Chapter 008 No One Missing
Li Chuan was calling him to eat, and Zhao Yulin carefully put away the thunder bomb and shot it back.
Lu Youpeng and the others came back, and Zhao Yulin invited them to have dinner together. These people were quite quick to respond and told him that all the beggars at the dock were willing to be the young master's subordinates, and only a very few who had been working for the Wang family for a long time did not express their opinion.
Ding Er said that in fact those people were all lazy people who leaked the information from the Wang family to earn a living, so naturally they were unwilling to work together and share the benefits as the young master said.
Zhao Yulin said that the dock did not need so many people, so he asked them to clear out the skilled craftsmen and form a team of craftsmen. The carpenters and masons would be used to build houses, the blacksmiths would be arranged to make weapons, and those who could cook would be recruited to open a restaurant.
He remembered that Hong Qigong of the Beggar Gang had a beggar's chicken, which he could also make, and his skills were definitely better than Hong Qigong's. He might as well open a specialty restaurant next to the White Pagoda and call it Bamboo Forest Beggar's Chicken. This way, everyone would have something to do.
When Lu Youpeng and the others heard this, their eyes widened. They were so excited. This was a big deal. They usually just thought about how to fill their stomachs. They didn't think as far ahead as Zhao Yulin.
Ma Jin hesitated to say that there were households with families at the dock, and how to accommodate the many female relatives?
"Women and children are the key protected objects. No one should be left behind." Zhao Yulin blurted out as if he had returned to the afterlife. After he finished speaking, he even laughed at himself.
Ma Jin was very happy to hear that, so he took his sister Ma Ling'er with him to eat at the dock. Of course, he hoped that the third young master would take in all the women as well.
Zhao Yulin told them that he had already made a signboard of "Dock Labor Society" in the city, which was a calligraphy gift from the county magistrate. He asked them to divide the work among themselves and go to the dock to hang up the signboard tomorrow.
Everyone became even happier when they heard this.
Zhao Yulin was a little worried. With so many things happening at the dock these days, was there anyone causing trouble or sabotage? He told Lu Youpeng and his friends to be careful and go to the mountain to cut some old bamboo to make dog-beating sticks in case of any accidents.
Ma Jin told him not to worry and that everything would be arranged properly.
Zhao Yulin watched them leave, then turned back to teach Li Chuan how to do horse stance and practice martial arts. After a while, he heard the sound of galloping horses. He immediately walked out to the depths of the bamboo forest, only to see Lei Man had dismounted, taken out two jars of wine from his saddlebag, and walked over.
Lei Man laughed and said that he had benefited from the scholar's good luck in arresting Li Tixia and his gang and seizing nearly ten thousand taels of silver in stolen money, which had made a great contribution. He came specially to invite the scholar to dinner.
So that's how it is. Zhao Yulin caught the wine jar thrown by Lei Man, broke the seal, and the aroma of lychee green wine filled his nose. It was truly a top-quality tribute wine.
Lei Man said proudly: "Eat, the old cellar of Litchi Green is older than that tribute wine."
Haha, Lei Man was willing to spend such good wine, he really treated him as a brother. Zhao Yulin generously bumped the wine jar with Lei Man and took a big gulp.
Lei Man told him that the county magistrate would come to the dock in person tomorrow to announce his appointment and asked them to work hard and manage the dock well.
Zhao Yulin said that was natural and must be done well.
Lei Man felt a little regretful and said that although people were arrested and stolen goods and money were seized, the criminals hanged themselves, vomited blood, and died one after another in the afternoon. It was obviously a murder to silence them.
Zhao Yulin was surprised. Damn, the ancients were really efficient. They didn’t even need to wait overnight. They immediately turned a living person into a dead person and cut off the clues cleanly and neatly.
However, he thought that the mastermind behind this must be the county lieutenant Zhang Baopi, who had been working in Yibin for many years, so it would be easy for him to kill a few people efficiently.
Lei Man said angrily that they were so eager to kill people, there must be some unspeakable secret.
What secret is this? Is it to cut off clues or for money?
The purpose of killing someone to silence them is definitely to cut off the clues.
Thinking of the money, Zhao Yulin felt that his opponent was too impatient. It was impossible for the dead to willingly tell .
But what if those thieves tell it first?
That's hard to say.
Because Lei Man just said that they seized less than 10,000 taels of silver, which is obviously too little. Those corrupt officials are all trying their best to exploit the people. I would never believe that there are only a few thousand taels of silver.
Damn, Zhao Yulin’s hands started itching when he thought about money. He was so short of money right now.
There is no time to lose and we must search again.
When he saw the little flower dog sent by Lu Youpeng at the gate of the White Pagoda, he immediately had an idea. He asked Li Chuan to find a walnut, clean it, drill a hole in it, thread it with beef tendon, stuff it into Xiaohua's mouth, and tie it on the dog's head.
Lei Man looked at him puzzledly and asked what he was going to do?
He said he needed to find money, time was tight, Li Tixia and the others might have revealed the secret, so he had to act immediately. Dogs have good noses, so he asked Xiaohua to try and see if he could find it.
After Zhao Yulin asked Li Chuan for the change from the things he bought at the dock, he picked up Xiaohua and told Lei Man to hurry up. Lei Man untied the reins without hesitation, and the two of them rode towards the dock.
When they arrived at the dock, Zhao Yulin first called Lu Youpeng and asked him to take some people to spread out in the direction of the county town, patrol in groups, and practice walking skills. He wanted to alert the enemy so that people in the city would not dare to come over easily.
Then, he and Lei Man quietly went to the office on the dock, which was where Li Tixia and his colleagues worked, a simple small courtyard.
The facilities at the dock are simple. These people live and eat together, so if they want to hide something, they will most likely do so here.
Lei Man gently opened the door, and Zhao Yulin went in holding Xiaohua. He took out the silver and money in his arms and let Xiaohua smell it, then put it down and asked it to work.
The little flower dog went straight to the kitchen panting. Zhao Yulin immediately followed and took a look with a fire starter. There was a layer of fish scales on the ground and the fishy smell was strong.
Damn, these guys really eat a lot of meat and fish every day. How can Xiaohua walk when she smells such a strong fishy smell?
They banged on and turned the kitchen upside down but found nothing.
Zhao Yulin did not give up. He came out and closed the kitchen door. After resting for a while, he asked Xiaohua to smell the money and start working again. This time, Xiaohua made him so angry that he actually went to the toilet in a roundabout way.
My Immortal Master, could it be that what those gentlemen pulled out was also silver and money?
Zhao Yulin was depressed. He found a stick and knocked the toilet carefully, and then poked every inch of the pit, but still found nothing.
Lei Man was exhausted, and standing in the patio, he said that it was almost midnight, so he might as well just forget it. Maybe there really wasn't any chance?
Zhao Yulin still refused to accept the defeat, so he ran to the water tank in the center of the courtyard to wash his hands, shook off the water droplets on his hands, and then stood with his hands on his hips to look at the disappointing dog. However, Xiaohua ignored him and circled around the water tank by herself, licking the water he spilled.
He asked Lei Man, what places did they not search during the day?
Lei Man said that the constables were no pushovers, he saw everything, the entire yard was turned upside down, even the floor tiles were knocked over one by one, what could they not have found?
Zhao Yulin was also a little discouraged. The little flower dog he had high hopes for was not a professional police dog after all. Not only had it taken him to eat shit twice, but it also went in the wrong direction.
He pulled Xiaohua who was standing by the water tank over to be a good dog. After the dog begged Xiaohua like a good dog, he took out some of Li Chuan's change and let Xiaohua smell it. Then he let the dog go. This time, the dog didn't go anywhere. It went straight to the water tank and licked it again.
Oh my god, Zhao Yulin held back his laughter and bent down.
Suddenly, he remembered that he had touched something hard, like a stone slab, when he was washing his hands just now. He slowly raised his head and looked at the water tank again.
This water tank is about two meters long, about fifty to sixty centimeters wide, and seventy to eighty centimeters high. The water inside is almost level with the tank. How could the hand touch anything?
Zhao Yulin pointed at the water tank, and they both reached out to touch it at the same time. They found that there seemed to be a large box inside the tank. They lifted the stone slab above them and touched it again. They found that there were five small wooden boxes neatly stacked underneath. Lei Man took out one and opened it. Wow, it was full of the silver he had been dreaming of.
Zhao Yulin was overjoyed and asked Lei Man to quickly bring the saddle bag over. He took out boxes of silver and poured them into the saddle bags. He then found some stones and bricks and put them back in place in the boxes, covered them with stone slabs, cleaned up the scene, and left immediately with Xiaohua.
The two men led the horses back to the White Pagoda and unloaded the goods. Lei Man was very happy to persuade him and he actually found it.
Zhao Yulin said that it was a coincidence and Xiaohua played a great role here.
The silver on the dock was touched by people and had a unique smell of fish. He took the change given to him by Li Chuan and asked Xiaohua to smell it and find it. That was the reason.
Lei Man said that there were at least 30,000 taels, and now he was rich.
Zhao Yulin smiled and told him to take half.
Lei Man waved his hand and said that he was obviously going to do big things, there were many places to spend money, so let's work together.
Zhao Yulin expressed his thoughts. He did not want to live in fear. He wanted to establish his own business circle and his own military circle to protect himself and feel safe.
Lei Man patted his chest and said that he would just follow him since they were both working at the dock anyway.
He said that we should first form a labor team, with those suitable for reconnaissance forming the information team, those with skills being assigned to the craftsman team, and women, children, the elderly, the weak and the disabled being assigned to the logistics team. Then you will have helpers.
The two were happy. They drank the lychee green tea they had opened before going out, took a shower, and went to sleep.
The county magistrate and the chief clerk in the city were staying up late just like them.
The county magistrate was very depressed. The chief clerk Yang Zhishan said harshly that Zhang Baopi was so quick and cruel that he even killed his brothers who worked for him to silence them.
County Magistrate Chen Yun said helplessly that the current evidence could not be linked to him, and there was no way to arrest him for the time being, but why was the silver and money found at the dock so little, only a few thousand taels of silver? They had to send tens of thousands to Lin'an every year.
The chief clerk said that he had questioned the soldiers who went with him and found that the search was indeed thorough and that Captain Lei had not embezzled money.
"Forget it, or maybe Zhang Baopi transferred the silver in advance. Since he has investigated and determined that those people committed suicide, let's just leave it at that for now." The county magistrate said, and the two began to discuss writing a petition to the state government.
The lights in County Lieutenant Zhang Baopi's house were also kept on all night.
