Ye Lingfeng ordered Zhao Baiyang, the prefect of Songzhou, and others to bring Sima Yuan back to the prefectural government office and imprison him. Prefect Zhao Baiyang accepted the order and immediately ordered the soldiers he brought to escort Sima Yuan to the prison in the prefectural government office. Since this person's status was different, the prefect of Songzhou did not dare to be careless and assigned a lot of soldiers to guard Sima Yuan back to the prefectural government office. Here, he apologized to the emperor for a while, and then led his men back to the prefectural government office.
Shi Zhu originally wanted to teach Sima Yuan a lesson, but when she saw that the emperor had actually sent the prefect of Songzhou to take Sima Yuan away, she couldn't help but worry. She followed her master up to the second floor, and when there was no one else on the second floor, Shi Zhu finally spoke.
"Sir, you let Zhao Baiyang, the prefect of Songzhou, take Sima Yuan away. How can the people of Songzhou be a match for us? What if he is kidnapped?"
Ye Lingfeng didn't say anything, but pulled Hailing into the room. Shizhu, Shiju, Shimei, and Shilan, four subordinates, followed them in, while trusted confidants guarded the door.
After Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling sat down, Ye Lingfeng looked up at Shi Zhu, his eyes deep and unfathomable, radiating a cold light, and spoke in a deep voice.
"Serve the bamboo and the chrysanthemum, and obey orders."
"Yes," the two subordinates clasped their hands in acceptance. It seemed that their master had not simply ordered Zhao Baiyang to take Sima Yuan away; there must be more to the story.
"You two immediately lead several dozen men to secretly keep an eye on Sima Yuan. Someone will kidnap him. Remember not to alert him. Follow him all the way and you will surely find out the real mastermind behind it all."
"Yes, Your subordinate obeys."
The two subordinates withdrew. It turned out that the mastermind was using Sima Yuan to find out the real mastermind behind the scenes.
Inside the room, Ye Lingfeng looked at the two maids, Shi Mei and Shi Lan, and slowly asked, "With the fighting outside so fierce tonight, has Prince Zhaoyang made any move?"
"Your Majesty, Prince Zhaoyang has not made a sound tonight. We have been keeping a close watch on him. The lights in his room have been on all night, and there are shadows reflected in the windows, as if he has not left the room."
"Oh," Ye Lingfeng raised an eyebrow. This Prince Zhaoyang has been staying in his room the whole time. It's really strange that he can stay still while the fighting is going on outside.
Hailin, standing to one side, immediately became suspicious: "There's a huge fight outside, yet he has the leisure to stay in his room. Anyone would want to come out and see what's going on."
After thinking for a moment, he looked at Shi Mei and instructed, "Mei'er, go to Prince Zhaoyang's room and tell him that the fighting outside is fierce. See if Prince Zhaoyang is alright."
"Yes, this servant will take care of it right away."
Shi Mei withdrew, went downstairs, and walked towards the small building where Prince Zhaoyang lived. She knocked on the door, and someone inside said, "Who is it?" Then someone opened the door, and standing at the door was Prince Zhaoyang. He looked pale and was wearing a long robe. It was obvious that what happened outside had frightened him, and he looked very unwell.
"Your Highness, are you alright? Should I find a doctor to examine you?"
Prince Zhaoyang, Ye Ranyi, shook his head, panting as he peeked out and looked around. Seeing that there was no movement outside, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
"You scared me to death just now, are you alright now?"
Shi Mei shook her head, then calmly reassured Prince Zhaoyang: "Your Highness, don't worry, everything is alright. Please rest assured."
"Good, it's good that nothing's wrong," he said, closing the door behind him. He muttered to himself, "I really don't know what my brother is doing in this godforsaken place. There are no beauties to be had, no enjoyment to be had. He's just asking for trouble."
Shi Mei glared coldly at the door, inwardly scoffing. This Prince Zhaoyang certainly knows how to enjoy himself. His master and lord are here to inspect the south, not to play around.
She turned around and went to her master's room to report the situation. After hearing Shi Mei's report, Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling remained silent for a moment.
Then Hailing spoke up: "If Prince Zhaoyang is faking it, then his martial arts skills are probably quite high."
“Hmm,” Ye Lingfeng nodded, his aura cold. He wasn’t afraid of his superior martial arts skills. Now that they had noticed him, how could he be afraid of him? Thinking this, he instructed his two maids, Shimei and Shilan, “Go down, it’s late.”
"Yes," the two maids, Shi Mei and Shi Lan, left. Inside the room, Ye Lingfeng helped Hai Ling to bed to rest. It was the middle of the night, so she should get some sleep.
Hai Ling lay in bed, thinking about everything that had happened that night. She hadn't expected Ye to have set up such a trap so early. She had been worried about dealing with those assassins, but Ye had already deployed the Feathered Guards. He even thought of having Zhao Baiyang, the prefect of Songzhou, take Sima Yuan away so that he could find out who was behind Sima Yuan. His reaction was really quick.
Hai Ling fell into a deep sleep after thinking about it. Ye Lingfeng leaned down and kissed her forehead, a doting smile appearing on his lips.
Ling'er, don't worry, I will not allow anyone to harm you and the baby.
The next day at dawn, Ye Lingfeng received news that Sima Yuan had indeed been kidnapped, and Shizhu was leading men to follow him. He assured his master that he could rest assured.
Early in the morning, Zhao Baiyang, the prefect of Songzhou, led several officials from Songzhou and soldiers from the yamen to kneel in front of the post station, awaiting the emperor's punishment. Last night, the emperor ordered him to escort prisoners to the prefecture for imprisonment, but they were unexpectedly intercepted on the way. How could he face the emperor now? So Zhao Baiyang knelt weakly in front of the post station, his face ashen.
After Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling got up, they had been kneeling for an hour. These officials, who were used to being pampered, had never suffered such torment before. Now, they were all pale and trembling, like withered leaves in the wind.
Ye Lingfeng showed no sympathy for them and coldly questioned them.
"Zhao Baiyang, how could you be so incompetent? You couldn't even keep an eye on the assassin who tried to kill me last night. Where am I supposed to find him now?"
"Your Majesty, I deserve to die, I deserve to die ten thousand times over."
As soon as Zhao Baiyang finished speaking, several officials behind him began to plead, "Your Majesty, please spare our lives. We will immediately send men to arrest Sima Yuan and bring him to justice. We are sure we can capture him."
"Very well, I will give you this chance. If you can capture Sima Yuan, you can atone for your mistakes. If not, you will be punished together later."
"Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty. Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty."
The officials repeatedly kowtowed in gratitude. Thinking that they wouldn't lose their heads for the time being, they all breathed a sigh of relief. However, the thought that their heads were only temporarily stored on his head made them worry again: who had kidnapped Sima Yuan?
"Alright, I will be touring the surrounding fields today. Lord Zhao, send a few officials to accompany me on the tour. Lord Zhao, you may go and investigate the matter of Sima Yuan's abduction."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I obey."
Zhao Baiyang accepted the order and immediately instructed several trusted men from Songzhou to accompany the emperor to search around, while he himself led a group to track down Sima Yuan's whereabouts. He was determined to bring the man back, or they would lose their heads.
In fact, Ye Lingfeng, Hai Ling, and the others knew Sima Yuan's whereabouts, but to avoid arousing suspicion from those behind them, they pretended to do this. Their intention was to let those in the shadows know that they had no idea where Sima Yuan was, so that they could find out who Sima Yuan was helping.
After having breakfast, Ye Lingfeng, Hai Ling, and the others changed into civilian clothes, as did their entourage. Several officials from Songzhou who accompanied them also wore civilian clothes. The group left the post station in a grand procession to visit a manor near Songcheng.
Throughout the estate, the people were busy at work. Although the harvests were poor every year, they still had to keep busy. Some were weeding, others were tidying up the estate. In previous years, they would have already started sowing, but this year, the Emperor himself came and said that he wanted to open irrigation canals and reinforce the river dams. So their farm work was temporarily suspended until the government finished opening the canals and then they could start sowing. This would not affect the growth of the crops in the spring, because the crops grow slowly in winter, so it wouldn't have a big impact.
Inside the manor, the officials from Songzhou first ordered their men to disperse the civilians, and then no one approached within a radius of several hundred meters. Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling did not stop them, lest someone impersonate a civilian and attempt another assassination.
At this time, the sun was high in the sky, and as far as the eye could see, the land stretched out in a continuous line. The terrain was indeed very low-lying. Because the terrain was so low, any rainwater would accumulate in the farmland, and the weeds would grow vigorously. The excessive growth of the weeds would absorb the nutrients of the grain, and coupled with the continuous rain over the years, the grain would be submerged in water, so the harvest would be low every year.
While inspecting the farmland and tending to Hailing, Ye Lingfeng sketched out the layout for opening the canal and the reinforcement of the river dam in his mind. Finally, he ordered the accompanying officials to take out the blueprints for careful study, to determine where improvements and reinforcements were needed.
While Ye Lingfeng was engrossed in his research with several officials who were experts in water conservancy, a commotion broke out outside, with cries of injustice reaching the outside.