Yangzhou is the old and new city, the old city street pattern is criss-crossed, boxy, and the new city is including Shugang and Shugang, so many residential squares are adapted to local conditions, among which those winding roads even the locals can not fully understand, let alone outsiders. Because the new city was built by the government to raise funds from the salt merchants, the residents were naturally mainly these salt merchants. In order to seize the location of the canal, and even build a private wharf close to the canal, many salt merchants have set up their houses near the canal. Therefore, the canal is overflowing this time, and many people are naturally flooded with water.

When Wang Fulin came down from the old house of the Cheng family in Shugang, what he saw was the scene of every household blocking the water to save themselves. Of course, there are also those who have abundant family resources, so that the important buildings in the whole house are all built on rammed earth platforms, which can barely be maintained in the flood. But most families rely on sand bags to keep water back. Fortunately, the residential buildings in the new city have been built for twenty or thirty years, and the water level of the canal in Yangzhou City is not as high as that of Gaoyou Baoying, so although the sea has been seen everywhere, it has not yet become a water town Zeguo.

With the ruthless feeling of water and fire, Wang Fulin rushed to the Salt Transportation Division first. Since Ye Mingyue moved here with Xiaobei, he only relied on Yan's mother to contact him, and he never saw the sisters again, but now after all, the water is current, and he is in a hurry to go to Zhenjiang, and Yan's mother can't slip out as easily as before, so he has to come over in person. At this moment, he was wearing a cloak and hat, followed by the four people before, and as soon as he rode to Yunsi Street, he found that there was about two feet of water here, although the rain was not pouring down. It's not small. But in such bad weather. There were more than a dozen carriages parked in front of the Salt Transportation Division.

This made it bitter for the coachman and his entourage, who could not hide outside, so they could only soak in the water and wait for their master.

Since Wang Fulin has officially clarified his identity in front of Wang Daomin today, he will ride his horse to the door of the Salt Transport Division directly, and the plan in his heart is to pull out Wang Daokun's name post, and then ask to see Gu Tingzhen, the salt transport envoy. He didn't come here just to inform the Ye family sisters of their whereabouts, but considering that this flood was not trivial, and the little thing about the salt industry was basically over. Therefore, he planned to persuade them to go back. But just as he was about to speak, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man dressed like himself walking out of the lobby.

"Uncle Lu!"

Wang Fulin was taken aback, and forgot to take out the post, so he hurriedly shouted. And Lu Guangwu naturally saw Wang Fulin, and immediately accelerated his pace. When he got out of the Salt Transportation Division, he smiled and said, "I was going to go to Cheng's house to find you, but I didn't expect to run into you." I have agreed with them to escort them out of Yangzhou immediately. After all, it is uncertain when this flood will return, and it is likely that it will be followed by a famine. Even if Yangzhou City was rich and prosperous in the past, it will be greatly damaged this time. Maybe it'll be a mess for a few months. What's more, Master Gu is still too busy to take care of himself, so it's better not to continue to disturb. ”

"That saves me a trip." Wang Fulin was relieved, and he was not ready to use Wang Daokun's favor to meet people, after all, it would be troublesome to be asked when the time came, "When will you leave?" ”

"Today." Seeing that Wang Fulin was dumbfounded all of a sudden, Lu Guangwu said with a smile, "It's better to choose a day than to hit the day, besides, didn't Brother Cheng invite you to go out to Zhenjiang Mansion to buy grain?" ”

“……”

Wang Fulin looked at Lu Guangwu with wide eyes, and only then did he realize for the first time that this Xinchang Lu Gongzi, who seemed to be free and easy and didn't care about mundane affairs, actually knew Master Cheng, and he seemed to be quite familiar!

"Otherwise, what do you think I would say about moving those two girls? The eldest lady of the Ye family is okay, she is a persuasive character, Xiaobei is different, if you don't leave Yangzhou with them, she will definitely die and refuse to leave. I had already come yesterday to finalize the matter, and now they have already packed their bags, and you and I are waiting for them here, and then we will go straight out of the city and go south. I have gone out of the city to explore before, and the official road from Yangzhou south to the Yangtze River is not bad, and the water is not knee-high. However, this time Yangzhou City is not the most severely affected place, but Huai'an Mansion, Gaoyou and Baoying are already a country. ”

Let Lu Guangwu say everything that should be said, what else can Wang Fulin say? He could only nod obediently in agreement. Of course, when he saw the salt merchant's carriage outside, he had to inquire about Lu Guangwu again, and sure enough, everything was as he expected, although there had been rumors of floods in the summer and autumn of this year, but because the news was related to Master Cheng, many salt merchants did not believe it, even if not everyone's salt goods were stored in the stacks on the east side of the banknote, many of them were in low-lying places, and because they were prone to tens of thousands of catties and hundreds of thousands of catties, where could they be easily moved.

And since this flood struck suddenly overnight, it is not an exaggeration to describe these salt merchants with heavy losses.

About two quarters of an hour later, Wang Fulin saw two carriages coming from the other end of Yunsi Street, because the sight was not good on rainy days, there were glass lamps hanging in front of the cars, and there was a leaf word on the lamp, obviously the carriage came out of the back door of the Yanyun Division, and then went around to the front door to meet them. When the two cars approached one after the other, he saw the curtains open a little slit, and then a familiar voice was heard.

"Didn't Uncle Lu say that he went back to Cheng's house to pick you up and leave? Why are you here? ”

"Don't ask me, my little fox was made to turn around this time by two old foxes." Wang Fulin spread his hands, and then reminded, "The rain is not light, remember to seal the windows on the road, so as not to turn back and the carriage will be in trouble." This time it was in the rain, and the weather was no better than last time, so if there is anything going on in the carriage, let me know as soon as possible. ”

"I know, I know, it's verbose." Saying this, Xiaobei still turned around and asked Ye Mingyue, "Sister, what do you have to say to him?" ”

Ye Mingyue said to a long story short: "It's not early, let's hurry first." ”

In this case, Wang Fulin didn't bother to nag anything in the rain, so he immediately ordered the two dart masters who followed him to send the luggage wrapped in oil clothes to the next carriage first, and then set off immediately. Lu Guangwu's two companions were already waiting at the southern gate of the city. Immediately after the meeting of the people, they went out of the city by the official road. Along. At first, the water was more than half a wheel. That is, most of the horse's legs were cut off, and the speed of travel was very slow, but after walking for about an hour and a half, the water gradually became much smaller, and the group finally walked faster. Even so, by the time everyone arrived at the ferry, it was already evening.

In today's season, naturally few boats dare to cross the Yangtze River at night. Even if people dare, Wang Fulin would never dare to take such a risk. So, he took people to stay in a hostel with Lu Guangwu. There is Lu Gongzi, who is often out of the house, leading the way, of course, he will not be unlucky enough to live in a black store again. But after staying overnight, as soon as Wang Fulin found Ye Mingyue and Xiaobei and said that they were going to do so, they immediately attracted a fierce reaction.

"Let's take a boat back first? Why! Didn't Uncle Lu say that when you go to Zhenjiang to buy grain, you will go back to Huizhou together? ”

"First of all, you came on horseback, not in a car, and there is no problem with the ferries on the Yangtze River carrying two horses. But it is impossible to accommodate your two carriages, and when the time comes, after you cross the Yangtze River. It is a big question to hire a carriage in the rain and whether a clean carriage can be hired temporarily. ”

Seeing that Xiaobei was dumbfounded, Wang Fulin continued unhurriedly: "Second, I went to see Zhang Jiayin, the governor of Yingtian, not to ask him to help the grain, but to take the money to buy grain, which has a joint letter from Wang Cheng's two major salt merchants in Yangzhou City, but after all, it is impossible to bring cash, and Uncle Lu and I only have one hundred taels of gold in our bags together, and I am afraid that I will have to go back to Yangzhou to settle the grain payment at that time." Do you want to follow me on another trip? Third, Gao Ge Lao stepped down, and Shao Fang can be regarded as losing power, so you don't have to worry about what he will do to me. After all, he's already planted in my hands three times, but it's only three. ”

Hearing that Wang Fulin came up with these three reasons in an orderly manner, Ye Mingyue looked at Xiaobei again, and saw that although she was unhappy, her eyes were dripping, so she simply asked on her behalf: "You can rest assured that we will go back like this?" ”

"Although Madame has sent a lot of people to follow, I will lend you two dart masters on my side, as well as Min Fu and Wu Liuyi, and it is enough for me to have Uncle Lu here." Wang Fulin had already thought about it, counted it with his fingers, and finally raised his head and said, "At most, ten to fifteen days, Cheng Naixuan and I will definitely return to Huizhou." If I don't go back, Mr. Ke will nag me a hundred times when he turns around, and he will almost carry his whip and face his life. ”

"Really go back in half a month at most?" Xiaobei stared at Wang Fulin, and seeing that he nodded very simply, she suddenly stood up and opened a rattan box containing luggage, rummaged through it for a while, and actually took out the four treasures of the study, and then put them on the table.

Seeing that Wang Fulin's eyes widened when she saw this scene, she obviously had some guesses, and she just smiled at the corner of her mouth: "Do you think I am asking you to set up a word to save yourself from cheating?" Phew, you guy says one thing and does another, and the black and white words may not work. I'm asking you to write a letter to your father, eldest sister, second mother, little sister, as well as Jinbao and Qiu Feng, and my sister and I will bring it back to you! ”

Wang Fulin was really almost wrong just now, and when he heard Xiaobei say this, he felt very uncomfortable. No matter what, even if there was a message to bring back before, after seeing Master Cheng and Cheng Naixuan, he once wrote a letter and sent it back, but after all, it has been out for so long, and the bunch of old and young people at home don't know what to look like, and Jinbao also failed the test because of this test. Seeing that Xiaobei seemed to be smiling and grinding ink and laying paper, he lifted the pen like a thousand jun, even if his current writing style is the head of the eight-strand essay, how to start this letter is really difficult.

In the end, he had to put a lot of effort into it, from Wang Daoyun and Wu's parents, Wang Yuanguan and Wang Erniang, Wang Xiaomei, the three sisters, plus Jinbao Qiufeng, and even Ye Xianzun and Mrs. Su, wrote a total of four letters, sprinkled with a pile of small note, and his hands were sour. Fortunately, they are all plain vernacular, and there is no need to weigh every word. But when Ye Mingyue found a bunch of envelopes and asked Xiaobei, who had dried the ink, to help pack them, Wang Fulin noticed that there was one more envelope, and couldn't help but look at this Miss Ye in wonder.

"You, the big boss of the rice industry guild, don't you write a letter to those grain merchants, and by the way, appease your overly frightened little fellow?" (To be continued......)