Zhao Ji and asked, "Why is Chengyuan laughing?"

Zhao Ji coughed twice, then stopped smiling and said, "The reason why I said this matter is one and two, two and one is because this Prince Ying Yuanqi is closely related to the Han Canal boat capsizing incident!"

Upon hearing this, Di Renjie's expression suddenly became serious: "Tell me in detail!"

Zhao Ji nodded and continued, "After the Han Canal incident, this Prince of Ying Yuan Qi sent his son Yuan Gui to the capital to pay a visit to Wu Sansi with the intention of bribing him, but he was caught by the inner guards."

"He bribed Wu Sansi for no other reason than to ask him to protect the officials in Yangzhou in order to cover up the shipwreck. This was also one of the main reasons why Wu Sansi was dismissed from his post!"

Li Yuanfang couldn't tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes. Hearing this, he was furious and slammed the table: "Another bunch of corrupt officials!"

Zhao Ji tapped his fingers on the table and continued, "The shipwrecks in the grain transport have happened many times. When the court questioned the sinking incident, the Yangzhou governor's office shifted all the responsibility to the grain transport households along the coast, accusing them of being cunning and causing trouble and robbing the grain transport vessels."

"Now, eight out of ten boatmen along the coast have rebelled. It will be very difficult to verify the truth. They have completely washed their hands of the matter!"

Hearing this, Di Renjie was also furious: "He deserves to be killed!" It is not uncommon for officials to force the people to rebel. The incident of the villagers of Daliushu in Youzhou a few years ago was a recent lesson. Di Renjie was too familiar with such things.

Zhao Ji comforted Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang, and then continued: "Now, we will take the water route from Jiangzhou to Yangzhou. The imperial guard will go to Yangzhou along the Grand Canal."

"This is considered a split into two groups, but Yuan Gui is in the imperial guards, and he knows that this is a split into two groups, one open and one secret. I wonder if Your Excellency is still planning to go on a secret visit like before?"

Inside the cabin, the candle flames flickered and crackled. Di Renjie fell into deep thought, carefully considering various possibilities.

Under the cabin, in a dark corner of a cargo hold on a certain floor, Long Feng and Zhang Zhi huddled together, recovering their strength.

The two men were wet, obviously having escaped from the water not long ago and hiding here after climbing onto the boat.

After losing track of Zhao Ji, the two men determined that Zhao Ji would definitely take a boat to Yangzhou, so they carefully monitored the movements of the official ship.

These two people really got lucky. They had been lurking on the official ship that Wen Kai had mobilized since early morning.

The Qianniu guards around Zhao Ji boarded the boat and searched it carefully. The two had to dive into the water to hide, and later used their swimming skills to pull themselves up.

Zhang Zhi complained without thinking: "Big Brother, these Qianniu Guards are too cautious! They searched a government ship for no reason. If it weren't for the two of us being good swimmers, we would have been exposed by now!"

Long Feng exhaled lightly, ignored it, and just ordered: "Just stay here and don't run around. I'll go out and check the situation!"

Zhang Zhi immediately perked up when he heard this: "Hey! Senior Brother, I'll go with you!"

Upon hearing this, Long Feng turned around and glanced coldly at Zhang Zhi.

Zhang Zhi's enthusiasm was instantly extinguished by a bucket of cold water, and he said angrily: "If you don't want to go, then don't go!"

Only then was Long Feng satisfied and he left on his own.

Zhang Zhi looked at Long Feng's leaving figure, curled his lips in disdain, then turned over, found a comfortable position, crossed his legs and closed his eyes to rest.

Ignoring Zhang Zhi, Long Feng quietly stuck his head out of the deck and took in the surrounding movements from all angles.

Zhao Ji, Di Renjie and others did not act with the imperial guard. They were accompanied only by military leaders such as Zhang Huan, Li Lang, Xiao Bao, and a few Qianniu Guards.

It was already night, the boatman and most of the crew members had fallen asleep, and as they were on a vast river, there didn't seem to be much to be wary of, so the alert on the boat seemed quite lax.

Seeing this, Long Feng couldn't help but smile sinisterly.

He looked around again, carefully selected a few blind spots that were difficult for the sentries to detect, and then sneaked out silently.

At this moment, most people on the ship had fallen asleep, and Long Feng easily found the room where Zhao Ji and Di Renjie were discussing.

The place was brightly lit, making it particularly eye-catching.

Without any hesitation, Long Feng flashed and quickly approached the room.

Inside the room, Di Renjie pondered for a long time. He suddenly turned to Zhao Ji and asked, "I remember when Chengyuan first arrived in Jiangzhou, he mentioned that you had made some arrangements in the imperial guards. I wonder what the details are?"

When Zhao Ji mentioned this, he couldn't help but feel a little proud. He was about to elaborate: "In the guards..."

However, before he could finish his words, his ears moved slightly, catching a slight sound outside the cabin, and he turned his head sharply to look in a certain direction.

When Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang saw Zhao Ji's actions, they immediately understood that an uninvited guest had arrived.

(End of this chapter)