In the late winter moon, when the officials in the Luoyang court were full of different opinions and debates over the incident in Jiangnan, Li Ling, the prefect of Yangzhou, returned to his jurisdiction.

Originally, he should have returned to Yangzhou earlier, but because what he had to do this time was more difficult than ever, he stayed in Jinling for a while and discussed and decided with Wen Ming, which delayed a lot.

During this period, the situation in the entire Yangzhou Prefecture improved greatly. With the efforts of Chu Lian and many newly recruited officials, and the cooperation of wealthy families such as Lu Xie, both the prefecture and many county towns below gradually recovered from the previous chaos.

The foundation of Jiangnan is even stronger. Even after experiencing such chaos, it will still recover very quickly. People also hope to live a peaceful life. As long as the government can handle their food, clothing, housing, transportation and other survival matters, they can bring everything back to normal.

However, the transportation of taxes, money and grain is still a problem. Because the Dajiang Gang was destroyed and the situation of the Cao Gang was not clear, it was difficult for Jiangnan to transport money and grain to Luoyang through private channels. However, Li Ling did not need to ask about these matters. Anyway, his money and grain from Yangzhou had almost been delivered in place, so it could only give Wen Ming and others a headache.

When she returned to Yangzhou, Li Ling was not idle. On the one hand, she had to deal with many of the accumulated official duties, and on the other hand, she had to take time to comfort the angry Yue'er. She had agreed to her for ten days before to come back, but this trip to Jinling was another month, so the little girl was naturally very dissatisfied.

However, with Yang Qingxiao helping, Yue'er's temper disappeared in just two days. After all, she was sensible. She knew that her brother could not keep his words because he couldn't help but say it. However, she still took the opportunity to quarrel at her brother, which made him give him a lot of benefits.

After comforting her sister, Li Ling became excited and smiled and remorsed Yang Qingxiao: "Qingxiao, thanks to you these days, I really feel guilty."

Yang Qingxiao just smiled and shook her head: "Li Lang, you don't have to say that, this is what I should do. I know you are also forced by the situation. Since you are an official of the court, everything must be based on the overall situation, so naturally you can only let your children have aside first."

"Qingxiao..." Li Ling felt even more moved. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms with a little force. "If you have such a wife, what else can I ask for my husband Li Ling!"

But these words made Yang Qingxiao's pretty face turn red, and she struggled a little: "We... are not husband and wife yet..."

This immediately reminded Li Ling, and immediately looked at the person in his arms and said seriously: "I'm going to propose marriage to the Cao Gang. Although I made an appointment before, I would like to talk about it three years later, I can't wait. Qingxiao, would you marry me as a wife?"

"I..." Yang Qingxiao was a little stunned, and she didn't expect that he would suddenly raise such a big thing.

But Li Ling didn't give her too much time to react. She immediately let go of her hand holding her waist, and then turned to the front, knelt on one knee, and looked at the woman in front of her affectionately: "Qingxiao, you are the only woman I, Li Ling, will you fall in love with in my life. Are you willing to marry me as a wife? I promise you that I will treat you well in the future, and we will surely grow old together!"

Yang Qingxiao was stunned at first. She had never seen a man propose to someone in this way. But looking at his solemn look and his affectionate words, she felt an unprecedented joy and sweetness in her heart. But she still said in a panic: "You...what are you doing? You are the magistrate, what kind of decent thing is it to kneel in front of me and ask someone to see? Get up quickly..." As she said that, she wanted to help her.

Unexpectedly, Li Ling suddenly cheated and shrank slightly: "If you don't agree, I won't get up. I'll see it when someone sees it. I'm happy to kneel down with my wife."

"You..." Yang Qingxiao didn't know what to react, she felt so funny and laughed. But she also felt deeper love from Li Ling's reaction, and finally agreed: "I promised to marry you, get up quickly."

"You agree, don't regret it again then." Li Ling smiled and stood up. But then he heard Yang Qingxiao say again: "But... if you want to get married to me, you have to promise me something."

"As long as I can marry you, I will agree to all ten or hundreds of things."

"In the past few years, I have been with my brother. Now he is missing. Our entire Cao Gang has no idea what happened to me, so I want you to help me find them..." Yang Qingxiao said seriously, "Actually, I was planning to leave you for a while just now, and I want to go to Lianghuai to find my brother and others."

Li Ling was stunned: "Did you have not contacted the Cao Gang until today? This is not right." It was not until this time that he realized that he had ignored this very critical group of people.

Before, when something happened to Cao Gang, he thought it was caused by the sneak attack by Dajiang Gang. The other party colluded with Luo Tian Sect and caught Cao Gang off guard. Then he took the opportunity to fill in their vacancy and robbed the entire Jiangnan money, grain and taxes.

However, afterwards, with the efforts of himself and Wen Ming, the forces of the Dajiang Gang and Luotian Sect in Jiangnan Ming had been destroyed in one fell swoop. Then, the Cao Gang, which was suppressed by them, should have escaped early. But as a result, until the Cao Gang came out of Jinling two days ago, the Cao Gang was still blocked and the Cao Gang still did not move.

Now, after hearing Yang Qingxiao's words, the situation seems even more wrong, because until today, the Cao Gang has not had any contact with Yang Qingxiao. She is the sister of the leader of the Cao Gang and has a very high status in the gang.

So, what happened to them and what changes they encountered?

Seeing Li Ling suddenly frowning and pondering, Yang Qingxiao couldn't help but feel nervous: "Do you know something, my brother and the brothers of the Cao Gang are in such trouble now?"

"It is because I don't even know what they have encountered that I feel uneasy." Li Ling had no intention of covering up in front of her and said softly, "I only know that in the past few months, there has been a problem with the canal transportation. It is obvious that the canal gang has lost control of the local area. Before that, they were framed by Luo Tian Sect and Dajiang Gang, which seems to be related to the government...

"But the problem is that now the Luotian Sect and the Dajiang Gang have been defeated by the governor, and most of the thieves have died. According to reason, they should be unable to control the Cao Gang anymore. But why are they still not coming back to this day..."

This time, Yang Qingxiao became more and more uneasy: "What should I do...what should I do? Why don't I go to Lianghuai to check it out, at least I have to find out where they are now and whether they are safe."

"No, you can't go." Li Ling immediately objected, "Don't worry, I'll find a way to do this. I can use the eyes and ears of the Imperial City Department and the trade routes between the Lu and Xie families to investigate from the secret. It is safer and easier than taking risks alone."

As he said that, he looked at Yang Qingxiao again: "Believe me, you are my Li Ling's wife, the Caobang is your mother's home, and they are also my relatives and friends. I will not see them happening but stand by and watch!"

Yang Qingxiao is not a weak person. She can beat ten Li Lings with her own martial arts more than enough, but now, she finds that she has become weak and wants to rely on this man. Especially when he said without hesitation that this matter is solved by himself, she has no doubt at all, but instead feels relieved. It feels so good that someone cares for you and someone helps you with all the pressure.

After only a moment of pondering, Yang Qingxiao nodded and responded: "Then... I'll ask you for everything."

"Well, don't worry." Li Ling solemnly promised. As of now, the revision of the civil book must be waited for the court to respond. There will definitely be no answer before next year, so this period of time will solve the problem of the Cao Gang first.

Yang Qingxiao was sure of her heart, and finally had a smile on her face again. She nodded gently and said softly. Then as Li Ling reached out to hug her, she returned to Langjun's arms, and he heard him say affectionately: "When we pick up Brother Yang and the others back, we will get married immediately. Then we will become a family. If there is anything, we can discuss with each other."

"Well, I hope that's the case, too..."

...

Since he agreed to Yang Qingxiao, Li Ling planned to meet with the people of the Xie family the next day and get some further information about the Cao Gang from them. After all, he knew about the Cao Gang incident before. He thought that with their power in Jiangnan, he would definitely be able to obtain further information.

At the same time, going to the Xie family can also lay some preparations for the subsequent revision of the folk book and make some indirect attacks. After all, this matter is very big. If the government really wants to accomplish something, it will eventually need the cooperation of such aristocratic families.

But at noon, before Li Ling could go, a report came from outside the yamen that there was a man who claimed to be the Cao Gang who was looking for a visit outside.

This surprised him a little, but he soon asked someone to bring him into the second hall. At the same time, he asked someone to invite Yang Qingxiao over. After all, she still needed to confirm the identity of the visitor.

After a while, the two arrived one after another. After meeting, they were both stunned:

"Brother Du San... Why are you here?"

"Miss, why are you here?"

The two almost asked similar words in unison, and then they were stunned again. Li Ling was sure that it seemed that there was no problem with his identity. So he immediately said, "Brother Du, right? You sit down and talk first. What happened to you? Why can't we contact you all these days?"
Chapter completed!