Furthermore, these outsiders digging holes and searching everywhere in other people's mountains and hills would easily arouse the suspicion of the residents, who would think that they were here to destroy the feng shui. At the very least, they would report them to the police, or at worst, they would be arrested, beaten to death, and buried in the wilderness.

Zhao Hao thought about it and felt that their concerns were reasonable. The mine was here anyway and it would not run away. There was no need to rush. He should go back and make preparations before prospecting.

Zhao Hao didn't need to worry about these trivial matters. Jiangnan Group had a strong public relations team, and the Pan and Xiang families had a strong influence in Huzhou.

By the way, before Wu Chengen went to jail, he was the county magistrate of Changxing. He also led the people of Changxing to Hangzhou to petition... Although he was intercepted halfway, his prestige in the local area can be seen.

Zhao Hao decided to let Wu Chengen be responsible for lobbying after he returned, and take the opportunity to persuade the Pan and Xiang families to invest in the coal mine. He believed that he could quickly settle the matter with the government officials, gentry and people here.

~~

The group hurried out of the mountain, got on the boat and rowed downstream, finally arriving at the south gate of Changxing County before the city gate closed.

It was such a coincidence that the Xu brothers also brought their human traffickers to the south gate of the county town, but the former went through the water gate while they went through the land gate.

In the carriage, the head of the human traffickers Liu Zhun looked at the officials outside through the window with a somewhat nervous expression.

Human traffickers usually don't go into the city, because they commit crimes in the countryside outside the city, and the chance of being caught is much smaller. This time they had to go into the city to get the money, so they were naturally very cautious. They deliberately chose to enter the city before the city gates were about to close, because people were in a hurry to enter the city at this time, and the officials had no time to check, so it was safest.

"Brother, just be at ease. The gatekeepers only care about money, not people. Give them a few dozen coins and they won't care who you are." Xu Fan looked relaxed, but he was actually very nervous. He knew that the closer it got to the end, the easier it would be for the kidnappers to lose their minds, so he naturally spared no effort to give the kidnapper psychological massage.

"Second brother is right. It's my elder brother who is obsessed." The head of the human tooth smiled embarrassedly and pointed at his right eyelid and said, "It's mainly because my eyelid keeps twitching here."

"In Changxing, the right eye twitches for wealth." Xu Ying hastened to comfort him, "Brother, just follow the local customs."

"Hahaha, third brother is really good at talking, and second brother is even better." The leader of the human teeth finally relaxed and laughed heartily: "You Changxing people are all talented and speak well. I like this place very much."

"Then stay here. Our home is eldest brother's home. The three of us brothers will never be separated!" Xu Fan said affectionately.

"Yes, from now on we will eat at the same table and sleep on the same bed." Xu Ying also said affectionately.

"Second brother, third brother." The tooth boss was so moved that tears filled his eyes. He had never felt so warm before.

“Brother!”

“Brother!”

Xu Fan and Xu Ying also stretched out their hands excitedly, and the three pairs of hands clasped together tightly.

Sure enough, after paying a hundred liters of money, the soldiers guarding the gate let me pass without checking me.

The human traffickers loosened their grip on the sharp blades in their arms and surrounded the carriage as they headed towards the Xu family's house in the county town.

~~

On the other side, the boat Zhao Hao was riding on also docked at Chengguan Wharf.

On the dock, Changxing County militiamen in blue uniforms blocked off the entire section of the pier. Several men in silk gowns and with extraordinary bearing were waiting eagerly.

Seeing Gao Wu's eye-catching sturdy figure, one of them said happily: "Here he comes, here he comes!"

Only then did Zhao Hao realize that these people were there to greet him.

However, Secretary Ma was not around, and he couldn't remember who the other person was.

Alas, there is nothing I can do. Who told me to meet so many people?

It was Jin Ke who reminded him in a low voice: "The one who spoke is Pan Zhongcheng's third brother."

"Oh." Zhao Hao nodded slightly, remembering. Pan Jixun had three older brothers. The eldest brother was Pan Boxiang, who had been a county magistrate. He was old and had difficulty walking, so he no longer went out.

The second brother, Pan Zhongzhan, was born as a Hanlin editor. Unfortunately, he was demoted to the prefect of Anqing when Yan Song became a dictator. He resigned early and returned home to teach his sons and nephews. Now he was abducted by Zhao Hao to Yufeng Academy and served as the executive vice president. More than a dozen children of the Pan family also enrolled in the academy or attended elementary school.

The remaining one is the third brother, Pan Shujun. He is two years older than Pan Jixun, but looks more than ten years younger. It is obvious that he has taken good care of himself and has never suffered any hardship.

He is not a playboy, and the Pan family's tradition does not produce playboys, but among the brothers, there must be someone to look after the family business and support the parents, and it is impossible for all of them to go out and work hard. The third brother of the Pan family has such a task, from being a left-behind youth to being a left-behind elderly.

However, after his parents passed away, Mr. Pan San, who had been a rich and idle man all his life, also wanted to make some changes. However, his eldest brother and fourth brother did not allow him to break the Pan family motto of "farming and studying, not doing business", so he did not get involved in Jiangnan Group.

Because of the relationship with his second elder brother and fourth younger brother, Mr. Pan San often went to Kunshan and was familiar with many people in Jiangnan Group. As the head of security for the group, Jin Ke naturally knew him.

Zhao Hao had met Pan Shujun twice. During the Chinese New Year, he went to the Pan family in Wucheng to pay New Year's greetings, but there were so many people with the surname Pan that he couldn't remember him for the time being.

~~

After being reminded, Zhao Hao immediately showed a warm smile, waved to Pan Shujun in surprise and said, "Why is Third Uncle here?"

"Of course I'm here to welcome you, young master." Pan Shujun said hello to Zhao Hao with a smile, and then introduced the middle-aged man next to him, "This is the Jia family of this county."

"Oh, I'm really honored to trouble you, the county magistrate, to come and welcome me." Zhao Hao was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the magistrate of Changxing, Jia Gui, would also come here after hearing the news.

Magistrate Jia hurriedly returned the greeting, saying politely, "I am honored that the famous Mr. Zhao from Jiangnan has visited my county. I hope you don't mind my rudeness."

"I have come here uninvited. I hope my parents will forgive me for my impertinence." Zhao Hao stepped onto the plank and got off the boat surrounded by guards. He greeted County Magistrate Jia and Pan Shujun.

After the greetings, Magistrate Jia wanted to hold a banquet to welcome Zhao Hao. Zhao Hao had a request to make, so of course he could not refuse, and he readily agreed.

Magistrate Jia got on the sedan first, set up the ceremonial guard and led the way... It was roughly equivalent to the police cars leading the way and traffic control directing traffic in the previous life, giving Master Zhao enough face.

Zhao Hao got on Pan Shujun's carriage. Although Jia Gui prepared a sedan chair for them, both families were from scholarly families, so they would not follow the example of those country bumpkins who wore a sedan chair in disguise.

In the carriage, Zhao Hao asked curiously, "How did Third Uncle know that I came to Changxing?"

"Haha, your Science is so beautiful, it's hard not to attract attention." Pan Shujun joked, and said honestly: "The area along the lake in Huzhou is all my land. When you were changing boats at the mouth of Xiaruo River, I got the news and hurriedly took a boat from the city."

"So that's it." Zhao Hao suddenly realized, and suddenly heard Gao Wu knocking on the car window outside.

"What's the matter?" He opened the car window.

Before Gao Wu could answer, Fang Wen appeared and came closer to report: "Sir, the two brothers have come to Changxing."

~~

"Oh?" Young Master Zhao's expression changed, and he chuckled and said, "You are quite capable. Where are those gangsters?"

Obviously, he knew very well about Xu Fan and Xu Ying's bumpy escape.

"He followed us into the city." Fang Wen whispered, "He must be here to collect the ransom."

Mr. Zhao thought that after a hundred years, Lord Xu would be buried in Changxing. It seemed that this place might have some connection with the Xu family.

"Quite clever..." Zhao Hao touched his chin, wondering how to help them.

"What's the matter, sir? Do you need help?" Pan Shujun asked from the side.

"Uncle San, a group of extremely vicious human traffickers have entered the county. I don't know what harm they are going to do." Zhao Hao said seriously, "As good citizens, we will be condemned by our conscience if we sit back and do nothing."

"That's right. Everyone has the responsibility to curb crime." Pan Shujun nodded and smiled knowingly, "But we are unarmed and I'm afraid we are no match for the bad guys. Let's report it. I believe that Mr. Jia has the ability to protect his people from harm."

"Master, let's do it!" Zhao Hao praised, and the two of them laughed.

~~

The three sworn brothers entered the city, but did not go directly to the door.

Because just now, the head of the human trafficking gang, Liu Zhun, took the opportunity of chatting to interrogate my second brother, asking how many people are there in your house, what the layout is, what is the name of the person in charge, etc.

This stumped Xu Fan. He had never been to the house in Changxing, so how could he know what it looked like inside or how many people lived there? He only recognized the steward named Xu Zheng, and knew nothing about the rest.

Xu Fan had no choice but to say that this was his family's outer residence and he didn't know the specific situation, but the mansion's steward Xu Zheng was his confidant, and everything would be easy as long as he saw him.

Liu Zhun clearly remembered him, and he had said before that he was a businessman from Changxing. Seeing Xu Fan's inconsistency, he couldn't help but become suspicious, but because of the brotherly relationship, he didn't get angry immediately, but he had to be cautious.

He first found a secluded place to stay near the mansion that Xu Fan mentioned. Then he sent someone to the mansion with Xu Fan's handwritten letter to find Xu Zheng to get the money to pick him up.

Liu Zhun also kept apologizing to Xu Fan, saying that the brothers were too suspicious in this line of work, and that no matter what he said, it would be useless. When Xu Zheng brought the money, he would ask them to kowtow to the second and third brothers to apologize.

But no matter how long they waited, Xu Zheng never showed up, and even the messenger didn't come back.

Liu Zhun felt something was wrong and was about to ask someone to take a look when suddenly there was a huge fire everywhere! A fierce and evil voice shouted from outside:

"Don't move! Get down on your hands and knees and get out of the house immediately!"

"Those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

Everyone in the house was immediately frightened and hastily drew their weapons and looked around. They saw countless torches and lanterns lit outside the house. It was the Changxing County constables holding swords, guns, bows and crossbows, surrounding their hiding place.

"Damn it, how dare you play tricks on us!" Seeing that they could not escape, several guys were about to chop off the Xu brothers first.

"It's unfair, big brother!" Xu Fan dodged with his head in his hands, and shouted, "We have burned paper in front of the God of Land, how could I betray my brothers?"

"You sent someone to deliver a letter to your housekeeper, but it turned out to be the government troops. How can I trust you?" Liu Zhun's eyes were filled with tears, and he felt his heart was broken. Then he ordered them to be captured with a painful look on his face, and used the two men as human shields in front of him, wanting to fight to the death.

"No one is allowed to move. I have hostages!" Liu Zhun shrank back and shouted loudly: "One of them is Yu Xi and the other is Yu Bei. They are famous wealthy businessmen in Changxing! If you want them to live, make way immediately!"

"Yu Xi, Yu Bei?" Outside, Gou Dianshi of Changxing, who was leading the team personally under the order of the master, was stunned when he heard this and asked his attendants, "Are there any rich people with the surname Yu in Changxing?"

"Forget about the rich people, there is not even a person with the surname Yu in this locality." The captain of the police said with certainty.

"Yu Xi, Yu Bei..." Master Huang, who was supervising the battle on the other side, suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "Xi Bei is fake. Which father would give his son such a name? Doesn't this clearly tell us that they made it up?"

"Damn it, you dare to make fun of our master! How dare you!" Gou Dianshi spat fiercely and ordered: "Capture all the hostages who don't need to be rescued!"

The detectives rushed forward and arrested them all without any investigation.

"Alas, we have hostages!"

"I'm really going to stab you!"

"Brother, haven't you figured it out yet? We weren't the ones who betrayed him..."

"Killing us is useless..."

There was a commotion and everyone was arrested. Xu Fan and Xu Ying were no exception, but they were lucky enough not to be stabbed.

The detectives stuffed all the prisoners into the prison van and returned to the yamen in triumph.

~~

Six or seven big men were crammed into the narrow single-person prison van, which was really a dilemma and a difficult situation.

Xu Fan and Liu Zhun were huddled together, face to face, and the latter said with a guilty look on his face:

"Second brother, I have wronged you. Can you forgive me just once?"

Xu Fan was almost fainted by the stench from the other person's breath.

"If you turn your head away, I will forgive you."

"Okay, okay." Liu Jun used all his strength to turn around, but he got close to Xu Ying on the other side again.

Xu Ying's lips were pricked by the stubble and it hurt so much that she spat in Liu Jun's face.

"Third brother, are you okay?" The eldest brother was pretty good. He didn't care about his own face and asked the other party what was wrong first.

"It's okay, I'll get used to it after vomiting..." Xu Ying looked like he was being played around. He was the third master of the Xu family, and he had been calling the shots in Songjiang for many years. How could he end up like this?

In just a few days, I had to crawl into the sewers, soak in the dung buckets, and was put into a prison van in such a humiliating way. When would this end?

~~

Over there, in the county mansion, Magistrate Jia set up a sumptuous banquet to entertain Mr. Zhao and his entourage who came to investigate investment.

Halfway through the meal, Master Huang came in, smiling and announcing his crime.

"It seems that the gentleman must have returned victoriously." Magistrate Jia felt very proud and asked him to take the seat as well. This was a reflection of the ability of the Changxing County Government, and it would definitely add points to the Jiangnan Group.

Zhao Hao toasted Magistrate Jia and Mr. Huang with a glass of wine. He was already sixteen years old and could drink some fruit wine. But he still didn't dare to drink white wine. Mr. Zhao's memory was not good to begin with, and if he drank white wine again, he would probably suffer from amnesia.

Magistrate Jia and Mr. Huang had inquired about this and knew that Zhao Hao never drank alcohol, so they were immediately flattered. Mr. Huang hurriedly stood up and waved his hands, saying "no, no, no".

"Of course, of course." Zhao Hao said with a friendly smile: "If Mr. Huang is so polite, I won't dare to cause you any more trouble in the future."

Master Huang then raised the wine glass, clinked it with Zhao Hao's, and happily drank it all in one gulp.