"Your Royal Highness, I found a phenomenon at the dinner just now, among the four princes of His Majesty, in addition to the support of the family forces behind the other three princes, they also have the shadow of the Jianghu forces, the eldest prince has the Heavenly Sword Gate behind him, the second prince has the Seven Peerless Gates behind him, and the third prince also has the Divine Eagle Castle behind him, and why don't you have any Jianghu forces behind you, Your Highness?" As soon as Shi Luosheng entered the Tai*, he told what he found at night.

Xiao Yan had never thought about this question before, and he couldn't answer it, so he had to say: "Those are just the forces of the rivers and lakes, and they can't affect the overall situation, and I still have the inner guards led by my cousin Liu Hanfeng to help me." ”

Shi Luosheng shook his head and said: "The minister doesn't think so, although the guards in the palace are not low in martial arts, but there are still many things that are inconvenient to use them, and who can guarantee that there are no other people arranged by the prince among them." Although His Royal Highness is the crown prince, there are few people around him who can really be used, on the other hand, other princes are different, they not only have their own cronies in the court, but also have a lot of people who do things for them in the rivers and lakes. ”

Xiao Yan somewhat agreed with Shi Luosheng's words, thinking about it, he had nothing but his father's favor. Because the hundred officials in the court are basically people from the five major families, and there is no support from the family behind them, there are naturally few officials who support them, and even the current Shi Luosheng, Liu Zixuan, Yuan Chengce and others are all found by their fathers. If something happens in the future, I don't even have the strength to protect myself.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yan said with some embarrassment: "I understand what Taifu means, but I definitely can't contact the major families in the court, otherwise I will lose the support of my father, and the major gangs on the rivers and lakes have also been carved up by them, I just want to form my own forces, and there is no place to start?" ”

Shi Luosheng said: "I've already thought about this, there is no chance on land, we can only start from overseas." ”

Xiao Yan said strangely: "Overseas? I never thought about that. ”

Shi Luosheng said with a smile: "It is precisely because His Highness has never thought of it, and others will not think of it." Since several big gangs in the Great Song Dynasty have taken refuge in the family, we can only encircle some idle masters and re-form a new gang, which can only be done in secret, and cannot let any of the forces know, overseas is our best choice. When he was in Jeju to suppress bandits, he knew that there was an uninhabited island not far from Elephant Lake, which was hidden from overseas, and it was a good place for us to use as a base. In addition, Dong Liang, the commander of the newly built Xianghu Water Army, is also a general who was recruited when the ministers suppressed bandits, this person was born in a mountain bandit, and will not be reused by other families, His Royal Highness can just envelop this person, and even if he finds something in the future, he will cover it up for us. ”

Xiao Yan fell into deep thought after hearing this, and his heart was indeed moved by Shi Luosheng's words, Xiao Yan, who was in the emperor's family, naturally knew that no one could believe it, even his own father and emperor could not believe it all. Don't look at your father's favor now, if in the future in the battle between the royal family and the family, once the father is in an unfavorable situation, then he will be a victim of calming the family's anger. So Shi Luosheng is right, you must have your own strength, but can you believe the Shi Luosheng in front of you? Once he decides to do this, he can only leave it to him, and at that time, he is not sure whether this power will listen to him or Shi Luosheng.

Xiao Yan asked tentatively: "Taifu, if you want to do this, who do you think is the most appropriate person to be in charge?" ”

Shi Luosheng couldn't see that this was Xiao Yan's deliberate temptation, so he pretended to be contemplative and thought about it: "Just Deputy Commander Liu, he is His Highness's cousin, you can rest assured." ”

Xiao Yan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, but he still asked again uneasily: "Although my cousin can, he has too many trivial matters in the palace, and his father can't do without him, he is not the best candidate for this matter, Taifu should recommend another one." ”

Shi Luosheng frowned and said, "Then Xu Zhongqian, the attendant next to His Highness." ”

Xiao Yan shook his head, Shi Luosheng nominated several people in a row, and Xiao Yan vetoed them all, either he couldn't believe it, or he lacked ability.

Shi Luosheng said slowly at this time: "There is definitely one person who is suitable, his name is Ling Zhen, I don't know if His Highness has heard of this person?" ”

Xiao Yan thought for a while and said, "This name is so familiar, I've definitely heard it before, but I can't remember where I've heard it for a while." ”

Shi Luosheng immediately told Xiao Yan about Ling Zhen's origin, and said: "This person has a grudge against Captain Tian, and he has a grudge against the general, and the most important thing is that this person is still wanted and cannot appear in public, which means that he also has a handle in the hands of His Highness." If he has two hearts, His Royal Highness will directly tell his whereabouts to Tian Taiwei, Tian Taiwei has been looking for him for many years, a person who is not allowed to belong to the family, but also has a handle in the hands of the prince, and his martial arts are high, and he can lead troops to fight, it is really a pity that such a person is not used. If in the future, Your Highness, you can help him take revenge and take down Captain Tian, are you still worried that he can't die for you? ”

Xiao Yan finally remembered who Ling Zhen was, although he hadn't met, but the matter of Ling Zhen back then was also rumored, and Xiao Yan, who was in the deep palace, had also heard about it. In this way, Ling Zhen is indeed a suitable candidate, and at present, he and Ling Zhen have the same goal, he wants to suppress the family, and Ling Zhen also wants to destroy the Tian family. And Ling Zhen's ability, Xiao Yan knows, he was the number one general under Deng Yuanjue back then, after several years of tempering, his ability will naturally far exceed that of that year, and Xiao Yan is also very happy to be able to get this person's help.

Xiao Yan said: "Okay, then Ling Zhen, I didn't expect Taifu to have known General Ling for many years, he was the No. 1 fierce general of our Great Song Dynasty back then." ”

Shi Luosheng asked again, "Does Your Highness need to meet this person?" I asked him to come to Jianye secretly to meet His Highness. ”

Xiao Yan waved his hand and said: "It's better not to see you for the time being, Jianye has a lot of people, and General Ling also has many enemies, in case someone finds out, it's not good, Taifu, you can contact him directly, let him go to the uninhabited island to recruit troops and be responsible for training them, where you need money, Taifu will directly ask Gonggong Le to withdraw it, and you don't need to report to me." "Father-in-law Le is the closest eunuch to the prince, and he is responsible for all the prince's expenses.

Shi Luosheng and the others were also happy to see that Xiao Yan finally agreed, and after leaving the East Palace, Liu Zixuan finally couldn't help but smile and said: "You kid is really insidious, you nominally pushed all the rebuilding of Changxing Island to the prince, even if Guo Xu and Xun Yuqing told the general, the general can't say anything." What's more, the prince is also willing to come up with money to support the development of Changxing Island, you are too insidious, haha. ”

Shi Luosheng also scolded with a smile: "I didn't take his money for nothing, he really has something, I still have to settle it for him, and now it's just using each other." By the way, wait a minute, don't forget to let someone tell Teacher Ling about this, now Teacher Ling is nominally the prince's person. Finally, he no longer had to worry about Changxing Island being exposed, and Shi Luosheng finally put his mind at ease.

The next day, Shi Luosheng and the two followed the third prince Xiao Che to the Tianwu City of Chu State. Speaking of the origin of this Tianwu City, it is also related to the development of the Hidden Star Sect, when the Chu State was still the largest country in the world, the Tianluo Sect was also the first major religion in the world at that time, and the headquarters of the Tianluo Sect was located in the Tianwu Mountain of the Chu State. Later, the state of Chu declined due to civil strife, and the Tianluo sect was also divided into three. After the decline of the two Sects of Chasing the Sun and Chasing the Moon, the weakest Hidden Star Sect rose instead. After more than two hundred years of development, the Hidden Star Sect has gradually become the first major sect in today's rivers and lakes, and Tianwu Mountain has also become today's martial arts holy land, every year from all over the world come to Tianwu Mountain to learn from countless people, and gradually formed a small village near Tianwu Mountain, and then slowly has the size of the county, and now the people living around Tianwu Mountain are no less than the scale of a city, the court of Chu State in order to facilitate management, it directly set up Tianwu City here, Taishou and administrative personnel at all levels were also sent to manage it.