"How did you know I was going to Suzhou?" Li Xiu looked at the child in front of him who only reached his chest with a look of surprise.

"It was my mother's mother who told me!" Li Ke bowed to Li Xiu very respectfully. Today he suddenly came to the door and asked to go with Li Xiu and the others, which surprised Li Xiu very much.

"So that's it, but you don't stay in Chang'an, why do you want to go to Suzhou with me?" Li Xiu immediately understood this and said, "Concubine Yang and Li Shimin have a deep relationship, and Concubine Yang has always wanted to make Li Ke close to him, so it was not surprising that he found out about his whereabouts from Li Shimin.

"Actually, I am not going to Suzhou, but to take office in Yangzhou, because I also serve as the governor of Yangzhou. According to the rules of our Tang Dynasty, all princes will go to other places after establishing their palaces. I originally wanted to wait a few years before going to grow up, but I heard that you are going to Suzhou, and you can take me to Yangzhou by the way. And I didn't plan to stay in Yangzhou for too long. I just need to go there and behave like it. When you come back, I will bring me back together. In this way, I can always follow my uncle's teachings on the way!" Li Ke said the truth again.

The so-called "official" actually means that the prince went to the place where he was enfeoffed. There are two intentions for this. One is to allow these royal families to contact the place and understand the sufferings of the people. The other is to let these princes leave Chang'an to avoid fighting over the throne. Speaking of which, this rule was established by Li Yuan, and he did the same with other sons, but he was very tolerant of three legitimate sons, which also led to the later battle between Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng.

However, compared to Li Yuan, Li Shimin, the father-in-law, was even worse. Li Yuan at least drove his legitimate sons to the fiefdom. However, when Li Shimin came, the rules of princes to officials from other places had become a decoration. For example, Li Ke and Li Tai had left the palace to establish a mansion two years ago and should have served in the fiefdom, but Li Shimin never mentioned this. Even when other sons grew up, they did not take this rule seriously. They usually go around the fiefdom and look back and come back. After all, the foreign land is not as prosperous as Chang'an in any case.

Hearing that Li Ke was so disrespectful to the officials who went out, Li Xiu couldn't help but frown slightly, but then he smiled with a little self-deprecating smile. He had decided to stay away from the court as much as possible, so why should he do these things? So he thought seriously at this time and said, "If you are a prince, you will be as numerous as a carriage and horse. If you don't say anything else, you will have to bring a thousand people with you. It would be inconvenient for so many people to follow us?"

It’s not that Li Xiu didn’t want to take Li Ke, but he felt it was too troublesome. After all, as Li Ke’s identity, he must have had a lot of guards when he left Beijing. Li Xiu’s own family already had a lot of people. If Li Ke was added, the scale of this team would be too large and it would be very inconvenient on the road.

"Don't worry, I've considered this a long time ago. Your family's travel is very careful in terms of safety, so I decided to take only two maids with you. As for other guards, you can ask them to take shortcuts to Yangzhou and wait first. Anyway, you must be in no hurry. If you walk and play on the road, when we arrive in Yangzhou, my people will definitely be here long ago." Li Ke said the last time, a smile appeared on his face. It seemed that he knew Li Xiu's real purpose in going to Suzhou this time.

Since Li Ke said that, Li Xiu couldn't refuse anymore. He thought for a while and nodded and said, "Okay, since that's the case, then King Shu, please go with us. In three days, you bring people to our place to meet, and then we will set off together!"

Seeing that Li Xiu agreed to take him on the road, Li Ke also thanked him loudly. Then Li Xiu asked him about his situation in the school and then let Li Ke leave.

Three days later, Li Xiu's family finally prepared, and before dawn, Li Ke had already arrived at Li Xiu's house. As expected, he only brought two maids. Princess Pingyang and the others knew that Li Ke was going to Suzhou with them, so they were not surprised, especially Li Ke was also the nephew of Princess Pingyang, so he took great care of him.

In addition to Li Ke, there are a few people who do not belong to Li Xiu's family members to go with them. In fact, this is not accurate, because they are all Li Xiu's students, such as Wu Mingkong and Wang Fangyi, and Li Chengdao's sisters. In this era, the relationship between students and teachers is sometimes closer than that of father and son, so they are half of Li Xiu's family. In addition, traveling outside is also an important means to increase their knowledge, not to mention that they are following Mr. Li Xiu, so they naturally will not give up such a good opportunity.

After breakfast, Li Xiu's family got on the carriage, and the guards led the way in front of them. The group drove towards Luoyang in a mighty manner. For this trip, Li Xiu almost took away all the guards and servants at home, leaving only a small number of servants to guard the house. Therefore, the team was very large. If it were an unaware of the situation, from a distance, they would probably think it was an army to travel.

Li Xiu and his friends first had to go to Luoyang, and then boarded the ship from Luoyang to enter the Grand Canal. In fact, the southern section of the Grand Canal, which is the Tongji Canal, was to lead the Luoshui River from Luoyang to meet the Tongji Canal. When Yang Guang was on a southern tour, he also boarded the dragon boat from Luoyang. In addition, because the dragon boat was very well drawn, the Tongji Canal was also dug very deeply to ensure that the dragon boat passed, so it was also called "Yuhe" by the locals.

This is not the first time Li Xiu and the others have been to Luoyang. They have been to the places where they can visit on the road a few times, so they did not waste time on the road. However, even so, it took them more than ten days to arrive in Luoyang, mainly because the number of people in the team was too large, with more than 1,000 guards alone, and at least 1,200 slaves and other slaves. So many people can travel, which is comparable to an army's expedition, but most people do not have the discipline of the army, so they walk very slowly on the road.

However, in any case, Li Xiu and the others arrived in Luoyang successfully. Then they stayed in Luoyang for a few days. Long before, Li Xiu had already sent someone to Luoyang to rent and buy boats, so when they arrived, the ships needed were ready. After Li Xiu and the others rested, the group then abandoned the horse and boarded the boat and prepared to start the trip south. However, just as Li Xiu and his ship left Luoyang, they encountered a fleet that Li Xiu unexpectedly encountered.
Chapter completed!