Chapter 161 A false alarm
Dayongli
1154, late July.
After continuing to sail on the Jiao River for almost half a month, the Tang family's boat finally arrived at the edge of the Yuezhou border.
This is also the most critical moment. If someone discovers Zheng Yinping's identity, it will not be so easy to escape.
Miss Tang Lianyu of the Tang family had already noticed that there was something wrong with the three people's origins, but she was kind to her after all, so she was considerate and did not point it out. She also pretended not to see the three people hiding in the cabin when they approached the pass.
Tang Feng Trading Company is very famous in the local area. When a boat comes with lanterns with Chinese characters on it, the boats on the road will give way. Sometimes people will bow to the boat.
Not only did the Tang family do a lot of business, but they also had an excellent reputation. They were not the type to be unkind because of their wealth. They were treated with great courtesy by both large and small businessmen and common people.
Tang Lianyu stood on the deck and returned the greetings one by one, watching the ship approaching the pass sluice.
When the officers and soldiers in charge of guarding the sluice saw that it was the Tang family's ship, they just looked at the documents handed over by Tang Lianyu and did not check the cabin at all. They immediately ordered people to open the sluice to let it go.
The current position is similar to what Zheng Yinping expected. Taking advantage of the Tang family's ability to exempt from inspection and visa, he can easily leave customs. As long as he leaves Yuezhou Country, the next step will be much safer.
But just as the floodgates were raised, something unexpected happened.
A group of people rode fast horses to the sluice, chatted with the officers and soldiers in charge, and then stepped on the wooden planks onto the boat.
"Why did this official stop the little girl's boat?"
"Miss Tang, don't panic. I'm Sun Wei, I'm just here to ask."
The three people hiding in the cabin peeped through the gaps between the planks. When they saw clearly who was blocking the boat, they were suddenly shocked.
This turned out to be Sun Wei, the Plum Blossom Guard Qianhu who had intercepted them.
When taking the Tang family's boat, the itinerary is not decided by them, and they often stop in towns.
If he had taken the awning boat and traveled down the river under the stars at night as originally planned, it would be impossible for Sun Wei to catch up on horseback.
But it is more troublesome to pass the pass in this way, which can be said to be a risk that must be taken.
Now the expected risk has come. The three of them didn't dare to take a breath in the cabin. They all pricked up their ears to listen for the sound, hoping that if Miss Tang sold them, they might as well run away as soon as possible.
"What do you want to know, sir?"
Sun Wei deliberately scanned the deck with his eyes and pointed out:
"Did you meet anyone when you came here?"
"I just encountered some water bandits on the road. Thanks to the hard work of the servants and boatmen, we were able to repel them."
There was something wrong with Zheng Yinping and Li Yingluo's identity, and they were secretive as if they had something to hide. Together with the Plum Blossom Guards, they came to the door. When Tang Lianyu heard about it, she knew that Sun Wei must have come to see Yang Yiyi and the three of them.
However, Tang Lianyu did not tell anything about the three of them. The reputation of the Plum Blossom Guard was already bad in the streets. It could even be said that just because the Plum Blossom Guard was looking for Yang Yiyi and the others, it was enough to prove that they were good people.
"Really? Miss, have you ever seen three girls of similar age to you? They should have taken the same route as your boat, miss."
Tang Lianyu was about to say that he had never seen it before, but immediately realized that this was a lie.
Generally speaking, if you ask this question, the first reaction of an uninformed person would be to ask Sun Wei to describe the three people he is looking for. Direct denial will expose flaws.
Born into a businessman's family, Tang Lianyu's 'poker face' skills were already perfect. He secretly thought that Sun Wei was cunning, but he didn't show it at all on his face.
"What are the three girls the official is looking for dressed up? To be honest, we have met a lot of people along the way. There are also some girls of similar ages in the group of three."
The answer was very appropriate and sounded like active cooperation.
Sun Wei stared at Tang Lianyu, as if trying to identify whether she was lying.
This move was very impolite, but because he was wearing the official uniform of Plum Blossom Guard Qianhu, no one dared to criticize him.
"The three girls are all Jianghu people. One is armed with a sword, one is holding a stick, and the third one is carrying a long spear."
Tang Lianyu was also confused by this description. It didn't sound right to Yang Yiyi and the three of them. Could it be that he had guessed wrong? Li Yingluo uses a sword and Zheng Yinping uses a gun, which is right, but Yang Yiyi who uses a stick is not right.
Of course she didn't know that Yang Yiyi's Ruyi Golden Cudgel was taken into the Sumeru Realm by Yu Gui. After hearing Sun Wei's description, she began to doubt her own judgment.
And this extremely small doubt was also captured by Sun Wei, he said:
"Forget it if you haven't seen it before. Miss, don't bother."
It sounded like they believed Tang Lianyu's words, and the three people who were hiding in the cabin and listening to the movement also breathed a sigh of relief.
But then I heard Sun Wei say:
"If Miss meets those three people, please give me a message. The collusion between the water bandits on the Jiao River and the government is the responsibility of our Meihua Guard's poor supervision. I have been ordered to deal with them formally. For those who threaten the passing ships, I want to express my apologies. I personally want to personally thank the three chivalrous men for their help, but I have an order and I have offended many people before. If we meet next time, Wei will definitely offer wine to apologize."
Zheng Yinping wanted to sell a favor to the Tang family and use the Tang family's ship to get out of customs safely. This idea was correct, but it ignored one issue.
Water bandits.
This group of guys had seen the three of them with their own eyes, and dozens of them ran away when they saw something was wrong, even if they wanted to catch up and silence them.
That leaves witnesses.
It just so happened that Sun Wei discovered that there were water bandits on the Jiao River while tracking them. After a little investigation, he found that these guys were colluding with the government. He immediately sent someone to notify the Meihuawei headquarters and asked for an inspection order.
Before catching up with the Tang family's ship, Sun Wei first led people to sweep away the water bandits, and then arrested the officials who colluded with the water bandits. After a short interrogation, they told all the recent events.
Naturally, Sun Wei also thought that Zheng Yinping would take the opportunity to leave the customs on the Tang family's ship.
Hearing what Sun Wei said, the three people hiding in the cabin tensed their muscles and were ready to take action. Tang Lianyu, who was face to face with Sun Wei, was also very nervous.
But after saying these words, Sun Wei clasped his fists towards Tang Lianyu and said:
"I'm disturbing the young lady's schedule. I still have official duties, so it's inconvenient to disturb her too much."
After saying that, he took the people off the boat very simply, without any intention of breaking the window paper.
Tang Lianyu, who was staying on the deck, was confused by this operation. What was this Plum Blossom Guard doing?
She was not afraid of being arrested by the Plum Blossom Guards for "harboring criminals". After all, the Tang family still had some connections, so she just had to insist that she didn't know him or her.
But Sun Wei clearly knew that the three people were on the boat, but he pretended not to know. This operation was confusing.
Not only Tang Lianyu was confused, but Yang Yiyi and the three people hiding in the cabin were also confused.
Now, stop chasing?
"There is no doubt that he really doesn't intend to pursue him."
Li Chengqi's voice made the three of them look at Yugui in Yang Yiyi's hand.
"The Plum Blossom Guard sent an order from above, saying that the Liuzhou Kingdom was putting pressure on the Yuezhou Kingdom. If something happened to Zheng Yinping in the Yuezhou Kingdom, there would be a military disaster."
Zheng Yinping said in surprise:
"Brother Li, how do you know?"
"I can do the math."
In fact, when Li Chengqi was checking Sun Wei's personal belongings, he saw an official document hidden in his arms, which contained what Li Chengqi said.
Yuezhou and Liuzhou are just hostile and have no real intention to go to war. Even if they want to fight, they must have time to prepare for war.
Originally, Yuezhou State captured Zheng Yinping just to have a bargaining chip, but if Liuzhou State was really angered, once the war officially started, Yuezhou State, which was not well prepared for the war, would be very passive.
Therefore, the imperial court weighed the pros and cons and gave the Meihua Guard a new order to let Zheng Yinping go.
But having said that, Li Chengqi's impression of Sun Wei is actually not bad.
He brought people to arrest Zheng Yinping because he had to do it because his life was on his side. He praised them for fighting the water bandits because he admired them from the bottom of his heart.
With such a clear distinction between public and private matters, Li Chengqi doesn't think he is a bad person, so his perception is not bad.
(End of chapter)