Chapter 118

The seventeenth day of the eighth month of the twelfth year of Emperor Jia Zhao.

This day was the day Jia Cong set off for Jin Ling.

Sisters like Daiyu, Yingchun, Seeing Tan Chun, and Xiangyun all saw him off to the corner gate.

Yingchun and Seeing Tan Chun both had feelings of reluctance.

Daiyu, however, had a look of reluctance in her eyes.

In these few days, Third Brother Cong often came to accompany her, always picking things she liked to do.

He always found ways to make her laugh. As long as he saw her laughing and talking, the pride on the Third Brother's face made her heart melt.

He knew he was going on a long journey, which was why he was like this. How could Daiyu not be happy in her heart?

But in these few years, she had also tasted that the Third Brother's heart was not in the prefecture, and he was always intentionally or unintentionally distancing himself, perhaps because he had suffered too much harsh treatment in the prefecture when he was young.

In these few years, the sister-brother affection had been harmonious, and Jia Cong had become the most important person in her heart.

Now that she was getting older, her grandmother loved her more and more like a treasure. She knew her grandmother's plans in her heart, and Feng-jie often teased her and Baoyu, which made her angry but she couldn't do anything about it.

Among the sisters, except for the Eldest Sister Yuanchun who entered the palace, she was the eldest. Now that she was at the age of fifteen, she could hear some hints of marriage in the elders' words, which made Yingchun panic and afraid.

Only Xiangyun was refreshing and romantic, without any sorrow, just asking Jia Cong to bring her some fun items from Jin Ling when he returned for the New Year.

When that day really came, she would leave the Jia Prefecture, and it wouldn't be easy to see Cong-di.

Thinking of these, Daiyu's heart always ached. He was studying so hard, which was the reason.

Could it be that she would just stay in the prefecture alone like this?

In these two years, the Third Brother had been studying outside daily, and Baoyu's persistent diligence toward her hadn't changed, which already made her somewhat annoyed.

Seeing Tan Chun thought of writing calligraphy with the Third Brother these few days. When she encountered a stagnation in her brushwork, the Third Brother would always hold her hand to support her. The brother and sister were intimate, and their hearts were harmonious. It was such a warm and cozy feeling.

Yingchun looked at Jia Cong's spirited appearance, mostly feeling gratified and happy. Among the men in the Jia family, none could compare to him.

A lingering feeling that had never been felt before rose in her heart. Suddenly, she was a little afraid. Was she really crazy?

It was just that with his ability, he wouldn't stay in the back house like Baoyu. He would always have his heart in the four seas, and the time he stayed at home in the future would only be less and less.

She only hoped that the Third Brother could return early. She looked at Jia Cong's handsome and unparalleled face in front of the carriage. At the time of parting, her mood was dejected, and her heart defense was actually loosening.

Baoyu only stayed in the Rongqing Hall to talk with Jia Mu and Lady Wang.

Yingchun had a lot of reluctance and melancholy in her heart.

Now that her heart was tied, how could she step into the filth again? She only hoped that the Third Brother would return early so that her heart could be settled.

Now that he was only at such an age, he was already on an imperial mission for a long journey. In the future, he would only walk further and further away from the prefecture.

If it weren't for the sisters in the family treating him so well, he would rather stay outside alone than come back.

Jia Cong was going to Jin Ling on an imperial mission this time. Such a corrupt matter of economic and political affairs was unbearable in Baoyu's eyes. How could he ask him to send him off like the sisters? Wouldn't that tarnish his own purity?

It was just that why did Lin Meimei also learn to see him off, and what did it have to do with her? When Lin Meimei returned, he would find her to talk about his insights and feelings, otherwise, Lin Meimei would be led astray by Jia Cong.

Similarly, Jia Cong felt very fortunate that Baoyu didn't appear at this moment. If he saw his ugly state of economic and political affairs, wouldn't he be heartbroken? That would be too inconsistent with the painting style, and too disgusting.

Jia Cong and Wu'er and Qingwen took a carriage, and another carriage held their luggage. The driver was Zhao Mama's son, Guo Zhigui.

Seeing Jia Cong going on a long journey to Jin Ling but having no capable servant by his side, Jia Zheng sent Guo Zhigui to him.

Jia Lian brought six or seven servants to see him off, and there were three large carts traveling with them.

The reason for such a big scene was that Jia Mu and Lady Wang both had gifts to bring to their old relatives in Jin Ling, and Jia Lian brought people to move these things.

The Jia family rented a merchant ship to follow the official ship, mainly to load these items.

Jin Ling was the origin of the four great families of Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue. There were many clan members of these four families left in Jin Ling, and their influence in Jin Ling was also very important.

The clan members of the two places had been in close contact for many years, responding to each other from north to south. Jia Cong returned to Jin Ling by imperial decree, and Jia Mu and Lady Wang took the opportunity to bring some gifts to the old relatives in their hometown, which could be considered as a matter of course.

Jia Cong could be considered as having disguisedly become a gift-sending messenger for the Jia family. Although it was somewhat disgusting, there was no other way.

The carriage and horses walked for more than half an hour and arrived at the boat dock in the East City of Liuyang River. A tall official ship with black and red exterior paint was already docked at the dock. The ship had two floors of cabins, and the Great Zhou Flying Dragon Tooth Flag was hanging on the mast.

Another much smaller merchant ship was docked behind the official ship. Jia Lian was already directing the servants to move goods onto the merchant ship.

A fast horse galloped from the dock and stopped under a pagoda tree. The rider on the horse dismounted gracefully, his posture very beautiful.

Jia Cong's eyes lit up, and he walked over quickly.

He said in surprise: "Why are you here!" The person who came was Qu Hongxiu.

Qu Hongxiu's expression was somewhat solemn, and she said: "You came to practice the saber yesterday morning, and we agreed not to see you off."

"But I heard from a female guest from the south in the shop yesterday that something big happened in Jin Ling a few days ago, which sounds quite risky, so I rushed to tell you, so that you can have a measure in your heart."

The husband of that female guest often did business in Western goods in Jin Ling, so he often entered and exited the outer ports of Jin Ling.

About ten days ago, two Japanese ship fleets entered the Longtan Port in Jin Ling.

It is said that the eunuch of the Shipping Department had previously accepted bribes from one of the ship fleets, so he detained the other ship fleet on the grounds that the inspection was not in compliance.

And both of these were Japanese merchant ships. The goods sold on the ships were almost the same Japanese specialties. Detaining one ship would allow the goods of the other ship to be quickly dumped at a high profit.

The intention of the bribe-giver was also here, to seize the opportunity, and the ancient and modern principles are the same.

But in this way, the other detained Japanese merchant ship lost the opportunity, and the 100,000-guan cargo on the ship would be unsalable, and they would lose everything.

As a result, the two ship fleets fought on the spot for profit. The detained ship fleet was composed of Japanese ronin with high martial arts skills, and they snatched the detained weapons.

Not only did they kill most of the people in the other ship fleet, but they also killed more than twenty government soldiers of the Shipping Department on the spot, one of whom was a battalion commander of the Shipping Department.

This immediately became a massive incident.

The Jin Ling Regional Military Commissioner, Du Hengxin, received the news and dispatched several times the number of garrison soldiers to encircle and suppress them, but they were easily broken through by these ronin.

These ronin fled into the Jin Ling urban area. To avoid encirclement and suppression, they slaughtered more than ten households of commoners, stirring up the whole city.

The garrison soldiers were helpless, and in the end, they were even escaped by them out of the Jin Ling city, and their whereabouts were unknown.

The husband of that female guest happened to be at the dock at that time. Seeing the Japanese people killing each other, he hurriedly found a place to hide and luckily saved his life.

According to him, the situation at the dock at that time, those Japanese ronin had very sharp saber techniques, the Japanese swords in their hands were all as sharp as cutting iron, and each of them was fierce, good at fighting, and fearless of death.

In not much time, heads were rolling and blood was flowing on the dock, and the scene was very bloody and terrifying.

(End of chapter)