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

Chapter 250 Bad News

"There's such a lot of smoke over there!" a villager suddenly said, pointing into the distance.

Everyone in the teahouse rushed out and looked at the thick smoke in the distance.

When Cao Tingyun took a look in that direction, he was shocked. The place where the thick smoke was was obviously where the railway was.

As a member of the Royal Group, he instinctively rushed there.

Along the way, he encountered some panicked villagers running away. Cao Tingyun quickly stopped one of them and asked, "What's going on? What happened?"

"They are bandits, people from Xiongfeng Village. They robbed the railway and set fire." The villager said with a look of horror.

Cao Tingyun hesitated for a moment, but still walked towards the direction of the fire.

He saw from afar a row of carriages burning, and around him he could see people in Royal Group uniforms lying in pools of blood, and the wounded horses neighing constantly.
The scene looked particularly tragic under the setting sun.

The bandits had already left, dragging away a long section of railroad track, leaving traces of their dragging on the ground.

Cao Tingyun rushed to the fire scene, trying to find out if there were any survivors.
Although this section of the railway is not far from the Taihang Mountains, it also passes through the most densely populated area, so the surrounding villages are not far from the railway. The surrounding villagers were alarmed and soon gathered a lot of people.
"What a sin!" lamented Grandpa Guan, who also rushed over.

The gathered villagers silently looked at the burning carriage and the scattered salt bags, and no one stepped forward.
In their view, this is the government's business and has nothing to do with them.
"Everyone, come up and help!" Grandpa Guan came out first, "It is because they keep transporting salt that we can buy salt at ten cents a pound."

"There are people alive here! Come and help! Come quickly!" Cao Tingyun shouted miserably in the fire scene.
"This is not just a matter for the government. Today's incident is related to every one of us. If we don't protect the people who work for us, we will never be able to buy salt at ten cents a pound," Grandpa Guan continued to shout.

The expressions of the villagers kept changing, and one by one they came out to lend a helping hand.
Mr. Guan is right. Today's incident has something to do with each of them.
Nangong.

Zhu Houxuan is holding a meeting.

"Ever since the two cabinet ministers Yang Tinghe and Yang Yiqing publicly submitted petitions in support of the Royal Group, the salt merchants' impeachment efforts have decreased a lot. Instead, there are many more petitions impeaching Yang Yiqing. However, they did not stop, but..." Chen Hong had a strange expression on his face, and he hesitated and refused to continue.

"Speak! Is there anything you can't say?" Zhu Houxuan glanced at Chen Hong with dissatisfaction.

Chen Hong's expression tightened, and he said, "They are spreading rumors about Your Highness."

"Rumors? What rumors?" Zhu Houxuan continued to ask.

"Now the capital is full of rumors that His Highness is not the late king's biological son," Chen Hong said hesitantly.

Everyone present at the meeting had a solemn look on their faces, not daring to show any extra emotion; in fact, they had also heard these rumors.

"Anything else?" Zhu Houxuan's expression did not change at all.

"There are also rumors that His Highness is His Majesty's male favorite." Chen Hong said more carefully. "They are courting death. It seems that they have no other tricks. I will remember this for now and settle with them at the end." Zhu Houxuan said with a relaxed expression.

He was in a good mood now because the third step of the plan was being implemented smoothly and the price of salt in various places was being driven down.
"Does anyone else want to report the situation?" Zhu Houxuan simply skipped the topic.

"The Ministry of Railways has new information. Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of incidents of vandalism targeting railways, which has had some impact on our railway operations. I have ordered those along the railway to increase the frequency of line inspections," said Jiang Jianyuan of the Ministry of Railways.

"Yeah," Zhu Houxuan nodded and said, "The weather is too cold. Remember to increase the subsidies for the line patrol personnel. Don't let the line patrol personnel feel disheartened."

"I understand. In addition, there have been attacks on warehouses in various places. Some warehouses have been burned down. There have also been many attacks on our rest stops. At Zhending Station, the rest stop was poisoned and more than 200 horses died. Fortunately, no one has died as a result. However, it can be seen from this that the local big families have turned their attention to destroying the group's operating efficiency." Jiang Jianyuan continued.

"Zhending Station," Zhu Houxuan said with a frown, "Zhending Station is our most important station. Replenish horses to Zhending Station as soon as possible, so as not to affect the operation of the station. In addition, we must strengthen vigilance and collect evidence."

"In addition, many employees of the Ministry of Railways canceled their vacations and worked overtime for this operation, which made the railway run efficiently. However, due to the overload, many workers were injured and three people died," Jiang Jianyuan continued, his voice becoming lower.

"They are the heroes of the group. When this is over, they will get the honor they deserve." Zhu Houxuan said somewhat dejectedly. Although he had become accustomed to separation and death after traveling through time, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

"Yes, there will be no problem with anything else." Jiang Jianyuan ended his speech.

"How is the Propaganda Department's plan for gaining public opinion going?" Zhu Houxuan looked at Sun Gong.

"The implementation is going smoothly in many places, but it still takes some time," Sun Gong replied immediately.

Zhu Houxuan calculated the time and said, "The current situation is much better than expected. It seems that there is no need for new troops for the time being."

"Bang!" The door of the conference room was pushed open and everyone looked towards the door.

"The highest level of emergency news!" said the person who pushed the door open.

The urgent report was quickly delivered to Zhu Houxun, who took it with a serious expression. This was the first time that an urgent report of this level appeared, and it gave him a bad premonition.

He quickly read the urgent report and his face turned red.

He took a deep breath, handed the urgent report to Jiang Jianyuan, and said, "Read it!"

Jiang Jianyuan took the urgent report in astonishment. The first few lines made him feel dizzy, but he quickly controlled his emotions and read in a hoarse voice:

"On the afternoon of November 103, the th year of the Zhengde reign, on the railway section from Neiqiu County to Shunde City, the rd convoy was attacked by bandits in the Taihang Mountains. Forty-eight people in the convoy were killed, sixty-seven were injured, and a total of sixty-three Marxist vehicles were burned."

"On the night of November 8, the tenth year of Zhengde, Neiqiu County Station was attacked by bandits who took advantage of the chaos. The station staff fought hard and killed the bandits, but 57 people were killed and 273 were injured. More than 500 horses were taken away." Jiang Jianyuan's voice became increasingly low.

Following Jiang Jianyuan's voice, the hearts of the people present gradually sank.
(End of this chapter)