Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 372 Ah Zhen is serious.

Upon seeing Cai Luantou again, Shao Shuyi felt a sense of loss, realizing that things had changed.

In the spring of the third year of the Zhizheng era, he was carrying sacks at the Zhangjing Haichang warehouse. At that time, many ships from Wenzhou and Taizhou were moored on the Loujiang River, including Cai Luantou's.

Because the transport capacity of the Wenzhou and Taizhou Thousand-Household Office was insufficient, the local government ordered many privately owned boats to participate in the canal transport. At that time, Cai Luantou brought a large number of boats to fulfill his orders. Because of the corrupt currency and water transport fees, he even got angry, saying that the imperial court was not paying enough water transport fees because the boats from Wenzhou and Taizhou came empty-handed, and that there was a lot of corrupt currency.

It is now autumn of the seventh year of the Zhizheng era. Four and a half years have passed, and the situation in the world has undergone tremendous changes. The positions of Shao and Cai have also been reversed.

But who is Shao the bandit? He put on a smile, strode forward, grabbed Li Daweng with his left hand and Cai Luantou with his right, and said with a smile, "Although I live in Jiangyin, I know your reputation. Today I see that you are indeed heroic and valiant men. Come, come, come quickly with me into the stronghold. Tea and wine have been prepared. I just want to get to know you two better."

Li Daweng's expression was slightly unnatural.

However, he was also a man who could let go easily, and he laughed, "I've wanted to meet Shao She for a long time. Such a demeanor is rare in the world, and he is sure to have a bright future. I'm just lucky to have met him."

By saying he wanted to "benefit" from the situation, Li Da-weng implicitly placed himself in a subordinate position, thus making his stance clear.

Shao Shuyi immediately returned the favor, smiling and saying, "We will have to rely on Lord Li a lot for matters at sea."

"Of course, of course," said Li Daweng.

At this moment, Cai Luantou subtly withdrew his hand.

Shao Shuyi's expression remained unchanged as he said, "This must be Master Cai, right? Actually, we met once before."

.

Cai Luantou was taken aback.

Shao Shuyi smiled and recounted the events of the spring of the third year of the Zhizheng era.

Cai Luantou suddenly realized what was happening, and then couldn't help but say, "Are you laughing at me?"

Upon hearing this, Li Daweng's expression changed drastically, and he repeatedly gave him meaningful glances.

Cai Luantou acted as if he hadn't seen anything, and even slightly raised his chin.

The soldiers in yellow armor standing in formation around him, holding long spears, stared intently at him, as if they would take down this tactless person at the slightest provocation.

Shao Shuyi shook his head and chuckled, saying, "Back then, Master Cai was such a distinguished figure, truly captivating. I wanted to befriend him then, but my lowly status prevented me from doing so. Today, I finally have the chance; I'll definitely have a good drink with him later."

Upon hearing this, Cai Luantou slowly lowered his chin, looked directly at Shao Shuyi, and said, "Forget it. Life's circumstances are like the sea breeze, unpredictable. I'm in dire straits and have come to you for help. I hope you'll treat me and my brothers well. If you do that, I'll protect you, what's a little reward?"

Upon hearing this, Shao Shuyi was overjoyed and immediately ordered, "Start the banquet quickly, don't keep our distinguished guests waiting. Also, provide the young men brought by the two heroes with wine and meat, and treat them well."

Yu Chu stood aside and immediately turned around to give instructions. Actually, it wouldn't be much faster. He was just putting on an act. At least he had to make people see that he valued them.

Shao Shuyi then pulled the two men into the office of a naval commander and sat down to talk.

He is never stingy with providing emotional value to capable or helpful people, and he is very tolerant of them.

At the beginning of a business, when you need people, how can you attract talent if you don't do this?

After the three sat down, Shao Shuyi had someone brew Dragon and Phoenix Tea and bring it over.

Upon seeing this, Cai Luantou said, "I robbed several dozen kilograms of it off the coast of Qingyuan before the New Year. It was destined for Japan, but it was later stolen by Duoerzhiban."

Shao Shuyi didn't understand what he meant by those words. Was it because he had too much pride or competitiveness, and wanted to compare everything? This Cai Luantou is quite interesting.

Li Daweng seemed to have had enough of Cai Luantou's brashness and interrupted, saying, "Shao She, we have come here with seven boats and over 160 households, most of whom were brought by Luantou. I only have about 20 households here. From now on, we will all be working for you. If you need anything, just let me know. Since I eat your food, I will naturally do things for you."

"I remember how much Mr. Li has helped me in the past," Shao Shuyi said. "Since you're here, make the best of it and stay here. From now on, we're all brothers. We'll work together and prosper together."

Li Da Weng bowed respectfully.

"I'm a man of clear distinctions between gratitude and resentment—" Before Shao Shuyi could even ask, Cai Luantou blurted out, "If you treat my people well and like your own brothers, what's wrong with me fighting for you? Otherwise, I'll leave."

After saying that, as if remembering something, or perhaps having been troubled by this question before, he asked, "Everyone has families to support and lives to make. Do you have any money or food to distribute?"

Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised. Could it be that Cai Luantou couldn't afford to pay wages in the past?

Under Shao Shuyi's intense gaze, Cai Luantou felt slightly awkward and said, "I have been roaming the seas for many years, and I have never mistreated my own brothers."

"You idiot, will you die if you don't spout nonsense?" Li Daweng couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Two years ago when you first started your rebellion, you had no less than two thousand men. When you were finally granted amnesty, you only had three to five hundred. Did all the missing men die?"

Cai Luantou couldn't hold back any longer and glared angrily at Li Daweng.

Shao Shuyi waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "We're brothers, how can we ruin our harmony?"

After speaking, he explained the treatment of his own land and naval forces.

When Cai Luantou learned that the naval officers were not full-time and only received half pay, he was a little unhappy, but he didn't say anything more.

Shao Shuyi smiled, looking confident and assured.

Actually, he was a little apprehensive. There was no way around it; this expansion had been too rapid, and the number of soldiers under his command had surged.

Although the naval soldiers are not full-time recruits and need to work to support their families, you still need to find them work.

If it's just about water transport and sales, there's absolutely no need for so many people.

A knife-fish ship can carry eighty soldiers, but if it were a cargo ship of the same size, eighteen would be enough—or perhaps not even that many.

If we let them fish, their livelihood would be too unstable.

Shao Shuyi had observed firsthand how fishermen in Ma Tuo Sha lived their lives. In fact, fishing alone couldn't support a family. They often harvested reeds and cattails to weave mats for sale, cultivated vegetable gardens, planted mulberry and bamboo trees, raised poultry, and even occasionally did odd jobs. It was a very hard life.

The fishing industry is already saturated, unless you go to the seaside during the fishing season.

Therefore, unless Shao Shuyi supports all the naval soldiers as full-time recruits, he must solve their employment problem.

This is not simple.

However, Shao Shuyi is now completely unfazed and doesn't care about the future. He'll deal with the future later. Anyway, this opportunity is so good that it's impossible not to recruit a large number of soldiers. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

It's a bit like stock trading. Most of the time, things don't really improve. The real upward wave only lasts a few days, wiping out the gains of several months or half a year. If you miss it, you're doomed.

This trip to Liujiagang is Shao's "main upward wave." Regardless of any unusual movements, he'll just push the price up first and figure out what to do later.

As for what methods to use, we'll try everything, legal or illegal. At this point, I'm not going to worry about anything else.

The three then discussed matters in eastern Zhejiang.

Li Daweng mentioned that Fang Guozhen had already occupied Changguo Prefecture, using it as a resting place for his troops and a transit base for supplies.

"This man is actually not very capable. If the imperial court were willing to offer him amnesty, Changguo Prefecture would immediately relinquish it," Li Daweng commented. "However, although he is single-mindedly focused on amnesty, he probably has a bottom line in his mind. If the imperial court tries to fool him with a low-ranking official like a county magistrate, registrar, or county lieutenant, it probably won't work."

Shao Shuyi nodded slightly. This was consistent with his understanding of Fang Guozhen, who was indeed eager to be recruited to the government to bring glory to his ancestors, but was unwilling to accept a minor official position. He just didn't know what kind of official position could satisfy Fang Guozhen's appetite in the autumn of the seventh year of the Zhizheng era.

"Occupying Changguo Prefecture will immediately lead to their eye on Songjiang Prefecture," Cai Luantou said. "They might even make a trip to Liujiagang. If it were me, I definitely would. But that coward Fang Guozhen might not be so sure."

Shao Shuyi chuckled inwardly, thinking, "Fang Guozhen is smarter than you; he knows how to assess the situation."

"Fang Guozhen's outburst isn't a bad thing for us," Shao Shuyi said. "We need him to make a scene now."

As they were talking, the banquet was finally ready, and Shao Shuyi invited the two men and their respective core subordinates to take their seats, so that they could get to know each other over the drinks.

The food and drink were quite plentiful. There was no other way; Shao Shuyi had collected 6,000 ingots of paper money and 4,000 shi of grain in August and September, and most of it was left over. His pockets were bulging, so naturally he didn't need to be too frugal.

In a while, Shanghai County will also send him money and supplies. This business is really good. Even Shao doesn't want Fang Guozhen to be recruited too early. You hold on for a few more months and give me time to complete the troops' reorganization and training.

Other heroes in the world should not slacken their efforts either.

In July, Wu Tianbao led his troops to capture two cities in Yuanzhou Road, "leaving no place untouched by fire and loot."

Sha Ban, the Right Vice Minister of Huguang, led a large army, but his movements were surprisingly slow. He claimed to be suppressing bandits, but in reality, he was waging a "silent war." After the two cities were burned and looted, he had no more reason to delay and could only bite the bullet and lead a group of demoralized garrison troops to press on.

If this battle is lost, reinforcements will inevitably have to be transferred from other places.

The overall environment is getting better and better.

Just as Shao continued to hide, someone couldn't stand it anymore and decided not to let him hide any longer.

On September 28, dozens of ships appeared at the mouth of the Wusong River, looking menacing.

Meanwhile, an even larger number of ships bypassed Shanghai and headed straight for the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Upon arriving at this place, the destination was almost certain: Liujiagang.

Everyone wanted to visit the Six Kingdoms Wharf, and this was beyond anyone's control, not even Fang Guozhen's.

However, Lao Fang still made one last effort, sending someone ashore to deliver a letter, which makes people wonder if Fang Guozhen couldn't withstand the internal pressure and was dragged here.

Meanwhile, Liujiagang had already received the news two days in advance. All the ships panicked and fled into the Loujiang River, heading upstream. The port was deserted and desolate.