Yue Ruyan was fine, but considering Xiao Yunxi was over thirty, a woman’s youth was coming to an end. Although she maintained herself very well, her skin still smooth and tender like a young girl, her mindset lacked the confidence of her younger years, therefore she relied on makeup to maintain this confidence.

Xiao Ya’s cheeks were flushed red, thinking to herself: "Last night, aunt and Ms. Ruyan accompanied Brother Mo together..."

"Why are you just standing there, let’s go." Chen Mo patted Xiao Ya’s head and said.

"...Oh."

After leaving the courtyard, Chen Mo told the three women to go out first; he had some things to arrange.

Chen Mo first found Xiao Quan, instructing him on some matters.

Then he found Sun Meng and asked him to send someone to bring Zhihua to the ship without being seen by anyone.

...

As the sun rose, sunlight spilled over the Qinhuai Ferry, where the anchored boats began to set sail one after another.

The Fish Scale Guard still stationed in Jiangnan, this time going south to Jiangnan, Chen Mo brought only two people back.

One was Xiao Ya, the other was Zhihua.

The backyard of a cold, small tavern in Qinhuai City.

A conversation was heard.

"Chen Mo and the others have already left Yangzhou, it seems Flower Shadow really committed suicide out of guilt, didn’t reveal anything before dying."

"News has come from the Prince’s side, the Prince plans to join with King Chong and Lu Sheng to attack Chen Mo. At that time, we need to coordinate with the Prince to create a major disturbance in Jiangnan, to tie up the Chen Army stationed there."

"Create a major disturbance, just the two of us?"

"Of course not, the entire Jiangnan’s spy clothes will be mobilized."

"How?"

"For now, that’s confidential."

...

Sailing upstream along the Qinhuai River leads to the Huai River, the speed on water being faster than on land, allowing travel of over three hundred li day and night.

The ships didn’t stop in Huai State, and following the Huai River, they arrived at Linzhou on the fourth afternoon.

Xunwang City, the major town on the southern bank of Linzhou.

The ship slowly sailed into the port, Xiao Yunxi, and Yue Ruyan, dressed as young girls, stood at the edge of the deck, admiring the scenery of the riverbank.

The next second, both felt a tightness around their waists, there was no sound from behind, yet someone had grabbed their waists.

"What did Zhihua talk to you about..."

Knowing it was Chen Mo, Xiao Yunxi didn’t struggle but instead started chatting about Zhihua.

"She asked if I had found her brother, I said not to worry, they’ve only just been sent out, we should expect news around mid-August..."

With an arm around each of them, it was inconvenient for Chen Mo to act, so he focused on holding Xiao Yunxi alone, Xiao Yunxi’s voluptuous figure was more comfortable to embrace than Yue Ruyan. He then asked, "Where’s Xiao Ya?"

"She’s seasick, resting in the cabin." Xiao Yunxi urged Chen Mo not to cause a scene, as they were about to dock, and people on the shore might notice.

"She’s seasick, why didn’t she mention it earlier?" Chen Mo was taken aback.

"Xiao Ya hasn’t traveled far before, she only took boat rides on calm lakes, she probably didn’t know she’d get seasick herself," Xiao Yunxi explained.

"We’re close to docking, I’ll go check on her." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

...

Previously, Huai State was Prince Huai’s territory, to guard against the Huai Army, the Chen Army built a Water Gate in Xunwang City, preventing large ships from passing through. Entering the city was quite cumbersome, requiring registration with the government office and removal of the underwater pillars, so merchant ships unloaded goods at the ferry outside the city, and noble families were no exception.

After Jiangnan, Jiangdong, and Huai State were included in Chen Mo’s sphere of influence, commerce between the regions became frequent, leading to a high number of ships docked at Xunwang City, even causing the famous "ship jam" scene.

Even Chen Mo’s warship wasn’t an exception.

The port outside Xunwang City wasn’t large, temporary clearance couldn’t resolve the issue.

They could only obediently wait in line.

Though they were close to docking, Chen Mo and the others had waited nearly an hour before finally reaching the shore, thanks to the officials of Xunwang City clearing the river, otherwise, they’d have to wait even longer.

As the deck of the ship was lowered, the County Magistrate of Xunwang City led a group of officials to hurriedly welcome them.

The County Magistrate of Xunwang City wiped the sweat from his forehead and came before Chen Mo, kneeling down with a thud, saying: "Your subordinate knew of Duke An’s Treasure Ship’s arrival, yet failed to promptly arrange clearance of the river, causing Duke An to wait on the ship for a long time, please forgive me..."

After speaking, the group of officials behind him also knelt down in succession.

"Stand up, this isn’t your fault. It was my neglect not knowing the port was this congested, failing to inform you earlier." Chen Mo lifted his hand, acknowledging it was his oversight.

"Thank you, Duke An." Xunwang City’s County Magistrate sighed in relief and stood up.

He was aware that Duke An had executed many officials in Fengzhou, his notorious reputation intimidating many counties in the Four States into a more diligent mode, even working overtime to address accumulated murder cases, he was no exception, thus delaying the reception of Duke An.

Now that it had reached this stage, he was fearful Duke An would blame him, fortunately, Duke An was magnanimous.

"Why is this port so congested?" Chen Mo said while walking towards the city.

Xunwang City’s County Magistrate quickly followed, explaining the reasons to Chen Mo.

After understanding the reasons, Chen Mo pondered for a while and said: "Remove those underwater pillars, Prince Huai has already escaped to Chongzhou, Linzhou’s southern bank poses no threat, they are unnecessary."

"Shall I have the people below take care of it?"

"Furthermore, expand this ferry, Fengzhou is ours now too, its routes can reach Linzhou. The number of ships coming to Linzhou will only increase in the future, the current ferry is too narrow, this won’t do."

Saying this, Chen Mo suddenly thought of something, "The government office’s finances should be manageable, right?"

"No problem, no problem," Xunwang City’s County Magistrate said hurriedly, fearing Chen Mo thought he was embezzling, he then quickly elaborated on the city’s finances.

Xunwang City’s finances mainly came from two sources.

One aspect was local taxes.

The other aspect was the entrance and exit taxes for the port’s ships, which were a major part.

These taxes, eighty percent were submitted to the state government, twenty percent were used for local expenditures.

Seeing the other party ready to go into more detail, Chen Mo interrupted him, asking about the local people’s living conditions.

Just then, Chen Mo noticed the people following Xunwang City from behind.

"Han Wu, what are you doing here?"

Indeed, the person was Han Wu, he had followed Chen Mo since his rise, but as Chen Mo’s endeavors grew larger, Han Wu gradually faded from his sight.

"Duke An." Han Wu bowed and saluted, then began to explain to Chen Mo.

Though Han Wu had been with Chen Mo for a long time, with his strength as merely a Ninth-Grade Martial Artist, and in the cultural aspect, he could only read and write some characters, he didn’t know military strategy or tactics, and couldn’t hold high positions.

During battles in Yu State against the Jin Xia Army, Han Wu was unfortunately injured, coupled with his advancing age, he chose to retire from the military. Under Zuo Lianglun’s arrangement, he came to Xunwang City to serve as the Defense Captain, responsible for the local defense.

Hearing this, Chen Mo fell into a long silence.

Of those veterans who had originally followed him from Fu Ze Village, few remained by his side.

Zhang River, demoted for bribery.

Hu Qiang, Hu Tie, and others.

Chen Mo didn’t even know what positions they held now.

Looking at Han Wu, a hint of melancholy arose in Chen Mo’s heart, this older generation might lag behind development, but they shouldn’t be forgotten or neglected. He lifted his hand and patted Han Wu’s shoulder, planning to develop a "Retired Warriors Benefit Plan" and some medals to showcase glory upon returning.

"Do a good job." Chen Mo said solemnly, then inquired about his living situation.

Though these were just simple words to Chen Mo, to Han Wu, they were deeply touching and even felt honored.

He believed Chen Mo still remembered him and hadn’t forgotten him.

Chen Mo didn’t stay in Xunwang City for long.

The provincial exam was on August 10th, and it was already the end of July, he needed to hurry back to Xiangyang.