Viscount Charles and Rolf were amazed by the prosperity of the East, especially after Zhao Bufan told him about the many difficulties in forming a navy, and they even insisted that the Song Empire should have an extremely terrible fleet, and Zhao Bufan was the commander of the naval fleet.

The most important thing is that they believed Zhao Bufan's judgment and believed that the narrow coastal plain in the western part of the Principality of Antioch was safe for the time being.

This quickly led them to come to a consensus and decided to occupy the area as the first domain of the Holy Knights, and the sprawling harbor city of La Odise became the headquarters of the Holy Knights.

Then the three of them quickly divided the internal work.

Viscount Charlie refuses to be the lord of the city because he is not good at governing the territory, and his bankruptcy has left a deep shadow on him, while Rolf also believes that he is more capable of negotiating and should focus on seeking more partners and support as the supreme spokesman of the Order.

As for Rolf, he considered himself better suited to training soldiers and fighting, and he didn't know much about governing his territory except that he knew that tax collectors were needed to collect taxes on a regular basis, just like his father, who had died in the internal strife of the Holy Roman Empire, had a knack for warfare, but was not good at governing territory and politics, so much so that he ended up falling victim.

As a result, Zhao Bufan was pushed to the position of the lord of La Odisse by the two of them, and entered the city hall, responsible for the governance and development of this area.

At this time, Ladisse had nothing, and survival was the primary problem they faced, Zhao Bufan, after careful consideration, asked Rolf to lead the warriors of the Holy Knights to quickly declare sovereignty to the rural residents of this area, collect reasonable agricultural products as taxes, and first try to feed the knights and citizens, while Viscount Charles returned to Byzantium to negotiate, seeking production tools and financial support at the lowest possible cost.

The greatest advantage of Ladise is that it is an important port for the whole of the Levant, and if it can be put back into operation, it will be an important trade route to the East, which the Byzantine Empire will definitely support, the only question is the strength of the support and the price to be paid.

Zhao Bufan was responsible for restoring order in La Odisse as soon as possible, and the advanced management system of the Great Song Dynasty also became an important reference for him to learn from, he looked for suitable municipal officials from local celebrities and members of the Knights, combined with the local cultural characteristics, divided the city hall into the city court, the supervision court, the police department, the finance department, the executive yuan and the religious office, and the supreme decision-making power and legislative power were in the three-member council of the Holy Knights.

Everything is gradually getting back on track.

Zhao Bufan also settled down to govern the city-state.

At present, if he wants to return to the Great Song Dynasty from the land, he has no way to get a trade permit or pass, and the land Silk Road has long been cut off, and it is really difficult to return to the Great Song Dynasty through so many countries, so he can only go back from the sea, and other ocean-going merchant ships cannot easily carry him, although he has a legal identity, but he is burdened with the mission of the church, and his identity is extremely complicated, and few people are willing to take this risk.

So there are only two options.

One is to buy off a fleet with enough profits to secretly return to the East, although it is not very safe, but it is ultimately a way to choose, and the other is to borrow Laordisse to establish a legal ocean-going fleet and control your own destiny.

But no matter what he chooses, he needs to earn enough wealth, otherwise he can't do anything.

............

When Zhao Bufan was wandering in a distant foreign land, struggling to find a way to survive and return home, Da Song had fully accepted the fact that he was missing.

Zhu Lian suppressed the pain in his heart and stood in front of the stage to pick up all the burdens.

She took control of Juxian Village, secretly gathered Zhao Bufan's old subordinates and tried her best to support the power of Zhao Wangfu, to prevent the civil and military forces that had secretly supported Zhao Bufan from falling apart, and Empress Zheng and the Zhu family also used all their strength to support her.

The crown prince Zhao Huan and the third prince Zhao Kai found that the attitude of the Zhu family was extremely firm, and successively managed to dissolve the marriage contract with Zhu Fengying and Zhu Xuan, and completely cut off the relationship with the Zhu family. Cai Jing's attitude became elusive, gradually fading out of the government and the struggle for power, and the situation in the court gradually became chaotic.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the Northern Army is very stable.

Zhao Bufan's earlier promotion and appointment of Zhe Yanzhi to command the Northern Army can be said to be the most correct choice, the Zhi family's traditional neutral attitude has made all forces feel at ease, and their strong governance of the army makes it impossible for anyone to easily intervene, and gradually formed a balance, no one touches the Northern Army, so that it is far away from the struggle between Korea and China, and becomes a solid barrier in the north of the Great Song Dynasty, so the situation in the northern Xinjiang is much more stable than in the capital.

After learning of Zhao Bufan's disappearance, the Jin people raised troops to invade the south several times, but they were all repelled by the soldiers of the Northern Army led by Zhe Yanzhi, who used the Great Wall to contain the main cavalry of the Jin State, so that they could not exert their real strength, while the young generals of the Northern Army were sharpened in this solid defense, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, Wu Lan and others all grew rapidly.

The Water Margin Army and the Liangshan Army became the elite forces directly under Zhi Yanzhi, and Zhi Yuezhi became Zhao Bufan's representative in these two armies.

The Heavenly Demon Palace, which had secretly traded salt in Cangzhou earlier, was abolished and became part of Dongxian Harbor, which was secretly controlled by Zhu Lian.

But even so, the power of Zhao Bufan, a civil and military official, has still been greatly weakened, and he is facing huge suppression and cannibalization, and there is a big reason for this, that is, the acquiescence of Emperor Zhao Ji, and Empress Zheng even quarreled with Zhao Ji for this.

On the day when Zhao Bufan was the city lord of La Odisse, almost at the same time, Empress Zheng also had an argument with Emperor Zhao Ji in the palace, and the voice could even be heard by Liang Shicheng, who was guarding outside the palace, and he couldn't help sighing.

"Your Majesty, why do you just refuse to admit the fact that Fan'er is the prince, and let that fake person continue to be powerful, the emperor also knows how many people are hostile to Zhao Wangfu now, he is the emperor's own flesh and blood!"

Empress Zheng's grief-stricken voice didn't make Zhao Ji shake in any way, he sat quietly behind the dragon case, his face looking very calm.

"It is impossible for me to admit his background, no matter how much I like him, but after all, he has been lost since childhood, even if all the evidence shows that he is my own flesh and blood, it is still impossible for me to hand over the country to him, if there is an accident, the country will not be the Zhao family. ”

Empress Zheng wept silently: "Even so, if the emperor doesn't make him the crown prince, why don't you even admit it?"

Emperor Zhao Ji also seemed to be a little unbearable, looking at Empress Zheng for a long time, his tone gradually softened: "If I recognize his parent-child status, then the prince's affairs are not my own decision, his merit is too great, his prestige is too high, he can get too much support, and even forced me to make him the crown prince, he has been outside since he was a child, and he has not had a deep relationship with me after all, if I have a different intention to force me to abdicate, what should I do?"

“......”

Empress Zheng was silent, she didn't know how to respond.

The affairs of the emperor's family can never be said clearly, maybe she has something to say in her heart, but she doesn't dare to say it, or maybe she really can't refute it.

Emperor Zhao Ji stood up lightly and gently shook off the crumbs stuck to the dragon robe: "You are my queen, with our relationship for so many years, I hope that you and I are one heart, and do not participate in this battle again, although Zhao Huan and Zhao Kai are not your own children, but you are the queen, they are also your sons in terms of etiquette, and you raised them with your own hands, and they are also very filial to you, so the prince can only be one of the two of them." ”

Empress Zheng closed her eyes bitterly.

"What about Fan'er?"

"Didn't I already send someone to look for him?" Zhao Ji, who walked towards the door, paused, took a deep breath and said: "I love him no less than you, and I have never stopped looking for him for a moment, he can enjoy glory and wealth forever, but he can't inherit the country, I knew his background earlier, but I didn't disclose his identity as a prince, and let him make contributions, just to protect him."

Once this matter is not made public, then it can only be entangled around the issue of life experience, instead of directly entering the dispute between the prince, once it is made public, I have to stand on the side of the prince, and I don't want to break with him, so I try my best to support him to make achievements, and when I am old in the future and can no longer keep him, then he can live in peace with his own prestige and merit, and I will also remove his power before death, so that he can enjoy his old age in wealth.

I recognize him as a righteous son, entirely because this title allows us to compensate him, otherwise how would this kind of precedent be set, as for many people now falling into the well and suppressing extraordinary cronies, I am not unaware, the reason for letting them maintain balance, when it is really out of control, I will not let them mess around, the current Great Song Dynasty is not very stable?

Zhao Huan and Zhao Kai are competing for the crown prince, and I know very well, but what can I do?

I can only control, try my best to control their movements, so as not to cause a big mess, and at the same time let them temper, one of them will eventually become the emperor, they need to go through this, they need to train their own henchmen, to help them in the future.

In the first half of my life, I solved the party dispute, stabilized the country, cleaned up the hidden dangers left by the first emperor, and recovered the sixteen states of Youyun with the assistance of extraordinary, which was very satisfying, and further rectified the dynasty and purged the rule of officials, I felt very powerless, I originally wanted to use Fan'er as an external force, but Fan'er's disappearance disrupted my plan, and now I can only focus on the stability of the country.

In the future, whether Zhao Huan or Zhao Kai ascends the throne, they will try to purge the rule of officials, now they just need to look more, see clearly which people must be eliminated, and which people can be used, I know that many people think that I am not a Ming monarch, but I was originally pushed to this position, no one has taught me how to be a good emperor, I removed strange stones and antiques, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting before I ascended the throne, I didn't understand anything.

I am tired now, it is best to leave a stable country for future generations, and then spend the rest of my life with you in peace, enjoying all the glory and wealth. ”

After saying so much in one breath, Emperor Zhao Ji took a deep breath and took another step.

Empress Zheng stared at his back and was silent for a long time.

............

Dongxian Port, a seaside house.

The beautiful Zhu Lian stood in the harbor with a cold face, since Zhao Bufan's disappearance, she rarely smiled.

"Brother Wei, according to Jian Qi's latest investigation, it is very likely that my husband was sold to an ocean-going merchant at the beginning, you must be careful when you go to sea this time, you can't let go of any place, it's a little sister begging you, please!"

Wei Chengfeng sighed and solemnly bowed his hand: "My subordinates will definitely do their best, the prince is wise and brave, and he has done so much for everyone, he will definitely be able to turn evil into good fortune." ”

Zhu Lian's eyes gradually moistened, looking at Yelu Yu Liyan and Hu Sanniang who were sobbing next to him, his face was full of determination.

"He must still be alive, and one day, he will come back!"

.。 m.