Chapter 418

After being blown up once, the remaining bandits gathered by the sinister old man were so terrified they dared not charge again, each turning tail and fleeing.

But fleeing was certainly impossible; by now, the official troops summoned by Su Qiao had arrived and had long since surrounded the area.

Not a single fish escaped the net!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I guessed you had set an ambush beforehand, but I was just curious: how exactly did you communicate with them?"

Zhu Di was indeed very puzzled by this matter.

They were all on the ship, never making landfall midway; how could the two sides have communicated and coordinated?

Su Qiao smiled and explained to Zhu Di, "Actually, it is very simple. I had already negotiated with them beforehand: they would take the land route, while we took the water route. To ensure synchronization, I specially bought their cormorants from the fishermen!"

"Hmm, don't say cormorants can also deliver messages?"

Zhu Di wore an expression of complete disbelief.

"Of course, it is not that easy; sending messages back and forth with cormorants is difficult, but they can still bring news from their side, after all, cormorants must eat fish."

In fact, Su Qiao had originally held the idea with a 'try it and see' mindset, but he never expected it would actually succeed...

Thus, the duty of this "messenger" fell upon the cormorants.

When they did not need to fly away, people would feed them.

When they needed to fly toward the master of the river channel, they would not be fed, and then released directly.

The effect was certainly much worse than that of pigeons, and they could not fly very far either.

However, for short-distance message delivery in this situation, the effect was sufficient.

After hearing Su Qiao's explanation, Zhu Di could not help but praise the idea as truly brilliant.

Many people would never think of it!

Sending messages with pigeons, many people knew of this at this time.

If pigeons suddenly appeared, it would be easy for people to spot the anomaly and intercept the letters.

But cormorants and waterfowl were different; no one would ever think someone would use cormorants and waterfowl to deliver messages.

It could be said to be a clever case of passing off a fish's eye as a pearl.

Su Qiao did not manage the subsequent matters, only telling them to capture everyone cleanly and turn them in, which would count as merit.

Afterwards, they boarded the ship and headed straight for Fuzhou City.

After tossing and turning for over a month, Su Qiao finally arrived in Fuzhou.

Just as dusk fell in the evening, the official boat docked at the Fuzhou pier.

Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng, leading a group of officials from Fuzhou Prefecture, personally came to the pier to welcome them.

Zhu Di did not wish to show himself; Su Qiao and Sun Chuanting were also acquaintances.

So it became a matter of Su Qiao dealing with Sun Chuanting and the others.

"Oh, Mr. Su, we have been looking forward to your arrival; you have finally arrived!"

Upon seeing Su Qiao, Sun Chuanting greeted him with great enthusiasm and even grabbed his hand.

Su Qiao withdrew his hand without showing any trace of it. "Mr. Sun, your words are too polite. Mr. Sun has been exhausting his mind and energy here; I had heard of this while in the Capital. Your Majesty also felt grateful for Mr. Sun's dedication and was concerned about your health, which is why he sent me over to assist."

"Mr. Su, to be honest, there are truly many matters here; everything is waiting to be revived. I am very happy that Your Majesty arranged for you to come..."

While speaking, Sun Chuanting pulled Su Qiao into a carriage and headed toward the guesthouse that had been arranged in advance.

Su Qiao and his party had arrived exactly in the evening, and the banquet had already been arranged.

It was a welcome banquet specially prepared for Su Qiao.

If Sun Chuanting were not an old acquaintance, Su Qiao might have refused.

Upon arriving at the guesthouse, Sun Chuanting kept talking to Su Qiao about Fuzhou and the situation in the various guard posts of the southeast.

271, peanuts and tomatoes!

Zhu Di did not appear; under Sun Chuanting's introduction, Su Qiao got to know the officials of Fuzhou Prefecture at the welcome banquet.

It was not until curfew was nearly approaching that everyone finally dispersed.

Nothing happened that night!

Early the next morning, after Su Qiao finished washing up, Zhu Di appeared in the courtyard.

"Su Qiao, shall we go to the Viceroy Yamen to handle official business today, or shall we stroll around Fuzhou City?"

Su Qiao knew that in fact, Zhu Di was simply interested in Fuzhou City because he had never been there.

Moreover, although it was dark last night, he had still briefly noticed that Fuzhou City was no worse than Yangzhou in Jiangnan; the level of liveliness and prosperity was actually quite similar.

With many traveling merchants and wealthy landlords, the flow of people was naturally high.

However, going out alone would certainly be inconvenient for him.

Going out with Su Qiao would be much more relaxed.

Su Qiao had not actually intended to go to work immediately; he needed at least two days to rest and familiarize himself with the situation here.

Even if Zhu Di had not mentioned it, Su Qiao would have wanted to take a stroll.

Now that Zhu Di brought it up, it could be said they were in perfect agreement!

Liu Rushi brought over breakfast, and Su Qiao and Zhu Di sat together to eat.

After finishing breakfast, the group changed into different clothes, took along their guards who had also changed into plain clothes, left the guesthouse, and began strolling through Fuzhou City.

Speaking of Fuzhou City, the shops and vendors were the most numerous.

People coming from the south and going north sold all kinds of goods; some were things Zhu Di had never seen before.

Moreover, here Su Qiao and his party encountered Europeans with golden hair and blue eyes several times.

Some of these people were holding items to sell, while others, speaking a half-learned Great Ming official language, introduced people to the Lord and Catholicism.

"These people must have all come from Quanzhou; it seems Mr. Sun has not yet sorted out the Maritime Trade Office properly."

Su Qiao glanced over it roughly, then withdrew his gaze.

Suddenly, as Su Qiao passed a stall belonging to a Frank, his footsteps halted.

"What's wrong?"

Zhu Di asked curiously.

"I seem to have spotted something good." A curve rose at the corner of Su Qiao's mouth.

Returning to the front of the stall, the Frank raised his head and looked at Su Qiao and his companions' attire.

He immediately judged that Su Qiao and his group were no ordinary people!

One might even say absolutely not ordinary!

Nobles, wealthy people!

The slightly scruffy stall owner instantly forced a brilliant smile onto his face and enthusiastically promoted the goods he sold.

"Several... Mr., you... hello! The things I have here... are all excellent..."

His Great Ming official Mandarin was spoken with great difficulty; even though Su Qiao had been mentally prepared, the stranger's accent made his scalp prickle.

"Enough, enough. I want to ask you, where did this plant come from?"

Su Qiao cut off the stall owner's words and pointed at a potted plant, asking.

Called a potted plant, it was actually two unknown plants intertwined together.

Others were unfamiliar with these two things and did not recognize them, but Su Qiao identified them at a glance.

The fact that fruit hung from them had almost already told him the answer.

"I saw it looked decent, so I transplanted it."

The stall owner's stall actually held many miscellaneous items, such as glass, pearls, seashells, strange ironware, stone carved blocks, and so on; the messy things were chaotic.

This potted plant was actually used by him to weigh down the stall cloth and was not very conspicuous.

He never thought anyone would ask him for this thing.

Su Qiao nodded and said, "Do you remember where you dug it up?"

"On an island, though I've somewhat forgotten." The stall owner had not paid much attention to this potted plant, so he had long forgotten it.

Moreover, the stall owner was a sailor who had come here with a European sea vessel.

The number of islands encountered at sea was too great; without special marking, who would remember them?

Seeing he could not get any more information, Su Qiao directly asked the price. "How much for the potted plant? I'll buy it."

Although the stall owner had judged that Su Qiao and his group were of absolutely noble status.

Yet he was not stupid; he knew that if he asked for a random price, he would not only gain nothing but was even more likely to lose his life.

So he very decisively held up one finger.