"Miss, I misunderstood. We are just here to convey a message." Zhao Chuan glanced at the nervous little lieutenant beside him and said.
"Say something quickly."
Zhao Chuan said where is the Marquis, and the other party sneered and said that there is no Marquis on this ship at all. What do you want to do with the Marquis?
Zhao Chuan bluntly said that the water bandits wanted the marquis to pay tribute to the capital's gold, silver and jewelry, otherwise they would burn the boat.
"Who said that there are gold and silver jewelry on this ship that the Marquis paid tribute to?" The Marquis' daughter raised her eyebrows with an imposing manner.
"This..." Zhao Chuan turned and looked at each other with the young lieutenant.
The Marquis's daughter said that if she didn't believe it, she could check it out. After that, she ordered people to empty out the contents of the boxes. In addition to the women's clothes, there was also a small amount of jewelry that was probably for the women's own use. There was no gold or silver jewelry.
The same is true for other first-class cabins on the third floor, with no gold, silver or jewelry at all.
Zhao Chuan returned to the second floor and explained the situation.
Went to the ground floor again and told Wang Ke.
"Impossible! When we boarded the ship at Nanhai Pier, we had an informant who saw Mr. Hou boarding the ship with our own eyes and arranged for people to carry more than a dozen heavy boxes!"
Wang Ke vowed and said that his people would be watching along the way, and it was impossible to get things off the ship, and it was impossible to change the contract.
That's very strange. Since you are going to the capital to pay tribute, you can't go empty-handed. Zhao Chuan was also puzzled.
"What do those dozen heavy boxes look like?"
Zhao Chuan asked about the size and shape of the boxes and confirmed that the boxes were the ones he had just seen, but they contained women's personal clothing and supplies, and there were no gold, silver or jewelry. And the Marquis is not on this ship at all.
Zhao Chuan sighed, greatly disappointed. It is a pity that Wang Ke engaged in such a big battle, but it turned out to be an empty joy.
Zhao Chuan thought to himself that at first Wang Ke was a king, but in the end he was just a bronze.
We haven’t even figured out the situation yet, so this thing can’t be done!
It seems that fighting with this cunning old master is not enough.
"What should we do now?" Zhao Chuan looked at Wang Ke, "Let's evacuate the people. There is no point in wasting any more. Otherwise, it will not be so easy to talk when the navy ships arrive."
Wang Ke said nothing, his face uncertain.
Zhao Chuan returned to the cabin and told Qi Yatou the situation.
Qi Yatou laughed and said, can't you see this? The tribute that the Marquis sent to the capital was those dozen young and beautiful women!
Zhao Chuan woke up from a dream, but he was puzzled.
"What does it mean to pay tribute to a dozen beauties? Can this be called a rare treasure?"
"Ha! You don't understand this. The people the Marquis pays tribute to must need these dozen South China Sea beauties for special purposes!" Qi Yatou smiled mysteriously.
"What use can these beauties from the South China Sea have? The old men in the capital are just playing with these little beauties for fun."
Recalling that Wang Ke said that he brought Zhao Li to his hometown of Nanling to raise him at the seaside, and married him several beautiful local wives, the boy couldn't bear to miss Shu, so he decided that the same was true for the gentlemen in the capital.
What man doesn’t like beautiful young beauties?
"Then there must be something special about the beauty of the South China Sea, right? Otherwise, why would you pay tribute?" Zhao Chuan asked thoughtfully.
"Now you are smarter!" Qi Yatou praised Zhao Chuan.
Qi Yatou said that for ordinary men, beautiful women are just playthings, but for some practitioners, beauties with certain special physiques are tools to improve their cultivation.
"Is there such a thing?" Zhao Chuan was greatly surprised.
Qi Yatou said that there is a kind of skill called yin and yang dual cultivation, but some men who practice evil methods use certain beauties with special physiques as containers. Because men who practice evil methods are prone to becoming possessed by evil spirits, when the evil fire is full and out of control, beauties with certain special physiques will be used as containers to release it.
Zhao Chuan pouted, "I've been talking for a long time, isn't it just to vent my anger?"
Qi Yatou blushed, "Don't be so shameless, okay?"
Zhao Chuan went back and reported Qi Yatou's analysis to Wang Ke.
Unexpectedly, Wang Ke also thought of this and suspected that this was the case, but he was not sure.
Wang Ke was in trouble. He originally wanted to rob this huge sum of money to use it as funding for a major project, but now he found out that there were only dozens of beauties, and the plan seemed to have failed.
Zhao Chuan wanted to ask what the important thing Wang Ke mentioned was about, but after thinking about it, it was better not to ask. One more thing is worse than one less thing. If people don't take the initiative to tell, it will be bad if they know.
Wang Ke looked very uncomfortable, and the expression on his face could not be described as painful.
Zhao Chuan wanted to help, but he couldn't think of any good way at the moment. The Marquis didn't get on the ship at all. He didn't have many rare treasures, not even ordinary gold and silver treasures. He couldn't rob them if he wanted to. At most, he could rob a dozen beauties. But what's the use of robbing them? They still had to feed and drink, but even if they were sold, they wouldn't be worth much.
"How much is the huge amount of money you're talking about that you want to use to do important things?" Zhao Chuan scratched his head, pretending he had nothing to say.
"Well, Third Young Master, this is too much money, and ordinary people can't afford it..." Wang Ke said absently.
"I know, I just want to ask, there must be a certain amount of money. Maybe someone can get it." Zhao Chuan smiled.
Wang Ke thought for a while and said that it would cost at least 600,000 taels of silver.
Six hundred thousand taels? My dear, this money is really quite a lot.
Zhao Chuan said that the money was too much and there was nothing he could do about it. There was no telling how much the ship would be worth.
Wang Ke said that the ship cost 180,000 taels.
Zhao Chuan said, then what are you waiting for? You are water bandits, so it’s the same for anyone who robs you?
Zhao Chuan officially told the ship owner and passengers that because the Marquis on the third floor refused to hand over the looted gold and silver treasures, the ship was impounded until the water bandits got the money.
Immediately all the guests on the ship were dissatisfied with the Marquis and cursed constantly.
Sure enough, after two sticks of incense, the passenger ship was driven into a river fork by water bandits.
It was still dark, but it could be seen that this was a small river fork, only thirty feet wide at its widest point, but the water was very deep, and the luxury passenger ship was slowly driven in by water bandits.
Not far ahead, the fork of the small river became narrower and narrower. Several fires appeared in the middle of the river ahead. It turned out that there was a small island in the middle of the river full of big rocks. It was only about ten paces in radius. In fact, it was just a big rock. The passenger ship could not reach it. Park nearby.
Huang Jin panicked and walked into Zhao Chuan's cabin again. He told Zhao Chuan that day was about to dawn. Why hadn't the Marquis Navy ship come to rescue him yet?
All the guests on the ship were waiting uneasily.
After dawn, the water bandits sent a message saying that everyone should not worry, they only kidnapped the tickets but did not tear them up. I only want the Marquis' money, not everyone's wealth and lives. Everyone should have fun and eat, but we can’t leave for the time being. Please wait in a day or two.
This is not only a righteous bandit, but also a civilized bandit. After hearing this, everyone was completely relieved and relaxed for a while, and the public area on the second floor gradually became lively again.
In the afternoon, three warships came down the river from the direction of Jiangzhou and stopped at the fork of Xiaojiang.
These are three old-fashioned flat-bottomed warships, or hand-cranked wooden paddle boats with sails. The boats are not big, only four or five feet long.
After a while, three warships entered the fork of the tributary in an inverted formation, two in front and one in the back, moving forward slowly at a turtle speed.
Seeing the sailors coming, the bandits hid in the bottom cabin, while the passengers on the first and second floors ran to the deck. When the sailors arrived, they felt like they had been rescued and happily talked and laughed on the deck.
The three warships slowly approached the passenger ship, but when they were still dozens of steps away from the passenger ship, a burst of cannon fire suddenly rang out from both sides of the bank. In just two sips of tea, the two flat-bottomed warships in front of the shore were hit one after another. , the mast was broken, and the sail was on fire. The ship behind saw that the situation was not good and turned around and ran away.
The burning warship was a mess. Some were diving, some were putting out the fire, some were crying, and some were waving white cloths to surrender. It was a chaotic mess.
The passengers of the luxury passenger ship stood on the deck and were surprised to see this scene. They did not expect that the navy was so vulnerable. The boat passengers looked on indifferently, and many of them had expressions of disbelief on their eyes.
The water bandits did not make things difficult for the sailors. On the contrary, they took small boats to rescue the sailors who fell into the water, and some even went to help put out the fire.
Unfortunately, one warship was seriously damaged and soon sank to the bottom of the river. The other ship was still able to swim after the fire was extinguished.
The surviving sailors all crowded onto the warship and were released, but they had to go back and deliver a message to the people who wanted to redeem the ship: the passenger ship was worth one hundred thousand taels of silver, and the Marquis's daughter and others wanted five hundred thousand taels.
This operation made Zhao Chuan dumbfounded. This was just a joke. He thought to himself, Wang Ke, aren't you a lion biting indiscriminately? Who are the officials? They want to blackmail others. There is no reason for officials to be blackmailed by the people.
Two days later, the same luxury passenger ship came from the direction of Jiangzhou and stopped at the fork of the tributary. Then a small boat was lowered from it, carrying people from the official family to deliver messages.
Zhao Chuan's worries turned out to be unnecessary. The person who came was an old postman from a nearby post station. He said that the officials agreed, but the treasury was empty and they couldn't get the money out for the time being. Could it be a little less? If not, could it be paid in installments?
In order to show sincerity, I would like to offer you fifty thousand taels of silver notes first. Can you let the Marquis' people go first?
The water bandit immediately said that the ransom must not be less, and he would accept the 50,000 taels of silver notes first. Others can release some first, but they are not the Marquis's people.
The water bandits called out all the passengers on the first floor and transported them by small boat to the newly arrived luxury passenger ship for release.
Two days later, another luxury passenger ship sailed from the south towards Jiangzhou. It stopped at the fork of the tributary and also lowered a small boat, carrying people from the official family to send messages. It was said that the official in charge of shipping gave him 80,000 taels in silver notes. He said that the economy was in trouble during the turmoil and could only have so much money at the moment, so he asked to redeem the ship.
The water bandits discussed for an hour and said that people must be trustworthy. Since the previous offer of 100,000 taels to redeem the ship was now only 80,000 taels, considering that what the other party said was the truth, they agreed to release the ship. But the people of the third-floor Marquis must disembark and continue to be detained until the Marquis pays the ransom.
The Marquis' people on the third floor were unwilling to get off the boat. The officials got on the boat to explain the situation but were scolded. The water bandits went upstairs to drive away the Marquis' people, but friction and fighting broke out.
The people of the Marquis on the third floor insisted on going with the ship, saying that the ship was there, but the Marquis' people did not have enough ransom to hand over, and the bandits did not want to let them go. But the ransom of 80,000 yuan was sent by the official Ministry of Water Affairs to ransom the ship. Since they agreed to let the ship go, it didn't matter.
Wang Ke said that he had no control over this matter and wanted to go ashore to contact his boss to ask.
Wang Ke said hello to Zhao Chuan, went ashore, and said he would not be back until two days later.
It seems that Wang Ke can't be a master, he is just an intermediate character. Zhao Chuan stood on the passenger ship, looking at Wang Ke's back who was gradually disappearing after landing, and smiled bitterly to himself.
The two parties did not reach an agreement, so the officials who came temporarily transferred the passengers on the second floor to the new luxury passenger ship, and then the new passenger ship continued sailing north.
Zhao Chuan was also a passenger on the second floor. He wanted to transfer to the newly arrived luxury passenger ship with everyone, and then get off the ship in Jiangzhou to find his master Xiaoyaozi. However, he thought that he had been delayed for several days, and even if he went to Jiangzhou, he would not know how to return. If we can find him, we might as well not leave in a hurry, but just stay on the ship and see how things develop.
It was night, just after midnight, the weather suddenly changed, with dark clouds rolling in, lightning and thunder, accompanied by strong winds. The strong winds shook the passenger ships, and a heavy rain came in a moment.
Less than half an hour later, the heavy rain stopped and the water in the tributaries surged so much that the small island in the middle of the river was no longer visible.
Zhao Chuan found that the passenger ship started to move. Probably the water bandits wanted to avoid the heavy rain and wind, so they moved the ship upstream of the tributary.
"Oops! It looks like my boat is going to encounter something unexpected." The boat owner was worried. "With such a heavy rainstorm and lack of power, the boat will definitely not be able to drive well in the hands of these water bandits!"
As soon as the boat owner finished speaking, he heard someone below desperately shouting, "No! It's hit a rock! There's water in the bottom of the boat. Run away! Run!"
