Chapter 248: Escape
"Escape?! You said Zhou Ruqing wanted to escape outside the Great Zhou?!"
“That’s right!”
The corrupt officials, who were almost on the verge of despair, ignored the steel knife on their necks and only focused on plundering the people's wealth, and even blatantly violated the laws of the court without any concern for the eyes and ears of others...
Taking all these factors into consideration, others might not be able to figure out what Zhou Ruqing was planning due to the limitations of the times and the traditional concept of being reluctant to leave one's homeland , but Sun Shaozong immediately thought of the word "escape".
After all, in the era he lived in, corrupt officials fleeing abroad was the most common pattern!
Faced with this inevitable death situation, if Zhou Ruqing and others want to survive, they may have no choice but to "escape with the money"!
Also, since Tianjin Prefecture is quite far from the land border, if one wants to escape with a large amount of gold and silver, the only option is to travel by sea.
That is why Sun Shaozong had been paying attention to those large ships that could sail out to the ocean when he was at the dock just now, hoping to find evidence of Zhou Ruqing's attempt to escape.
However, the number of these ships was indeed beyond Sun Shaozong's expectations.
But he didn't dare to alert the enemy at the moment, so he could only send people to investigate secretly. However, with only the two subordinates and a servant by his side, he didn't know how long it would take to find out.
If no clues are found, Zhou Ruqing will take his men and flee to the sea. It will be extremely difficult to get back the people's money.
Therefore, on the way back, Sun Shaozong was thinking about where to find more people.
In fact, he did have existing troops. There were at least thirty or forty people in the local Dragon Guards who could be deployed at his will.
But the problem was that Sun Shaozong had never even met Jia Shanyao, let alone know what his relationship with the Governor's Office was like. If Jia Shanyao himself was involved, wouldn't asking him for help be tantamount to walking into a trap?
Just when he was in a dilemma, he happened to run into Xiang Yi who was being bullied. He also saw that Xiang Yi was an upright person with a bit of scholarly spirit, and he had a grudge with the Governor's Office, so he set his sights on him.
Unlike Sun Shaozong's habit of traveling with a small entourage, officials these days are almost always accompanied by a large entourage when they travel, and Xiang Yi is no exception.
The number of his subordinates and servants who accompanied him was at least a dozen. As long as half of them could be trusted, they would be enough.
But when Sun Shaozong briefly explained his speculation to Xiang Yi, Xiang Yi just shook his head like a rattle: "No, absolutely not! Those idiots may be good at running errands, but how dare we entrust them with such a big matter? If the news leaks out, won't Xiang be a sinner for all eternity?!"
Then, he gritted his teeth and said, "If that doesn't work, Xiang will disguise himself and go in person..."
"That's not necessary!"
Sun Shaozong interrupted him hurriedly. He could tell at first glance that this man was a typical scholar, lazy and ignorant. If he really went out to gather information, he would probably be noticed after just a few words.
"Brother Xiang, there's actually no need to tell the people below about the details. We just need to..."
After Sun Shaozong explained this for a few sentences, Xiang Yi's eyes suddenly brightened.
He did not even bother to ask Sun Shaozong for his opinion. He rushed to the front of the store and shouted, "Call everyone in. I have something to tell you!"
Those clerks and servants all knew that he had just suffered an injustice and was full of resentment with nowhere to vent. Naturally, they did not dare to neglect him in the slightest and rushed into the living room.
As expected, it was different from what Sun Shaozong had guessed. There were as many as fifteen people, young and old.
"Brother Xiang."
Sun Shaozong hurriedly reminded him in a low voice: "Just find a few capable ones, there is no need to send them all out."
Xiang Yi suddenly realized, and hurriedly sent the stupid ones outside to continue moving the luggage, and then said to the rest of the people: "I believe you all know that the Governor's Office has nowhere to vent its anger, so it has taken its anger out on us Cangzhou people. If I stay in Jinmen Prefecture, I am afraid it is hard to say whether I can return alive."
When everyone heard this, they all came together to comfort him.
Xiang Yi waved his hand and said, "There is no need to say anything else. I just discussed with Lord Sun that instead of staying here and waiting to die, we should just find a way to leave this place."
Leave here?
Everyone was dumbfounded. One of the officials boldly reminded them, "Sir, according to the order of the Governor's Office, you can only enter Tianjin but not leave..."
"Confused!"
Xiang Yi glared and said angrily: "It's urgent, how can we care about so many things?"
After a pause, he lowered his voice and said, "Besides, you have also seen how anxious everyone in the Governor's Mansion is. I'm afraid Lord Zhou will not be able to protect himself this time. As long as we can escape these few days, we don't have to worry about him pursuing us later!"
Everyone thought what he said made some sense. They might not know what the Governor's Mansion was like in the past, but judging by the random arrests and property confiscations in the past two days, they would definitely not be in good hands in the future.
"In fact, I have already found out everything."
Sun Shaozong interrupted at the right time and said, "Although there are patrol boats guarding the canals at both ends, there are no checkpoints in the direction of the sea. As long as we can find a ship willing to go to sea, it will be much easier for us to leave Tianjin."
“Yes, yes, yes!”
Xiang Yi added, "It would be best if we had a large ocean vessel, because besides Lord Sun and I, there are two other colleagues who also want to leave together. An ordinary small boat may not be able to accommodate so many people."
"You don't have to ask one by one."
Sun Shaozong added: "Now the people in this city are in a panic, no one knows if they will be the next one to be confiscated. According to my inference, there must be some sea merchants who have the same idea as us!"
"So you just need to find out which large ships have purchased supplies for going out to sea in the past two days, and then come back to report."
The two men explained everything in a few words and promised a large sum of money as a reward. Then they called the three men under Sun Shaozong and sent them out to gather information.
When everyone in the living room had left, Xiang Yi suddenly seemed to be exhausted. He collapsed on the armchair, gasping for breath.
After a long while, he finally recovered a little, but he asked nervously: "Sir Sun, can we really hide this from the people in the Governor's Office?"
"It's not easy to fool them completely, so I have to spread fake news." Sun Shaozong spread his hands and said, "I have to go back to attend my eldest brother's wedding, and you were almost thrown into jail. It's understandable that you are eager to leave this place."
"And if Governor Zhou really intends to flee, he won't dare to delay for too long. I estimate that he can only hold out until the day after tomorrow, which is already his limit."
"In this case, even if we escape tomorrow, we won't have enough time to go to the capital to ask for help."
"So even if the Governor's Office got the news, they probably wouldn't pay attention to our 'insignificant little thoughts', and certainly wouldn't alert the enemy."
When Sun Shaozong said this, he saw that Xiang Yi had completely relaxed, so he smiled and said, "Of course, this is just my own speculation. If Governor Zhou is vigilant enough..."
He stopped talking halfway through.
Xiang Yi's heart immediately rose to his throat again, and he asked: "What would happen if Zhou Ruqing was vigilant enough?!"
"If Governor Zhou is alert enough, I'm afraid I can only fight my way from here to the Governor's Mansion and capture him alive!"
As Sun Shaozong spoke, he burst into laughter.
Xiang Yi thought he was joking, so he started laughing too.
