Dongting Town is also twenty miles away from Taihu Lake, and it is downstream.

The two big boats set off from the wharf and entered the Liangxi River through the North Xingtang River into Taihu Lake, which took a total of half an hour.

During the flood season, the water of Taihu Lake flows from west to east and from north to south, so it is Susong who is unlucky.

The most unlucky is naturally Kunshan, which is known as the Susong bathtub.

The group went down the river and arrived at Xijing Bay when it was dark.

Zhao Gongzi told Hua Bozhen on the way that he would go back to Suzhou to raise money first.

The water bandits demanded a ransom of 100,000 taels, but what about more than three tons of silver, no one could bring it, right?

Hua Bozhen meant that leaving the boat and food for the water bandits would almost be over.

But Zhao Gongzi said, not afraid of 10,000, just in case. What if the water bandits are not controlled by the Dongting Chamber of Commerce?

So you still have to be prepared for both.

Hua Bozhen felt that it made sense, and the two agreed on the contact method, and they separated in the outer lake of Xijing Bay. One went east into the bay, and the other went south to Dongting to find President Weng to understand the situation.

~~

The words are divided into two ends.

An honest and trustworthy gentleman like Zhao Gongzi will naturally not ask Hua Bozhen to help enthusiastically.

He really took a boat into Xijing Bay.

However, I did not take the Muguang Canal to Suzhou City, but went to Hushu Pass from the Hudong Canal in the north.

Hushu Pass is ten miles north of Suzhou City, is the first banknote pass in the south of the Yangtze River, across the canal. The goods carried by the northern and southern merchants must be inspected and taxed here, which naturally gave birth to a prosperous place in Wuzhong.

When the big ship arrived at Hushu Pass, it was already midnight, but the lights in the town were still bright.

Through the misty rain curtain, I saw that both sides of the canal were brightly lit, and strings of colored lights were reflected on the surface of the river, and the river water became colorful.

The restaurant Qinglou is still noisy, and the sound of silk and bamboo, and the laughter of men and women are endless, making people feel as if they are returning to the Qinhuai River.

Zhao Hao had no intention of enjoying the ambiguous night scene in the rain, and only looked back and forth on both sides of the street, looking for the signboard of Wu Ji.

Hushu Guan Qianzhuang ticket numbers are gathered, and it is impossible to have no Wu Ji.

"There." Still coincidental and sharp-eyed, I saw a long string of dead wind lamps hanging on a two-story shop facing the street next to the bridge.

Sure enough, the words 'Wu Ji Qianzhuang' were written on it, but the lamp was not lit, no wonder Zhao Gongzi missed it.

"Not bad." Zhao Hao nodded approvingly, Qiaoqiao was very proud.

Although it was the middle of the night, the docks were still full of merchant ships waiting to cross the border tomorrow.

It was easy to find a berth to stop, Zhao Hao and others went ashore, and Gao Wu knocked on Wu Ji's closed door.

A faint light peeked through the crack in the door.

"Who?" There was a wary questioning voice from inside.

"Shoulder to shoulder!" Zhao Hao, who was behind Gao Wu, replied in a deep voice.

'Shoulder to shoulder' means friend. Wu Kee is from the underworld and has his own set of contact incisions.

When he was in Beijing, the Ye family taught Zhao Hao, otherwise he would really not be able to open this door.

"Flooded?" There was silence for a moment, and then I changed the question.

What are you doing here?

'The old man who eats the money of the float beats the partridge, and the head of the class folds it to join me. ’

The water bandits robbed, your owner fell into the hands of others, and I came to help.

Zhao Hao talked to the black ...... Oh yes, the black word of the black word is the spring ceremony. While secretly complaining, can't you talk well?

But after thinking about it, four hundred years later, all walks of life are still desperately expanding their own black words, so as to raise the threshold of entry and prevent laymen from easily getting in.

What's more, there is at least a need for security in this era.

~~

A code call came down, and the people inside finally removed the door panel.

A good guy looked, dozens of guns aimed at the door. The guys and guards in the store have one hand, all of them are the latest bird's beak guns.

Gao Wu hurriedly protected Zhao Hao behind him. Actually, don't be nervous, the arquebus hasn't been lit yet.

But I heard a voice of surprise inside. "Zhao Gongzi! Put the gun down, this is the eldest lady's brother! ”

The guards put away their guns in a hurry.

Zhao Hao looked at the middle-aged man who saluted him, and smiled awkwardly but politely.

Secretary Ma knew that Childe's face blindness had been committed again, so he whispered in his ear and reminded: "This is the rice housekeeper next to Miss Jiang." ”

"Steward Mi, aren't you accompanying Miss Jiang, why are you here?" Only then was Zhao Gongzi able to speak.

"Hui Gongzi, the water bandits let me come back to deliver the message, and the ransom will be ready within three days." Steward Mi invited Zhao Hao to the upstairs account room to speak, closed the door and bowed his head and said: "As soon as the villain arrives here, he will order someone to report to Yangzhou quickly." Thinking that Kunshan was still waiting for food to save his life, he hurriedly notified his son. ”

"I'm in Wuxi, and the people below me have been sending letters to me, and I'm a day late." Zhao Hao explained first, and then said in a deep voice: "What is the number of water bandits?" ”

"All masked, unrecognizable." Steward Mi smiled bitterly: "Such a big Taihu Lake, there are more than ten or twenty water bandits of all sizes." ”

"Where's their lair?" Zhao Hao asked again.

"I don't know." Steward Mi bowed his head gloomily and said, "The thieves are all masked. ”

"So how do you get in touch?" Zhao Hao asked again.

"They asked them to send the silver to Xiaozhu Mountain before noon the day after tomorrow, put it in the dug pit and bury it, and then release the people when they got the money." Steward Mi replied hurriedly.

"That's right." Zhao Hao was relieved when he heard this, so he sat down on the chair and asked Steward Mi to tell him about the robbery.

Steward Mi told Zhao Gongzi that the day before yesterday, the eldest lady personally escorted five grain boats to set off from Yixing. When the boat reached the middle of the lake, more than a dozen gun boats suddenly rushed out of the natural river harbor on the platform mountain.

The gun boat is a small boat unique to Taihu Lake. The two ends are sharpened, the length is not full, the width is only three feet, two oars and one pulp, the body is light and fast. Because the rudder resembles a wooden gun, it is called a gun ship.

This kind of small boat, which is similar to the speedboat of later generations, is fast and flexible, easy to hide, and is the only choice for water bandits to make a living on Taihu Lake.

The grain ships were big, stupid and fully loaded, so naturally they could not escape, and they were soon surrounded by gun ships.

~~

"It's raining heavily, and it's hard for birds and crossbows to work, so the water bandits can lean on it unscrupulously. They grabbed our ship with their hitches and threatened to set fire to it if they did not surrender. I only listened to the narration of the housekeeper Nami: "The Songming torch is not afraid of rain, and if you throw it into the cabin, you can light a fire, and the eldest lady will judge the situation and let us surrender to the water bandits." ”

"Well, wise." Zhao Hao nodded, and asked softly, "Do they know that Miss Jiang is on the boat?" ”

"I don't know, the eldest lady and the maid have changed into men's clothes and are mixed in the boatman." Steward Mi hurriedly replied: "The water bandit asked the villain to come back and spread the word, and prepare a ransom of 100,000 taels within three days to guarantee that the goods will be returned to the original owner and no one will be injured." Then they took the little man to the shore in a small boat......"

"Hmm." Zhao Hao asked for details again, and then clapped his hand and said: "I will pay the ransom, and you will raise money immediately!" ”

"This, does it make it?" Steward Mi couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised. Such a large sum of money is naturally not something that they can use.

You must ask Yangzhou for instructions and obtain Ye's authorization.

But then the daylilies were cold......

ps. The first update, only to code out, slowly straightened ha......