Detective Di Renjie's legend of Wu Dynasty

Chapter 553 "Chances"

Wang Mang said: "My dear brother, if you don't give up, you can go with Brother Yu, and you can take care of each other along the way."

Seeing what Wang Mang said, Ning muttered, "I'm afraid I'll drag you down."

Wang Mang smiled and said, "Hey, where did you come from. So it's settled."

Ning smiled and said: "That's fine, thank you brother."

While talking, a voice came from the side: "Three, I'm sorry, can I have a word?"

Wang Mang, Li Yuanfang and Ning turned their heads when they heard the sound.

Lu Jiying stood aside with a wide smile.

When Wang Mang saw that the person standing was the middle-aged man in the room, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.

At this time, Ning's eyes turned to Wang Mang and Li Yuanfang, Wang Mang and Li Yuanfang looked at each other, and there was a sneer in their eyes.

Wang Mang nodded and said, "Please tell me."

Lu Jiying said: "There is no room in the hall, only there is a stool on this table. I wonder if the three of you can see me?"

Wang Mang looked at Lu Jiying: "It's so good, my three brothers feel lonely."

Lu Jiying hurriedly said, "I'm bothering you."

As he spoke, he sat on the board opposite Li Yuanfang, and said with a smile, "You three, what do you call them?"

Li Yuanfang said: "Li Yuanfang."

Wang Mang said, "Wang Jingyang."

Ning clasped her hands: "Ning Wushuang."

Lu Jiying smiled and said, "I'm next to Lu Jiying. May I ask if the three are going north or south?"

Wang Mang said, "The three of us are going to Yangzhou."

Lu Jiying said with a smile: "It's a coincidence that my brother has to go through Yangzhou if he wants to go to Shanyang County."

Wang Mang smiled: "This is really a coincidence!"

Li Yuanfang smiled and looked at Wang Mang and Ning Shi: "It seems that we have met another friend on the same journey."

Ning forced a smile and nodded.

Lu Jiying laughed and said, "It's fate, it's fate! It's unexpected that the four of us made a table together, and we still go the same way. Just for this, Lao Lu will have two more drinks with the two of you today!"

As he spoke, he unceremoniously picked up the jug in front of Li Yuanfang, filled it up for the three of them, then poured it for himself, raised his glass and said, "Borrowing flowers to present Buddha, I will do it first as a respect."

As he spoke, he drank it all in one gulp.

Wang Mang, Li Yuanfang and Ning Shi looked at each other and drank the wine in their glasses.

Lu Jiying shouted repeatedly: "Come on, buddy, serve the wine, serve the wine!"

Wang Mang looked up at Lu Jiying.

I saw this man with a sharp mouth and narrow cheeks, small brows and small eyes, and a funny face of a rascal, but there was a hint of shrewdness in his eyes.

Wang Mang coughed lightly, and asked, "Brother Lu, Shanyang County is located at the northern end of Hangou, where the water transportation is very developed, right?"

Lu Jiying turned to look at Wang Mang: "Oh, brother Bowen, you actually know the Hangou canal section."

Wang Mang smiled and said: "I heard that there have been frequent ship capsizing incidents in Hangou in recent years. I wonder if Brother Lu knows a thing or two?"

Lu Jiying was stunned for a moment, and looked at Ning and Li Yuanfang, only to see their expressions became solemn, and their eyes were looking at him quietly.

Lu Jiying coughed lightly to cover up: "Sailboat? Cough, Brother Wang doesn't know anything. There are many, many, three-masted sailboats on the canal.

If the three of you are interested, you can take a trip to Shanyang. I will accompany the three of you to take a look at the canal on a galleon, ah! "

Wang Mang knew that he was talking about him, but he didn't expose him. He just smiled and said, "Thank you very much."

Li Yuanfang looked at Lu Jiying meaningfully and said nothing.

The Ning family on the side said urgently: "Brother Lu, what Brother Wang said about capsizing a ship is a case of an official ship capsizing in Hangou, not a galleon on the canal."

Lu Jiying looked at Ning and said nothing. After a long time, he seemed to have made up his mind, and smiled wryly: "How can I not know what Brother Wang said, it's just, just..."

Ning said anxiously: "Just what? Brother Lu, why are you so hesitant to talk like a big man, you are so happy!"

Lu Jiying smiled helplessly and said, "Brother Ning Xian, this matter is a long story."

Wang Mang smiled and said, "We have plenty of time, Brother Lu can tell you more."

Li Yuanfang nodded: "Yes, brother Lu said slowly, we don't think you are talking too much."

Ning hurriedly said: "That's right, that's right, Brother Lu, just tell us about it!"

Lu Jiying smiled and nodded: "Since the three of you are so interested in this matter, let me talk about it.

The two of you may know that the Han Ditch is located between Yangzhou and Shanyang County, and is the throat of the imperial court's North Transport.

Jianghuai Salt and Iron Transshipment Envoy packs the sea salt produced in Yuezhou and Lianshui in the south of the Yangtze River into sacks every year, and loads it on barges from Hailing and Yancheng.

It was transported to Luoyang, the capital of the gods, through the canal, and then transferred from Luoyang to the important towns in the north where there is a shortage of salt, Chang'an, Ganzhou, Liangzhou and other places in Xijing. "

Wang Mang, Li Yuanfang and Ning Shi listened carefully, and the three nodded slightly.

Lu Jiying sighed: "However, in recent years, strange things have happened in Hangou.

What brother Wang said just now is not bad, as long as the salt ship of the Jianghuai Salt and Iron Transshipment Passes through Hangou, it will capsize, the escorts will be damaged, and the salt on board will disappear. This situation has happened more than ten times.

Every time the ship capsized, the Yangzhou Water Transport Yamen and the local government sent people to salvage the wrecked ship, but only some fragments of the wrecked ship were recovered, but there was no trace of the salt on board. "

Wang Mang, Li Yuanfang and Ning looked at each other and asked, "Is there such a thing?"

Lu Jiying nodded.

Li Yuanfang asked: "Then, could the salt packed in sacks be swept away by the undercurrent under the water or melted in the water?"

Wang Mang shook his head and looked at Lu Jiying.

Lu Jiying smiled bitterly: "Brother Li, the salt carried by the official ship is at least hundreds of thousands of stones each time, think about it, how big an undercurrent will be to swallow it all?
When it comes to melting, it is even more impossible. It will take at least a few months for hundreds of thousands of stones of table salt to melt.

Moreover, even if the salt in the burlap melts, the burlap should be salvageable, right?

However, in previous salvages, nothing was found in the river except for the broken ship fragments.

Anyone can understand if the wrecked supplies were not salvaged after the ship capsized once or twice.

However, there have been more than a dozen incidents of ship capsizing, and every time the salvage has failed, is it not surprising? "

Li Yuanfang was slightly surprised: "It is indeed very strange. Brother Lu said just now that only the salt ship transported by the Jianghuai salt and iron transshipment capsized in Hangou, right?"

Lu Jiying nodded and said, "Exactly."

At this time, Wang Mang heard the meaning of Lu Jiying's words and asked, "That is to say, are the other ships going through unimpeded?"

Lu Jiying looked at Wang Mang and gave a thumbs up: "Brother Wang is really amazing, right on point. You are absolutely right, this is the strangest thing about the shipwreck in Hangou.

It is also the real reason why members of the imperial court went to Hangou for inspection many times. "

Li Yuanfang asked: "Then what did they find?"

(End of this chapter)