Gu Zhen held the hilt of his sword and stood guard inside the door. "Hurry up and get dressed. We might have encountered pirates." He hadn't slept all night, so he always had to be alert when he went out, just in case. So he woke up immediately when he heard the noise.
Water bandits?
Song Jiaren quickly put on her outer robe and wiped the dust on the ground on her face. Fortunately, she had no valuable jewelry on her body, so she didn't need to take it off and hide it. She stood behind His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, holding the dagger nervously, and heard the footsteps and shouts of people boarding the deck of the big ship outside.
"Don't be afraid! We won't harm any innocent people. Just hand over your belongings and we'll get you off the boat safely!"
No one spoke on the entire passenger ship. The night was pitch black and quiet, illuminated only by the moonlight and the lights.
Seeing no one responded, the pirate said to himself, "Since you don't cooperate, don't blame us brothers for taking it yourself!"
The pirates cheered excitedly, "Search room by room!"
Song Jiaren didn't dare to make a sound for fear of attracting people, so she silently pulled the sleeve of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. She had already seen masked men in black and bandits, so it was not surprising to see more pirates.
Soon the pirates entered the cabins and broke into each cabin. With shouting, fighting and screaming, the passengers on the ship were in disarray. They rushed out of the cabins and ran to the deck, trying to jump into the water to escape, but were killed by the pirates guarding the deck with their swords. Their panicked cries echoed over the passenger ship with the cold wind.
Gu Zhen also frowned. It would be fine if these pirates were only after money, but they didn't seem to be ordinary pirates. They wanted to kill people right from the start. It didn't seem like they were here for cargo and money. The upper level of the ship was the passenger cabin, and the lower level was the cargo. Instead of moving the cargo, they rushed to the passenger cabin. It was most likely that they were here for them.
Their cabin was at the end, so the pirates couldn't get over for a while. Gu Zhen didn't want to sit and wait for death. There were dozens of them in total, so they might be confident of dealing with these pirates.
"Come with me." Gu Zhen opened the door a little and looked outside. The pirates had not searched this floor yet. He took Song Jiaren and knocked on a door not far away.
"Do you want more fish soup?" Gu Zhen only said this at the door, and the tightly closed door opened instantly.
Gu Zhen pushed Song Jiaren in and said, "You stay here, I'll take people to take a look." If they stayed here and waited for the pirates to come, I'm afraid that countless people in the cabin would be killed or injured.
Song Jiaren was a little worried. Unlike on land, where one could escape if they couldn't win, she was particularly worried. "Be careful."
"Don't worry." His voice was as cold as ever, and his eyes were deep, as if he had the power to calm people, calming Song Jiaren's somewhat panicked heart.
Gu Zhen led dozens of soldiers and quietly approached the deck and the front cabin. The number of pirates was not large, but they had the advantage of the small space in the cabin. Ordinary people were unarmed and unable to fight back, so they succeeded.
"Five of you will stay here to guard this level. Ten of you will go to the deck to cut the ropes connecting the pirates to the ship and clear the pirates off the deck. The rest of you will follow me."
The soldiers were well-trained and immediately obeyed the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. They divided into three groups to intercept and block the bandits. The sound of weapons clashing came from the deck, accompanied by the screams of the bandits. The bandits in the cabin also realized that something was wrong and wanted to go out to see what was going on, but were stopped by Gu Zhen and his men.
A bearded pirate leader said sternly, squinting his eyes and looking at me for a while, "Brother, where do you come from? Are you trying to ruin my business?"
Gu Zhen asked coldly, "Who sent you here?"
The pirate leader laughed and said in a rough voice, "Brother, I am just delivering a message for someone. I didn't plan to leave alive. That person asked me to tell you that the deaths and injuries of the people on the search ship were all because of you. If you insist on continuing to meddle in other people's business, I'm afraid that more innocent people will be implicated. Maybe your woman will also die because of this..."
Before he could finish the last two words, with a smile still lingering on his face, his throat was slashed by a sword so fast that it was invisible. The leader of the water bandits clutched his neck tightly with his hands in disbelief, his eyes wide open, and heard a voice as cold and cruel as hell in his ears, "You shouldn't threaten me with her."
When the pirates saw their leader was killed, they immediately fled in panic. The soldiers rushed forward, caught them all, tied them up, and locked them in the warehouse at the bottom of the cabin. They didn't get anything out of them. They only knew that they were pirates from the nearby area, who followed their leader around and would rob cargo ships of goods and gold, silver and money when they saw them. This time, they also followed their leader on board the ship. They knew nothing else.
Gu Zhen left a few people to guard the ship and wait for it to dock and hand it over to the government for disposal.
Song Jiaren had been listening to the noise outside. The shouting and clamoring at the beginning soon died down. The voice of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince came from the door, "Open the door. The pirates have been apprehended. You can come out now."
Song Jiaren quickly opened the door and went out. She looked him up and down and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was not injured.
"Have they all been arrested?"
Gu Zhen nodded and said, "Don't worry, they've all been caught and locked up in the cargo room under the cabin."
The two men, the woman and the child in the cabin also felt relieved.
The steward on the boat came running over with a few servants, saying in an unhappy tone, "Sir, I just heard those pirates say that this incident was caused by you. So many people were killed or injured. Do you want to give an explanation?"
He had just been hiding in a cabin at the back with his men. He had seen the whole thing from beginning to end and heard what the ruthless pirate leader said. Most of the dead were his servants, so he wanted to ask for an explanation.
Song Jiaren looked up at the Crown Prince in confusion. What was going on?
They are not ordinary pirates, and they are coming for them?
Gu Zhen was silent for a moment. The casualties were indeed caused by him. He said, "How are you going to compensate me? Make a list. Write down the names and ages of the servants involved. Also clearly state what was destroyed on the ship. Then come back."
The steward was originally very angry and planned to have a good argument with him if he didn't admit it. However, he didn't expect that he would admit his loss so easily. Instead, he was stunned and left in shame with his servants.
Gu Zhen and Song Jiaren returned to the cabin and closed the door. Song Jiaren asked doubtfully, "Aren't they just ordinary pirates?"
"He is just an ordinary pirate. He was asked to bring a message to me. He also threatened the lives of these people to stop me from going to Tonghe City." There is no one else who can stop him in this way, and it is undoubtedly Yin Guangfa.
He really hasn't made any progress over the years and still likes to threaten others to achieve his goals. At that time, his father was threatened by him with military force and allowed the Yin family to do evil. It took several years before he found the handle and took down the Yin family in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, now he wants to threaten him with the lives of the people and Song Jiaren, warning him to be an exiled and idle prince and not to meddle in other people's affairs.
It's just that he misjudged the position of Hua Guo and Song Jiaren in his heart, and he didn't understand his character.
In fact, he has never been held hostage by anyone. Before his father died, there was no one left among the princes to force him to ascend the throne. After his father died, he directly gave up the throne to Gu Shen and asked to be exiled. Now Yin Guangfa is threatening him with the lives of the people and Song Jiaren, so he has to get rid of this traitor for China.
The next day, the ship was sailing smoothly. Song Jiaren sent fish soup to the two women and the child, but unexpectedly they refused it outright. "Thank you for your kindness, sir. We are just ordinary people and I am afraid we are not worthy of it. Please take it back."
Having said that, what else is there that is not clear? They must have heard what the manager said yesterday and thought that they were the ones who brought the pirates here.
This matter was indeed related to them, so Song Jiaren just felt a little uncomfortable, but didn't say anything. She carried the big bowl back to the cabin.
"What's wrong? They don't want it?" Gu Zhen understood immediately and tried to persuade them, "They are just afraid of getting into trouble. They are not targeting the person, but the matter. You don't need to worry about it."
Song Jiaren was not dissatisfied, but she frowned and felt a little sorry for the bowl of fish soup, wondering if the two children could eat enough.
"Don't worry, I'll keep this bowl of fish soup for tonight. Don't throw it away. It's the same if you heat it up in the evening."
Seeing that she really didn't seem to take it to heart, Gu Zhen nodded and said, "Okay, I'll have someone heat up two pancakes for you to eat with the fish soup tonight."
Someone knocked on the door. "Sir, I'm the steward on board."
Song Jiaren's eyebrows jumped. It's over. They are here to ask for money.
Gu Zhen stood up to open the door, but was pulled by his sleeve. "What's wrong?"
Song Jiaren stammered, "Well... the compensation should be quite a lot... you..." Do you have money?
She took out the severance pay that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had given her from her small bag and handed it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince pitifully.
Gu Zhen smiled helplessly and said, "I don't need this money for now. I'll ask you for it when I need it." Then he opened the door.
The steward on the ship came over respectfully with an account book and handed it to him. He watched him flipping through the pages with a sympathetic look, his stern expression remaining the same.
The manager breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had discussed with the boss last night and did not do anything tricky. Otherwise, he was afraid that the boss would find out and he would not get away with it, or he would not compensate the money so readily. If it was brought to the government office, it would cause more trouble.
"No problem, all of this makes sense. I just don't have that much silver on me, so I can only give you a portion for now. For the rest, send someone with Gu's jade pendant and handwritten letter to the frontier camp and ask a man named Shitou to get it."
When the steward heard him call himself "Gu", he shuddered and knelt on the ground. "You are...?"
"I am the elder brother of the current emperor, the exiled prince. You don't have to worry. Since I admit the responsibility, you can send someone to get the banknotes with peace of mind. But you must distribute them to the dead or injured slaves. Those who have passed away should be distributed to their families and parents. If I find out that you didn't distribute them according to the amount in the account book, don't blame me for causing trouble for you." Gu Zhen had planned to reveal his identity because he was afraid that the manager and the ship owner would not distribute the money to the dead or injured slaves according to the amount in the account book, and their sacrifice would be in vain.
The manager was sweating profusely and had goose bumps all over his body. He had indeed had the same idea with his boss last night, but he had never expected that this person would be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. All his thoughts were gone in an instant. He just wanted to do the matter according to His Royal Highness's wishes and then not bother him anymore.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. I understand."
In the evening, the steward sent someone to deliver hot meals, hot dishes and a roast chicken. His attitude changed drastically. He not only helped them make fish soup, but also stewed several sweet and sour fish and braised fish for the soldiers to feast on.
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