Li Yanqing arrived in Suzhou with Qing'er and ten guards the next afternoon. Although Li Yanqing was wearing a blue-robed Confucian shirt, the ten guards were wearing red-lacquered mountain armor, bronze helmets, and embroidered green dragon shirts. They were dressed in a typical forbidden guard. They all rode high-headed horses and ran southwards, attracting countless passers-by to the side.

Just three miles away from Gusu City, they saw two tollers in a pavilion on the side of the road waved to them. Li Yanqing hurriedly stopped the horse. After a moment, the two tollers ran up and asked, "Is it that brothers, are you the subordinates of King Jia from the capital?"

"Who are you?"

"We are the constable of Changzhou County. We are here to wait for His Highness Jia and his party under the order of the magistrate. Our county magistrate has important matters to report."

Li Yanqing nodded, "We are indeed His Highness Jia's entourage, where are your county lieutenants?"

"Please wait!"

A constable ran backwards. Soon after, a man in his early thirties rushed over, followed by several yamen runners. The man clasped his fists and said, "I'm the one in Changzhou County Magistrate Lu Gensheng, which is of great importance. Please tell me the identity of the young master!"

Li Yanqing winked the guards. The guard took out the waist sign of Prince Jia's mansion to show the man. The man also took out the official seal and handed it to Li Yanqing to identify. Li Yanqing returned the official seal to him and said with a smile: "It turns out that it is Lu County Magistrate. I don't know what important thing is the county magistrate stopping us halfway?"

"This is not a place to speak. If you are doing it for Zhu, please come with me."

"Please!"

The group left the official road and came to a small river where a passenger ship was parked in the river. Just now, County Magistrate Lu was waiting on the boat.

"Please speak on the boat!"

"If you have any important matters in County Magistrate Lu, just say it." Li Yanqing did not get on the boat, so he would not put himself in a dangerous place.

"That's right. This afternoon, Zhu's eldest son and brother led two thousand people to the south. We suspect that Zhu might be about to escape."

"Why do you say he wants to escape?" Li Yanqing asked.

"One of my subordinates found that more than 100 cargo ships were parked in front of the villa pier, and someone had already started to carry large boxes into the cargo ship."

"I don't understand why County Magistrate Lu told us this?"

Lu Gensheng sighed and said, "What is our good fish and rice town ruined by this beast? Which of our Suzhou people wants to eat his meat and peel him skin? Now, I have also made my promise. I will not hide it from Li Guanren, and it is my fault that Zhu Zhu Manor is the one who did it. Two months ago, the Censor Li of the capital came to Suzhou to investigate secretly. I took him up the mountain to see Zhu's manor. Censor Li asked me to monitor Zhu. I heard that King Jia came and probably came to deal with Zhu. If not, I would admit it too!"

Li Yanqing nodded and smiled, "Then congratulations on your bet right. I came to check Zhu's movements on the order of King Jia. Can you ask County Magistrate Lu to take us to Zhu's mansion to take a look?"

Lu Gensheng was overjoyed. He was not telling the truth. He received a letter from Wang Shan, the head of Wujin County. He learned that His Highness Jia had sent someone to the south, so he waited outside the city for a day and finally waited for Li Yanqing.

Lu Gensheng immediately took Li Yanqing and his party to Yanshou Villa.

In a forest two miles away from Yanshou Villa, Li Yanqing looked at more than 100 cargo ships moored on the Xu River from afar, and saw people constantly coming in and out, carrying large boxes onto the ship. Half of the ships were filled with boxes, but ox carts carrying large boxes were still coming from the villa to the dock.

"Damn bastard, how much money are you greedy!" Seeing that Zhu's wealth was amazing, Lu Gensheng couldn't help but curse in a low voice.

Li Yanqing pondered for a moment and asked, "Where is the nearest harbor here?"

Li Yanqing keenly judged that Zhu must have gone to sea to escape, and Zhu had no way to go except one overseas road.

"Recently it was Huating County, Xiuzhou."

"Can you take a large ocean-going ship?"

County Magistrate Lu also understood what Li Yanqing meant. He thought for a while and said, "It seems that it won't work. There is a salt wharf over there. You can only walk near the sea boat. If you want to go to the far sea, you must go to Mingzhou!"

Mingzhou, which is today's Ningbo, will inevitably pass through the edge of Fang La's power if he passes by land. Even if Zhu's two thousand dead men dare to take the risk to go south, Zhu himself may not dare to take this risk. If he is not wrong, Zhu must go to Xiuzhou first, then take a boat to Mingzhou, and then flee overseas by taking a big ship there.

Thinking of this, Li Yanqing asked again: "How many roads are there to go to Huating County by water from here?"

"Either go to Changzhou or Taihu Lake, and finally you will enter the Jiangnan Canal. However, going to Changzhou will make you circle the city and it is easy to expose your whereabouts. I guess Zhu won't take the risk. He will definitely go to Taihu Lake, enter the Jiangnan Canal from Wuxing, and then go to Jiaxing River to Huating's estuary. Huating Wharf is built there."

Li Yanqing quickly called a few guards and whispered to them. The guard immediately said, "Shao Jun, please rest assured, we will definitely do it!"

Several guards turned their horses and left the forest first, while Li Yanqing continued to wait in the forest.

Night fell and it was pitch black all around, but the dock was still brightly lit. The servants were still using torches to carry wooden boxes, but it was obvious that it was over. No ox carts were sent to the box, only more than twenty large boxes piled on the dock were left.

At this time, Qing'er whispered: "Little official, I have a good water quality, let me get on the boat!"

"No, it's too dangerous!" Li Yanqing flatly refused.

"What's the danger? I can hold up half a stick of incense under the water. Dad has been training my light skills in the water. Little official, let me go!"

Unable to help Qing'er's repeated requests, Li Yanqing finally agreed. If there were someone on the boat, things would be much easier. He whispered a few words to Qing'er, and Qing'er nodded and smiled, "I understand that the little official, I promise I won't let you down!"

She cleaned up a little and bent down to run out of the woods. Li Yanqing saw her getting into the water and climbed onto a big ship lightly, as if hiding in a large wooden box. Li Yanqing secretly praised her for being smart.

Another quarter of an hour later, more than a dozen carriages arrived, and Zhu appeared with his family and a large group of beauties. County Magistrate Lu whispered to Li Yanqing: "The one who wears black is Zhu!"

Li Yanqing met this famous corrupt official in history for the first time. He was wearing black clothes, medium figure, and agile movements. It can be seen that this man practiced martial arts when he was young. Zhu and an old man with crutches, probably his father Zhu Chong, got on the first big ship, and the rest of his family and beauties got on the back big ships.

As the gate of Yanshou Villa closed, the fleet slowly turned around and drove towards Taihu Lake to the west.

Li Yanqing smiled at the Lu County Magistrate and said, "Sure enough, the county magistrate has been told by the county magistrate. I would like to ask the county magistrate to continue leading the way. Let's go ahead and wait for them."

County Magistrate Lu nodded, "Let's go!"

Several people left the woods and rode along the trail towards the county town.

At dawn, Li Yanqing saw the Zhu family's fleet again in Wuxing River. Five hundred soldiers were following him on the south bank. Their equipment was almost the same as the officers and soldiers, but their helmets were painted red. It is said that Zhu is more superstitious about red, and it is also a distinction between him and the imperial army.

Although the fleet was in the water, it was heading against the wind and did not sail quickly. It did not arrive in Jiaxing until noon. After walking south less than ten miles, it turned into the Jiaxing River. It sailed at this speed and the fleet could reach Hangzhou Bay at night.

Zhu stood at the bow of the boat with his hands squinted his eyes and looked at the grass and trees on both sides of the shore. The strong wind blew his black robe and hair. The wind was filled with the unique fresh smell of fishyness on the sea. He had already felt the call of the sea, which made him feel both grateful but also a kind of indescribable loss.

He was glad that King Jia Zhao Kai should still be in Changzhou now, and he made a decision to leave the Song Dynasty before Zhao Kai arrived in Suzhou and traveled abroad with huge wealth. He could imagine Zhao Ji's furiousness, which made Zhu feel a little proud.

But he was only proud for a while, and it was indeed an indescribable loss. He was about to leave his hometown and would not know when he would be able to come back. I am afraid he would never have a chance in his life.

This made Zhu's heart full of sadness of leaving his hometown.

At this moment, a boatman suddenly pointed at the front and shouted, "What's going on in front?"
Chapter completed!