Still following the old routine, hiding during the day and emerging at night.

  Di Qing originally disagreed, he didn't want to get involved in the prince's safety, but others wouldn't listen to him.

  Even Lü Gongzi couldn't persuade him, so he gave up insisting.

  What's the fuss about? It's not the first time Your Highness has gone out like this, and in the environment of Guangnan West Road, you still went deep into Guangyuan State. The current Dali is much better than it was back then.

  Besides, this time it's not some kind of action, just going to take a look.

  Are you really going to take a look?

  The city of Weizhou Prefecture is adjacent to the Long River, and going north is downstream.

  Zhao Xi and his party went downstream, then turned into Pu Du River, and finally entered Lu Shui.

  On the third day, Zhao Xi and his party arrived at Dongchuan Prefecture.

  It wasn't until they arrived at Dongchuan that Zhao Xi realized he had been a bit too hasty in his judgment.

  How should I put it, he thought Dongchuan had copper and that he was the only one who knew. As a result, when he arrived at this place, he found... there were many signs of copper mining scattered around here.

  Nor did he know if it was a problem with the mining facility or a smelting technology issue, anyway Zhao Xi saw that there were quite a few half-loaded mining points that seemed to have been abandoned.

  In this desolate mountain wilderness, they didn't avoid anything and just wandered around like that.

  "Your Highness, this is white lead..."

  Zhao Xi didn't understand much, but he had Su Song, and this scientist who was interested in all sorts of messy things.

  White lead is zinc, Zhao Xi knew this, and he also knew that many metals are symbiotic.

  If I could get this piece in hand...

  To the west is the Luoshui River, also known as the Jinsha River, which flows northward into the Yangtze River and then enters Jingchu. Taking the Grand Canal, you can reach Bianliang directly.

  To the southeast is the Pearl River, also flowing eastward, all the way to Guangzhou, and directly reaching Bianliang.

  In this era, transportation has been solved, which is already solving the biggest problem.

  As for the barbarians along the way... I still underestimated this matter.

  So Zhao Xi continued to follow the current and headed north along the Jinsha River.

  ……

  Zhang Fangping saw off the Dali Kingdom's envoy and began preparations, only waiting for the imperial edict to be issued before leading his troops out and deploying them at the border.

  This is certain. The Crown Prince and Di Qing won the victory in Annan, and also let the country feel the benefits of war for the first time. Neither will let the officials relax, nor will they let the court be at ease.

  This time, leading the army into Dali, still deep in the hinterland, with that courage of the imperial court... will definitely make Chengdu Prefecture take a stand, which is also normal.

  This was not the case, and before the Dali Kingdom's army had even entered Guanzhong, an imperial edict from the court arrived. Zhang Fangping had no choice but to lead his army southward.

  He can't really go to the border, it's just a show, no need to be overly cautious. Given his understanding of Dali, Zhang Fangping is clear that in the end, Dali will send the prince out of the territory with courtesy.

  Even if something unexpected happens, the army presses the border, and in the end it's just a matter of money and food. The Dali Kingdom wouldn't dare to do anything to the Crown Prince... The imperial court has always taken this view, spending money to buy peace.

  In just a few days, Zhang Fangping heard about Wang Shi's annihilation of Nong Zhigao.

  There is no need for Chen Bing to be on the border either.

  Although it's not an official message, there is no smoke without fire, so it should be reliable. Zhang Fangping even thinks that the Dali side has made a great effort in this matter.

  So he drafted a memorial while dispatching troops, and waited for the news to be confirmed before reporting to the imperial court and withdrawing his army.

  Such a big fuss, it's probably nothing.

  "Report to General Jinglue: there is someone who has entered the territory from Dali, claiming to be a follower of the Crown Prince, and he also has an official token..."

  "Huh? Zhang Fangping was stunned. Shouldn't the Crown Prince be in Yuanjiang? Didn't he already capture Nong Zhigao? Could it be that what I heard was false? Did Dali really do something to the royal army? And why did his followers end up in Xuzhou?"

  A lot of questions flooded in, regardless of true or false, they are all worth seeing.

  As for Zhao Xi's impression, Zhang Fangping still stayed in the summer of Da Xia Ning Ling Ge coming to the national court, now also more than ten years.

  However, as soon as he saw Zhao Xi for the first time, Zhang Fangping still recognized him.

  Although he looked travel-worn, there was nothing particularly disheveled about the Crown Prince; he was merely hurrying along, not fleeing.

  Even so, Zhang Fangping still cleaned up the people around him... The Crown Prince hiding his tracks like this must have a reason.

  "Your Highness, what is the meaning of this rash and impetuous behavior?"

  Zhang Fangping was indeed not polite, and the literary officials of the imperial court were also not polite when dealing with government officials, let alone the crown prince.

  Zhang Fangping's sentence left Zhao Xi stunned.

  Since conquering Guangnan, no one has ever scolded him like this. Yu Jing, that old fellow, even if he himself did something wrong, would still advise with kind words.

  These days Zhao Xi has somewhat forgotten the virtues of a national dynasty's literary minister.

  It's also just looking at Zhang Fangping now in Rongzhou, it seems that he will be staying for a while. Zhao Xi also understood.

  Let this governor of a frontier region sit in a small city on the border, it is for the safety of oneself and others, having some complaints is also justified.

  Moreover, I was indeed somewhat rash myself.

  Originally thought there was still time, just happened to follow the flow and explore the road, didn't expect to see the Imperial Guard deploying at the border.

  Suddenly, Wang Zhongzheng revealed his identity... purely asking for trouble.

  "Gentlemen, I have no choice but to take this action. Please forgive my rash behavior!"

  The attitude still needs to be lowered a bit. Fang Ping is also a stubborn head, demoted multiple times, and still has the character of a cannonball.

  Zhao Xikuo didn't want this kind of person to frequently impeach and accuse him.

  "What is it that's worth Your Highness the Crown Prince going to such great lengths? Climbing mountains and crossing rivers, what kind of danger is this? You could have sent someone else to do it, as the heir to the throne, such behavior is truly unbefitting!"

  Isn't it over yet? Zhao Xi has already humbled himself, but this stubborn head is still a bit unyielding.

  I'm in trouble now...

  "What's going on?"

  Don't be in a hurry! Fang Ping is just playing around with his personality, and the aftertaste of being scolded is still there, but he immediately became gentle and pleasant.

  He's really an old fox.

  "Scholar, you are highly intelligent and were taken in by the Duan family of Dali, after General Wang's army entered Dali..."

  Zhao Xi began to recount the entire process, from the hospitality of various forces in Dali, to the changes after breaking through the Weizhou city, and their own speculations, all the way to his plans for the copper mine.

  This finally pulled Zhang Fangping's thoughts into the entire incident.

  The civil officials of our dynasty have a characteristic: they all think their own strategies are superior.

  Especially for His Royal Highness, this publicly recognized extraordinary strategist sought advice from Zhang Fangping, which made him feel very accomplished.

  Even if you can't think of a solution, you have to pretend to be deep in thought.

  Indeed, I couldn't think of a good solution. The Kingdom of Dali would never cede land even if it were to show deference to the imperial court.

  The Qing dynasty was short of copper, and Chengdu Road was even more lacking. The shortage was so severe that paper notes were used as money on the Chengdu Road.

  What does it matter? The Dali Kingdom will not say that the Song Kingdom lacks copper and give away the places where copper is produced!

  Zhang Fangping had been pretending for a while and couldn't pretend anymore.

  "Your Highness, this matter is difficult to achieve. The imperial court has no intention of making concessions to Nanzhao, so it's not feasible to use military force to negotiate. Although the Dali Kingdom is currently in a stalemate with various parties, it is still relatively stable for now, and involving territorial concessions would make no one willing to be a puppet emperor."

  In Zhang Fangping's view, the Crown Prince's move is good for the country, but this is obviously a pseudo-proposition, and there is no solution at all.