I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 118 Strange Stone
After learning Zhu Houzhao's destination, the grand secretaries were troubled. At first, they thought that Zhu Houzhao was just going to travel around the capital, but they didn't expect that he would go on a big trip and go directly to Qizhou, thousands of miles away.

The most important thing is that there are only more than fifty cavalry guards around him. In fact, this elite cavalry can already roam the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, but everyone is still worried and confused.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao had been gone for nearly 10 days, so it was impossible to catch up with him. Even if they had to rush miles to catch up with Zhu Houzhao, how to persuade him to come back was still a problem. Given Zhu Houzhao's personality, it would be useless for ordinary people to persuade him. It would take a person of high moral character to persuade him.

So after some discussion, the grand secretaries decided to send Grand Secretary Liang Chu, Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo and the royal concubine Cui Yuan to go south to welcome the emperor, but they certainly could not walk fast.

In addition, three letters were sent to three places at an express speed of 800 miles:

The first letter was sent to the Nanjing Garrison Office, asking them to prepare to protect Zhu Houzhao.

The second letter was sent to the Prince of Xiang's Mansion in Xiangyang, asking the current Prince of Xiang, Zhu Youqi, to go to the Prince of Jing's Mansion in Qizhou to persuade Zhu Houzhao. For this purpose, an imperial decree from Empress Dowager Zhang was also requested, because the court officials did not have the power to force the vassal kings to leave the city.

The reason for inviting Prince Xiang is because the Xiang clan is the most respected branch of the Prince of Yan. The title of Prince Xiang Zhu Zhanji as the strongest uncle of the Ming Dynasty is not exaggerated. Moreover, the current Prince Xiang Zhu Youqi is the grandfather of Zhu Houzhao and an elder of the royal family.

The third letter was sent to the Prince of Jing's Mansion in Qizhou, informing Zhu Houxuan of the matter and asking him to entertain Zhu Houzhao well.

While the cabinet was worrying about Zhu Houzhao's affairs, Zhu Houzhao was running happily on the land of Qi and Lu.

Jiang Bin was a capable man. After all, he had led troops in battle and was familiar with the terrain. After leaving the capital, he galloped south for a distance and then turned southeast.

Because he knew very well that although the war had subsided, there were still bandits and robbers, so he planned to go south along the Grand Canal.

Because the Grand Canal shoulders the important task of water transport, during the Liu Liu and Liu Qi Rebellion, officers and soldiers focused on guarding the banks of the Grand Canal. Therefore, the area east of the Grand Canal was not greatly affected by the war and social order was relatively stable.

Although this would require a lot of detours, it was safer. Zhu Houzhao was the guarantee of his future wealth and glory. No matter how much fun he had, he could not be careless about Zhu Houzhao's safety.

Zhu Houzhao was in high spirits as it was his first time to travel such a long distance. He did not rest much along the way but just kept urging others to hurry on. As a result, they reached Zhenjiang in only 20 days.

Don't underestimate this speed. When Emperor Renzong passed away, it took Zhu Zhanji fifteen days to rush from Nanjing to Beijing to succeed to the throne. This was incredibly fast at the time.

Zhu Houzhao immediately stood by the Yangtze River, looking at the broad river and the lush greenery on both sides. He felt very proud, but he lacked the literary talent and was unable to compose a poem.

"Old man, how do I get to Qizhou?" Zhu Houzhao called out to an old man who was sailing on a boat.

"Qizhou! Keep going upstream. When you see chimneys emitting black smoke on both sides of the river, you have arrived in Qizhou!" the old man answered in a loud voice.

This answer was beyond Zhu Houzhao's expectations. He didn't understand what the chimney emitting black smoke had to do with Qizhou. Before he wanted to ask again, the old man had already rowed away.

"No more riding horses! Let's take a boat to Qizhou!" Zhu Houzhao said excitedly. He had hardly ever been on a boat before, and most importantly, he was tired of riding a horse. Even if he was physically strong, he couldn't bear to ride a horse for twenty days.

Jiang Bin didn't want to take the boat because they were all from the north and always felt uneasy on the boat, but he couldn't persuade Zhu Houzhao and had to agree.

They threw the horses at the nearest post station and started looking for a boat at the dock, but they couldn't find a suitable passenger ship after searching for a long time.

In fact, it was not that there were no seats on the passenger ships, but each passenger ship had limited space. There were more than 50 of them, and they had to be dispersed among eight or nine ships. Jiang Bin thought that this would leave Zhu Houzhao without sufficient protection. Zhu Houzhao enjoyed this incognito journey and strictly ordered Jiang Bin not to reveal his identity, which prevented Jiang Bin from using his money power to drive everyone off the passenger ship.

However, after some inquiries, Jiang Bin finally found a more suitable fleet, and the price was not very high.

There were a total of five ships in this fleet, and each ship had a flag with the word "Chen" on it. Each ship was very large, and there were not many ships of similar size on the river. These ships were the largest ships Jiang Bin had ever seen.

Because the boat was relatively large, the boatman allowed them to have twenty people on each boat.

"Our destination is also Qizhou. We charge a low fee because the conditions on the ship are not very good and not that comfortable, so you have to think about it carefully," the ship owner was a strong middle-aged man with a dark face. He said to Zhu Houzhao and Jiang Bin very straightforwardly.

Jiang Bin was actually very satisfied with these ships, because they were very large, and the bigger the ship, the more stable it was. In his opinion, the bigger the ship, the harder it was to sink, which made him, a northerner, feel more secure.

"It's settled!" Zhu Houzhao made the decision. He was also very curious about these big ships.

"I wonder what you guests are planning to do in Qizhou?" the ship owner continued to ask.

"Go visit relatives!" Zhu Houzhao said without hesitation.

"Visiting relatives?" The ship owner chuckled a few times. He had already seen that this group of people were not simple, but he didn't take it too seriously.

Zhu Houzhao and his party boarded the ship. They soon understood why the ship owner said that the conditions on the ship were not very good, because the ship was full of grayish-white stones and there was not much space left for people to live in.

They asked the crew what the stone was, but the crew remained mysterious and refused to say.

Zhu Houzhao picked up a stone and squeezed it hard with his hands. The stone was not very hard and its surface was crushed. There was a slight smell, but it was not too bad. He thought it was some kind of mineral.

The wind direction was just right, and the sails of their ship caught enough wind, so they sailed up the river.

After the initial novelty wore off, the scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River was not so beautiful in their eyes. Zhu Houzhao and his companions also became bored. On the boat, they could only play with stones. The crew on the boat did not stop their behavior, but instead showed mysterious smiles.

After a few days, Zhu Houzhao finally saw chimneys emitting black smoke on both sides of the river. It seemed that Qizhou was right in front of him, and his heart could not help but become excited.

The fleet soon stopped at the dock outside Qizhou City. Unlike docks in other places which were all wooden piers, the piers at Qizhou Wharf were paved with large stones. They were as wide and flat as a road. Large and small ships were moored on them, and the embankment was bustling with people and vehicles coming and going.

There are many identical tall wooden frames with large wooden wheels on the embankment, with long crane arms extending back and forth to lift goods.
Zhu Houzhao stared at the cranes, trying to understand how they worked.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a noisy shout from below the boat: "The Chen family's fleet carrying guano is coming! The Chen family's fleet carrying guano is coming!"

guano?
Zhu Houzhao froze when he recalled what he had done along the way.
I feel that the quality has declined in recent days, mainly because of the update time. I type hard every night because I have to update before 12 o'clock. Many words are not carefully considered. I have to find a way to restore the original update time.



(End of this chapter)