The kidnappers on the boat all have standard Shanxi accents, and they must be from Hebei West Road.

This is what the children of wealthy businessmen agree on in their nervous incoherent speech.

Zheng Juzhong believes in this judgment.

The children of businessmen are in contact with people from all over the world because of their business, and their insight into distinguishing people's geographical origins is not comparable to ordinary people, and this judgment ability is still there.

From this, he determined that the kidnapper must be a rebel Tian Hu.

gritted his teeth with hatred, but he could only stare dryly. He relied on power, prestige, and many other means to fight sharply, but it was ineffective against foreign enemies and traitors.

From the interrogation, he automatically made up the captain's words: Even if the fierce pirates want to destroy Zhaojiazhuang by force, it is not so easy.

The township Yongzhuang Ding brought by the Cangzhao family is really brave and not afraid of death.

The pirates knew this from the time they captured Zhao's ship. The ship was captured by pirates, but the loss of manpower was staggering.

The water warfare that pirates are best at is still so bad, and the land defense that Cangzhao is good at is not easy to fight.

Destroying Zhao Zhuang will not be of great benefit to the pirates, but will cause heavy losses. Why do you do this stupid thing?

This is the fundamental reason why the pirates do not attack Zhao Zhuang.

From these brains, Zheng Juzhong also thought of a problem: smuggling.

After he took power in Cangzhou, the amount of pirates imported smuggled goods from this area skyrocketed, which made him and the military and political bureaucrats rich from it.

Zheng Juzhong believes that in addition to the fact that the government led by him does not control smuggling and the convenient geographical location of Cangzhou to send goods to the western part of the northern part of the Great Song Dynasty, a very important reason is that it is rich and developed and the society is orderly, there are no bandits and military disasters, and it is not like the Cangbei region where there are many thieves and are threatened and looted by the Liao army. Safety, businessmen dare to come and be willing to come and traffic smuggled goods.

If the front foot spends a lot of money to buy the goods, and in the blink of an eye it is looted by bandits or Liaokou, who will come to buy the goods?

Zheng Juzhong has to admit that Cangzhou has the deterrent power of the Cangzhao family, so that thieves and Liaokou cannot run rampant.

His face flushed.

But not because of shame.

Historical traitors such as Cai Jing and Qin Hui do not think that they are traitors who bring disaster to the country and the people, on the contrary, they think that they are the models of loyalty and patriotism and hard work, and they are the talents, meritorious achievements, and indispensable pillars of the country.

As for framing Yue Fei and other sins that have been accused by history, that is the meaning of faithfully executing the king, which is the manifestation of loyal ministers for the country, or the normal means of officialdom struggle and governance, and does not belong to the act of traitors. I have so much credit and so hard work, and I deserve to enjoy it.

Corrupt pleasure is not only the act of traitors, but also a representative of the indulgent pursuit of pleasure like the positive character Kou Zhun.

Similarly, Zheng Juzhong does not consider himself a traitor and a straw bag.

He is definitely loyal.

Favored ministers, and the emperor and the Great Song Dynasty have both losses, one glory, and common interests, how can I Zheng Juzhong be a traitor?

Just from the point of being able to be such a big official, how can I, Zheng Juzhong, be a straw bag?

Identity and status determine the height of people's self-evaluation of their own abilities.

A beggar who almost starves to death after begging, if he wins the jackpot and becomes rich, will quickly believe that he is not an ordinary person, and will never think that he is actually a waste who is not even qualified to be a good beggar.

Zheng Juzhong's face was blushing, even the kidnappers and pirates would think that he was a straw bag traitor, while Zhao Gonglian was still a typical pillar of the front.

He scolded fiercely in his heart: "Cangzhao? Zhao Gonglian?

Hum!

Hypocrites who sell their kindness, buy people's hearts, and sell their reputation. How could he be inferior to him? ”

Zheng Juzhong could see that after the children of these wealthy businessmen who were accustomed to a pampered and arrogant life experienced the terrible encounter of surviving on a desert island, the vast majority of people not only looked like hungry ghosts more than elephants in their bodies, but also had abnormal spirits, and most of them were wasted.

But he had a plan to extract flesh and blood from these rich merchants who betrayed him to make a ransom, and he would not show the slightest mercy.

The wealthy businessmen had already felt that Zheng Juzhong must have bad intentions when they forcibly passed them on, and when they heard that Zheng Juzhong suspected them of being bandits, he actually forced them to pay money to buy peace, and secretly scolded the dog officials for being venigious and shameless, but they immediately pretended to be pitiful on their faces, crying and begging that they had paid a huge amount of money to pay the ransom twice, and that bit of family money had been emptied, and they really couldn't get the money.

Rich businessmen play dead dogs, and they refuse to pay if they bite hard. Zheng Juzhong could only frown and get angry.

These people can become extremely rich, and they always have some background in officialdom, so they can't really be charged with killing them and raiding their homes because they refuse to pay the ransom.

Although the other officials involved in the kidnapping case are greedy, not all of them are as ruthless as Zheng Juzhong and Hei Yongkang, who can not care about his son's life or death. Some of them have only one son, and they are very precious, so they expect this son to pass on to the next generation, and they must save their son.

The wealthy businessmen paid the ransom and got their sons back, which also gave them hope.

But I don't know who hacked the ransom last time, and it has basically emptied the money they looted in Cangzhou when they took office.

They are all protégés and cronies of the Beijing officials of various factions, and their families in the capital have the money accumulated by corruption and bribery, but they are too late to transport it to the emergency at the moment, and they must find a way from Cangzhou locally.

The Great Song Dynasty used literature to control martial arts, and it became a deformed and pathological state.

The civil servants are very disdainful of martial arts. No matter how high the military generals are, they are not taken seriously by the big turbans.

The same is true for Zheng Juzhong, who only allowed the civil officials involved in the kidnapping case in Fucheng to participate in the interrogation, discussed with these officials when there was something, and disdained to discuss it with the vulgar military attachés.

Hei Yongkang and other generals rushed to hear the news themselves, but they didn't hear the interrogation process, and they didn't know that Zheng Juzhong's civilian officials had determined that the kidnappers were Tian Hu's people.

At this time, they went to contact Li Bangyan's cronies, who were afraid that they had already met Li Bangyan, and their family and relatives who had already been escorted by private soldiers and thugs were afraid that they had entered Hejian Mansion, not to mention that the family could not take out the money, even if they could take it out, they would never take it, and the ransom to save people was also the idea of a wealthy businessman.

When they saw that Zheng Juzhong hesitated to stretch out a knife to the rich businessman, they hurriedly cried poor and said, in order to make up the ransom last time, they sold the shop and real estate, and now they live with several relatives, and they really have no money, please think of a way to help them pay the ransom on their behalf to ransom their families, and swear that we will definitely pay back the money we owe. I also thank your eight generations of ancestors for setting up a tablet for your lordship, and offering a pillar of incense every day in the future.

Although Zheng Juzhong is dissatisfied, Hei Yongkang and others always drop the chain.

But he didn't know how many families these generals had, and he didn't know that these people had other intentions, and he felt that these generals would not care about their own flesh and blood because of heartache for money, and maybe it was really difficult to get money. Moreover, these military and political officials are of great use to him to sit firmly in Cangzhou, and he must think of paying the ransom on behalf of these people.

In the end, he is an official, and his brain is good.

Zheng Juzhong decided that the wealthy businessmen were rich, and he looked at several major military and political officials. Both sides understood.

The official in charge of Cangcao stood up and said to the wealthy businessmen: "As the saying goes, saving people is like fighting a fire, and there can be no delay." In this case, the official suggests that the reserve grain of the government treasury be pledged to you, and I ask you to help you in the same boat, and help borrow as much money as possible at this critical moment. When we raise money from our homes in the capital, we will buy grain to make up for the shortfall. Your kindness will be reciprocated in the future, what do you think? ”

At this time, it is the time when the spring is not green, and the grain can be sold at a good price.

As soon as the profiteers heard that there was a grain roof, they were immediately moved, and at least all the money they lent would not be wasted.

But they were deeply wary of the greed and shamelessness of these officials, and they did not dare to expose their family backgrounds, so they still pretended to be sad, repeatedly cried and blamed, and finally knew that they could not escape this knife, so they reluctantly agreed to scrape together as much money as possible to buy food.

Zheng Juzhong made a decision to slaughter the rich businessmen with high grain prices, knowing that if he did not use such violent means as murder and house raiding, it would be impossible to squeeze oil out of these hob meat profiteers, so he was unwilling to let the rich businessmen take their sons back to prepare money.

In this way, the ransom is far from enough for the kidnappers.

Zheng Juzhong knew that he had to let his blood go, so he had to reluctantly cut his love and take out more than 400,000 yuan that he had looted in the past year after taking office, and then forcibly sold the fine shops and restaurants in Fucheng that he and other civil officials had seized and occupied to the low-class wealthy merchants in the city who were not involved in the kidnapping case.

For example, a store worth 10,000 guan is sold for 100,000 guan, and it is stated that this is only a mortgage, and it will be redeemed when there is money in the future.

The businessman couldn't fight the officials, so he could only grit his teeth and vomit blood to buy them, and he also understood that these shops were still people's houses, and they didn't even ask for the title deed, let alone change the name.

At this time, the profiteers were extremely nostalgic for the reign of Marquis Wencheng.

At that time, under strict control, they did not dare to hoard and raise prices, did not dare to trample on the poor and bully the people at will, and their families could not be arrogant and arrogant on the streets, and they could not ...... But he also makes a lot of money, and he lives a non-rampant but down-to-earth life.

After Zheng Juzhong came, they saw the hypocritical and greedy nature of the new prefect, and they were ecstatic and hurried to take refuge, under the new political situation of the city, they were finally able to live wantonly and rampantly, and they did take advantage of a lot of advantages, but the population of the city has plummeted, the law and order is chaotic, and the business is depressed.

Neither they nor Zheng Juzhong and the others understood a single truth.

Because of the emergence and influence of Cangzhao, Cangzhou people are the most mobile-conscious Great Song people, and the environment of Fucheng is not good, and the serious old Fucheng people will leave quickly.

Ever since Cai Jing carried out a policy of cutting the military and moving refugees to the coastal vacant land, corrupt officials in various localities colluded with landlords and wealthy businessmen under their rule to seize the people's fields, shops, and other industries by various means, forming more policy refugees. This provides greater convenience for people in Cangzhou to move out easily.

Zheng Juzhong's officials, profiteers, ruffians, and new residents who ventured out to make a windfall fell on their plans to drink blood from the wealthy local honest people in vain.

However, at this time, Zheng Juzhong and others did not have time to reflect on these.

The time agreed by the kidnappers to pay the ransom is just around the corner, and if it is delayed, the kidnappers will misunderstand that they are unwilling to spend money to ransom people, but they are afraid that it will not be a threatening means of sending ears.

Zheng Juzhong's military and political officials all felt that the sharp sword hanging above their heads would be cut down at any time, and they were ready to pay the ransom on time in order to get away with it, but the money was still insufficient, and they could no longer scrape the merchants.

Hei Yongkang pits people to the end, and it is recommended to embezzle the military salary first.

Zheng Juzhong thought that the reserve grain had been illegally misappropriated anyway, and he was not short of military salaries in a hurry, so he agreed.

That's enough money.

However, it has become a problem to use ships to trade at sea.

There are no sea ships in Cangzhou.

There are big ships that go through the canal, but they are flat-bottomed, unable to withstand the wind and waves, and unable to go to the depths of the sea.

Sea vessels also have to be larger.

It is too troublesome and too dangerous to transport so much silver in a small boat, and the boat capsizes and falls into the sea, even if the person is fine, the sinking of the silver will be fatal.

I want to use a fisherman's big boat, but trouble comes.

Cangzhou has land townspeople who resist the Liaokou, and there is also an organization that resists piracy, called the Fisheries Association.

Whether a fisherman is fishing in the river or working at sea, one of them is counted as a member of the association. The president of the association is naturally the most convincing person. Larger fishing boats are also parked at the Qingchi Wharf in Cangzhao.

Zheng Juzhong's people went to the fishermen to borrow a boat, and sure enough, they touched a gray nose.

Trying to use official power to forcibly requisition a few civilian boats, the fishermen present suddenly all of them came over and were ready to resist the tyranny.

The rout soldiers who forcibly occupied the Qingchi Wharf last time attacked the people along the way when they fled, and they were fiercely resisted and slaughtered by the people.

Zheng Juzhong was afraid that he would provoke a civil uprising for the ship and then give the handle to Zhao Gonglian, so he didn't have the heart to compete with Cangzhao at this time, so he could only bow his head first and ask for Cangzhao's support.

However, Shi Fu Lian, who had a relationship with Cangzhao, had no face to beg Cangzhao to borrow a boat.

He was not involved in the kidnapping. This matter has nothing to do with him, he doesn't care about it at all, and he refuses to lower his face to look at the face of the Cangzhao family.

Helpless, Zheng Juzhong had to cheekily ask Lao Tongju to come forward and ask Cangzhao to agree to the fishermen to borrow the boat, and even hinted that Lao Tongju said that Cangzhao could weigh the benefits and disadvantages to curry favor with him, the top parent official, and after changing back the hostages, Cangzhao could use the water force at home to exterminate the kidnappers and recover the ransom on his behalf.

Lao Tong judged his heart and said: What are you dreaming?

Despised Zheng Juzhong for being shameless enough, but he knew that he couldn't put it off, so he sighed on his face, and reluctantly agreed for the sake of human life and colleagues.

He didn't participate in making things difficult for Cangzhao, and he really had face in Cangzhao.

But Zheng Juzhong still spent a lot of money to barely hire the boat he needed.

He was very angry that the lowly fishermen under his rule not only did not follow the conventional unspoken rules to please him and actively contribute to him, but took the opportunity to boldly blackmail him, the parent official, but he could not express his dissatisfaction on his face.

After all, going to sea to meet pirates is a matter of life. Who wants to take a risk without a high price?

There are fishermen who are willing to sacrifice their lives to go to sea for money, and logically speaking, this is already his luck in Zheng Juzhong.

Here's another question.

None of the officials and relatives involved in the kidnapping were willing to risk their lives to trade with the murderous pirates.

But the others didn't redeem it, and they got in again.

Zheng Juzhong's personal servant was very loyal and considerate of his master, volunteered to take on the task, and went to sea with a fleet full of ransom in fear.

But the money was paid smoothly, but the hostage did not return as expected, but only exchanged for a note with the address where the hostage was hiding. (To be continued.) )