Chapter 199 - Decision
On the military harbor of Crane City, there were soldiers looking out at the sea from their high towers every day, hoping to see the ship that had set out to sea a few days ago.
It had been a full ten days since Lu Zheng led his soldiers to sea. Everyone had been waiting in peace since the beginning. Even Zuo Xiaolang would occasionally ask, “Where's father?”
On this day, a light rain began to fall from the sky. The autumn rain brought with it traces of coolness. The rain began to knock down the withered yellow leaves on the trees, dropping them into the soil.
“Lord Third, it's raining today, so I'm afraid the beach won't be peaceful. Why don't we just leave?” Luo Xiaoliu in front of Zuo Shaoqing said, these days, his family's master always need to go to the seaside to have a look.
Zuo Shaoqing rubbed his aching head. He didn't know why, but he didn't sleep last night. He woke up in the morning with his eyelids jumping. If it was a normal day, then it would have been fine.
“Lil ‘Six, go get Yang Yi.” Zuo Shaoqing felt that it would be too tormenting if they continued to wait without any news.
Luo Xiaoliu replied and quickly went to get someone.
Zuo Shaoqing stood under the eaves and watched the rain get heavier and heavier. He became more and more agitated.
Zuo Shaoqing only turned around and entered the house when he saw the two people approaching through the rain.
Yang Yi followed in and wiped the rain off his hair, “Master San, what can I do for you?”
“Second Brother Yang, can I trouble you to send someone to the seaside to ask around and see if the fishermen that have come back from the sea recently have seen Master Lu and the others' boat. Before we set off, Master Lu said that they would only go for three to five days, it's impossible that they still haven't returned by now.”
“Sure, this subordinate will go right away and get someone to go to the various trading companies to ask about it.” Yang Yi comforted him carelessly, “You don't have to worry too much. There won't be any strong typhoons this season. I'm sure we've gone too far.”
Zuo Shaoqing nodded, but his frown did not loosen even a little. After Yang Yi left, he asked Luo Xiaoliu to stay behind and take care of Zuo Xiaolang while he led the others out of the mansion.
A carriage sped past Zuo Shaoqing. The mud that was splashed onto his clothes and boots was dirty. Zuo Shaoqing silently cursed and his mood became even gloomier.
“Master San, do you want to go back to the manor?”
“If you're not going back, then walk around.” Zuo Shaoqing said he was just walking around, but he unconsciously walked towards the direction of the port.
However, the Zuo Shaoqing of today was like a decaying god possessing his body. Walking halfway, the rain was too heavy and the group had no choice but to find a place to hide.
“Is the sea dangerous under such heavy rain?” Zuo Shaoqing said to himself as he stared at the white rain.
Beside him, a youth from Cao Sect said, “It's indeed more dangerous to rain on the sea, but as long as there's no wind, it's fine. The rain won't be too strong this season.”
“You went out to sea?” Zuo Shaoqing turned his head in curiosity and saw that the young man was one of Yang Yi's subordinates.
“Of course,” The young man slightly raised his chin, and his two thick black eyebrows also rose, “In Cao Sect, those who have never left the sea will be laughed at by others.”
Zuo Shaoqing did not understand, “Aren't the Cao Sect mainly based on the kaleidoscope? Why are you still doing business at sea? “
The young man looked around and saw that they were all on the same side. He lowered his voice and said, “You are one of us. We won't hide it from you. Although there used to be a ban on the sea, but it was still expensive.
Zuo Shaoqing's mouth twitched, then he nodded to show that he understood.
A little beggar with a dirty face ran over and stuffed a letter into Zuo Shaoqing's hands, “Master, someone asked me to pass this letter to you.”
After saying that, without waiting for Zuo Shaoqing's reaction, he dashed into an alley. A black shadow chased after him and quickly brought the beggar to Zuo Shaoqing.
Zuo Shaoqing ignored him and first opened the letter. When he opened the letter, Zuo Shaoqing was completely stunned.
The thin piece of paper only had one sentence written on it: “Duke Zhen is in danger, help!”
He narrowed his eyes, grabbed the small beggar's collar and pulled him in front of him, shouting: “Who gave you the letter?”
The little beggar girl did not expect this handsome young man to be so fierce. She replied timidly, “No …. “I don't know!”
“Who gave you that letter? How could I not know? “Speak!” Zuo Shaoqing grabbed his neck with a cold expression.
“Cough, cough …” That person wore a hat with a bamboo hat and raincoat. He only asked me to pass this letter to you and gave me a piece of money … “I really can't see his face …”
“Where?” Zuo Shaoqing pushed him away and looked around. Because there weren't many people on the rainy street, there were quite a few who were wearing straw hats and raincoats. He eagerly asked, “Who is it?”
The little beggar also looked around and shook his head, “I remember that person's bamboo hat was covered with a black veil …” “He's gone …”
Zuo Shaoqing signaled the guards behind him with his eyes. A few of them dashed into the rain and spread out to search around.
“Do you remember anything about the man?” Zuo Shaoqing held the letter tightly in his hand, while a chill ran up his spine and ran all over his body.
Little Qian was rubbing her neck to catch her breath, but when she heard the question, she immediately replied, “I only know that it's a man. He's very tall, and it's hard to tell his figure from his rain cape, but his voice sounds pretty young.”
“Say what happened after you saw him again. What did he say?”
The little beggar was only about ten years old. His face was as dirty as black charcoal. His wet and tattered clothes stuck to his body as he shivered.
He pointed to a corner not far away and said, “I was hiding from the rain when he walked over to give me this letter and a piece of money. He wanted me to hand it to the young man who walked over from the street and wore the blue brocade robe. I came out and saw you.”
Zuo Shaoqing walked through the rain to the corner he was talking about and found that it was a narrow road. There was a house on the left and a house on the right, and a tall wall beyond that.
“Master San, I've seen the houses on the left and right side of the wall, there are no suspicious people. Behind that wall is the busiest street in the city, there are too many people who can't find it.”
Zuo Shaoqing clenched his hands tightly and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He knew that since he didn't want to reveal his real face, it wouldn't be so easy for others to find him.
However, the most important question now was whether this letter was real or not. If that was true, how did the other party know that Lu Zheng was in danger?
Or could it be that someone inside the Crane City was trying to harm Lu Zheng, and the person who reported the matter to him was the enemy's person?
“Return to the manor!” Zuo Shaoqing returned to the Cao Sect with doubt and unease. He immediately called for the various stewards of the Cao Sect and passed on the letter that was drenched by the rain.
He took a careful look at the letter. The letter was written on the most ordinary of paper, and it was covered all over the street. However, there was a strong scent of bamboo in the ink, so it should be the bamboo smoke and ink produced by the Black Treasure Temple.
However, this didn't mean anything. Anyone who could be an enemy of Lu Zheng would definitely not be an ordinary person. The words on the letter were distorted and weak. The person who wrote the letter either didn't write often or intentionally wrote it with his left hand.
He carefully ruled out all the possibilities. His reputation in the Crane City was unknown, and no one could intentionally play around with him. If this matter was fake, then what was the use of giving him this letter?
Disturb his mind? Let him worry? Or was he trying to do something with his hands?
He thought about what he had to do and deduced all kinds of consequences. He found that there was no hole for others to take advantage of. As long as Lu Zheng was still alive, he was confident that no one in this world could hurt him.
If this was true, then how did the other party know? And why inform him?
If Lu Zheng was in danger at sea, then his opponent would be either a pirate or a water master from another country.
The former was weak, and it was not as if he had encountered it. Even if he did, how could this person have known about it and yet be able to inform him?
If it was the latter, Zuo Shaoqing shook his head. Lu Zheng's decision to go out to sea was only a temporary one. Ten days of time wasn't enough for those who knew about it to travel back and forth.
Since he couldn't figure it out, he didn't want to. Even if there was only a 10% chance of success, Zuo Shaoqing had to go out and take a look.
Not every steward within the Cao Sect could read, but they had heard of this matter before they had come here, so they directly asked: “Master San, is the news reliable?”
Zuo Shaoqing told him everything that happened, “I can't determine if it's true or not, but I would rather believe it to be true than not. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, we have to go out to sea!”
Everyone was discussing, but they did not question Zuo Shaoqing's decision. Instead, they asked a difficult question.
“Master San, the sea is vast. We don't know which direction Master Lu went, nor do we know where he came from.”
“If we were to pursue it from different directions, not only would we not have enough manpower, we wouldn't even have enough ships.”
“If we meet boss, how will we deliver the message? “Unlike the land on the sea, ordinary signal bombs are useless.”
Zuo Shaoqing slammed his palm on the table, “Enough!” With a sullen face, he said word by word, “There is no need to consider these questions… Bring out the brush and ink! “
Zuo Shaoqing quickly wrote down a letter, took out that black wooden tablet and stamped the Wu Steel Manor's imprint on it. Then, he passed the letter to Yang Yi and said, “Bring it to prefectural attendent. No matter what, ask the government to issue a public notice to requisition the merchant ships of the various large trading companies under the name of prefectural attendent.”
Yang Yi folded the letter and placed it against his body. With some concern, he asked, “What if King Lin Zhihao, the son of a b * tch, is not willing to cooperate?”
The corner of Zuo Shaoqing's eyes twitched as he shot a cold glance at Zuo Shaoqing. The killing intent in his eyes immediately emerged.
Yang Yi cupped his hands seriously, “This subordinate understands!”
After he left, Zuo Shaoqing gave a few orders, “Gather all the people in Cao Sect and prepare the water and food for ten days. I will write a letter and send a person to the navy camp to alert all the remaining navy personnel.”
“Are you worried that someone will deliberately divert the fighting strength of our Crane City and sneak in while we're still in the air?”
Zuo Shaoqing shook his head. As long as it wasn't an invasion by a powerful country from overseas, there weren't many people who would be able to break into Crane City. So up until now, the ones that were attacked by the pirates were only the small villages along the coast.
If it was an invasion by a powerful country, it would be impossible for it to not have any news. Zuo Shaoqing was just worried that someone would destroy the newly established navy camp while they were in a panic.
Zuo Shaoqing found a chart from his study and spread it on the table. He drew a semicircle with Crane City Port as the starting point, “Before Master Lu went to sea, he said that it was a trial run south along the coastline, and if there was an accident, it wouldn't stray too far from the north. Once the boat is ready, we can split into three routes, the south, the east, and the southeast. It's just that we were worried for nothing! “
“Master San, who should we find to make up for the lack of personnel?” Or should we just go straight to the Chief Patrol Officer and ask him to send troops to rescue us? “
Zuo Shaoqing let out a bitter laugh, “It's impossible to transfer military power with just a piece of paper with an unknown origin. It's still reasonable to say that I can forcefully requisition the civilian power of a merchant ship and forcefully transfer troops, I don't have that much power to let people hire sailors from various trading companies at a high price, how much can I recruit?”
Although the sailors of the trading houses were not as good as the regular sailors, they had the experience of going to sea and were perhaps better than the regular army in finding people.
“Lord Third, do you want to bring a weapon?” a steward asked in his ear.
Zuo Shaoqing's heart skipped a beat, and he asked calmly: “What kind of weapons are in the sect?”
The manager laughed, “Our Cao Sect has been on the boat all year round, preparing many bows, arrows, axes or the like. They are all just some small stuff.”
Zuo Shaoqing followed him to the warehouse to look at the gadgets he talked about. The corner of his eye twitched, and the entire warehouse was filled with bundles of swords, bows and crossbows, axes, chisels, and hammers.
Zuo Shaoqing could even imagine the scene when these people dived into the water and hacked at the enemy ships with hammers and chisels.
“Bring them on, as many as you can store!”
He hoped with all his heart that he wouldn't be able to use all these preparations.
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