Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey!

The woman said, ”Why bring that up? It’s all in the past now.”

Zhu Chongba said, ”Yes, it’s all in the past.”

With his relentless efforts and his current power, he had completely taken over the military affairs of Haozhou. His adoptive father, Guo Zixing, had died of illness, and as for Guo Tianxu, he had long since dealt with him.

There were no major challenges in front of him now.

The only thing left to do was to recuperate and develop, and recently he had found a capable man, Mr. Li Shanchang, to help him handle governmental affairs and provided him with planning. Zhu Chongba now had a much clearer understanding of his future path.

That man was called Li Shanchang!

Zhu Chongba was speaking with his wife, Ma Xiuying.

At this moment, urgent footsteps could be heard outside. As they approached, Zhu Chongba saw that it was his sworn brother, Tang He.

Tang He looked at Zhu Chongba, saluted with his fists, and said, ”Big Brother, Sister-in-law.”

Zhu Chongba said, ”What’s the matter, Third Brother?”

Tang He replied, ”A letter just arrived from Huangzhou Prefecture.”

Zhu Chongba was surprised and said, ”Huangzhou Prefecture? Chen Jiusi?”

Tang He said, ”That’s right, it just came today. I brought it to you immediately as I suspect it’s something important.”

Upon hearing this, Zhu Chongba took a deep breath and continued, ”You’re doing well. Anything concerning Chen Jiusi is never a small matter. Let me take a look.”

The letter was handed over.

Tang He looked at Zhu Chongba, whose face was expressionless, and asked, ”What’s the matter, Big Brother, good news or bad news?”

Zhu Chongba said, ”Neither good nor bad. Chen Jiusi is about to marry.”

Tang He asked, ”Marry? I remember he already has a wife. Who is he marrying now? It can’t be that Commandery Princess from the Ruyang Royal Mansion, can it?”

Zhu Chongba nodded lightly. Seeing Tang He’s expression, Ma Xiuying became interested, saying, ”What’s with your expression? A wedding should be a good thing.”

Hearing this, Zhu Chongba said, ”Chen Jiusi marrying the Commandery Princess of the Ruyang Royal Mansion means the whole of Jiangnan will be his territory.”

”Moreover, Chen Jiusi is quite resourceful in governance. With the backing of the Ruyang Royal Mansion, should we ever come into conflict with him in the future, it might not be favorable for us.”

Ma Xiuying said, ”Is Chen Jiusi that formidable?”

Tang He said, ”Absolutely, and I’ve heard that his wife is very virtuous, especially Ms. Su from their family, who has been with him since they were fishermen in a humble fishing village.”

Ma Xiuying remarked, ”A wife who has endured hardships, now that he’s risen like a phoenix, won’t he neglect his wife for a concubine?”

Zhu Chongba said, ”Chen Jiusi and his wife are quite affectionate. I’ve heard that the Ruyang King once forced Chen Jiusi to divorce his wife to marry the Commandery Princess, but Chen Jiusi steadfastly refused. He has some masculine spirit.”

After hearing this, Ma Xiuying said, ”What a remarkable man. Ms. Su is truly blessed.”

Tang He looked at Zhu Chongba and said, ”Big Brother, Chen Jiusi has invited us. Are we going?”

Zhu Chongba considered this and said, ”Since we’ve been invited, why not go? I want to see how Huangzhou Prefecture has developed so much more impressively than us.”

While saying this, Ma Xiuying chimed in, ”I also want to go and have a look.”

”Hmm? Why do you want to go?”

Zhu Chongba looked at Ma Xiuying and asked. In response, Ma Xiuying took out a piece of cloth from her pouch and said, ”Look at this cloth compared to what you’re wearing.”

Zhu Chongba was surprised, took the cloth from Ma Xiuying, examined it, and noticed it was indeed more durable than what he wore.

”Why is this?”

Zhu Chongba looked at Ma Xiuying, who said, ”The stitching of this cloth is much denser than ours. The same size piece of cloth, they can stitch dozens more times than ours. This not only indicates that the silk thread they use is denser but their weaving skill is also top-level.”

Zhu Chongba asked, ”This is cloth from Huangzhou Prefecture?”

Ma Xiuying replied, ”Yes, it’s from Huangzhou Prefecture. They’ve already monopolized the market for rough cloth, and their patterned cloth also sells best. Our cloth in Haozhou City doesn’t compete with theirs at all.”

”I want to go and see if maybe we can learn something and improve our Haozhou cotton fabric, helping our army earn some military funds.”

After hearing this, Zhu Chongba said, ”Yes, it makes sense. Well then, we’ll take you along. Since we’re going to Huangzhou Prefecture for the wedding, it won’t be dangerous. We can have a good look around.”

Ma Xiuying looked at Zhu Chongba and said, ”Chongba, when do we leave?”

Zhu Chongba said, ”Considering the distance to Huangzhou Prefecture, we can reach there in three to five days by fast ride, so there’s no need to go too early, right?”

Ma Xiuying suggested, ”Chongba, I recommend we set off tomorrow.”

”But there’s still more than ten days until the twenty-eighth. Why go so early?”

Ma Xiuying explained, ”We’re not just going for the wedding. We also want to see the development of Huangzhou Prefecture, don’t we?”

”We might as well travel lightly and act like ordinary merchants. That way, we can immerse ourselves among the people of Huangzhou Prefecture and understand why it has developed so rapidly.”

Zhu Chongba said, ”Yes, our sister is right. So, we’ll choose a few people to accompany us, pose as merchants, and enter Huangzhou Prefecture to take a good look at what’s going on there.”

The two of them decided on entering Huangzhou Prefecture. It was close to the autumn harvest, and this trip would even allow them to estimate Huangzhou Prefecture’s annual grain production.

This is very important military data, as it is said that armies travel on their stomachs. In this era, the abundance of provisions often represents the war potential of a location.