Chapter 2: Recognition

In the autumn of last year, Donghai Kou attacked Chongzhou County and abducted 31 school boys from the county to extort the place, thinking that the Chongzhou boy robbery case that shook Jiangdong County was found. It is also marked by this case that the East China Sea Invaders, who had been operating mainly in the waters south of the Changguo Islands for a long time, began to enter the waters of the Changguo Islands, and the troubles in Mingzhou, Jiahang, Pingjiang, and Hailing Prefectures gradually spread.

Hu Zhicheng is the victim of the Chongzhou boy robbery, the only son Hu Qiaoguan is one of the robbed boys, and his brother Hu Zhiyong's youngest son Hu Qiaozhong is also one of the robbed boys.

Hu Zhicheng was in distress on the river today, and he suddenly heard his nephew's familiar voice on the rescue boat, so how could he be calm? dragged his exhausted body and rushed to the hatch, looking at the familiar appearance, yes, it was Qiao Zhong, thinner, darker, and stronger than before, and the young man beside him was also Chen Enze, the son of Chen Lei of Dongshe.

"Qiao Zhong, it's really you, where have you been for most of the past six months, since you escaped, why didn't you even send a message to your family?" Hu Zhicheng grabbed his nephew's shoulder hard, surprised and angry, thinking that Hu Qiaozhong deliberately didn't go home, "Why are you not sensible at all, you know that your mother almost cried blind for you, and your grandmother, who was anxious about your affair with Qiao Guan, fell and is still lying on the bed, saying that she is holding on to immortality and waiting for you to come back with Qiao Guan, what about Qiao Guan, can I escape with you?" ”

Hu Qiaozhong and Chen Enze experienced such a thing, and they were much more mature than teenagers of the same age, and they couldn't cry at this time. Hu Qiaozhong choked up and said: "Qiao Guan is fine, at this time in Jiangning, it's not that the nephew doesn't want to go home, it's just that the nephew and Qiao Guan going home will bring a big disaster to the family, and they really can't go home......

"Why is this happening?" Hu Zhicheng took it for granted that the problem was Lin Lian, and looked back, his face full of suspicion.

"It's too long," Lin Jian said, "Everyone still sits down and talks, there is indeed a hardship in this that you can't tell outsiders or even your family......

Hu Zhicheng is not a reckless person, Hu Qiaozhong and Chen Enze were already fifteen years old when they were robbed, and they will not be easily deceived by others, since they all said that they were bitter, and said that the only son Qiao Guan was still alive, he sat down for the time being and listened to Lin Lian's explanation.

"After the robbery of Chongzhou County School, did Mr. Hu or other family members of the robbed children feel abnormal?" Lin Jian asked.

"After the county school was robbed, the pirates did not go to sea immediately, and some people in the county saw the pirates sailing against the current at night. While waiting for the family of the kidnapped boy to send someone to talk about the silver matter, we invited more than a dozen fishermen to search for the Haikou boat along the Yangtze River, and Qiao Zhong's father and I also went to the Yangtze River to search on both boats. On the fifth day of the robbery, we found that the Haikou ship had reappeared in the Yangtze River, so we sent people to the front to inform the government, and Ninghai Town sent a naval battalion warship to intercept the Haikou boat on the southwest beach of Xisha Island. It is a pity that the officers and men are weak, and they did not stop the Haikou ship in the end. Afterwards, Haikou sent people to ask for silver, and each family collected enough money to give to the people who came to take it, but there was no news from ......," Hu Zhicheng said, "Later, I heard that Donghai Kou was related to the Jin'an luxury family, Qiao Zhong's father went to Dongmin twice last winter and this spring, but there was no news at all, I really didn't expect to see Qiao Zhong here." ”

“…… The hardship that can't be told to outsiders happened when the Ninghai Town Water Camp Warship intercepted the Haikou ship on the southwest beach of Xisha Island," Lin Jian sighed slightly and said, "I think you also know that the general sent by Ninghai Town to intercept the Donghai Kou at that time was Xiao Taoyuan, the deputy general of Ninghai Town and the commander of the Ninghai Town Water Battalion. Xiao Taoyuan led all his cronies, two fast paddle wing ships elite more than 100 people, three times the East China Sea Kou, two fast paddle wing boats at that time forced the sea boat to death in the southwest beach of Xisha Island, how could the sea boat escape? You may wonder how I knew so well, but I was on board the pirate at the time. After the shareholder Haikou attacked Chongzhou City, they really didn't go to sea, they went directly to Baisha County, and at the same time did another big case that shocked Jiangdong, that is, the Baisha County robbery. Presumably Mr. Hu is no stranger to this, I am the scholar Lin Tie who was robbed and killed by the Donghai Kou in Baisha County and then escaped by luck, not only I was on the boat at that time, Jiangning Su Mei and the maids and guards were all on the boat, and I witnessed the process of Xiao Taoyuan intercepting the Haikou ship......"

"You are a pig...... Hu Zhicheng was so surprised that he almost blurted out the word "swineherd", he never thought that the Chongzhou boy case and the Baisha robbery case were actually committed by the same shareholder Haikou.

"Yes, I am the swineherd who is despised by Jiangdong Qingliu, and Lin Tie is the prisoner of Jinchuan Prison according to the Inspector Division, and at this time I asked for an errand to raise food for the Inspector Si Soldier to prepare the road, and go to the local place to raise food and salary for the deputy envoy Gu Daren in Dongyang Weaving Township," Lin Tie doesn't mind the nickname of Swineherd, the so-called Tao is not the same, and his temperament is not used to Qingliu, continued, "Xiao Taoyuan was in the southwest beach of Xisha Island at that time, but he made his cronies manipulate the Haikou ship to pretend that the Donghai Kou escaped from the sea, In order to continue to extort ransom money from the family of the kidnapped boy, the only thing that surprised him was that he didn't know that the robbery in Baisha County was also committed by this group of pirates, and he didn't know that I and Miss Su Mei were also on the boat...... What happened next is something that Mr. Hu can guess, Xiao Tao wanted to get the ransom money and kill people, and Qiao Zhong, Enze and others worked hard to escape before he wanted to kill people. First, he was afraid that Xiao Taoyuan would send someone to chase and kill him, and second, he was afraid that Xiao Taoyuan would lead the crowd to go to sea to become a troubled place for bandits after the matter was revealed, and he was even more afraid that revealing the case would not only not get justice, but would prompt Xiao Taoyuan to poison the family of the robbed boy. After we escaped, we were suspicious, so that Xiao Tao thought that the boys had been robbed by other East China Sea bandits, and for the time being, the boys were also settled elsewhere. If it weren't for this coincidence, Qiao Zhong and Mr. Hu wouldn't have recognized each other...... In order to prevent the matter from being exposed, Xiao Taoyuan sent an additional battalion of water camps in Chongzhou in the name of preventing Haikou from being led by the henchmen involved in the matter, and also sent a few cronies to infiltrate the house of the robbed boy. ”

Lin Jian didn't mention Changshan Island, and almost everything else was explained to Hu Zhicheng in detail.

Where could Hu Zhicheng have thought that there would be such twists and turns behind this case, he has abandoned literature and practiced business for more than ten years, and he has long washed away his bookish spirit, has a clear understanding of reality, and his back is frightened into a cold sweat.

Lin Lian already has a very high reputation in Jiangning, and Hu Zhicheng, who represents the Hu family and has been doing business all year round, has also heard of it. Lin Bin's power has been established, and there is a big mountain to rely on behind the Chu Party upstart Gu Wuchen, and the truth of the Chongzhou boy robbery case has been exposed, which will not have any impact on Lin Bin, but now there is Liu An'er's rebellion in the north of Jiangdong County, and there is a disaster in the east of Donghai Kou, and the status of Ninghai Town Water Camp is becoming more and more important, if this case only involves Xiao Taoyuan alone, it is better to say, Xiao Taoyuan and his relatives and confidants are involved, how can the imperial court risk abolishing the Ninghai Town Water Camp or even pushing the Ninghai Town Water Camp to Donghai Kou at this time to redress their grievances?

Hu Zhicheng thought through this section, of course he knew that it was far from the time to uncover the truth at this time, and he couldn't leak the news to Xiao Taoyuan and his cronies, this is the hardship of Qiao Zhong, Qiao Guan and Chen Lei's family who can't go back to their homes, he helped his nephew Qiao Zhong to him, pretended seriously, and asked: "Qiao Guan is good......

"It's just a little darker than me, and the rest is fine." Hu Qiaozhong said that he also told the third uncle the names of the two boys who died on the island at that time.

Hu Zhicheng sighed and said desolately: "My Hu family is really full of disasters, today the mast broke and the sail fell into the water, in addition to a hired man, there is also your brother Qiao Yi, if you can't save it, how can I go back to see your father......"

“……”

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It was easy for "Jiyun 1" and "Jiyun 2" to go out to search and rescue, but it was difficult to return against such a strong wind, and it was not until dusk that the wind subsided a little before returning to the river lane.

After the rain, the sky is clear, but I don't know how many ships have been damaged in the Yangtze River.

The big loach master rescued Hu Qiaoyi, who was holding on tightly to the broken sail mast, and another hired worker of the Hu family who fell into the water in the middle of the river, but fortunately they were rescued in time, at that time, there was such a strong wind and waves, even if they grabbed the floating objects and could not land in time, the physical strength of ordinary people was very limited.

Hu Qiaoyi is a sturdy young man, he has long been married and started a business, eight years older than his younger brother Hu Qiaozhong, he has read for a few years, not the material for reading, he followed the elders of the family to work in the workshop, and he is honest and serious, he rested on the "Jiyunyi" boat, and almost recovered when he returned to the river lane, Lin Jian discussed with Hu Zhicheng, and invited him to Dongyang, so that he could meet with Hu Qiaozhong and Chen Enze, and inform him of the truth of the Chongzhou boy robbery.

Hu Zhicheng and Hu Qiaoyi's uncle and nephew transported a boatload of cane sugar made by the Hu family's workshop to Danyang Mansion to buy it, but they didn't expect to encounter a typhoon in the Yangtze River for the second time they left Chongzhou.

The typhoon broke the sail mast like a hand, uncovered the canopy, and the sugar bags were drenched in the rain, and a boatload of cane sugar worth more than 400 taels of silver was completely destroyed.

The Hu family can only be regarded as a wealthy family in Chongzhou, far from being a wealthy family that can be compared with the Dongyang Lin family and the Jiangning Qu family. Although the loss of a boatload of sugar was very heavy for the Hu family, they could not hide the surprise of knowing that Qiao Zhong and Qiao Guan were safe and sound.

This time he could meet by chance, so Lin Jian decided to go to Chongzhou first and send Hu Zhicheng, Hu Qiaoyi and others back to Chongzhou. This time in distress and rescue in the Yangtze River, Lin Jian also had a legitimate name, first formally established contact with the Hu family, and was not afraid that Xiao Taoyuan would be suspicious.

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PS: Ask for a red ticket.