A knife in love

Chapter 1163

Li Qiufeng's heart trembled, he glanced at the big ship, and said in his mouth: "We have the customs guards of the Municipal Bureau of Shipping, do these officers and soldiers dare to mess around?"

Zhang Shi shook his head and said: "I received the customs protection from the Yamen of the Shibo Department. It stands to reason that the Yamen will notify the navy and ask them to turn a blind eye. The ships that go to sea in Ningbo Prefecture every day are all there. There are official documents by the side, and they should not intercept our ship when they see it. But this warship is chasing after us, I am afraid that things will be troublesome."

Shopkeeper Hu's face was also a little ugly, and he said to Qin Laowu: "Old Qin, do you think they are trying to harm us?"

Qin Lao Wu had been staring at the warship. He listened to Shopkeeper Hu's words, but he didn't look back. He said: "When dealing with the government, there is no such thing as money being unfair. I look at these bastards looking a little bit embarrassed. In all likelihood, it is the Fujian navy that the imperial court transferred not long ago."

When he said this, he paused for a while, and then turned his head to shopkeeper Hu and said: "Old Hu, I am not asking the shopkeepers for silver this time! Looking at the appearance of these officers and soldiers, I am afraid that I will have to ask the shopkeepers to take out silver , send them away."

Before shopkeeper Hu could speak, shopkeeper Yin couldn't help shouting: "Why are you asking us for money again? Your surname is Qin, these days you've changed ways to take money out of our pockets, isn't it a little too much?"

Shopkeeper Ji also echoed: "As the saying goes, if you don't believe what you say, you don't know what to do. In the past two years, we have used your Lao Qin's boat to do business, and the money given to you is no less than 1000 taels. I promised to give you 3000 taels of silver. We treat you like this, but you try to deceive us in different ways, I'm afraid it won't make sense?!"

Qin Laowu sneered and said, "Two shopkeepers, did you feel your conscience when you said this?! I will send you out to sea, not to mention the risk of losing your head. The sea water is completely different from the river water. If you go back and forth two times, you will need to overhaul it, each time costing five or sixty taels of silver. And sending you to the sea five or six times, the big boat will no longer be usable, and you have to buy a new one. In addition, hiring a boatman to go to sea costs a lot of money. The taels of silver will also increase several times. Calculated in this way, the two and three hundred taels of silver you paid me will not be much left at all in the end."

When Qin Laowu said this, he gave the shopkeepers Yin and Ji a vicious look, and then said: "You shopkeepers are all big business figures, and all of you are extremely shrewd. There are more than a thousand ships of all sizes in Ningbo City, but You go out to sea in my boat every time, what is this for?"

Qin Laowu scanned the crowd while talking.Shopkeeper Yin and others met his eyes and lowered their heads involuntarily, so no one refuted.He went on to say: "Besides that my ship is big and strong, and can transport more goods, it is because I want the least silver. Otherwise, with your calculating nature, why would you come to me every time?! I Qin Laowu is a rough man, but he is not a fool! If Zhang Yuanwai hadn't said all the good things and secretly gave me money to make up for the shortfall, I wouldn't be bothered to send you out to sea!"

Qin Laowu said this without any politeness. After hearing this, shopkeeper Bai and the others changed their expressions greatly, and they all groaned angrily, rushing forward to argue with Qin Laowu.Shopkeeper Hu hurriedly stopped everyone, and said: "Old Qin is right, shopkeepers, don't be annoyed, we can discuss things."

As he spoke, he winked at Shopkeeper Bai and the others.Shopkeeper Bai and the others are all shrewd, so they naturally know what Shopkeeper Hu means.All the people secretly do business with the Fusang people, relying on Zhang Shi to deal with them.Qin Laowu was recruited by Zhang Shi. Shopkeeper Hu and the others wanted to replace him, but they dared not.And this time going to sea, there are many places to rely on Qin Laowu.Now that he has just left Ningbo, if he turns against Qin Lao Wu, the deal will be ruined immediately.At that time, not only will everyone not get a penny, but they may even lose all their capital.So Shopkeeper Bai and the others had no choice but to suppress their anger and stop arguing with Qin Laowu.

Zhang Shi stepped forward and said to Shopkeeper Bai and others: "Several shopkeepers, please calm down. We have a customs certificate issued by the Shibo Department Yamen in our hands. These officers and soldiers dare not be rude to us. Lao Qin is also kind and wants to use money to send it away." These officers and soldiers, so as not to create any troubles. You can rest assured that if the officers and soldiers want to cheat, I will pay the money."

Shopkeeper Hu hurriedly said to Zhang Shi: "Mr. Zhang, how can I ask you to pay for the money? You have given us great face by being able to accompany us on this trip. You can just say how much money you want. We It would be best if a few people got together and dispatched the officers and soldiers."

Qin Lao Wu sneered, and said in his mouth: "Several shopkeepers thought I wanted to knock money from some of them, but they didn't think about it. If officers and soldiers board the ship to make trouble later, I will give them money in front of everyone. I will give them money again. Greed, you can't play tricks in front of everyone's eyes."

Shopkeeper Bai and the others thought about it too, and their complexions improved a lot.Shopkeeper Ji cupped his hands to Qin Laowu, with a few smiles on his face, and said: "Old Qin, I offended you so much just now, please don't take offense." Shopkeeper Yin also said a few polite words.Qin Laowu just sneered and didn't answer.At this moment, I heard a boatman exclaiming in surprise: "Fifth Lord, Fifth Lord, that boat, that boat..."

Everyone's heart trembled, and they all turned their heads to look forward.But I saw that the warship was close in front of me. With the light of lanterns and torches, I could see that the warship was full of officers and soldiers, all of them holding knives and guns, and some officers and soldiers bent their bows and set arrows. Li Qiufeng and others.

Qin Laowu turned his head and said to several boatmen: "Lower the sails, stop the boat! Hold the rudder steady for me!"

The two boatmen hastily lowered the sails by half, and the speed of the big ship slowed down immediately, and the distance between it and the warship in front increased a lot.

At this time, the sky was gradually getting dark. Although the sea was not very stormy, there was still a faint sound of waves shrouding the space between the sky and the earth.The warship ahead noticed that Qin Laowu's big ship had slowed down, and immediately lowered its sails.The distance between the two ships was shortened to five or six feet, and all the officers and soldiers on the warship shouted in unison: "Stop the boat! Stop the boat!"

Qin Lao Wu turned to Zhang Shi and said, "Mr. Zhang, how do you think we should deal with it?"

Zhang Shi looked at the warship slowly approaching, and said in a deep voice, "According to what they say! Let me deal with the officers and soldiers. You must not act rashly."

Shopkeeper Hu and the others all looked tense, and shopkeepers Yin, Song and the others quietly stepped back a few steps.Qin Laowu nodded, turned around and waved to the boatman under him.Several boatmen lowered the sails, and the helm steered the helm, and the big ship slowly came to a stop.It's just that the hull fluctuates up and down with the waves, but it's not as stable as when driving.

I saw the warship sailing forward for more than ten zhang, then slowly turned around, and approached the big boat that everyone was on.It was only when the two ships were side by side that the warship stopped.When Li Qiufeng and others saw three cannons on the warship, the muzzles of the cannons were aimed at themselves, everyone's expressions changed drastically.

Forty or fifty officers and soldiers stood on the warship, surrounded by a military officer in full armor.This military officer's complexion was dark, his brows were straight and his eyes were erect, and it seemed that he was not easy to get along with.

At this time, the distance between the two boats was only two feet, and several officers and soldiers brought two three-foot-wide planks and put them on the sides of the two big boats.Two sergeants stepped onto the board, followed closely by the military officer, and then a dozen more sergeants followed with swords and guns in hand.After a while, all the officers and soldiers arrived on Qin Laowu's boat.The originally spacious ship suddenly became overcrowded.

After the military officer walked onto the boat, Zhang Shi quickly walked a few steps, reached in front of the military officer, cupped his hands and said, "I'm in the Lower Ningbo Mansion, Zhang Shi, and I pay my respects to the general."

Li Qiufeng looked at the military officer's attire and attire, he was just a captain, and there were also generals, commanders, guerrillas, generals, deputy generals, and generals on top, and they were still a thousand miles away from the general.As soon as Zhang Shi opened his mouth, he raised his official position by more than ten levels, which was naturally flattering.

The military officer looked arrogantly, glanced at Zhang Shi, and said fiercely: "You people are so bold, you dare not stop the ship after listening to my order, don't you want to rebel?!"

Zhang Shi nodded and bowed with a smile on his face, and said with a smile: "Master General, it's not that we don't want to stop the boat, but on the sea, how can we stop as soon as we say it? When the boatman lowered the sail just now, the rope was knotted, and he didn't pull the rope for a while. Untie it, that's why I didn't stop the ship immediately, and please forgive me, General."

After Zhang Shi finished speaking, he bowed to the ground again.The military officer snorted, and said viciously: "You think I'm a three-year-old kid, who can be fooled by you like this?! Come on, let me search carefully, don't be fooled by these guys?!"

(End of this chapter)