Lin tied up the inspection of the prison and took Ao Canghai and the guards back to the river mouth by boat.

  Back to the thatched cottage, Zhao Hu's mother was waiting for him in the thatched cottage. It was already past midnight. Accompanying Liu Yue'er and Xiao Man saw Lin Fu return, feeling relieved, they couldn't help but yawn.

  Lin Tie took off his waist knife and handed it to Liu Yue'er, telling her to take it to the inner house. Seeing Zhen Niang bringing tea over, he pointed at Ao Canghai and instructed Zhen Niang, "This is Master Ao, go tell your family members that if they see Hei Ye, have Hei Ye come over for a moment. Also, have your family members prepare a quiet room for Master Ao in the outer house; from now on, in the outer house, whatever Master Ao instructs, you all must carry out..."

  Zhen Niang responded with a sound, put down the tea cup and retreated. Zhen Niang was originally a female prisoner on the island, after serving her sentence she was abandoned by her family and had nowhere to go back to, Lin Fu took charge and married her off to Wang Ma Zi who used to be a prison guard. Now that there were many things to do in Cao Tang, Lin Fu formally kept Wang Ma Zi and his wife in Cao Tang to help Liu Yue Er with some miscellaneous tasks.

  Lin tied up and sat down to ask Zhao Hu's mother, "It's so late, Auntie has come over for something important?"

  "It's not a big deal, chatting with the lady and the young girl, I forgot about the time." Zhao Hu's mother took a glance at Ao Canghai, although because of Ao Canghai, Lin Xuan almost fell out with Xiao Fei Hu, but on this side of the river, people who knew Ao Canghai existed could be counted on one hand. Zhao Hu's mother had only been in the river for ten days and hadn't been to Prison Island, so she didn't recognize him.

  "It's nothing serious, just gave me a fright," Lin said with a smile. "Zhao Hu has left me stranded on the island, and it's rare for him to come back. Auntie is busy with something at the river mouth and can't find me, so she told Qiufang that it's inconvenient, and directly ordered Yue'er and Xiao Man to do the same."

  Lin Jingzhong and Zhao Hu's family have all moved to the river mouth this time. The new house has not been built yet, and they are temporarily settled in a surrounding house. Lin Jingzhong's parents and Zhao Hu's father are all honest and reliable people. Zhao Hu's mother has worked for Madame Gu Yingxu for many years, has seen a lot, and is efficient in handling matters. After coming to the river mouth, she continues to work under Madame Gu Yingxu.

  "It's still about Qing Shan," said Zhao Hu's mother, "Today's affair he handled improperly, and being scolded by the family is also justified... I heard that the Third Lady wants to drive out all outsiders from the village, Qing Shan was originally a promising person, and it was he who introduced Tiger Son to the village. He handles things more steadily than Tiger Son too. If he's really driven out of the village, it would be a pity."

  The words that the Third Lady said in anger at the new house had indeed spread, and the Lin family had experienced so many things in a short period of time. Even if they were suspicious of outsiders like Zhao Qingshan, it was still not right to speak out in extreme anger. No wonder Zhao Qingshan felt uneasy in his heart, and he made his mother stay in the thatched cottage until late at night.

  "That was just Third Madam's angry words, and later she didn't mention it again. This kind of talk shouldn't be taken seriously, and I don't know who spread it out. Auntie, please tell Eldest Brother Qing Shan that there's no need to worry about this matter. Even if Third Madam wants to drive someone away, isn't Young Mistress Ying still going to be at the new house? Lin Xian said, "Also, in the future, if Eldest Brother Qing Shan has any matters, he can come directly to me to discuss them, and there's no need to trouble Auntie Zhao again until late at night."

  Zhao Qing-shan and Zhao Hu are distant cousins, Zhao Hu's mother is his aunt. Today the village militia gathered in a commotion, although Zhao Qing-shan couldn't control the situation, he also didn't let it deteriorate, his handling of the matter wasn't improper; it's just that those people from his own family were scared out of their wits by all the things that had happened continuously during this period and became like startled birds.

  Lin Xuan has a mind to win over Zhao Qing Shan, but for the time being, he won't directly pull him over. Letting him continue to do things for Ben Jia also has its benefits.

  Now there are over 400 people on this side of the river mouth and Yu Dao Island.

  Apart from the 50 elite troops led by Ge Cunxin, and the 60 guards led by Yang Shi, there were also 300 newly recruited soldiers and imperial guards under Lin's direct command. Normally, Zhao Hu and Zhou Pu were in charge of their training, but when they were needed, a commander would be temporarily appointed to lead them, without a fixed person being designated beforehand.

  Lin Tie thought for a moment and decided that since Zhao Qing Shan had the intention of relying on him, it might be good to let him participate in the matter of training militia at the river mouth.

  The garrison troops and the martial guards are regular armed forces, specializing in war preparations. However, by organizing a broader group of young and strong men from the river mouth area, utilizing their spare time or taking out three to five days each month for military training to some extent, not only can the defensive strength of the river mouth be enhanced, but it can also serve as a reserve force for the garrison troops and martial guards.

  ***********

  Lin Xie sent Zhao Hu back to the Wei Lou House and returned to the Cao Tang. Halfway, Wu Qi, a black crow, flashed out from the dark shadow and said: "Dong Yang Hao is back!" He then asked Ao Canghai, "Has Master Ao figured it out?"

  Ao Canghai and other assassins were rescued by Wu Qi when they were surrounded and killed by the Xia family warriors at the foot of She Mountain.

  "I'll have to ask Lord Wu to take good care of you in the future." Ao Canghai said with a bow.

  "I'm looking forward to you boarding the pirate ship," Wu Qi said with a smile, "There are many people in Jiangning City who want to take advantage of the situation at the river mouth. If we can get Lord Ao's help, everyone will be much more relaxed..."

  Ao Canghai smiled and everything was implied without being said.

  When Ao Canghai first attempted to assassinate Xie FeiTiger, Lin Xie and others happened to meet him, cleverly using the terrain of She Shan to escape. Afterwards, Ao Canghai was preparing for another assassination attempt, naturally also inquiring about Lin Xie's situation. The second time Ao Canghai saved Wu Qi, he knew that they hadn't been able to shake off the Xie family's tail. Although Ao Canghai still didn't know how Lin Xie would deal with Xie FeiTiger, he knew that Lin Xie and others were hiding a huge secret, definitely not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

  For over a month, Ao Canghai had been recovering from his injuries on Prison Island. Except for the training camp on the eastern beach and the detention house, he was not restricted from going to other places on the island. Many things caught his attention, and since Lin Xie could take him in without fear of being discovered by the Xiao family, all these factors led Ao Canghai to put aside his family feud temporarily and follow Lin Xie.

  Lin Xian wants to open up the situation in Jiangning as soon as possible, and many people have been offended. Although he has Gu Wu Chen as his backer and is not afraid of others taking revenge openly, these forces are not good men and believers, and Wu Qi, Cao Zi'ang and others are worried that they will send out assassins.

  Although in the eyes of outsiders, Lin Xuan was just a disciple under Gu Wu Chen, but in the eyes of Wu Qi, Cao Zi'ang and Zhou Pu, there was only Lin Xuan and no Gu Wu Chen. The situation on Changshan Island - Hekou was hard-won, they all knew that Lin Xuan was someone who could not be replaced by anyone else, and naturally they were most concerned about Lin Xuan's personal safety.

  Most of the time, Zhou Pu has to stay on Prison Island to train new recruits with Zhao Hu. Lin Xie usually has four or five guards with him at all times, and when he travels, Wu Qi either accompanies him secretly as a bodyguard or sends out other scouts to follow him. However, since there are so few people, even if the enemy can't send more assassins, just having twenty or thirty people ambush them on a narrow road could put Lin Xie in mortal danger. If such a situation arises, they would need a fearless general to clear a path for Lin Xie's escape. This responsibility originally fell to Zhou Pu, but since Lin Xie has him stay on Prison Island, Ao Canghai can fill this position.

  Ao Canghai's skill, Wu Qi and others have all witnessed it with their own eyes, is not inferior to Zhou Pu. Sometimes, skill is secondary, the key is that Ao Canghai has an air of fearlessness towards life and death.

  So-called heroes appreciate each other, Wu Qi initially didn't mind taking risks to save Ao Canghai, and it wasn't for anything else. These days everyone has been looking forward to Lin Xie being able to pull him in, today is considered a wish come true.

  Wu Qi then reported more specific things to Lin Xie, "You probably didn't expect it, but San Hu also came along with the ship."

  Wu Qi and others used to call Fu Qinghe by his old name.

  "Has Mr. Fu arrived?" Lin Tie asked excitedly, he and Fu Qinghe had not seen each other since they parted ways in Qingjiangpu, several times came to say that they wanted to come to Jiangning, did not think that he would come this time, and asked again, "Where is Master Cao?"

  "Zi Ang is at the dock, I came to find you," said Wu Qi.

  Lin Jie immediately went with Wu Qi and Ao Canghai to Lin Meng's residence at the river mouth, pulled Lin Meng together to the river embankment pier to meet with Cao Zi'ang, and directly took a sculling boat to the northeast side of Prison Island.

  Dongyang sailed back to Hexi from Shanglinli and anchored there for two days before leaving Jiangning. Ao Canghai had no idea that Dongyang actually went to Changshan Island and returned today.

  On the east side of Changshan Island, except for the training camp dock, there is no other place to moor a ship. Moreover, the training camp dock is too small and the entrance channel is narrow, so it cannot accommodate the Dongyang No., which anchored in the waters near the island.

  Ao Canghai sat on the oar boat, looking at Dongyang No. 1 anchored on the water surface like a giant beast. As he approached, he found that on the other side of Dongyang No. 1, six small boats were also docked, and someone was unloading heavy sacks from Dongyang No. 1 to the small boats.

  "It's a salt package, it's private salt," Lin explained to Ao Canghai with a smile, "This kind of business, we are also doing for the first time."

  "Boss Ao probably can't guess how we smuggle and sell private salt..." said Wu Qi, who was in charge of selling the goods.

  Indeed, Lin Xiangru's offense in Jiangning was entirely due to local forces, who wanted to monopolize the private salt trade. Offending local forces is absolutely not allowed.

  Ao Canghai furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before saying: "Fish, salted fish."

  "Ah......" Wu Qi was quite surprised, didn't expect Ao Canghai to think of the key point so quickly, "How did you think of it?"

  "The grown-ups didn't intentionally hide anything from me, and I could move around freely on the island," Ao Canghai said with a smile. "I've always been puzzled - with so many workshops like ironwork and carpentry, why would they invest in having so many people fish in the river? Is it because pickled salted fish is especially profitable? I couldn't figure it out before, but now that I see this, I understand."

  Cao Zi'ang nodded secretly, Ao Canghai was a white body who joined the army, not a close confidant, and was able to become the deputy general of Chen Zhihu's vanguard camp, he wouldn't be a reckless person.

  Lin Xie smiled and looked at Fu Qinghe standing at the bow of the boat, making a courtesy call with a smile: "Mr. Fu has finally arrived, Xiao Man knows, I don't know how excited she will be..."

  Fu Qinghe was over fifty years old, with frosty temples and a robust body. Without waiting for the rope ladder to be lowered, he climbed down along the ship's side to the oar boat.

  Dà Fú Yé Gě Cún Xìn wants to see people transport four hundred bags of private salt onto the island under the cover of night, while Lín Fù and his men first take Fù Qīng Hé to the training camp.

  The imperial court implemented a monopoly on salt and iron, with a specialized Salt and Iron Office in Yangzhou Prefecture, which governed the salt fields and transportation affairs of Haiyang, Pingjiang, Huai'an, Jiashan and other prefectures, not subject to local jurisdiction. It also had its own salt troops and salt army, and even reserved tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land in various prefectures, prohibiting local reclamation, just to grow grass to provide sufficient fuel for boiling seawater to produce salt, to ensure that the imperial court could extract more than two million taels of silver in heavy taxes from Jianghuai salt affairs every year.

  In Jiangning, salt and meat are equally priced. People can go a year without eating meat, but they cannot go a day without eating salt. Further into the interior of Jiangxi and Huguang, salt is several times more expensive than meat. In places where salt is in short supply, even a dan (a unit of measurement) of grain cannot be exchanged for a jin (another unit of measurement) of salt.

  If four hundred packages of private salt can be smoothly transported and sold through the pickled fish market, the profit will be at least one thousand two silver.

  Although Lin and his men made nearly 100,000 taels of silver this time in the muddy waters of Luo Yang Lake, such transactions could only be done occasionally, far less profitable than a single shipment of private salt which could bring in a profit of 1,000 taels of silver.

  Lin Xiang relied solely on the profit of private salt to support 600-700 elite troops on both sides of Changshan Island and the river mouth.

  *****************

  PS: First update, seeking red tickets!