At the Dasheng Bay Pier, Master Zhao used a telescope to watch the Wuxian fleet slowly depart.

He also breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Jiang Xueying, "Sister, you are amazing. I got what you said. County Magistrate Yang is quite tactful."

"Brother, you are too kind. As the county magistrate of Suzhou City, he is naturally well-informed and good at dealing with people," Jiang Xueying said with a smile, "I know that brother is someone he cannot afford to offend."

"I'm just a kid, why can't I afford to offend him?" Zhao Hao shook his head and said, "He may have guessed our intentions and doesn't want to get involved in this mess."

"That's possible." Jiang Xueying nodded slightly, and smiled with her hands covering her mouth: "Taihu Lake is so big, but the Kunshan Gunner Battalion was able to find the bandit's nest in no time. It makes people wonder."

"Let them go if they want." Zhao Hao spread his hands and laughed, "It just so happens, what do you say we should do?"

The two walked towards the village while talking.

At the entrance of the village, the prisoners were digging trenches under the supervision of the militia. Jin Ke was going to build a trench around the village and then build a camp wall to prevent the camp from being stolen.

Fortunately, Wu Ji’s ship had a batch of tools such as shovels and pickaxes that Zhao Hao had previously ordered for Kunshan, otherwise this job would have been very difficult.

Walking onto the wooden planks on the trench and entering the village, we saw Wu Ji's men and Kunshan militiamen busy repairing the barracks.

They used local materials, took down usable tiles from the abandoned houses at the end of the village, dismantled relatively intact doors and windows, and the blue bricks and square stones on the walls, preparing to concentrate on repairing the rows of houses at the head of the village.

Strength lies in numbers. In just over a day, half of the work had been completed. There were more than a dozen houses that were enough to shelter the soldiers from the wind and rain, so they didn't have to sleep on the boat tonight.

"Brother, let me go and see if our supplies have been counted." Walking to the gate of the courtyard that served as a warehouse, Jiang Xue smiled at Zhao Hao.

"Okay, sister, I'll go and see how the interrogation of the prisoners is going." Zhao Hao nodded with a smile and walked into the yard opposite which served as the gunner battalion headquarters.

~~

As soon as Zhao Hao entered the camp, he heard crying sounds coming from the west wing.

"What's going on?" Zhao Hao asked.

"My lord." The one-armed old soldier on duty in the courtyard stood up and saluted, saying, "Captain Jin is interrogating that kid named Liu..."

"Oh." Zhao Hao nodded, walked over and pushed the door open.

In the west wing, Liu Ji, the son of Mr. Liu, was curled up in a corner with his arms folded, crying.

"Young Master." Jin Ke and Tong Zigong stood up to greet him with an embarrassed look on their faces.

"What's going on?" Zhao Hao looked at Master Liu curiously, he looked so pitiful.

"This kid doesn't know anything when asked. I don't know if he is pretending to be stupid." Tong Zigong said embarrassedly: "I just tried to scare him."

"Why did you scare him?" Zhao Hao sat down in the seat vacated by Jin Ke.

"Hehe..." Tong Zigong scratched his head but was too embarrassed to say anything.

"Sir, in my opinion, this child probably doesn't know very much." Jin Ke took over the conversation.

"You know nothing, why are you meddling in other people's affairs?" Zhao Hao picked up a broad bean from the table and threw it at Liu Ji's head.

Xiao Liu cried, "My father asked me to come here with Butler Wang, saying that he wanted me to be a hero and save the beauty, wuwu..."

"You're such a clumsy person, yet you still want to be a hero and save the beauty." Tong Zigong licked his lips perversely.

Liu Yingxiong was so frightened that his nose was full of snot. Tong Zigong glared at him and he quickly sucked it back, causing Old Tong to burst into laughter.

"So, Butler Wang knows everything?" Zhao Hao waited until he had laughed enough and then asked.

"Yes, yes, yes." Liu Ji nodded like pecking at rice. "He has been in my family for more than 20 years. He is my father's most trusted housekeeper. When my father was in Nanjing, he had the final say on all family affairs..."

"Take him away and get the man named Wang over here." Zhao Hao waved his hand.

"Let's go, young master." Tong Zigong rubbed his hands and walked forward with a chuckle. Liu Ji was so scared that he went straight to the corner.

"Is this guy okay?" Zhao Hao frowned.

"No, just a little bit perverted." Jin Ke thought about it and answered honestly.

"You still call that fine?" Young Master Zhao muttered to himself.

~~

After a while, Butler Wang was brought up.

He walked into the room calmly with his hands behind his back and his head held high, his face covered with scars.

Uh, well, the hands behind my back are because my hands are tied behind my back...

However, Steward Wang has seen a lot of ups and downs, so he is certainly not comparable to the frightened young master.

"This guy is very stubborn." Jin Ke whispered to Zhao Hao, "We interrogated him all night yesterday, but we couldn't pry him open."

Zhao Hao nodded and smiled at Wang Fugui: "What's your name?"

"No comment." Wang Fugui said calmly.

"Yu Liuke has confessed everything. Your name is Wang Fugui." Zhao Hao said with a smile, "You are the chief steward of Liu Zhengqi, the vice president of Dongting Chamber of Commerce."

"I'm not Wang Fugui, and I don't know any Yu Liu." Wang Fugui was obviously fearless, and said calmly: "But my boss is indeed someone you can't offend."

"Bullshit, my master doesn't even take Xu Fan seriously, what's your boss?!" Jin Ke spat.

Wang Fugui twitched his lips. It seemed that the person behind his boss was Xu Fan's younger brother.

Then he said in a muffled voice: "Anyway, don't even think about getting a word out of me."

"How much money did Liu Zhengqi give you?" Young Master Zhao leaned his hands on the back of the chair and asked with his chin in his hand, "What makes you so devoted to him?"

"Why, do you want to bribe me?" Wang Fugui couldn't help but sneer, "Can you afford this money?"

"How do you know I can't afford it if you don't tell me?" Young Master Zhao asked with a smile, "Tell me, how much money can I give to bribe you?"

"Humph, what a joke." Wang Fugui's eyes wandered for a moment, and then he sneered and said, "I am entrusted with a task and I am loyal to the person who entrusted me with it. How can I forget my principles for the sake of profit?"

As he said this, he puffed out his chest and said with great courage: "Come and kill me if you want, but if you frown, I will write the word 'king' upside down!"

"Good job!" Zhao Hao patted the back of his chair and couldn't help but praise: "I respect you as a man! I will never let you suffer any more pain."

~~

After a cup of tea, Wang Fugui was stripped naked, leaving only a pair of trousers, and his buttocks were tied with ropes to form the shape of the Chinese character "太".

Ten militiamen each held a tuft of feathers and slowly scratched his armpits, soles of his feet, navel, ribs, ears, etc.

Jin Ke covered his face and thought, what's the point of tickling? Could it be that the young master and Tong Zigong are the same kind of people?

Unexpectedly, Wang Fugui twisted his body and held on for a few breaths before he couldn't help laughing.

Once he started laughing, he couldn't stop. In less than a minute, he was laughing so hard that his whole body was shaking, and tears and snot were streaming.

“Stop, no, stop…” Then he sobbed helplessly. “Please, no, stop…”

ps. Chapter 3. Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long today. I will update five chapters tomorrow~~~