Apart from a few officials from the Maritime Bureau who were on board the boat, there were naturally Wang Tong and his family, two porters who accompanied him to carry things, a maid serving his wife, and three Ningjiang Mansion guards with knives.

Going north to countercurrent, the ship of the royal palace is moving very fast. In addition to the large space, good living conditions of the crew, and carrying more weapons and ammunition, the most important thing is that the larger the ship, the more it can resist the wind and waves.

Nowadays, the wind and waves of inland rivers are not afraid of the Dingnan-level ships in the royal palace, and only the sea can test it.

By noon, Li Xingzhou stood at the bow of the boat and could see the towering Taihang Mountains in the distance. The yellow-brown rocks were exposed on a large area and the dark green vegetation was very small, like the scallions on mashed potatoes, dotted in sporadic ways.

The mountain is as dangerous and magnificent as it is cut by a knife and axe. The mountains run across the north and south, extending for more than a thousand miles, blocking the dust and view on the other side of the mountain. Therefore, the mountain is a green plain with lush water and grass and lush vegetation, fertile land and dense population.

Li Xingzhou couldn't see the other side of the mountain, but he knew that the land there was barren, with ravines and loess everywhere, making it difficult to survive.

Wang Tong put on his official uniform and came to the bow of the boat at some point. He coughed and said that he was there, but he didn't speak.

Li Xingzhou turned around and asked, "Does Ningjiang Prefecture have any contacts with Taiyuan Prefecture?"

"Cough cough" Wang Tong coughed twice and agreed: "There are naturally exchanges, and the source of the Jiangzhou bandits is under the rule of Taiyuan.

Those black bandits came from the west of Taihang Mountain. I sent documents to Taiyuan Prefecture many times, hoping that they would help solve the traitors from the source, but they ignored them and let them do it."

Speaking of this, Wang Tong became even more angry: "I also submitted a letter to ask the emperor to punish the Taiyuan Prefect for inaction, but there was no news. The emperor also protected the remnants of the previous dynasty, and did not punish them or pursue them, and even ordered them to cooperate with Ningjiang Prefecture to eliminate the thieves!"

"The remnants of the previous dynasty are the Yang family?" Li Xingzhou asked, he was not sure about this.

Wang Tong said contemptuously: "Yes, they are all thieves who have changed their ranks."

Li Xingzhou didn't respond, probably like Wang Tong. Some people in the court seemed to be unfaithful and righteous.

"Tell me about their Yang family." Li Xingzhou sat down at the bow of the boat. Wang Tong was reluctant, but he still said it.

The king and his subjects are better than father and son, let alone the father-in-law and son-in-law. Just like in Dream of Red Mansions, Jia Zheng and his family have to kneel down to their daughters, even if Wang Tong is reluctant, Li Xingzhou is now the Prince of Pingnan, the transfer envoy of Beijing North, and the large areas of territory such as Ningjiang Prefecture and Taiyuan Prefecture. The local officials in these areas are obliged to cooperate with the action. To put it bluntly, Li Xingzhou is his superior.

Wang Tong did not sit down, but stood up and said in a formal manner: "The Yang family was originally a general of the Northern Han Dynasty. When we destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty, we fought with our Jing Kingdom and killed countless soldiers.

Later, when the Northern Han Dynasty was destroyed, the Yang family joined our dynasty. Taiyuan was originally the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty. Emperor Taizong appreciated the Yang family's good combat, so he appointed Yang Ye, the ancestor of the Yang family, as the prefect of Taiyuan and also as the commander of the military affairs of the three prefectures. Later, Taiyuan has always been the general leader of the Yang family.

His sons Yang Jiye, Sun Yang Yanzhao and others have always been in charge of military affairs in the three states. Later, when Emperor Zhenzong came to marry the royal princess to the Yang family. Until now, Yang Wenguang, the head of the Yang family, is also in charge of serving as the Taiyuan Prefecture and is also in charge of military affairs commander of the three states.

The Yang family has been operated for several generations. People in Taiyuan don’t know that it is the Tian family army, but only know that there is the Yang family army, which is not a good thing.”

Seeing that Wang Tong's face became worse and worse, Li Xingzhou probably understood that he was jealous.

I believe many ministers in Jingguo have this attitude towards the Yang family.

After all, emperors of all dynasties gave the Yang family military power and the regime, and even married the royal princess to a remote place like the Yang family in Taiyuan. It would be strange if they were not jealous.

But they couldn't see that the Liao Kingdom was staring north of Taiyuan, and the three states bordered the Liao Kingdom. There was no accident in Taiyuan for so many years, so it must be the Yang family that was bleeding to death.

There are two main battlefields in the confrontation between Jingguo and Liaoguo. The three prefectures of Taiyuan Prefecture on the west side of Taihang Mountain, and the north of Zhending Prefecture on the east gate north road on the Taihang Mountain, and the one with the greatest pressure is obviously Taiyuan Prefecture.

Fortunately, there is the Yang family in Taiyuan Prefecture and Wei Chaoren in Zhending Prefecture, Guanbei.

When the autumn wind blows on the river, the sun is just right and the waves are sparkling. Li Xingzhou's mind is washed by the river wind, and he becomes extremely awake and active, turning quickly.

He quickly understood the key point. The guards in the north of the Guanbei relocated defense every year. The generals of the imperial guards received the emperor's military talisman and led the imperial guards to change defense from Kaiyuan to Guanbei. Then the guards and imperial guards returned to Kaiyuan from the border to cultivate. All the imperial guards in the north of the Guanbei obeyed the command of the Jiedushi Wei Chaoren.

But the Yang family army is different. The Yang family army does not need a central court to send out a soldier. They rely entirely on themselves to guard the border.

To put it bluntly, the court is trying to save money!

Raising a large number of central imperial guards to defend the defense line in the north of the Guanbei area has already consumed a lot of money every year. If more troops are raised to defend the defense line north of Taiyuan, the national treasury will be tight or even deficit.

What's even more terrible is that Taiyuan is sandwiched between the Taihang Mountains and the Luliang Mountains, and the terrain is higher than the Huanghuai Plain. If the imperial guards are mobilized from Kaiyuan and go north to Taiyuan for defense, the journey will be very difficult and far, and it will consume a lot of manpower and material resources.

At this time, it is better to let go and let the Yang family grow stronger, let them defend the borders for the country and save expenses. The emperor needs the Yang family, so he will naturally win over them, but he will definitely be prepared for the win over, because foreign ministers will become bigger, and no emperor can feel at ease.

Wang Tong didn't understand this. He only knew that he was jealous of the power of the Yang family. Of course, the emperor would not punish the Yang family. Who would offend the Yang family to face the covetous Liao Kingdom? Will the court double the number of imperial guards to deal with the Liao Kingdom? The Jing Kingdom's treasury will have a deficit every year.

After figuring out these, Li Xingzhou also had some idea of ​​how to deal with the Yang family, because he was the transferee of Jingbei Road. Logically speaking, he also had the right to call the Taiyuan Prefecture Army.

To put it bluntly, the Yang family is the sword in the hands of the emperor. As long as there are foreign enemies, the emperor will rely on them. Whoever dares to let the emperor break the sword at this time is a traitor.

But once the external threat weakens, the emperor wishes to break the sword quickly, because the sword has double blades, and he will hurt himself if he is accidentally.

Wang Tong is a little naive, but his nature is not bad. He pretends not to look at himself from time to time, and then says a few words to raise the topic. He is like that. He thinks a little bit about the so-called straight male thinking. Now he probably feels that he is in a bad mood to pull Li Xingzhou into the quagmire of Jiangzhou.

"Is there really a solution for the prince?" Wang Tong asked after hesitating for a while.

"Yes." Li Xingzhou agreed affirmatively. It was almost time to arrive in Jiangzhou, and it was time to ask for it even if it didn't exist.

"That's good, that's good." Wang Tong nodded.

After a while, my mother-in-law also came out of the cabin, stood at the bow of the boat and held his hand intimately. While sighing that she had never seen such a big and fast boat, she introduced him to the scenery along the way.

My mother-in-law was much more intimate with him, just like a family member, and she could see that she was very knowledgeable and was not the kind of lady who could not leave the door without going out. She could name all the mountains, rivers and rivers along the rivers along the river.

In the afternoon, after a simple meal, the sailors on the deck cheered, because the wind they wanted came, the sails were pulled up, and the speed of the ship increased again. By the afternoon, the sun set in the west, and the large-scale buildings in Jiangzhou in the distance had already come into view.

The officials who took the big ship for the first time, Wang Tong and his wife, were shocked because they set out from Kaiyuan in the morning, and after passing the Maritime Bureau, they delayed for nearly an hour. After leaving Kaiyuan, they kept going against the current until the afternoon, and the wind blew, but they arrived in Jiangzhou in the afternoon!

Of course, Li Xingzhou knew the reason, because the main source of power of the large ship is to step on the water wheel, and the sails are just to help.

As the ships kept approaching, many people ran out curiously between the houses and the blue brick pavement on the banks of the Jiangzhou River, probably had never seen such a huge behemoth.

Several small boats on the river suddenly came over without warning and wanted to get closer. They were so scared that the old sailors who were looking at the water at the bow of the boat turned green and shouted to let them get out of the way, but it didn't work at all. The boatman whistled frivolously, holding his hands, no one listened to them.

It was not until Wang Tong waved his hand that his three guards rushed to the bow and cursed, and said to scare, that the boatmen obviously knew who they were, so they made way out of disappointment.

The sailor smeared his forehead and felt relieved. The big ship in the royal palace is no better than those small boats. One can draw more than 20,000 stones of water. It cannot stop just by stopping. If you can't avoid it and hit it, those small boats can be crushed into powder directly, and people will not be able to survive.

Wang Tong's face was not good-looking, and Li Xingzhou also felt the chaos in Jiangzhou a little.

In a big city, the ferry management is so loose, and many small boats run around the ferry, and it is easy to get into trouble if you are not careful. Fortunately, the small boat will be killed if it hits a big boat.
Chapter completed!