Tu Luohuo was merely a small country, yet it dared to go to Tubo and bribe men on a large scale. Someone must be orchestrating this from behind the scenes.
Li Shimin, after a moment of excitement, suddenly thought of the sold males from the Eastern Women's Kingdom, frowned, and continued speaking to Fang Er.
Boy, you say, could it be those who annihilated the Slavs who did this?
Hiss~!
Fang Er gasped.
He had only been thinking about Tang Sanzang and hadn't pondered this matter deeply.
Now, with Li Shimin's hint, it seemed quite possible.
That bastard, with his system missions, was capable of anything.
However, what did they want with so many male slaves?
To form an army?
To undertake massive infrastructure projects?
Or did they have something else in mind?
How many men were abducted from the Eastern Women's Kingdom?
Fang Er asked Cheng Yaojin.
Cheng Yaojin scratched his head: I heard Chou'er say, it seems to be over forty thousand people!
Fang Er and Li Shimin fell into deep thought.
Just from the Eastern Women's Kingdom alone, they took away forty thousand people. That bastard's ambitions must be considerable!
Boy, after you finish your business in Chang'an, return to Shenyang as soon as possible.
Hurry up and manufacture the firearms and cannons. The Western Regions Protectorate must be established at the earliest.
Li Shimin's expression revealed his worry.
If those people from the Eastern Women's Kingdom had truly fallen into the hands of this unknown force, they might not have as much preparation time as Li Jing had predicted.
Yes, this minister plans to return to Shenyang in the coming days.
Fang Er nodded.
As for Fang Family Village, his presence or absence made little difference. Everything was already on track; only time was lacking.
This trip back was merely to test the long-distance flight capabilities of the helicopter and to escort the leaders of the various nomadic tribes for an audience.
The two men chatted with the emperor for a while longer before Li Shimin departed with his entourage.
Cheng Yaojin also took up the role of bedside companion.
With him around, Fang Er felt assured returning to his residence.
Seeing his weary appearance, Chai Yue asked with concern, My lord, how is Madam Cheng?
Fang Er smiled slightly: Don't worry, with Zhenren Sun here, she is fine now.
After a simple meal, he retreated to his room to catch up on sleep.
He slept soundly until dusk.
Fang Er stretched and emerged from his room. Dinner was already laid out in the courtyard.
Qing'er, go serve your lord with his washing and dinner.
Yes, Madam.
Little Qing brought water from the kitchen and helped Fang Er with his ablutions.
During the meal, Fang Er mentioned his upcoming departure for Shenyang. Chai Yue seemed surprised: My lord, aren't you waiting for Father to return to court before you leave?
Fang Er said with a smile, If you want to wait, you can stay at the village. Anyway, there's the helicopter. When the time comes, my lord will have Zhang Tian come back to pick you up.
Chai Yue thought about it and realized it was indeed the case.
With the helicopter, it would only take half a day to travel from Shenyang to Chang'an.
Therefore, the next morning, Fang Er bid farewell to Chai Yue and, together with Zhang Tian, took off in the helicopter towards Qingzhou.
The aluminum mine had already been taken over and excavated by the Ministry of Works for a long time. He should go and check on the situation.
Without radar, navigation relied solely on sight.
Following the route they had taken back, they made a supply stop at Hejian Prefecture. There were no gas stations between here and Qingzhou yet, so after refueling, they loaded another thousand liters of reserve fuel into the cabin.
A squad from the Fifth Division was guarding this gas station. Fang Er left them a message, instructing them to proceed to Qingzhou to establish a gas station when the oil transport ship next arrived.
After all, they would be frequently traveling between Shenyang and Qingzhou in the future.
Leaving Hejian Prefecture, the helicopter flew east until it reached the coastline, then followed the coast southward.
Until they found the mouth of the Yellow River.
At that time, the Yellow River estuary was in the area of Bin County, Shandong. Upon reaching this location, Fang Er had Zhang Tian land the helicopter outside a small town.
Then, Zhang Tian entered the town to find a local county official to guide them.
After all, the two of them were unfamiliar with the area, and it would be too difficult to find the Qingzhou aluminum mine on their own.
When the county official saw the insignia of the Duke of Shenyang and the token of the Heavenly Fire Army, his legs went weak.
This place was not too close nor too far from Hejian Prefecture.
The four to five hundred li journey, and the matter of the Heavenly Fire Army annihilating the Zheng family branch in Hejian Prefecture, had long since spread here.
Not long after, the powerful families rebelled, and then some were annihilated, while others fled.
Now that the Heavenly Fire Army had come looking for him, it was like a harbinger of death had descended.
He had initially thought his own petty wrongdoings had been discovered, but it turned out they just wanted him to lead the way. Should he even consider this?
The county official informed the county magistrate and then, with two constables, went out of the city with Zhang Tian.
"Duke, the county official from Bin County has been brought!" Zhang Tian approached Fang Er and saluted.
"Your subordinate, Lin Songqi, the county official of Bin County, greets the Duke of Shenyang!"
Seeing Zhang Tian's action, the county official knew he had met the main man and quickly bowed.
"Rise and speak. Are you familiar with the road to Qingzhou?"
Fang Er sat on the floor of the helicopter's cabin, his legs dangling outside, and stared at Lin Songqi.
"Back to Your Grace, I am familiar. This humble one is from Qingzhou."
"That's good. Come up, lead the way!"
"You can let these two constables return."
Fang Er stood up and sat in the co-pilot's seat.
Lin Songqi looked conflicted, as if constipated.
Fang Er frowned and snorted coldly, "What? Are you afraid this Duke will harm you?"
"No, no, no, this humble one dares not. This humble one will come up now."
Lin Songqi looked at the helicopter, feeling a tremor in his heart. He had never seen such a strange contraption before.
After he climbed into the cabin, he sent the two constables below back.
Zhang Tian started the helicopter and ascended.
The two constables who hadn't gone far below heard the sound, turned to look, and were immediately petrified.
"The, the, the county official has been taken by a monster!"
The two constables ran back towards the city, yelling, while scrambling on all fours.
Lin Songqi sat in the cabin, looking at the scenery outside through the glass window, also quite frightened.
"Duke, Duke, we, this..."
Zhang Tian interrupted him before he could finish.
"To Qingzhou, point the way!"
"Oh, oh, oh!"
"Qingzhou is one hundred and sixty li south from here."
"Hold on tight!" Zhang Tian said and accelerated.
With Lin Songqi's guidance, in less than half an hour, the helicopter arrived over Qingzhou.
"A new mine was opened here some time ago. Do you know its location?"
Fang Er turned to look at Lin Songqi.
"Back to Your Grace, this humble one doesn't know, but this humble one knows the location of Qingzhou Prefecture."
Following his direction, the helicopter landed in front of the Qingzhou Prefecture office.
The enormous commotion had scared the constables at the prefecture into rushing to report to the prefect.
After the helicopter stopped, Zhang Tian disembarked from the helicopter.
"Where is the Prefect of Qingzhou? The Duke of Shenyang is here, come and meet him quickly!"
The Prefect of Qingzhou was stunned. The person sitting in this strange contraption was actually the Duke of Shenyang?
He quickly stepped forward and bowed towards the helicopter.
"Your subordinate, Yuan Jiangtao, Prefect of Qingzhou, greets Your Grace!"
Fang Er did not disembark, but merely opened the co-pilot's cabin door and looked at Yuan Jiangtao.
"Where is the mine opened by the Ministry of Works here? Can you, Prefect Yuan, take this Duke to see it?"
"Ah? Yes, yes, yes!"
Yuan Jiangtao nodded repeatedly.
He was certainly aware that the Ministry of Works had opened a mine here, and he had interacted with the officials from the Ministry of Works quite a bit during this time.
From the words of the Ministry of Works officials, he even learned that this mine was being excavated precisely because of the young Duke before him!