Chapter 451 Zhao Duan: Then break your legs and take a breath (5k)
"I'll go with you."
Mrs. Ning stood up from the secret compartment in the bilge and completely blocked her daughter behind her.
Because of this action, her middle door opened wide, and her heavy breasts filled the eye holes of the Cao Gang's number one killer.
Zuo Rong was surprised at first, and then he was attracted by the temperament of this dignified woman. Although Mrs. Ning already had several children, in ancient times when it was common to marry young, even as a mother, she was still young.
Especially coming from a wealthy family and being the governor's wife, her demure facial features and good figure shocked Zuo Rong, who was used to playing with women in the Cao Gang. He said condescendingly:
"Madam, do you know who we are?"
The demure and dignified Mrs. Ning, who was not afraid in the face of danger, said calmly:
"No matter which family dares to attack us, they will never do it to steal money. After thinking about it, the biggest use of my mother and daughter is nothing more than as a bargaining chip to negotiate with my family."
"Haha, she is indeed the governor's wife. She is different from the bitch in the Huachuan brothel." Zuo Rong laughed and suddenly slapped her.
There was a "pop" sound.
Mrs. Ning was beaten so hard that she turned her head sideways, and handprints appeared on her fair cheeks.
Zuo Rong squatted down slightly, leaning on a stick in his left hand, and lifted the governor's wife's chin with the rough fingers of his right hand, his eyes cold: "I hate smart-alecky women the most."
As he spoke, his big hand slid down and was about to reach into Mrs. Ning's collar to rub and grasp her.
Mrs. Ning stared at him and said calmly:
"If the people behind you want to negotiate with my master, they must exchange something. When the time comes, I can ask the master to talk to your master in exchange for your life."
Zuo Rong paused with his fingers, full of anger, moved closer, and said with a sinister smile:
"Tell me, can the two of you be used as bargaining chips twice? Guess again, will a desperado like me abide by those stinky rules in your officialdom? By the way, I forgot to mention, I like to eat Tender.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the girl protecting behind the woman.
Mrs. Ning bit her lip, stared at him with bloodshot eyes, and suddenly smiled:
"Let the child go out and I will talk to you alone."
Zuo Rong was stunned for a moment, but there was a look of weighing in his eyes. At this moment, a voice came from outside the cabin: "Master Rong, there is a ship approaching from behind!"
The top killer of the Cao Gang frowned, stood up, and said, "Tie these two people up." He pulled out the long black stick on the ground and walked out of the cabin.
He raised his head and was surprised to see a suspected merchant ship behind him, which seemed to have noticed the movement and quickly approached.
On the deck, a richly dressed young man could be vaguely seen standing at the front. There seemed to be women beside him, as well as a large number of servants to protect him.
"Trouble..." Zuo Rong was dissatisfied and said: "Let our ship intercept and kill the people. You should maneuver the ship immediately and prepare to leave."
No matter which young master is behind him, if he is so bold and dares to get close, he will also be silenced.
……
Zhao Duan stood at the front of the deck with surprise in his eyes, holding a half-eaten rice bowl and chopsticks in his hands.
He pointed forward with his chopsticks and asked curiously: "Are you being robbed by water bandits? Are they so fierce?"
There are bandits in the mountains and water bandits in the water. This is the first time I have encountered such a thing all the way south.
But Eunuch Hai shook his head and said: "We were far away just now, so we couldn't see clearly, but we could vaguely see the flag of the Water Transport Yamen rising on the boat."
Zhao Duan was stunned for a moment:
"Is it a ship transporting grain? No... this is obviously carrying people. Is it an official ship in the water transport yamen? Who is so bold as to intercept and kill an official ship?"
“You’ll know if you go and take a look.”
The old eunuch said lightly, then let out a light sigh and said with interest:
"The other party seems to be planning to strike first."
Zhao Duan looked around and saw that the blood-washed ship did not move, but the nearby "black ship" crossed it, and Yang Fan ran straight towards them.
On the black ship, a killer named Cao Gang unsheathed his sword and was filled with murderous intent. As soon as the ship approached, he would jump over and start killing.
Isn't it... that the folk customs of Jiancheng Road are so fierce? Zhao Duan was speechless and said casually:
"Lao Hou, say hello to the other side."
"Yes!" Hou Renmeng smiled and waved his hand, and a group of elites from Lihuatang took out their crossbows and fired them in a row.
"Puff puff puff!"
The arrows were like locusts, knocking down several Cao Gang killers in an instant like wheat.
"Something's wrong! It's the army!" The masked people on the black ship were frightened and hurriedly evaded.
However, Song Jinxi, who looked like a hozen, had already smiled coldly. He led several masters in the inner circle like an arrow from a string, crossed the river across the water, rushed to the black boat, and didn't even bother to draw his sword. He punched and kicked a person. The killers slaughtered them all.
In the distance, Zuo Rong, who was about to leave by boat, suddenly shrank his pupils and thought to himself:
Could it be that there were two boats escorting Mrs. Ning? Are both parties together?
Before he had time to think about it, Zuo Rong felt furious. He had already picked up the heavy black iron rod, wrapped in the biting cold wind, ran to the stern of the ship in a few steps, and stepped on it hard!
"Bang..."
The bow of the ship rose and the stern of the ship sank. He actually used his own power to shake the entire ship.
Immediately, with the help of force like a cannonball, he jumped up high. The masked killer with an iron rod on his back did not pay attention to the slaughtered black ship. Instead, he was like an eagle flying in the air. He stretched out his "claws" in mid-air, Capture the handsomely dressed young man standing on the bow of the boat, looking like he's watching the fun!
To capture the thief, capture the king first!
As long as the leading young master is killed, the rest of the guards will collapse without a fight.
Zuo Rong was in mid-air and saw that the young man in brocade clothes was still standing in a slouched posture, and a group of guards around him also looked like old gods. They were completely unwary. He couldn't help but feel contempt in his heart, as if he had foreseen the scene of smashing his head with a stick.
Zhao Duan looked at the masked killer charging towards him with a strange expression, and muttered:
"He is still a master. This jump is at least above the middle level of the divine chapter, or even higher."
Eunuch Hai rolled up his sleeves, like the young master’s old butler:
"Anyone who can mobilize such a group of people is not considered a small figure in the local area."
Zhao Duan nodded and said lazily: "Then break your legs and take a breath."
Zuo Rong was getting closer and closer, and suddenly he felt a strong uneasiness in his heart. From the corner of his eye, he finally caught a glimpse of a drunken swordsman carrying a wine gourd on his back and holding a scimitar, but he suddenly stood up and jumped up.
"Poof!"
Lang Shiba's bright scimitar passed by, and his two legs fell into the river like numb poles. Zuo Rong's vision went dark, and he felt severe pain in his Dantian. He almost fainted and screamed loudly.
Lang Shiba casually smashed the sea of qi that the Cao gang killer had cultivated for decades, threw it on the deck, and pulled off the face towel on his face, saying:
"My lord, I don't know you."
Zhao Duan glanced at him and didn't recognize him. He raised his boots with a smile and stepped on Zuo Rong's chest. In the latter's frightened and disbelieving eyes, he smiled and said:
"Who are you?"
……
In the cabin.
Mrs. Ning and her daughter were roughly dragged out, their hands and feet were tied with hemp ropes, and then they were thrown into the cabin.
There was first a cry of killing outside, followed by screams, and then the whole ship shook. The mother and daughter rolled on the floor and hit the cabinet in the corner.
"Mom..." The girl's face was full of tears, and she kowtowed on her head, but her mother blocked her mouth with a stern look.
The mother and daughter were clinging to each other. When they heard the cries of fear coming from outside, the "water ghost" killers on the boat seemed to be stimulated. They jumped off the boat and fled in fear, but then they seemed to be forcibly pulled back by some force. .
Afterwards, it seemed that another group of people were boarding the ship, and footsteps could be heard outside the door.
"Squeak."
The hatch was pushed open again, and the mother and daughter looked up. They saw that the sunlight pouring in was particularly dazzling, and a stranger stood in the light.
"Sir... Young Master, there is no one else alive on the ship. They were all killed by those people. Only these two are left. They should be the targets."
"Yeah."
The young master bathed in the light stepped forward and walked in, revealing a handsome face.
Zhao Duan had strange eyes and said with a smile: "Who are you?"
The dignified and demure governor's wife looked at him in surprise and uncertainty. She always felt that he looked familiar, but she couldn't remember that she had seen him before, so she cautiously kept her mouth shut and didn't answer.
"Tsk, he's still mute," Zhao Duan smacked his lips, rolled his eyes, and said with a smile: "Old Hou, just throw this little one into the river, and he will drown if he doesn't speak."
Hou Ren suddenly grinned and was about to take action.
Mrs. Ning couldn't hold herself any longer, and there was sadness in her eyes. In her opinion, this strange young man's villainous style was so strong that her mother and daughter had just escaped from the wolves and fallen into the tiger's mouth again:
"Young master, there is no need to force each other. We are the wife and daughter of the governor of Jianning Prefecture's water transport. We were intercepted and killed on the way back."
The villain smile on Zhao Duan's face slowly froze, and there was great confusion in his small eyes.
……
After a while.
The cabin has been tidied up and restored to tidiness.
Zhao Duan sat cross-legged at a dining table, staring at the mother and daughter sitting on their knees opposite the dining table, handed over a glass of hot water with solemn eyes, and said:
"So, Mrs. Ning doesn't know the identity and purpose of these people?"
Through conversation, the ropes on the governor's wife, who had already learned Zhao Duan's identity, had been removed. Although she was in shock, her face showed the joy of surviving the disaster, but also the surprise and curiosity of the person in front of her.
Mrs. Ning held the jade cup in both hands with a serious expression:
"I don't know, but from the conversation, it can be seen that they were ordered to capture our mother and daughter in order to blackmail my husband."
Killing court officials and kidnapping their families to threaten a powerful governor of the second rank!
"Lawless!"
This word came to Zhao Duan's mind, and he had a new understanding of the bad situation in Jiancheng Road.
At this time, there was a knock on the door: "Sir, the results of the interrogation have been revealed."
"Come in."
The cabin door was pushed open, and confidential secretary Qian Kerou walked in. She closed the door behind her back, came closer, lowered her head and whispered something in Zhao Duan's ear.
Zhao Duan's expression changed: "I know, let's go down."
After Qian Kerou left, he first took a sip of the hot water in front of him, and then slowly said under the curious eyes of Mrs. Ning and her daughter:
"They are from the Cao Gang, He Xiaolou's subordinates. The leader is a man named Zuo Rong."
"It's them?!" Mrs. Ning was stunned, with both surprise and confusion in her eyes.
"This is my first visit to Jiandao. I don't know much about this place. Madam, can you clarify my doubts?" Zhao Duan asked.
Mrs. Ning explained:
"Caogang... Your Excellency, you should know that for the abbot's water transportation, the government needs a large number of manpower to load and unload the water and transfer the grain. The government cannot support so many people, so it often recruits workers from the local people... The more people come to work, the better. Over time, rivers and lakes formed large and small gangs
Sometimes there were hundreds of them. What they did was from self-protection at the beginning, to later, they began to make profits by taking advantage of the convenience of water transportation.
For example, they can drive a ship carrying grain to intercept passing merchant ships and say that the other party has delayed the water transportation. Water transportation is a big deal. Anyone who delays will lose their head. Those merchants have to pay to avoid trouble...
Later, they were gradually unified, and the current structure was formed. What they did was a little more respectable, but they were not kind in the end.
The leader of the canal gang that built the road was named "He Xiaolou". He was quite powerful and had many people in the Jianghu under his command. Because he relied on water transportation to make a living, he had always been submissive to my master.
There is indeed a powerful gangster under him, called "Master Rong", but I have never seen him before, and I didn't think of it in my haste just now. ”
The Cao Gang... similar to the Qing Gang in my previous life? Well, an underground force similar to the Honghua Society in Beijing?
He Xiaolou... sounds a bit familiar. I mentioned it in the information I read when I came here, but it wasn't very long...
Zhao Duan did not expect that the first trouble he encountered when he came here was neither Ning Zechen, the governor of water transportation, nor the local wealthy family, nor his old rivals Prince Jing and his son, but a leader of the canal gang... similar to Du Yuesheng's kind?
OK.
"How could the Caobang suddenly do such a thing since it bowed to Governor Ning?" Zhao Duan asked curiously.
Mrs. Ning shook her head and said bitterly:
"I don't know who I am. I can only find out after I enter the city and ask my master. Fortunately, I was rescued by Shaobao, otherwise..."
As he spoke, he cried.
Zhao Duan smiled: "I am here to help Governor Ning, why do I need to say thank you? But I came a little late, which surprised my wife."
At this time, the girl who looked very similar to her mother in her prime, with a little baby fat on her face, her eyes flickering, and she boldly said:
"Are you the Commander Zhao? My father often talks about you."
"Oh? What did the Governor say about me?" Zhao Duan was curious.
Mrs. Ning's expression changed slightly, and she hurriedly wanted to scold her, but the innocent girl spoke frankly and said proudly:
"Dad said you are so powerful that you are better than him as a son-in-law. Dad only became my mother's son-in-law, and Zhao Shijun from the capital became your majesty's son-in-law."
Mrs. Ning was so embarrassed that her face turned red: "No... my little girl doesn't know what to say at a young age..."
Zhao Duan laughed loudly, stood up and felt the ship sailing, pushed the door open and left, looking at the faintly visible city in the distance, thinking:
He is also a wonderful person.
……
……
Jianning Mansion.
The official office of Caoyun Yamen is magnificent, much more grand than the prefect's Yamen, and is also known as Caotai among the people.
In the back office of the government office, there is a courtyard full of Jiangnan water town architectural style, with gray tiles, white walls, and a patio surrounded by gorgeous flowers and plants.
Ning Zechen, the governor of water transportation, is dancing with his sword.
Ning Zechen is already fifty years old, but he is not old. He has a strong body, thick black hair, neatly trimmed sideburns, and a good appearance. He has the elegance of a scholar and the official authority gained from his high position.
At this moment, he was only wearing loose training clothes. A sword in his hand was covered with water.
At the end of a set of sword skills, he struck out with a heavy blow. The wet sword blade rolled up petals, and the vegetation in the flower bed fell with the sword wind.
"Sir, you are so elegant." A middle-aged man dressed as a civil servant walked in and said with a smile.
Ning Zechen sheathed his sword, picked up the towel on the table and wiped his sweaty neck with some emotion, and said with emotion:
"I've regressed too much when I was old. You know, when I was young, I wanted to be a ranger. Later, I became a sailor and practiced some military kung fu. Although I didn't have any talent for cultivation, I was still a good fighter. Now... I can only give People dancing with swords watched.”
The middle-aged man dressed as a civil servant, but actually an aide to the governor and "master" smiled:
"Your current position can benefit the country and the people thousands of times more than a mere ranger?"
"Oh, it sounds nice, but there are constraints everywhere. It seems that we have great power, but there are not many people who can use it. How can we be more happy than the rangers?" Ning Zechen sighed and asked:
"Is there any news about Madam's schedule?"
Master Wen said: "According to the letter sent last time, counting the days, it should be here in these two days."
"If you ask me, Madam should take the children to stay in Linfeng for a while. Jianning Mansion is not peaceful, so she has to come back."
"I haven't seen you for a few months. Madam must be thinking about you. It's always good to reunite with your family."
Ning Zechen nodded and asked, "Let's get down to business."
"It's about the New Deal's obstruction in the measurement of the Shen family's land... The Shen family has not come forward publicly, but it is obvious that they have threatened the tenant farmers and have been resisting..." Master Wen reported.
He didn't bring any paper or text in his hand. He only relied on memory, but he described the details of the entire incident accurately.
Ning Zechen listened quietly, with a bad look on his face. After listening, he snorted coldly:
"The Shen family is the largest clan in the local area, and the other clans are all watching how the Shen family fights with the imperial court. In this way, you send people to find the gangsters in the city, and don't let the government officials come forward. As long as these gangsters are like this... ”
Master Wen said helplessly:
"Governor, we are the government after all, and you are also the dignified governor of water transportation. If you use these shady methods, I am afraid that you will be accused of being impeached by officials in the court."
Ning Zechen said disdainfully:
"Impeachment? What else can a group of cowardly people in the court, plus a group of officials who only know how to bark, do nothing but bark at His Majesty's ears? What's the use?
They all pay attention to gentleman's methods, huh, they are all a bunch of useless people who have no fingers in the spring water. They say nice things, but can they get things done?
Just do as I say and impeach them as they please. Although our current majesty is a woman, he has an idea and will naturally block it for me. ”
Master Wen had no choice but to nod: "Okay..."
At this moment, suddenly an official from outside the yard hurried in and reported:
"My Lord Governor, Caobang He Xiaolou sent someone to deliver a letter, specifying that you should read it in person."
……
Change the typesetting first and then change it
(End of chapter)