Half a day ago, Wu Ji borrowed money from everywhere and finally managed to collect 100,000 taels of silver.

This is only the case in Hushuguan. If it were somewhere else, there would be no way to collect so much silver in such a short time.

Time was running out, so Zhao Hao left Secretary Ma and the other two at Hushuguan, and he and Manager Mi escorted three silver ships along the Hudong Canal into the Xijing Bay of Taihu Lake.

Not far ahead, a speedboat came up.

The guys escorting the silver ship all held their weapons nervously.

"Yes, I'm a helper." Zhao Hao waved his hand, signaling everyone to relax.

When the speedboat came over, Jin Ke boarded the silver ship with a few unfamiliar black men.

At this time, Gao Wu finally managed to say, "We are all old friends..."

Zhao Hao nodded. This was not the time to try to get close to Manager Mi. He asked Jin Ke in a deep voice, "When did you arrive?"

"We set out as soon as we received the young master's order. We made a long detour and arrived at Xijing Bay this morning." Jin Ke also replied in a deep voice:

"The young men are all resting in Wanbei. I will bring people here to welcome you, young master."

"How many people are here?" Zhao Hao asked softly.

"Thirty old brothers from the Qi Family Army, eighty guards from Caijia Lane, four hundred gunners from the Gunner Battalion, and a hundred boatmen and cooks." Jin Ke reported:

"There were ten ships in total, all flying the flag of the Dongting Chamber of Commerce. No one dared to check them along the way."

"Good, very good!" Young Master Zhao was immediately in high spirits. This was the reason why he was so arrogant. "Tell the brothers to follow behind from a distance and not get too close!"

"Understood." Jin Ke waved his hand, and several of his men who stayed on the speedboat adjusted the sails and rowed quickly to pass on the message.

It was raining and the lake was covered with mist. The boat had disappeared before it had travelled a hundred feet.

"Let's go, follow Manager Mi to deliver the silver." Zhao Hao greeted Jin Ke with a smile and went into the cabin.

Inside the cabin, boxes upon boxes of silver were piled high. Zhao Hao found a box and sat down, unfolding the water map that he had brought from the Hua family.

He pointed to a small dot on the island labeled "Xiaozhu Island" and told Jin Ke, "This is where we have to pay. The pirates dug a big hole on the island and asked us to bury the silver and leave."

Jin Ke nodded and asked, "What are your plans, sir?"

"It was there before, but it's gone now." Zhao Hao spread his hands and said, "Brother Jin is here, of course I'll follow your arrangements."

It is always a taboo for a layman to lead professionals. It is wise to let professionals do professional things.

Otherwise, why spend so much money to support them?

"Yes." Jin Ke also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Who wouldn't be afraid of having a leader who gives blind orders?

"But please give us a clear combat goal, sir."

"It's very simple. First, we must ensure the safety of the hostages, and at the same time, we must kill all the pirates."

Jin Ke nodded and asked in a deep voice: "Then can I understand it this way? If the pirates release the hostages after receiving the ransom, we will wait until we confirm the hostages are safe before killing them. If the pirates dare to play tricks after receiving the money, we will kill them directly!"

Manager Mi couldn't help but remind him, "If we force an attack, what about my young lady's safety?"

"Don't worry." Jin Ke glanced at him and said, "As long as we are fast enough, they won't have time to hurt your young lady."

"Uh..." Manager Mi moved his lips a few times, wanting to ask him where such strong confidence came from?

"Don't worry, Uncle Mi, if Brother Jin says it's okay, then it must be okay!" Zhao Hao smiled and patted Manager Mi on the shoulder, telling him to stay calm.

Jin Ke did not make a plan immediately, but studied the map silently.

Zhao Hao didn't disturb him and lay on the two silver boxes, thinking about something.

About an hour later, Jin Ke suddenly raised his head. "We're almost there."

Sure enough, within a few minutes, Steward Mi came in and reported, "Sir, we have arrived at Xiaozhu Island."

Zhao Hao gave Jin Ke a thumbs up, saying that he was indeed the best at naval warfare among the Qi family army.

The two followed Manager Mi to the bow and saw a small island about three to five meters square appearing on the water ahead.

It's completely bare, without a single tree.

"You really know how to choose a place..." Zhao Hao twitched the corners of his mouth.

His original plan was to send people to ambush on the island, wait for the pirates to come to collect the money, capture them in one fell swoop, and then force them to lead the way to the pirates' nest to rescue people...

Fortunately, I didn't say it out loud and embarrass myself.

Jin Ke looked around and saw that the water was vast and there was not a single boat or board, and there was no place to hide.

"Just do it first."

"Okay." Manager Mi nodded and ordered his men to bring the boat as close to the island as possible, and then use three small boats to transport it upstream one trip at a time.

The 100,000 taels of silver were packed into thirty boxes, which would take a while to transport. Zhao Hao and Jin Ke also went to the island, and indeed saw a pit more than two feet deep and four or five feet in diameter.

Such a small pit can’t even hold half of the silver.

"You didn't dig carefully." Young Master Zhao said with a sneer, "Do you think I can't pay so much money?"

Jin Ke looked at him silently, thinking that ordinary people really couldn't imagine...

"It seems that the water bandits are very cautious."

"It's a pity that they know nothing about the power of science." Young Master Zhao chuckled.

"You are right, sir." Jin Ke nodded calmly, everything was under control.

In about half an hour, all thirty silver boxes were buried as required. To this end, the workers used shovels to dig the pit twice as deep and large.

Then they returned to the ship, weighed anchor and sailed away.

When the ripples caused by the passing boat dissipated, the bustling island returned to peace.

More than half an hour later, a small boat with a stern shaped like a wooden gun sailed into the waters of Xiaozhu Island.

But the gunboat did not sail towards the island immediately. Instead, it circled the island one mile away.

The gunboat sailed to the island only after making sure that there were no ships lurking nearby.

The two pirates stretched their necks and immediately discovered that the pit they dug had been filled up.

There were many messy footprints on the side.

"Oh my God!" The pirates' hearts were about to jump out of their chests, and they rushed to the island to check.

When they skimmed off the loose dust and pried open the locked silver box, everyone was stunned by the bright silver light.

I pried open another box, still white!

The pirates suddenly burst into wolf-like howls of joy, then pounced forward at the same time, desperately stuffing silver into their arms.

Little did they know that their every move was seen by Zhao Hao and Jin Ke who were two miles away.

Two men were lying on a sampan, each holding a pair of binoculars.

It was raining and foggy, so the naked eye could only distinguish objects a hundred feet away, but a telescope could see two miles away.

So the pirates couldn't find them at all when they were circling around.

"They won't just take the silver and run away, will they?" Young Master Zhao was a little unsure.

"Don't worry, sir. The families of those sent out to do this are held hostage by the bandit leader." Jin Ke shook his head and chuckled. He couldn't help but secretly sigh that with this telescope, everyone has become a clairvoyant.

Isn't this pure bullying?

Just as Jin Ke said, after the bandits each took a portion of the silver, they covered the silver box again, buried it with soil, and went back on the boat to report.

"Follow them." Jin Ke pointed out the direction to Cao Zhou's men.

The two strong men paddled desperately and followed the other boat from a distance.

In fact, the two men couldn’t see the pirates’ gunboats, but it was enough as long as Jin Ke could see them.

Zhao Hao and Jin Ke had a clear division of labor, one was responsible for tracking, and the other was responsible for keeping an eye on the enemy's surroundings. In this way, they were far behind without anyone noticing.

When Jin Ke saw that the gunboat began to circle again, he said to Zhao Hao, "We found the bandit's nest."

ps. The third update will be released in the evening. Are you happy? Please give me a monthly ticket~