It's June, the hottest season of the year, especially in southern cities like Suzhou, where the red sun in the sky is like fire, constantly shining on the scorching light, so that the bluestone paved road near the pier is so hot that you can almost fry eggs on it.

But even so, the wharf, which had been a little quiet, became busy and lively because of an order from the adults, and the servants of the city carried some local specialties such as silk, tea, and porcelain to several large ships docked at the edge of the harbor, either in carts or directly on their shoulders.

When they saw this busy scene, many people showed surprised expressions, didn't this mean that there was a dragon king on the sea who was angry and would attack the merchant ships of the government? Why is it that this time the government is ready to go to sea again, aren't they afraid of making trouble again?

Originally, under such circumstances, many merchants in the city would find the city shipping company, hoping to entrust their goods to the government ships to be transported to overseas countries, but now, there is no such scene, and the merchants just look at all this with a little strange like ordinary people, and at the same time keep this matter in their hearts, to see if this merchant ship will return safely after a while.

After three or five days of busy work, this morning, several large ships set sail under the watchful eyes of many people, and slowly sailed towards the blue sea. However, what the people who watched him leave did not know was that in fact, what was hidden in these ships was not the various special goods that they had seen loaded with their own eyes, but had been replaced by thousands of elite soldiers in naval warfare, as well as bows and crossbows and other combat weapons.

Just the night before, after the people in the city had rested, the city shipping department and the officials and soldiers of Suzhou Wei cooperated to steal the dragon and turn the phoenix, and exchanged the merchant ships full of goods with several other empty ships. Just because the sails and flags were changed at the same time, and the style of these ships was similar, it was hidden from almost all the people.

After watching the fleet go away, the expressions on the faces of Tao Yong and other city officials standing at the port did not relax. Because this is only the first step in this plan, what kind of outcome will come after that, and whether there will be variables, is something they can't guess.

"Lord Tiju, do you think this method really works?" A subordinate officer asked, somewhat unconvinced.

Tao Yong shook his head lightly: "I'm afraid it's hard for this official to say." But as Lord Lu said, there are still some things that need to be tried, in case the hidden secrets can really be found. I just fear that this temptation will still lead to nothing...... Let's go, go back to the yamen, and see if Lord Lu has a clue. ”

The officials quickly rushed back to the Yamen of the City Division, and saw Lu Zhen with a solemn expression in the main hall. This made their hearts lift, and after Tao Yong took a deep breath, he stepped forward and asked, "Lord Lu, did you find anything this time?" ”

This time, the plan is to start handling the affairs of going to sea on the surface, and continue to make relevant preparations. And secretly, Lu Zhen sent Jinyiwei's people to keep an eye on the nearby wind and grass, as long as there was any suspicious person, or anyone in the government had contact with suspicious characters, Jinyiwei would immediately take down the suspect.

To be honest, Tao Yong's thoughts on this little arrangement are quite tangled and complicated. He hoped that he could really gain something, but he was also afraid that he would really let Jin Yiwei find the suspect in the city. So when Lu Jin's question was asked, his heart also hung up, and his eyes were even more focused on Lu Jin's face, waiting for him to give him an answer.

Lu Zhen was silent for a moment before shaking his head and said, "At least there are no clues in this regard at the moment." In other words, except for a few of our officials here, the people in the city did not know about our change of merchant ships. ”

"Then if they haven't encountered any pirate attacks...... someone asked casually, but Lu Jin's answer was: "Then we will have to wait for the encounter of the merchant ship to go to sea to see the result." ”

It can be seen that Lu Zhen is still quite resistant to the words of ghosts, gods and dragon kings. The crowd said no more, and everything could only wait for things to develop.

Half a month passed quickly, and when the big ships that everyone thought should turn around in two or three months suddenly returned, many people still felt a little caught off guard. And when hundreds of officers and soldiers with a somewhat vain footsteps walked down the ship, the people seemed more and more surprised, what was going on? Didn't it be a merchant ship that went to sea before, how did it become a warship?

However, these officers and soldiers ignored the questions of the people and returned to the barracks on their own, while the generals who led the troops rushed to the city and saw Lu Zhen and other officials who had been waiting for a long time.

When he saw these people come back unscathed, Lu Zhen already knew the result, but he still subconsciously asked: "How is it, have you encountered any twists and turns in this trip?" ”

"If you go back to your lordship, you will lead the fleet for more than a hundred miles under this road sign, and you will soon arrive at the territory of the Wa Kingdom. But as a result, there was nothing unusual at all. It was only because of the limited food on the ship that he did not dare to go too far and lead the army back. The general reported with a solemn expression.

When Lu Zhen heard this, his brows furrowed tightly, and then he nodded and said, "Then it's hard for you, let's go back to the camp to rest." After the general left, he glanced at Tao Yong and the others who seemed to have some thoughts on the side: "Try again one last time, let the real merchant ship go to sea." You don't have to go too far, you can return to the ship after a hundred miles. If there really is a dragon king, this distance is enough for him to make a move. ”

"The subordinate obeys." Although he knew that it was a bit risky to do so, he was gambling with a ship full of people and those goods, but since Lord Lu had ordered it, Tao Yong could only do it.

So the next morning, several large ships went out to sea. This time, the people's reaction was different from before, because they really couldn't guess what the government was thinking. I only hope that these ships that go to sea can only return safely.

Compared to the last time, when the merchant ships left, the officials of the city shipping department seemed to be much more nervous, and from time to time officials would run to the dock to look out at the sea. Even if they knew that even if everything went well, those ships would not be able to turn around so early, there were still people who unconsciously went to see what was going on there.

As for Lu Jin, he completely stopped, and he didn't go to the city to understand the situation, as if he had resigned himself to fate. However, under the cover of this calm performance, it was the surveillance actions of the Jinyi guards in the shadows, as early as after the decision to send merchant ships to sea, Lu Zhen had already made his subordinates keep a close eye on many officials who knew the inside story of the matter, including Tao Yong, the secretary of the city.

As long as any of them do anything weird, these spies will send the news back, and Lu Zhen will have an excuse to ask people about it. But the result was that he was disappointed again, and during this time, everything was normal with these officials, and they did not see any contact with anyone outside the yamen.

"Could it be that I guessed wrong, the news didn't actually come from the yamen?" At this time, even Lu Zhen didn't feel that he was about to doubt his judgment, "Or maybe the other party doesn't plan to attack these merchant ships this time?" But this is not right, in that case, the dragon king's curse will be broken, and they will not make such a choice. ”

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this matter didn't make sense, and in the end, Lu Zhen could only put the problem aside for the time being and wait quietly for the result to appear.

Half a month passed again, and the merchant ship did not return; Twenty days have passed, and there has been no news; It wasn't until twenty-four or five days later, when there was still no news of merchant ships, that everyone realized that something was wrong. Because if they had acted as agreed, these merchant ships would have returned long ago. And now there can only be one explanation for this result - these ships, like the government and merchant ships before them, were shipwrecked at sea and could never come back!

It was the end of July, and the weather had turned cold, but at this time, everyone in the main hall of the Yamen of the City Department had a lot of sweat on their faces. Even a person as calm as Lu Zhen was full of uneasiness at this time, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief from time to time to wipe off the beads of sweat.

How so? What's next?

Everyone's eyes revealed these two questions, although they didn't directly ask Lu Jin questions or make trouble, but the way they looked at Lord Lu was already a little wrong. It turns out that there is much less awe, but there is a little more suspicion and distrust.

"The responsibility for this matter really lies with me, and this official will ask the court for guilt when the time comes." After being silent for a long time, Lu Zhen finally spoke: "However, even so, this official still believes that this catastrophe at sea is man-made, and there must be something negligent on our part, so that some small people can catch the flaws and succeed one after another." ”

"My lord, Xia Guan really can't agree with your statement, if it's really artificial, who can have such a skill, and can actually know all the plans of our city's Bo Division, except for Xia Guan, there can be no such person in this yamen! Do you think that the lower officials leaked the inside information? Tao Yong finally couldn't bear it anymore and said the words that had been held in his heart for a long time.

Lu Zhen was silent, at this time he was full of doubts, but he didn't know what to say, so he could only stand up: "This official doesn't mean this, Master Tao don't mind too much." Feeling bored, he simply planned to go out for a walk so that he could breathe.

After leaving the yamen directly, Lu Zhen didn't even get on the horse, and waved his hand to let a few guards who wanted to step forward to protect them retreat: "I want to be quiet alone, so you don't have to follow." So saying, he walked down the long street.

And they didn't realize that at this time, a pair of eyes full of heavy killing intent had already stared at Lu Zhen from the window of the restaurant on the side!