Li Zhen finished reading the text message that Lu Jin wrote to him, pondered for a moment and asked, "What is the situation in Yangzhou City now?"

"Returning to the commander, now Yangzhou City is quite calm on the surface, but there are already merchants in the market who are throwing goods, but the impact is not great, the key is that Yangzhou people do not know that the imperial army is already approaching Yangzhou, only people who are extremely well-informed know. ”

At this time, Di Yan also got the news and quietly walked into the room, Zhao Qiuniang held her hand and stood aside, Li Zhen walked a few steps and asked, "You came all the way, is there anything abnormal?"

Han Yong shook his head, "There is nothing abnormal in the humble position."

"Okay, it's hard work, Captain Zhao took him down to rest first. ”

Zhao Qiuniang led Han Yong down, and then Di Yan asked, "How is Yangzhou?"

"Yangzhou is very calm at the moment, but Li Yuanjia is now in Jiangyang County. ”

Jiangyang County is close to the Yangtze River, Di Yan frowned, "Does he want to escape from the Yangtze River?"

"It doesn't really matter whether Li Yuanjia escapes or not, I am more concerned about where the thousands of troops he raised are now? This is the key to affecting the overall situation, and now Lu Jin has not been able to find the whereabouts of these troops. ”

Di Yan said in a low voice: "Why don't I go to Chang'an, Yangzhou Governor Shi Zhao Wenchu is my father's protégé, maybe I can get a little news from him." ”

Li Zhen thought for a while, "I'll go with you." ”

"I don't have to be on my own, there won't be any danger. ”

Li Zhen shook his head, "It's not just that you are in danger, if you don't remove the hidden danger of Yangzhou as soon as possible, I am worried that the female emperor will make up her mind to replace Li with martial arts, and she asked Wu Yizong to send an envoy to Yangzhou, which has a faint meaning, and I must understand the situation of Li Yuanjia's army as soon as possible." ”

Di Yan no longer objected, and she whispered again: "But how do you explain it to Wu Yizong?"

"It's okay, I'll just say that I'm going to investigate the truth about the assassins, and he'll let me go to Yangzhou, but he also needs a reason. ”

Li Zhen smiled, walked quickly to the outside of the cabin, and happened to meet Zhao Qiuniang, he told Zhao Qiuniang a few more words, and then got off the boat.

Things went even more smoothly than Li Zhen imagined, he didn't see Wu Yizong, but Wu Yizong agreed to him to investigate the assassin, only to hear him shout in pain in the cabin: "Commander Li, you must find out who Yu is, I have to skin him"

A quarter of an hour later, Li Zhen and Di Yan got on their horses, Han Yong led the way, and the three of them rode towards Yangzhou City.

When he arrived in Yangzhou City, the sky was gradually getting brighter, Li Zhen did not show the gold medal of internal guard, but waited outside the city for about half an hour, and the city gate finally opened slowly.

Han Yong wanted to report to Lu Jin, so he took the first step to leave, and Li Zhen and Di Yan led their horses and slowly walked in the direction of the state government.

Li Zhen is the first time to come to Yangzhou, although he knows that Yangzhou is one of the best cities in the world, business, but the city in front of him still makes him breathtaking, only to see both sides of Guangling Street, dense shops next to each other, at a glance can not see the end, the circumference of the entire city is at least fifty miles, only slightly smaller than Luoyang and Chang'an.

Although Yangzhou is commercial, but compared with Luoyang, there is still less of a majestic king's spirit, the city gate does not have the grandeur of Luoyang Tianmen, the streets are not as wide and straight as the heavenly street, the flags are fluttering everywhere, full of commercial philistine atmosphere.

At this time, the sky has just dawned, the sun has not yet risen in the east, the morning light is clear, and there are not many people on the street, but many shops are dismantling the door panels and preparing to open their doors.

Li Zhen saw that a small noodle restaurant not far away had opened, and there were already customers going in to eat noodles, so Li Zhen smiled and said, "Let's go eat something, it is estimated that Zhao Changshi has not come to the state government yet." ”

Di Yan also felt a little hungry, so she nodded, followed Li Zhen to the front of the small noodle restaurant, tied the horses to the horse stakes outside the door, and the two walked into the store and sat down to find a seat where they could see the horses.

"What do you two want to eat?"

The shopkeeper saw that he didn't look like a local, so he greeted him in fluent Mandarin: "The small shop has noodles from the north and south, fresh meat buns from Shandong, mutton and tender onion cakes from Guanzhong, meat noodles from the Central Plains, and local meat soup dumplings, soup made from big bones, delicious and cheap, do you want to try it?"

Di Yan has been to Yangzhou a few times, and she knows more about the food here, and said with a smile: "Two plates of Shandong steamed buns, and two bowls of meat soup dumplings, I want a big bowl, one of which is twice as much meat." ”

"Okay, please sit down for a while, and I'll be right here. ”

The guy went into the kitchen, and Li Zhen asked with a low smile, "Did you order too much?"

Di Yan smiled and said, "You'll know right away." ”

After a while, the guy brought their pasta, "The noodles for the two are here, please use them slowly"

Li Zhen was stunned for a moment, the so-called Shandong fresh meat bun is only the size of an egg, there are only four on a plate, and the big bowl of meat soup dumplings is about the same as the smallest bowl in Luoyang, Di Yan saw him widen his eyes, pursed his lips and smiled: "I understand, the portion of the food here is very small, but it tastes good and is very exquisite." ”

She pushed two plates of steamed buns to Li Zhen, and she only ate a bowl of meat soup balls, Li Zhen didn't sleep all night, she was already extremely hungry, and the two plates of steamed buns were swept away in a moment, and she couldn't help but praise it, "The taste is really good, but it's a pity that there are too few." ”

Di Yan smiled again and said to the guy: "Two more plates of Yangzhou stuffed soup dumplings"

"Here it comes"

The guy brought two more plates of stuffed soup dumplings after a while, which were not much bigger than pigeon eggs, which made Li Zhen cry and laugh a little.

"Take a small bite first, suck the broth out of it, and then eat it, but it doesn't matter to you, just one bite at a time. ”

Li Zhen ate a few stuffed soup dumplings, felt that it tasted good, and asked for two more plates, and after a while, Di Yan got up and said with a smile: "You eat slowly, wait for me here, I'll go and inquire about the situation first." ”

"Well, be careful. Li Zhen was eating the soup ball and vaguely agreed.

Di Yan waited for a moment in front of the state office, and a person who walked out quickly said with a smile: "Let the girl wait for a long time, my family Shi has just arrived in the official room, please come with me"

"Excuse me"

Di Yan followed him into the official office, the Yangzhou official office occupied a large area, and it took a few turns to come to the official house of Changshi.

The history of the governor of Yangzhou is called Zhao Wenchu, a native of Taiyuan Mansion, born in Jinshi, he is about forty years old, the third place in the imperial examination high school ten years ago, he has been an official in Yangzhou, Zhao Wenchu entered Beijing to catch the examination that year, took the relationship with the villagers, worshiped under Di Renjie, and became Di Renjie's protégé.

In the officialdom, this is also a relatively good face, Xiangguo's protégé, listeners will be impressed.

However, with Di Renjie being demoted to Pengze County Commander last year, Zhao Wenchu no longer mentioned that he was Di Xiangguo's protégé, which is also in line with his motto: 'A gentleman does not stand on a dangerous wall.

Zhao Wenchu was a very diligent official, and his living time was the same as that of the imperial court, and at the same time, it was the beginning of the early dynasty in Luoyang, and he also appeared in his official room on time.

As soon as he sat down and drank a sip of tea, he came to report that Di Renjie's daughter came to visit, which made Zhao Wenchu a little embarrassed, of course he knew that Di Renjie's daughter should be the youngest daughter Di Yan, who had been to Yangzhou twice before, and he had also seen it, and she was a chivalrous woman who liked to wander outside.

Di Yan came to Yangzhou today, he must also come out to play, Zhao Wenchu thinks so, but the court has been in turmoil recently, if someone sees Di Yan coming to find him, will he think that he is sending a letter to Di Renjie?

Although it was a little embarrassing, Zhao Wenchu knew that he still had to see her, otherwise he would not be able to get over his face, so he would have to beat her away as soon as possible.

At this time, he reported at the door: "Envoy, Miss Di is here"

"Invite her in"

After a while, Di Yan walked in quickly, and saluted Zhao Wenchu Yingying with a smile on her face, "Di Yan greets Uncle Zhao."

Although Zhao Wenchu is Di Renjie's protégé, he should be the same as Di Yan in terms of generation, but Di Renjie does not allow his daughter to be called by his peers, and must let his daughter call him uncle, Zhao Wenchu went to Luoyang several times to meet Di Renjie, Di Yan called him uncle, and Zhao Wenchu was also used to it.

He stroked his beard and smiled slightly: "Why did Ah Yan come to Yangzhou, is it here to play?"

Di Yan didn't want to say it directly, so she followed his words and said with a smile: "I came to Yangzhou with my senior sister, and when I encountered a little trouble, I wanted Uncle Zhao to help."

Zhao Wenchu laughed, "Is someone bullying you, if it's Yangzhou, can I come forward to help you, or is it still insufficient?" I can also sponsor you." ”

Di Yan had already thought of the rhetoric, she looked back, there was no one behind her, so she smiled and said: "My senior sister is here to find her brother, but there is no one at home, I heard from the neighbor that her brother signed up for the army last year, but we can't find where the army is stationed?"

"Oh-" Zhao Wenchu suddenly smiled and said: "I can help with this, if it is a state soldier, I can check the roster, I don't know what is the name of your senior sister's brother?"

"My senior sister and brother are also surnamed Zhao, called **, I heard that they joined the army of King Guangling. Di Yan said casually, but her eyes were fixed on Zhao Wenchu's every expression.

Zhao Wenchu's face suddenly changed greatly, his eyes almost popped out, and he stammered after a while: "This." This one...... I don't know, what is the army of King Guangling? I have never heard of it."

He was flustered, stood up and said, "I still have something to do, you go back first, and we'll talk about it in a few days when we have time." ”

He ignored Di Yan, got up and walked out directly, and soon, he came in and said with a smile: "My envoy still has official business to deal with, Miss Di, please."

Di Yan could see clearly, this Zhao Wenchu must know, but he didn't want to tell himself, helplessly, Di Yan had to stand up, depressed and left the state office, just walked out of the gate, she heard someone in the alley next to her calling her, "Ah Yan, this way"

Li Zhen led two horses to beckon to her at the entrance of the alley, Di Yan hurriedly walked into the alley, Li Zhen asked with a smile, "What, did he say it?"

Di Yan shook his head and said in frustration: "As soon as I opened my mouth, he immediately kicked me out under the pretext of being busy with official business. ”

"Do you think he knows?"

Di Yan nodded, "I can see that he must know"

Li Zhen pondered for a moment and said: "Maybe it's in the state office, it's not easy for him to talk about it, so it's better for us to visit him at night." ”

Di Yan sighed, "I think it's better to talk about this kind of thing at home." ”

"Okay, let's go to Lu Jin first, and then ask about the situation. ”

Lu Jin rushed from the starry night of the 6th Road, arrived in Yangzhou four days earlier than them, and is currently living in an inn near the West City Gate, Li Zhen and Di Yan came to the West City Gate, Di Yan pointed to a huge red lantern and said: "Look, this is there"

I saw the red lantern dragon flying and the phoenix dancing with four big black characters, 'Juxian Inn, this is the inn he is looking for, Li Zhen and Di Yan walked into the inn, only to see that the inn is quite large, rockery pond fish, green trees, the house is also very elegantly built, it is a relatively high-end inn, at this time the shopkeeper came out, with a smile on his face: "Two of you live in the hotel"

"I found a businessman surnamed Lu from Luoyang, and he left me a letter saying that he lived here. ”

A businessman surnamed Lu, from Luoyang?,

The shopkeeper thought for a moment, suddenly remembered, and said repeatedly: "There is this guest, who lives in the backyard, please come with me." ”