Chapter 249: A sharp turn for the worse
The tradition in the old bureaucratic system has always been to handle public affairs in a public manner and private matters specially. Moreover, this time not only a huge reward was promised, but also Xiang Yi's life was at stake.
Therefore, several subordinates and servants were all trying their best to curry favor with each other.
People were sent out in the morning, and before noon, news began to come back.
First of all, after some investigation, it was discovered that some people had indeed secretly stockpiled a large amount of supplies needed for going to sea, and even a considerable amount of pickled vegetables and grains had been purchased.
However, the whereabouts of these supplies are still unknown at the moment.
In addition, Sun Shaozong's previous remark that those sea merchants were all in danger was just an excuse he made up. Who would have thought that what he said really came true - nearly half of the wealthy families whose homes were confiscated in recent days were engaged in maritime trade.
Although Tianjin is indeed on the coast, its main economic lifeline still relies on inland river transportation. It can be said that among ten people who make a fortune through shipping, there may not be one or two who travel by sea.
Therefore, this ratio appears extremely abnormal.
Sun Shaozong hurriedly ordered his men to follow this line and conduct a deeper investigation. It turned out that not only the wealthy had their properties confiscated, but many of the managers and sailors who worked at sea all year round were also thrown into the Neisi prison.
However, the affairs of a group of peasants were far less eye-catching than the arrest of wealthy lords, so not much news was leaked before.
Following this line of inquiry, we found the office of the Supreme Court, where we received another piece of news: just after noon, the soldiers of the Supreme Court sent all the sailors in the prison, along with the families and maids of the gentry, to the Governor-General's Palace.
After hearing the news, Sun Shaozong's face showed some solemnity, and he asked in a deep voice: "Are there any older women among those women?"
The Xiang family servant who came to report was obviously a typical gossiper and knew all the details very well.
Yu Shi hurriedly described in a vivid way: "I heard that most of the hundreds of them were pretty young ladies, with a few middle-aged ladies who still had some charm, but as for the old and ugly ones, I didn't see even a single one."
It is true!
Zhou Ruqing really does things one step at a time and never wastes any resources!
After sending the servant away, Xiang Yi couldn't help but ask curiously, "Those sailors are fine, but what's the point of them bringing a group of women over here at this moment?"
Sun Shaozong was silent for a while, then sneered and said, "Of course, I'm using it as a token of my loyalty!"
Many of these sailors are not willing to go. For now, Zhou Ruqing can still suppress them by relying on his official power. But once on the sea, he, the governor who fled because of treason, may not be better than a salted fish in the eyes of the sailors!
Therefore, he had to use some means in advance to force these sailors to be unable to return home and be tied to him - and those women who were taken to the Governor's Mansion were obviously the "means" prepared by Zhou Ruqing.
Regardless of whether they did it voluntarily or not, as long as they were involved in the sexual activities of these wealthy families, or even if a few lives were lost, the sailors had no choice but to flee overseas with Zhou Ruqing.
"A letter of surrender?"
Xiang Yi was not a mere nerd after all. After a moment's hesitation, he suddenly realized, "So, he actually wanted to take those women..."
“No way!”
He suddenly jumped up and said indignantly: "Zhou Ruqing is a well-read man, but I didn't expect him to be so heartless! Brother Sun, as officials appointed by the court, we cannot watch those women being abused!"
Even if Xiang Yi didn't say this, Sun Shaozong would not sit idly by.
Originally, he planned to first find solid evidence that Zhou Ruqing had 'fled with the stolen money', and then ambush him at the dock to catch him red-handed, so as to avoid being harmed by him - after all, this 'Zhou Pa Pi' was the governor of a province, how could he touch him without any evidence?
But the current situation...
Alas~
It turns out that fists are the only way to speak!
Sun Shaozong stood up helplessly. Just as he was about to say something, he heard someone outside shouting, "Master Qianhu, Master Qianhu! Something big has happened, something big has happened!"
Before he finished speaking, several dragon guards wearing black dragon-swallowing cloud robes stumbled in. As soon as they crossed the threshold, the leading centurion prostrated himself on the ground, crying out in mourning: "Master Qianhu! Governor Zhou...he transported all the firearms and crossbows in the armory to the Governor's Mansion!"
"What?!"
Sun Shaozong was shocked and asked, "Why are there still firearms in Jinmen Prefecture?!"
He didn't take ordinary swords, spears, swords, and halberds seriously, but firearms and bows and crossbows were different.
But aren’t firearms only available in the military?
The training intensity of the personal guards of the Zhili Governor-General's Office might be higher than that of ordinary soldiers in the Beijing camp, but they still could not be considered a formal army.
"Reporting to the Lord."
Captain Jia said hurriedly, "There used to be a group of pirates living nearby. When Jinmen Prefecture was first established, they fought several battles with the soldiers. These things were left behind when they were suppressing the bandits!"
"There are about forty muskets, more than a hundred crossbows, and ... four crouching tiger cannons!"
"There is no banditry at the moment, so the Governor's actions are really... a little..."
Depend on!
After hearing this, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but curse. Compared with the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in the capital, these things were nothing, but in Tianjin Prefecture, they were enough to look down on everyone!
"grown ups."
After telling this great news, Jia Shanyao felt much more at ease. Seeing that Sun Shaozong didn't say anything for a long time, he couldn't help but remind him: "Should we send someone to sneak out of the city to deliver this news to the capital?"
Sun Shaozong glanced at him and sneered, "Is there any use in sending the news to the capital now, other than shirking responsibility later?"
Jia Shanyao's thoughts were discovered by him, and he prostrated himself in embarrassment.
Sun Shaozong paced back and forth in the living room for a few steps, and then asked, "How many soldiers are there in the Governor-General's personal guard?"
"Originally, there were only about thirty of them, but after Lord Zhou was promoted to governor, the number of recruits was more than doubled. Now there are about eighty or ninety people, almost all of whom are Lord Zhou's fellow villagers and are the most loyal to him!"
As Jia Shanyao was talking, he suddenly remembered something and added hurriedly, "I heard that at noon, Lord Neitai also brought dozens of his trusted followers with him. Together, there must be at least 130 or 140 people!"
"If we include the guards, it won't be a problem to gather two hundred people!"
Tsk~
Two hundred well-trained soldiers, armed with muskets, bows and crossbows, and four tiger squat cannons...
"How many capable fighters are there in your garrison?"
"this……"
If he had heard Sun Shaozong ask this question before, Jia Shanyao would have insisted that all of the forty or so brothers in the centurion's office were able to fight and dared to fight!
But now was not the time to brag or cover up, so he could only say awkwardly: "Although there are more than 40 people in the Hundred Households Office, there are probably only a dozen who can really fight, and those who dare to fight... are probably even fewer."
Okay~
The ratio is close to twenty to one!
Even Xiang Yi, who knew nothing about military affairs, lost his previous enthusiasm. He shook his sleeves and stamped his feet, saying, "This... What should I do?"
"Don't worry."
Sun Shaozong was relatively calm. He patted him on the shoulder and said, "We don't have to attack head-on. As long as we can catch the enemy by surprise..."
"My Lord, my Lord!"
Before he could finish the words "Catch the leader first", he heard someone outside shouting like a ghost: "The governor's personal soldiers are gathering on the street, and they seem to be heading towards us!"
