In the western courtyard of He Koutang's Bamboo Hall, the fragrance of sandalwood wafts through. Outside, the heat is sweltering, and walking from outside makes one feel like being roasted, but upon entering the elegant chamber, one feels cool and refreshed.

  Sun Jingxuan's face was waxen yellow, with beads of sweat on his forehead, and he lay on the bed with a pillow under his neck, looking ill. Wu Yanqing took his pulse with a serious expression, while Sun Wenyue stood beside him, her face pale with fatigue. Sun Jingxuan had been ill for five days, and Sun Wenyue had not rested day or night, serving him for five days, and was naturally exhausted.

  Lin Xuan and Fu Qinghe sat on the high-backed chair made of huai wood, while Ao Canghai stood beside them, majestic as a mountain.

  Lin Xuan asked, "Is there any improvement in Sun Jingxuan's condition after Wu Yanqing took over?"

  "It's better than yesterday." Wu Yanqing said vaguely.

  "That's good," Lin Xie said with some relief, "Let Sun Hui be the first to get tired and sick, it's all my fault. Seeing Sun Hui recover in sight, I can finally feel a little at ease..."

  "I'm fine now," Sun Jingxuan struggled to prop himself up and said to Lin Lian, "Lord Lin, the matter of going to Dongyang can't be delayed any further. I'll just sweat a bit more, and with great effort, I can barely accompany Lord Lin on a trip to Dongyang."

  "Director Sun, you're always saying I'm not considerate of others," Lin Xie said with a smile. "These past few days have already been enough trouble for the Western River Association, and Director Sun has even fallen ill from exhaustion. How could I bear to drag him out on another arduous boat trip when he's still recovering? As for going to Dongyang, don't worry about it, Director Sun."

  "This trip to Dongyang, the road may not be smooth, and if something unexpected happens, those willful people won't have anyone to restrain them, I'm afraid they'll cause trouble for Master Lin. Unfortunately, Jing Tang is not in Jiangning with Wen Yao and Wen Bing at this time." Sun Jingxuan furrowed his brow and pondered for a moment, "Master Lin, what do you think? Wan Niang's mother passed away early, and I won't be able to discipline her. She was born with a wild temperament, and as a daughter of the family, she doesn't have much to hide by being out in public... it might not be all bad, restraining over a hundred willful people won't be a big problem..." He said this far, then couldn't help but break into violent coughing again.

  "How can that be?" Lin Mou refused to say, "The Lin family also has a boat. Previously, the Xihe Association was afraid that the Lin family's boats would not be enough, so they entrusted the Xihe Association. Now, the Longjiang Shipyard has delivered two more large ships, and it is barely enough to transport these materials to Dongyang. Don't worry about Sun Huishou anymore," he also said to Wu Yanqing, "A few days ago, the medicine workshop collected over a dozen old ginseng from outside. I had someone send two of them over. Please trouble Mr. Wu to have Sun Huishou take the medicine and recover his body as soon as possible. The summer harvest cannot be delayed..."

  At this moment, Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe bid farewell and left. After a while, they had someone send over two old ginseng wrapped in silk cloth.

  Looking at the two old ginseng roots sent by Lin Yunpai, Wu Yanqing let out a light sigh, wrote a prescription for nourishment, and handed it to Sun Wenyuan to prepare the medicine according to the prescription. Without saying much, he packed up his medical box and prepared to leave.

  "Mr. Wu is in a difficult position..." Sun Jingxuan gathered his sick appearance, he knew that his illness couldn't be pretended in front of Wu Yanqing.

  "I'm just an old doctor, treating illnesses and injuries, not meddling in your affairs. But you're greatly mistaken if you think Lord Lin can't see through your fake illness," Wu Yanqing sighed softly, "Lady Wan's injured foot will be healed, others will only think that my medical skills have improved a lot compared to before, but they don't know that this Bone Fixing Technique was actually created by Lord Lin..."

  “……” Sun Jingxuan was taken aback for a moment, he knew that his illness had just given Lin Mou the opportunity to raise suspicions, but did not know that Lin Mou's visit and sending medicine were actually in coordination with his own play-acting. His old face turned red with shame, and he couldn't help but defend himself in front of Wu Yanqing: "The Western River Association has been passed down to me for four generations, and I have seen the rise and fall of various factions. Lin Mou has exceptional talent, and the court is full of strife between factions, with the Chu Party gaining the upper hand. These are things that Jingxuan is not unaware of. However, the Western River Association is just a group of poor brothers gathering together to make a living by selling their labor, what qualifications do they have to participate in these great events? Jingxuan dare not seek temporary wealth and glory, causing the Western River Association's hundred-year foundation to fall into danger."

  "You have your concerns, you have your considerations. I'm just an old man among them, and there's little to worry about. It's really hard to evaluate what's going on." Wu Yanqing said, calling over the apprentice who was helping with the medicine outside, and they set off by boat back to Prison Island.

  **********

  Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe arrived at the dock by the riverbank, gazing out into the distance.

  In the past few days, Lin had spent a lot of effort to reorganize all the local militiamen into the Imperial Guard according to the new troop formation method. These local militiamen were quite good, although they hadn't had time for more rigorous training, but they could barely make do, now standing in formation on the dock by the riverbank with their armor shining brightly.

  "Jingxuan always worries too much," Fu Qinghe sighed slightly. "It's not easy for Xihai to pass into his hands even after four generations."

  At this time, Lin Xulü walked over and asked: "What's going on? Don't use the Xihe Guild's ship anymore? They said it was all settled, why are they saying they won't go if they don't want to?"

  "It's better not to trouble others if possible," said Lin Daiyu, "our boat is barely enough for us, let's load the goods and set sail."

  Since Xihe could see the danger in it, Lin Xie knew that he didn't have the qualifications to let Xihe follow him recklessly at this time.

  On the second day of entrusting Xihe to purchase supplies, Sun Jingxuan happened to fall ill, and his condition worsened day by day. Lin Xie then gathered all the Lin family's ships in Jiangning to the river mouth for standby, fortunately, two thousand-stone fast sailboats from Longjiang Shipyard were also delivered in these few days.

  Xiao Jia Ye Ge Cun Xiong, Chen En Ze and others have been training with more than 60 boatmen and sailors selected from the migrant workers in Longjiang Lake for some time. They are now familiar with the two ships, at least there is no big problem in navigating these two ships on inland waterways. Lin also wants to be convenient, so he directly named the two ships "Ji Yun One" and "Ji Yun Two".

  There are three thousand-stone large ships in Lin's hands, and the Lin family also has more than 20 wooden ships. The total transportation capacity is nearly 7,000 stones, and the transportation of fine rice can exceed one million catties at a time.

  Lin Mengde, Lin Jingzhong and Ge Cunxin, Ge Cunxiong and others supervised nearly three hundred dockworkers on the warehouse, dock and ship, sorting and loading steel bars, rice, sugar, medicine, cloth and other materials onto the ship.

  At this time, there were many empty boats anchored on the river outside the dock. The Dongyang was berthed at its berth, and after it was fully loaded, the "Ji Yun 1", "Ji Yun 2" and Lin's Wupeng wooden boat came to the berth one by one to load cargo. The goods were scattered and varied in type, and there were no containers in the world that could provide efficient loading tools. Although many workers were used on the dock side, with lanterns providing light at night, work did not stop even at night, and it was not until the next afternoon that all the ships finished loading their cargo.

  At dusk, it started raining, but the wind was a southeast wind, just right for sailing west.

  When she heard the maid say that the dock was preparing to set sail, Sun Wenyue took an oil-paper umbrella and went out of the bamboo hall with the maid. They climbed up the embankment and walked onto the riverbank, gazing at the boats in the smoky rain like a city. The guards wearing rain cloaks on the dock also boarded the ship one after another.

  So many people on the dock and on the boat were all wearing rain cloaks, and it was impossible to distinguish which one was Lin Xie.

  **********

  On the west side of Prison Island, a black awning boat drifted on the surface of Chao Tian Tang, with several fishing boats scattered around.

  Li Zhuo arrived in Jiangning and strictly prohibited the water camp warships from going down the river to collect taxes under the pretext of performing patrol duties. If the tax collection ships of the River Anchorage Office encountered bandits, they should be assisted by cavalry and infantry with knives and bows sent by the prefecture and county, which actually meant tearing open the mouth of the river ban.

  Don't mention the rain and mist at this time, even if the wind and rain are a few times bigger, there will be no fewer small fishing boats in the Chaotian Lake.

  Xue Fei Hu sat in the cabin of the black awning boat, gazing at the scene on the distant riverbank dock, merely fiddling with the tassel of his waist knife placed on his knee.

  "Who is that girl?"

  "It's probably Xihehui's Sun Jingxuan's daughter, Wan Niang..." Du Rong said, "Lin Xian let Xihehui make a big show of purchasing supplies, but in the end, they didn't even ask Xihehui to send a ship to transport them. It's really strange - the 'Dongyang', 'Ji Yun 1' and 'Ji Yun 2' three ships were indeed fully loaded with goods, no fake."

  "Perhaps there's an invitation, but I'm afraid Xihai will sense the danger and withdraw at the last minute. I heard Sun Jingxuan has been seriously ill these past two days," said Zitan with a smile. Normally, they wouldn't pay much attention to small forces like Xihai, but now that the whirlpool had drawn them in, they couldn't afford not to care. "Sun Jingxuan might be willing to sacrifice his daughter, but he won't dare risk involving Xihai as well."

  "Lin Tie has just barely managed to get his hands on more than half of the village braves, and now that they've been incorporated into the Imperial Guard, he's withdrawn them all. Doesn't he have any other tricks up his sleeve?" Song Jiaxiu asked with a faint frown.

  "What can he reserve as a follow-up?" Xue Fei asked, "Including Gu Wu Chen, how many troops can they mobilize in Jiangning? Most of the patrol cavalry are in Jiangbei. Even if Gu Wu Chen comes over personally, would Jia Pengyu allow him to transfer all the patrol cavalry? The people they can mobilize include: 200 prison guards, 200 knife and bow men from Youling County, and 1,200 'elite' troops from the East City Guard... Only the two elite camps of the East City Guard are worthy of being feared by the Qu family," Xue Fei sneered.

  Others also burst out laughing with Xia Fei Hu.

  The two battalions of Dongchengwei's cavalry and infantry, although well-equipped and numerous, had their combat effectiveness thoroughly tested in the East City incident two months ago. Lin Xuan was able to defeat one battalion with just a few hundred bloodthirsty civilians, causing them to flee in disarray. Although the East City incident led to Dongchengwei being controlled by Gu Wudeng, who even brought in young general Liu Xilin from Dongyang to command the two battalions, the fact remains that the soldiers of Dongchengwei are rotten to the core. The only way to improve their combat effectiveness is to disband them and recruit new troops for training. This would be impossible to achieve quietly, even if Gu Wudeng were to take personal charge, let alone Liu Xilin. To defeat these two battalions, it would be a waste for the Sha family to send out even 100 elite armored soldiers.

  The soldiers of Youling County are no exception. On ordinary days, they only know how to bully the good and intimidate the kind in the city, so how much combat effectiveness can these old masters have?

  Zi Tan said: "Lin Xie is not allowed to be careless at this time, perhaps the 200 martial arts soldiers on the prison island are more troublesome."

  "What if Lin Xie can make them stronger again?" Xia Fei Hu said disdainfully, "There are only sixty old soldiers on Prison Island, and the other soldiers are all newly recruited. I'm afraid they haven't even seen blood before. In two months' time, how strong can their combat power be? Moreover, after the incident, Lin Xie really dares to abandon Prison Island and transfer all his soldiers to the river mouth? We don't care about Qu's arrangements, but if Lin Xie dares to transfer his soldiers away from Prison Island, we'll either attack them from behind or directly go to the island to kill him. In short, this knife in the back will make the hole so big that no one can cover it up for Lin Xie."

  Lin Xiang could not bring Wu Zhuo up to the river mouth, and the defense at the river mouth was extremely limited.

  "Will Lin Tie secretly bring back the two hundred Imperial Guards?" Song Jia asked.

  "Qu's family won't be fools either, Lin Xuan is playing 'divide and conquer, lure the snake out of the cave', can Qu's family not defend at all? I think Qu's family will also play along with 'divide and conquer, false then real'!" Xia Feihu said, "Can Lin Xuan really afford to abandon this fleet that he has built up with great difficulty to be attacked by water bandits and lake pirates at will? Lin Xuan spent nearly 20,000 taels of silver on supplies in Jiangning, not to mention the large amount of silver on board. The news has already spread out, even without Qu's family making a move, various water stronghold forces will take action."

  "We must still prevent the Lin army from taking a detour and attacking our flanks. We should send out scouts to keep an eye on their fleet." Zi Tan said.

  "What about Li Zhuo?" Du Rong asked, "When Lin Fu returned to Jiangning this time, the informants said that Li Zhuo's trusted aide Gao Zongting had contacted Lin Fu several times. The matter of the riverbank refugees was actually Zhang Yuobo, Lin Fu and Gao Zongting forcing Gutang County to surrender."

  "Li Zhuo won't get involved in this matter," said Zi Tan, who was relatively certain. "If Li Zhuo gets involved, several of the Qu family members wouldn't be enough to contend with him, and we'd have to admit defeat directly on this matter."