Chapter 225: Unexpectedly
It was bitterly cold in the spring, and the porters on the Datong Bridge wharf were dressed in thin clothes. Some of them rolled up their sleeves and even worked bare-chested to handle the heavy loads.
Sun Shaozong and Xu Shouye sat in a tea shed, watching the bustling scene with some restlessness.
Xu Shouye rolled up his sleeves to reveal his tanned arms and said enviously, "Sometimes I really want to be like these people, working hard every day to earn money to support their families without having to think about anything else."
His words seemed to imply some dissatisfaction with the current situation.
Sun Shaozong was curious and asked, "Isn't it said that this wharf is a top-notch job? Why are you complaining?"
"It may be a good job, but it's frustrating!" Xu Shouye drank a bowl of tea and chewed on the tea leaves. He said vaguely, "These officials from all over the country have to be dealt with carefully, even the wealthy servants can't be easily offended. They are like the madams in a brothel, busy all day long."
Sun Shaozong laughed and teased him, pointing to his stubbled face. "If the madams in the brothel really looked like you, they would have lost everything long ago."
As they were talking and laughing, there was a commotion on the wharf. Two merchant ships that were about to unload their cargo suddenly withdrew their gangways and rushed to the side.
Then a passenger ship swaggered in and moored in their place, with two flags waving in the wind. The big flag showed "Supervising and inspecting the nine provinces by imperial decree," and the small one showed "Governor's office of the State of Funing."
Sun Shaozong and Xu Shouye looked at each other and knew that Xu Tai had arrived. They quickly got up and went to greet him. As for the tea money, the servants would take care of it.
From a distance, they saw two Naval Captains, one tall and one fat, holding horsewhips and coming off the ship. They shouted roughly and ordered the porters hired by the merchant ships to unload their goods from their ships first.
Even if they didn't care about the order of arrival, the Porters shouldnt have taken money from one party and unloaded goods for another.
The foreman stepped forward and explained with a smile, but he was beaten several times with a whip. There was nothing he could do but accept it and carry down boxes of silk and satin from the ship.
"They are so arrogant, no wonder they were able to stop Ma Xingyi," Sun Shaozong smiled and said to Xu Shouye.
He took a few steps forward and slapped the fat Naval Captain without saying a word. There was a loud crack, and the Captain spun around two and a half times before falling to the ground, groaning and moaning for a long time, unable to regain his strength.
The tall Captain was startled at first, then suddenly turned furious. He rolled up his sleeves and stepped back, shouting, "Who are you, crazy man?! How dare you reach out and touch Commander Wang's people, who are stationed in nine provinces? Are you trying to rebel?!"
"Rebel?"
Sun Shaozong snorted and caught up with him, raising his leg and delivering a vicious kick, sending him straight into the river.
"Captain!"
"Assassin!"
"Capture this Assassin!"
At this point, a dozen or so sailors on the boat came down, some carrying weapons and others barehanded, shouting and yelling. They first put hats on the two men and were about to surround them and get physical.
Originally, Xu Shouye saw Sun Shaozong act without saying a word and attacked directly. He was a little confused, but seeing this scene, he gritted his teeth and stepped forward, saying confidently, "I am Inspector Xu Shouye of the Patrol Battalion, and this is Lord Sun, the Governor of the Central Judicial Office. Who dares to act recklessly?"
At this point, the patrol soldiers stationed on the dock had already rushed over upon hearing the news. They saw Xu Shouye in conflict with someone and yelled desperately, ordering the sailors to put down their weapons and surrender.
At this moment, the fat Captain finally recovered a bit and spat out, screaming like a pig being slaughtered, "Even if he is the Governor of the Central Judicial Office, he simply cant beat people without asking questions! You should know that Commander Wang..."
Before the fat Captain could finish uttering the words "Commander Wang," Sun Shaozong kicked him in the head, causing him to roll his eyes. Sun Shaozong leaned down and sneered, "How dare you mention Commander Wang?! Although I have never had the honor of meeting the Commander, I have a close relationship with his son-in-law. Therefore, I know that Commander Wang despises anyone who uses his name for business!"
"You are using the official flag of Commander Wang, but unloading so much contraband. Isn't that deliberately blackening his name? I acted just now to protect Commander Wang's reputation!"
The fat Captain was dumbfounded. How could he have known that the talisman he had carried with him all along had become the reason for his beating?
Sun Shaozong let go of him and asked sternly, "Isn't Chief Xu also on your boat? Why don't I see him?"
"Chief Xu?"
The fat Captain was slow to keep up with Sun Shaozong's quick thinking. He stared blankly for a moment before realizing what was going on. He saw Sun Shaozong raising his foot to kick him again and quickly turned and said, "Why are you standing around? Hurry up and call Chief Xu out!"
The dozen or so sailors, now surrounded by twenty or thirty patrol soldiers, had lost their courage to fight back. Upon hearing this, more than half of them ran back to the boat, and a tall, skinny man was brought out from the cabin below.
"Old Xu!"
At the sight of the emaciated man, Xu Shouye couldn't help but be shocked. He jumped onto the boat in three steps and grabbed the man's arm, saying, "You You..."
After a moment of hesitation, he turned back and glared at the fat Captain, cursing through gritted teeth. "Damn it, is this what you call an escort?!"
Sun Shaozong was also angry at the sight of Xu Tai, who was known for his strength, being abused into such a sickly appearance. He raised his foot to give the fat Captain another kick.
"Brother Shaozong, don't be too hard on them," Xu Tai hurriedly said. "I look like this now because I was injured during the ninth year of Guangde, which has nothing to do with these two."
Sun Shaozong let go of the fat Captain and pointed to the box that had been taken off the boat, instructing, "Remember to report it to the Ministry of War as military supplies."
He then arched his hand towards Xu Tai from a distance and said with a smile, "Brother Xu, Shouye, and I have already arranged a good table of wine to welcome you."
But Xu Tai shook his head and said, "I am a guilty man and cant accept such kindness from two Elder Brothers."
Seeing the confused looks on Sun Shaozong and Xu Shouye's faces, he sighed. "To be frank, Commander Wang personally met with me before I entered the Capital and analyzed the situation in the nine southeastern provinces. It was only then that I realized that I was an ignorant and arrogant fool who was living in my little world."
Wow.
Sun Shaozong and Xu Shouye were dumbfounded after hearing this. They had just been figuring out how to shelter Xu Tai from the storm, but they never expected him to have already surrendered!
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺