Lin Jian was not in a hurry to go back to Shanglin to transport new tea, but Gu Wuchen asked him to assist Xia Cao in the matter, and after Gu Wuchen and Wang Xueshan negotiated the conditions, Xia Cao in Jiangning Mansion was officially put into operation, and other mansions would also be moved, so it would be difficult for him to get out of Jiangning again, so he could only hurry up and go back to Shanglin first, and he only needed to delay for five or six days, and he couldn't delay the things here.

In addition to the Dongyang Thousand Stone Ship, there are still ten Wupeng Cao boats with a capacity of 200 stones to transport new tea, and there will be nearly 100 Cao boats in Xihe that cannot be picked up empty, and ten ships can be dispatched almost at any time. Lin Jian hopes that the Xihe Society can send more people, this is the first time in the past ten years that the Gu family has bypassed other tea merchants in Shiliang County to directly transport new tea to Jiangning through the Jiyun Society for sale. In short, the Xihe Society sent boats and people, and the Jiyun Society paid commissions separately from the heads, and paid half of the silver to the Xihe Society first.

It only took two days for the Xihe Society to prepare oil, paper, partitions, quicklime for moisture-proofing and other materials according to the requirements of this side. The ten boats selected are also the best Wupeng Cao boats in the Xihe Society, after all, a boat of new tea is worth thousands of taels of silver, not to mention soaking in water, even the quality of the damp tea will be greatly reduced. This trip is not a big deal for the Xihe Society, on the one hand, the goods are damaged, and the Xihe Society will have to bear the material damage, on the other hand, the Xihe Society also intends to tie up the forest, and he does not dare to be sloppy, Sun Jingtang personally led the team to follow the forest back to the forest.

On the day of 20 April, Jiangning had entered the rainy season of Feifei, and the sky was shrouded in a drizzle, although the construction of houses and roads at the mouth of the river was greatly delayed, but it did not prevent the sail to the north.

The mist was misty in the distance, catching up with the southeast wind on this day, Lin Jian changed into a green shirt and a plain robe and wore a rain lily, and stood on the deck of the Dongyang with Sun Jingtang, watching the big loach master command the boatmen to raise the sails and turn the rudder, debate the wind, adjust the direction of the sails, and sail towards the mouth of the Shiliang River that flows into the sky.

The ten Wupeng Cao boats of the Xihe Society were tied behind the Dongyang with cables, and when they were not sailing, they felt the strong drag force coming from the Dongyang after the sailing. Sun Jingtang went to the stern deck of the Dongyang, looked at the hemp cable stretched tightly and the ship launched to break open and turn out huge white waves, estimating the speed of the fleet, as long as the wind direction and wind speed remain unchanged, you can enter the territory of Shiliang County almost before nightfall, anchor at the wild ferry in the south of Shiliang County and rest for the night, and arrive in Shanglin in the afternoon of the next day.

Sun Jingtang secretly sighed in his heart, such a solid fast sail ship is really enviable, but it is just envy, the thousand-stone boat is full of rice and grain and the draft is deep, and it may not be possible to pass through the shallow section of the Cao River waterway; This kind of strong ship can also resist the wind and waves of the coastal sea, and it is faster to transport grain by sea, but it is too dangerous for only three or five ships to go by sea in a group, and it may be robbed by the pirates at any time. Sun Jingtang sighed secretly: At this time, such a big ship is really embarrassing, he can see that Lin Lianbu's defensive combat power on the ship is definitely not just the ten armored guards on the surface, but raising more warriors privately requires more abundant financial resources, like Jiang Ning and others raise private soldiers in their hometowns, and invest no less than twenty taels of silver in each private soldier every year, when many congregations can't eat enough, Xihe Society does not have this extra financial resources.

Lin Jian asked Zhou Pu to stay on Prison Island this time to train the new martial arts and guards, and let Zhao Hu go back to the forest with him, and by the way, let Zhao Hu go home and marry the daughter of the Guo family in the forest.

Lin Jian asked the Xihe Congregation to send more people, and the Xihe Congregation led by Chen Jingtang also had more than 100 people.

It is only more than 300 miles of waterway from the mouth of the Jinchuan River to Shanglinli, and this kind of short-distance freight, eleven ships, with 156 people on board, can be called a large number of people.

The ten guards on the Dongyang are all upright and upright in armor, and there are also more than 40 pairs of armor hidden in case they meet the enemy, which can already be called a small elite. The river gang forces have ordered that it is strictly forbidden to carry weapons privately, and these river gang forces do not have the extra financial resources to buy excellent armor and train the congregation, but the river gang is not a particularly honest master, and the boats are equipped with bamboo guns, bamboo spears, waist knives, hunting bows and self-made skin shields and other things. At least with the forces of the West River Society, there is not much problem in dealing with a small group of rogue water thieves. When the Baisha County robbery occurred, nearly 20 boatmen from the Xihe Society were unable to resist the enemy and slaughter them cleanly, but none of them jumped into the water to escape first. This is also where Lin Jian and Su Mei will feel guilty about Xihe.

The territory of Dongyang is also obscene rain Feifei, do not delay the voyage, and arrive at the wild ferry in the south of Shiliang County before nightfall.

There is a road to the east of the savage crossing to lead to the city of Weiyangfu, which is a more important pass on the Shiliang River, with a tax office, a tax collector and a tax collector stationed in the station, and a sentry post stationed in Yongyang Mansion, there are sentinels and sentinels stationed in the city, and there are restaurants, tea shops, and inns on the shore, although they are all built in simple buildings, they can be used for overnight business travelers to settle down.

The boat stopped at the ferry, Sun Jingtang came to invite Lin Tie to go ashore to the ferry to find a restaurant to eat, Lin Tie was inconvenient to shirk, and Zhao Hu and Gu Tianqiao took a few guards to go ashore, the stack on the ferry was muddy, and the restaurant on the opposite side had been lit up in the dim rain curtain, but he couldn't find a good way to go over.

"If that's not the case, I'll go and tell the restaurant to cook the food and drink and send it to the boat?" Sun Jingtang said.

"Don't bother." Lin Jian is not a hypocritical person, stepping on the muddy puddle and walking towards the restaurant.

The restaurant is a mud-walled courtyard, there are more than a dozen mules and horses tied in the circle shed at the west end of the yard, crowded one by one in the stone trough to fight for food, neighing, the window paper of the restaurant is broken by the rain for several days, the store has not had time to get new paper, you can see the faint figure in the house, there are many guests.

Lin Tie them walked in, plus the guards a total of eight people, except for Gu Tianqiao, the other seven people tied knives around their waists, and the four guards even wore thick armor under their civilian clothes, they walked in from the door, which naturally attracted the attention of the customers in the store.

Lin Jian walked into the door, stood at the door and glanced inside, this restaurant looked dilapidated outside, the hall was not small, there were seven or eight tables, a few large candles were lit in the corner, beep and peel, and the smell of pine resin came out. The slippery and blackened jujube wood wine cabinet is horizontal on the left-hand side, a thin middle-aged man is still wearing a felt hat, standing behind the wine cabinet, seeing Lin Tie and them walking in, he didn't come out to say hello, just spread his hands, indicating that there are no seats, several tables are full of people, and it is impossible to share a table with others.

"Brother Lin......"

Listening to someone calling himself, Lin Lian looked over, but saw Liu Xilin and three men sitting in the corner to block the wooden pillar in the middle of the hall, two of the three men Lin Lian also knew, it was Liu Xilin who led the escort of Gu Wuchen to Jiangning last year, two of the cavalry colonels, I didn't expect the savage to meet the old man, Lin Lian happily walked over and asked, "Are you going to Jiangning?" ”

"Yes, many things in Dongyang have been delayed, and I didn't leave until I packed up the day before yesterday, so I was afraid of scolding Master Gu," Liu Xilin said, "Are you going to the forest?" ”

"Well, I was going to stay overnight in Savage Ferry and then go on the road, but I didn't expect to meet Brother Liu," Lin Jian said, Liu Xilin's order was issued at the end of March, but the situation in Hongzepu fishermen in the north of Dongyang was critical, and Liu Xilin couldn't withdraw if he wanted to, but it only dragged on for twenty days, which was not a big deal, Lin Jian asked Liu Xilin, "The situation in Hongzepu has stabilized, and the fishermen are not making trouble?" ”

As soon as Lin Jian said this, the men at the two tables next door all looked at Lin Jian vigilantly, and they both quickly lowered their heads to eat and drink. Although these men are all dressed in coarse cloth and crop men, if one or two people are not particularly attention-oriented, but such a large number of people, the costumes are roughly the same, it is difficult for Lin Jian not to pay attention, when will the crop men in Dongyang Mansion be able to come to the restaurant to eat meat and drink? Lin Jian was surprised in his heart, and thought to himself: What do they have to do with the fishermen in Hongzepu, or are they rogues from somewhere else?

Lin Lian's eyes swept over the hall again, and at this time, except for Liu Xilin, the other guests were not like ordinary business trips, and said to Liu Xilin: "Our boat is parked at the ferry, and there are not so many of us sitting here, I think it's good, let's buy some wine and food and go back to the boat to eat, and talk about the old relationship today......

"Okay......" Liu Xilin said excitedly, he was transferred to Jiangning as the captain of Dongcheng, it can be said that he was promoted to three levels in a row, after all, he is not familiar with the situation in Jiangning, and he needs to consult Lin Tie well, although it is not bad these days, but when he first arrives in Jiangning, he can make fewer mistakes, and it is undoubtedly the best to meet him on the road.

Sun Jingtang immediately ordered the restaurant to buy a new table of sumptuous banquets and send it to the Dongyang that docked at the ferry, Lin Jian and Liu Xilin walked out, and only then did they ask Liu Xilin: "What is the origin of those people in the wine house, is Brother Liu aware of it?" ”

"A table of wine is very silent, quiet, as if planning something big, I have inadvertently inquired with the restaurant, these people are doing business at the ferry, they don't look like they are doing business, and they are not in a hurry to go anywhere, they have been staying here for three or four days, and we can't see any origin for a while; We can only eat and drink and rest, and we can't pay attention to them," Liu Xilin said, "If there are rogues who sneak over, could it be that there is some big business for them to do on the Shiliang River?" ”

"Tea thieves?" Sun Jingtang subconsciously asked, Dongyang tea, every year when the new tea is on the market, there are tea thieves sneaking into Dongyang County, in fact, many tea thieves are tea farmers who can't make ends meet, in previous years, there are many more rogues in Dongyang Mansion after April than usual.

"This is the shopkeeper of Sun Jingtang of the Xihe Society," Lin Jian introduced Sun Jingtang to Liu Xilin, and he said, "In addition to the new tea, it is not that there is no other temptation - Qin Xibo's ancestral hometown is Zhongli (now Fengyang), and after Qin Xibo leaves office, he will most likely go to Shiliang River and Hongzepu to return to Zhongli Guangzong to ...... his ancestors."