A burst of soft and melodious singing floated on the misty lake.
The singing came from a small boat. In the boat, five girls were singing and laughing, rowing and picking lotus flowers.
Autumn is the best time to pick lotus flowers. Although the lotus flowers have withered, countless lotus pods poke their heads out like children's heads.
Farm girls ride on lotus picking boats to pick fresh little lotus pods for sale in the market.
Without the beauty of the lotus, there are fewer literati and poets by the lake.
But farmers feel more comfortable this way.
The lake was bustling with excitement, but on a boat by the lake, Zhao Yan was looking intently at the file in his hand.
Behind him are the lakes and mountains of Jiangnan, and what he sees in his eyes is the shadow of the sword in the future.
"I didn't expect that this Lujiazhuang would be so uneven..."
Zhao Yan shook the file he had just finished reading and handed it to the big man beside him.
The big man was about ten years old, with a simple and honest appearance, a big body and a thick waist. He was wearing a butcher's trademark bundt, and he looked like a butcher in the market.
"Back to my lord, my subordinates have been in Jiaxing for many years, and they already know the affairs of Lujiazhuang very well."
The pig butcher originally had a fierce look on his face, but he tried to put on a smile in front of Zhao Yan, so his face looked extremely awkward.
"Lu Zhanyuan's martial arts skills are mediocre in the martial arts world, but he is considered respectable in the Jiaxing area."
"He himself has an excellent reputation, but it's a pity that Lu Chengfeng always outranks him in Jiangnan and Erlu."
"It turns out that Mr. Lu went out for a trip last year and came back a few months ago. As soon as he came back, he made arrangements to get married to He Huanjun and tried his best to get in touch with Nan Di."
"Now the reputation is on the rise, but it's really hard to say whether Lujiazhuang's surname will be Lu or Duan in the future."
Although he doesn't look very good, he speaks in an ups and downs, which is quite interesting to listen to.
Zhao Yan glanced at him with a smile and asked:
"What's your name? I don't think I've seen you before."
When the pig butcher heard this, he had a strange expression on his face, whether he was happy or angry, but his tone was friendly:
"Back to the prince, my subordinate's name is Li Yuan. He has been with Gu Ye for ten years. However, his capital is in the south of the Yangtze River and he has never been to Kaifeng. Naturally, the prince has never met his subordinate."
"It's been ten years...then you can be considered a veteran."
Zhao Yan looked at Li Yuan for a while, then stood up and walked to the railing to look at the lotus picking.
"Not to mention a veteran, I am extremely grateful to be able to serve the prince again!"
Li Yuanxing came behind Zhao Yan and bowed.
Zhao Yan did not turn around, but just said "hmm" lightly.
"Thank you for your hard work, go down."
"Yes, my subordinates are resigning!"
……
Soon only Zhao Yan was left on the deck.
When Li Yuan got off the boat, Ming Yan walked out from behind the cover.
She is already gorgeous, and today she is wearing a bright yellow dress, which makes her look even brighter and more attractive.
"Your Majesty, there is something wrong with Li Yuan."
"You can see it too..."
Zhao Yan smiled slightly and looked at her with interest.
"Tell me what's wrong."
"This slave didn't see any flaws, she just relied on her first sleep."
Mingyan smiled softly and quickly dismissed the question.
She did see something wrong, but it was not appropriate to say it out loud.
Anyway…
It couldn't come out of her mouth.
"You clever guy, what you must be thinking about is that everyone in Dead Leaf obviously has a grudge against me. There is no reason why Li Yuan is so flattering."
Zhao Yan expressed his judgment with a smile.
In fact, this is one of the reasons for Mingyan's suspicion.
Everyone in "Dead Leaf" is proud, and from top to bottom, no one will flatter anyone.
At least, this was the case for the first few batches of candidates.
Li Yuan said that he had been in "Dead Leaves" for ten years, but the flattering look when he responded and the flattery before leaving made people feel uncomfortable.
Especially when Zhao Yan abandoned "Withered Leaves" seven years ago, many people were resentful.
Even now that the resentment has faded away, this deliberately flattering gesture is still a bit abrupt.
"This is what the prince said, and I won't admit a word of it."
Mingyan lowered her head and smiled, then asked again:
"Then how did the prince decide?"
"I can conclude that it is because this dossier is false."
Zhao Yan crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.
"Is it fake?"
"good."
He recalled the contents of the dossier.
From the size of Lujiazhuang, its population, and the list of people responsible for various affairs in the village, everything is covered in detail.
Even the habits and hobbies of Lu Zhanyuan and He Huanjun were noted.
This is indeed a habit that Zhao Yan brought from later generations. When investigating, he must be as detailed as possible.
Not only "Dead Leaves", but now Xiaoyulou also adopts a similar approach.
But that's exactly where the problem lies.
Because the production of such investigation files was too complicated, it was too difficult to implement it throughout the entire organization. When he decided to abandon the "dead leaves", he had already changed it to only use it when investigating individuals.
After all, in this era of extremely low literacy rates, it is extremely difficult to simply collect such large amounts of information.
And if the "Dead Leaf" members lurking in other countries don't know about this rule, that's normal.
But it is absolutely impossible to say that Li Yuan, who had stayed in the Song Dynasty for ten years, did not know.
Unless he...
It's not Li Yuan at all.
It was a foreign spy who had not been in contact with Prince Qi's palace for a long time.
That all makes sense.
Zhao Yan raised one hand and pressed it on the railing, gently pressing the elm handrail with his thumb.
"The real Li Yuan is probably dead."
"Oh, it's my fault too. Xiang Feiliu is going to be exhausted if he restarts the dead leaves rashly."
"In seven years, the mountains and rivers remain the same, but the people's hearts have changed."
Ming Yan stood aside, looking at Zhao Yan's slightly frowning brows, feeling a little distressed.
But she has always been rational and wise, and can guess her master's thoughts very well.
"When will the prince go to Lujiazhuang?"
"We all know there is a scam ahead, how do you know I have to go?"
"If Mingyan doesn't even know this, wouldn't it be a waste of time spent by the prince's side all these years?"
The two looked at each other and smiled in tacit understanding, and Zhao Yan's brows finally relaxed.
"Yes, I have to go. There is a message revealed to me in every line of the file."
"It is said that a Dali monk who knows the Six Meridians Divine Sword is visiting Lujiazhuang."
"Obviously the person who made this fake dossier knew me very well and wanted me to go to Lujiazhuang, and he must go."
"Since someone invites me, how can I not go?"
When Zhao Yan led his troops to invite Li Qingluo and her daughter to Beijing, he also emptied the entire Mantuo Villa's collection of books.
There is a "Langhuan Jade Cave" in Mantuo Villa, which contains martial arts secrets from all over the world collected by Wu Yazi and Li Qiushui of the Xiaoyao sect.
From ninth-rate to first-rate, it can be said that it has everything.
But among the top secrets, there are a lot missing.
For example, Dali Duan's "Six Meridians Divine Sword" and "One Yang Finger", Shaolin Temple's "Yi Jin Jing" and "Marrow Cleansing Sutra", Beggar Clan's "Eighteen Palms for Subduing the Dragon" and "Dog Beating Stick Technique", etc.
The Prince of Qi's Mansion is always thinking of ways to collect all kinds of books in the world. This is not a secret in Kaifeng, let alone these intentional spies.
Therefore, if the other party intends to reveal the news about "Six Meridians Divine Sword", it is natural that he wants to invite you into the urn.
