Dongyang Prefecture, although it only has Shiliang County as a narrow and long enclave between Jiangning, Weiyang, and Huai'an prefectures, controls the strategic location of Shiliang River. Shen Rong had already sensed that Hongze Pu's situation was unusual, and if Lin hadn't encountered Liu Xilin on the road, he wouldn't have even known that Shen Rong had secretly deployed a crack troop in Shiliang County.

  Lin Tie suddenly blurted out the idea in his mind to Cao Zi'ang and others, and after careful consideration, it seemed that the situation along the Shiliang River was more like Shen Rong, the prefect of Dongyang, intentionally letting things slide.

  "What's he up to? Does he want to muddy the waters and make a profit?" Zhao Hu asked.

  "Shen Rong won't be greedy for this wealth." Lin Fu shook his head and said, Shen Rong was a fourth-rank official with real power, and in reality, he had more opportunities to make money than Gu Wu Chen, so he wouldn't take the risk. In fact, Shen Rong was known for being quite clean and honest as an official.

  "Does he have a private grudge against Qin Chengbo?" Zhou Pu asked.

  "It's possible," Lin Xuan said, "but I'm more worried that he has ulterior motives." Lin Xuan had never met Shen Rong before, and his impression of him was based on what others had whispered to him, so he didn't have an accurate understanding of him.

  "What's going on?" asked Ge Cunxin, the old catfish.

  "Over the years, Shen Rong has been an official advocating for the reorganization of the imperial guards. He did some things in Dongyang and achieved some results, but after all, he encountered great resistance and was unable to truly put his ideas into practice. Another thing is that Shen Rong belongs to the fence-sitting faction in the court's party struggles, always leaning towards whichever faction is in power. Although he has had a smooth career and a good reputation for governance in recent years, it is actually difficult for him to gain true trust - if one doesn't mind speculating about others with the most malicious intentions, based on these two points, it would be enough to allow Shen Rong to indulge Qin Chengbo's actions at Shiliang River and Hongzepu Waterway." Lin Fu said.

  "Ah……" Upon hearing Lin Xuan's words, everyone took a cold breath. If the truth was indeed as Lin Xuan had speculated, then Shen Rong's ultimate goal was to deliberately allow the fishermen and boatmen of Hongze Pu to rise up in rebellion, so that he could have the opportunity to establish merit by pacifying the rebellion and reorganizing the provincial army. No matter how great Shen Rong's achievements were during his tenure as East Yang Prefecture Governor, they would not be able to compare to the glory of successfully quelling a rebellion on a scale of tens of thousands of people.

  "He's playing with fire," said Cao Zikang.

  Lin nodded in agreement and said, "Perhaps Shen Rong has always looked down on the fishermen of Hongze Pu from the bottom of his heart, thinking they can't achieve anything big or become anyone important..."

  Qin Chengbo was promoted to Auxiliary General after resigning as the Defender General of Jiangning, making him a first-rank official. There were no officials in the southeastern provinces with a higher rank than his. The Hongze Pu families' forces would plunder Qin's fleet, and whether they succeeded or not, this would be the signal for them to officially rise up, which was almost certain.

  Once the Hongze Pu forces get their hands on it, who knows what good things they will get from the Qin family's fleet? The private storage of armor and weapons by the Qin City Lord is certainly not a small number, and tens of millions of silver coins will also greatly increase the strength of the Hongze Pu forces. However, no matter how you look at it, although there have been bandits in the Jianghuai area for a long time, there has never been any large-scale civil unrest. It's no wonder that Shen Rong and other local officials underestimated the power of the water strongholds, but they ignored one problem: after the New Year's festival, the number of vagrants stranded in Hongze Pu, Shiliang River, and the north bank of Chaotian Dang is much larger than in previous years. This is also a very unstable factor.

  Lin Xiangzheng felt a faint pain in his head, not everyone can leisurely stroll through the courtyard and watch the overall situation of the world change before their eyes, because countless lives and flesh and blood will be filled in, but the overall situation of the world is already beyond human control.

  *************

  Lin Xie wrote a private letter to Gu Wu Chen and sent it back to Jiangning by fast horse. In the letter, he did not explicitly state the situation of Hongze Pu, but also wrote down many suspicious points seen along the way when sailing on Shiliang River, letting Gu Wu Chen make his own judgment and decision.

  Lin Xian walked on the stone bridge of the river and returned to Linli, saying that he had no idea what was going to happen, and it would be difficult for him to believe in Gu Wu later.

  Moreover, he did not want to watch the overall situation of the world further deteriorate before his eyes. He could not be calm and composed in the face of the drastic changes in the world's situation, after all, there would be countless lives and flesh and blood filling it up, but what he could do was only to write a private letter to Gu Wu Chen, an insignificant ninth-grade Confucian official like him had very limited abilities.

  Lin Xie could only go with Zhou Pu and Cao Zi'ang to observe the situation in Shanglin.

  Because they had to wait for Zhou Pu and Cao Zikang to catch up, Lin Xie and the others delayed on the road for more than half a day, and it wasn't until nightfall that they finally arrived at Shanglindu. Even so, they were still much faster than ordinary wupeng boats.

  The atmosphere of Shanglin Ferry is also very different from last autumn, the guard is much stricter, compared to the chaotic Wildman's Ferry, Shanglin Ferry is much more orderly, and there are no messy refugee huts on the riverbank outside the ferry terminal. The pier and the long street behind it, even at night, do not have many people in tattered clothes.

  Lin Tingxuan was bedridden with illness, unable to write or speak, but this did not hinder the normal operation of the Lin clan's division of power.

  The ferry did not have specialized lighting buildings such as corner towers or lighthouses, but along the river embankment and inner streets of the ferry, there were more than a dozen tall pillars that hung horse lanterns at night, also illuminating the ferry and the stacks as brightly as day and night. If it is said that there is any difference with corner towers or lighthouses, it is that they cannot use bronze mirrors to project the firelight to distant places.

  Lin Zonghai, the commander of the Lin family's fleet, gazed at the massive ship slowly docking at the pier. He looked at the figure standing at the bow of the ship, his demeanor extraordinary. Lin felt a mix of emotions in his heart. He had originally thought that by driving this young man out of Shanglinli, he would eliminate a potential competitor. Who could have imagined that after leaving Jiangning, he would actually form a close relationship with Gu Wuduan and become extremely successful?

  Lin Mengde rushed back to Shanglin two days earlier to handle matters, and he and Lin Zonghai came to the ferry terminal to welcome Lin Fu. Apart from these two, no other important figures of the Lin family showed up. In addition, the Gu family sent two people to Shanglin Ferry to welcome Lin Fu and others.

  It's said that Lin Xie can make a big splash in Jiangning and be a great help to the Lin family, but Lin Xie has already established his own household in Jiangning. This time, selling tea for the Gu family is also undermining his own family's foundation. Lin Xu Zong has a past grudge against him, and the elders of the various families are also thinking of their own family interests, unwilling to come out and meet with Lin Xie. Not jumping out to scold Lin Xie in the face is already showing consideration for his newly formed power.

  The ferry terminal was crowded with onlookers from the village, and when they saw Lin Xiucai standing at the bow of the boat, they began to discuss him in hushed tones: "Lin Xiucai is really impressive, this big ship is something I've only seen a few times in my life..." "The official boat that took Master Gu last time was far inferior to this one." "I heard he's going to make our East Yang Village famous in Jiangning. Although East Yang is next to Jiangning, the people of East Yang are not well-known in Jiangning, but with Master Gu and Lin Xiucai, it's a different story now. The son of the village head even sent a message back saying that he's working in Jiangning and earning more than the locals, all because he's from Upper Lin Village. What an honorable thing!" "The second master had kicked Lin Xiucai out of Upper Lin Village before, but he didn't expect him to become so successful in Jiangning. Now he doesn't even have the face to come out and meet Lin Xiucai." "It's true, when Lin Xiucai was at the horse market with a knife, forcing the second master to kneel down and beg for mercy, I knew he would achieve great things. Look at him now, it's only been so short a time!" "If the old master were still in bed with his thoughts, who knows what he'd be thinking? Lin Xiucai was kicked out by him after all." "What could he think? Would he crawl out of bed to welcome him?" "It's strange that Seventh Madame isn't here at the ferry terminal. She hasn't been seen anywhere for half a day." "When the old master was in good health, Seventh Madame still had some scruples. Now that the old master is like a dying man, she has to be more careful. Lin Xiucai's success in Jiangning must also be due to Seventh Madame supporting him from behind. If she doesn't avoid suspicion, who knows what people will say?" "Who dares to gossip about Seventh Madame? I don't dare, do you, Zhao Lao San?"

  Lin Xie stood at the bow of the boat, watching everything at the ferry terminal. When the boat docked, he put on a smiling face and disembarked, bowing his hands and saying: "How dare Lin Xie trouble Uncle Zonghai and Uncle Mengde to come to the ferry terminal to welcome him? Forgive me, forgive me!" He also introduced Sun Jingting, Cao Zi'ang and others to Lin Zonghai.

  The seven madams found it inconvenient to come out and welcome them at the ferry terminal. Zhao Hu's parents, along with his second brother Zhao Bao, stood behind Lin Zonghai and Lin Mengde. There was also an old man wearing a neat green shirt standing with them. Lin Xuan looked familiar, flashed through a few thoughts, and only then remembered that he was Guo Lao from Xiaolin, who was going to be Zhao Hu's father-in-law. He wanted to give Zhao Hu some face, so he respectfully asked: "Uncle Zhao, Auntie Zhao, and Old Man Guo have also come to the ferry terminal, are you eager to take Zhao Hu away to discuss marriage matters?" He ordered someone to unload the several loads of betrothal gifts that had been prepared for Zhao Hu in Jiangning from the boat, and told Zhao Hu to lead ten armed guards to escort the horses and camels carrying the gifts back home first.

  From Shanglin Ferry going north, the Dongyang boat can sail another 20-30 miles without worrying about running aground. Further north is a shallow lake area, where the Dongyang boat would lose its usefulness. So in Shanglin, observing the situation of Hongze Pu, the actual use of the Dongyang boat was not great. It will stop at Shanglin and honestly hire people to load tea goods onto the ship. Cao Zikang, Ge Cunxin and others will secretly or openly transfer them out of the ship in batches.

  Cao Zi'ang led ten armed guards with knives, using the excuse of helping Zhao Hu's wedding to transport gifts and increase his prestige. Eight horses were brought down from the ship and temporarily loaded onto camels, which had been purchased for Zhao Hu in Jiangning. In addition, nearly twenty good horses had been raised in Shanglin, ensuring that each person who landed would have two good horses at their disposal. Ge Cunxin and others remained on the ship, waiting until nightfall to find an opportunity to disembark in batches. Lin Xie was also unsure if there were any spies watching the Shanglin crossing from Hongze or Shen Rong. Furthermore, Lin Zonghai and Lin Xuexiong were not good people, and anything they wanted to do would have to be kept secret from them.

  In mid-April, the weather was warm enough for people to wear thin clothing. Ten guards disembarked from the ship, and it was easy to see whether they were wearing armor under their clothes or not. According to the law, private soldiers such as village braves, commercial guards, and escorts were prohibited from using armor, strong bows, and broadswords. However, local tyrants who maintained private armies disregarded this law, and even if they trained diligently without wearing armor or using strong bows and broadswords, they would still be greatly discounted. The Lin family had always been careful to equip their village braves with fine armor, but despite having a full complement of 500 men in the village regiment, there were actually over 700 people, and the private armor accumulated over the years was only about 60 suits. Looking at the ten guards who disembarked from the ship, each wearing good armor under their casual clothes, with waistbands and knives, and holding broadswords and other long weapons, and seeing that many of those left on the ship were also wearing armor, how could Lin Zonghai not be shocked? The reputation of Lin Xuan's men from Jiangning was truly not exaggerated.

  Lin tied a slight smile, first with Zhao Hu's parents and Guo Lao to discuss a few words of marriage arrangements, asking them to go back home first, he only let Zhou Pu stay behind to accompany himself, the safety of Linshui is still guaranteed.

  Mr. Guo initially disapproved of Zhao Hu's expulsion from the Lin family and intentionally ruined the marriage, but later when Zhao Hu became a follower of Lin Xian and showed signs of success in Jiangning, Mr. Guo again intended to facilitate this marriage. Speaking of which, this matter is also frustrating, but Zhao Hu still misses Mr. Guo's daughter, Guo Hongying, and asks Mrs. Qi to facilitate the good deed, naturally there is no reason for the son-in-law to feud with his father-in-law. After getting off the boat, he paid respects to his parents and Mr. Guo.

  Mr. Guo looked at Zhao Hu, who had changed into a new robe and was in high spirits, followed by more than ten robust and majestic attendants holding horses, with the gifts brought back from Jiangning all loaded on the horse's back. This generation's vanity has never been so inflated as it is now. He glanced over the ferry to see the lively villagers, and when he looked at his son-in-law again, he was even more delighted, laughing so hard that his mouth couldn't close.

  Zhao Hu's father was a honest man who didn't say much, and when Lin Xie gave him a gift, he blushed and became flustered, not knowing what to do. He only patted his son Zhao Hu on the shoulder twice and smiled, unable to say anything. Aunt Zhao adjusted Zhao Hu's collar, brushed off the dust, and seeing her son following Lin Xie with great promise, she knew that her decision to have him serve as Lin Xie's attendant was correct, and she was overjoyed. She said to Lin Xie: "Lin Xiucan, after you've finished your business here, no matter how late it is, come to our house at night for a drink..."

  "Alright," Lin Mou replied, "I'll also help with Zhao Hu's wedding arrangements." He knew that Auntie Zhao intentionally wanted him to go over no matter how late, mostly because Seventh Madame would be there waiting for him to meet up, having not seen each other for a long time, and missing her dearly. However, for now, he had to first deal with Lin Zonghai.

  Red ticket red ticket

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