gnovel Chapter 185 Post-New Year Miscellaneous Matters
Chapter 185 Post-New Year Miscellaneous Matters
Chapter 185 Post-New Year Miscellaneous Matters (Part 2)
Hui Yong subconsciously stood up, bowed to Shao Shuyi, and said, "Since Cao She has other matters to attend to..."
"It's alright, sit down and listen." Shao Shuyi pressed his hand down, gesturing for Hui Yong to sit down.
Hui Yong lowered his head and sat down, looking through the cracks in the floor at the surging river water beneath.
Yu Yuan, Yang Jin, and Ji Wu quickly entered and bowed in unison.
Yu and Yang merely bowed in greeting, but Ji Wu knelt down directly and said, "My lord, save me."
Shao Shuyi was slightly taken aback.
He's only seventeen years old. Is it appropriate for him to be called "Lord Ming"?
"Get up." Shao Shuyi opened the window, glanced at the flat-hulled ship moored outside, then turned to Ji Wu and asked, "What did you do for a living under Zhu Ding?"
"Back to Ming Gong——
—
"Just call me Cao She or Young Master Cao," Shao Shuyi interrupted him.
"Yes. Back to Cao She, I originally worked under Zhu Ding, making a living by fighting and killing," Ji Wu replied.
Shao Shuyi understood.
This person's rise to power was relatively recent; he was merely a former peripheral member forcibly promoted by Zhu Ding to fill the quota of the Thirteen Protectors. He had no assets and held a low position among the Thirteen Protectors.
"What brings you here today?" Shao Shuyi asked.
"Having nowhere else to turn, we hope Cao will take us in."
"How strange! Why didn't you join Zhao Yangui or Wang Zongsan, but instead chose to join me, an outsider? Don't try to fool me, tell me the truth."
Ji Wu was silent for a moment, then said, "We, the remnants of Zhu Ding's gang, are all wanted by the government, and ordinary people dare not take us in."
"Where are Zhao Yangui and Wang Zongsan?" Shao Shuyi asked.
"Zhao Yangui has deep ties with the government and won't take me in," Ji Wu said. "Wang Zongsan is willing to take me in, but he always suspects that I'm hiding a portion of Zhu Ding's family fortune and is forcing me to hand it over."
Shao Shuyi laughed out loud when he heard this.
In fact, he had heard these rumors as well. Where Zhu Ding's vast wealth had gone had always been a topic of great interest among the common people, with many versions and conflicting information. One version was that Ji Wu had secretly hidden a large box of gold and silver jewelry, because he was the last person to enter or leave Zhu's residence before the government troops raided it.
"Wang Zongsan is nothing special; he's easy to defeat," Shao Shuyi laughed. "How many men do you have under your command?"
"I can only muster three or four men," Ji Wu said. "But once I catch my breath and recover, I can summon dozens of people."
Shao Shuyi glanced at Yang Jin discreetly; fighting and killing were far more effective at mobilizing manpower than waving a fan.
"That's really good," Shao Shuyi praised. "But why should I take you in?"
"I can fight," Ji Wu said.
Shao Shuyi shook his head and said, "There are many people who dare to fight and struggle, but they are not valuable."
"Cao She certainly has many capable men under his command, but they have followed him for many years and are deeply trusted. They are to be entrusted with important responsibilities in the future, so it would be a real pity if they were to cause trouble," Ji Wu said. "Furthermore, there are some things that are not suitable for them to get involved in, and it would be better for someone like me who has no scruples to handle them."
For a moment, Shao Shuyi paused slightly, those words sounded familiar.
Once upon a time, he too humbly begged others for a way to survive; unexpectedly, two years later, it is now others who are begging him. The strangeness of life is truly remarkable.
"Cao She," Ji Wu kowtowed repeatedly on the floor, begging.
"Get up." Shao Shuyi waved his hand and said, "I'll give you a chance. If you do well, I'll take you and your followers in and arrange for them to hide somewhere else until things calm down. You can come back later."
"Please give your orders, Cao She," Ji Wu said.
Shao Shuyi pointed to the monk Huiyong and said, "You and this Zen master go to Qianming Guangfu Zen Temple. As for what to do, someone will tell you."
"Yes," Ji Wu replied.
"Go on, let me see if you're worth taking in." Shao Shuyi waved his hand, signaling the man to leave.
******
February 12th, on the banks of the canal (Xicheng Canal).
A loud and powerful song could be faintly heard on the wind; it was a folk song that the boatmen often sang.
The river was filled with boats, each with a very deep draft, clearly fully loaded with cargo.
As they approached Huangtian Port, the boatmen stopped what they were doing. By this point, the canal was flowing faster, and there was no longer any need to pull the boats.
The leading boat turned right and sailed downstream for a short while before stopping near the signing room of Huangtian Trading Company.
Lu Chaoen, with a stern face, held an account book, ready to record.
Yang Jin stepped forward to meet with the merchants.
The newly appointed warehouse manager, Chen Li, along with a group of temporary day laborers, prepared to unload the goods and store them temporarily in a warehouse on shore. Once all the goods were ready, they would be loaded onto the ship and left.
However, one ship is indeed leaving today.
Zhang Dawang's nephew, Zhang Heng, had just come out of the signing room, accompanied by two servants. He looked up at the sky and said, "It's getting late, why aren't we leaving yet?"
"Zhang Jun, please be patient," Yu Yuan said, standing beside him. "Once this batch of raw silk and silkworm cocoons is loaded, we can set off soon, at the latest by the afternoon."
"Then we might not even reach Liujiagang tonight," Zhang Heng said with dissatisfaction. "Shao—"
—
"Hey, Zhang Jun, be careful what you say." Yu Yuan quickly grabbed his hand and said with a wry smile.
Zhang Heng realized what was happening.
Over the course of time, despite the other party's best efforts to conceal it, he eventually discovered Shao Shuyi's other identity in Jiangyin: some people respectfully called him "Brother Cao".
He knew perfectly well that this secretive behavior meant they had done something shady.
When I get back, I will definitely tell my uncle that we shouldn't let Shao Shuyi help transport livestock anymore. His prices aren't any cheaper than others, and they're even slightly more expensive. Plus, he's incredibly slow at transporting goods, often making you wait for days for no reason, which is infuriating.
Why should we tolerate this kind of person? We could just find any cargo ship owner, and by now the livestock would have already arrived at Liujiagang and been unloaded.
Perhaps with this in mind, Zhang Heng was too lazy to argue with Yu Yuan. He sat by the reeds by the river, eating and drinking the tea and snacks bought by his servant while gazing at the great river to pass the time.
At noon, a man named Wu Jian walked over from afar.
Zhang Heng glanced at him casually and subconsciously felt that the person looked somewhat familiar.
He was dressed in a blue robe, wearing a straw hat and leather boots. A ring knife hung from his left waist, and a bow tip and quiver were inserted on his right. He carried a long spear on his shoulder with a bundle on the spearhead, and a rattan shield and three short spears for throwing on his back.
"Did you buy cattle and sheep at the Taicang Sheep and Horse Market before?" Zhang Heng asked.
Wu Jian stopped and looked Zhang Heng over carefully. He said, "I think I've seen you before. But if your family is in the livestock business, it's not surprising. My family are butchers, and we often go to the sheep and horse market to buy livestock."
Zhang Heng nodded and said, "So you've joined the army?"
Wu Jian smiled sheepishly and said, "I've only been learning archery for two or three months, and I paid someone to teach me how to use the short spear myself. I haven't even gotten the basics yet."
"Why learn so much?" Zhang Heng asked, somewhat puzzled.
"You don't know," Wu Jian waved his hand and said, "When a person doesn't have to worry about making a living, he really has plenty of free time and can learn all sorts of skills. Are these cattle and sheep yours?"
"My uncle's," Zhang Heng said.
After saying that, he wanted to ask the same question again, but Wu Jian wouldn't talk about it anymore. He just said, "Your uncle has come all the way to Jiangyin to buy cattle and sheep? Actually, it would be better to go further away and go directly to Wuhu or Chizhou. It might be cheaper there."
Zhang Heng hummed in agreement, then asked, "Are you going back to Liujiagang or Taicang?"
Taicang.
"Visiting relatives?"
"Yes," Wu Jian glanced at him and said.
Actually, it's not just that.
He was also responsible for going home to ask if there were any animal hides, and if so, buying more and sending them to Ma Tuo Sha.
Butchers slaughter pigs, sheep, and cattle, and the hides they obtain generally go to three main places: first, they are bought by merchants; second, they are "purchased" by the government; and third, they are sold to familiar artisans.
Wu Jian's family sold all the hides left over from slaughtering animals to merchants. This time, he went back to ask his uncles and brothers if anyone had any hides, so he could buy them and send them back to Ma Tuo Sha.
In his eyes, Zhang Heng must have a lot of furs at home, since some fur dealers also deal in livestock. He thought he could get closer to him in the future.
Meanwhile, Zhang Heng was also silently pondering what Wu Jian, Wu Heizi, and others, as well as Shao Shuyi behind them, were doing.
Actually, he had a hunch. Usually, people who are so secretive are probably involved in smuggling salt.
The salt worker from Jiangyin known as "Brother Cao" was actually Shao Shuyi, the manager of the Taicang salt depot.
The two then fell silent.
In the afternoon, the flat-bottomed boat, loaded with livestock, along with 500 bolts of cotton cloth, 100 shi of raw silk, silkworm cocoons, and dozens of ironware samples, slowly left Huangtian Port and headed downstream to Liujia Port.
Not long after the ship set sail, a bell suddenly rang out from Junshan Mountain not far away.
Wu Jian and Zhang Heng looked over hesitantly.
Junshan is located on the banks of the Yangtze River, very close to Huangtian Port. There is a Qianming Guangfu Zen Temple on the mountain, and the bell should have been heard from here.
"Murder! Murder! Murder!"
"Several monks have died!"
The faint, distraught cries of the worshippers could be heard in the wind.
Zhang Heng didn't know the specific reason. He only knew that the Buddhist temple had been broken into by bandits, and several monks had died. The security situation was terrible.
Wu Jian then knew that the three bald monks who had escaped from Chong Sheng Temple had probably been killed.
He scaled the wall of the temple in broad daylight, attacked and killed the monks, and then calmly left. The incident has caused quite a stir, and he will probably have to go to Matuosha or even Liujiagang to hide.
Things turned out exactly as he had guessed.
Ge Daji, a clerk from the Department of Criminal Justice, quickly arrived with his men, looking utterly disgruntled.
Shao Shuyi, who was only a mile away from him, was inspecting the fifty newly arrived boatmen at the Huangtian Trading Company.
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