novelSusiti Chapter 258 Good things don't travel far.
Chapter 258 Good things don't travel far.
Chapter 258 Good things don't travel far.
On New Year's Eve, a cold wave struck, making it unusually cold.
A ship quietly docked at Ma Tuo Sha.
The boatswain, Chen Yidao, was ordered by the ship's manager to lead his men ashore to purchase food and drink. They had left in a hurry, and the ship only had rice, noodles, cured meat, and salted fish, but no wine.
The official was somewhat displeased, but said nothing. However, his henchmen, taking advantage of their master's power, secretly demanded that they go ashore to buy wine.
Where are you going to buy alcohol during the Chinese New Year? That's utterly absurd!
But the ship's foreman dared not offend the two officials on board, and sent him ashore to devise a solution. But what could he possibly do? On New Year's Eve, where were he going to buy anything? What bad luck!
Chen Yidao, accompanied by two men, walked up Yaqian Street, sighing and groaning.
After just one glance, I couldn't help but sigh. This street was too small. There were less than ten shops along the river, all of which were closed. I wondered if any shop owners would use their own houses as shops, that is, selling things in the front and living and storing in the back.
Chen Yidao first went to the first shop on the street, only to find that it was a shop selling rice, noodles and vegetables. The door was tightly closed, and no one answered after knocking for a long time.
Having no other choice, I went to the second shop, but stopped halfway through knocking. It was a fabric seller, so why was I knocking?
Shaking his head, Chen Yidao went to the third house.
A large character for "wine" was written on the wooden wall. There might have been a banner before, but it was taken down after the business closed for the Lunar New Year.
He knocked on the door hard, not expecting anything, but to his surprise, someone actually answered.
The shopkeeper emerged from the back room, walked through a narrow alley, and came up behind Chen Yidao and his companions, his face full of anger: "Didn't we clear all the debts before the New Year? Why are you coming to collect again?"
As they were talking, three more boys came over, each carrying a stick, a short knife, and a wood-chopping axe.
The two boatmen were startled and instinctively raised their carrying poles.
The shopkeeper glanced at them disdainfully, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief; they weren't there to cause trouble.
When traveling, Chen Yidao was always cautious. Upon seeing this, he bowed and explained the situation.
The shopkeeper gestured for the boys to put away their equipment, then sized up Chen Yidao a few times and said, "We do have a dozen or so jars of wine at home, locally brewed, not the good stuff from Jinling City. Do you want some?"
"Yes!" Chen Yidao exclaimed with delight, then asked doubtfully, "How do you know we are from Nanjing?"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "I've been helping out in this shop since I was seven or eight years old. In over twenty years, I've seen all sorts of boats come from all over the country. Taicang, Liujiagang, Shanghai, Fushan, Jiangyin, Zhenzhou—I've seen them all. Quite a few have come from Jiangning too. Dacheng is from your area, right?"
"Not bad," Chen Yidao replied with a smile.
"Come with me. The front doors are all sealed up, I'm too lazy to take them down." The shopkeeper waved, signaling Chen Yidao and the other two to follow him around to the back of the shop and enter through the open back door to retrieve their goods.
Chen Yidao walked in front, followed by two boatmen carrying loads on shoulder poles.
"The boatmen from Jiangning are the most disciplined," the shopkeeper said as they walked. "They don't even carry swords when they travel. Compared to the seafarers from the east, they're far inferior."
Chen Yidao deeply agreed, saying, "In earlier years, seafarers were not allowed to carry weapons. Later, the restrictions were lifted, and the imperial court turned a blind eye, allowing them to carry weapons."
"The pirates at sea are too fierce," the shopkeeper echoed, and soon came to the back door and shouted.
A woman with a wrinkled face came out of the house, but she was wearing new clothes. After hearing her husband say that someone wanted to buy wine, she nodded and went to the inner room to fetch wine jars.
Chen Yidao gestured for the two scouting men to help, then glanced at the table laden with food and wine and casually asked, "Where are your parents?"
"I'm going to my brother's house for the New Year. He runs a shop in Jiangyin City," the shopkeeper said.
Chen Yidao glanced around, his gaze landing on the steaming dishes and wine. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he said, "Could you make another table of hot dishes? Pick your best ones, I'll take them on the boat. Don't worry, I'll pay you."
The shopkeeper shook his head and said, "I've been busy all year, I don't want to do it today."
Chen Yidao immediately untied the bundle on his back, took out a coin, and said, "This is for the food. Make sure it's good, with fish and meat. The rest is yours."
The shop owner hesitated.
Seeing that things were looking promising, Chen Yidao continued to persuade him: "Do you know who's on board? It's Feng Gong, the Imperial Censor of Nantai (a second-rank official), and Wang Gong, the Chief Administrator of Jiqing Road (a fifth-rank official). If either of them praises you, it's a blessing you couldn't have accumulated in eight lifetimes. So, what do you say? Are you in or not?"
The shopkeeper's expression changed, and he said, "Do it! How about this, since we don't have enough ingredients, I'll have my friend go to the neighbor's pond to catch a few fresh fish to make some soup for you two gentlemen to warm you up, how about that? If you don't like fish soup, I'll go to my third brother's chicken coop and catch two chickens."
Chen Yidao nodded repeatedly and said, "Go quickly."
The shopkeeper gave him a look, and one of the boys put down his stick and ran out.
He first jumped over the ditch behind the house, crossed a wooden bridge, then went around a clump of reeds, and finally arrived at a small gate in the backyard of the patrol office. He knocked, and someone opened the door and let him in.
Li Fu brought his two children to the patrol and inspection office compound to celebrate the New Year there.
He was accompanied by seven or eight archers, five of whom were "shop assistants" from Shengye Trading Company, and the other three were archers originally from the Patrol Division. They huddled around Li Fu with fawning expressions on their faces.
Upon hearing the boy's whispered conversation, Li Fu's expression hardened. He entrusted his children to his men, went to the stable to fetch a mule, and headed straight for Chong Sheng Temple.
The boy went to the large water tank, scooped up two fish, and leaped all the way home.
After the father and son exchanged a few words, the shopkeeper became noticeably more hospitable, personally warming half a pot of wine for Chen Yidao and his two companions, inviting them to sit down and eat, and taking the opportunity to extract some information.
After a few drinks, Chen Yidao became less cautious and started talking about some things. It wasn't that he was intentionally leaking information; news of what happened in Jiangning would eventually reach here. He was just saying what he could in advance.
According to him, the Imperial Censor of Nantai and the Magistrate of Jiqing Road were ordered to go to Hangzhou on official business, but he naturally wouldn't say more about what it was about—perhaps he didn't even know.
But these words alone have already revealed a great deal of information. A discerning person can easily analyze the situation and know that something big has happened in Jiangning. Four powerful officials in Jiqing Road have died: Tongzhi (Jiqing Road is an upper-level road, of the fourth rank, the same below), Pan Guan (of the sixth rank), Tui Guan (of the seventh rank), and Zhishi (the chief official). Now, among the main officials, only Darughachi, Zongguan, Zhizhong, and another Tui Guan remain.
Even government offices might not be able to function properly, and they could only be managed by people like the eunuchs and clerks.
Fortunately, the officials in Jiangning and Shangyuan counties and the Records Office were basically in place, so maintaining order was not a problem.
But the fact that so many people died at once is still quite shocking.
"Don't go around telling everyone." Chen Yidao's face was flushed as he shook his head. "This is a big deal. The whole city of Jinling knows about it and they're all waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves. We can't cover it up no matter what we do."
The shopkeeper poured Chen Yidao another cup of wine and asked, "Has the authorities found out who did it?"
Chen Yidao pushed his wine cup aside and said, "Just a few sips are enough, don't drink too much. The authorities haven't found anything yet, but most of the Zhu and Chen families have fled. Those desperados are truly fierce. Many people from the patrol office died, the garrison suffered a huge humiliation at Shuixi Gate, and the entire centurion stationed at Dacheng Garrison on the outskirts of the city was completely routed. The centurion was killed in battle, and the deputy commander sent down from above to oversee the situation also died. At that time, the bandits and government troops were fighting, and the people on the other side of the river were watching. Haha, they wished they could be there to see what was going on."
The shopkeeper, playing along with a longing expression, pushed his wine glass towards Chen Yidao, saying, "These thieves are so fierce, wouldn't it be even more impressive to assassinate them?"
"It should be even more powerful." Chen Yidao hesitated for a moment, then grabbed his wine glass and said, "This is the last one."
After saying that, he drank it all in one gulp, a satisfied expression on his face.
The official was waiting in the cold wind on the boat, while I got to drink before him. How delightful!
In high spirits, he continued, "Even this scattered band of bandits doesn't seem easy to deal with. If they become mountain kings and officially become bandits, will the court suppress them or not? If they don't, the court will lose face, and the provincial governor won't agree. If they do suppress them, where will they use their troops? I used to think that although the government troops weren't very good, they could still handle suppressing bandits, but judging from what happened at Shuixi Gate, that's not necessarily true."
The shop owner was also very shocked.
It's normal for yamen runners to be no match for bandits, and it's a bit much that the patrol archers can't beat bandits, but it's not entirely incomprehensible. But even the garrison troops are no match for them?
Jiangnan is known as "one road, one town", and Jiangyin Prefecture shared the "Tongshi Hanjun Wanhufu" with Changshu.
When I visited Suzhou years ago, I heard from locals that Pingjiang Road was the "Crossroads Army Ten Thousand Households Mansion".
Then I heard that Jiqing Road was the "Yidu New Army Ten Thousand Household Office".
A single county with ten thousand households can keep local gentry, commoners, and bandits from making any moves. But if you are so lax, allowing them to collapse at the slightest provocation, why should anyone fear you?
Could it be that the government troops in Jiangnan are truly useless?
Clearly, the shop owner is not the only one with this question.
A few hundred paces away at the dock, another ship slowly approached the shore.
After carefully escorting their sister ashore, the brothers Liu Xing and Liu Ming were still discussing the news they had recently received from Xu Dafeng.
They had already heard about the disgraceful behavior of the interpreter Yang She when he attacked Wang Zongsan's residence, and they were already somewhat suspicious. Now, after learning about what happened in Jiangning, their worldview was further shaken.
The events of the past two years have indeed been gradually changing the preconceived notions of powerful local figures.
In short, the ideological imprint has been greatly loosened —
After disembarking, they did not linger and, along with their entourage, rode in two oxcarts, slowly making their way to Chong Sheng Temple.
>