flstandardbreds Chapter 365
Chapter 365
This made Li Xian extremely unwilling, but no matter how unwilling he was, Li Xian had to admit that he had failed. As long as he did not kill Zhou Chu on the spot and the news of Zhou Chu's death did not spread, the gentry and merchants in Jiangnan would not dare to stand up. If they did not stand up, Li Xian would not be able to quickly take control of Jiangnan.
Li Xian knew very well that he had to start his escape.
He had already planned his escape route. He originally intended to sail from Chongming Island as a merchant, but after Zhou Chu's incident, the entire Jiangnan region was placed under martial law, and all the docks were closed, making it impossible to smuggle himself across the border.
Left with no other choice, Li Xian found a place to hide. For safety, he only brought a few assassins he had trained since childhood. He didn't bring any of the surviving assassins. At this point, Li Xian didn't trust anyone.
Li Xian hid on Chongming Island. Compared to other counties in Jiangnan, Chongming Island was much more complicated, and if the timing wasn't right, he could try to sneak across at night.
Of course, smuggling is a last resort, since the seas are now full of the Ming Dynasty's navy. If you go to sea without customs documents, you will be met with a swift and severe attack from the navy if you are discovered.
This kind of thing has happened quite a lot before, so now almost no merchants in the Jiangnan region dare to smuggle goods anymore.
Originally, their smuggling mainly relied on the sea outlets of Annam, where no one would check. Now that Annam is also under the control of the Ming Dynasty, the sea outlets of Annam are heavily guarded. Now, it is as difficult as climbing to heaven to sneak out to sea from other places.
Of course, that difficulty applies to cargo ships. If it's just an individual who wants to sneak out to sea, it's still possible, for example, by taking a fisherman's boat. The key is how to evade the navy's inspection once at sea.
Li Xian believed that with martial law in Jiangnan now in effect, fishing boats were probably prohibited from going to sea, and the sudden appearance of a fishing boat would definitely attract attention.
Therefore, Li Xian will not take this step unless absolutely necessary.
After Li Xian went into hiding on Chongming Island, the court's wrath quickly followed. First, Yan Song and the governor of Jiangnan were dismissed from their posts and imprisoned. Then Zhang Cong came to Jiangnan Province to temporarily take charge of all affairs in the province, with the key task being to find out who assassinated Zhou Chu as soon as possible.
When Zhang Cong received the news, he was drinking tea and was so shocked that he almost choked. He never expected that someone would be so audacious as to defy the world and attack Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, at this time.
However, Zhang Cong thought about it and realized that it made sense. Precisely because no one could have imagined it, there would have been little to no precautions, making it the perfect opportunity for an assassination.
At the same time, Zhang Cong also felt some sympathy for Yan Song. However, Zhang Cong also knew that Yan Song's imprisonment was not unjust. After all, both he and Yan Song could be said to have been promoted by Lord Zhou.
Zhang Cong was extremely grateful to Zhou Chu and had always firmly sided with him. After all, there was no conflict between him and Zhou Chu in terms of their positions. Zhang Cong was smart and knew very well that only by following in Zhou Chu's footsteps could he rise to the top.
This can be seen from the fact that he was able to rise to the position of governor of Southern Zhili in one fell swoop.
As the de facto leader of Jiangnan Province, Yan Song was completely unaware that so many assassins were hiding in Jiangnan. No matter how you look at it, he cannot escape blame.
After taking over military power in Jiangnan Province, Zhang Cong led his men straight to Yangzhou.
Zhang Cong knew very well that even in the entire Jiangnan region, there weren't many places that could accommodate so many people, and the salt gangs of Yangzhou were the most suitable place.
Zhang Cong didn't believe that the assassination wasn't orchestrated by the Salt Gang and its merchants, but he needed evidence, and that's why he came here.
Another person made a similar judgment to Zhang Cong; it was none other than Yun Jin.
She led two thousand Xuanwu soldiers straight to Yangzhou. Unlike Zhang Cong, she did not want to find evidence. Originally, Yun Jin wanted to disguise the Xuanwu army as Japanese pirates, but when she thought that doing so would affect the sea ban that Zhou Chu had finally lifted, and since the Japanese pirates had been completely wiped out by Zhou Chu, Yun Jin did not want the Japanese pirates to reappear.
So Yun Jin simply made her intentions clear and headed straight for Yangzhou. For Yun Jin, nothing was more important than avenging Zhou Chu. Moreover, Yun Jin was well aware that the bigger the commotion she made, the safer Zhou Chu would be, and no one would pay attention to the missing Zhou Chu.
Yun Jin knew that her second brother's failure to appear meant he was probably seriously injured and needed time to recover. During this time, she would help him by pulling on his back.
As for the matter of mobilizing troops without authorization, Yun Jin had someone submit a secret edict of apology on the way here, regardless of whether Jiajing agreed or not. Yun Jin thought that it was time to hand over military power and confess to the emperor. She would accept whatever punishment was offered.