Chapter 185 – Inspection of barges

Continuous patches of blood …. That official ship is full of evil people ah …. Xu Qi’an was taken aback.

But he did not make a rash judgment, for the canal was often haunted by bandits, and it was possible that these mandarins had just repelled bandits who had tried to plunder it.

“What kind of ship is that one, why is it different from ours?” Xu Qi’an looked at the approaching official ship and casually asked the fellow officer beside him.

There were quite a few old gongs present who had seen a lot, and after recognizing them, they replied, “That’s a barge, and looking at the flag, it seems to be from Yuzhou.”

Barges are those big flat-bottomed boats that are mostly used to carry cargo.

Xu Qi’an let out an “oh” sound, and with a slight flicker in his gaze, he continued to ask, “Are there any water bandits in the vicinity of Yuzhou?”

Song Tingfeng laughed and put his hand on Xu Qi’an’s shoulder, “It’s only half a day’s journey from here to Yuzhou’s Questionable Pass, have you ever seen anyone stopping and robbing at the entrance of a government office?”

“Then there’s no problem.” Xu Qi’an nodded his head, as if he was certain of something in his tone.

“What’s not a problem anymore?”

“There’s no problem fishing for merits.” He glanced at Song Tingfeng, and seeing that the two ships were about to rub shoulders, he quickly said, “Tingfeng, immediately go back to the cabin to find Jiang Jinluo, and say that there is an urgent matter.”

He then swept over the seven or eight gongs on the deck and said in a deep voice, “There’s something wrong with that ship, you guys follow me and move.”

When he finished speaking, he turned toward the barge on the side and bellowed, “Stop the boat!”

The sound rolled and echoed across the river.

The officials on the barge even ignored it and pretended not to hear it. Some boatmen even quietly adjusted the angle of the sails, and the barge angled away from the official boat where the night watchman was.

Now, the other gongs also realized that something was wrong, before they could say anything, they saw Xu Qi’an bracing himself on the guardrail, the deck under his feet “clicked” and broke, and his whole body shot out like a cannonball.

Instantly spanning a distance of tens of meters, he landed firmly on the deck of the barge.

“Click…”

The sound of the deck breaking was unceasing, and seven or eight gongs leaped up one after another, and by exaggerated bouncing and drumming of air, they too leaped on to the barge.

Seeing a group of gongs “invading” the barge, a few officials on the deck changed their faces and quietly pressed the hilt of their swords on their backs.

“Several adults…” a bearded man ran out of the cabin at a brisk pace, wearing a Yamen’s uniform, a high hat, and a pair of black boots on his feet.

He looked around at the gongs on deck and clasped his fists, “What can I do for you.”

Xu Qi’an didn’t say anything, carefully observing their micro-expressions and subtle movements, Zhu Guangxiao said in a deep voice:

“What magistrate are you?”

“I’m a ship-guarding constable of the Cao Transportation Yamen, escorting a batch of iron ore to the capital.” The bearded men replied. The messenger uniforms they were wearing, printed with the pattern of water waves, were precisely the messenger uniforms of the Cao Transportation Yamen.

Yuzhou is rich in iron ore, and both salt and iron belong to the lifeblood of the country, which is commonly referred to as a strategic resource and a big financial head.

The gongs were not surprised by this and turned their heads to look at Xu Qi’an. It was not understood why he had suddenly intercepted this ship.

Xu Qi’an narrowed his eyes, noting a detail that up until now, the barge was still sailing and had not anchored.

“Guangxiao, stop the ship.” Xu Qi’an said in a deep voice.

Zhu Guangxiao immediately went to the stern of the ship and kicked the huge, heavy anchor into the water, and the barge slowly braced itself.

When the reticent fellow officer returned, Xu Qi’an questioned, “Why didn’t you stop the ship just now?”

“This ….” The bearded man looked embarrassed and whispered, “Wait a moment, adults.”

He returned to the cabin, and in a few moments, he folded several silver tickets and vaguely handed them over with a compensatory smile:

“I know that no matter where I am, as long as I see the adults of the night watchman s yamen, I have to be filial …. to them. I was ignorant just now and wanted to muddle through, I deserve to die for my crime, please forgive me, adults.”

Xu Qi’an glanced at them, they were all fifty-twenty denomination silver bills, totaling roughly three hundred taels.

Is this his way of thinking that we are blocking the ship in order to take a bribe? The watchmen present reacted with good humor and amusement.

Although the night watchman was not too clean, it was not to the extent of pulling hair out of the goose. However, the popularity of the watchmen was indeed very bad, thanks to the civil officials who poured dirty water on them day after day, portraying the watchmen as the eagle’s claws of Wei Yuan, doing the evil deeds of brutalizing the loyal and good, and corrupting and perverting the law.

The best thing a reader can do is to put people to death with a pencil.

“Ning Banquet…” frowned Zhu Guangxiao, casting his gaze towards Xu Qi’an.

Including him, the gongs did not believe that Xu Qi’an was intercepting the barge for the silver, this guy who would knife a silver gong for an unrelated woman, whether it was pleasing to the eye or not was another story, but his character was worthy of recognition.

The bearded man saw in a long time no one to pick up the silver ticket, his heart sank, he did not feel that he responded to what is the problem, but it seems that the beat people do not buy it.

“Show me to the cabin.” Xu Qi’an took a few steps forward and gazed at the bearded man.

At this time, Xu Qi’an stood in front of all the gongs, his right hand unceremoniously behind his back as he quickly made a gesture.

The gesture was hidden and subtle, but the gongs behind them tensed quietly.

For this gesture is the specialized sign language of the night watchman’s court, which means: prepare for action.

“Take me to check it out.” Xu Qi’an made his request.

“Yes, after you.” The bearded man agreed in one gulp.

…. The promise is too painful, isn’t it? Normally, one shouldn’t protest with the line that it’s not the job of a night watchman to take care of the canal.

Well, it could be that he’s a goon… Xu Qi’an pondered, leading his fellow officers, as the bearded man entered the cabin and followed the narrow staircase to the bilge.

One by one, the candles were lit, and the bearded man led the watchmen in checking the ore that filled one of the crates.

A gong grabbed a handful of finely crushed iron ore and slurped, “All high-quality iron ore that’s been screened.”

The bearded man laughed and laughed a few times in response.

That gong didn’t move and dropped the iron ore, using the sheath of his sword to tip Xu Qi’an’s waist, his eyes signaling.

Xu Qi’an said, “You guys keep checking.”

He stepped aside with the gong and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

Causeway lowered his voice, “The ore was ground too finely, the quality was too excellent.”

Xu Qi’an didn’t get it, “This was shipped to the capital, what’s wrong with it?”

Causeway glanced at the crowd not far away, withdrew his gaze and said in a low voice, ”I investigated an embezzlement case in the Ministry of Public Works some years ago, and it was related to iron ore. The ore is calculated by weight yet, not quality.

“In order to seize profits and enrich themselves, officials will mix gravel with iron ore, or poor quality iron ore to flush out the quantity. As long as a certain degree is grasped, there will be no problem.”

…That is to say, the quality of the iron ore here is too good…Xu Qi’an nodded.

After checking that there were no abnormalities, the people returned to the cabin, and Xu Qi’an made another request, “Give me your paperwork to look at.”

The bearded man obediently fetched the paperwork issued by the Cao Transportation Yamen, and after confirming that it was correct, Xu Qi’an said, “You didn’t encounter any situations on the way, did you?”

“How can I, it’s only just left Yuzhou.” The bearded man said.

Heh, so explain what the green light…no, blood light on your head means?

Xu Qi’an observed the cabin as he walked, and the bearded man accompanied him the entire time, answering all questions with a surprisingly good attitude.

All the way to the mess hall, the four cooks sat on small wooden ties, looking at Xu Qi’an and the others in silence.

There were many seasonal vegetables stored in baskets in the cookhouse that looked quite fresh.

Xu Qi’an laughed, “Now when I see a vegetable leaf, my eyes light up with green light, after eating fish on the ship for days, it’s fishy and hard to drink.”

He swept over the four cooks and said, “Right.”

One of the cooks glanced at the bearded man, his eyes met and he understood, revealing a humble smile, “Yes, the fish in the river will inevitably have an earthy odor, and it’s normal for your lordship’s gold to be uncomfortable with it. Those like us who have been begging for a living on the water for years have long gotten used to it.”

“Oh, you don’t know how to deodorize fish.” Xu Qi’an nodded with a smile.

Uh-huh? The four cooks tasted something odd from Xu Qi’an’s meaningful smile.

The bearded man did the same and tried, “My lord…”

Before he could speak, his jaw was slapped from the bottom up by this gong, and his dental bed collided, booming out a mouthful of broken teeth.

Immediately afterward, that gong whacked him twice in the chest with great speed, thump thump thump thump… chi power running through the back and tearing the poor suit.

The bearded man was whacked and flew out, hitting the wall and falling to the ground in a limp, shriveled heap.

Suddenly striking out, Xu Qi’an no longer paid attention to him, turning back with a leg sweep, sweeping off the ribs of one of the cooks before whacking off the sternums of the remaining three cooks with the force and speed of a martial artist’s double-A.

The whole thing took no more than five seconds.

Nonetheless, the fight inside the cookhouse still attracted the attention of both sides outside.

Xu Qi’an droned, “Take everyone on board and leave them alive.”

The gongs, who had been alerted by hand signals, reacted quickly and did not hesitate to strike, knocking over one of the boatmen and mandarins.

For the per capita Practicing Qi Realm’s night watchman, subduing a group of mandarins with fairly good hands was not much more difficult than Xu Qi’an beating up Xu Lingyin.

At that moment, Xu Qi’an sensed a strong aura landing on the deck, and in order to ensure that the bearded man escaped by diving into the water, he carried along with him out of the cabin and onto the deck.

Jiang Ruizhong frowned and looked at him in deep silence.

Xu Qi’an turned his head to look in the direction of his own official ship and realized that Inspector Zhang had also been startled and was standing on the deck looking out this way with a grave expression.

This barge was also an official ship, belonging to the Yuzhou government, and Xu Qi’an’s behavior was no different from that of a water bandit. Without a justifiable reason, this matter could not be handled well.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Ruizhong cast a questioning glance, glancing at the beard in Xu Qi’an’s hand.

He instantly recognized that it was the uniform of the Cao Yun Yamen.

“There’s something wrong with this ship, but it’s hard to say exactly what it is.” Xu Qi’an explained.

“This is a barge from the Yuzhou Cao Transportation Yamen, escorting iron ore?” Jiang Lizhong asked.

“Uh-huh.”

Jiang Lunzhong nodded and said in a deep voice, “How did you find out that there was something wrong with it.”

…..

PS: Happy Children’s Day in advance. With our passion for playing games, shouldn’t it be celebrated on June 1? Based on our single life, shouldn’t it be celebrated on June 1?

PS: Thanks to “mustlin” for the alliance reward.