Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 235 Spy

The news that the emperor had arranged a marriage between the Gu and Song families soon spread among the upper aristocratic circles. Some people who were eager to make a move began to visit them again. This time it was not for Gu Fengyue, but for the position of the wife of the Marquis.

The old housekeeper had to drive away several groups of matchmakers every day, but these people refused to give up. Gu Fengyun was fed up with it and simply stayed in the Ministry of Justice for a long time and never came back.

Compared to the engagement between the two families, those aristocratic families were more concerned about the newly rising Song family. However, they searched the entire capital but couldn't find where the so-called Song family was. Finally, everyone turned their attention to the countryside and discovered that the Song family was actually just a peasant family.

A peasant family actually produced a sharpshooter who could protect the country. This family background was really incompatible with the word "protecting the country". Many people privately complained about the Song family, saying that the Song family looked so poor that villains would surely succeed and who knows when they would make a big trouble.

In addition to the noble families, the three thousand archers in the Cavalry and Archery Battalion were also dissatisfied with a child who came from the sky. It was okay to be a child, but he was also a boy. They didn't believe that a little boy could really shoot and kill barbarians on the battlefield. They were probably scared to death when they saw the barbarians for the first time.

There were many young men from aristocratic families in the Cavalry and Archery Camp, all waiting for Song Chunlin to come and give him a warning. However, they waited and waited, and Song Chunlin not only did not come, he even forgot that he still had three thousand men.

At this time, the Song family was still busy preparing various things for Song Chunlin's engagement. New clothes and new shoes were a must. Not only did they have to prepare things for Song Chunlin, but also for Gu Fengyue. According to custom, Song Chunlin had to make a set of clothes, shoes and socks for Gu Fengyue himself, but time was tight and Song Chunlin didn't know how to sew, so Song Qin could only let him pretend to sew a few stitches on the new clothes to make him feel involved.

The Marquis' Mansion seemed much busier. The Emperor had not given Gu Fengyue a new position, but he had given him a lot of rewards. It was the end of the year, and gold, silver and jewelry were delivered to the Marquis' Mansion in large quantities. Of course, the Song family received no shortage of gifts as well. Every now and then, the eunuchs in the palace would send them gifts, which made the villagers envious.

In the past, the villagers who had conflicts with the Song family would always stand far away at this time, for fear of being seen. Now they finally understood that the Song family today was no longer an existence that ordinary people like them could afford to provoke. Although the Song family was still a farming family, in essence they were completely different from those who made a living in the fields.

Even the village chief and the head of the neighborhood of Yongle Village were extremely respectful to Old Man Song. As a brother of Song Chunlin, he was able to obtain the title of Protector of the Nation. It was only a matter of time before the Song family would soar to the sky.

Gu Fengyun was not in the Marquis' Mansion, and Gu Fengyue was idle at home. The old housekeeper asked him to buy various engagement supplies every day. After nearly thirty years, the Marquis' Mansion finally had a happy event, and everyone in the mansion wanted to make it a grand occasion.

Gu Fengyue was quite interested at first, but after working with the old housekeeper for a few days, he was dazzled by the large number of things.

God knows he had tried on more than a dozen wedding dresses on the engagement day, and selected seven or eight styles of gift boxes, but the old butler always felt that this one was not grand enough, and that one was not luxurious enough. Gu Fengyue was so annoyed that he just chose whichever one he liked and didn't care about anything else.

The two families got engaged during the Lantern Festival, a date chosen by Grandpa Song, who said it was a good day for family reunion and everything was suitable. It was just right for the two families to get together for a reunion festival.

But now it has just entered the twelfth lunar month, and Gu Fengyue and Song Chunlin have been taken to the Ministry of Justice again.

"The Marquis wants me to go to the Ministry of Justice?" Song Chunlin looked at the person who came to pick him up and asked a few questions in confusion. However, the man didn't know what the matter was and just said that everything would become clear when Song Chunlin arrived.

Still mysterious, Song Chunlin thought for a while and got in the car. Before leaving, he told Song Qinshi that there was no need to keep any meal for him.

On the way, he also met Gu Fengyue who was going to the Ministry of Justice together. After the two met up, they told each other the truth and found out that neither of them knew what had happened.

Song Chunlin was surprised: "Even you don't know?"

Gu Fengyue shook her head and reached out to straighten his collar to prevent the cold air from getting in.

"My brother just told me to come over, but he didn't say why."

"Oh." Song Chunlin lowered his head, wondering what had happened in the Ministry of Justice that caused Gu Fengyun to call both of them over.

When we arrived at the gate of the Ministry of Justice, someone was already waiting at the door. It was an acquaintance of mine, General Qi.

"General Qi? Why are you here too?"

General Qi didn't say anything, but just gestured for the two to go in first.

The Ministry of Justice is more deserted than other offices. I don't know if it is because it is the largest office location in the capital. The entire Ministry of Justice, including the prison in the back and some unspeakable places, has a total area that is only slightly smaller than the Imperial Palace. It can be said to be the second largest courtyard in the capital, and the various buildings inside are intricate and in line with the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. If there is no one to lead the way, it is easy to get lost inside.

Even though Song Chunlin had special abilities, he was almost confused by the complicated route.

Gu Fengyun was in the interrogation room of the Ministry of Justice, which was right above the prison. The simple and heavy building added a solemn atmosphere to the place. Song Chunlin shuddered as soon as he stepped in. The temperature inside was actually much colder than outside.

The interrogation room was a relatively normal building in the Ministry of Justice, divided into small rooms. Song Chunlin was taken to one of the rooms. General Qi only took him here, nodded slightly to the people inside, and turned to leave.

Gu Fengyun said coldly inside, "Come in." Song Chunlin followed Gu Fengyue in. Although his mind was not wandering, his mental power was already fully spread out. When he was outside the door, he knew why Gu Fengyun called them in.

The cause was the small bag of grains that Gu Fengyun had placed on the table. Song Chunlin identified it and found that it was filled with wheat and rice, and there were even dozens of corns underneath. Moreover, the appearance of the wheat and rice was very similar to those grown in their fields.

Gu Fengyun asked the two of them to look at the seeds in the small pocket.

"These were intercepted by the Imperial Army from the ship a few days ago. The people holding the seeds were all spies from the enemy country. When they boarded the ship, they were spotted by our people because of their strange whereabouts. However, when they saw that their mission had failed, they committed suicide by taking poison and left no clues. I sent people to track them down for a long time before I found out where these people were. It seems that they came from the South Sea."

Gu Fengyun took a sip of the spiritual spring water and said, "Chunlin, you should recognize these seeds. They should be the same batch as those in the experimental fields you mentioned."

Song Chunlin held the seeds in his palm, then smuggled a few seeds into the space and asked Dabao to identify them. Dabao was familiar with spiritual energy, and he recognized at a glance that these seeds were indeed from the space, and were seeds transformed by the spiritual spring water in the space. Although they had undergone updates and changes outside, the spiritual energy inside was still the same as he was familiar with.

"Master, these seeds should be from your fields. It seems that the yield and performance of the seeds are very stable. They are the seeds of the new generation that can be saved."

"Can the seeds be saved? In other words, if these seeds are spread, Dajing's grain output next year can reach 1,000 kilograms per mu?"

"Yes, that's right."

How come seeds of such excellent quality ended up in the hands of a group of people from Southeast Asia?

The Nanyang people, commonly known as the Southeast Asians, are logically speaking very far away from the capital to Southeast Asia, and there is also the Himalayas in between. If those people want to come here, they can only cross the ocean. It must have taken a lot of effort to send those spies over.

"The Nanyang people came to steal our seeds? How did they know we had improved seeds?"

Gu Fengyun nodded and said, "Only Your Majesty, I, and the Minister of Agriculture knew about the grain seed matter. This matter concerns the fate of the country. Our own people haven't planted the grain yet, but it was stolen by these people. In fact, the amount recovered is more than this, but just in case, I have asked General Qi to send people to secretly transport it back."

So it turned out that this was the reason why General Qi came and went in a hurry just now.

Song Chunlin raised his head and looked at Gu Fengyue, and both of them saw solemnity in each other's eyes.

"Few people know about this. Your Majesty, my brother, and Chunlin will definitely not tell anyone. Even Uncle Song and the others have no reason to publicize this. Moreover, Chunlin has never told them in detail about the grain seeds. So there is only one possibility..."

"Not the Grand Minister of Agriculture." Gu Fengyun interrupted Gu Fengyue coldly, "You can suspect anyone, but the Grand Minister of Agriculture will never do that."

Gu Fengyue's expression darkened: "I don't doubt him, but can you ensure that everyone around the Grand Minister of Agriculture is reliable?"

Gu Fengyun's face was gloomy: "Speak."

Gu Fengyue breathed a sigh of relief and named several names in succession, all of whom were close associates of the Grand Minister of Agriculture. Although Gu Fengyun showed disapproval on his face, he did not say anything else. Instead, he turned around and asked Song Chunlin about the Song family's planting of rice and wheat in recent years.

"My Lord, we have always planted improved grains in our fields. Except for the ones in your hand, I plant these more stable seeds in a corner. When the harvest comes, I store them separately. I will not use them to pay taxes, nor will I mix them with other seeds and sell them to people in the same village."

The Song family has been planting modern seeds that Song Chunlin took out from the space. These seeds all come from seed companies. Their advantages are high yield, strong disease resistance, and special resistance to lodging, but their disadvantages are also very obvious, that is, they cannot save seeds. Usually after two or three times of saving, the yield will drop sharply. With such obvious disadvantages, people can still buy new seeds from seed companies every year in modern times, but they are now in ancient times. Where can they find seed companies in ancient times?

Moreover, the seeds in Song Chunlin's space were limited and would be gone once they were planted. That's why he came up with the idea of improving breeding. It was he who proposed this experimental field. When the emperor first noticed that the Song family had a particularly high grain yield, he and Gu Fengyun proposed it. Even Gu Fengyue didn't know about it, let alone the Song family. They were just carrying out what Song Chunlin had instructed.

After improving the space and adapting to the outside world, Song Chunlin also spent some time to get the final perfect seeds. Now they appear in the hands of the Nanyang people. Needless to say, there must be a loophole in one link and the news was leaked.

Gu Fengyun also sent people to investigate the people that Gu Fengyue just mentioned, but in the end, nothing was found. This was also his biggest headache.

"I received a secret letter yesterday that a suspected Nanyang spy was captured in Pingzhou Prefecture. Fengyue, Chunlin, you will go to Pingzhou this time and make sure to bring the man back alive. If you can't bring him back, find a way to pry something out of him."

This is an easy matter. Song Chunlin calculated the time and found that he could return just in time before the New Year. If he reached an uninhabited area on the way, he could take out his motorcycle and drive there, thus saving half the time.

So he patted his chest and assured Gu Fengyun: "We will definitely complete the mission. Let's go back and prepare and set off."

After the two men left, a man walked out from the darkness. This man was the Minister of Justice Liu Xu. He had a goatee and ordinary looks, and could not be seen in the crowd. If he was not wearing an official uniform, who would have guessed that he was a minister.

"Are you really sure that the kid can handle this problem?" He expressed doubts about Song Chunlin's ability.

Gu Fengyun smiled and said, "That's because you don't understand him. How about you guess whether he noticed you just now?"

Liu Xu thought for a moment and shook his head slowly: "I guess he didn't find out."

Gu Fengyun perked up: "Why?"

Liu Xu recalled Song Chunlin's behavior just now. All signs indicated that the child did not notice that there was a fourth person in the room. If he had really discovered it, he would not have had no reaction.

"If he knew, he would definitely make some small moves. Habits cannot deceive people. He didn't even look in my direction just now."

Gu Fengyun laughed: "Is this the reason you concluded that he didn't notice you? Brother Liu, you can't be too superficial. You think he didn't notice you because you don't know him well enough."

Liu Xu still didn't believe it. He didn't think a teenager could be so calm.

Gu Fengyun stopped arguing. There were only three of them in the room just now. If Song Chunlin really didn't discover it, he would never say that those grain seeds were improved, because Gu Fengyun knew that those seeds only came from Song Chunlin's magical space, and those that were stolen were the real improved grain seeds.

However, only Song Chunlin and the Gu brothers knew the difference between the two. Liu Xu, as the Minister of Justice, heard the inconsistencies in Song Chunlin's words. Although he did not understand, he did not find any other mistakes, so he just thought that the child was nervous and said something wrong.