Fairy, I really am a villain!

"it is as expected!"

The captain's attitude confirmed something. The boatmen, who were already excited, became even more excited. The strong man in the lead even punched them directly and cursed:

"Fuck! If you don't let me live, then none of us will live!!"

"you!"

Qing Shou, whose surname was Qi, looked at the face in front of him with wide-open eyes. He was furious and said through gritted teeth, "What's your name, you bastard? You'll be dead if I get away from you!"

"Your grandpa's name is Liu Dazhu, what do you think?!"

“Okay, okay, okay! You and the people behind you, no one will be able to escape then!!”

However, the boatmen, who had been somewhat afraid of the officers before, were now more tough than each other: they almost held up all the constables, their expressions tense, their eyes fixed on the locations where the large ships were docked.

Seeing this, Qi Qingshou understood something even though he was slow-witted.

Looking back from his position, there were already hundreds of people crowded from the pier to the shore, and there were even more and denser crowds further back. Almost half of the boatmen and canal workers from Zhoushan had come out in full force.

With such a scale, there must be someone fanning the flames and deliberately causing trouble.

~~

"It was the Cao Gang near Zhoushan City. My conversation with Master Wen San was discovered."

Standing on the high ground piled up by the cargo at the dock, Xue Ruyu looked at the riot with a cold look on his face. He said softly:

"Although they don't know the true strength of these ships, one thing is certain - they want to attack us when we are not prepared, so as to disrupt our deployment. Just like..."

It’s exactly the same as what Master Wen San said.

When the conversation ended, he wanted to ask the other party to go over immediately, call some boatmen, and dock the boat to unload the cargo in front of them, but this request was rejected.

The reason is that it seems like the two families have colluded in advance, and there is a sense of trying to cover up one's own faults, so they have to wait for the other party to make the first move.

Not only that, through this farce, the people can also recognize who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, and they will no longer be used as a gun so easily in the future.

Although Xue Ruyu did not quite agree with the second half of his sentence, the first half still made sense, so he asked, "When will they start the attack?" The man gave him an inexplicable smile and just told him to go home and have a meal first.

Now he finally understood: there was a traitor from the Cao Gang in the Six Gates.

It must be that as soon as he issued the order to disperse, someone went to notify them, otherwise the riot would not have happened so quickly - ordinary surveillance would not have been enough - they must have known Xue Ruyu's true identity and political inclinations to make such a decision.

"Master Xue, do you need me to take action?"

Under the piled goods, there were several people in official uniforms standing. At this moment, one of them stepped forward and said, "If we let them continue to make trouble like this, they will be trampled on by the crowd and will probably be killed or injured."

This is a middle-aged man in his forties, with ordinary looks and a calm expression. There are very faint fluctuations around his body that seem to be connected to the heaven and earth.

"City Lord Chang, please wait a moment. Our current task is to wait and see what happens."

"Please let me know, Master Xue."

"With your eyesight, can you see the people driving the crowd?" Xue Ruyu stretched out his hand and pointed at the back of the crowd. "These people don't wave flags or shout, but they do make incitements. They don't care about the things on the boats, they just let the boatmen make a fuss..."

"Saw."

As he spoke, a gleam of light flashed in City Lord Chang Jian's eyes. "There are four or five people who showed obvious behavior. They are basically from the nearby Cao Gang, such as Xiao Yongjie from Xinjiang Hall, Gong Liansheng from Black Bear Hall..."

Seeing this, someone immediately handed him a pen and paper and asked him to draw the faces of these people.

Although Chang Jian had never learned portrait painting, he was able to capture the essence of these people with just a few strokes by relying on his ability to control the body through the exterior scene. Not only that, he also took note of the boatmen who seemed to be the leaders of the trouble.

Squatting down and bringing up the portrait, Xue Ruyu flipped through it briefly and found that Deng Wengang, who was beaten that day, was also among them. He said, "Some of these people are being used as pawns, and some are undercover agents used by the Cao Gang to incite public opinion. We need to distinguish them carefully."

"Master Xue is very wise," Chang Jian praised, "Can I take action now?"

"City Lord Chang."

Xue Ruyu deliberately emphasized his pronunciation and said slowly, "I am making the decision now."

"...yes."

"I don't mean to use my power to intimidate you, but in this situation, even if we put the facts in front of them, they will just take advantage of the momentum to make trouble."

Chang Jian was silent.

Thinking about the calm demeanor of the man distributing tea, Xue Ruyu pondered for a moment before saying, "'People only believe what they want to believe.' Therefore, our best option right now is to wait for him to come over."

"Are you saying that here, the prestige of the imperial court is not as high as that of a lowly merchant?"

"City Lord Chang, Master Wen is our ally now. Please maintain the most basic respect."

There was no answer to the question, and both of them fell silent.

Not far away, the first group of boatmen who had gone into the water were about to reach the side of the boat. Although some constables jumped off the dock and rowed their boats to chase them, they were no match for these men in swimming skills, and some even capsized halfway.

The boatmen abandoned the boat and climbed up with their hands and feet. Suddenly, a loud shout came from the dock:

"Master Wen is here!"

~~

As the sound rose and fell like the tide, spreading from the west to the east, the crowd suddenly quieted down at an incredible speed.

Even those who were already climbing onto the boat slowed down, turned their heads, and looked back:

The crowd on the dock automatically parted to both sides, leaving a path. A man in a silk robe walked quickly over, his sleeves fluttering in the wind, and stood in front of the crowd indifferently.

"Third Master! I heard that you colluded with these corrupt officials and even went in and out of the restaurant with them. Is this true?"

Before Fang Xiwen had a chance to speak, a sudden shout came from the crowd.

"How can this be false? Collusion between officials and businessmen has existed since ancient times! Where do you think the extra wages come from? The wool comes from the sheep!"

"Don't worry about him, just burn those dozen big ships for me--" "Who dares?!"

Fang Xiwen shouted and looked at the person who spoke coldly, "I recognize you, from Xinjiang Hall. You've read a few books, and it's interesting to parrot here, right?"

"What do you care who I am?" Xiao Yongjie stiffened his neck when he was named. "Brothers, have you seen the true face of this beast? He said that we Jiangzhou men have the guts to talk but not the guts to do it. We are cowards!"

Although it was a classic slippery slope argument, it obviously worked well for the hot-blooded men, and many of them blushed immediately:

"Third Master, we respect you, not fear you!"

"Don't think that having a little money is great. Although I'm poor, I earned all my money with my own hands!" "That's enough!"

Shaking his head slightly, Fang Xiwen looked at everyone and said:

"I never look down on you. Respect is mutual."

"You don't owe me anything, so I'm not here to help."

"Let me be frank. The food on those dozen ships was transferred from Luyang and transported here. It's not the wood and stone materials you think it is."

Upon hearing this, the crowd, which had just quieted down for a while, suddenly became agitated. There was not only doubt, but more of a sense of tension as the matter was laid bare.

What was originally a tacit understanding was said bluntly by Mr. Wen San...many people were not mentally prepared.

What if the imperial court really doesn't care about their lives? What should they do in the future?

"Don't believe it? See for yourself."

As he spoke, Fang Xiwen raised his arm and swung it downward vigorously;

Xue Ruyu, who was not far away, received the signal and threw the object in his hand into the sky, which exploded with a crisp sound.

wow——

In an instant, the large ship shrouded in the night in the distance suddenly lit up, and pieces of black cloth were lifted up and flew up, revealing the things on the deck.

There were many people walking back and forth, each holding a torch, lighting up the objects placed on top:

There were bulging burlap bags everywhere, stacked up one after another, looking heavy and substantial; some still had rice husks on the surfaces, while others had holes in them, with grains of rice mixed with mud and sand leaking out from the corners.

——It’s really just food?!

Everyone was speechless. As if afraid that they couldn't see clearly, a bright sword light burst out from the river, splitting the waves and turning into a crystal moon in the sky.

Seen from close up, the moonlight it emits is even brighter than real moonlight, illuminating the objects on more than a dozen ships clearly.

"City Lord, it turns out that you have also consulted with the Third Master... huh?"

Seeing this, Xue Ruyu thought it was Chang Jian who took out the sword, but when he turned around, the latter was standing there in a daze with an unnatural expression.

'One sword can freeze fourteen states. It's no wonder so many people like to use swords...'

Even Fang Xiwen was a little impressed by his handsomeness. He thought about it and used this sword to take in the expressions of everyone, including the people on Xue Ruyu's side.

Soon he understood what was going on, and he said:

"That's why I just said you 'dare not'."

"There are thirteen ships in total. Apart from half of them carrying daily necessities, the remaining nearly one million dan of grain are transferred from Luyang to Mozhou. There has been a severe drought over the years, and the local granaries are almost empty."

"If you start a fire, what will the people waiting for this batch of life-saving food eat?"

"Not only will some people starve to death, but even the boatmen who transported this shipment of food and dug for food in the river with you will die!"

"That's a full million dan of grain! In this case, will Luyang dare to take the water route in the future? Wouldn't that mean we need to build another ferry?"

"Let me ask you, do you dare or not?"

Suddenly, the crowd became agitated again.

Without giving them too much time to think, Fang Xiwen immediately changed the subject and soothed them, "Of course, this is not your fault, you were just instigated; the ones who really deserve to die are those beasts who clearly have ulterior motives but use you, the well-off people, as guns—"

boom! !

Before he finished speaking, there was a loud bang, and the huge sound waves swallowed up his words and almost hurt his eardrums.

Seeing this, everyone was terrified and looked towards the ship loaded with grain, only to find that there was no damage there - the sound came from another direction.

Outside Zhoushan City, due to the frequent ship traffic, two docks were built on the left and right, far apart. The one that had an accident now was the other one.

Looking up, I saw a fierce fire shooting up into the sky, the flames almost reaching above the top of the city wall, and thick black smoke rising.

"It's over, my ship!!"

Seeing this, a boatman screamed, then tried his best to squeeze out of the crowd and ran towards that direction like crazy.

For them, some of the boats are their own, and once they are burned, it would be like losing their jobs, as that is the result of many years of hard work; and some of the boats are rented, but everything on them is on them, such as beds, clothes, etc., and although they are not expensive, it is still very costly to buy new ones.

As a result, almost no one in the crowd on the dock listened to Fang Xiwen anymore. They just kept pushing and squeezing each other, rushing towards the other direction, as dark as a sea.

Seeing this situation, Fang Xiwen thought of an inappropriate word, "mob".

They were instigated by the Cao Gang and were so excited that they almost burned the precious grain of the imperial court.