Reborn: The First Rank "Madam"

C242 – Ensemble

Lu Zheng lightly knocked on the table and consecutively gave a few orders. First, stop trading with Huoluo Nation, second, investigate spies from other countries within the limits of Great Yang, and third, strengthen the defense of the sea.

Even though the Great Yang navy had only been established recently, and was not considered to be a strong soldier, it still depended on who the opponent was. Huoluo Nation was a small country that dealt with Great Yang more frequently, so Lu Zheng had quite a bit of information.

Yinyi responded, and prepared to go down to prepare. Lu Zheng continued: “Wait, transfer the ten thousand soldiers from the capital’s outskirts to the northern border!”

“Are you worried that the north will take advantage of the situation and enter?”

“It’s not that I’m worried, but I suspect that this matter is related to Beidi.” Why would the Huoluo Nation suddenly want to become enemies with the Great Yang? It was still after the battle between Great Yang and Beidi.

“Understood.”

Lu Zheng looked at him, “After the matter is settled, go take a rest. This official will go and find someone!”

Wu Tie paused for a moment and then agreed seriously. Before Lu Zheng arrived, he was tense. Now that his master had arrived, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Lu Zheng walked out of the yamen and headed towards the port. Although he knew that they had searched everything within a few dozen miles, he still wasn’t willing to not personally search around.

The guards behind him followed quietly, not daring to go up and disturb him. The aura being emitted by Lu Zheng’s body also made the Cang State citizens who were curious about him not dare to approach him.

Luo Xiaoliu had to follow him even if he was sick. He couldn’t get off the bed two days ago, but now that Master Lu came today, he would go with him no matter what.

After arriving at the river port, there were a lot of boats going in and out. Many people had to give up after trying to find him for a few days. Although there was always money for him to work, everyone had already decided that Zuo Shaoqing couldn’t possibly be alive.

The brothers with Cao Sect recognized Lu Zheng and immediately brought people to pay their respects. Under the pressure, they invited Lu Zheng onto the boat and followed his instructions as they headed towards the location of the accident.

Lu Zheng stood at the bow of the boat, facing the cold river breeze as he closely watched the river surface, afraid of suddenly seeing the floating object.

“Master, this part of the river has already been salvaged. The hidden guards have instructed everyone to expand the area downstream.”

“Yes.”

That guard was one of the 20 guards that followed Zuo Shaoqing south before. In the end, there were only 8 guards left, and these 8 guards were suffering day after day as their guilt eroded them.

Lu Zheng was not an unreasonable person, so he naturally had to take all the punishments. However, the most important thing right now was to find the person. Everything else could be delayed.

After a long journey, the two banks of the ship became increasingly desolate. Occasionally, they would pass by a small village or two, and with each passing village, the guard would explain where they had been searching carefully.

Lu Zheng could not help but wonder: Could Zuo Shaoqing be in one of them? Maybe he was just too injured to move, or maybe that family didn’t happen to know about this news …

“Master, I was saved by the people from that village,” Luo Xiaoliu pointed at a village that only had a dozen households, “According to the villagers, when they found me, there was only one person, and they didn’t see San Ye.”

Lu Zheng looked towards the direction he was pointing and observed the surrounding terrain. Other than a shallow beach, there was nothing here that could get in the way of others.

He also knew that the poison on Zuo Shaoqing’s body was harmless to his life, but it would cause him to be unable to move for three days. Think about it, for a person who could not move in the water, other than getting washed ashore, how could he still be alive?

Luo Xiaoliu hurriedly explained, “San Ye had already forced out part of the poison. Although he was completely weak, he would definitely be fine!”

Lu Zheng did not utter a word. Of course, he believed Zuo Shaoqing would be fine. He touched his chest and believed that that person must be alive and well somewhere he did not know.

After staying on the ship for three days, there was still no news of Zuo Shaoqing. Even Luo Xiaoliu suspected that San Ye had been swallowed by the fish? Otherwise, why would they die and leave without a trace?

Zuo Shaoqing sneezed and touched his leg that was fixed by the bamboo board. He didn’t know if that leg of his would be crooked by the barefoot doctor in the village.

In this little village that was almost isolated from the rest of the world, he could not even send out a message. All he could do was stare at the surface of the river in a daze, waiting for the river to rise.

Because of his outstanding appearance and temperament, the villagers’ greatest joy was to run to the river and peek at him. Afterwards, they gathered together to make up some sad and beautiful strange stories for Zuo Shaoqing.

Every night when Lin Su came back, he would tell these stories to him as a joke and ask: “Is it true?”

Zuo Shaoqing thought to himself: what do you mean by running away with the girl and accidentally falling into the river, what do you mean by making the girl’s stomach grow up and then being thrown into the river by the other family members, what do you mean by rushing to the capital to meet bandits, rather than dying and jumping into the river to commit suicide, compared to the truth, all of them are too ordinary.

“Sigh …” As the sun set, the last rays of sunlight illuminated the beautiful sunset clouds in the west. Zuo Shaoqing supported himself with his walking stick and walked step by step back to Wu’s house.

Lu Zheng’s patience was wearing thin as the days of disappointment passed by. His face looked worse and worse. No one within three meters dared to stand, because the enormous pressure made it hard for people to breathe.

On the fifth day, Lu Zheng stopped his search and locked himself in his study for half a day. Then, he was taken out one letter after another.

As long as it was a county passing by along the Cang State River, Lu Zheng would send a letter to each county, requesting them to do their best to search for Zuo Shaoqing’s whereabouts in his own private name.

Although this was against the rules, but on Duke Zhen’s account, very few officials refused.

Immediately afterwards, a thick imperial report of 800 miles was sent urgently to the capital. It appeared on Zhan Yuanfeng’s imperial case in just three days.

Lu Zheng’s memorial only wrote one thing, which was to ask the water master to take him to the Huoluo Nation, and it also included a detailed plan and the necessity of this trip.

Lu Zheng did not mention Zuo Shaoqing in his memorial at all. From the point of view of the people of the Great Yang, as well as his determination to set off for war.

Zhan Yuanfeng didn’t say anything after he finished reading, he passed the imperial report to the ministers, “Tell me your views.”

All of the ministers in the imperial court knew that Zuo Shaoqing’s whereabouts were unknown, but very few people knew that Huoluo Nation was the culprit, so they could guess from how Lu Zheng did not look for people but instead looked for trouble with Huoluo Nation.

“Your majesty, this subject thinks that Duke Zhen’s actions are inappropriate. Although the other party’s strength is not strong, I, the water master of Great Yang, have just been established and it is still lacking in all aspects. If we were to rashly go to war, even if we win, it would be a miserable victory!”

He believed that it was impossible for Lu Zheng to not know this. The only explanation was that Master Lu was truly angry and wanted to avenge Zuo Shaoqing.

With Shang Xianyang taking the lead, the rest of the officials followed suit. With Shang Xianyang leading the way, the rest of the officials agreed with him, the Great Yang had poured a huge amount of funds into the water masters, which meant that the water masters should be developing steadily. If they were to go out to battle now, the number of people who could make it back alive would be extremely few.

Furthermore, the Great Yang and the Huoluo Nation were separated by a sea and there were no land borders. Compared to Beidi who was glaring at him like a tiger, the Huoluo Nation was much more harmless.

Zhan Yuanfeng sighed. Everyone understood this logic, but Lu Zheng still played it. He was obviously too angry.

Zhan Yuanfeng was very worried about Zuo Shaoqing’s disappearance. He knew how important Zuo Shaoqing was to Lu Zheng. If something happened to him, he didn’t know what Lu Zheng would do.

He raised the red ink brush, and after the memorials wrote down the word “Reject”, he ordered people to send it to the Cang State speedily.

If one were to observe carefully, one would be able to see a faint smile on the corners of some people’s lips. Perhaps, some people were just waiting for Lu Zheng to disrespect the decree and act on his own will. When that time came, even Duke Zhen would not be able to do anything about the accusation of disobeying the decree.

That night, Zhan Yuanfeng was going through the imperial reports when he saw the shadow guard enter with a box in his hands. “Your Majesty, this is Duke Zhen’s urgent private performance.”

Zhan Yuanfeng’s heart was moved. After he withdrew, he couldn’t wait to see what Lu Zheng had said. He looked at it word by word. Zhan Yuanfeng’s gaze turned from a serious look to a slight smile.

“So this is Lu Zheng’s plan!” Zhan Yuanfeng watched the secret music twice to make sure he didn’t miss anything before he threw it into the brazier. After it turned into ashes, he made a decision.

Putting the rest of the unchecked imperial reports aside, Zhan Yuanfeng personally wrote an imperial edict and sealed it within a box, allowing the hidden guards to secretly send it to Cang State. Afterwards, he took up his brush and wrote another imperial edict, carefully placing it aside, ready to announce it tomorrow morning.

Sitting alone in his bedroom, Zhan Yuanfeng thought about the relationship between Lu Zheng and Zuo Shaoqing. He wondered if he would be able to find such a person in his lifetime. He would be able to live, die, and even risk his life for him …

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