Chapter 129: Suppressing the "bandits" (Part 1)

The inn where Wang Lusheng stayed in Yangzhou was a safe residence in the north of the city. After inquiring, he only knew that a horse housekeeper had left a few days ago. I heard that my mother at home was seriously ill and quit her job and returned to her hometown.

Although he had his father's handwritten letter in his arms, Cao Yong had no plans to use the Cheng family for the time being. Although the two friends who Wei Xin knew were not as powerful as the Cheng family, it was not a problem to explore the city's territory. On the eighth day of the fifth month, Chen Shi, the fourth young master of the Zhao family in the west of Yangzhou, took people out to run over horses and came back in the afternoon; the chief manager of the Lu family in the south of the city took dozens of guards to Tianshui, Anhui; Du Laoba of the Caogang Yangzhou Wharf also took people out of the city, but he took a boat to Zhenjiang, and had some minor friction with Zhenjiang Wharf. In addition, Yangzhou City did not send dozens of people to the day.

Among the three families, it seemed that only the fourth young master of the Zhao family was suspected. However, after spending some money, he bribed two of the servants who followed Mr. Zhao from that day to leave the city, and learned about the itinerary. Where was the hunting place? It was just that the fourth young master took a guest to a garden outside the city to drink wine without telling his elders. The guest was a young man, and the servant didn't know his name, but only knew that the fourth young master respected the man very much and called the man "Second Brother". In the afternoon, the "Second Brother" did not come back with the fourth young master, and seemed to have a beauty and "sleeping" in the garden outside the city.

When Wei Xin and Cao Yong got the news, Cao Fang had already reported the case and brought a rank in the yamen, two constables and a sedan chair. Zhao Hongyu, the governor of Yangzhou Prefecture, came. He came to Yangzhou in March last year. It was a coincidence that Zhao Hongyu was a white flag and happened to be a disciple of the Prince Chun County Mansion. If we talk about the master's fate, Cao Yong was exactly half of his master.

Last year, the eldest princess of Chun County Prince's Mansion pointed out that the Cao family was married, and Zhao Hongyu knew that it was certainly known. In addition to sending gifts to the capital, the Cao family in Jiangning naturally did not fall behind. In this regard, he and the Cao family were no longer outsiders, so naturally the official became more and more down-to-earth.

But unexpectedly, if something happened, a mistake was made. More than 20 people in the Yangzhou area were kidnapped by bandits in broad daylight. But they were not good at moving, and they were still distant relatives of the Cao family. I could not vaguely hear that the Cao family has also operated the pearl business in the past two years, and it turned out that they had a relationship with the Wang family in Shandong.

Although Cao Yong and Wei Xin stood side by side, Zhao Hongyu recognized which one was Cao Yong at a glance, and couldn't help but mutter, "I can't blame the master for the Grand Prince to the Cao family. Did he take a fancy to his appearance?" His face was still a harmonious person. After all, Cao Yong had not married the Grand Prince, so he didn't have to call himself a "slave". He said, "How dare you bother the Grand Prince? There are such bandits under Zhao's jurisdiction, and I feel guilty. Please rest assured. Zhao will do his best to find the bandits to save the noble relatives as soon as possible!"

Before Cao Yong came to Yangzhou, Cao Yin had already mentioned Zhao Hongyu's identity to him, so he was not surprised to be so enthusiastic about him. He smiled and invited him into the house and exchanged greetings.

Zhao Hongyu first asked about Cao Yin's condition, and then mentioned the Chunjun Prince's Mansion in the capital, which naturally made a compliment to Cao Yong's "Imperial Marriage".

This flattery lasted half an hour. Cao Yong was fine, and he was tempered in the capital and listened to the words on these officials. Wei Xin was on the side, but he was so depressed. Because he was facing Cao Yong, Cao Yong happened to see him winking and was secretly amused. In fact, he was also anxious and wanted to go to the crime site as soon as possible, but the scene had to be said. After finally taking two turns to see Zhao Hongyu away, everyone rode out of Yangzhou City.

When he arrived at the woods, Cao Yong secretly felt that it had not rained in the past two days, and there were still dried horse manure on both sides of the road. Since the horses of Wang Lusheng and others were fed to Croton that day, even if they were pulled away, there would inevitably be traces on the road. Moreover, there were dozens of people who were dragged down, it would be impossible to completely hide their whereabouts under the blue sky and the sun.

The two constables, one named Zhang Ying and the other named Han Zhouzheng, were both in their thirties and looked very smart and capable. It seemed that they also thought of the problem of horse manure. Their eyes were lit, one went north and the other went south, and they checked each other and finally gained something. A mile away from the south, they found horse manure similar to that in the forest, and there was also undigested croton.

After searching all the way, I arrived at Tai'an Town ten miles away. After inquiring, a group of horsemen rode over the outskirts of the town the afternoon before yesterday and headed to the "Wangfeng Village" east of the town. Cao Yong and others looked closer and saw that it was a manor built by the river, with a wall of meter high and a yard of two miles square. They could see their private pier from a distance, and there were several boats there.

Cao Yong couldn't help but frowned slightly. If these people were really hiding in it, they would have been likely to flee from the water.

The two constables were obviously very familiar with this area. Zhang Ying pointed to several islands in the middle of the river and introduced to Cao Yong: "Mr. Cao, this is the 'Seven Rivers and Eight Islands' in Yangzhou. There are Gaoshui River, Taiping River, Jinwan River, Fenghuang River, Xinhe River, Gecko River, and Ancient Canal. There are Gecko Island, Phoenix Island, Zizai Peninsula, Mangdao Peninsula, Jinwan Peninsula, Jufeng Island, Xinhe Island and Shanhe Island. The opposite of this farm is Phoenix Island, probably because of this reason, it was named this! It would be fine if the people in this farm have nothing to do with the people on the island. If there is something to do, then things will be difficult!"

Another constable, Han Zhouzheng, also said, "Yes, Master Cao, if we say that our Yangzhou territory was in stagnant, there was a group of murderers coming from somewhere, entrenched in the "Seven Rivers and Eight Islands". Although they were not too arrogant, they always had to commit some cases every now and then. In order to restore the safety of the people, the senior official asked the emperor to transfer the green camp in Yangzhou to suppress the bandits. Because they were not confidential, they knew that

The wind sounded, and the boat left early. When the officers and soldiers retreated for a long time, the people naturally made a comeback, and the government had no choice but to do anything. The green camp soldiers were all old men, so they were reluctant to do anything. They plundered the wealthy families along the coast for some hard work before they could give up. The emperor was extremely loving to the people. Such kindness was disturbing the people, and he was already feeling guilty. Someone took advantage of the situation, but some people took the blame, and somehow they used their relationship, and they gave the adult a charge of "doing bad luck" to demote the official..."

Cao Yong sighed in his heart that since ancient times, "the family of officials and bandits" must be wrong. If there was no power of the government, how could these people dare to take root in this prosperous world? It seems that some people thought that the prefect was troublesome and secretly gave him a stumbling block. The first person Cao Yong thought of was Gali, but he refused. The ex-girl was dismissed from office in March last year, but Gali was still an official in the capital, and the former Governor of Jiangnan was still there.

Since the Green Camp soldiers are not easy to use and it is troublesome to mobilize them, what about the yamen? Yangzhou is a major government, and there should be many yamen runners and constables. Thinking of this, Cao Yong asked Zhang Ying and Han Zhouzheng and said, "I wonder how many people can your mansion send out?"

Zhang Ying and Han Zhouzheng both showed dismay on their faces. Zhang Ying lowered his head and calculated, and shook his head: "I'm sure you don't care about it. There are only thirty or forty people, and many of them have taken the errands. But if Cao can wait until tomorrow, we can gather some more people."

The soldiers are very fast, and they may miss the problem when they put together their hands. Cao Yong bowed to Zhang Ying and Han Zhouzheng and said, "I'll both go back to the yamen and report the matter here to Lord Zhao, and ask him to give him a command to suppress the bandits. We can also be famous for our leadership."

Zhang Ying and Han Zhouzheng were also tactful. The eldest son of the Cao family who could be the servant of the mansion in person was naturally a little attentive: "Don't worry, Master Cao, let's go back soon and bring the yamen's staff as we go!"

Cao Yong smiled and said, "Then I'll bother you. If it's too hot today, I naturally can't make everyone tired. No matter what the result of the bandit suppression, as long as the constable and yamen runners come here, Cao will definitely be rewarded!"

Although the two of them said they didn't dare, they smiled and couldn't stop getting on the horse.

Cao Yong took out his father's letter from his arms and handed it to Cao Fang, asking him to borrow a hundred people from the Cheng family. Then, he asked Wei Xin to find the two friends who knew Du Laoba, and let them borrow ten boats and dozens of people on the water like the Cao Gang.

"Young Master, I don't know what the situation is going on now. If such a bandit is vicious, it is inevitable that there will be a fierce battle. The young master has a noble status and must not come to the dangerous situation in person!" Wei Hei advised from the side.

Xiaoman was also very anxious: "Yes, uncle, this is too hasty. If this farm is really a water bandit on the island, what would happen?" He was ordered by Cao Yong to follow his uncle Cao Yuan to "learn the housekeeper" because of his excessive talk last time. He went to the capital again last month and came back yesterday. He knew that Cao Yong was going to come out, but he refused to leave and followed him out.

"That's right, the young master will just go to the town to drink tea and wait for the news. It's not that I don't believe in the young master's skills. I'm really the old man's hands are itchy and cruel, and I want to take advantage of this Yuzi to start killing. The young master has believed in Buddhism since he was a child, and naturally he can't stand these things!" Wei Bai held a grass stick in his mouth, looking at the farm not far away, with an excited expression on his face.

Cao Yong smiled bitterly, "I believe in Buddhism?" He is just a place where he is. He was just sent to Qingliang Temple for two years to eat. People have also killed him, so why can he be abide by the precepts of killing?" He didn't say much, but just shook his head.

The Wei brothers knew his temper and knew that it would be useless to persuade him, so they had to quietly order more than a dozen guards brought from the mansion. When the battle begins later, it is important to protect the young master. Of course, even if he doesn't need to say it, everyone knows in their hearts that everyone's lives are all on the young master.

After about half an hour, Cao Fang came back first, and there were also hundreds of guards from the Cheng family. They were all strong and powerful, and they looked very imposing. The leader was a man of twenty-seven or eight. He got off the horse and greeted Cao Yong. He said he was a child of the Cheng family, and his name was Cheng Mengkun. He came to the Cao family to wait for the order of his family.

While speaking, more than ten people came from the water from afar. Xiaoman's eyes were pointed and saw the man standing on the boat in front of him. He said to Cao Yong: "Uncle, it's Mr. Wei and the others here!"

When the other ships closed the water in a long and snake-like manner, Cao Yong asked Cheng Mengkun to order the Cheng family to surround the village, and the main person blocked their doors.

Looking at the sky, it was already dusk, and the people in the village seemed to notice something was wrong. Someone looked around. Seeing that something was wrong outside, the door began to close.

Cao Yong became more and more confident. If it were a good family, he would have sent someone to inquire. Isn’t there a ghost in his heart like this or why?

After waiting for another two quarters of an hour, the servants from Yangzhou Prefecture arrived. The people came to get the full amount. In addition to more than thirty yamen runners, Zhao Hongyu and a young man with similar eyes were also here.

Zhao Hongyu was a civil servant, and he seemed to be very upset when riding a horse all the way. However, looking at the shore, a hundred people in the river had surrounded Zhuangzi. His face was full of anxiety and he quickly got off the horse and ran to Cao Yong, pointing to Zhuangzi: "Young Master, this is a flood that has rushed to the Dragon King Temple. This is a misunderstanding!"

Seeing him like this, Cao Yong frowned and said, "Mr. Zhao, what does this mean?"
Chapter completed!