Spring returns to the earth, and Vientiane is renewed.

A few days later, Qizhou, Yongming County.

Harbour Terminal.

Qizhou is located in the east of Daxuan, Yongming is located in the easternmost part of Qizhou, from here to the sea, is to go to the ten countries of the East China Sea closest place.

The previous Daxuan envoy group also went to sea from here.

Dagen's Ship Division and Shipbuilding Division are also located here.

Xu Zun is now a member of the four grades of the imperial court, and the local officials of Qizhou, such as the Taishou, Changshi, and County Shou, naturally have to be close to welcome and entertain.

However, among all the accompanying officials, Xu Zun can only be regarded as the commander of this voyage, but he is not the largest official rank.

Li Gui, as the young master of the crown prince, has a third-grade official residence, one level higher than Xu Zun, and is naturally the biggest official.

According to the qualifications of the Prince's Mansion, the first class is the "Three Youths", that is, the Prince Young Master, the Prince Young Master and the Prince Shaobao.

According to the practice of Daxuan, the young master of the crown prince is generally served by cabinet members, and they are all the kind of people who are more knowledgeable and have greater prestige.

Due to the old age and illness of the young master of the crown prince, the queen mother did not send him to participate in the trip to the East China Sea.

And the prince Shaobao died in the assassination of the catastrophe, so among the "three young people", only this prince and young master came.

However, Li Gui is also approaching 60 years old this year, and he is also more than willing to do so.

When Xu Zun and his party arrived at Yongming, he was bedridden and never came out.

Now discussing the matter of going to sea with Xu Zun, only the crown prince Zhan Shi Zhang Yao and the prince's guest Shan Peng are left.

These two people are obviously here to make soy sauce, and the biggest task of their trip is that when they find the prince, they can identify the prince.

Therefore, all matters going to sea now are basically decided by Xu Zun.

"We have seen the auspicious days of the zodiac," said the director of the Shipping Division, "and the day after tomorrow will be auspicious days. Master Xu...... You see......"

“……”

Xu Zun was speechless, and spoke in his heart, I haven't figured anything out here, are you in such a hurry to send me away?

But......

Xu Zun glanced out the window, but saw that outside the water gate were the three ocean-going ships, which were built with four stories and towering masts, which were magnificent.

Moreover, this kind of ship is a veritable warship, with bows, arrows and artillery. The bow of the ship is also equipped with a sturdy metal shock device, which can also impact the enemy ship at a critical moment.

With these three giant warships, it is enough to sail in the East China Sea.

On this voyage, each ship was equipped with as many as 100 seamasters, helmsmen, fencers, seafarers and soldiers, all of whom were good at going to sea.

It can be said that their safety is basically not a problem, and they are fully equipped with the conditions to set sail.

Merely......

Xu Zun's biggest question now is, where is he going?

Where on earth to find the crown prince?

"Everyone," Xu Zun asked in front of many local officials, "I have a question that I haven't figured out, doesn't it mean that the survivors have been burned to death by the fire?"

"So how did the news of the prince's attack in the East China Sea come back?"

"Well...... Mingzhou County Shou first glanced at Qizhou Taishou, and then introduced, "It's all passed on by merchants who come and go to the East China Sea." ”

"What?" Xu Zun frowned, "Equal to no definite news?" ”

"That's right," explained the Taishou of Qizhou, "the crown prince sent an envoy to the ten countries of the East China Sea, and the original plan was to return in five months or half a year.

"Now, as soon as the time of five months arrived, we have received the unfortunate news that some merchant ships returning from the East China Sea have said that our Grand Prince Xuan has been attacked somewhere in the East China Sea, and the whereabouts of the prince himself are unknown.

"This matter is not trivial," Qizhou Tai Shou said, "As soon as we learned the news, we immediately sent someone to verify with those caravanserais."

However, they all came from hearsay, and they didn't know which country the prince was in in the East China Sea or which sea area was attacked.

"So," Taishou continued, "we hastened to send ships to the nearby islands to investigate.

"Ten days later, news finally came from the sea that they had found the prince's entourage and were on their way back.

"However, a few days later, we got the bad news that the clipper ship that sent back the survivors had caught fire and had sunk into the sea, and all the people on board were in trouble, alas, ......."

Qizhou Taishou lamented and regretted, but it could be seen from his expression that he also had deep doubts about this matter.

Needless to say, as long as anyone can see the problem, it is obvious that someone does not want to send the news of the attack on the prince back to Daxuan.

In other words, the attack on the crown prince may have been an ambush for a long time!

Just imagine, the person who dares to ambush the prince must not be an idle person.

Now that Daxuan's court is full of treachery and variables, for these local officials, no one wants to trouble.

Therefore, Xu Zun can also feel that they all hope that they will set sail as soon as possible, and no one cares about whether they can find the prince or not.

"In this way...... Xu Zun realized the difficulty, "it means that no one knows, what happened to the prince in the East China Sea?" ”

"Lord Xu," said the director of the Shipping Division, pointing to a chart on the wall, "according to the prince's original plan, in five months, he should have visited the ten countries and started to return!"

"Look......" he said, gesturing his hand at the map, "this is the order in which the prince sent his envoys to the Ten Kingdoms, starting with the nearest Izumo Province, circling the East China Sea just round, and finally returning through the Lemon Kingdom in the southwest.

"So, if something happens, it should be in the southwest of the East China Sea!"

"Not necessarily," at this time, Shan Peng, the prince's guest, couldn't help but interject, "God knows when the prince was attacked?"

"The East China Sea is big, if we find the wrong place, our safety is small, and we can delay the rescue of the prince, so who can afford this responsibility?"

"Yes, yes," Zhao Yu said, "If you can't get specific information, isn't this tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack?" ”

"It's really interesting," said the prince Zhan Shi Zhang Yao angrily, "the ships are waiting to go to sea, but we don't know where to go?" Isn't that a joke? ”

"It seems that ......," said the secretary, "can only go to the nearest country first to find out the news?" ”

Xu Zun didn't speak, but stood up and walked in front of the chart.

It's a new world!

Xu Zun looked at the map and fell into a dream, although the east of the Great Xuan Dynasty was also a vast sea, there was no huge island in the sea.

It's a completely unfamiliar chart......

There are only a few relatively large islands on the sea, and the rest are scattered archipelagos like astrolabes.

Xu Zun already knew that there were thousands of islands in the East China Sea, only Izumo Country and Linghua Country had larger islands, and the other nine countries were basically archipelago countries, and the area was not too large.

However, these ten countries are unique in that they have their own mineral deposits and treasures, so they have always had good relations with Daxuan for many years.

Although there had been an assassination of a Japanese assassin entering the palace fifteen years ago, it did not affect Daxuan's relationship with the Ten Kingdoms of the East China Sea in the slightest.

Xu Zun knew even more that the real sea was far more slim than this sea map, and if he didn't have a clear goal, it would indeed be difficult to find the prince......

……