Destiny Only Han

Hengshan County.

Zhu County.

It is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which is roughly the location of Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei Province in later generations.

In today's Zhu County, the lake has not been filled up with sixty or seventy-story high-rise buildings like later generations. Therefore, the water network is densely covered here, with lakes and swamps everywhere, and clusters of reeds cover the sky and the sun. Extend to the end of the line of sight.

The sky gradually dimmed, but the light rain continued to fall endlessly.

Suddenly, a waterfowl in the reeds was frightened and flew up, and the bursts of singing were particularly piercing in the solitude.

Chao Zhangzi and the others who were hiding on the small island in the middle of the lake suddenly became vigilant, looking for weapons among the reeds and hiding nearby.

Today's big Han people are martial arts, and men will basically get a saber when they come of age, and many men with well-off families will have more than one saber, and they will have people make different styles of sabers for different occasions. Matching when wearing different clothes.

Well, sort of like a tie with a suit.

But for people like Chao Changzi, a flashy saber is a luxury, and they are used to using simple knives.

This kind of knife usually looks like a hatchet when the handle is removed, but when it is mounted on a stick, it immediately looks like a miniature closed knife. It is a must-have product for home travel!

Soon, the alert was lifted.

The reason is simple. The people who punted in were not officers and soldiers, but Ruan Zhong, who was wearing a hat and coir raincoat and dressed up as a fisherman.

Chao's eldest son walked up in two or three steps, and asked, "Brother, how is it?"

Ruan Zhong shook his head: "The water is full of government and military boats, not to mention merchants, even if local fishermen appear on the river without carrying the 'test, biography', they will be regarded as us. The accomplice was captured on the spot by the officers and soldiers and sent to the county government for questioning!"

"It seems that we really caused too much trouble this time..."

After he finished speaking, he sighed deeply.

The incited boatmen around were full of remorse.

Now, it has been seven or eight days since they blew up the bridge. These days, they hid in this vast reeds, not daring to go out, not to make a fire, or even to speak loudly!
The world is so big, I am afraid there is no room for them...

Chao eldest son said in a deep voice: "I have a plan, I don't know if I should tell it or not?"

Ruan Zhong clasped his fists together: "Brother, it's okay to say it! Now that things are up to now, I'll just follow my brother's orders!"

Chao eldest son said solemnly: "It seems that now the only way to escape is by land!"

Ruan Zhong asked, "Lu Lu?"

Chao eldest son nodded: "That's right, the land route. The officers and soldiers blocked the river, presumably because they already knew our identities, but if you and I abandon the boat and go ashore, make a circle and return home, we will definitely be able to avoid the officers and soldiers' sight!"

"Also, we need to find them and get the money they promised us!"

After he finished speaking, all the boatmen were silent.

Relying on mountains to eat mountains and water to draught.

As boatmen, they eat food in the water, and the boat is not only their home to some extent, but also their food!

The most important thing is that most of their boats are bought with borrowed money, and now they have to pay off a large boat loan every month. If they lose the boat, it means that they have completely lost their means of earning a living, and there is no way to repay the loan. If they don't have the ability, it's better to let the officers and soldiers arrest them directly!
In terms of viciousness, the officers and soldiers are less than one-tenth of those debt collectors!

Chao's eldest son lowered his voice and scolded: "The second and third sons are so ignorant! If you and I don't come back, no matter how stupid the government is, they will know that this matter was done by me! Besides, if we get back the money they promised to wait for, Not to mention repaying the boat loan, how difficult is it to buy another good boat?"

For a moment, the boatmen were a little moved.

After all, the reason why they took the risk in the first place was not only that they lost their business after the bridge was repaired, but also that someone promised that if they could get things done, one person would get one gold!
One gold refers to a whole catty of gold!
What's important is that the other party has already handed over half of the deposit to eldest son Chao, a box full!
But now, the only person who knows where the box of gold is buried is the eldest son Chao, and therefore, the only option they have is to follow the eldest son Chao all the way to Hei!

But Ruan Zhong has a different opinion.

He frowned and asked, "They said that we would only pay if we blow up the bridge, but we didn't blow up the bridge. If we ask for money now, will they still give it?"

Chao's eldest son felt like a deflated ball when he heard the words.

Everything went well that night. Taking advantage of the darkness, they quietly approached the nearly completed Jiangshui Bridge, planning to blow the bridge down with the explosives given by others as they had discussed.

Well, although they don't know what directional blasting is, gunpowder is not a rare thing for today's big men. With the almost inexhaustible sulfur in Whale Island, even ordinary people can spend New Year's Eve I will also buy a few plates of firecrackers on New Year's Eve, crackling and frying on New Year's Eve, to join in the fun and auspiciousness.

And children will also run around looking for those broken cannons that were not lit when they were fired in other people's homes.

Therefore, without those people who gave them explosives, the boatmen themselves understood that in order to maximize the power of explosives, they needed to stuff explosives into the pier and ignite them.

But the problem is that the bridge piers are made of reinforced concrete, and the cement grade is extremely high, which is far from the softness of the civilian cement they use to build houses!

They broke two of the iron brazing rods that night, and in the end they did not dig a hole for explosives on the bridge pier...

Not only that, the sound of jingling, jingling, jingling is transmitted far away on the silent river, even on the other side of the river, it can be heard clearly!
So, they can only put explosives on the bridge piers at will, ignite them and escape...

As for how much to blow up, we can only resign ourselves to fate!
Then, the violent and continuous explosions changed the whole incident from the initial idea of ​​some rural farmers stealing steel bars on the construction site in the dark of night, to a terrorist attack!
This is fate... The eldest son Chao shook his head and sighed, and asked, "Brother Ruan, what should we do?"

Ruan Zhong was silent.

After an unknown amount of time, he raised his head, gritted his molars and said, "Surrender yourself."

"What? Did I hear you right? Surrender yourself?" Chao's eldest son turned pale with shock.

"Yes, surrender." Ruan Zhong nodded vigorously.

"Crazy, you are absolutely crazy!" Chao eldest son's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.

The surrounding boatmen also had the same expressions.

What is the difference between surrendering yourself at this time and letting them die directly?
Ruan Zhong said slowly: "I went outside to inquire about the news before, and I learned that we did not damage the pier at all that night! I also heard that this matter has alarmed His Majesty the Emperor, and His Majesty sent his eldest son, Jin Wang Liu Qi, here Supervise this case!"

"Your Majesty the Emperor is so benevolent, and the eldest son of the Emperor thinks the same way. If we can go to the government to surrender in time, we will not be guilty of death..."

Chao's eldest son shook his head: "This is just your wishful thinking! We committed such a serious crime, unless we are not caught by the government, we will die! How can we, grass-roots people, be pardoned by nobles like King Jin?"

Ruan Zhong's eyes were serious, and he lowered his voice subconsciously: "If so, how about we tell the whole story?"

Chao's eldest son was startled, and his eyes widened: "Brother Ruan, what do you mean, give out the names of those people?"

Ruan Zhong nodded.

Chao eldest son fell silent for a moment.

After some time, he said in a hoarse voice, "Brother, don't you know who they are?"

Ruan Zhong stared intently: "I know."

Chao eldest son was a little surprised and said: "Since you know, how can you say such naive words?"

Ruan Zhong smiled wryly: "I just want to survive..."

Chao eldest son shook his head suddenly: "Don't bring this up again! Since you know who they are, you know that you can at most send a few of them in based on our confessions, but their accomplices, the people behind them are still Will get away with it!"

"At that time, I'm afraid that you and my family will die without a place to bury!"

Ruan Zhong sighed silently, intending to refute, but in the end he remained silent.

After all, what Chao Changzi said was right, relying on their confessions alone was not enough to wipe out the other party, so afterward, it would be their family that was unlucky!
Today's world is so cruel, what the rich pay is nothing more than a drop in the bucket for them, but what they have to pay is their only life!

unfair!
But also fair!
Because they spent their entire lives, but they still couldn't earn a small amount of money that the other party threw at random!
Ruan Zhong was silent for a long time, looked at Chao eldest son and said, "How about, let's run!"

Chao's eldest son asked back, "How did you run away?"

Ruan Zhong seemed to have made up his mind: "According to my brother's words, I will abandon the ship and return to Shijie Village by land. When the time comes, my brother will take out the box of gold, and we will take our family to Nanyang to make a living!"

"The newspapers said that the Han's overseas territories follow laws and regulations differently from the local ones."

"Besides, you and I remain anonymous, so who would know where we came from?"

After he finished speaking, the boatmen were also very moved.

If it weren't for the poor family, they would have gone to Nanyang, opened plantations, and become rich according to what the newspaper said!
That box of gold is enough for them to buy a large plantation on the South Sea island, plant large tracts of sugarcane, and plant a hundred mango trees, so that they can sell cane sugar and dried fruit to make money, and the remaining molasses and fruit are made into wine!
Everyone eats and lives together, shares the joy of harvest together, and is happy. It’s nothing more than that if you want to come to the Paradise!

The important thing is, there is no need for a group of evil spirits to come to demand the ship loan every month!
Chao's eldest son looked left and right, and suddenly laughed in a low voice: "Brothers of the Ruan family are indeed people who have studied in the Han Public School, and their insights are indeed extraordinary! Confucius once said, if you can't do it, you can float in the sea!"

"Going to Nanyang is indeed a way out!"

"I have a plan, I don't know if I should tell it or not?"