Chapter 100 The Liao brothers talk at cross purposes
Liao Yongan would not act on his own when it came to matters involving Chen Biao.
As he lived in the Chen family, he could naturally ask the Chen family servants to deliver letters to Zhu Yuanzhang at any time. He also reported this to Ma Xiuying. Ma Xiuying even kindly asked if this would be unkind to Liao Yongzhong. Zhu Yuanzhang's reply was full of humor.
In fact, although Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to hide Chen Biao's identity, this hiding was only relative. Those he trusted and his subordinates in key positions must know Chen Biao's identity, so that when Chen Biao returned to the throne at the age of twenty, the position of crown prince would be stable and some people would not look down on Chen Biao.
As the commander of Zhu Yuanzhang's first navy, he was naturally qualified to know Chen Biao's identity, but Zhu Yuanzhang was still observing them.
Among the several naval commanders, Zhu Yuanzhang trusted Liao Yongzhong the most in terms of loyalty. However, after he found out that Liao Yongzhong had sent people to follow Chen Biao, he realized that although Liao Yongzhong was loyal, he was not very smart.
Zhu Yuanzhang kept it a secret from Liao Yongzhong to prevent him from doing something stupid that would harm Chen Biao's interests after learning of Chen Biao's identity.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang could let Liao Yongzhong know that Chen Biao was related to the prince, and respect Chen Biao more.
Zhu Yuanzhang was obviously looking forward to letting Liao Yongzhong, who liked to daydream, scare himself.
Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hands and jumped up and down in agreement, and Ma Xiuying could only remain silent. So the plan of using false information to trick Liao Yongzhong was decided.
On a dark and windy night, Liao Yongan sneaked out of Chen's house, got into an inconspicuous carriage, circled the city several times, and drove out of the city in the middle of the night into a deserted temple.
The person Liao Yongzhong sent to follow reported immediately.
Liao Yongzhong was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat.
He speculated conspiracy-mindedly that his brother might have betrayed his lord during the years he was imprisoned by Zhang Shicheng, and was now sneaking out to pass on information to Zhang Shicheng's informant?
It's no wonder Liao Yongzhong speculated this way. Liao Yongan's furtiveness was a tad suspicious, so he naturally assumed the worst. If nothing happened, everyone would be happy; if something did, he'd be prepared.
Liao Yongzhong did not alert the enemy and continued to send people to follow him.
He discovered that Liao Yongan would secretly leave the city every three days to visit the ruined temple. This frequent departure made Liao Yongzhong even more worried.
Liao Yongan was particularly keen on countering tracking, and whenever the people sent by Liao Yongzhong to follow him near the ruined temple, they felt the danger of being exposed. After much deliberation, Liao Yongzhong decided to personally "catch" his brother.
If it was a misunderstanding, as a younger brother, Liao Yongan would not do anything to him; if it was not a misunderstanding, he would personally tie up his elder brother and confess to the lord!
Liao Yongzhong thought of how good Zhu Yuanzhang had been to him and what he had done to save his elder brother, and he made up his mind to do the worst.
So, on another dark and windy night...
Chen Biao dozed off in the carriage: "Why is it so dark and windy again?"
Oh my God, my dear parents, I am a child who needs a good sleep. Why do I have to be put into a carriage by this group of fun people and ride around the city in the middle of the night?
The carriages in ancient times were so bumpy, I don’t want to take a walk or race around at night at all!
Four big men, Liao Yongan, Yan Qian, Tang He and Hua Yun, were originally squeezed into a not-so-big carriage.
Chen Biao really couldn't stand the four big men squeezed in this narrow carriage, and tried to kick Tang He and Hua Yun away.
However, Tang He relied on his high official position and closer relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang to assign Yan Qian and Hua Yun a lot of clerical work that required them to stay up late to complete, and he accompanied Chen Biao for a walk every night.
I can only spit on this, what a hateful and wicked boss!
Because he didn't know when Liao Yongzhong would take the bait, Chen Biao would go out for a walk with him every night.
Liao Yongan patted his chest and said that based on his understanding of his younger brother, this impatient younger brother was particularly prone to getting hot-headed and would fall into the trap within two or three times.
Chen Biao was full of resentment. Listening to the terrible sound of Liao Yongan patting his chest, he was worried that Liao Yongan, who was in poor health, would hurt himself, so he could only sigh and obey.
Liao Yongan really knew his brother very well, and he knew that two or three times wouldn't be the fourth time. Today, Liao Yongzhong finally fell into the trap.
In the carriage, Tang He got a castanets from somewhere, and while beating the castanets, he pretended to be a storyteller, and the first thing he said was "The moon is dark and the wind is strong."
Chen Biao held his forehead with his hand. No restaurant or teahouse would want a storyteller like Uncle Tang!
Tang He handed the castanets to Chen Biao and said, "Then Biao, will you sing a song for Uncle Tang?"
Chen Biao turned his head away: "My butt hurts, I don't want to talk about it."
Tang He laughed: "Aren't you riding horses and practicing martial arts every day? Hasn't your butt gotten calluses yet?"
Chen Biao said unhappily, "Uncle Tang, how dare you say that?"
Chen Biao worked hard, but everyone around him spoiled him, fearing he might become unhealthy. Even if he showed the slightest sign of fatigue, Uncle Liao, Uncle Yan, Uncle Hua, and now Uncle Tang, who were teaching him horseback riding and martial arts, would immediately stop him from practicing.
By the way, Uncle Tang is older than my dad but he is my uncle, while Uncle Liao is Uncle Liao because Chen Biao’s dad thinks Tang He is just a younger brother, and Liao Yongan’s six years of persistence in not surrendering moved him.
Chen Biao tried to increase his training, claiming, "I'll probably be on the battlefield again someday." Some of the uncles swore to protect him, some pooh-poohed the idea that children's words were innocent, and some even cried and wailed. It was clear that Chen Biao's month-long siege in Hongdu had given them post-traumatic stress disorder.
Chen Biao quickly shut up and didn't dare to mention it again.
Afterwards, this group of elders discussed that Chen Biao must never fight on the front line. At most, he could serve as a military advisor in the back, and his riding skills and physical strength would be enough to escape on horseback.
Chen Biao was really impressed.
He used to dislike Uncle Xu teaching him martial arts as if it were a game. Now he no longer dislikes it. Uncle Xu is even stricter than the elders before him.
After hearing Chen Biao's complaints and his nostalgia for Xu Da, who was enjoying seafood on the southeast coast, Tang He cursed, "Bullshit! That was before the Battle of Hongdu! Now he's definitely on par with me!"
Chen Biao's eyes drooped. "After the Battle of Hongdu, shouldn't you be stricter with me?"
Tang He said, "That's the truth, but who can do it? It's better not to let you go to the battlefield! Yan Jing, don't you agree?"
Liao Yongan nodded.
When he didn't know that Chen Biao was the lord's son, he just admired Chen Biao very much.
When he knew Chen Biao's identity, fear took over.
When he learned that Chen Biao had long guessed that Chen Youliang would besiege Hongdu and had taken the initiative to stay and buy time for his lord, he didn't know what to say.
I can only say that the lord really allowed Biao'er to be besieged for a month. I don't know whether to say that the lord trusts his son who is only a child too much, or that the lord is really cruel.
Maybe it's both.
Chen Biao covered his ears and said, "Alright, alright, stop scolding me. I'm staying in Yingtian and not going anywhere. My father originally agreed that when I grow up, I can go to the city guarded by my brothers to play, but now he won't let me leave Yingtian."
Tang He said, "Don't go! Especially don't go to Zhu Wenzheng's place! He has bad luck!"
Chen Biao was speechless. You actually despise my brother Zheng? Be careful or my brother will come back and beat you up!
My brother in society, when he gets angry, doesn't care about respecting the elderly and loving the young.
Liao Yongan said, "My lord, you heard that Zhu Wenzheng also made great contributions in the Battle of Hongdu. He is truly a young man of talent."
Hearing others praising his brother, Chen Biao lowered his hands from covering his ears and said proudly, "My brother Zheng made great contributions before the Battle of Hongdu, and so did my brother Zhong! Although brother Ying joined the army late, he is also very capable!"
When talking about his three brothers, Chen Biao started talking and was no longer sleepy. He started to count the great contributions of his brothers and almost put his hands on his hips.
Tang He held back his laughter and agreed, "Yes, yes, yes," rubbing his fingers together, especially wanting to pinch Chen Biao's soft cheeks.
Looking at Chen Biao's high spirits, Liao Yongan couldn't help but reveal a kind look like an old father.
He thought he must recover his health as soon as possible and raise his own child.
Chen Biao is recognized as the life-enhancing advertisement in Yingtian.
When Liao Yongzhong's mind was full of bad endings, and he had imagined countless scenes of brothers killing each other, sacrificing relatives for the sake of justice, and beheading his eldest brother in tears, and he was feeling extremely heavy, his eldest brother and Tang He were looking at Chen Biao and smiling foolishly. The two were completely different in style.
After Chen Biao said he was tired, he took out three fruits from his arms, one for him, one for Liao Yongan, and one for Tang He.
The three of them were eating fruit in the carriage, waiting for Liao Yongzhong to fall into the trap.
It was a dark and windy night... They finally arrived at the ruined temple outside the city. Liao Yongzhong finally jumped out with his personal soldiers and surrounded the carriage.
Liao Yongzhong rode a tall horse, and the personal soldiers behind him lit torches and stood in a circle around the carriage. The atmosphere looked extremely tense.
Liao Yongan finished his fruit, suppressed his laughter, and jumped out of the carriage with a stern face. He shouted in fear and anxiety: "Liao Yongzhong! What do you want to do!"
Seeing the undisguised fear on Liao Yongan's face, Liao Yongzhong's heart skipped a beat.
Is what he saw really the worst-case scenario he had imagined?!
Liao Yongzhong closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them wide like bells: "Brother! I should be the one asking you this! What do you want to do?! You leave the city every three days, who are you meeting?!"
Liao Yongan was shocked: "You actually sent someone to follow me!"
Liao Yongzhong gripped the reins tightly, angrily saying, "Yes!"
Liao Yongan said angrily, "Have you forgotten what the Lord said, telling you not to spy on other people's whereabouts anymore?"
Liao Yongzhong said in a deep voice: "You are not someone else, you are my elder brother! The lord is so good to you, how could you betray him!"
Liao Yongan: “…” Cough, the scene was too funny, I couldn’t help it and couldn’t go on acting!
Tang He pulled Chen Biao hard, not allowing him to ruin the fun.
Chen Biao was so embarrassed that his toes almost dug through the carriage. He twisted the back of Tang He's hand hard, and after Tang He let out an "ow", he finally stuck his head out of the carriage window.
At the scene of the brother-catching incident, which was illuminated by fire as bright as day, a cat's head popped out from the surrounded carriage.
Liao Yongzhong: "...You actually held Biao'er hostage?!"
Liao Yongan: “…”Brother, open your eyes and look at Biaoer’s expression. Is he being held hostage?
Tang He reached out and held down Chen Biao's head, then stuck his own head out.
Liao Yongzhong was shocked: "You also kidnapped General Tang!"
Liao Yongan showed an expression that he couldn't bear to look at his brother's IQ.
Tang He showed a look of "Are you stupid?" and said, "Who? Who kidnapped me? Liao Yongzhong! What's wrong with you? Are you trying to rebel?"
Liao Yongzhong was even more shocked: "General Tang, you also betrayed the lord?! How could you betray the lord?! How much benefit did Zhang Shicheng give you?!"
Tang He: “…”
He turned to look at Liao Yongan. "Is your brother mentally ill? Even if we've set him up, he still hasn't come to his senses after all this? What do you mean by 'I betrayed my lord'? My fucking presence here proves that the truth isn't what he thinks, okay?!"
Liao Yongan wanted to hold his forehead. Damn it! I just wanted to trick my silly brother, but I didn't expect him to be so stupid that he actually offended Tang He!
Tang He gnashed his teeth in anger: "Ah! Weren't you the one who betrayed the lord? Put down the knife quickly! Don't scare Biao'er!"
Liao Yongzhong narrowed his eyes and said, "You want to confuse right and wrong? Hand over Biao'er and come with me to apologize to the lord."
Liao Yongzhong was already sweating coldly from the big conspiracy he had encountered today.
He never expected that not only his brother betrayed the lord, but even Tang He betrayed him!
He also didn't expect that his brother had deliberately created confusion in order to capture Chen Biao!
If anything happened to Chen Biao, the Chen family would go crazy! The Liao family would be finished!
Fortunately, he did not wait too long and took decisive action to stop the carriage and prevent the conspiracy.
Liao Yongzhong was almost in tears. Brother, how many benefits did Zhang Shicheng give you? How many handles did he have on you to make you do something like this that would push the entire Liao family into this fire pit?
Chen Biao listened in the carriage for a while and felt that it was awkward for this group of people to be talking at cross purposes, so he sighed deeply.
He pushed open the carriage door and prepared to jump out to explain.
Tang He was so frightened that he hugged him back and said, "Don't go! Be careful of the sword and the gun!"
Liao Yongzhong immediately jumped off his horse, drew his sword and pointed it at the carriage: "Tang He! Let Biaoer go! As long as you let Biaoer go, I will let you go!"
Chen Biao rolled his eyes repeatedly and shouted, "My dear uncles, what are you talking about? Please explain clearly! This must be a misunderstanding! If we attract the Yingtian defenders and the news gets out, you will all be spanked by the lord!"
Liao Yongan sighed and said, "General Tang and I are escorting Biao'er to a secret location. This is our Lord's mission! Open your eyes and look. This is the Chen family's carriage, and the guards are all from the Chen family!"
The guard watched with amusement for a long time and patted the logo on his clothes.
Look! The Chen family!
Liao Yongzhong frowned: "How do I know you are not pretending to be the Chen family?"
Chen Biao said to Tang He, "Let me down! If I don't, this will never end!"
Tang He disagreed: "What if he really hurts you?"
Chen Biao was helpless: "General Liao Yongzhong and I were comrades in arms at the Battle of Poyang Lake. I trust him."
Tang He hesitated for a moment, carried Chen Biao down from the carriage, and stood in front of Chen Biao to protect him.
The Chen family's guards also formed a small circle to protect Tang He and Chen Biao.
Chen Biao said: "Look, I am not being held hostage by them."
Chen Biao spun around on one foot after he finished speaking. "I'm free now. They really are protecting me. Since the general has been following us for many days, he should know that I was also in the carriage when we left the city a while ago."
Liao Yongzhong was dumbfounded: "Some time ago... you were there too?"
Chen Biao was helpless: "Yeah."
Although his acting skills are very good, he couldn't bear to continue acting.
General Liao Yongzhong is a bit pitiful.
He waved his hand and said, "Forget it, it seems I can't go today. You guys chat slowly, I'm going home to sleep first."
After saying that, Chen Biao yawned.
Liao Yongan jumped off the carriage and instructed, "Send Biaoer back safely."
The Chen family guards tried hard to suppress their laughter, turned the car around, and actually kept Liao Yongan and Tang He. Regardless of being surrounded by Liao Yongzhong's personal soldiers, they drove directly back to the city.
Tang He scolded, "Get out of the way!"
Liao Yongan said, "Get out of the way quickly! Do you want to cause more trouble?"
Liao Yongzhong hesitated for a moment, then sent a team to escort Chen Biao back to Chen's house, while he stayed behind to confront Tang He and his brother.
Chen Biao returned to the Chen Mansion alone. After yawning and jumping off the carriage, he said to Liao Yongzhong's bewildered guards, "Don't worry, you won't be punished for this blunder. I know you are innocent, and I will do my best to protect you. Thank you for your hard work, now go back."
The leader had already noticed the problem and immediately knelt down and said, "Thank you, young military advisor!"
When Chen Biao heard this person calling him "Little Military Advisor", he couldn't help but say awkwardly, "Hurry up and get up. We were also at fault and caused a misunderstanding. I'm no longer a military advisor. Just call me by my name."
Chen Biao felt sorry for these innocent soldiers who were dragged into this group of people for fun. Although he knew that these soldiers would not be punished, they were still frightened and suffered an unprovoked disaster.
He asked someone to bring some copper coins to distribute to the escorting people, then he sighed and went back to his room to sleep.
Ma Xiuying was embroidering something while waiting for him to come back.
Chen Biao immediately snatched the embroidery from Ma Xiuying's hands and said angrily, "Mom!"
Ma Xiuying immediately said, "Okay, okay, mother knows that you can't do embroidery at night. It hurts your eyes. I was just bored waiting, so I embroidered a few stitches. Biao'er, hurry up and wash up and go to bed."
Seeing his mother admit her mistake immediately, Chen Biao snorted coldly and didn't argue: "There won't be a next time!"
Ma Xiuying said, "Okay. By the way, did General Liao's plan succeed?"
Chen Biao couldn't help sighing when he mentioned this incident: "It was a success, but it was too successful. It almost led to a fight."
Ma Xiuying was surprised: "A fight?"
Chen Biao described what happened at that time. Ma Xiuying couldn't help but cover her mouth and trembled slightly.
Chen Biao felt even more helpless. How come his mother had also taken on a touch of humor? Was this the time to laugh?
As he lay down on the bed, he was still wondering why he had joined such a strange operation. Even if he wanted to borrow the Liao family's craftsmen, he could have exchanged them for benefits. Why would he need to do this?
My elders are really unreliable, and they can't trust me with them. I can't hang out with them like this anymore, I'll become a terrible adult.
Chen Biao reflected on himself three times, then turned over, put his feet up on the big pillow and went to sleep.
…
The next day, Chen Biao slept until noon before getting up.
When he finished washing up, Liao Yongan and Tang He had already taken Liao Yongzhong to have breakfast at the Chen family in a very rude manner.
When Chen Biao came over, Tang He stuffed a meat bun into his mouth. He wanted to ask how things ended last night, but he couldn't say a word.
Liao Yongzhong now looks very depressed and seems to have suffered a great blow. He probably didn't sleep all night last night. The dark circles under his eyes look like smoky makeup from later times.
"Biao'er, so you would teach the lord's son..." Liao Yongzhong said disappointedly.
Tang He said: "You have discovered the secret hidden by the lord."
Liao Yongan said: "You almost found the prince's hiding place."
Tang He said, "You are finished. Now you can apologize for your crime."
Liao Yongan said, "I told you not to be so clever. You think you're smart and treat everyone else like fools!"
Chen Biao puffed up his cheeks as he chewed a meat bun and listened to the two bastard elders, Liao Yongan and Tang He, bullying poor Liao Yongzhong.
Although General Liao Yongzhong deserved it, he was really pitiful.
In fact, if General Liao Yongzhong thought about it carefully, he could see through many of the irrationalities. He was too confident in his judgment.
Although Chen Biao felt sorry for Liao Yongzhong, they had just performed this play, and when it was coming to an end and the gong was ringing to celebrate the harvest, he couldn't ruin the show, so he had to finish his breakfast in a depressed mood and hide away.
Liao Yongzhong interpreted this scene as Chen Biao's inability to bear his stupidity, which made him feel even more sad.
How could I be so stupid! It was me who almost ruined the Liao family!
Liao Yongan and Tang He looked at each other and hid the smiles in their eyes.
Okay, time to talk business!
After spending a long time with Biaoer, they all became qualified businessmen!
At the end of October, the shipbuilding factory that Chen Biao had been dreaming of was finally successfully built.
On the riverside outside Yingtian City, a group of shipbuilding craftsmen captured from Chen Youliang were separated to work with the craftsmen of the Liao family to develop large sea ships.
Chen Biao also found several craftsmen from Fujian and Guangdong, and found several popular sea vessels for them to dismantle and learn.
There is a huge difference between seagoing vessels and riverboats. Many naval battles are caused by seagoing vessels being driven inland or riverboats being driven into the sea, causing them to run aground or capsize.
The shipbuilders captured from Chen Youliang were mostly skilled only at river boats. Zhu Yuanzhang assumed that Chen Youliang's ships were large enough to sail on the sea, so he eagerly seized Chen Youliang's shipbuilders to present treasures to Chen Biao. This was truly ignorant.
However, the craftsmen from Chen Youliang are not good enough, but the craftsmen from Chen Youding are always good enough!
There were many shipyards in Fujian and Guangdong, but the skilled shipbuilders were kept secret, making it difficult for him to poach them. He could only wait for Xu Da to pacify Fujian and then snatch the talents from Chen Youding.
By the way, I have to mention here that Chen Youliang and Chen Youding have very similar names, but Chen Youliang is from Hubei and Chen Youding is from Fujian. They have no relationship at all and are not brothers of the Chen family's You generation.
After the shipyard was established, Chen Biao faced not only the difficulties that the craftsmen had never built sea vessels and had to learn on the spot, but also the difficulty in conducting sea trials for the ships.
Although Yingtian is very close to the mouth of the Yangtze River, all the estuaries so close to Yingtian are in Zhang Shicheng's territory.
So Chen Biao could only wait for Xu Da to quickly conquer Fujian and Guangdong and move the shipyard to Fujian or Guangdong.
Chen Biao wrote to Xu Da: "Uncle Xu, did you take Minguang today?"
Xu Da wiped his sweat and wrote back: "It will be soon, definitely this year!"
Chen Youding, why are you suddenly acting like a loyal minister of the Yuan Dynasty? Surrender now! Biao'er was anxious!
