The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 340 Where are the people?
Although Li Miao spoke with absolute certainty, it was absolutely impossible for him to disembark and continue his journey.

He had lived in Shuntian Prefecture for nearly thirty years, and it was a novel time for him to travel by boat. Compared with land travel, waterways were less tiring and troublesome than traveling by land, and he could travel every day while lying down. It was the way of traveling that best suited Li Miao's taste.

So You Zi'ang went to Nanjing first to make arrangements and bribe Wang Hai and Xiao Si, while Li Miao took Zheng Yi, Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu by boat and sailed along the Yangtze River towards Nanjing.

But the further they went, the slower their pace became, day by day.

The reason is simple—there are more and more river bandits.

In just two days, they encountered three or four groups of river bandits.

They had all sorts of impressive titles, such as "River-Turning Night Demon," "Bald Dragon in the Waves," "Water-Splitting Ghost Hand," and "Whirlpool Bottom Pig Dragon," but they all died faster than the last.

Even Gao Anyu was getting tired of killing them.

"Uncle Li, shall we skip the boat?"

Gao Anyu cautiously moved closer to Li Miao and whispered something.

He already knew Li Miao's identity and was initially reserved for a few hours. Li Miao smiled and called out "Little Gao" as usual, and he immediately beamed and started calling Li Miao "Uncle Li, Uncle Li" again.

He was the only one who dared to complain to Li Miao.

"Uncle, there are too many bandits."

Gao Anyu looked around and, seeing that Zheng Yi was indeed not there, lowered his voice and spoke.

"Actually, it doesn't matter how many people there are. These bandits from the outlaws are weak in martial arts; Brother Cao and I can take care of them in no time—the key issue is that Sister Zheng is too ruthless!"

With Li Miao's disguise gone, Zheng Yi naturally no longer needed to disguise herself. Gao Anyu originally intended to call her "Aunt Zheng" as before, but after being glared at several times, he changed his address to "Sister Zheng."

"With one stroke of Zheng's sword, the man was cut in two, and the filth splattered all over half the deck—it took Brother Cao and me more than half an hour to clean him up!"

"Brother Cao is out there painting the deck right now!"

Li Miao found it amusing. He listened carefully and, sure enough, heard a series of "swish" sounds coming from the deck outside, along with Cao Hanyan's occasional long sighs.

"Right? Uncle, this can't go on!"

After Gao Anyu finished speaking, he stared longingly at Li Miao.

Li Miao smiled and turned to look behind him.

"Xiao Yizi, look at you, you've made Xiao Gao complain about you."

Gao Anyu's face fell, and she stiffly turned her head. Sure enough, she saw Zheng Yi carrying a sword, pulling back the curtain and walking over, giving her a cold glance.

"Sister Zheng..."

Gao Anyu gave a fawning yet awkward dry laugh.

Zheng Yi, however, was too lazy to talk to him and spoke to Li Miao instead.

"My lord, I think it's better to continue by water. We might just find the first breakthrough by chance."

Li Miao raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"How to say?"

Zheng Yi stepped forward, kicked Gao Anyu aside, and took out a piece of paper from her bosom, spreading it out on the table.

"Sir, this is a map of the waterways in Jiangnan that I drew from memory. Please take a look."

Zheng Yi pointed to a spot.

"We're here now, in the territory of Zhou Sanhua, one of the 28 gang leaders, known as 'Yinhe Shan'. It's not unusual for us to run into a few river bandits."

"But the key issue is that we've encountered too many and too varied river bandits these past few days."

Li Miao said with a smile.

"The tiger isn't dead yet, so there shouldn't be so many animals fighting over food in the mountains, right?"

"Yes."

Zheng Yi nodded.

“I grew up in a bandit stronghold. Logically speaking, the business of bandits should be about ‘slow and steady’. The number of people in each section of the waterway, whether to rob merchant ships or passenger ships, is all predetermined, so that the upstream will not be overfed while the downstream will starve.”

"But the ones we've encountered these past few days have absolutely no manners. They come at us with weapons right away, three or four groups of people every two days. If this continues, all the merchant ships on this waterway will be wiped out."

“Doing this breaks the rules, cuts off the other villages’ source of income, and will lead to a fight to the death… This Wednesday’s skiing is practically like he doesn’t want to live anymore.”

Zheng Yi circled the image on the map.

"This is the village where Zhou Sanhua (a local ski resort) is located."

"Sir, all twenty-eight gang leaders are colluding with the four eunuchs guarding Nanjing. And now, Zhou Sanhua is in trouble at this critical juncture; it's most likely related to what we're investigating." "What do you think?"

Zheng Yi slapped her palm down and looked at Li Miao.

Li Miao laughed.

"Xiao Yizi, you're starting to look more and more like a member of the Imperial Guard."

"Being by my side has increased my bloodthirstiness quite a bit."

Zheng Yi looked embarrassed.

Indeed, after Li Miao said that, she realized what he meant.

I don't know when it started, but her way of thinking has become more and more like Li Miao's. When something happens, her first thought is to interrogate whoever can find out the truth and kill whoever can solve the problem; she doesn't even think about going around in circles.

"grown ups……"

Zheng Yi said awkwardly.

Li Miao smiled and waved his hand.

“I was just saying it casually. Actually, with your martial arts skills, you don’t need to worry too much in the martial arts world. This is the right way. Going around in circles is just a waste of time.”

"But..."

Li Miao twirled his fingers and spoke slowly.

"Since these gang leaders are colluding with the garrison eunuch, I'd better not show myself in front of them, lest I alert them and ruin my subordinates' plans."

"so."

Li Miao raised his hand and grabbed at the air, and the door burst open with a bang.

Cao Hanyan was wearing an apron, holding a brush in her left hand and a bucket of water in her right, looking like a woman at work, when she was dragged in with a bewildered expression.

“I’ll lend you Xiao Cao. He’s quick-witted and has learned a lot of interrogation techniques lately, so he can complement you.”

"You two, go and scout out that Zhou Sanhua's stronghold. Kill some and question some, and see what his plans are."

Zheng Yi bowed.

"Okay, we'll catch up with you after we find out the truth."

After saying that, in a flash, Cao Hanyan was once again lifted out, looking completely bewildered, and disappeared without a trace.

Seeing Zheng Yi leave, Gao Anyu let out a long sigh of relief and turned to complain to Li Miao.

"Uncle Li, why didn't Sister Zheng say anything when you were here? Just watch me finish speaking."

"She hits really hard."

Li Miao smiled and pointed at him.

"If you're not happy, then keep it to yourself. Your skills are no worse than hers. One day you'll be able to beat her, and then you won't have to be afraid of her anymore. Do you expect me to back you up?"

“She’s a woman, and we’re related. I won’t offend her for your sake.”

Gao Anyu scratched his head and chuckled, knowing that he had been caught talking about someone behind their back and was already in the wrong, so he stopped talking about it.

After a while, Gao Anyu finally started a conversation.

"Uncle Li, you said a eunuch's lower body is—"

"Hey! Listen up, everyone on board!"

He had only spoken halfway when a loud, energetic shout suddenly came from outside.

"I am Zhou Xun, the 'Little Green Dragon of the Waves.' This is my territory. If you know what's good for you, hand over some silver to pay your way out. If you don't—you'd better come out and face your death!"

"Grandpa, my steel knife isn't very long—"

Bang!
The door panel flew out like a cannonball. "Little Green Dragon in the Waves" was shouting with his knife when the door panel slammed into him. He was sent flying with a thud, spitting blood, and fell off the boat along with the door panel, where he remained motionless.

Gao Anyu strode out with a fierce expression, glancing left and right.

"Who interrupted my conversation with Uncle Li!"

"Die—hey, where are you?"

"Who shouted just now? Where did they go?"

(End of this chapter)