Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 726 You son of a bitch, what a big show of force!
"Reporting to the general, all are ready!"

On the training ground of the Ningbo Prefecture camp, more than 27,000 soldiers stood in formation. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were going to attack some place. The spring breeze carrying the drizzle could not hide the murderous aura on the field.

At this moment, General Du Fuwei, the garrison commander of Ningbo, came out. He looked around and nodded slightly before saying, "There's news from above that the commander-in-chief and His Majesty will be visiting Ningbo in a few days. I don't care about anything else, but if any of you embarrass me, don't blame me for turning my back on you. Do you understand?"

"I heard!"

The ten thousand voices rose in unison, their momentum soaring to the heavens. Du Fuwei responded with satisfaction: "This is the first time the Commander-in-Chief has come since the establishment of the prefecture in Ningbo. You've been eating and drinking his food all these years. If you let the Commander-in-Chief lose face in front of His Majesty, I'll teach you a lesson too. Although we are the navy and the border army, many of us are from the first class of the new army. Now, many generals outside have to call you 'Old Sergeant.' You know how that should be. So these days, you all need to show me your spirit and energy, understand?"

"clear!!!"

The deafening sound carried far and wide. Du Fuwei cracked his whip and said, "Alright, that's all I have to say for today. The rest is the responsibility of the officers at all levels to coordinate and ensure that His Majesty is impressed and the Commander-in-Chief is satisfied. Dismissed!"

The soldiers lined up and dispersed, heading to their posts to begin their work. Meanwhile, the surrounding villagers became curious. They had no idea what was happening, only that something big was about to happen.

"Could it be that the Japanese pirates are coming?"

"Japanese pirates? They dare to come here? They'd run far away at the mere smell of them, let alone dare to harass our Ningbo Prefecture?"

"That's true. But these days, we keep seeing people from other places fleeing here. When we ask them, they say they're being attacked by Japanese pirates. That makes me a little worried too."

"Don't worry, we have a strong and well-equipped army. My son is in the camp; I'll ask him when he has his day off."

"Oh? Your son got into the main camp? That's impressive. How much military pay does he earn a month?"

"Not much, not much. He's just a junior officer now, with a monthly salary of only eight taels of silver. But he doesn't have to spend money on food and clothing, which saves a lot of trouble."

This speech by the top Versailles made those gathered around roll their eyes. Everyone knew that the selection process for the Fubo Army was extremely rigorous, and it was not something that ordinary people could enter. But those who could enter were all extraordinary. The way this old man spoke was disgusting.

However, it must be said that Ningbo Prefecture started as just a small fishing village, but after years of development, it has become the largest city in the east. This is largely thanks to the Fubo Army. Coastal areas are prone to attracting various bandits, so stability is what they urgently need. In addition, there have been Japanese pirates harassing the area in recent years, so a large number of coastal people have gathered in this place.

Over time, as the population grew, trade naturally increased, leading to the development of various seafood businesses and even attracting many Japanese merchants to trade.

In fact, Japanese merchants were also annoyed by Japanese pirates. After all, those bastards didn't care which country's merchants they were from. In fact, the Japanese pirates preferred their own country's merchants because they could not only plunder goods but also kidnap people to demand ransom.

Because of its thriving commerce, Ningbo naturally became the economic and transportation center of the east, and even surpassed Dantu Port a few years ago to become the second largest port in the world, second only to Quanzhou Port.

This place is far from trouble and has enlightened policies. The key is that Ningbo Prefecture is an exclave, belonging to the military town system and not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel. It is a military city, so there are no aristocratic families or bureaucrats. More importantly, Xia Lin has repeatedly issued orders strictly prohibiting the army from engaging in business, so those gentry, powerful families and nobles who act arrogantly in other places have no effect here.

Because when the soldier said he was going to chop someone up, he really meant it.

As for where they heard that His Majesty and the General were coming, well, even if Emperor Jingtai gave a secret order, his subordinates would definitely have to be informed. If these two gentlemen caused any trouble on the way, Great Wei would be wiped out on the spot...

Therefore, wherever they went, the local intelligence and military authorities would receive a notice that they must be on high alert and that they must protect their safety without disturbing them.

The Bureau of Investigation has been extremely busy these past few days, even surprising the Li Tang and Northern Han sides, because their intelligence systems have provided information that is difficult to understand: the entire intelligence department of the Great Wei is carrying out frequent and intensive activities.

This was actually a terrifying situation. The Northern Han thought the Great Wei was going to attack them, while the Tang Dynasty thought the Great Wei was going to attack Li Shimin...

However, while everyone else was so busy, those few people who were causing trouble had just left Yangzhou and were heading towards Ningbo.

“That girl from yesterday is definitely not eighteen years old,” Li Shimin said, lying on a haystack with a blade of grass in his mouth. “She lied about her age.”

Xia Lin ignored him, simply picked up a reed wreath and placed it on Li Shimin's head, then turned to Emperor Jingtai: "You want one too?"

"You're quite skillful with your hands."

"Hey, that's because Old Zhang didn't come. He can use this thing to weave crickets, grasshoppers, and dragonflies, and they look so lifelike."

"Go back and have him make a few. How come you guys even learn this stuff?"

Xia Lin, who had been busy at work, smiled and said after hearing Emperor Jingtai's words, "Back then, when we couldn't afford to eat, we would weave things to sell—straw baskets, straw sandals, raincoats, fans, all sorts of little toys for children—just to make a living." Li Shimin chimed in, "Speaking of which, the girls from the South are just different, so tender and delicate. The ones from the Northwest are no good. You wouldn't believe it, but once I found one from the Western Regions. She was pretty, yes, but her face felt like gauze, and she had a strong muttony smell."

"Hey, how come you, with all your talents, still can't get enough to eat?" Emperor Jingtai asked curiously.

"You haven't been away for long enough to know, but do you know how the people survived the winters before my coal mines were developed?"

"What do you think the girls from Lingnan would taste like? Lychee? Or something else?" Erfeng was still daydreaming.

"Speaking of which, how did you come up with the idea of ​​getting coal? It's strange, really. Logically speaking, ever since you made honeycomb briquettes, the mountains have turned green. But how did you figure it out? I'm particularly interested in how you came up with it. Many things, you know, the principles are indeed very simple, even someone who doesn't read books can learn them in no time, so why didn't anyone figure it out for so many years?"

"Hey, have you guys ever tried Shanxi-style he luo noodles... Oh, you must have, you're from Luoyang." Erfeng was still muttering to herself, "I've been here for over a month now, and I'm starting to miss the noodles from my hometown."

Xia Lin turned to look at Er Feng: "Do you know why I'm ignoring you?"

"You've already responded, haven't you?"

"Okay, I'll take a nap."

Erfeng elbowed him, saying, "How can you be so despicable?"

"Damn it, you still call me cheap? Then let me ask you, why did you have to come at the exact time I was dealing with the powerful families? What's the meaning of that? A coincidence, huh? Fine, I'll call it a coincidence. Then I traveled from Jinling to Yangzhou, and you arrived on the exact same day as me. Of the 1,340 restaurants and taverns in Yangzhou, you sat right next to me."

I arrived before you!

"This is a coincidence, right?"

"Ah."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Shimin suddenly stopped talking and sat up: "You fucking tricked me!"

Emperor Jingtai finally realized what was going on. He leaned back and pointed at Li Shimin, saying, "Hey, you little rascal, you were following me, weren't you!"

"It's not that I'm following you, it's just that... I thought it would be simpler to do things with you. I really want to handle the northern canal transport business. Going through official channels won't work, but the key is that His Majesty has pushed this matter onto me. I don't trust outsiders to run our own business."

"Third Sister gave you more than just this, didn't she? She probably also asked you to recruit some craftsmen from shipyards all over the country. You shamelessly followed along, which is to say you wanted to find out which shipyard was my core business. If someone else had done it, I might have killed them. But you risked your reputation and got it done."

"Oh!!! Li Erfeng, you're so cunning." Emperor Jingtai said warily, "As expected, those with the surname Li are never easy to deal with."

"If you call me 'Third Mother,' I won't mind. But if it's anyone else, even the person next to you, and they don't address me as 'Your Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty,' I'll lose my temper."

"Third Sister, Third Sister and I grew up together since childhood." Emperor Jingtai was not afraid at all: "My father and Li Yuan were almost going to become in-laws, but my father disagreed, saying that Li Yuan was very ambitious and that if he left, I would just be a plaything in the hands of the Li family."

"You think you are one of them! If these monsters hadn't appeared around you, I would be the one in Weiyang Palace asking, 'Lord Wei, do you miss Jinling?'"

"Heh heh, isn't it infuriating? He just pulled them out, and several at once. Inside were Ma Zhou and Zhang Shuo, and outside were Bo Heng and Xia Lin."

"Little Chenzi."

"Yes, and there's Ye Ji too. Isn't that infuriating? Oh dear, may Heaven bless Great Wei. In this gamble on the fate of the nation, I have clearly won."

"Did you win? It was clearly the late emperor who won! If it weren't for the late emperor, they would have been driven away or killed by you long ago. Your pettiness is known throughout the world."

Li Shimin was clearly intoxicated and said some excessive things, but Emperor Jingtai was completely unaffected, as if he had entered a state of Buddhist practice.

"That's my dad. I have a good dad, hehe. Unlike some people's dads, oh dear, they can't wait for their children to fight each other to the death. Daosheng, you be the judge, isn't having a good dad part of one's strength?"

Xia Lin, both amused and exasperated, gave Emperor Jingtai a thumbs-up: "That's right, you're absolutely right."

(End of this chapter)