After Wang Baoren left the Confucius Temple, he stood outside the Confucius Temple and hesitated for a long time.
When he originally bet with Zhou Shangjing, he actually didn't mention any bets or prizes.
Therefore, after Zhou Shangjing won the bet, although he temporarily asked Wang Baoren to make a trip to the north city pier to meet a certain distinguished guest, Wang Baoren could completely ignore this request.
For Wang Baoren, he actually wanted to rush to Zhanyuan at this time to find out what happened there, and by the way, make suggestions for the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, and take the opportunity to deepen his influence on Zhu Hejian.
But in the end, Wang Baoren was influenced by Zhou Shangjing's admonition.
With Emperor Deqing's suspicious character and imperial scheming, he was bound to notice many things from the recent series of chaos in Nanjing City, and then he would doubt the true nature of the seventh prince Zhu Hejian.
Emperor Deqing is now at an age when he knows his destiny, but he is very good at maintaining his health. He is still strong in body, energetic, and sharp in mind. Even common colds and fevers rarely occur. It can be said that he is in his prime in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Under such circumstances, Emperor Deqing would never allow a prince with a deep character, extreme personality, and cruel methods to become the new crown prince.
Therefore, it can be foreseen that as Emperor Deqing became suspicious, even if Zhu Hejian temporarily escaped disaster after returning to the capital, the future will definitely not be easy. He needs to deal with Emperor Deqing's suspicion and temptation at any time, and if he is not careful,
It’s beyond redemption!
Thinking of this, Wang Baoren gradually gave up the idea of rushing to Zhanyuan to advise Zhu Hejian and share the pressure. He thought that it would be better for him to keep a distance from Zhu Hejian for the time being and observe the changes in the situation for a while.
At the same time, Wang Baoren was indeed curious about who the "distinguished guest" mentioned by Zhou Shangjing was.
So, after thinking for a moment, Wang Baoren waved his hand and told the people around him: "Prepare the sedan! Let's go to the Chengbei River Port Pier!"
*
Just as Wang Baoren rushed to the river port in the north of the city in a sedan chair, a light passenger ship had already arrived in Nanjing along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and docked at the river port in the north of Nanjing.
After the passenger ship docked, more than ten strong men with serious looks on their faces jumped off the ship and landed. Some of them quickly dispersed and stood around the passenger ship, as if they were responsible for guarding and protecting the passenger ship.
There was a certain big shot inside, and other strong men were running around, waiting for opportunities to chat with people from all walks of life at Nanjing Wharf, trying to find out as much as possible about the recent news in Nanjing City.
It is obvious that although these strong men are dressed in ordinary clothes, they are all well-trained and have a clear division of labor. They have been assigned specific tasks before disembarking from the ship.
Unfortunately, the actions of these strong men soon caused trouble.
Under normal circumstances, the river port in the north of Nanjing is the hub of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River. There are no less than a thousand large ships and no less than 10,000 people passing by every day. The Nanjing defenders are also used to being lazy and only want to ask for benefits.
, will not really do the work at all. Even if he occasionally detects suspicious signs, as long as he accepts the benefits, he will turn a blind eye and treat himself as a blind man.
But today is different from the past. The city of Nanjing has just lifted its lockdown less than two days ago. Passenger and cargo ships that used to pass through Nanjing are also taking detours these days. The formerly bustling north dock is naturally much deserted.
More importantly, in the early morning of yesterday, a major event occurred in Nanjing City. After a group of lawless bandits caused a lot of chaos in Nanjing City, they once held the Seventh Prince hostage and attempted to escape with the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian.
In the city of Nanjing, fortunately, the lowly people came to the rescue in the end. Not only did they take advantage of the chaos to recapture the kidnapped seventh prince, they also killed and captured many gangsters alive.
However, many people from the bandits still took advantage of the chaos to escape from Nanjing City, including the bandit leader Jiang Xiao!
Under such circumstances, the Nanjing Jiangfang Camp naturally did not dare to neglect. They were worried that if Nanjing's public security would be disrupted again, everyone would have to bear greater responsibilities, and they would be more responsible and attentive when running errands.
In particular, Liu Huaiyuan, the military official of Jiangfang Camp in Nanjing, has been uneasy and fearful ever since he was instigated by the Crown Prince and Grand Master Wang Baoren to report Song Chengren, the head of the Song family.
Although Song Chengren is now under house arrest by Jin Yiwei, and the overall situation seems to be decided, Zhou Shangjing is still there after all, and Liu Huaiyuan may face violent revenge from the "Zhou Party" at any time.
Under such circumstances, Liu Huaiyuan's anxiety accumulated in his heart. Naturally, he was restless and had no intention of dealing with other matters. He simply left the Jiangfangying Yamen and came to the north dock in person, nominally to personally supervise and guide Jiangfangying.
The soldiers' patrol work was actually an opportunity to relax.
"...Sigh, being involved in the power struggle between two big shots, Wang Baoren and Zhou Shangjing, a little guy like me could be crushed to death at any time...
...But unfortunately, Wang Baoren caught me misappropriating military supplies and smuggling military rations, and I had no ability to resist his instigation of rebellion...
… When Wang Baoren instigated rebellion against me, he naturally swore to me and guaranteed me his safety and future. However, considering the methods and power of Zhou’s Chief Assistant, a few verbal guarantees really cannot make me feel at ease…”
Under a pergola at the Hegang Pier in the north of the city, Liu Huaiyuan was drinking herbal tea and thinking wildly.
Although he was in the pavilion and drinking herbal tea, Liu Huaiyuan's body and mind were still getting hotter and hotter when thinking about his uncertain future. His official robe was also stuck to his body due to a lot of sweat stains, making him even more upset.
While Liu Huaiyuan was thinking wildly, a Qianhu from Jiangfang Camp walked into the pavilion with a serious expression and reported to Liu Huaiyuan in a low voice: "Sir, I discovered a group of strong men moving around on the dock.
His behavior is extremely suspicious!"
After hearing this, Liu Huaiyuan suddenly became very nervous.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Under the current situation, Nanjing's public security must not cause trouble again. Liu Huaiyuan does not care about the safety of the people, social stability and other nonsense, but he knows very well that at this time he will definitely
There must be no mistakes, otherwise the "Zhou Party" will definitely take the opportunity to retaliate against itself.
Therefore, Liu Huaiyuan immediately stood up and asked: "Looking suspicious? What is going on? Tell me in detail!"
The Qianhu also had a nervous expression and replied quickly: "Those strong men are really eye-catching. They are all strong, well-trained, and have a chilling air! I just glanced at them from a distance,
You dare to use your own head to guarantee that there must be lives on the hands of those men! That kind of murderous aura can only be possessed by those who lick blood with the tip of a knife, and it can never be faked!
The most important thing is that after these men got off the ship and boarded the pier, they were not in a hurry to enter Nanjing City. Instead, they were looking for people everywhere to get information. Sometimes just to ask for more detailed information, they would casually throw out a tael of silver.
The high price... All in all, those men can't be ordinary tourists, let alone ordinary sailors, and they don't look like they are from the military, so they are considered extremely suspicious by their humble job!"
After hearing the explanation from this Qianhu, Liu Huaiyuan also felt that the situation was suspicious and asked again: "How many people are there in that group of strong men?"
"They disembarked fourteen people, but it is unclear whether there are still people on board and how many people there are! However, the passenger ship they were on was not very big, with only about twenty people at most."
Liu Huaiyuan breathed a sigh of relief.
His Jiangfang camp nominally had 6,000 men and horses, and even leaving aside the free pay, the number was more than 3,000, which was more than enough to deal with more than 20 strong men.
Therefore, Liu Huaiyuan quickly issued an order: "According to this military minister's order, two hundred elites were immediately summoned from the Jiangfang Camp and asked to put on casual clothes and mix in the dock. First, they secretly surrounded the suspicious men and waited for my order.
, we must catch all these men in one fell swoop! This is such a sensitive opportunity, no matter who they are, in short we must not make any mistakes, we would rather catch the mistake than let it go!"
After the Qianhu agreed in a deep voice, he was quickly ordered to leave.
The Jiangfang Camp was very close to the North Pier of Nanjing City, so soon two hundred elite soldiers of the Jiangfang Camp put on civilian clothes, secretly sneaked into the North Pier, and secretly surrounded the suspicious strong men who were snooping around on the Pier, as well as
The light passenger ships on which those suspicious strong men are traveling are ready to round up them at any time!
Because the matter was so important, Liu Huaiyuan, who had never participated in front-line work, quickly changed into civilian clothes and hid not far away to personally observe the situation and direct actions.
After a period of careful observation, Liu Huaiyuan also believed that these strong men were extremely suspicious. The ferocious aura on their bodies was not like the southerners of this era at all. Maybe they were the gangsters who had kidnapped His Highness the Seventh Prince and returned.
Got it!
Thinking of this, Liu Huaiyuan felt a little excited, thinking that he might be able to take advantage of the opportunity to perform extraordinary feats. By then, even if "Zhou Party" wanted to retaliate against him, it would be difficult for him to do so.
However, before Liu Huaiyuan could give the order to take action, a scene happened that stunned him!
A moment ago, the few strong men who were constantly inquiring about the news and acting suspiciously at the dock seemed completely unaware, as if they had no idea that they had been secretly surrounded by the soldiers of the Jiang Fang Camp.
But the next moment, these strong men seemed to have a clear understanding of each other. Almost at the same time, without any warning, they picked up the poles, benches, hooks and other objects around them, and quickly attacked the Jiang Fang camp that was gradually approaching them.
Soldiers.
In order to be sure, Liu Huaiyuan summoned a total of two hundred Jiang Fang Battalion elite men. During the specific operation, ten Jiang Fang Battalion soldiers were responsible for rounding up a suspicious strong man.
However, these strong men's attacks were without any warning, and they were all highly skilled in martial arts and their attacks were fierce. In just a short moment, they beat the unprepared Jiang Fang camp soldiers around them into panic.
Liu Huaiyuan never expected that his elite Jiangfang battalion would be so vulnerable in front of these strong men!
After defeating the Jiang Fang camp soldiers nearby, these suspiciously strong men did not stop and immediately ran back from all over the dock to the passenger ship they were on.
However, they did not board the ship and escape. Instead, they gathered together with several other strong men who had stayed around the passenger ship and were on guard. They firmly blocked the pursuit and roundup of the soldiers of the Jiangfang Battalion. Even with an enemy
Ten, we will never let the Jiang Fang camp soldiers rush onto the passenger ship. It can be said that they will not retreat.
As for the "elites" of the Jiang Defense Battalion under Liu Huaiyuan, they are really embarrassing and conspicuous. It was just that they were caught off guard just now. Now both sides have used their swords and guns to attack these suspicious strong men with ten times the number of people.
Unexpectedly, they were still like an egg striking a stone. Not only were they unable to successfully break through the defense line, but they repeatedly allowed these suspiciously strong men to repel their attacks.
Seeing how miserable his elite men were, Liu Huaiyuan couldn't help but became angry and shouted loudly: "Send me the military minister's order to get twenty strong bows immediately! I want to see if the flesh and blood of these murderers can stop them.
Sharp arrows for the defense camp down the river!"
*
While the Jiang Fang camp soldiers and those suspiciously strong men were fighting around the passenger ship, a young man with a handsome face and extraordinary temperament was standing on the deck of the passenger ship, lowering his head and coldly observing the chaos at his feet.
The passenger ship he was on was obviously attacked by a large group of officers and soldiers, but the young master still looked calm and showed no signs of panic, as if the chaos in front of him was just a trivial scene, and as if he had the ability to calm down the chaos in front of him at any time.
Chaos.
After observing coldly for a long time, the young master shook his head and said: "Jiangnan has been at peace for a long time, and the people are relatively prosperous. The military equipment is indeed completely abandoned! Just the more than 20 guards under me can easily block the two of them.
Hundreds of troops! Look, these Jiangfang camp soldiers and horses, how can they still look like soldiers? They were only slightly injured, and even before they saw blood, they ran away crying for their fathers and mothers! If the quality of this kind of soldiers is
If you were placed in Liaodong or Shaanxi-Gansu, you wouldn't even be qualified to be cannon fodder!"
Behind the young man, there is another young man of a similar age, with an unhealed knife wound on his cheek and a bandage around his neck. He seems to be the young man's confidant.
After hearing the words, the latter replied in a hoarse and low voice: "Young master, you have been used to seeing Shaanxi-Gansu soldiers, Liaodong soldiers, Mongolian troops and Jurchen troops in recent years. Naturally, you look down on these Jiangnan young master soldiers! They have not fought for a long time.
In the formation, the daily training is just a show, only knowing how to eat and take cards, of course, there is no fighting ability! On the contrary, these nursing homes in our house are originally carefully selected people with strong martial arts skills. In recent years, they have become more and more powerful.
I have followed you in your expeditions east and west, fought tooth and nail with the Junggar cavalry, and faced off against the Jurchens in Jianzhou, now I can easily deal with these Jiangnan young soldiers!"
Having said this, the young man couldn't help but ask: "Master, there is already a mess down there, do you want to stop it?"
The young master known as "Young Master" shook his head and said: "I asked the nursing staff to get off the ship first to find out the news, while I stayed in the ship and waited patiently. Collecting information was only one consideration, and at the same time I also wanted to deliberately alert the enemy! After all...Nanjing is here.
The muddy beach is far deeper than I expected!"
Speaking of this, the young master's face gradually became gloomy: "On the way from the capital to Nanjing, someone obviously wanted to secretly delay my trip! Logically speaking, I should have arrived in Nanjing at noon the day before yesterday, but the car I was traveling on
A paddle steamer actually broke down many times, especially when it was passing through Suzhou, someone secretly dug a hole in the bottom of the boat. Although I changed to this passenger ship in time, I still kept on going day and night, but compared to the estimated time, I still
It was two full days late! When I finally arrived in Nanjing, I received the news that Nanjing had been closed under martial law a few days ago...
Obviously, there is some force that does not want me to arrive in Nanjing in time, and wants to complete some ulterior plans before I arrive in Nanjing! To this day, although I finally made it to Nanjing, eight out of ten
Jiu has already delayed the opportunity! In this case, I simply alerted the enemy and tried to lure out the mastermind!"
Having said this, the young master showed sarcasm and sneered: "I was eager to return to the capital a few days ago, but Your Majesty was unwilling to see me in advance, fearing that my return to the temple center would disrupt his follow-up plans.
, so they sent someone to stop me halfway, assigned me the status of an imperial envoy, and forced me to immediately change my route and rush to Nanjing to announce to all walks of life in Nanjing the imperial court’s intention to abolish the six departments in Nanjing...
The result? When I was traveling day and night, rushing to Nanjing, I found that there were also people in Nanjing who didn’t want to see me show up to disrupt the situation, and they also tried every means to delay and obstruct me... Haha, it seems that I
This person is really not popular with everyone!"
Speaking of the latter part, the young master couldn't help but show anger: "After Ru'er gave birth to a daughter, I haven't hugged her with my own hands! But now, I am forced to run around again, blocked everywhere, and keep wasting time.
Do they really think I have no temper?"
Hearing the young master's angry words, another young man was about to offer words of comfort, but suddenly his expression changed slightly, he raised his hand and pointed forward as a reminder: "Young Master, look, Jiang Fangying has already brought a strong bow! If the situation changes again,
If the chaos continues, there may be casualties!"
After hearing the reminder, the young master raised his eyes and looked forward, and sure enough he saw that some of the Jiang Fang camp soldiers had raised their bows and arrows, and seemed to be preparing to shoot arrows to attack.
What's ridiculous is that these Jiangfang camp soldiers have been practicing for a long time on weekdays, and they even lack the ability to hold a bow and arrow. At this time, they actually need to learn and practice now.
However, after seeing Jiang Fangying take out his bows and arrows, the young master finally did not dare to watch indifferently. He immediately shouted to the bottom of the boat: "Where is Jiang Fangying's military officer Liu Huaiyuan? Let him come to see me quickly!"
Hearing the young master's shouts, and seeing the young master's extraordinary bearing, raising his hands and feet, he was full of power and nobility. After a moment of hesitation, the Qianhu who was directing the soldiers of Jiangfang Camp to attack finally decided to
Not daring to offend, he temporarily stopped the attack and sent for Liu Huaiyuan who was hiding in the rear.
After Liu Huaiyuan quickly rushed to the passenger ship, he saw the young man on the ship at a glance, and couldn't help but be a little stunned.
After hesitating for a moment, Liu Huaiyuan asked loudly: "Who is your Excellency? You look familiar, but I probably haven't seen you for a long time, so I can't recognize you for a while."