I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 4: Use the other person's way to repay the other person's kindness

As the shipwreck was found, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Zhao Zicheng with gratitude.

Zhao Zi said he still didn't dare to relax, and he didn't forget to confirm with Deng Yue: "Did you see clearly? Did the boat sink or capsize?"

Deng Yue wiped the water while reporting in detail: "Mr. Zhao is truly as foresighted as a god. The boat really sank! It's upside down!"

"That's good." Zhao Zicheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then hurried to report.

A few minutes later, he arrived at Zhu Zhen's boat and got straight to the point:
"Mr. Zhu, the sunken ship has been found. It is indeed submerged in the water. Judging by common sense, it probably leaked first and then sank. Mr. Zhu, please send someone to dive and inspect it to see if there are any holes in the bottom or sides of the ship."

Seeing that he was so organized and had clear ideas, Zhu Jie had more trust in what he said.

But verification was still necessary, so Zhu Zhen winked at Dong Chao, who was standing by. Dong Chao waved his hand, and more than a dozen elite sailors from the Xiang army took off their coats and prepared to dive for inspection.

Zhao Zicheng took the opportunity to add, "My lord, we just saw the anchor stones that were thrown down earlier in the morning, but the ropes binding the anchor stones were cut by the sharp blades, so the floating barrels drifted away.

Fortunately, the student was good at math and found the shipwreck using another method, so the important matter was not missed. From this, it seems that someone may not want you to find the shipwreck and want to cover up something. This point can also be carefully reviewed by them."

When Zhu Zhen heard these words, his pupils finally shrank involuntarily.

He knew all too well the tricks used by his men.

So after thinking for just a few seconds, Zhu Zhen turned around and looked at the chief steward Duan Ming.

This time, Duan Ming really couldn't withstand Zhu Zhen's pressure and his legs went weak.

In fact, the moment Zhao Zicheng said that he had found the shipwreck, Duan Ming's face was pale, he was sweating profusely, and he was on the verge of collapse.

Zhu Jie's look was just the last straw that broke the camel's back.

When Zhu Zhen saw the ugliness of this fellow, the wrinkles on his cheeks twitched, but he coldly scolded the sailors:
"You bunch of thieves, why don't you get in the water and check it out! What are you waiting for?"

The sailors were afraid of becoming the target of their superior's anger, so they jumped into the water like dumplings.

……

Half an incense stick later, the sailors returned to the ship one after another.

Zhu Jie asked gloomily, "What's the situation?"

The sailors reported respectfully, "Sir, the boat is indeed sunk at the bottom of the lake. There's a hole at the bottom left, and it doesn't look like it was caused by a collision, but more like it was cut by an axe. We also found the anchor stones used to tie the hemp ropes, and the broken ends look like they were cut by a sharp blade."

Zhu Zhen's face turned pale. He calmed his breath, turned to the controlled Duan Ming, and asked coldly, "How many years have you been with me?"

Duan Ming was shaking like a sieve, but he didn't dare not answer: "Six...six or seven years."

Zhu Zhen let out a cold smile: "I promoted you from a minor clerk in the warehouse to the chief, and this is how you repay me?"

Duan Ming was terrified, but he still gritted his teeth and insisted on quibbling: "My husband, this is all an accident. Maybe the boat really leaked, and I was negligent in supervision, but I have no reason to deceive you!
If the ship sank, even if I wasn't primarily responsible, I would still be held responsible for the damages. How could I possibly do something like this that would only bring disaster upon myself?

"How could you do such a thing? Of course it's because you're greedy and want to embezzle this fortune!"

Zhu Jie was so angry that he laughed and raised his hand to give Duan Ming a big slap. After the slap, his hand felt painful and he clenched his fist tightly.

Duan Ming's cheek was swollen, but he still knelt on the ground and tried to deny it desperately: "It's unfair! My husband, it's unfair. I would never dare to lie to you!"

Zhao Zicheng, who was standing by, saw the tricks of the master and the slave and thought to himself:

"Yes, Duan Ming must have known that if he admitted to intentionally deceiving and causing the accident, he would definitely die, and his entire family would be implicated.

So even if Zhu Jie has already obtained preliminary evidence, as long as the boat has not been salvaged and no conclusive evidence has been obtained, Duan Ming must try his best and hold on to the end.

According to Zhu Jie, the transport of flowers and stones this time seemed to include not only rockery and rare trees for the emperor, but also some other valuables.

Duan Ming's motive for committing the crime was likely to be his eye on this unexpected windfall, hoping to stumble upon an inside job... But this reason isn't quite enough. Being favored by Zhu Zhen is like having a golden rice bowl, so why would he take such a risk to make a quick buck?

While Zhao Zicheng was thinking in his mind, Zhu Zhen also slapped Duan Ming several times in succession. When his hands hurt, he ordered his personal guards to whip him with guns.

But even though Duan Ming was beaten until his body was covered in blood, he still insisted on biting his tongue and refused to let go.

If you keep your mouth shut, you might survive, but if you admit it, you'll be doomed immediately.

"You're really not crying until you see the coffin. Fine, I'll make sure you die with a clear conscience! Dong Chao, first, salvage all the boxes and cages on the boat, then try to salvage the hull as well, and see if there's any other evidence!"

Zhu Zhen was too lazy to argue with the other party, so he ordered to arrange the salvage first.

There are a lot of treasures on the ship, and even if it is not for the purpose of punishing Duan Ming, we must try our best to salvage them.

Dong Chao immediately roared in agreement, and then directed the sailors to work. A group of people took ropes and hooks and went into the water.

Originally, Zhu Zhen wanted to let the people brought by Zhao Zicheng and Murong Yan to salvage the body directly, but the situation changed. There was a family scandal within the Yingfeng Bureau, and he didn't want to be laughed at by outsiders, so he temporarily changed his mind and let the Xiang army under the militia take action.

Zhao Zicheng didn't want to be too conspicuous, so he just kept a low profile and pretended to enjoy the scenery. If Zhu Zhen could handle it himself, that would be the best.

The time waiting for the salvage results always seems so long.

The Xiang army sailors put in a lot of effort and worked hard for more than a quarter of an hour. They dived to tie many ropes and hooks to the heavy objects in the sunken ship, and then directed the soldiers on the big ship to pull hard.

Unfortunately, in the end, they only fished out some small odds and ends. As for the rockery and the dozens of largest and heaviest boxes in the ship, none of them were fished out.

During the whole process, several hemp ropes were broken.

Zhu Zhen became impatient and could not help but take out his horsewhip and severely whipped several of the army commanders who took the lead in diving.

"You filthy bastard! So many people can't even pull a few boxes! If you don't have enough strength, just add more people! Do you need me to teach you this?"

Several junior officers were beaten until their faces were covered in blood and they begged for mercy:
"Forgive me, sir! It's not that we didn't try hard, it's just that the boxes are too heavy, and it's hard to use force underwater. The ropes are blocked by the cabin, so we can't pull them straight up and down."

"We've already added more people, but it's no use. Several ropes were tied to the same large box, but when we pulled it up, the force on each rope was different, so they broke one after another."

Zhu Zhen was very annoyed after hearing these sophistry. He didn't understand the right and wrong of these technologies, so he could only continue to use high pressure to force them.

Zhao Zi said that he listened to the officers' cries and knew that what they said was true and they were not shirking responsibility.

Lifting heavy objects has been a complex undertaking since ancient times. Even with cranes of later generations, it was crucial to ensure that each cable carried an even load. Otherwise, the load would be easily broken apart, creating a "calabash boy saving his grandfather" situation.

He couldn't help but think to himself, "Since Zhu Jie's men can't handle it, this job will definitely fall on us in the end. We might as well take the initiative. This will not only do a favor to those innocent soldiers, but also prevent Zhu Jie from getting angry after repeated setbacks."

So he coughed lightly and took the initiative to speak out:

"Please calm down, Prime Minister Zhu. What these soldiers said is indeed reasonable. They have tried their best. It is not their fault that they failed to fish it out."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone on the boat looked at Zhao Zicheng in surprise.

Over the years, no one in Suzhou dared to persuade the furious Zhu Jie in this way.

Everyone has become accustomed to Zhu Zhen being the local emperor of Jiangnan.

From the deputy commander of the militia, to the group of officers of the wing army, to the ordinary sailors, everyone looked at Zhao Zicheng with admiration.

Even the county magistrate in the cabin couldn't help but secretly open the porthole to peek at what was happening outside.

Zhu Zhen was also stunned, and then he remembered that there was a stranger on the boat.

Zhao Zicheng had been very low-key just now, standing far away in a corner of the deck, so much so that Zhu Jie ignored him.

"Do you want to stand up for them?" Zhu Zhen walked up to Zhao Zicheng and teased him with interest, as if he had thought of something funny. Zhao Zicheng said:
"My lord, you are well-read and talented, and you are also skilled in garden construction. You should also know that when lifting heavy objects, the most important thing to avoid is uneven force. If the force is uneven, the ropes will break one after another, and no matter how many ropes you have, it will be useless. Therefore, this is indeed not the soldiers' fault."

Zhu Zhen stared at Zhao Zicheng for a moment, his expression becoming playful, and then he pointed his spear and cursed with a smile:
"Well, you're brave! You must be confident in your ability to say that. Then you take command. If you can pull it out, I'll commend you for your accomplishment."

As for what would happen if the fish could not be fished out, Zhu Jie was even too disdainful to say it, but everyone knew it in their hearts.

The officers and sailors who were whipped couldn't help but worry for Zhao Zicheng when they heard this.

"This young man is truly righteous. Seeing us being whipped, he still dares to speak up for justice. It's a pity that he himself can't protect himself. Alas."

Zhao Zicheng did not refuse. Since things had come to this point, there was no way to avoid it. It would be better to get it done and settle the account as soon as possible.

He walked to the side of the ship and shouted at Murong Yan's boats:
"Brother Murong, throw all the empty buckets I asked you to prepare into the water."

On the small boat opposite, Murong Yan and Yang Zhi had been waiting for Zhao Zicheng's order. Upon hearing the words, they did not dare to hesitate at all and immediately threw all the large empty barrels into the lake.

Zhu Jie's men watched the fun from the side and soon noticed something unusual.

Zhao Zicheng had prepared large barrels, each of which was tied with two thick hemp ropes, one of which was empty and the other was tied with a stone.

The stones were much smaller than the wooden barrels, but they were heavy. After the two were tied together and thrown into the water, most of the wooden barrels were slowly dragged to the bottom of the lake. Hundreds of them were thrown into the water.

Zhu Zhen didn't understand what was going on. Curious, he could only ask, "What's the point? Are all these barrels just going to sink into the lake for nothing?"

Zhao Zicheng did not explain much and directly ordered Dong Chao: "Dong Tuanlian, have your soldiers go into the water, move those barrels to the vicinity of the sunken ship, and tie the empty rope to the heavy object you want to tow.

After tying it tightly, cut the hemp rope that holds the stone, and be careful not to drop the stone onto the sunken ship, but rather onto the lakebed nearby. This way, the excess buoyancy of the barrel is transferred from the stone to the object being salvaged, making it much easier to drag the object.

Dong Chao had never been educated and did not understand these explanations, so he just glanced at Zhu Jie, and seeing that Zhu Jie had no objection, he followed Zhao Zicheng's orders.

A group of sailors strictly followed the orders, dived into the water, found the empty barrels, tied them to the large boxes to be salvaged, and then cut the rope between the barrels and the stones.

Each large wooden barrel can provide at least hundreds of kilograms of redundant buoyancy. No matter how heavy the cargo is, even a whole box of gold, as long as a few more barrels are tied to provide thousands of kilograms of buoyancy, it can be easily moved underwater.

The sailors worked for a while and this time they finally lived up to everyone's expectations. They fished out several large boxes one after another, and there were no more accidents of the hemp ropes being broken.

As the first batch of boxes were piled onto the deck of Zhu Jie's boat, his expression finally grew serious, and he thought to himself:

"This scholar has some talent. Although his strategies are all ingenious, the Yingfeng Bureau does need such talent."

Zhu Zhen himself started out as a construction worker and was not a Confucian official, so he did not have any contempt for "strange and tricky skills".

Zhao Zicheng's clever ideas finally made him appreciate them.

He coughed lightly, calmed himself down, and then politely asked, "How did Master Zhao come up with this idea?"

The officials and soldiers nearby were also quite surprised: Mr. Zhu actually changed his words and called the scholar "Mr. Zhao"?
Zhao Zicheng could certainly hear the change in the other party's attitude, but he didn't want to ruin his reputation, so he answered calmly:

"How difficult is that? It just requires some math. Back when Cao Chong weighed an elephant, he essentially broke down the buoyancy of the entire boat into its own components and used that for weighing.

Today's method is nothing more than the reverse application of Cao Chong's method of weighing the elephant. Using hundreds of empty buckets and stones, we can reduce the lack of buoyancy of the entire boat to zero and pull up the heavy object in the water.

Zhu Zhen nodded, thoughtfully: "So, can this method also be used to directly pull the entire rockery out of the water?"

Zhao Zicheng confidently affirmed: "Taihu stone is loose and porous, and is slightly lighter than ordinary stone. The pits and holes on the surface are also convenient for tying ropes. You can even stuff an entire wooden barrel into it to drain the lake water.

Besides, other heavy objects on the sunken ship can be salvaged in batches in advance to reduce the total weight. So as long as there are enough barrels and the operation is done properly, there will naturally be no problem."

Zhu Zhen pondered it carefully and finally figured out the principle behind it, which made him feel completely relieved. He then ordered Dong Chao and others to carry out Zhao Zicheng's orders immediately.

The technical principles have been figured out, and what follows is just some repetitive physical work, so there is nothing much to elaborate on.

The sailors of the Xiang army began to work hard, and everyone was completely impressed by Zhao Zicheng's talent.

"This Mr. Zhao is truly both righteous and resourceful. If it weren't for him today, who knows how things would have turned out. Sigh."

"He was able to think of reversing Cao Chong's method of weighing an elephant and applying it in a different way. This young master Zhao's wisdom must be comparable to Zhuge Liang in the Pinghua novel."

The soldiers were busy salvaging the rockery, and Zhu Jie himself had nothing to do, so he started by checking the large boxes that had been salvaged.

Originally, Zhu Zhen planned to let Zhao Zicheng stay away, but now that he felt that Zhao Zicheng was worth winning over, in order to show his sincerity, he deliberately did not send him away.

Zhu Zhen first took a few glances at the outside of the box. The seals and wax seals were still intact. Although they were soaked by water, he was still able to confirm that the seals had not been opened and the locks on the box were also in place.

Zhu Jie himself had the keys to these locks, so he asked his confidant to get the keys, and directly removed the seals to open the locks for inspection.

Before opening the lid of the box, Zhu Zhen took a deep breath, closed his eyes and prepared himself mentally.

After opening it and looking up, Zhu Jie's cheeks twitched involuntarily again, and his face turned completely ashen.

There were actually some lead blocks in the box!

At this moment, how could Zhu Jie not understand?

Even Zhao Zicheng, who was standing next to him, understood immediately: Duan Ming had never loaded the treasures entrusted to him by Zhu Zhen onto the ship! They had already been swapped before the ship set sail.

Sinking the boat and sinking the boxes into the lake is just a trick to settle accounts similar to "fire dragon burning the cabin".

Of the two responsible persons, one civil and one military, Yang Zhi, who was in charge of the armed escort, had no idea what was inside the box. He just wanted to deliver the box to Tokyo with its seals and locks intact.

Even though the box was sealed intact, the things inside were swapped. There is no doubt that Duan Ming is 100% responsible for this.

If I hadn't been careful, I would have been succeeded by this guy today.

Now, Duan Ming got what he deserved. His false accusation was exposed and he was punished on the spot.

This can be considered a way of giving someone a taste of your own medicine.

When he saw these boxes with intact seals being opened, Duan Ming finally became completely desperate and no longer had even a glimmer of hope for survival.

He collapsed to the ground like mud, his lower body soaked with semen and emitting a foul odor of incontinence.

Zhu Zhen glanced at Duan Ming, then turned and told Zhao Zi, "Go back and tell Yang Zhi and that Murong kid that today's disaster is not their fault."

Zhao Zicheng bowed and returned to Murong Yan's boat to tell everyone the good news.

"Envoy Yang, Brother Murong, today's incident has been confirmed to be Duan Ming's embezzlement.

Although there are still some details that need to be investigated, such as how he committed the crime and why he took the risk, at least your suspicion has been cleared.

Zhu Jie also said that Yang Zhishi's position would not be affected.

Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Especially Yang Zhi, his situation has been up and down in one day today. He thought he was going to be convicted several times, but he didn't expect to be able to escape danger in the end.

He clenched his fists tightly and bowed to Zhao Zicheng, saying, "Master Zhao, your kindness is like a rebirth. Today, Yang has escaped punishment and retained his position. It is not right for me to serve you privately."

But as long as you need me in the future, I will go through fire and water, and I will never frown!

Murong Yan also bit his lips tightly and looked at Zhao Zicheng with moist eyes. He wanted to say some words of gratitude, but he was not good at speaking.

(End of this chapter)