Chapter 127 Showing off
At Shangrao Wharf in Yixing Town, the river breeze is blowing gently, and the tiny and continuous waves are beating on the bluestone, reflecting the white light of the sky.
The tower ship passed by the pier with its flags fluttering, attracting the attention of the fishermen, who forgot to collect their fishing nets.
"What a huge ship! It must be thirty meters long, right? Where did this great master come from who is so impressive?"
"I'm afraid it has four or five floors, taller than the tallest Langyun Building in Pingyang County! Won't it collapse if it's that high?"
"Wait, run! Run! There's a monster! Run!"
A terrified scream spread across the pier, and when the fishermen looked closely, they saw that the fleet was filled with giant porpoises, densely packed!
The fishermen who had been fishing all their lives and had never been to school had never seen such a scene.
The five or six meter long porpoise was bigger than the fishing boat. People were no match for it and grabbed the oars and hurriedly fled to the shore.
"Don't panic, folks! The Yangtze River dolphin is not a monster, it won't hurt anyone! It's more docile than a dog!"
A merchant ship was approaching the pier, and the young man on board shouted loudly.
The fishermen were stunned.
Those who were brave enough to take another look saw that the porpoises were maintaining order amidst the chaos and were indeed guarding the two ships in the middle.
Seeing the people on the merchant ship again, they acted as if they were used to it. Some were drinking, some were enjoying the river breeze, and none of them showed any sign of panic as if they had seen the monster.
"Strange, fish can be tamed? The martial artist's abilities are truly extraordinary!"
The fleeing fishing boats stopped one after another, whispering to each other.
"I heard that the Yangtze River dolphin is not a fish."
"Nonsense, if it's not a fish, why is it swimming in the water? It's just nonsense."
"The porpoise is a pig in the river!"
"When will my kid be able to achieve that? The two from the Li and Chen families broke through the barriers yesterday and today. They are also warriors and they said they were going to have a banquet!"
"The Li and Chen families are nothing compared to each other. The Liang family is really powerful. I heard that they have become officials! They ride big red horses every day and are very impressive! The original small house has been renovated into a large courtyard with three entrances. I went there to help when they were laying tiles! It's really a great honor to have a family grave."
"That's right. If the boys in my family were half as good as him, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night and would wake up in the middle of the night with laughter."
"Oh, things change so fast. This morning, someone bought something at the market but didn't pay. He went to the village elder to argue with him. Hey, guess what? He spat at him and ignored him."
"Is this happening?"
"There are too many people. The village elders' face is useless."
"That's right. I heard that the person who moved next door to me is a warrior. Can a warrior listen to the village elders?"
A fisherman stood at the bow of the boat and shouted at the top of his voice: "Brother! Where is the boat coming from? Where is it going?"
The one who responded was still the young man who called on his fellow villager not to panic.
"Come to the imperial capital! Go to Pingyang County! Do you see the tower ship? It's full of officials from the River and Port Office!"
"Hebosuo, then we don't have to worry about water monsters anymore? Can we go fishing in deeper places?"
"Pingyang County, hurry up, let's go and see what's going on!"
"Call some people, there are so many boats, go and be a laborer, you can earn a lot!"
Fishing boats join the fleet.
Some merchants inquired about their catch, and the fishermen took the opportunity to sell one or two large fish.
When they were almost in Pingyang County, every household in the county came to the shore to watch the fun just like they did in Yixing Town.
Tens of thousands of people, lined up in rows, would be dizzying to look at, let alone a fleet of tens of thousands of people, which would be unparalleled in prosperity.
From afar, we could see the pier. Two ships were connected by iron chains, each with two boats lowered. Two soldiers on each ship were rowing, heading towards the shore like arrows, and sliding into the newly built dock.
The soldier took out a few long bamboo sticks and inserted them into the water to confirm the water depth, then nodded to another soldier.
The soldiers held several small red flags in their hands and stood up to give a signal.
The signalman on the ship waved the flag in response, and commands were passed down. The sails were lowered, the anchor was sunk, and long oars were extended from the side of the ship. Under the control of the sailors, the ship slid into the dock very smoothly.
When the huge ship, which was hundreds of meters long, slid into the dock, the people on the shore were frightened by its momentum and retreated together.
The long ladder slid down.
"A poor and remote place, a country fool."
On the bow, Wei Lin, wearing a golden pheasant fur cloak, looked down from above, his entire face hidden in the shadow of the ship's tower, making it impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.
Pingyang County is a first-class prosperous county in the entire Huaiyin Prefecture, with everything.
But for Sun Weilin, a duke from the imperial capital, it was just a remote countryside.
Looking around, there were no pavilions or buildings higher than ten feet, let alone pavilions a hundred feet high built with precious wood.
In the entire county, the ship he was on was the tallest and stood at the top.
Looking down, I saw that the magistrate Yang Dongxiong and the county lieutenant Yu Dun had received the news and had been waiting here since early morning.
For a long time, no one got off the boat.
The people talked a lot.
Yu Dun looked at Yang Dongxiong's expression and asked in a low voice: "Didn't the envoy say that he was an acquaintance? This..."
If we are really acquaintances, why would he be so pretentious?
Enemy?
Yang Dongxiong shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either. The envoy only said that there was an acquaintance, but did not specify who it was. He had been away from officialdom for a long time, and the information he could get from the court was very limited.
On the boat, Wei Shaozi, dressed in black, knelt on one knee.
"Godfather, do you want to get off the boat?"
Wei Lin, who had been staring at the river for a long time, waved his arm, picked up his cloak, and walked into the room.
"I got my combat boots dirty. Tell them I've been running around for a long time and I'm exhausted both physically and mentally. I won't get off!"
"Yes!" Another ship.
Ran Zhongshi looked at the guards: "Haven't you found Brother Xu yet?"
"I am ashamed of my humble position."
The woman in a light blue dress stood aside and said, "Brother, should we go down first?"
Ran Zhongshi shook his head: "No, if the chief and deputy chief don't show up, what will we do if we go down? If we really do it, we will only be ridiculed for not knowing etiquette. Those people are waiting to see our show."
If Wei Lin doesn't give up, how can they take over?
The river was blocked and the merchants on the merchant ships could not land.
For a moment, the entire pier fell into an eerie silence. Countless large ships docked, but no one got off.
Ran Ying said depressedly: "Do we have to wait forever?"
"We can only wait."
"Hey, what's wrong with Brother Xu? He loses his composure at the critical moment."
Ran Zhongshi smiled bitterly: "If it was possible, General Xu would not have asked Brother Xu to come here to sharpen his skills."
"You're secretly saying bad things about me when I'm not around, right?" A slightly teasing voice came from behind the two of them.
Ran Zhongshi and Ran Ying looked back in surprise.
"Brother Xu, you are finally here." Ran Zhongshi breathed a sigh of relief. A higher rank can crush a person. Without Xu Yuelong, he felt very stressed. He saw Liang Qu beside Xu Yuelong and asked, "Who is this little brother?"
"Let me introduce you to my uncle Yang's disciple, Liang Qu, the Lord of Hebo. These two are the grandson and granddaughter of Marquis Fengning, Ran Zhongshi and Ran Ying. Ran Zhongshi is considered your superior and has been granted the title of assistant commander."
The highest leader of the entire Hebo System is the Governor-General of Shuihe, who is a first-rank official and a senior official in the court.
The governor of Shuihe was a second-rank official.
The Shuiheng Duwei was in charge of local rivers and lakes and was a fourth-rank official.
Further down, there are the fifth-rank assistant commander of the Hengshui Guard and the sixth-rank Hengshui Envoy.
The seventh rank is Du Shui Lang, the eighth rank is He Bo, and the ninth rank is He Chang.
Each rank is divided into main and deputy, that is, the main rank and the secondary rank, interspersed with many civil servants, such as Yang Dongxiong's anecdote.
The master of stories is not the master of teachings.
Stories refer to past events and past events. In the state, there are officials in charge of historical affairs, just as the counties today have judicial offices to handle criminal penalties, and their laws have been fully documented in history.
His position is equivalent to that of a consultant, the fifth rank, similar to "Sheren" or "Xima", so it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a nominal position.
It’s not that the court can’t give him a better job. With Yang Dongxiong’s qualifications, he is more than qualified to be a powerful official.
The main consideration was that Yang Dongxiong had originally resigned and returned home, and his youngest son died in the battlefield. He had made great contributions, and the emperor could not bear to worry about his troubles, so he gave him the position of keeper of historical records.
In the Hebo Office, Xu Yuelong was the deputy commander, which was a fourth-rank water monitor.
Ran Zhongshi, as a Hengshui guard, was three ranks higher than Liang Qu and was indeed his superior.
Xu Yuelong's move was to let him recognize who the people in his faction were.
Both parties understood what was going on and saluted each other with fists clasped.
Ran Zhongshi thought for a moment and asked, "Are you the inventor of the phonetic system?"
Liang Qu bowed slightly and said, "It's just a trivial thing, not worth mentioning."
"Brother Liang is too modest. This is not a trivial matter." Ran Zhongshi said with a smile, "I have a younger brother who was just beginning to learn to read. He learned the phonetic system. Now he can read any book with phonetic notation. He can recognize characters very quickly, several times faster than the fanqie system. He is really a great talent.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have such a good method when I first learned to read. It took me two or three years to learn to recognize most of the characters. It’s a pity that this method came too late, otherwise I wouldn’t be beaten by my father every few days.”
The distance between the two sides suddenly shortened a lot.
Liang Qu bowed again: "Lord Ran, you are too kind."
"We are all family from now on, there is no need to do this, let's go down quickly and don't keep Uncle Yang waiting for too long!"
Xu Yuelong interrupted and was the first to walk down the ship.
Seeing that someone finally came down, the people on the pier who were blowing in the cold wind finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Even the businessmen were happy, because they came here to do business, not politics.
If the business fails, then it would be a waste of time, right?
"Uncle Yang!" Xu Yuelong stepped onto the pier and immediately went forward to pay his respects to Yang Dongxiong. He put his hands in front of him and bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle.
Yang Dongxiong was stunned by the call of "uncle". He looked at Xu Yuelong carefully several times and asked tentatively: "Yuelong?"
"Hahaha! Uncle Yang, you still remember me!"
Xu Yuelong had no official authority, but he was born into a military family. He had been a lackey since he was a child. He was a lawless man and responded loudly.
"So it's you, kid! When I left, you were only in your teens, right? You've grown so big in the blink of an eye? You've become stronger and more handsome. Have you got married? Is General Xu okay?"
"You are still single, and my father is doing well. Before sending me here, he asked me to take a closer look at you. You are still as sharp as ever. You look exactly the same as when I was a child!"
"Good good!"
Yang Dongxiong was in a good mood to see his old acquaintance and said several good words to him.
He never expected that the acquaintance the envoy was talking about would be the son of his old general.
After the greetings, Yang Dongxiong spoke quickly and asked why Xu Yuelong had not gotten off the boat for so long, which embarrassed him.
Xu Yuelong bowed to apologize, he leaned over to Yang Dongxiong's ear and whispered something.
There was a gleam of brilliance in Yang Dongxiong's eyes.
No wonder he was given a warning right from the start.
It turns out that there is someone else who is withdrawing the money!
(End of this chapter)
