In the spring of the eighth year of Jiaqing, in order to boost morale, Cai Qian personally led more than ten large ships, disguised as merchant ships, to go north to Mount Putuo to offer incense. Due to Ruan Yuan's policy of waiting for work, Cai Qian was not blocked when he went north, and successfully completed the mission at Mount Putuo.

But at the same time, Ruan Yuan's sedan chair had also set off from Hangzhou, preparing to march eastward to Ningbo via Shaoxing, and once again personally command the upcoming encirclement battle.

After riding in the sedan for a day, we entered Shaoxing Prefecture. It was already past noon, and the group also quickened their pace, thinking of arriving in Shaoxing by nightfall. It was the end of the first lunar month, and it was winter in Zhejiang. Although it was winter here,

It was an official road, but there were not many pedestrians. But when the group of people were completely unaware of their surroundings, they could only hear a rustling sound from the woods on one side, and then, a figure jumped into the official road.

Road, coming towards Ruan Yuan and his party.

As the man came closer, Ruan Yuan and his party saw that this man was actually a woman. She looked haggard, her hair in a bun was already disheveled, she was only wearing coarse clothes, her feet were lonely, and she seemed to be unsteady on her feet. But the woman looked at her

The official sedan seemed to have no fear and was still walking towards the front of the sedan. The officials accompanying Ruan Yuan in front of the sedan also noticed that something was wrong and stepped forward to stop him.

"That woman in front of you, don't go any further! This is the governor's official sedan, please get out of the way quickly, otherwise we will have to act in accordance with the law!"

"Sir, help... help!" Unexpectedly, after hearing these words, the woman suddenly shouted loudly. Then, it seemed that she could no longer hold on and fell to the ground.

"What's going on in front?" Ruan Yuan heard that there seemed to be some strange movement outside the sedan, so he also walked out of the sedan.

At this time, Chen Shouqi was invited by Ruan Yuan to supervise the extermination of Cai Qian. When Ruan Yuan asked about the previous situation, he volunteered, walked around, and came back to Ruan Yuan and said: "Teacher, there was a woman in front of me calling for help.

Falling on the official road, teacher, you said this is..."

"Help?" Ruan Yuan was also a little confused and couldn't help but look towards the woods on both sides.

After a while, Ruan Yuan said to Chen Shouqi: "Gongfu, call the master quickly to catch the thief in the woods over there, quickly!"

"Teacher, is there someone there?" Chen Shouqi was also puzzled for a moment.

"Yes, there is no sound of wind here, but in the woods, you can faintly see the swaying of grass and trees. If there were no people in the woods, there would be no such movement. But there shouldn't be many people. You can call twenty people.

Let's go together and capture them, we will capture them within a quarter of an hour!" Ruan Yuan quickly ordered.

After hearing Ruan Yuan's instructions, Chen Shouqi naturally did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly informed the Qian General who was accompanying him. After the Qian General got the order, he led the people to the woods. Sure enough, as soon as the officers and soldiers entered the forest, several people came out of the forest.

The figures came and fled separately. This time Ruan Yuan led a large number of elite soldiers, so how could he let these people go? In just a cup of tea, the seven people lurking in the grass were caught one by one.

Brought to Ruan Yuan.

"Lord Zhongcheng, looking at his clothes and smell, he looks like a private salt dealer." Mr. Qian said to Ruan Yuan.

"Smuggled salt dealers? The salt affairs were rectified last year, and there are people selling smuggled salt again. It's really unreasonable!" Ruan Yuan said angrily: "You can take these people into custody first, and then look for a woman and a stretcher from the front.

, take this woman with you. Gongfu, it’s really strange that these people dare to sell illegal salt here. There should be no place to collect salt here? Come on, let’s go to the forest and see what it looks like on the other side.”

"Teacher, don't...don't delay your journey?" Chen Shouqi said.

"It's okay. Look at this forest. It's not that big. It will only take half an hour for us to come back. Anyway, there are only seven of them. Leave fifteen people to watch them. I will take ten more people to protect them.

That's enough." After saying that, Ruan Yuan also asked President Qian to reorganize his team and put the private salt dealer aside. He and Chen Shouqi led ten people and walked towards the woods together.

Sure enough, the woods were just a few shallow rows of trees along the official road. After walking for a short while, Ruan Yuan and others saw that the trees and grass had disappeared. There was a small hillside in front of them, and he and his party were on the hillside.

The group of people walked towards the edge of the hillside one after another, wanting to see what was under the hillside.

But this sight shocked both Ruan Yuan and Chen Shouqi.

It turned out that under the hillside where the group of people were standing at this time, there was actually a large salt brine land! Half of the ground was exposed salt alkali, and the other half was large and small blisters. There were only a few places where the salt alkali and brine met.

There are a few pieces of dark yellow hay growing rustlingly. It seems that these hays have been eroded by salt and alkali. Even if they are cut and used as fodder, they are probably useless. The salt brine land stretches as far as the eye can see, extending towards the seaside.

I don’t know what the original use of this long-abandoned land was, and how big it was.

"Teacher, where is this...?" Chen Shouqi asked in confusion.

"Gongfu, this... I have never got off the sedan here. I don't know what is there. Now, there is no way to check. Otherwise, when you arrive in Shaoxing later, you can go and ask the Shaoxing locals.

Isn't such a piece of land abandoned here just to make a fuss for those private salt dealers?" Ruan Yuan saw that the salt affairs had been rectified for more than half a year, but there was still a place where private salt was densely populated that had not been discovered, and he felt a little ashamed in his heart.

"Student, please, teacher, let's go back and just write down the location here. I saw that the woman is weak. I'm afraid she won't be able to hold on for long. We have to find some dry food and water for her to satisfy her hunger," said Chen Shouqi.

"Okay, let's go to Shaoxing first." Ruan Yuan couldn't bear it when he saw the deserted state here. He shook his head and left with a few guards.

When night fell, the group had arrived at Shaoxing Prefecture. The Shaoxing prefect had learned about Ruan Yuan's comings and goings before, so he specially set aside a few rooms in the government office for Ruan Yuan and others to stay temporarily. Ruan Yuan and Chen Shouqi also hired a doctor for the woman.

, prepared porridge, and at the second watch, when his subordinates came to report that the woman had woken up, Ruan Yuan and Chen Shouqi went to the woman's temporary room.

"Girl, are you feeling better now?" Although Ruan Yuan entered the room, he only found a chair opposite the woman's bed and sat down to show the difference between men and women.

"Master, the daughter of the people...the daughter of the people is indeed better. The master saved the daughter of the people today, please...please accept the daughter of the people..." After saying that, the woman struggled to get out of bed, as if she wanted to do something to her.

Ruan Yuan kowtowed and thanked Ruan Yuan for saving his life that day.

"If you're not feeling well, don't move." Ruan Yuan also stopped him quickly: "If you're feeling well, I want to ask you something. If you still feel hungry, you can drink porridge. It's okay. That's it.

How is it?"

"Thank you... thank you, sir." The woman heard Ruan Yuan ask her to excuse herself and sat back on the bed.

"Girl, what's your name and where do you live now? We've caught those thieves just now, but why are they chasing you?" Ruan Yuan asked.

"I..." The woman faltered for a long time, and finally said hesitantly: "The civilian girl's surname is Su, and her family lives in Binhai Village in the northeast. She usually makes a living by raising silkworms. I... I don't have a name, just because I am the family member of the family.

The youngest daughter, my parents call me Jiu Mei, but I don’t have that many brothers and sisters... Last year, I promised to marry my brother from the Sun family in the village, but we haven’t married yet. Just three days ago, a group of pirates suddenly appeared.

Why did they go out to the sea outside the village and just... come in to burn, kill and loot? My father died, and my brother... was also captured by them. I was not at home at the time. When I came back, I heard that there were pirates, so I didn't dare...

I came back, thinking that pirates came from the east, so I had to run to the west, but today... I suddenly met a group of strong men who wanted to take me as their concubine. I refused to obey anything, so I could only run.

, and then... I met the Lord..." As he spoke, his voice gradually became fainter. Fortunately, Ruan Yuan had already found an old woman in the city. Seeing that she was weak, he took the initiative to feed her two mouthfuls of porridge.

But when these words came out, it was like a bolt from the blue to Ruan Yuan: "Girl, you...you mean that your village encountered pirates? Can you see clearly? This...where is the armor of your village?"

"Sir...I..." After Su Jiumei ate a few mouthfuls of porridge, she gradually recovered and said: "The civilian girl didn't go back at that time and didn't see the pirates, but the village was already on fire, and our village is far from the sea.

Not far away, there is a ship on the sea, but the women can see it clearly. As for the old man asking Baojia... what is that? I... I don't know..."

"How is this possible?" Ruan Yuan was surprised to hear that the armor he had painstakingly prepared was completely ineffective against the pirates, and he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

"Teacher, according to the student's opinion, it must be the result of the fatuousness of those security chiefs." Chen Shouqi said: "I heard this girl say that this Linhai Village should be dozens of miles away. For pirates, this is a place they would never normally visit."

It would have reached a blind spot, so the local security chief may have been negligent. In this case, this girl is really suffering."

"No, Gongfu, the responsibility lies with me." Ruan Yuan shook his head and whispered: "If I hadn't made Admiral Li unable to leave temporarily, how could the thieves cross Dinghai and attack here? It seems like this girl

It's my fault that I'm homeless today." Having said this, I felt guilty in my heart and said to Su Jiumei: "Girl, the reason I went out this time was to go to Ningbo to exterminate the pirates. This battle

I have been preparing for a long time, and I am sure to win. Speaking of your matter, it is also due to my negligence, so you can rest assured that I will help you settle this affair. As for your fiancée, I will also try my best to save you.

If possible, I will definitely bring him back to you!"

"Thank you sir!" Su Jiumei was so excited that she thought about getting out of bed and kowtow to Ruan Yuan to express her gratitude.

"Forgive me, girl, you won't have to bow down in front of me at any time in the future. I...I don't deserve such a gift from you." Thinking that he might have made a mistake and caused the death of Su Jiumei's family, Ruan Yuan felt bad.

Taste: "You will stay here from now on. I think you will probably not be able to go back to your village. If you don't mind, come and stay in my courtyard for a while. When I return from destroying the pirates, I will take you with me."

How about going to reunite with your husband?"

"Well...thank you, sir!" Su Jiumei didn't hear Ruan Yuan's words of admitting his mistake, and she was extremely grateful to Ruan Yuan.

Then Ruan Yuan also told the old woman a few words, asking her to take good care of her, and then walked out with Chen Shouqi. Seeing Ruan Yuan's unhappy expression, Chen Shouqi comforted him: "Teacher, please don't blame yourself like this. The sea is thousands of miles away, and every village is a town."

It is inevitable to have some negligence. The teacher has been caring for Zhejiang for many years, and such things have not happened many times. For the people of Zhejiang, the teacher has done enough."

"Gongfu, I have been sending Fuyuan officials to inspect Baojia. How come there is such a big omission here in Linhai Village? I have clearly told them that if the people think that Baojia is incompetent, they can sue the officials.

Are you asking them to report to me for replacement? Thinking about it this way, this matter is very confidential to me, but what about Miss Su? The family is in ruins." Ruan Yuan sighed.

But the current official affairs had to be dealt with. Ruan Yuan asked Chen Shouqi again: "Also, can you tell me what is going on in the salt brine land?"

"I asked." Chen Shouqi said: "This land was not originally salt brine land, but a pasture land specially provided for military horses under the rule of the Eight Banners officers and soldiers in Hangzhou. The Eight Banners leased this land to the people, and the people paid a sum of excess pasture.

Grazing rent. For more than a hundred years ago, the grazing rent for horses here was sufficient. However, about twenty years ago, due to the thinning of pasture and the increasing erosion of sea water, the land here gradually became unable to raise horses. There are also people

It is said that as early as ten years ago, the tenants stopped herding horses and fled. This place has completely turned into a salt brine land. Many private salt dealers saw it as a profitable place and started going there a few years ago. After that... it became...

This is what we saw.”

"The Eight Banner pastures can no longer be used for grazing, but they are left here empty. Regarding the private salt matter, I promised Mr. Yan to help him improve it, but this gap was still left. Alas... Gongfu, teacher, this is more than just a sparse effort.

Huh?" Ruan Yuan sighed.

"Teacher, I have been an official for these years, and I know it in my heart. Teacher, when he oversees a province of 20 million people, how can he check everything down to the smallest detail and make sure nothing is missed? Such as this pasture matter, even though it has gone through

It has been many years, but if we go to the imperial court in time and think of a way to investigate, it may not be too late to make up for the situation." Seeing Ruan Yuan's dejected look, Chen Shouqi had no choice but to comfort him in this way.

"Yes, the first priority right now is to capture Cai Qian." Ruan Yuan also gradually calmed down and said: "In this case, you and President Wu Qian tell him to send out five honest soldiers and hire two women.

Send this girl Su back to Fuyuan. We will continue setting off tomorrow. It seems that Cai Qian has probably already visited Mount Putuo. We will also immediately notify the towns to reorganize the ships and then set out immediately! We must pass through Taizhou south of Cai Qian.

Before, complete the encirclement of him!"

After hearing this, Chen Shouqi immediately followed the order and left. The next day, Ruan Yuan used his fast horse to notify Ningbo. Soon, the Qing warships from Ningbo and Taizhou attacked together. At this time, it was only one day before Cai Qian gathered his troops and headed south.
Chapter completed!