Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 198 Lianzhou
Lianzhou is located in the southwest of Yong State. It was originally a border area where Yong State fought against the barbarians in the west. Decades ago, Yin Kuo wiped out the barbarians and built Lianzhou City here, which made the area stable for decades.

But now Lianzhou has been suffering from severe drought for nearly a year. The land is cracked, no grain of food is harvested, and there is no human habitation for hundreds of miles.

Even many sections of the Lianzhou city wall collapsed, and many houses in the city collapsed. There are still corpses buried under the ruins that have not been cleared.

On that day, on the top of Lianzhou City, Yin Jinggeng was looking into the distance.

On the side, Pei Nian was holding a map in his hand, pointing and talking about something, and Yin Jinggeng listened and nodded repeatedly.

At this moment, a soldier came running over and reported, "Your Highness, Marquis Chengye has arrived."

"You're here now? Please hurry up... No, I'll go and greet you myself."

Yin Jinggeng showed a look of joy, turned around and walked away. After a few steps, he looked back at Pei Nian and said, "Captain Pei, aren't you coming?"

Pei Nian politely said, "I will obey your orders, Your Highness."

She is very methodical in her work and never puts personal interests above public interest.

Yin Jinggeng was much more open-minded, he smiled and said, "Come on."

They went down from the city wall and rode their horses towards the east gate. When they arrived at the city gate, they saw Gu Jingnian helping a beautiful woman holding a child out of a carriage.

It looked like Gu Jingnian came here with his wife and children.

Yin Jinggeng stepped forward and said, "I was wondering why you came so late. Turns out you brought your family with you."

If Gu Jingnian spread his flaming wings and flew over, he would naturally be much faster.

But he was worried about leaving Lu Anran in Yongjing, and it was impossible for him to fly with the child. He didn't even dare to ride in a flying car for too long, so he arrived much later than Yin Jinggeng expected.

He did not accuse Yin Jinggeng of anything. After all, he did not owe Yin Jinggeng anything. He just nodded and asked, "How is the situation?"

"I'm doing drought relief. I'll tell you the details later. What is this?"

"It's my fourth sister's child. This is my eldest sister-in-law Miao, who is here to help take care of the child."

"You shouldn't have brought them here." Yin Jinggeng said, "Lianzhou is not safe."

"No matter where I go, I feel more at ease with you."

In fact, Yin Jinggeng had heard about Gu Jingnian's experience. He patted his arm and said, "Settle down first and then we can talk. I'll host a banquet for you tonight."

Pei Nian stood there, looking at Miao Chunniang, but did not step forward.

Gu Jingnian didn't even look at Pei Nian. The two of them didn't speak for a long time, as if there was a huge gap between them.

After entering the city, Gu Jingnian was settled in a house not far from the governor's mansion, which was also where Pei Nian lived during this period.

There were two wells in the house, but they were both dry and there was no water for washing. There was only a small half tank of water in the kitchen for drinking.

"This is...my sister-in-law's residence."

Pei Nian pushed open the door of the west wing and wanted to lead Miao Chunniang in.

Miao Chunniang stood behind Gu Jingnian holding the child and did not approach Pei Nian.

Pei Nian was slightly stunned, then he understood what was going on and walked aside. Miao Chunniang and the maids she brought with her entered the house and settled down.

During the process, Gu Jingnian always walked beside Miao Chunniang, and his attitude was very simple. He now trusts the remnants of the Yue State more, and deliberately draws a clear line between himself and Pei Nian, who is a spy for the Rui State.

"Come on, I'll take you to the main house."

As Pei Nian and Gu Jingnian walked in the courtyard, they remained silent.

"What?" Pei Nian finally spoke, "Are you dissatisfied with me?"

"My elder sister is dead." Gu Jingnian said, "There is no need for us to cooperate anymore."

"I am very sorry about this, but I..."

"I have taken your feelings into consideration. Otherwise, I would have reported you and Han Youxin to the Yong court." Gu Jingnian said, "Take care of yourself. I will not help you anymore."

Pei Nian stopped and looked at Gu Jingnian, saying sentence by sentence: "I never thought of killing your sister."

"I'll give you some time to think about it. If you want to stay in Yong, you have to confess to Yin Jinggeng and you have to give Han Youxin away. If you still want to be loyal to Rui, you can leave on your own."

Pei Nian asked, "Is there no room for easing the tension?" "Since my sister is dead, I can no longer work for the Rui Kingdom. In other words, I really want to kill them all."

From each other's standpoints, there was no need for Gu Jingnian to say more to Pei Nian. He left after saying "you think about it".

That night, Yin Jinggeng held a banquet.

Although it was called a banquet, the food and wine were very simple, and there was no singing or dancing.

After eating simple meals, Yin Jinggeng immediately invited Gu Jingnian to his study for a detailed discussion.

On the wall of the study hung a map of the fourteen southwestern states, which was densely covered with writing and drawings.

"I know you want to find the phoenix more, but I don't have any more clues about her now." Yin Jinggeng said straight to the point: "I have been doing two things recently. One is drought relief and disaster relief, and the other is to find the source of the drought. As for what you are interested in, Pei Nian has repeatedly come up with good ideas and helped a lot in drought relief. He is indeed a talent."

His words first eased Gu Jingnian's curiosity about the current situation in the southwest.

Then, he changed the subject and said, "How about you? I heard that the crisis of your father's cooperation with my royal grandfather has eased."

"For the time being." Gu Jingnian said, "I'm afraid your royal grandfather has already run everywhere."

When Yin Jinggeng heard this, a hint of worry appeared in his eyes.

Gu Jingnian did not forget Gu Jize's entrustment and said, "As for my father, he has been placed under house arrest by my fourth brother. My fourth brother's ambition is the same as your highness's, to wipe out the evildoers and support a wise ruler to unify Zhongzhou. He wants me to ask your highness if he is that wise ruler?"

Upon hearing this, Yin Jinggeng became excited and his eyes brightened.

"Good job, Gu Silang!" He clapped his hands in praise, "He has a sense of justice and is decisive in his actions. He is truly a hero!"

Looking at Yin Jinggeng's expression, he wished he could have a drink with Gu Jize in person right now.

Unfortunately, the person in front of him was the somewhat heartless Gu Jingnian, who was not very interested in their ambitions. Since the message had been passed on, he said, "If Your Highness is willing to use my fourth brother, you can write him a letter in reply."

"Okay, I'll write it now."

Yin Jinggeng did not hesitate to show his respect and willingness to win over Gu Jize. He immediately picked up a pen and wrote a long letter, preparing to hand it to Gu Jingnian.

Gu Jingnian shook his head and said, "You can contact them by yourselves. Besides, there is one more thing."

"What's the matter?"

"Zhao Boheng approached me and asked me to be a lobbyist. He hopes that His Highness and His Majesty can work together to fight against the Kingdom of Rui."

Zhao Boheng certainly didn't expect that Gu Jingnian would relay his words so frankly and without embellishment.

"what."

Yin Jinggeng couldn't help but sneer and said, "In their eyes, what I did was to fight for power?"

Gu Jingnian didn’t care whether he could convince him or not, he just waited for the next step.

"These Yue people are afraid of alchemy, and they think that they can't fight against the Rui Kingdom without it. They have been trying to seduce my grandfather and father in various ways over the years. Because I opposed this, they began to instigate me and my father. But my father didn't think about it. If I wanted to fight for power, why would I come to this desolate land in the southwest?"

After Yin Jinggeng finished speaking, he asked, "What do you think?"

Gu Jingnian was not a judge, so he was too lazy to judge the right and wrong. He said, "I have no interest in the affairs of the court. I was just asked to bring a message."

Yin Jinggeng originally wanted to convince him to believe in himself, but was a little disappointed when he heard this.

But he was open-minded and did not continue to explain, saying: "Okay, time will tell."

"I'm here to find the phoenix."

"I just told you about the source of the drought. It might be related to the Phoenix."

“What is the source of the drought?”

Yin Jinggeng walked to the map, stretched out his hand, pointed at a certain place on the map, and said, "Before the drought, Lianzhou experienced a landslide. The most serious area was deep in the Lianxi Mountains, more than 700 miles west of the state capital and bordering Xizhou. It is said that there was a volcanic eruption there."

"Volcanic eruption?" Gu Jingnian asked, "Can this cause severe drought in the fourteen southwestern states?"

"Should not be possible." Yin Jinggeng pointed to another place on the map and said, "But there is another strange thing. Not far from Lianxi Mountain, there is a big river called Xi River. It is the source of the rivers in the southwest and supplies most of the water in the southwest. But after the volcanic eruption, the Xi River dried up."

When Gu Jingnian heard this, he quickly thought of a place - the supernatural power training ground in the Bai family's villa on the outskirts of the city.

(End of this chapter)