Chapter 285: Surprise Appearance of an Old Friend

Time flies in leisure time.

After summoning the coal merchants, Zhao Xu gave lectures and entertained Feng'er and Luan'er every day because everything was arranged.

Occasionally, he would go to Nanfang District and Nan Daying to wait for the delivery of all the flintlock rifles before sending troops to Yanzhou.

Xie Lan returned to Jinling and returned soon.

This time he brought good news.

Xie Duan accepted his request, and he also reciprocated by sending gifts and memorials.

Soon, Yan Wei sent news that he sent gifts to Queen Xie and the deposed prince.

Queen Xie deliberately spread the news, and the whole Jinling now knew that he was on good terms with the prince.

After getting the news from Liang Cheng, Zhao Heng was very happy after receiving his memorial praising the deposed prince, and said, "The King of Yan is still sensible." Later, he specially asked Liang Cheng to read the memorial at the morning court.

After the glory of the third and second princes, the power of the deposed prince suddenly rose.

Mi Yan even proposed to let the deposed prince return to the East Palace.

Of course, this must have been secretly instructed by Zhao Heng.

He has always loved this eldest son.

Now, with the support of his ninth son, Prince Yan, his desire to restore Zhao Gang to the throne is even stronger.

However, the third and second princes naturally disagreed.

The court is now once again caught up in the dispute over the foundation of the country, and they quarrel every day.

Zhao Xu has always been too lazy to care about these trivial matters in the court.

Maintaining the basic base of Yanzhou is the foundation of his life.

And ten days after the capital was caught up in the dispute over the foundation of the country.

The mighty Xie family fleet arrived at Pingcheng Wharf.

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Xu and Liu Fu immediately rushed to Pingcheng Wharf.

"Your Highness, it's great. Now Yanzhou doesn't have to worry about food." Liu Fu stroked the grain bags piled on the wharf, like stroking his own children.

Zhao Xu smiled as he looked at the endless grain transport ships in the river.

It has been another month since the tossing and turning.

There is less than a month left before he sends troops to Xiliang.

It can be said that the food of the Xie family has been delivered in time.

"Don't be happy yet, check if there is any problem with the grain." Zhao Xu said to Liu Fu.

The conscience of the powerful families is like the heavenly dog ​​that eats the moon, there is no such thing.

He doesn't want sand, rotten rice and other things to be mixed into these grains.

In his opinion, they can definitely do it.

Liu Fu's face turned cold when he heard this, and he called the official who inspected the grain to hold a grain ruler with a pointed head and a slightly concave inside, pointed to the grain bag in front of him and said: "This."

The official heard this and stabbed the grain ruler into the bag, and the snow-white rice flowed out of it.

Liu Fu was slightly satisfied and walked to the next grain pile to check.

Zhao Xu stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the porters carrying rice bags on the dock, coming and going.

Although carrying grain bags is a hard job.

But with so much food coming in at once, they could make a fortune.

Although his expression was painful because of the effort, his eyes were smiling.

He was looking around.

At this time, a laborer passed by him, suddenly threw down the grain bag on his back, and approached him.

"Swish!" Xu Lie reacted immediately, he drew out his sword and stood sideways in front of Zhao Xu, and the sword in his hand was about to stab.

The other guards also drew their swords and rushed over.

"Your Highness, I am Ma Han!"

The dark-skinned laborer knelt down with a "thump" two meters away from Zhao Xu, and said in a low voice.

Zhao Xu was stunned by these two words, and Xu Lie's sword stopped one centimeter from the man's neck.

"Raise your head." Zhao Xu was shocked when he heard the words.

At this time, the laborer raised his face, although his face was a little dark and thinner.

But it was indeed Ma Han.

Zhao Xu opened his mouth and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

For more than two months, there was no news of Ma Han anywhere.

He thought Ma Han would die.

But who would have thought that he would appear in Pingcheng.

"How could you be so careless as a laborer? Why don't you deliver the food?" Zhao Xu looked around and deliberately said loudly.

Ma Han understood, nodded and apologized, and carried the rice bags to one side.

At this time, Zhao Xu gave Xu Lie a look, asking him to keep an eye on Ma Han and protect him secretly.

He returned to Pingcheng City.

As night fell, Zhao Xu rested in the courtyard in Pingcheng City.

Xu Lie came back with Ma Han.

"Your Highness, save me!"

Seeing Zhao Xu, Ma Han knelt down again, his voice sad and crying.

Zhao Xu helped Ma Han up, and he said, "Why are you here, and what happened to you and your son?"

"It's a long story. My father and I were harmed by traitors, and there might be a ghost in the Ma family." Ma Han slowly told what happened that night.

"Your Highness, according to what Master Ma said, the man in black obviously came prepared and has been hiding in Qinzhou for quite some time." Xu Lie said.

Zhao Xu nodded, "You are so lucky. You were shot with several arrows and fell into the Jin River, but you still survived."

Ma Han sighed, "I can only say that God will not destroy my Ma family. I want to keep my life to avenge my father!"

At this point, Ma Han was furious, and then he told about how he was fished out of the river by a fisherman, and he hid his identity and recuperated for a period of time.

Zhao Xu nodded gently after hearing this.

Then Ma Han changed the subject, "It's just that my father's great revenge has not been avenged, and the Ma family has been usurped by Ma Chong. The hatred of killing my father is irreconcilable. I can't just stand by and watch, so I came to Yanzhou to find Your Highness."

Mentioning his father, he shed tears again.

Zhao Xu nodded slightly. Now the whole story of the Ma family was basically clear.

The Ma family's affairs were indeed a conspiracy.

Then the Jincheng incident was probably also a part of the conspiracy.

It was insidious enough!

After a pause, he said to Ma Han: "To be honest, your cousin Ma Jin came to see me and proposed a plan that was very beneficial to me to attack Jinzhou together. When he left, he asked me to tell him about you."

After that, he smiled.

Ma Han's face changed slightly, and he looked directly into Zhao Xu's eyes, "Your Highness wants to hand me over to him?"

"Guess?" Zhao Xu smiled.

Ma Han hesitated for a moment and said, "I guess Your Highness won't, otherwise why would Your Highness let me come here for a secret talk, and Ma Chong and the Dou family are not clear. Does Your Highness want to have a Ma family controlled by the Dou family by his side?"

After a pause, he continued: "As long as Your Highness is willing to help me, I will definitely reward Your Highness after I resume the position of the head of the family."

During the period of recuperation, he thought about it.

The only person who can help him in the world today is the Prince of Yan.

Ma Chong is a puppet of the Dou family. He suspects that the assassination of the Dou family and other powerful families is related and will definitely not help him.

But the Prince of Yan is different. He is not of the same mind as the powerful families.

If he is promised a huge profit, he may not refuse.

After all, the situation of the Prince of Yan is equally difficult. If he is in charge of the Ma family, at least he will not harm him like the Yuan family did.

Zhao Xu heard this and pondered for a while.

He did not trust Ma Chong, the new head of the Ma family, but he was not familiar with Ma Han.

But since the Dou family wanted to control the Ma family by using Ma Chong, he had to hold Ma Han and make his conspiracy fail.

So he said, "Okay, you guessed it right. This king does not trust Ma Chong and Ma Jin."

Ma Han was delighted, "Please help me, Your Highness. I, Ma Han, am willing to agree to any conditions."

Zhao Xu heard this and looked at Ma Han with a flickering look.