Lin tied up his steps and was about to step out of the grass hall, first to welcome Sun Jingxuan ashore to apologize, and then go to the prison island to pick up his daughter. As soon as he stepped out of the door, he thought of a tricky place and turned back to ask Su Mei: "Sun Jingxuan has Fu Ye's handwritten letter, last night he sent someone to send the letter quickly, I will naturally release people to apologize, why did he want to make such a big fuss? There are almost two thousand members of the Western River Association gathered on the riverbank outside?"

  "I don't know why, but I received a request from Sun Jingxuan's people early in the morning at Baiyuan, and I rushed out of the city. I haven't met Sun Jingxuan yet," Su Mei said. "Sun Jingxuan has no son, only one daughter, Wan Niang, whose maiden name is Wen Yu. I've only seen her twice, she's a strong-willed woman..."

  Personality is strong, but can't stab people's lives with one knife. Fortunately, Sun Wenjuan's vital part was not injured, and said: "Then I'll let someone pick up Wenjuan from the prison island first."

  At this time, Zhao Qinmin walked in and saw Su Mei sitting in the front hall of the thatched cottage. He was slightly startled and asked Lin Fu: "What's going on outside the riverbank? Why are there so many boats anchored? Should we send someone to inform the garrison?" Last night, there was a commotion at the river mouth with assassins, he didn't have the guts to leave his enclosed house, nor did anyone come to report the situation to him. He endured until dawn without seeing any movement, and he couldn't continue hiding in the enclosed house, so he ran to the riverbank to take a look, got a big fright, asked people around but they all said they didn't know what was happening, he could only run to find Lin Fu.

  "It's nothing serious, last night someone came to the river mouth for a stroll by boat, I thought it was just some nail sent by which family, who knew it was a misunderstanding. The other side asked Su and others to come and beg for mercy, so I let the person go," Lin said evasively, "The work on this side of the river mouth is also normal, don't let it be affected, you can tell Cao Zi'ang the same thing when you meet him."

  Zhao Qinmin was puzzled in his heart, thinking that since it was a matter that could be resolved by entrusting someone with the task, why did the other party make such a big fuss? With so many boats gathering, the Jiangning Water Camp would inevitably have some vigilance. But Lin Fu said so, he didn't dare to question him face-to-face, and after taking his leave, he went to find Cao Zikang, who was originally the leader of the refugees and later recommended as the village head, to inform him of Lin Fu's words.

  Cao Zi'ang saw Su Mei coming to find Lin Lian, and roughly guessed that Su Mei was entrusted to seek a guarantee. With the coordination of the middleman, conflicts were even less likely to occur. After hearing Zhao Qinmin's message, he and Lin Jingzhong first let this side return to normal work. The sentry on the riverbank was temporarily not withdrawn, and Da Hu Ye also temporarily led people to guard Dongyang Hao without anchoring.

  Lin Xie had just written the order in the front hall and handed it to the guard Wu Zu outside, who went to the prison island to bring people back. There was no one else in the front hall, so Lin Xie invited Fourth Young Lady to sit down as well. Liu Yue'er poured tea and brought it over, while Su Mei quickly stood up to pay her respects: "This little barbarian has a bad temper, thank you for taking care of her, Miss Liu..."

  "She's so much younger than me, it's only right that I take care of her..." Liu Yu'er smiled sweetly, although she had known about the affairs on Changshan Island for a long time and was familiar with Si Nangzi who came to report news by flying over walls, this was still her first meeting with Su Mei. She really felt that Su Mei's face was radiant and beautiful, her figure elegant and refined, making people jealous but unable to be jealous, and she couldn't guess why Su Mei wanted to stay in the mansion all the time. Was it true what outsiders said, that Su Mei had deeper feelings for Chen Mingchen, the number one talent of the southeast?

  Considering the time, Sun Jingxuan's daughter should be arriving soon. Lin Xie stood up and said to Su Mei: "You sit here for a while, I'll go to the dock to pick her up. This time, we've really offended them." Afraid that Su Mei would worry, he added, "She shouldn't have any serious injuries, but she did get hurt a bit. I specifically instructed them to give her medicine after sending her to Prison Island, because she didn't seem like an assassin; last night was too lazy to interrogate, if only I had known it would be better to interrogate her..." Lin Xie also regretted it, thinking that Fu Qinghe's old friend Sun Jingxuan and the Western River Association were worth befriending. He wasn't greedy for the beauty of the Sun family's daughter, even though he had taken a rough look at her last night, the Sun family's daughter was indeed extraordinary in appearance, but with a dirty face, she was still more beautiful than Liu Yue'er and Xiao Man.

  Xiao Man also stood up and said: "I'll go with you..."

  Lin Xie thought of Xiao Man as her personal maid, and within the river mouth area, she let her follow closely, also to prevent her from getting bored, so she took her along to meet people at the river mouth. As soon as they walked out the door, Xiao Man whispered beside Lin Xie's body: "Wan Niang sister, I've seen it too, who told you to only listen to Yue Er sister and stay in the house?"

  It seems that they came to watch the excitement, yesterday they were still boasting with her saying that today there would be a good show to see, Lin Xuan didn't expect the good show to happen on his own head.

  The prison island boat came over, this boat had no awning, Lin Xie stood on the riverbank and saw Sun Wenjuan on a simple stretcher, tightly bound, with disheveled hair, her left arm wrapped in bandages, and most importantly, her left leg was still in a cast. Lin Xie secretly cursed to himself, never thinking that Sun Wenjuan had been punched by him last night and fell off the riverbank, injuring her leg, and the wound on her arm might not be light either. There were old women in the women's prison, Lin Xie didn't give any special attention, thinking that Sun Wenjuan wouldn't suffer much, and there wouldn't be any good fruit to eat. Lin Xie quickly got down from the riverbank with Xiao Man, who also whispered complaints: "Why did you use such a heavy hand, Wenjuan is such a beautiful girl?"

  "My intestines are now green with regret, do you want me to pull out a piece for you to see? Hurry up and say a few more nice words to me..." Lin Xiao begged softly to Xiao Man.

  "Glib tongue, how can I speak well of you?" Xiaoman laughed and scolded, she didn't have particularly deep contact with Sun Wenyue, Lin Xuan being bad to other pretty girls was just what she wanted.

  Lin Fu walked to the dock and waited for the boat to come closer, looking at Sun Wenjuan who was tied up on a simple stretcher with her eyes blazing with anger. He smiled obsequiously: "Miss Sun, I really misunderstood you last night, I came over to apologize... You go rest in the grass hall first, I'll immediately send someone to invite your father over so I can apologize together." Lin Fu gave a signal to Xiao Man, letting Xiao Man lead people to carry Sun Wenjuan to the grass hall first, where Su Mei was waiting, and let Su Mei untie Sun Wenjuan, lest Sun Wenjuan take out her knife again to stab him here.

  Lin Tie walked from the river embankment to the dock on the riverbank, and all the ships of the Western River Guild were outside the boundary stakes. They didn't dare take a step beyond the Thunder Pond for the whole night. On the way, Cao Zi'ang and Lin Jingzhong came face to face, and Lin Tie finally had the opportunity to explain: "It's a misunderstanding, Master Fu and Sun Jingxuan of the Western River Guild are old friends, and they have exchanged letters. The one who caused trouble last night was Sun Jingxuan's only daughter, who injured her arm and leg. I personally went down to the ship to bring Sun Jingxuan to apologize, you all go busy...

  "Will it be dangerous?" Lin Jingzhong worried.

  Lin Xie smiled and asked: "What danger could there be?" He signaled to Da Yu Ye Ge Cun Xin to bring the Dong Yang number ashore to pick him up.

  At this moment, they had to guard against Zhao Qincheng's eyes. Cao Zikang and Lin Jingzhong each went their separate ways, and the secret signal was also withdrawn.

  Lin tied up on the Dongyang number, explained things to Da Yu Ye, and then set sail westward to meet the fleet.

  The majority of the members of the West River Association were poor boatmen who transported grain according to the law, and each boat was allowed to carry a certain proportion of private goods for sale in the north and south. In addition, during non-grain transportation periods, boats could be used privately, which were also the main sources of income for the river association's power. However, various extortions that had to be paid along the way were higher than normal business taxes, and the association had to compensate for any sunken ships or delayed grain transportation. In fact, the financial resources of the river association were often comparable to those of ordinary businesses.

  The ships in front of Lin's eyes, which can carry 200 dan (a unit of measurement) of grain, are all black and have a total number of over 200. In name, they still belong to the government, and in normal years, they will also be allocated new ships to replace old ones at a ratio of 8%. Calculated from this, the depreciation period for each ship is about 12 years. Then, the special silver for grain transportation allocated by the Ministry of Revenue to various shipyards is difficult to fully use for shipbuilding. The quality of a ship is hard to say whether it can withstand high-intensity navigation for 12 years, and if you need to replace old ships ahead of time, you have to pay out of your own pocket. There are many accidents of grain ships sinking or capsizing every year, and the loss of sunken ships is secondary. If a ship sinks in a shallow river and blocks the river channel, it will be fatal. You must spend money to hire people to salvage the sunken ship and clear the river channel. If you delay your own and others' grain transportation period, you will also be held accountable. Almost every few years, there are cases of river gangs disintegrating and being punished by the government, and almost every few years, new river gangs emerge and are recognized by the government. It seems to have become a rule that every few decades, one group is eliminated, but if there is no major incident, the government will not be too harsh in its punishment.

  The Xihe gang had been established in Jiangning for four generations, and was considered a crucial branch of the Jiangning River Gang. The Dongyang boat approached, and countless people emerged from the cabin, standing at the bow with angry gazes, each holding a sharpened bamboo spear. Although the government would severely crack down on ordinary gangs, the situation with the river gangs was special - without them, the government would have to organize its own personnel to transport over 6 million dan of grain thousands of miles to Yanjing, which would be extremely costly. As long as people had enough food to eat, most wouldn't dare to rebel. The existence of the River Gang posed some threat, especially since the founding emperor had relied heavily on their power, but since then, newly risen river gangs hadn't caused significant harm.

  "May I ask, Sun Jingxuan, where is the ship that Sun will be on? Jiang Island's prison warden has been tied up here to apologize to Sun. Su Mei has already explained the misunderstanding clearly, it was all Lin Xian's rash actions. Someone has already brought Sun's sister back from the women's prison in the big jail to the river mouth, please ask Sun to come forward so that Lin Xian can apologize again..." Lin Xian stood at the bow of the boat facing west and asked loudly with a bow.

  "I don't dare, Lord Lin's words are too serious. I'm a reckless and arrogant girl who has acted rashly and offended you. I should be punished. But I hope that since Lord Lin is also serving the imperial court, he can give me a chance to redeem myself for Rong Xuan's sake." A slightly larger two-masted ship without sails had someone rowing at the back, slowly propelling it forward. At the bow of the ship, a middle-aged man with a sincere and fearful expression clasped his fists in greeting. "As long as Lord Lin spares me, whatever punishment he wants to give Rong Xuan is fine."

  Lin Xuan was puzzled, hadn't Sun Jingxuan read the letter Fu Qinghe had given him? Sun Jingxuan's tone was clearly threatening, yet he spoke softly and politely, but in the end, it was still a weak foundation. The last sentence obviously meant to bribe his way out of trouble. He let out a soft sigh: "The extortion in Dongcheng is too ruthless, Jiangning has some power but not enough to counter Gu Wudang's influence, they are all afraid of being caught off guard and having their weaknesses exposed."

  Lin Tie continued to lower his tone and said, "Sun Hui's words are serious, Miss Sun is completely blameless. If there's anyone at fault, it's me for being careless last night..." Seeing Sun Jingxuan becoming more and more terrified, Lin confirmed that he hadn't seen Fu Qinghe's letter. Su Mei wouldn't deceive herself, so she felt even stranger inside. For now, she could only ask Sun Jingxuan to go to the river mouth to talk, and temporarily not mention Sun Wenyue's injury.

  *****************

  PS: Third update, seeking red tickets. Give me some strength.