Celebrating more than two years of peace in the world

Chapter 179
The weather in Jiangnan cannot be said to be cold, but cold.

Shazhou is located in the middle of Kyoto and Jiangnan Province. Logically speaking, these two places are the economic hub and center of Nanqing, so no matter how you look at it, Shazhou City should look like a small Jiangnan.

But now when Fan Xian and his party came here, it seemed that the scene of rich people gathering and peddlers dominating the sky was not seen in Shazhou City.

The carriage was walking on the muddy dirt road, and it seemed that it hadn't been refurbished for a long time. Because it was close to the sea, there was a lot of rain, and the speed of the carriage was not slow.

"Slow down." Fan Xian said in the carriage.

"Fanti...Young Master, there is no one outside, so we should slow down?" Gao Da said outside.

Fan Xian frowned, and opened the side curtain of the carriage, only to find that there were only a few scattered shops open on the main road into the city, and there was really no one on the street.This is very strange. According to Fan Xian's thinking, this is not a lonely town.

It is located in an important road and the transportation is convenient. Of course, merchants from Kyoto to Jiangnan have to pass through here. Even if there is no transit agency for commodity trading, there should be some large inns and music buildings for women's consumption. The necessary place, but not only there is no place here, even a large building is closed to welcome guests.

"My lord doesn't know something." Wang Qinian seemed to see the doubts in Fan Xian's heart, so he opened his mouth to explain.

"This sandbar is the most chaotic city under Kyoto."

"At the feet of the Son of Heaven, how can there be such a mess?" Of course, Fan Xian was puzzled. It's only a dozen days' journey from the capital, so how could it be so chaotic?

"Do you still remember Bailigang?" Wang Qinian asked with a look.

Hearing what he said, Fan Xian frowned and thought about it. Then he thought that when he chased Si Lili for three days and three nights, he went out of the east gate of Kyoto and headed east, and he walked in the direction of Shazhou City. Thinking of this, Fan Xian Xian blurted out, "Bandit?"

"Exactly." Wang Qinian slapped his right hand on the palm of his left hand and smiled, "Your Excellency is indeed smart, this bandit is basically no different from a pirate, and recently, a group of new people have emerged after the prefect of Shazhou changed positions. The thieves have done a big case with several votes."

All the way to the pier, Fan Xian saw a few scattered ships and a huge merchant ship at the ferry, and then directly said to Wang Qinian who was beside him, "Come here."

There were not many people on the pier, so Fan Xian and the others drove the boat away in a grand manner.

A layer of not-so-thick ice formed on the surface of the sea. When the ship pushed past, this thin layer of ice began to melt into water, and the shattered ice slag went directly below and fell into the deep sea. middle.

This magnificent ship sailed across the river slowly, at a moderate speed, neither accelerated nor slowed down.

The sea at night is extremely dark, and during the driving process, the rocket's searchlight is used to judge ahead, but this route is already familiar to the bow of the local sandbar, and there is no need to avoid the hidden reefs under the sea. You can enter Yingzhou directly.

Of course, Fan Xian knew that the sailors he had hired were one in a million, so he just let Deng Zifei, a boy with a good eye, be his second-in-command, and he didn't care about other things.

Under the voyage, the night sky was shining, Fan Xian did not go to rest, but sat in the lobby of the cabin and waited for something. It was the first time in Fan Xian's life to sit on the huge ship on the upper and lower floors, but the novelty had been overwhelmed. He forgot about it, and as the cabin sailed into the deep sea, Fan Xian's worries came up again.

"My lord, it's time to enter the sea." Gao Da walked into the cabin. At this time, Fan Xian was sitting in the cabin with his eyes closed and recuperating. Qu Han beside him was full of leisure and elegance, and he was rubbing incense ashes at the incense burner beside him. Not only that, but also lit a stick of agarwood. After Fan Xian looked back, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Do you know how much the stick of incense you burned just now is in taels of silver?"

"Ah?" Qu Han only learned how to burn incense from Lin Wan'er, so he didn't know the price of incense, so he shook his head, "I don't know."

"80 taels of silver." Fan Xian smiled.

Qu Han was about to cry.

"The third prince didn't bring so much agarwood. You have to buy it after you burn it out, but fortunately, you are in Jiangnan, which is the place where Qingguo produces the most incense." Fan Xian shrugged. How much is the salary?"

"Six taels of silver." Qu Han looked annoyed.

Fan Xian nodded, "You burned your wages for a year and a half."

Qu Han narrowed his eyes, he couldn't break the fragrance, could he?Sighing for a long time, the incense was more than half burned, she couldn't do anything, so she could only look at the stick of incense stupidly, and almost had to inhale into her body with every nose, so it can't be called a waste of money.

"Entered the sea?" Fan Xian turned to ask Gundam.

Gundam nodded, "Everything is ready, everything is ready, but I don't know if they will come or not."

"Don't think about it, it will definitely come, it will definitely come, how is the law and order in this generation's sea area?" Fan Xian asked.

"It's okay on weekdays, but there are few sea trips at night, and the security of the port is not very good. There are often signs of robbery of merchant ships." Gao Da said, "My lord, have you heard of the famous pirates in this area?"

"Xia Qifei, the young master of Twelve Links, but he also has an identity, that is, the young master of the Ming family."

"What?" Wang Qinian was a little confused.

"What does your lord mean, he gave up such a big family business to become a pirate?"

"Then maybe, he didn't give up his family business, and he didn't give up on important things, so maybe he became a pirate." Fan Xian was well-fed, so he wasn't worried.

His deployment to Jiangnan did not start just after the end of this year, but started a long time ago, and this one started when Bei Qi killed Zhong Zhong.

Regarding the Ming family, Fan Xian was not an outsider. He thought that many members of the Ming family had been under Fan Xian's control within the past two years. More precisely, they were under the control of the Overwatch Council.

Fan Xian's current understanding of the Ming family is not one-sided. He took this step steadily after deliberating on how to take this road.

After all, the impromptu response to going to Northern Qi for the first time, although there was no danger, was also very dangerous, so Fan Xian did not want to experience such a thing again.

In addition, the journey to the Northern Qi Dynasty for the second time was difficult and bumpy. Although some preparations had been done before, they still suffered a huge loss and almost had problems.

So this time, Fan Xian basically studied all the routes well. He was on a mission this time, with such a serious injury on his body, and he lost all his internal strength. No matter what risk he took, it was best to be safe.

The sea breeze seemed to blow the last piece of tranquility before the war. When Fan Xian put the teacup on the table, he felt a slight shaking on the wooden table in front of him. Qu Han behind him also clearly felt it. She was surprised. Glancing at Fan Xian, he asked, "Did you really guess right?"

"You said it as if I guessed it right for the first time." Fan Xian stood up, twisted his arms, and turned his head. "Let's go out and have a look."

"You act as if your skills are still there." Qu Han laughed in a low voice, but it didn't catch Fan Xian, who could barely hear the words now. Leisurely walked out.

The sea breeze outside was still incessant, and the cold breath hit Fan Xian's body. This was the first time for Fan Xian, who had no internal strength, to understand the feeling of cold, "I didn't believe that people would freeze to death before. It's so cold, and it's so cold. At night, no wonder people freeze to death on the streets, it’s really cold.”

Apparently the boat they were on had been forced to stop. After Fan Xian walked into the cabin, Qu Han saw Fan Xian's slightly thin body, so he still put the cloak on him, and then took Fan Xian's arm.

Following the two of them, they walked to the deck in front of the cabin, and the man driving the merchant ship had already followed on the deck. He looked at Fan Xian and said in a low voice, "My lord, we may have met Pirates."

Fan Xian glanced at the old boatman in surprise, and asked, "How do you know?"

"My lord, I don't know. There are often pirates in this area of ​​the sea. We will encounter them when we are fishing or doing business." Said the boatman, "It is inevitable."

"Then why don't you take a detour? Is it possible that you can't avoid these boats of pirates in this vast sea?" Fan Xian asked, "I gave you enough money. Is it against business ethics for you to treat me like this? ?”

"This..." The boatman said awkwardly, "My lord, you are a foreigner, so I won't hide it from you. If you walk directly on this planned road, then at most you will have to pay some tolls and just give them some money." , if it is a detour, it will not be a matter of money if people catch up."

"So rampant? What does the governor of Liangjiang do?" Fan Xian scolded directly.

"Oh, my lord, be careful, my lord, these two governors of Jiang are very powerful officials, why do you still care about these pirates? You say you are the admiral of Jiujiang, so you are just pretending to be on the river. Let’s take care of it a little bit. In fact, inspections or something on weekdays have already been properly arranged. As long as the above checks, it is guaranteed that there is no pirate, and it looks like a peaceful and prosperous age. It’s a big festival for the pirates, and the merchant ships on the river didn’t pay any money, so they just dig a hole in the cabin and fix it by themselves.” The old boatman sighed, his mouth trembling, “My lord, I think you’d better buy it for some money. Peace of mind, why not do it?"

"How much can you take?" Fan Xian asked suddenly.

"Me?" The old boatman pointed to his nose, "I'm not a pirate, how can I get money?"

Fan Xian smiled, "Old man, go and rest, leave the affairs here to me."

"Young master, don't force yourself. This is not the only pirate family. If we fight with this group of people, we may be buried in the sea." The old boatman said, turned and walked into the inner cabin.

Fan Xian glanced at the old boatman's back with interest, and turned his head to look down without saying anything.

The pirates below have directly hung the iron hooks on the cabin, and one or two people have already boarded the deck. They put down their outfits and looked at the cabin in front of them. One of the leaders smiled happily and walked to Fan In front of Xian and Gundam, Qu Han turned his face sideways, keeping Fan Xian at his side.

"Yo, new here?" asked the pirate leader.

Fan Xian said respectfully, "I just rented a boat for the first time here, and I plan to take away the goods in this Jiangnan area. I wonder who you are?"

"Oh? The newcomer is good, the newcomer is good." The pirate ignored Fan Xian's respect, but said directly to the crowd behind him, "Come up quickly, his mother's lamb is here at sea, come quickly!" !"

Within a few moments after the words fell, more than a dozen iron hooks were hooked on the cabin. Those people were proficient in movement, obviously they were the owners who often hooked people into the cabin, and their professional ability was also extraordinary.

Thirty or so people appeared on Fan Xian's deck in a short time. They were all gearing up, with long knives pinned to their backs.

"Little son, you look handsome, a southerner?" The pirate leader walked up to Fan Xian, patted him on the shoulder lightly, and asked.

"People from Danzhou." Fan Xian replied, "I don't know what you can do, brothers?"

"What are you doing? Huh?" The pirate leader laughed loudly, winked at the subordinates behind him, and the subordinates laughed together, "Of course you did it, I will tell you a reason, you can understand Do not?"

"Brother, please tell me." Fan Xian said with a smile on his face.

"The world is so big, and you know that everything has to be controlled. In the whole world, is it the king's land, the shore of the land, and the king's ministers? As a person who looks like a scholar, you should understand this truth." ?” The leader looked arrogantly, touched the railing on the deck of the cabin, looked at the sea, and said with his mouth curled up.

"Of course I understand." Fan Xian responded.

"Oh, then you also know that today's sage is busy with all kinds of affairs, and he has no time to take care of the world in these places. The so-called rise and fall of the world is everyone's responsibility, right? This elder brother is also a busy farmer. He came out with a hoe to beg for food with his brothers. You won’t starve to death in the end, and worry about the saint, don’t you think so?” Said the pirate leader, “The river is in a mess, and there are people of all kinds. If the sea and land stop, our Qing Kingdom's internal treasury will be severely damaged, such a thing must not happen, right?"

"Of course." Fan Xian said, "What Big Brother said is absolutely true."

At the same time, Fan Xian gestured to Gundam from behind.

Seeing Fan Xian's cowardice, on the contrary increased the arrogance of the pirate leader, the pirate leader immediately smiled, patted Fan Xian on the shoulder and said, "That is to say, it is equivalent to you buying from me. I put up a death-free sign, so that the road will be unimpeded, without any danger, and you can safely go wherever you want to go.”

Fan Xian raised his eyebrows, "What brother said is absolutely true."

I thought that after saying this sentence, Fan Xian would say something weird, but he didn't. Instead, he directly agreed to his own words, which surprised the pirate leader, but he continued, "Boy, I want to There are not many, just give me your invoice, and I will only need one-third."

This surprised Fan Xianlue, he asked in surprise, "One-third?"

"Yeah." Hearing Fan Xian's question, the pirate leader slowly pulled out the dagger from his pocket. He tilted his head, glanced wretchedly at Qu Han who was beside him, then turned to face him again. Fan Xian said, "What's the matter? Young master, do you think it's too much?"

"You don't have to take so much, just give me this little girl, and I'll save half of it for you." The pirate leader suppressed his rough voice, and flung coquettishly at Qu Han beside him. After raising eyebrows full of gum, he put the dagger on Qu Han's face, "What do you think?"

Qu Han retched with a shock in his heart, and looked at Fan Xian.

Fan Xian's lower lip twitched, and then he frowned, "That's not necessary, since eldest brother likes this girl, you can take it, but let's look at the inventory first, as I am a person who prefers to spend money on comfort. , as long as it can save trouble and be comfortable, it's fine."

After finishing speaking, Fan Xian beckoned, and the person walking out behind him was Deng Ziyue, who came out with a manifest and handed it to Fan Xian.

Fan Xian didn't keep it either, and handed it to the pirate leader. The pirate leader grabbed it and looked at it with his confidantes. This time, their faces became hideous. The thief turned his head and asked Fan Xian, "18 taels of silver?!"

He had never seen so much money in his dreams!

Fan Xian said to the pirate leader in front of him with a calm expression, "Yeah, what's the matter, brother? Do you have any questions?"

"How could you have so much silver! What on earth do you do?" the pirate was stunned.

Fan Xian grinned and said, "Me? It's just some small business, you can't do it transparently, you can only go to this dark place, it's just a dark business. Big brother can take one-third of the money, but big brother It may be difficult for these people to remove 6 taels of silver."

"6 taels of silver?" The pirate leader was stunned, "I said, if you give me the little lady, I will give you half of it. I still have this reputation, you just give me 9 taels .”

Good guy, this time I doubled your price again, and even changed the concept secretly, but Fan Xian was not angry, so he said, "9 taels..." He glanced at the pirate leader in front of him with a little embarrassment, The pirate leader immediately said, "What? Do you want to do it?"

As soon as the words fell, everyone drew their swords out of their sheaths, and their voices were trembling.

Fan Xian hurriedly coaxed, "No, no, that's not what it means. Brothers, just do it if you say it's not good. You can see that my business can't make a lot of money. It's right to think about it."

The pirate leader sneered, "I don't know what kind of business you are in, but half of your money, I'm sure, I'll tell you, don't be afraid that I won't be able to swallow your 9 taels of silver , the person behind me is not someone you can provoke."

Fan Xian nodded immediately, "Yes, yes, what elder brother said is very true, then please ask elder brother to bring the brothers down to carry things. Look at us, the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, we certainly can't move. what."

"Lead the way!" the pirate leader said sharply, and immediately began to gear up, he had never seen so much money, and now he has already started planning how to kill Fan Xian and his group directly, and spend the 18 yuan. He swallowed all the silver coins, so what kind of pirate would he be?Going to my hometown to become the richest man is a casual thing.

The pirate with the dream of being the richest man followed Fan Xian and the others to the cabin below. At this time, the pirate leader looked at Fan Xian with some doubts and asked, "You don't have any large quantities of goods here, look. Some of the cabins are empty, what kind of business do you do? Can you make so much money?"

Fan Xian was also unambiguous, "Our business is full of fear, and some people fight and kill, but the profit is very high. Don't look at 18 taels of silver, it's just a one-time return."

"So good?" The pirate leader was a little tempted. He looked at Fan Xian, "What kind of business? You can earn 18 taels at a time? Tell me about it."

At this time, Fan Xian had already reached the bottom cabin. After he opened the cabin with both hands, it was extremely dark inside. Then he smiled and said to the pirate boss beside him, "Brother, the business we do is Selling pirates."

Immediately, the candles in the cabin were brightly lit, and fifty guards looked coldly at the pirate leader in front of him and the people behind him.

When Fan Xian returned to the cabin again, the sky was already dawning. The morning on the sea would come sooner than usual on land. After all, it was an endless sea. The moment when the vague rising sun rises from the sea level is brilliant.

"Why don't you go out and have a look?" Qu Han didn't sleep all night, looked at Fan Xian tiredly and asked, "The sunrise on the sea is very beautiful."

Fan Xian looked at Qu Han beside him, "It will take a long time to pass the time at sea. I heard that the boatman said that it will take about ten days for us to reach Yingzhou." Then he noticed Qu Han's fatigue, and finally Said, "If you are tired, go and rest."

"Not tired." Qu Han forced a smile, "Aren't you going to rest, my lord?"

Fan Xian shook his head, "The matter is not over yet, how can I rest?"

"Not... over?" Qu Han looked at Fan Xian puzzled.

Fan Xian drank his tea and nodded. Before he could speak, the door of the cabin was pushed open, and Gundam walked in from the outside.

"How is it?" Fan Xian asked.

"Xia Qifei." Gao Da said the name, and smiled playfully, "Why, the seventh son of the Ming family is really a pirate. This group of people all say his name. Is it a real pirate, or is it framed?"

Fan Xian shook his head, not knowing, "The seventh son of the Ming family has never entered the house in a serious manner, and even up to now, he has never even entered the gate of the Ming family. I heard that the birth mother of the seventh son of the Ming family He died of illness a long time ago. After the old man of the Ming family passed away, it was the young master of the Ming family who took over the affairs of the entire Ming family. He seemed to be rather disgusted with this illegitimate son who had disgraced the Ming family, and started chasing and killing the seventh son of the Ming family. "

"Actually, the late old man of the Ming family gave the first six children the same amount of things, but the benefits of the seventh child were outrageous, which made the young master of the Ming family move to kill, and the others, They didn't have anything to say, after all, they were people they had never met before, and they just shared the meat on the plate, which made it uncomfortable for anyone." Fan Xian shook the teacup in front of him, watched the tea dripping down beside him, and felt uncomfortable. He didn't care about it, "So this young master Ming Qi voted black directly, transformed himself into Xia Qifei, and made a name for himself in five or six years."

"So that's the case, then I didn't expect that Xia Qifei is still a tragic character." Qu Han pouted and said, "But even if you fall into a bandit, there is no reason to be so anxious. If you come up and grab 20 taels, you can't lose your mind." ?”

"After all, there are too many people under his command who don't know a lot of Chinese characters and who are only thinking about getting rich." Fan Xian said, "Master Ming Qi doesn't eat well, so there must be some reason. The Cui family has collapsed now. , but for the Ming family, it’s just one less person to share the pie. From this point of view, the seventh son of the Ming Dynasty is obviously much smarter, and the succession of Neiku will start immediately, and then he will face a new round of bidding. This Young Master Ming Qi won a spot and got a chance to be on an equal footing with the Ming family, which can be regarded as a proof of himself. The Jiangnan Shuizhai wants to be cleansed, Young Master Ming Qi wants to take revenge, this move, he has to go."

After Fan Xian finished speaking, his heart began to settle. He took a breath, and facing the rising sea in front of him, he thought, "Since we entered Jiangnan Road, just walking on the edge of the sandbar has been The soldiers were divided into two groups, Shi Chanli had already gone to do things according to what I said, and the others entered Shazhou City in broad daylight. Although they hid later, the people above did not know our whereabouts on the surface, but There is still some understanding behind the scenes."

"My lord, no one came out to respond, is there something wrong?" Gao Da asked.

"That's not the case." Fan Xian said suspiciously, "It's just that it's too quiet, quiet, and a bit strange."

It really shouldn't be so quiet. Fan Xian knew that Jiangnan was a rich place with outstanding people and talented people. From the governor of Liangjiang to the county magistrate of a state capital, no one is a fool here.They are all human spirits soaked in the pile of money. I am afraid that they have already known that they have arrived at the sandbar. Maybe it is because the sandbar is not close enough, so they haven't come forward yet?Fan Xian didn't know.

"Go and rest." Fan Xian said to Gundam.

Gundam nodded, but did not refuse.

The thirty tiger guards were originally with two shifts to accompany Fan Xian, but now Fan Xian was changed to three shifts.Fan Xian's internal energy is obviously gone. Yu Zhenzi in the dark is from noon to afternoon, and the rest of the time is handed over to Tiger Guard. The close Tiger Guard is Gundam and another person. That person is From night to daytime the next day, but there are so many things to do today, which made Gundam suffer.

"You go to sleep, and I'm going to sleep too. When you're sleeping, you don't need much protection. No matter how powerful the other party is, they can't walk across the river and come up to kill me." Fan Xian joked, "It's unnecessary to be close, Just keep an eye on my door." At this time, Fan Xian also began to worry about his own safety, so he still had to be careful.

Fan Xian walked to the third prince's room.

(End of this chapter)