The Soldier of the Red Mansion

Chapter 19 It’s hard to escape even if you have wings

There are no proper buildings on the island, only scattered simple wooden houses, and no roads. If you go deep into the island, you need to use a sickle to cut down the weeds because they are too dense and long to move forward.

In order to find the easiest place to open up wasteland, Wang Xin and Tang Ping and others spent two days walking across the island.

Fortunately, Qi Yinghao was quite nice. He not only lent a few people to Wang Xin, but also arranged for people to provide him with food and drinks.

evening.

Wang Xin brought his people back to their residence. They were tired, but their expressions were full of energy.

"The piece of land I saw during the day is not only fertile but also flat. We don't need to spend a lot of effort to level the land." Tang Ping said excitedly. He had already begun to imagine the days when he and his brothers would farm on the island.

Wouldn't it be happy to live your own life behind closed doors, no matter what happens outside?

“The ground is just too wet.”

"The island is full of water bubbles, and this place is the best."

"If you plow it a few more times, it will eventually dry up."

"Don't even think about farming in the first year."

Everyone said something to me.

Wang Xin sat on the bed, estimating the time, guessing that Qi Yinghao should be here soon.

Qi Yinghao comes over every night, and it can be seen that he treats him very well. Wang Xin plans to finalize the matter with Qi Yinghao tonight regarding the place that he had valued during the day.

In the end, Qi Yinghao did not show up, but Qi Yinghao's men.

Several people brought food.

The leader was thin but strong. Wang Xin knew that he was Qi Yinghao's capable subordinate, named Zhang Bo.

Zhang Bo looked apologetic and came to Wang Xin very respectfully.

"Master Xin, our Second Master can't come tonight."

Before Wang Xin could speak, Zhang Bo said anxiously, "Our Second Master has instructed me to explain everything to Master Xin. He has something important to do tonight and cannot be with Master Xin. He is very ashamed of neglecting Master Xin. Tomorrow, he will host a drink for Master Xin and his brothers."

"Yinghao is too polite. Everyone has their own things to do. Official business is more important. Go back and tell him to do his job well."

When others give you face, you are willing to respect them as well.

Wang Xin laughed.

Tang Ping also had a smile on his face. He could see that the second son of the Qi family was really trying to make friends with his general. He was busy running around on the island and was very sincere. So Tang Ping's attitude towards the second son of the Qi family changed and he had a lot of good feelings towards him.

"Then Master Xin and the other brothers, please eat first. I know you are all tired today, so I won't bother you any more."

Tang Ping winked at the people around him.

The small flag officer stood up and stepped forward, saying with a smile, "I'm here to see Brother Zhang off."

The second son of the Qi family is not an official.

Our general is the assistant commander, and I am the captain. Although a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake, it is not like a fierce dragon cannot cross the river. Our general has a good temper, but he will not tolerate being offended by others.

Wang Xin was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and was too lazy to pay attention to Tang Ping's little tricks.

The Great Zhou Dynasty did indeed attach great importance to status.

Yangzhong Island is adjacent to Yangzhou in the north and Zhenjiang in the south.

Because of the Qi brothers, there is a simple dock hidden in the weeds in the south of the island, so there are more houses here. Therefore, Wang Xin deliberately avoided this place and had no plans to open up wasteland in this area.

night.

Several ships quietly docked without any lanterns. In the moonlight, people were moving on the dock. Boxes of goods were shipped to the island, and the people on the island moved them to the hidden warehouse.

"Is there anyone else on the island?"

Seeing the lights in the north, Scarface asked cautiously in the crowd at the dock.

"Don't worry, Boss Deng, he's our host's guest."

The steward explained.

Scarface's face darkened, "The Qi family broke the rules."

Unloading goods on the island and waiting for others to transport them away, all the comings and goings are shady businesses. What they fear most is not the soldiers and officials, as the official roads have been opened up long ago. For example, the Qi family is the largest sheriff in charge of this area.

So what they fear most is that gangs rob each other.

The Qi family is considered the middleman.

Each family was engaged in smuggling, and the river boats unloaded the goods at Yangzhong Island, and the sea boats transported them away. They agreed on a date with the Qi family, and everything was kept secret, with no outsiders present.

The steward quickly comforted him.

Business was tough these days. To steal the business, the Reds had even gone so far as to seize the Yangtze River estuary, hiding in the Zhoushan Islands and luring inland heroes to smuggle goods there, saving a fortune.

Not only was the Qi family unhappy, but the local officials were also unhappy.

The red-haired ghost is robbing them of their money.

However, the powerful people supported them, and they had to pay large sums of money as bribes, even at the risk of being beheaded. No one was willing to do that.

Go directly to the sea to trade with the red-haired devils.

They saved several percent of the profit, and the red-haired devils also eliminated the middleman who made a profit from the price difference, so both parties were happy.

Unhappy officials began to urge the Zhejiang Navy to go out to sea to sweep. However, the officers and soldiers of the Zhejiang Navy had long been rotten. They were afraid of death and only thought about making money. They were forced to go out to sea several times, but they returned empty-handed every time and lost a lot of money.

After the rebellion against the red-haired demons was suppressed, the red-haired demons built a city on the archipelago, and trade became more prosperous year by year.

Therefore, in the past, the powerful people begged Yangzhong Island and curryed favor with the local tyrant Qi family to transfer benefits to the local area. Relying on this chain of interests, the Qi family was as stable as Mount Tai and prosperous for thirty years. Now it is the Qi family's turn to beg the powerful people to continue smuggling to Yangzhong Island.

Why did the Qi family become local tyrants?

Isn't it just because of money?

The bulk of the commission on the island went into the hands of officials. No one could resist money, which is why the Qi family became the local tyrants.

Not to mention he is just an assistant nowadays, even if he was a general in the past, he would have to be polite in front of the Qi family.

The steward was afraid of offending the powerful man in front of him and damaging the reputation of the Qi family. He approached and whispered, "He is not from our line of business."

Boss Deng frowned, his inner curiosity growing stronger as he pressed on, "How could someone who isn't from our line of work be able to come to the island? We all know that the Qi family has fallen on hard times. Could it be that they have fallen to this point?"

The manager smiled bitterly and revealed the other party's origins, no longer keeping it a secret: "He is from the Wang family army."

"them?"

When he heard that it was Wang’s army, Boss Deng paused, then sneered.

"Who are the Wang family army members? How did they get to the island?"

When the manager saw the other party's posture, he felt something was wrong.

Just when the manager was getting nervous, Boss Deng on the opposite side calmed down and stopped making trouble. He asked his men to move the goods quickly and rest early.

Busy all night.

The goods were finally moved. Because of the Qi family's decades of reputation, Boss Deng didn't have to worry about what happened next. The goods were very safe, and the Qi family would hand them over to the sea merchants who came to pick them up.

Boss Deng returned to the boat with dozens of his men. The boat docked at the shore. Everyone was tired after a long day, so they decided to have a good sleep and sail home tomorrow.

"The man surnamed Wang is on the island."

Boss Deng and several of his trusted subordinates were drinking wine and eating meat.

"Who is surnamed Wang?"

"The one with the surname Wang in the Wang family army."

"Wow."

One of the leaders was so frightened that he couldn't hold the bowl anymore, and it fell on the wooden board of the cabin and rolled into the corner.

No one laughed at him.

Someone stammered, "General Wang?"

Boss Deng narrowed his eyes.

A sneer on his face.

"I didn't expect that I would be so lucky this time and actually run into Wang. Many of our brothers have fallen into his hands, but now he's in our hands. We can't let him get away."

Seeing the expressions of his men, Boss Deng became furious and cursed, "What are you afraid of? He only brought three or five people with him. We have seventy or eighty people, and we also have guns. Even if he has three heads and six arms, he won't be able to escape this time."

"That's General Wang."

"We killed two thousand Japanese pirates, and only three of our own men died."

Some people were frightened and panicked.

"It's worthless."

"He's not a god. Even if he were, we'd have to skin him alive tonight. If we don't take advantage of his downfall to kill him, what if he makes a comeback someday? How can we still have a good life?"

In the end, interests come first.

Because of the emergence of Wang's army, all the powerful people had a hard time in the past year or so. They dared not show off too much for fear that they would attract attention.

(End of this chapter)