Chapter 5 Chapter Three

Liujiagang, located in Taicang, Jiangsu, was the largest seaport in the Ming Dynasty.Zheng He's seven voyages to the West started from here.However, after Chengzu, pirate activities became more and more rampant, and the imperial court's sea ban became more and more strict.During the Jiajing period, Liujiagang became the only officially permitted seaport in the south. Although it was open and closed depending on the coastal defense situation, merchant ships from the entire south had to gather and distribute here. A storm last night made the harbor filthy.Timber, goods, fish carcasses, and the wreckage of small fishing boats were scattered on the surrounding sea in a mess, gradually decomposing in the sun.

An indescribable smell of blood lingered in the air of the entire port. In the midst of that big storm, there was another bloody case of looting money and throwing corpses near Liujiagang.It was a silk cargo ship returning from Guangzhou.All the jewels and treasures on board were wiped out. The captain, sailors, cooks and the martial arts specially hired by the captain from Henan Huojiaquan, a total of 98 lives were thrown into the sea, leaving no bones. However, the residents of Liujiagang seem to be used to it, and they have no interest in tracking down the murderer, because there are only those pirates who are so cruel and dare to commit crimes in the huge waves.

Residents and business travelers gritted their teeth at them and called them "Japanese pirates".Wo, of course, refers to the Japanese.It is undeniable that there are not many Japanese inside, and most of them are Chinese bandits wandering at sea.They worked hand in hand with the Japanese ronin, crossed the sea, and became more and more powerful. The imperial court sent troops several times to destroy them. The two generals Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou moved to the coast for more than ten years, but they always came back to life like a knife cutting leeks. This group of Japanese pirates near Liujiagang is undoubtedly the most powerful branch of Japanese pirates in the entire coastal area.They are not a gang, but ever since they appeared in the nearby waters, the original sea gangs have been chased away by them. If they don't want to leave, they will have their hands and feet bound and thrown into the sea.The power of those Japanese pirates can be imagined if they can wipe out all the seventy-eight gangs in the vicinity within a few months.

Such major cases have happened repeatedly, and the local officials in Liujiagang have long been unable to intervene. The only way is to ban the port.In the past two days, not even a cargo ship was seen on the long coast of Liujiagang, only some anxious businessmen were inquiring about the weather and the news of the lifting of the imperial ban. Most people in the port sighed, because in recent years, it is common for sea bans to last for two months.Many business travelers who have been delayed for two months say that they have lost all their money, even if they don't even have enough money to go home, so how can they not be in a hurry?

However, the richest customer in Liujiagang is not in a hurry to go to sea. He is Yu Qingyang, the third son of the Yu family in Jiangnan.He was taking Acacia and Bu Xiaoluan, drinking tea leisurely in a restaurant near the sea. Bu Xiaoluan is going out for the first time in sixteen years, and she is extremely curious about everything.She put her colored sleeves under her cheeks, leaned against the railing, and looked at the vendors downstairs with interest, as if the various odds and ends in their hands were the most interesting things in the world. But she immediately saw something more interesting.

It was an old man holding a piccolo in one hand and a bamboo basket in the other. The man's crooked body was covered with a piece of sackcloth, which was already so dirty that the background color could not be seen. The wrinkles on his face were layered upon layer, as if he was a hundred years old.He casually walked up the stairs, chatted with some well-dressed guests, and raised his piccolo and bamboo baskets to make gestures from time to time, as if he wanted to perform something, and after hitting a few nails, he went straight to Bu Xiaoluan. He came up to Bu Xiaoluan, raised the bamboo basket with one hand, and tapped the piccolo with the other, and said in a hoarse voice, "Little girl, let me show you some interesting things, all I need is one tael of silver."

Bu Xiaoluan smiled and nodded, then shook his head again. The old man was a little surprised: "Don't you want to see it?" Bu Xiaoluan said: "I want to, but I don't know what a tael of silver is." After speaking, seeing the old man's expression, he couldn't help pulling his sleeves and laughing out loud. The old man thought she was entertaining himself, but after seeing her giggling and laughing, he probably realized that this beautiful little girl was an idiot.So he said: "You don't know, but the young master next to you must know." Then he glanced at Zhuo Wangsun from the corner of his eye.

Bu Xiaoluan raised his head and said, "Brother, do you know?" Zhuo Wangsun said: "If you want to see it, let him show it to you. As for the money, you don't need to know." Bu Xiaoluan nodded obediently: "My brother asked you to show it to me." The old man chuckled: "Since Brother Ling has spoken, I promise to make you happy watching, little girl." "Who is Brother Ling?" Bu Xiaoluan was startled, then laughed again: "Grandpa, you speak so strangely that I can't even understand you. Brother said that you will meet many foreigners when you come out this time. Could it be that you are the old man?" ?”

The old man didn't answer, he sat cross-legged on the ground, put the bamboo basket flat between his legs, and then pressed the piccolo to his lips, a strange and low flute sound immediately hovered from his lips. Bu Xiaoluan held his breath and didn't even blink his eyes, only to see that suddenly, the bamboo basket moved, and a blue triangular head slowly crawled out of it. It was a venomous cobra.It opened its eyes and spit out the scarlet letter, its whole body glowed with phosphorescence, and when it saw the sun, it twitched violently a few times, and slowly crawled out of the bamboo basket.

Xiangsi frowned, and Zhuo Wangsun secretly pulled her hand, signaling her not to move.But Bu Xiaoluan was completely unafraid, and moved forward with interest. The snake crawled to the old man's side along with the music, wrapped its tail around the old man's feet, and the snake's body was like a straight rope, climbing towards his chest little by little.The old man smiled strangely on his wrinkled face, and his body swayed slightly. After a while, the sound of the flute became high-pitched and sharp, and the old man's body shook more and more violently.He held the piccolo in both hands, with an invisible rope tied on top of his head, he stood up and sat down slowly, his body twisted and danced with the snake, but his feet remained in the same position as the snake's tail.

Unknowingly, Bu Xiaoluan moved his body forward for a while. The cobra's body suddenly shrank back, its tail slammed on the ground, and it came towards Bu Xiaoluan like an arrow. Bu Xiaoluan let out a cry.Everyone saw a flash of white light, her figure was already three feet away, her pure white skirt was swaying like a startled cloud, but she landed surprisingly steadily.Even so, Bu Xiaoluan was so frightened that his face paled, his chest heaved and heaved, as if he might faint at any moment. At this time, a black marble just caught up with her eyebrows. Her dark eyes stared straight ahead, seemingly forgetting to dodge. A red light on the right slid past Bu Xiaoluan's eyes soundlessly, and the marble was firmly wrapped in a brocade sleeve. Xiangsi pulled Bu Xiaoluan behind her with one hand, supported her sleeve with the other hand, let the marble whirl on it, and said: "The thunderbolt pearl from the Jiangnan Iron Thorn Hall, but the Mixian Yin from the Xiaoyao Palace in the South China Sea is tempered on it." , it seems that you are not an ordinary person." The man was dumbfounded. The weak girl was able to retreat three feet away in the air in a hurry. Easily resolved. He looked at Zhuo Wangsun in surprise, only to see that he didn't look at himself, he stretched out his hand to gently touch Bu Xiaoluan's forehead, and said, "Don't be so careless in the future, if you let that bead explode on your brow, not only will you You immediately lose your eyesight, and even the people upstairs will be fascinated for seven hours." Bu Xiaoluan opened his eyes wide: "Could it be that old man wants to kill me?" Zhuo Wangsun said with a smile: "I'm afraid there is no grandfather with such agility in the world. Do you want to see his real appearance?" Bu Xiaoluan shook his head and said, "No... since he is a bad guy, he must look terrible." Zhuo Wangsun laughed and said, "That's not necessarily true." Bu Xiaoluan still shook her head, she frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly said, "How about...brother, can you kill him for me?" Zhuo Wangsun said with a smile, "It's nothing difficult." The man looked terrified and said, "You, you want me to die?" Bu Xiaoluan tilted her head and asked doubtfully, "Why can you want to kill me, but I can't kill you?" Her expression was full of innocence, as if she was talking about the most natural thing. The man was so choked up by this question that he couldn't speak.He tried his best to swallow his saliva, and said, "Slow down, don't tell me... don't you all ask who sent me here?" Zhuo Wangsun picked up the teacup on the table casually, and said, "Xiaoluan wants you to die, what else do you have to say? Besides, they will come to your door after you die anyway." The tip of the man's nose was soaked with sweat, and he asked, "Who are you?" Zhuo Wangsun said calmly: "Businessman." The man stared fixedly at Xiangsi's sleeve with the thunderbolt beads, seemed to remember something, looked at Xiangsi and said: "So you are Tang Xiuer, the eldest lady of the Tang Sect..." Zhuo Wangsun sighed softly, and said, "So you only know the Tang Sect's hidden weapons." The man lowered his head and said: "The former head of the Iron Thorn Hall left a total of sixty-nine thunderbolt beads when he was dying. After throwing them, they can be detonated with the power of a penny. There were only a dozen or so people, and there were probably no more than five who could reach out and follow them within such a distance. Among these people, the only young woman who was still walking the rivers and lakes was Miss Tang Sect. Miss Tang was young, The means of hidden weapons are no longer under the leadership of Tang. Today, since the eyes do not know Mount Tai, and the crime is in the hands of the eldest lady, I have no choice but to admit it." Zhuo Wangsun smiled indifferently, and said: "Unexpectedly, Qiu Kun, the great thief who traveled alone in Kyushu, claimed to rob the rich and help the poor, and steal goods without killing his life, has now become a running dog of the Japanese pirates." The man was stunned for a moment, his face flushed slightly, and then he sneered and said: "Back then, those false names back then were just eaten by sea dogs!" Zhuo Wangsun put down the teacup, shook his head and said, "Your memory seems to have been eaten by a sea dog. It seems that you will not be able to remember who she is until she returns this thunderbolt bead to you." As soon as the words fell, Xiangsi answered "yes" softly, and the brocade sleeves hanging down did not move at all, and the thunderbolt pearl had already been swept towards her face. The bead was not coming very fast, it was spinning slowly without the slightest sound of wind.Qiu Kun only felt that this bead was spinning erratically in his eyes, gradually turning into hundreds of billions, like a rain of flowers scattered all over the sky.Qiu Kun knew that there was nowhere to hide, so he simply closed his eyes, swung his palms with all his strength, and hit the flower rain at its peak. Suddenly the rain of flowers all over the sky disappeared. I don't know when a girl in green flashed in at the door, standing between the two of them, glaring at Acacia with an angry face - she was holding the dry sky thunderbolt bead in her hand. Xiangsi's complexion changed slightly, although she only used three or four levels of skill in this attack just now, but Huayin Pavilion Shangqin Yuezhu is known as a unique hidden weapon, and these three or four levels of skill are definitely not something ordinary people can handle. That girl had long eyelashes and big eyes, if she wasn't too angry and the corners of her eyes were raised, she would be a rare beauty.She said to Xiangsi coldly: "You shot without even asking, is it because you want to kill someone?" Xiangsi smiled and said: "This girl asked so strangely, why did I kill him to silence him?" The girl in green suddenly stomped her feet and said loudly, "Because you dare to pretend to be Tang Xiuer, the eldest lady of the Tang clan!" Xiangsi smiled and said, "I never said I was Tang Xiu'er." The girl in green glared at her fiercely, then suddenly turned around and threw a large silver plate on the table towards Qiu Kun's head: "You want to run away while taking advantage of it?!" Qiu Kun's martial arts were not weak, but he couldn't dodge this blow, and was smashed to the ground. The girl gained power and refused to give up, grabbed Qiu Kun by the collar and slammed it down again: "Quickly tell me, are you here to scout for Japanese dogs? Who are you going to make your next deal with?" Qiu Kun covered his face, as if the bridge of his nose had been broken, blood flowed all over his face, and his whole body twisted in pain. Even Zhuo Wangsun was surprised by these two actions, because although the girl was young, she came from a famous family, and she was also a well-known figure among the younger generations in the Jianghu.It's just that if she was asked to knock twice, Qiu Kun would really be silenced. At this time, someone nearby said: "Cousin, stop!" While speaking, he stretched out a hand to block the silver plate that was being thrown towards Qiu Kun's face. I don't know when there was a young boy next to him.He was dressed in a blue long gown, and he looked very neat and decent, and his appearance could be called delicate and elegant.The strange thing is that this young man in troubled times is actually carrying a huge wooden box in one hand.The box was half the height of a person, and looked extremely heavy. Although he didn't feel any effort, he always seemed a bit nondescript. The girl didn't stop.Not only did he not stop, but he took advantage of the situation and threw a plate at his hands, angrily said: "Don't worry about it!" The boy seemed to want to hide, but he didn't seem to dare to dodge. He hesitated, but was hit hard, and the back of his hand immediately became red and swollen.The girl was stunned for a moment, her anger seemed to subside a little, she frowned and said, "Cousin, I told you to leave it alone." Qiu Kun took the opportunity and struggled to get up from the ground, hissing: "I, Qiu Kun, was also a famous hero back then, how could I allow you young people like you to be humiliated like this!" Then he gritted his teeth suddenly. "It's broken!" The girl exclaimed, turned around and stretched out her hand to pinch Qiu Kun's jaw.Hearing Qiu Kun's scream, the mandible was pinched off, and two bloody pills were spit out on the girl's palm.The girl leaned over to check for a moment, and said, "He's passed out, why don't you come to help?" The boy frowned, and had no choice but to bend down, grab Qiu Kun's chin, and took out a pill and stuffed it into Qiu Kun's mouth. Unexpectedly, as soon as the medicine was put into his mouth, Qiu Kun immediately woke up, and even his face gradually turned rosy, without the slightest look of being seriously injured just now. The girl raised the silver plate in her hand to him: "Are you going to tell me or not?" Qiu Kun spit out a broken tooth in his mouth with a bah, and gritted his teeth: "Don't say it!" The girl was furious, raised the silver plate and swung it down again. Zhuo Wangsun glanced at him, and sighed: "With this young lady's temper...you'd better answer honestly when she asks you, otherwise it will not be easy to die. What's more, with poison like you, even if you take a second Go in with a catty and a catty, and this young man can save you." The young man glanced at Zhuo Wangsun, but his hands did not relax at all. After a few fiddles, he had connected Qiu Kun's jawbone. Qiu Kun endured the pain and looked at the people in front of him, his eyes gradually showing panic.He shivered for a long time, and finally said: "Okay, even if I tell you, you can't escape a death sentence... I came here to find out about Fang Tiansui, governor of Hainan." The girl said: "Is it Fang Tiansui, the second most corrupt official in this dynasty?" Qiu Kun said: "He was originally the adopted son of Yan Song, a great scholar of the current dynasty. During his eight years in the Shuntian Mansion, he searched for countless treasures. Recently, because he was impeached by Yang Jisheng, he was temporarily released as governor of Hainan. In fact, Yan Song's party is far from down. The so-called release is only to temporarily avoid the limelight. There are even rumors that Yan Song was afraid that the matter would be exposed, and in the name of giving away local products, he entrusted Fang Tian with half of his treasures to Hainan. There are at least 30 boxes of these treasures. It is enough to pay half a year's tribute to the Ming Dynasty." The girl sneered and said, "It's such a fat fish, no wonder you are interested in money. Then why are you here?" Qiu Kun said: "It's for the owner of this restaurant." Tang Xiu'er said: "Are you still planning to rob the restaurant? Or is this hotel your secret outpost?" Qiu Kun shook his head and said, "No, the owner of this restaurant is named Ao Guang. The name Ao Guang was given to him by a merchant nearby, which means Sea Dragon King." A flash of excitement flashed in the girl's eyes: "Sea Dragon King? Could it be that he is very skilled in martial arts? Could it be that he is the leader of the underworld in the nearby sea?" Qiu Kun shook his head: "He is a person who doesn't know martial arts. Everyone calls him Sea Dragon King because he is an old seaman with good hands and eyes. Although people around hundreds of miles live in the sea, when it comes to sea experience, they have no experience." People can catch up with half of him, and he is the most well-informed about black and white news. Even his men are all good at sea. In the past few years, just relying on hiring men and selling news make him rich." However, most of Ao Guang's wealth does not come from this, but from buying and selling equipment for going to sea.Some of the utensils sold in his store can't be bought elsewhere, and more are things you can't even think of buying.This thing looks very ordinary, but if you don't prepare, it is guaranteed that you will not stay at sea for ten days.So although the things here are ten times more expensive than other places, the merchants will spend a lot of money in this hotel before they travel. So if Fang Tiansui wanted to go to sea, he would definitely send someone here to inquire about the news.Qiu Kun likes to sit on the sidelines and wait for the rabbit.It's a pity that he was so blinded by his interests that he actually regarded Zhuo Wangsun and his party as Fang Tiansui's forerunners. But the girl got impatient, and put more force in her hands, and shouted: "Stop talking nonsense! Tell me the time, place, and number of people you hijacked the ship?" The corners of Qiu Kun's mouth twitched in pain, but his eyes suddenly popped out, and the opened mouth could not be closed again. Everyone was startled, Qiu Kun's face turned black in an instant, the blue-shirted boy hurriedly lowered himself down to feel his pulse, but shook his head. The girl was furious, grabbed the silver plate and slammed it on Qiu Kun's head, but the corpse didn't even twitch, only black blood flowed out, but quickly clotted into lumps.The girl also knew that even if she cut the corpse into pieces, it would not make a sound, but she couldn't hold back her anger. Blood and flesh splattered on the restaurant, and there was a strong stench everywhere. Many guests were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground, and they didn't even have the strength to escape.