The Science left Jinling City from the Outer Jinchuan Gate and sailed downstream along the Yangtze River. It was already dark when it arrived at Beixinzhou.

A long sandbar divides the Yangtze River into two parts. The river is narrow, the water is fast, and it is pitch black on all sides, making navigation very difficult.

The person in charge of the helm is Elder Niu's son Niu Huan. Although he is not yet forty years old, he has been at the helm on the Yangtze River for more than ten years.

With the help of the boat's light, he stared at the river. Just as he was about to pass this section, he suddenly noticed some movement among the reeds on the northern sandbank...

Niu Huan hurriedly picked up the telescope and took a closer look. He vaguely saw several speedboats emerging from the reeds and heading towards the Science in the dark.

"Something's happening!" Niu Huan shouted hurriedly and pulled the alarm in the wheelhouse at the same time.

Amid the sound of clanging alarm bells, fully armed guards poured out of the cabin and quickly took up various firing positions on the ship, loading their Longqing rifles and ready for battle.

Seeing that their whereabouts were exposed, the people on the speedboats no longer concealed themselves. They lit torches, drew their bows, arrows, swords and guns, and started shouting loudly.

"Stop the boat, stop the boat, or I will be rude to you!"

Seeing that the way forward was blocked, the Science really slowly stopped, and at the same time someone shouted with a copper trumpet: "This is an official ship, carrying distinguished guests, please get out of the way immediately, otherwise you will be killed without mercy!"

"We are looking for an honored guest. Let the kid named Zhao come out and speak!" said the leader of the opposite side arrogantly.

"I'm Zhao Hao, what are you going to do?" After a while, a righteous voice sounded on the Science.

"We want to invite you to be our guest. If you are smart, you should get off the boat and come over," the leader shouted, "Otherwise..."

"What else?"

"Otherwise, don't blame us for being rude. Swords and knives are merciless and it would be bad if we injure Mr. Zhao's body." The leader sneered, and to prove that what he said was true, he ordered someone to shoot an arrow at the boat.

With a thud, the arrow hit the cabin wall.

"Enemy attack, fight back immediately!" A loud shout rang out on the Science, followed by gunfire on the ship.

In the darkness, countless tongues of fire spewed out, bullets whizzed in, and screams and sounds of people falling into the water were immediately heard on the boat.

This time, there were more than a hundred people sent by Pingjiang Bo to kidnap people. After a burst of gunfire, about twenty of them were knocked down...

The remaining servants were all confused. This was not the script. Didn't it say that this rich and powerful guy who had never seen blood was the one who valued his life the most?

Would he surrender obediently just by being threatened? Why was he so cruel? And he even had a bird gun?!

"Brother Liu, what should we do?" The subordinates all looked at their leader.

The leader, Brother Liu, hesitated for a moment, but finally woke up after the second volley of gunfire knocked down another dozen people. The enemy relied on their sharp firearms and tall ships, and they were no match at all.

He quickly gave the order: "Retreat!"

The servants turned the boats around and rowed hard to escape downstream.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I turned around, I was shocked to find that a row of large ships of two or three hundred tons had appeared in front of me at some point.

The torches on the boat were bright, illuminating the hull in every detail. It was the Cangshan warship, a river patrol warship under the jurisdiction of the Jiangdu Censorate.

Each Cangshan ship had 30 sailors, two large Portuguese arquebuses, three bowl-mouth guns, four bird-shaped guns, 40 squirt guns, and four powder crossbows, which was considered to be a powerful firepower.

Several Cangshan boats blocked the way, and the servants didn't dare to force their way in.

"Lie down on the boat and don't move, otherwise you will be killed without mercy!" The shouts of the government troops came from the Cangshan boat.

The servants quickly did as they were told, and this also helped them avoid the bird guns behind them.

~~

Half an hour later, Captain Yin, who led the government troops, came to the Science and saluted Master Zhao with a smile on his face.

"Sir, the criminals have been arrested."

"Oh, this time it's all thanks to Brother Yin." Zhao Hao supported him enthusiastically, and Cai Kun beside him stuffed a thick stack of silver bills into his sleeve.

In a flash, Cai Kun saw clearly that the note was red, and knew it was a ten-liang note. This stack must have at least two thousand liang.

"Oh, what is this for?" Cai Kun was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling, and asked in a false humble manner.

"Give the brothers some tea." Zhao Hao said with a smile, "If it weren't for Brother Yin and the brothers who performed their duties diligently and patrolled the night, we would have fallen into the hands of the bad guys this time."

"It's all my duty, all my duty." Cai Kun apologized with a smile. In fact, he saw clearly that Mr. Zhao's guards had just fired two rounds of volleys and killed a small half of the thieves. They didn't need any help at all and were able to repel the invading enemy.

Mr. Zhao said this, obviously hoping to put the blame on the Caojiang government. As a rich and powerful young man, he was so ruthless that he was easily criticized.

Captain Yin naturally wanted it very much, as it was a credit for suppressing bandits. Even if Master Zhao didn't pay him extra, he was willing to take the head.

"It's just that bunch of bad guys kept saying that they were canal workers and came to invite you to visit Huai'an." But if he didn't know the seriousness of the matter, Wu Shilai would not have sent him to lead the team.

Mr. Zhao must first prove the case, and then people will be willing to cover it. Don't let the yellow mud fall into your crotch, otherwise no one will be willing to cover it even if it's not shit.

"Brother Yin, don't worry. Their lies can only fool ghosts!" Zhao Hao sneered and said, "Bring them up here, and we will confront them face to face!"

"We were just about to send him to the young master for interrogation." Captain Yin clapped his hands quickly, and several soldiers came up with a man who was tied up and had a bruised face. It was the leader, Brother Liu.

"It's unfair." Brother Liu really argued loudly: "We are the canal workers of the North Grand Canal. We just want to invite Mr. Zhao to Huai'an. We have no ill intentions!"

"Then what is this?" Zhao Hao pointed at the feather arrow on the wall behind him and said indignantly: "If I hadn't dodged it in time, I would have been shot to death by you!"

"Ah?" Brother Liu panicked and tried to explain himself: "No, no, no, it was an accidental shot! We were too excited and shot it accidentally..."

"Humph, stop lying." Zhao Hao said coldly, "Let me ask you, who told you to ambush me here?"

"No, no one ordered us to do this. We did it on our own initiative." Brother Liu said hurriedly, "We heard that you advocated the transportation of grain by sea, which cut off our way of transportation, so we came to you to seek an explanation."

"Are you from Huai'an?" Zhao Hao asked coldly.

"Yes." Brother Liu nodded.

"Haven't you been to Jinling recently?" Zhao Hao asked.

"No." Brother Liu shook his head.

"Has anyone from Jinling come to see you?" Zhao Hao asked.

"No, no." Brother Liu denied it flatly: "I am just a poor canal worker, why would anyone in the capital care about me?"

"real?"

"real."

"You swear?"

"I swear!"

"That's strange..." Young Master Zhao said with a cat-playing-with-mouse look, "How did you know I would pass by Beixinzhou tonight? In the entire Ming Dynasty, only Earl Pingjiang knows about this, and he is still in Jinling City!"

"This..." Brother Liu's forehead immediately broke out in sweat. He wanted to change his words, but his previous words were too decisive.

Just when he was wondering how to respond, he suddenly heard the guard report in a deep voice: "We caught a fish that slipped through the net!"

"Bring him up!" Young Master Zhao waved his hand.

Immediately, two guards appeared on the brightly lit deck, carrying a man in brocade robe with a bruised face and nose.

"It's him!" The guard threw the man hard, and he immediately collapsed.

“Second Master?!” Seeing that the man was actually Chen Wangcheng, Brother Liu finally lost his composure and couldn’t help but yell, “Why don’t you leave? Second Master!”

"What are you yelling about?" Chen Wangcheng rolled his eyes at him, then gave Zhao Hao a thumbs up and said, "What a mantis stalking a cicada while the oriole is behind. Master Zhao is really smart!"

Then he put on an attitude of being fearless and said, "I admit that I heard about your itinerary from my brother and wanted to invite you to Huai'an to have a good chat about the grain transportation. What do you think?"

"You still dare to quibble after all this!" Zhao Hao kicked him in the chest, knocking Chen Wangcheng into a shrimp. He roared angrily, "You are only targeting me as a cover, your real intention is to attack the princess!"

"What?" Chen Wangcheng was stunned. "I want to attack the princess?"

"What?!" Captain Yin was stunned.

"Bullshit!" Chen Wangcheng sensed the danger and immediately regained his strength. He struggled and said angrily, "You want to frame me? No way!"

"You still dare to deny it now?!" Zhao Hao sneered, and apologized with his hands facing northward: "My godmother, Princess Ning'an, came to Nanjing to spend the winter, and was about to take my ship back to Yangzhou. Unexpectedly, you bunch of rebels discovered her whereabouts, and you were so cruel that you intended to assassinate her!"

He raised his voice and said, "For such a big thing, would I dare to lie?!"

"I dare not." Captain Yin's eyes widened. He did not expect such a sudden turn of events. In addition to being shocked, he realized after a little thought that Zhao Hao could not lie about such a big thing. This was the assassination of the eldest princess, shocking the court and the public!

Unless the noble and benevolent Princess Ning'an colluded with him to lie, how could that be possible?

Captain Yin's head was buzzing. He realized how great a contribution he had made! This was to rescue the eldest princess! It was a hundred times, a thousand times more valuable than rescuing Master Zhao!

Immediately, the look he gave Chen Wangcheng changed. Captain Yin realized that his wealth and glory for the rest of his life depended on this kid. Thinking of this, his eyes turned green.

"Impossible, you said the princess is on your ship? If you have the guts, ask Her Highness to come out!" Chen Wangcheng's head was buzzing. His elder brother didn't tell him that the emperor's only sister was on the ship. No, there must not be! She doesn't exist!

"Quiet!" A delicate voice suddenly sounded in the cabin, and a girl in palace dress walked out of the heavily guarded cabin. "My godmother needs to rest!"

The girl was no more than sixteen or seventeen years old. She was extremely beautiful and had an extremely elegant temperament. Under the moonlight, she looked like a fairy, making the people on the deck dazed.

"This is the adopted daughter of Her Royal Highness the Princess, and the daughter of the current Grand Secretary Zhang." Zhao Hao coughed lightly. He was not very happy that others looked at his wife like that.

Since Xiao Zhuzi joined Lianli Company, Mr. Zhao thought that she had tied the knot with him...

ps. Oh my god, my computer suddenly stopped working today. I fiddled with it for a long time but couldn't fix it. I was so tired that my waist hurt, so I had to send it for repair. It turned out that the motherboard was broken. I changed the motherboard, and when I came back, I found that I had installed Win10 and it became a pirated version. I called Microsoft customer service again. It was such a hassle. It was completely fixed by dark. I hurried to continue writing. I guess I won't be able to finish it tonight. I will continue tomorrow morning!