Warlords: Conquer the world from the county magistrate

Chapter 148 The Northern Mission Returns

On April 10, Tao Yunong received the northern delegation in Changhuan. The leader of the delegation was Shen Congfu, Deputy Minister of the Interior.

The Shen Congfu who came this time is much more important than Wang Fuyuan who came last time.

One is the Secretary General of the President, who has no real power after leaving the President; the other is a senior official of the Ministry of the Interior. They are not comparable.

Shen Congfu is a well-dressed old man in his fifties. He was a high-ranking official in the previous dynasty and had a high reputation in the northern government.

When Tao Yunong saw Shen Congfu, he immediately went to greet him: "Deputy Minister Shen, welcome to Nanshan Province. I am the Director of the Security Department of Nanshan Province, Tao Yunong."

Shen Congfu nodded but did not shake hands with Tao Yunong. As an old official of the previous dynasty, he was not used to the etiquette of shaking hands.

"Director Tao, I hope you will take good care of me during this mission to Nanshan Province."

Afterwards, the two men started speaking in official tones. Although Shen Congfu behaved like an old scholar, he was not a fool. He was quite polite to the people from Nanshan Province and did not cause any trouble.

The group arrived at Nanling that afternoon. After settling down, Shen Congfu couldn't help but sigh: "I thought it was a poor and remote place, but I didn't expect it to be so different now."

He couldn't help but sigh about the roads in Nanshan Province. He also observed the people walking on them. Although some of them were still pale and thin, their clothing and facial expressions were no less elegant than those of the people in the capital.

This is no wonder. Since taking over Nanshan, Fang Jian’s textile and garment factory has produced a large amount of clothing.

Except for those supplied to the army, many of the rest were sold to the common people at low prices. In order to prevent the rich from taking advantage of the situation, the common people in each place had to re-register their household registration and purchase limited quantities based on their household registration.

In addition to tax reductions, military recruitment, and worker recruitment, the living pressure of the people in Nanshan Province was alleviated, allowing many people to improve their living conditions much more than before.

Therefore, Shen Congfu felt that the people of Nanshan were well-dressed and lived a good life.

"Mr. Shen, you are exaggerating. Apart from the cement road, everything else along the way, including the houses, is just so-so." A man in his thirties next to Shen Congfu said disdainfully.

"Not to mention the capital, even Sanjiang Province can't compare to it."

Shen Congfu shook his head slightly and did not argue. This Governor General Fang has been in charge of Nanshan Province for only a few months, and Nanshan Province has changed so much. What will Nanshan Province look like in a few more years?

Seeing Shen Congfu shaking his head, the man was a little dissatisfied, but he did not get angry: "Mr. Shen, I heard that the southern forces also sent an envoy, and they are also staying in the guesthouse."

The man's name was Zou Ming, and he was temporarily assigned to be Shen Congfu's secretary.

Shen Congfu did not like the new army forces in the south, but he would not belittle them. In just a few years, the new army forces in the south have been able to compete with the north.

Of course, for now, the Northern government still has a great advantage over the Southern New Army. However, the Northern government is constantly fighting among itself, and it cannot completely eliminate the Southern New Army and give it enough time to develop. The consequences will be unimaginable.

"Our mission this time is to win over Governor Fang. We don't need to pay attention to the southern forces." Shen Congfu sighed.

Zou Ming curled his lips and disagreed with Shen Congfu's attitude: "Mr. Shen, why don't we raid the southern delegation at night?"

"If these envoys are killed, then General Fang will have no choice but to make enemies with the Southern New Army. He might even cause the Southern New Army to go to war with Nanshan Province because of this incident."

Zou Ming likes to read history books, and he particularly admires those fierce envoys from ancient times.

For example, during the era of feudal separatism, envoys would intimidate the monarchs of other countries to submit, or envoys would destroy other countries, or kill envoys from enemy countries to pressure friendly countries.

In Zou Ming's opinion, he could also do what the envoys did, kill the southern envoys, and use this to force Fang Jian. In this way, he might not only be remembered in history, but also be valued and promoted by important figures.

"Shut up. Not to mention that we don't bring many people with us, even if we have experts in operations, it would be difficult to do anything in this heavily guarded guesthouse." Shen Congfu scolded Zou Ming in a low voice.

I can't help but think that this young man is fanciful. Does he think this is ancient times, or does he think he is a warrior who can fight against a hundred people alone?

Faced with the scolding, Zou Ming admitted his mistakes repeatedly, but he didn't take it seriously in his heart.

Returning to the room assigned to him, Zou Ming called two followers and said, "You two, great wealth is waiting for you. Are you willing to accept it?"

These two were the diplomatic mission’s guards. Because of what happened last time, there were only ten guards accompanying them this time.

The two guards looked at each other, not knowing what Zou Ming wanted to do. However, Zou Ming was a high-ranking official at a young age, and his future was much brighter than those of them who were soldiers.

Subconsciously, the two men thought that this task was assigned by their superiors and that they could really accomplish something meritorious.

"Director Zou, what kind of wealth is this?" a guard immediately asked.

Zou Ming smiled and said, "You should know that our mission this time is to win over Governor Fang, but the southern forces also have the same goal."

Seeing that Zou Ming stopped talking, another guard asked, "Director Zou, you don't want to?"

"Yes, as long as we can destroy these southern delegations, even if we cannot win over Governor Fang, it will be a great achievement for us." Zou Ming nodded confidently.

The two guards looked at each other again, their expressions becoming hesitant.

Coming out of his joy, seeing the two of them looking like they wanted to talk but hesitated, Zou Ming asked unhappily, "Why, is there any problem?"

"Director Zou, I wonder how many people are cooperating with the operation and where the weapons will come from?" a guard asked through gritting his teeth.

Zou Ming frowned: "Don't you have weapons? When we act, with me, the three of us will be enough to destroy the southern delegation."

Because these people were part of the diplomatic corps, Tao Yunong did not confiscate their weapons. Of course, these people only carried pistols and were not equipped with other weapons.

"Director Zou, the three of us are definitely not enough. If we call on other guards to join us, our chances of success will be greater." Faced with the fame and honor, the other guard was very tempted.

Zou Ming thought for a moment and felt that it would be safer to call a few more people. So he told the two to keep it a secret and called other guards to fool them.

Under Zou Ming's temptation, eight of the ten guards agreed to the action. Fearing that the remaining two would leak the secret, Zou Ming had them tied up.

In the early hours of the morning, under the cover of darkness, Zou Ming and his group of nine people headed towards the southern delegation.

The guesthouse was a reconstruction of the Nanshan Posthouse of the previous dynasty. In the past, Ma Jincen expanded and rebuilt it specifically to entertain people from the northern government.

The entire guesthouse is divided into eight courtyards: East Courtyard, West Courtyard, East Wing Courtyard, West Wing Courtyard, East Side Courtyard, and West Side Courtyard.

Zou Ming and others were arranged in the East Courtyard, and the Southern New Army Delegation was arranged in the West Courtyard.

"Who are you? Come out." Zou Ming and his group sneaked out of the east courtyard and were discovered by patrolling soldiers.

The defense of the entire guesthouse was arranged by Tao Yunong, who not only arranged a company of the garrison division as guards, but also dozens of intelligence department elites to guard here.