Chapter 1579: Worry, Message, Night Tour
Lin'an City!
Su Mingzhe captured Dadu in mid-May and recovered the Central Plains in early June.

It was not until the end of July that the news reached Jiangnan.

When Shi Songzhi heard the news, he thought about it for a moment and turned pale with fear. He hurried to the palace to see the Queen Mother and said in horror:
"Empress Dowager, something terrible has happened!"

"Prime Minister, is it Zhao Guiqian calling?"

There are now two empress dowagers in the Song court in Lin'an, one is Queen Zhao Yun, the young emperor's biological mother Xie Daoqing, and the other is Tang An'an, the biological mother of the young emperor Zhao Chun.

The two women held the title of Empress Dowager and served as regents behind the scenes.

Seeing the Prime Minister's frightened expression, Xie Daoqing thought that Zhao Guiqian's troops were at the gates of the city.

"Not Zhao Guiqian!"

Shi Songzhi suddenly stuttered and said awkwardly:
"It's Prince Lu. Prince Lu has conquered Dadu!"

"Isn't it a good thing to take over Dadu?"

When Tang Anan saw Shi Songzhi's expression, her heart suddenly skipped a beat:

"Could it be... that King Lu has proclaimed himself emperor?"

"That's not true."

Shi Songzhi quickly shook his head, but his expression was still bitter:

"Your Majesty, after the Prince of Lu conquered Dadu, he did not submit a memorial to the court to report his achievements... This behavior is no different from claiming to be an emperor!"

"As long as he doesn't become emperor!"

Tang Anan doesn't care about that.

In her heart, her son Zhao Chun is Su Mingzhe's child.

No matter how arrogant Su Mingzhe is, there is no need for him to rebel against his own son, right?
Shi Songzhi didn't understand what Tang Anan was thinking. As the prime minister, he thought it was necessary for him to remind her:

"Your Majesty, even if Prince Lu doesn't declare himself emperor now, there's no guarantee that he won't declare himself emperor in the future!"

"Don't worry, I believe that Prince Lu is loyal to the court!"

No matter how Shi Songzhi tries to sow discord between herself and Su Mingzhe, Tang Anan will not waver in her thoughts.

Xie Daoqing also nodded in agreement:

"When the late emperor was alive, he praised the prince of Lu many times. I also believe in the prince of Lu. The prime minister does not need to worry about nothing!"

Seeing that both queen mothers trusted Su Mingzhe, Shi Songzhi felt bitter, but he didn't dare to say anything:

"Since both ladies trust His Royal Highness Prince Lu, I guess I am judging others by my own standards!"

……

Tang Anan returned to her own palace and thought about it. Although she didn't believe Su Mingzhe would rebel, she still waved to her personal maids Minglan and Yuhe to come to her side, thinking of the old story of "wearing a yellow robe":
"You two go to Dadu, meet King Lu, and tell me a message!"

"My queen, you want us to go see Prince Lu?"

The two maids were a little timid:
"Can King Lu see us?"

"Why not?"

Seeing the two girls looking anxious, Tang Anan couldn't help but snorted:

"As the saying goes, one night of love brings a hundred days of affection, and a hundred days of love is as deep as the sea. Your feelings for him are deeper than the sea, so how could he not see you?"

After hearing Tang An'an's words, the two girls blushed:
"I wonder what message do you want us to convey, Madam?"

"It's not a message..."

Tang Anan was embarrassed for a moment, then she took out a locked small rosewood dressing box from under the mattress and handed it to the two maids:

"You two don't need to say anything, just give this to him!"

……

The two maids Minglan and Yuhe took their dressing boxes and rushed to Dadu under the protection of a team of imperial guards, but they did not see Su Mingzhe.

In June, Su Mingzhe asked Guo Jing to lead the Northern Expedition Army to go out of the border and sweep across Shangjing, Dongjing, Beijing, and Xianping Road of the old Jin Kingdom.

He let Yang Guo take charge of Jingdong Road, and asked Huang Rong to take his place in Dadu.

He himself began to inspect various areas in the Central Plains.

It was already September when the two maids arrived in Dadu.

At this time, Su Mingzhe was patrolling Nanjing Road.

……

The Nanjing Road of the Jin Dynasty was the Jingji Road, Jingxi North Road and other places of the Northern Song Dynasty.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were more than one million households and three to four million people here. Later, the Song people moved south and the Jin people occupied it. The two sides fought for hundreds of years here.

A large number of people here died out and went into hiding.

The Jin Dynasty was unwilling to give up this vast and fertile land, so it relocated millions of people from other places.

But more than ten years ago, the Tatars and the Southern Song Dynasty jointly attacked the Jin Dynasty.

Afterwards, the Tatars and the Southern Song Dynasty started fighting here again.

This has resulted in the population of Nanjing Road continuing to decline, and now the total number is less than 300,000.

In just over a hundred years, nearly four million people disappeared from this land.

This is the true one in ten.

……

Although Nanjing Road has a small population, it bears a particularly heavy burden.

Some scholars have commented that in the heart of the Central Plains, 'one person tills the land and feeds a hundred people'!
The reason for this is, of course, because 'soldiers pass by like a comb, while bandits pass by like a rake'.

Whether it was the Jin people, the Song people, or the Tartars, none of them regarded the common people here as their own family.

Every time they passed by, they plundered.

Over time, the people here began to flee constantly, eventually leading to a sparse population.

The imperial court could only continue to migrate people from other places.

……

This day is the Double Ninth Festival.

Su Mingzhe personally led the team to inspect the counties and towns below.

In addition to the one thousand guards, there were also two young girls, Wanyan Ping and Yelu Yan, accompanying them.

Ever since Su Mingzhe took in six concubines in Dadu, Wanyan Ping has been jealous to the point of going crazy before Xiaolongnu has even said anything.

After all, she was still a concubine who was not listed in the roster.

In order to calm this girl down, Su Mingzhe had to give her a position as a concubine.

At this point, Su Mingzhe had one principal wife and seven concubines.

This time when Su Mingzhe was inspecting the Central Plains, Wanyan Ping was afraid that the man would take a woman again, so she took Yelu Yan, whom she had never met before, with her to follow him south.

The group was patrolling until the afternoon, when they suddenly saw a long river flowing. Yelu Yan suddenly said excitedly:

"Your Majesty, this is the Huai River, and Tangzhou is ahead!"

A few years ago, when her eldest brother Yelu Jin was the general manager of Nanjing Road, Yelu Yan once followed her second brother Yelu Jin to visit this area.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Tangzhou belonged to Jingxi South Road. During the Jin Dynasty, it belonged to Nanjing Road.

It is only three hundred miles from here to Xiangyang, and since it is the origin of the Huai River, it is also a strategic location.

When the Jin Dynasty was destroyed, it was originally captured by the generals of the Southern Song Dynasty, but it was soon captured by the Tartars.

Because of many wars, the population was reduced to only about 10,000 people, so the Tartars transferred Tangzhou to Nanyang Prefecture, making it an important local town.

He inspected Tangzhou.

At night, at the strong invitation of Yelu Yan, Su Mingzhe took Wanyan Ping to jump into the Huai River for a night cruise.

Looking at the two mermaids swimming around in front of him, Su Mingzhe naturally would not be honest.

Soon, the two mermaids could only rise and fall back and forth with the waves.

After the joy.

Wanyan Ping wanted to go back to rest, but was stopped by Yelu Yan:
"Why are you going back so early? Prince, I heard that this is the source of the Huai River. Why don't we go upstream and see where the front is, okay?"

"Okay!"

Su Mingzhe had no interest in tracing the source, but when he saw the innocent look on the girl's face and the charming beauty, he couldn't help but agree.

Seeing that the man agreed, Wanyan Ping had no choice but to risk her life to accompany him.

The three of them swam and rested, and continued to swim upstream.

Soon, a huge rock on the cliff, more than ten feet high, blocked the way.

Yelu Yan thought this was the end.

Su Mingzhe's eyes suddenly flashed with joy. He put his arms around the two girls' slender waists, lightly tapped the surface of the river with his toes, and jumped over the boulder.

There were two young girls roasting by the fire behind the boulder. They were startled when they saw three people falling from the sky.
"Who are you?"