Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 308 4.104 Brother Zhou, something is not right

Volume Four

4.104 Brother Zhou, something is not right

Time flew by and it was March. On the fifth day of the lunar month, Zhou Yang went to Qianhu's place to catch fish as usual. Anyway, no one was killed in the last battle. The only few wounded soldiers were due to his own carelessness. If you fall down or twist your foot, the rest of the matter will be left to the county government, because gathering a crowd of White Lotus Sect is a rebellion, and if they break up, they are just criminals.

"Brother Zhou, something is not right." Just as he was lying on the couch to kill time and take a rest with a copy of "Li Weigong's Questions" in his hand after practicing the horse-breaking sword, Zhao Qiying looked anxious while holding a few pages of materials. Entering the study room, the faint aroma seemed to be like hormones, which instantly lifted someone's spirits, "There are other forces entering Daye County."

"Oh?" Zhou Yang's heart moved, he took the materials and flipped through them and said, "Can you find out what the problem is? How many people are there and what is the purpose?"

"It's not so clear." Zhao Qiying rolled her eyes at him angrily, but still let Ai Lang hold her arms and sit on his lap, "But through comparison, it was confirmed that they were people from Wuchang Prefecture. According to the Xue Zihao in the According to the information provided by the semicolon over there, these people should be the people of the Wuchang branch of the White Lotus Sect, and the leader of the rudder is Sun Lei."

"White Lotus Sect?" Zhou Yang frowned and asked worriedly, "What did they do after they got here?"

"Nothing was found." Zhao Qiying shook his head, "I originally thought they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to start an uprising or support the local White Lotus Sect's uprising, but judging from the information found, they did not come with many people this time, and It was dispersed from the beginning and spread throughout Daye County. It doesn’t look like an uprising at all.”

"Could it be that they are integrating local manpower?" Zhou Yang asked immediately.

"It's not like." Zhao Qiying shook her head again, "Although the White Lotus Sect has the same name, it has always been independent. The incense altar here in Daye belongs to the sub-helm of Wuchang Mansion in name, but the two sides don't have much contact with each other at ordinary times. It’s not difficult to do a favor, but even Sun Lei, the helmsman of Wuchang sub-rudder, wouldn’t believe it when it comes to obeying orders——”

"Sun Xin, Sun Lei?" Zhou Yang always felt that there was something wrong here.

"I haven't heard that the two of them have any relationship." Zhao Qiying's cheeks were slightly red, and she drove away a strange hand that reached into his chest. "Sun Xin is from a local wealthy family. Although he is not very powerful, he is very powerful in Daye County. But he is still well-known, and his ability to become the incense master is all due to the reputation of these forces; although there is not much news about Sun Xin, we have not heard that he is a native of Daye County."

"You just said that there weren't many people coming from Wuchang Prefecture?" Zhou Yang continued to frown, feeling really unhappy with this lack of information and relying solely on guessing. "And they dispersed when they came. When did they come?"

"It's impossible to confirm, but the first discovery was after the war was over -" Zhao Qiying stopped after saying a few words, and then said seriously after changing his expression several times, "Brother Zhou, these people may not be here to cause trouble. Or integrate strength, but - find someone! It seems that Sun Lei didn't want to cause anything with Daye, just to rescue Sun Xin."

"Okay!" Zhou Yang couldn't help but laugh, "Just let our people keep an eye on it. Don't forget to send an official letter to that loser in the county government to inform them of the situation. As long as they are not preparing to rebel, it will be a matter of public security." According to the rules, we should not be involved in this problem; besides, the Snow Brand has business in Wuchang Prefecture and even in Xiangbei Province, so it would be useless to offend the White Lotus Sect too much."

"You still want to get along with them?" Zhao Qiying stared at him speechlessly, "Just the corpses buried in that battle, the final count was nearly [-], which was nearly [-]% of the total number of rioters at that time. Nearly half of the leaders here have been killed, and your name has probably been engraved on the wooden sign and you are being treated like a 'demon'."

"As long as you don't make trouble openly, you can do business as usual." Zhou Yang smiled and didn't take it too seriously, "What are these people shouting about, 'Ming Wang Lao Mu'? It's hard to tell what they are thinking. Yes, ordinary believers may be really pious, but among those leaders and even incense masters, which one is not out of profit?
The Xue brand is a big merchant in the world, with the network covering half of the world. There are too many things that the White Lotus Sect can avoid, including the most famous north-south goods business. The company now wholesales most of the goods directly to the local area. There are very few self-operated stores among large companies. How much benefit do you think there is, and how much of it is taken advantage of by the White Lotus Sect? "

"It's a pity that Brother Tao left at the end of last month, otherwise we could have saved a lot of trouble." Zhao Qiying said regretfully.

"I was also thinking about the unstable situation and worried that he would be in danger, so I arranged for someone to escort him away." Thinking of this, Zhou Yang was also speechless, "Who would have thought that this was all because of scaring myself, and the White Lotus Sect is so powerful. , To be beaten so heartless after just one fight, Sun Xin himself only cares about running away and hiding, never thinking of making a comeback."

"Brother Tao, it's better to talk to Sister Qin. Next time we see you, you have to think of ways to coax her." Zhao Qiying recalled Xue Baoqin's pouty expression when she boarded the ship that day, and couldn't help but smile and said, "This girl is not afraid of life. Even the scorpions are on the boat. She still dares to grow mushrooms here just because she doesn't want to go back." "She -" Zhou Yang smiled, remembering the character in the original novel who was as broad-minded as a man. Girl, "I am probably more open-minded than most men, but as long as I return to the island, I will definitely be treated as the boudoir lady by Uncle Xue. Where can I be as free as we are here? But at that time, I thought there was danger, so I could only Send her back first, if I had known earlier."

"She is indeed good." Zhao Qiying nodded, "Before you left, you arranged for Brother Tao to build a special warship. As an elder brother, he did not dare to agree, but Sister Qin helped to persuade him, even faster than Brother Tao. She realizes the role of maritime military power, but it’s a pity that such a big thing is not something she, a little girl, can decide.”

"We can't blame them for having no vision. There is a saying in the West called 'a century-old navy', and that's what it means." Zhou Yang was also helpless about this, "If you want to develop a navy, you need more than tens of thousands of dollars." Throw hundreds of thousands, but millions and millions of silver into the sea, and it may not even make splashes.

This is not something that a single large businessman can solve, but requires the concerted efforts of the entire country and even the nation, and it does not take more than ten years to even see the most basic results; the Xue family's current maritime power is indeed superior to that of the Zhou Dynasty , but if you look at the whole world, I'm afraid it can only be considered an entry-level level. "

"So powerful?" Zhao Qiying actually didn't care much about the navy and was dubious about Zhou Yang's description.

"It will only be more exaggerated." Zhou Yang shook his head helplessly.

According to the current time conversion, this era should be around the late Qianlong to the end of real history. At this time, the West has begun to make great strides into the industrial age. The army is heavily weaponized, large ships and cannons at sea, and railways are gradually replacing horse-drawn carriages on land. , if China does not change, 1840 in history may happen again.

"Brother Zhou, there is no need to worry. This matter is not fruitless. At least before Brother Tao left, he promised to increase investment in new firearms." Zhao Qiying comforted softly.

"Yes, the principle of the flintlock gun is not complicated, and it is very difficult to make it. It is more required in terms of materials and processing." Zhou Yang said with a smile, "Although the larger artillery consumes a lot, it is not It’s unbearable, at least Uncle Xue already understands that even a merchant ship cannot survive with infantry artillery alone.”

"This -" Zhao Qiying obviously couldn't understand. In his opinion, infantry artillery was already the top killer weapon in the world.

"Okay, it doesn't matter if you don't understand these things." Zhou Yang smiled and hugged the girl tightly. "You just need to keep an eye on the news in the market and be our own eyes. Don't worry about the rest."

"Speaking of news, there are actually two more things." Zhao Qiying gently broke away from Ai Lang's arms, opened the desk drawer and took out another stack of materials, "These were sent yesterday. I thought you would read them, but I didn't want you to I haven’t mentioned it yet, and I haven’t thought about it yet—one is the manhunt for the remnants of the White Lotus Sect. Magistrate He did an extraordinary job.”

"Whoever has money will be accused of being a traitor in Bailian. They will be arrested and tortured in the county government to extract a confession. Dozens of households, over a hundred people were killed or injured, and they are all wealthy families in this county, well, it is really 'the county magistrate who ransacked the house, the magistrate who exterminated the family'."

"Compared to these people's ability to raid homes and make money, He Cheng's performance in hunting down the White Lotus Sect is nothing." Zhao Qiying gently turned over the pages of materials and pointed to the news below. "In addition to arresting a bunch of people these days, Little boy, I haven’t even caught a master of the Dharma altar, let alone the altar master or Sun Xin himself.”

"It doesn't matter." Zhou Yang shook his head, and there was nothing he could do about it, "Let him be arrogant for a few days. If I find a chance, I will send him down below to confess his crimes to the people who died - isn't it? The thick material only contains this bit of information, what is the rest?"

"The rest..." Zhao Qiying hesitated for a moment, took away the first half of the material and said softly, "Brother Zhou, don't get angry, these things are actually not uncommon in the Great Zhou Dynasty, because everyone is"

"Fu Shi—" Zhou Yang tightly squeezed the material in his hand, with an extremely gloomy expression.

(End of this chapter)