Chapter 20: Dad, Let's Prepare to Flee

Yuan Yindi, as the academic seed of the county academy, is a treasure in the eyes of the academy teachers. Asking for leave is naturally not a problem. After all, since Yuan Yindi came to the county academy to study, he has hardly ever taken leave.

Leaving the county seat, Yuan Zhaodi, accompanied by his younger brother, walked on the deserted official road, and only then carefully recounted the entire story.

"Fourth brother, this matter is too big!"

After listening to Yuan Zhaodi's account, Yuan Yindi's youthful face was filled with seriousness.

"Xiao Wu, do you think there's a way for our family to remain uninvolved?"

"Difficult!"

Yuan Yindi answered directly without hesitation.

How could they possibly remain uninvolved?

Yuan Zhaodi is a survivor from Dragon Head Town's docks, and as an imperial envoy, the Prince, unless an accident happens along the way, will definitely find his fourth brother.

"Do you not have a solution either?"

Yuan Zhaodi's heart sank.

"Fourth brother, I only said it's difficult, not that there's definitely no way!"

Seeing his fourth brother with an expression of utter despair, Yuan Yindi couldn't help but smile.

"There's a solution?!"

Seeing Yuan Yindi's smile, Yuan Zhaodi's eyes instantly lit up.

Yuan Yindi shrugged and said, "Fourth brother, I need to think about this carefully!"

This matter is really tricky!

The imperial navy pretending to be river thieves definitely has some hidden agenda.

As for what that hidden agenda is, without understanding the inside story, mere speculation is useless.

"Fourth brother, let's go home first, we can talk more at home!"

Yuan Yindi felt it was necessary to get a detailed understanding of the situation; at the very least, they needed to know which towns and docks along Qingyuan River had suffered from river thieves.

It must be noted that along Qingyuan River, the court has set up eighteen Water Villages, each guarded by the imperial navy. If all eighteen Water Villages experience attacks on their docks and towns, it would mean the entire Qingyuan River's naval defense has crumbled, and likewise, Jiangnan has encountered significant issues.

The two rushed back to Linhe Village as quickly as possible.

Then, Yuan Yindi marked all the affected towns and docks on the Qingyuan River map with Old Yuan.

Old Yuan, in his youth, used to navigate the waters, and was very familiar with the docks and towns along Qingyuan River.

"Completely rotten!"

When all the affected points were marked on the river map, Yuan Yindi's expression became even more stern.

Along the entire Qingyuan River, the controlled waters of the eighteen Water Villages have all experienced varying degrees of harassment by river thieves.

"Dad, we should prepare to escape!"

After contemplating for a moment, Yuan Yindi looked up at Old Yuan.

"What?"

Upon hearing his youngest son's words, Old Yuan's face changed dramatically.

"Dad, look, if all eighteen Water Villages along Qingyuan River have issues, it means someone wants to completely cut off Jiangnan's water transport route to the Capital."

"Taxes from Jiangnan account for sixty percent of Great Yin's annual revenue!"

"While at the academy, I once overheard the teacher mention that the Beili Dynasty had already taken Great Yin's northern three counties and eighteen cities, the border army is defeated, and is temporarily defending relying on Changxia."

"If I'm not mistaken, Jiangnan is about to descend into chaos!"

"Great Yin is not far from collapsing."

"...?!"

Upon hearing Yuan Yindi's words, everyone in the house, including Old Yuan and Yuan Zhaodi, was dumbfounded.

Originally, they called Yuan Yindi back to find a way to deal with the investigation by the imperial envoy Prince; but now, that investigation has become a minor issue, while the real situation is the potential outbreak of nationwide chaos!