When he first mentioned it, Yan Runzhang was only a little worried, but after thinking about it carefully, the uneasiness in his heart became more and more intense.

If the person who claimed to be Xu Qinglian just wanted to sell illicit salt, but what if his target was the entire Yan family? Now that the salt has been loaded onto the Yan family's boat parked at the canal wharf, once the news is leaked, it will be a real disaster!

Although this may not be too big, there are people in the mall who do everything, and if the opponent really does not hesitate to use this hundreds of thousands of worth of private salt to harm himself, it will really make the Yan family unable to deal with it.

Thinking of this, Yan Runzhang couldn't sit still anymore, and immediately stood up with difficulty: "Let's go, let's go to the dock." I want to see all the people who live there, as long as he has been on our Yan family's merchant ship, no matter what way he comes from, he must be kept under our control!" ”

Seeing his father's anxious and solemn instructions, Yan Yuqi finally felt a little nervous, and hurriedly stepped forward to support Yan Runzhang, who was a little shaky, and ordered the family to prepare the carriage, and then carefully helped Yan Runzhang to walk out.

Soon, a carriage rushed straight towards the canal wharf under the escort of dozens of Yan family slaves, shocking the other people in the city to change color, and they didn't know what happened to the Yan family's merchant ships.

By the time they arrived at the docks, it was already dark. The coolie boatmen and others who had gathered here were about to disperse, after all, after dark, there was hardly any work left on the docks. But at this moment, a cadre of house slaves of the Yan family stopped their way under the leadership of several shopkeepers and stewards.

"What do you want to do?" was blocked from the way, and some men with bare backbones and showing strong muscles suddenly showed vigilance, only saying that the other party was looking for him.

The shopkeeper led by the horse hurriedly smiled and hugged his fist at everyone: "You don't have to panic, today my Yan family has a happy event coming to the door, so the master specially ordered someone to prepare dozens of tables of wine banquet, I want to feast everyone on the dock, I hope you don't have to refuse." ”

"Master Yan wants to hold a banquet to entertain us?" The crowd, who had been a little nervous, breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, but soon they all showed a look of disbelief. What is their identity, and how can they be qualified to be entertained by Master Yan? It's the helmsman of the Cao Gang above them, and they have to behave in front of Yan Runzhang.

"How can our Yan family coax you with big words, as long as you wait for a while, you can know the truth or falsehood." Yan Yuqi also walked out at this time and smiled at everyone.

As the person in charge of many affairs of the Yan family now, he often appears on the dock, and these low-level coolies naturally recognize something, which suddenly caused a commotion. However, in this way, everyone believed the words of the shopkeeper and settled down.

This is also the back hand that Yan Yuqi remembered after going out. If you just rush over like this and stop everyone on the dock from leaving, I'm afraid it could easily cause unnecessary conflicts. Therefore, it is better to spend a small amount of money and buy some banquets to keep people more decent and easier.

Yan Runzhang also agreed with this, and even watched his eldest son deal with those people outside with some appreciation. While lamenting the big gap between the two sons, he also began to feel that he was indeed old, and he forgot to consider this layer in a panic, but fortunately, his son's reaction was fast enough.

After a while, several famous restaurants in the city successively sent wine and noodle banquets, and several stewards and shopkeepers of the Ma shopkeeper and the Yan family came forward one after another, and invited everyone on the dock to the table. In fact, before this, there were still people who wanted to leave, but they were persuaded by their kind words. Although some people had already seen some of the problems at this time, for the sake of the Yan family's prestige and the polite attitude of the businessmen, they all endured it.

As for Yan Runzhang, he had already boarded one of his merchant ships at this time, and went down to the bottom layer to see the private salt that was used as ballast. Even though he had been prepared, he was still in shock when he saw the thousands of catties of illicit salt piled up here.

After a while, Fang breathed a sigh of relief, and now he can only do his best to keep this secret, and then wait for the next morning to let the ship quickly sail out of Suzhou City. Of course, even if the merchant ship leaves, he can't really feel at ease, because there may be some changes along the way, so that people can discover this fateful secret.

After a long time, Master Yan calmed down, and then went up to the deck with a smile. At this time, a banquet had also been set up here, and there were already several officials in charge of the dock sitting at the table, as well as the relevant responsible people of the Cao Gang.

These people naturally felt a little strange about Yan Runzhang's sudden behavior, but because of the other party's current identity, it was not easy to ask too directly, and it was not until after a few decades of drinking that they nodded a little vaguely.

Yan Runzhang had already prepared, and immediately said with a smile: "Actually, the old man did all this today, first, to thank the brothers on the dock for their help over the years; These two are a little selfish. You also know that this Caoyun business is difficult to do, so my Yan family took some personal work from it. This time, my youngest son was taken advantage of in a daze, and he was actually told to bring forbidden things. Just in case, the message can only be blocked first. I also hope that all the adults and friends of the Cao Gang will help more. As these words came out, someone from the Yan family sent a small wooden box.

Yan Runzhang opened it with his own hands, took out the silver tickets placed inside, and distributed them into the hands of these important people on the table, all of which were huge silver tickets of five hundred taels.

Even if these people work on the dock for ten years, I'm afraid they won't be able to get so much silver. Now that Yan Runzhang is so generous as soon as he makes a move, it naturally makes them happy for a while. As to why he did this, and what those forbidden things were, they didn't have the heart to think about it.

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, it's a trivial matter, and we are naturally tight-lipped. Brother Yan, but please rest assured. After carefully studying the silver ticket in his hand for a while, Li Yanjiu, the helmsman of the Cao Gang, first agreed: "Our brother of the Cao Gang will definitely help you keep this secret." If something really happens, I, Li Yanjiu, will come to see you. ”

"Hehe, Li Duo's words are serious, but the credibility of the Cao Gang is still trustworthy." Yan Runzhang hurriedly said a few polite words.

With this rough man taking the lead in expressing his position, the others no longer felt embarrassed, and they all patted their chests and assured Yan Runzhang that this matter would not be spread. It was only at this time that Master Yan breathed a sigh of relief, with the assurance of these people, the five or six thousand taels of silver he paid this time was finally not in vain.

However, Yan Runzhang was not satisfied with this, and after everyone expressed his position, he said: "There is another point, I also want to ask you for help." That is, to find the people who have been on my Yan family's merchant ship in the past few days, it is best to let them stay at the dock until my ship leaves Suzhou, I wonder if you can be the master? ”

The mouth of eating people is short, and the hands of taking people are short, and now these people are not only eating the Yan family, but also taking a large amount of silver from Yan Runzhang, so naturally they will not refuse to agree to such a request. So soon, these people who were in charge of the black and white sides of the dock hurriedly called for someone to pass on the word, so that all the people who had been on the Yan family's ship these days would gather together, and the names of those who were not present were also left.

Their words were indeed very effective, but in half an hour, all the requirements had been fulfilled, and in addition to the people who had gathered at a few tables below to eat, there was also a list of no more than six or seven people, that is, the list of those who had left early this day, or who had not come to the dock at all.

Yan Runzhang didn't look at the list - it was impossible for him to recognize who these people above were, so he only handed it to Li Yanjiu: "Master Li Helm, take a look first, which of these people may have a problem." For Li Yanjiu, who is in charge of these coolies, this is obviously not a difficult task.

He took the list, and after casually scanning it, he frowned slightly: "This Lu Le seems to be a newcomer to the dock, how could he have also been on Master Yan's merchant ship?" ”

The Cao Gang brothers, who sent the list next to him, immediately replied: "I asked just now, at that time, there was a brother who was suddenly injured while transporting goods on the ship, and he took a handle next to him, so in the end, he replaced the brother." ”

"Then why isn't he at the docks today?" Since it was a matter of the Yan family and received such a large sum of silver, Li Yanjiu naturally had to be cautious.

"I heard that there was a sudden emergency at his family, and just now, he suddenly left the dock."

"And where is his house?"

"This ......" The man was stunned for a moment, such a little person, who would care where he lived?

"So who does he usually befriend with? Find him to bring people back. Li Yanjiu immediately ordered.

Although this requirement was a bit high, the subordinate still quickly agreed and went down to make arrangements.

And Yan Runzhang, at this time, the uneasiness in his heart became more and more serious, although a person who had been on his own boat was not a big person, but no one dared to guarantee that he had not found anything, and then spread the news to where to go.

And the next development of events made him even more uneasy. Because soon, the coolie who had a good relationship with Lu Le reported the address, and then the Cao Gang rushed to the address. But in the end, it was empty, and there was no such person as Lu Le there.

When the news came back, Yan Runzhang felt a sigh in his heart and knew that something bad was going to happen. Such a newcomer, who had just arrived at the docks, not only got on his own merchant ship, but also suddenly disappeared at this time, and I am afraid that no one could believe it if he had no other purpose.

Li Yanjiu's face also became quite ugly, this is the person under his Cao Gang, if something really happens, his responsibility is not small. So he quickly gave an order: "Check it for me, you must find out this person named Lu Le for me!" ”