Salt River, the ancient name of the official river, is the canal connecting Haizhou (now Lianyungang) and Huai'an, dug in the Tang Wu Zetian vertical arch for four years, since ancient times is the main road of Huaibei salt domestic sales, in the early Qing Dynasty, because Huainan gradually "Haiyuan halogen", Huaibei Banpu, Zhongzheng, Linxing three salt farms gradually prospered, salt transport prosperous, Guanhe also changed its name to Salt River because of frequent salt transport, every day in the official boat estimation of the boat, sails look at each other, it is really lively and extraordinary, in order to strictly investigate the private salt, the two Huai salt transport envoys Yamen in the salt river to Jin'an Dong has a battalion of salt patrol battalions, And there are salt inspection departments and other officials responsible for unified coordination.

As the only domestic sales channel of the two Huai salt fields, the salt river is undoubtedly noisy and prosperous, but it is all a matter of the day, once it is in the evening, there are very few boats on the river, even if there is, it is mostly the fleet of salt patrol camps to and fro, not because of the curfew, but the salt river is too short, a total of more than 30 miles, but all the salt ships are shipped from the salt field in the morning, at the latest it is only delayed until around noon, otherwise, it is difficult to rush to the west dam before dark, it is bound to sleep on the river, The sun has not yet set, but there are few boats in the upper reaches of the Salt River, and most of the officers and men of the Salt Patrol Battalion, who have been busy all day, are already sitting on the deck of the ship, while boring and talking nonsense, while waiting for the arrival of the shift time.

"Look, another boat is coming, grandma is a bear, at this time the boat is still sailing, and no one will be allowed to live!"

Just as the salters were chatting lazily, a sharp-eyed salter suddenly saw six black-canopy boats slowly approaching downstream, and scolded angrily when he boarded.

"Which turtle grandson can toss so much? If you don't give him some color later, I don't know how many eyes Lord Ma has! ”

"That's right, this muddy ball tosses the masters, how can it make him feel better, let's see!"

"These turtle grandsons who want money and don't want to die, I'm sorry!"

……

Since the promulgation of the strict inspection order, in the past few months, a group of officers and soldiers of the salt patrol battalion have been tossed enough, although it is two battalions in shifts, but the high-intensity inspection is not so easy to bear, this is about to be handed over to the shift, and they have to toss again, the salt Ding people can't help but be annoyed, and they don't care who comes, they are already scolded, not to mention the salt Ding at the bottom, even the head of the team is also dark and gloomy, although he has never scolded his mother, But that complexion unmistakably showed the deep dissatisfaction in his heart.

"Raise the flag and tell them to stop the ship and pass the inspection!"

Fang Wansheng, Henan Kaifeng people, Kangxi was born in 18 years, because of the poverty of the family, at the age of 16 to join the army, first in the Yellow River water division for the pawn, and then because of the merit of the water bandits, to be promoted to the general, by the introduction, met the then Henan Salt Road Ji Huaijin, got his appreciation, transferred to the Henan Salt Patrol Camp as an official, this year in June was transferred to Anton, as the salt patrol camp thousand general, has always been very strict, at this time when I saw the officers and soldiers scolded again and again, I was not happy in my heart, but it did not come out, just a gloomy face under the order.

"Wow!"

Fang Wansheng is known as the Fang Demon in the salt patrol camp, since he took office, he has always been iron-blooded, whether it is an officer or a soldier in the battalion, there is no one who is not afraid of it, at this time, when he heard Fang Wansheng's tone was not good, the flag soldiers who stayed by his side did not dare to have the slightest slackness, and hurriedly responded, waving the two small red flags in his hand, and passed the order to stop the ship to the six canopy boats that were slowly approaching, at the same time, the sailors of the ships who were scolding and scolding all moved, but saw more than a dozen small rows rushing out like sharp arrows, The direction of six awning boats was blocked from three directions.

"Stop, hurry, stop!"

The six awning boats are all big ships, and there are many sailors and guards on them, especially the first one that is obviously a escort boat, which is full of strong men, and its strength may not be worse than the officers and soldiers present in the salt patrol camp, but in the face of the official ships that surrounded them, the six canopy boats did not dare to slack off in the slightest, and the sound of shouting and cheering did not stop, and all of them slowly stopped on the river.

"General Fang is invited, Chen Biao is polite here."

The awning boat at the head had just stopped, and under the door curtain hanging at the hatch of the ship, Chen Biao, who was dressed in a robe, had already strode out of the inside, and bowed to Fang Wansheng standing on the deck of the ship from a long distance, and said with a smile.

"Hmm."

In the face of Chen Biao's politeness, Fang Wansheng didn't react much, just nodded reservedly, and said noncommittally lightly, which could be regarded as a return salute, and then, regardless of Chen Biao's expression, he waved his hand indifferently, signaling the medium-sized battleship under the seat to lean towards the canopy ship in the encirclement.

"General Fang, the small one who transported 60,000 catties of salt this time, and wants to go to Hubei, has already passed the inspection of the Salt Inspection Division.

Fang Wansheng had just stepped onto the bow of the canopy boat along the gangplank, Chen Biao had already stepped forward in a few big strides, took out a large envelope from his wide sleeves with a smile, held it in both hands, and respectfully handed it to Fang Wansheng.

"Well, come on, inspect the goods!"

Fang Wansheng took the letter expressionlessly, took out a few official documents from the inside, glanced at them casually, and then put the envelope back again.

A group of salt lads are veterans of inspection, and they are very familiar with the operation, and before and after less than a stick of incense, there is a small paddle that leans to the side of the canopy boat that starts at the beginning, but does not get on the boat, but stands on the paddle, bows down and reports a word.

"Close!"

Hearing what the general said, Fang Wansheng didn't ask much, casually threw the letter in his hand into Chen Biao's arms, and after giving an expression of the order, he didn't care that Chen Biao nodded and flattered him on the side, raised his feet and followed the pedal back to the front deck of the medium-sized battleship.

"Sail!"

Chen Biao was not moved by Fang Wansheng's indifference at all, and watched the fleet of the salt patrol camp go away with a smile on his face, and then laughed evilly, raised his hand, threw the letter in his hand to the river, and drank it arrogantly, full of self-satisfaction, there was nothing else, just because the letter contained not any official documents, but a few pieces of waste paper, in order to test whether Fang Wansheng was sincere to cooperate, in fact, the real official documents and ticket quotations were well carried in Chen Biao's arms, He was not afraid that Fang Wansheng would have evil intentions, and now, having verified Fang Wansheng's reliability, Chen Biao had a reason to be proud.

"Master, Master Biao is here."

At three o'clock in the ugly hour, the night was already very deep, but Liu Ba Nu was not sleepy at all, pacing back and forth in the spacious study shirtless, as cold as the weather was, but still holding back the beads of sweat in his head, and he was extremely anxious, but he saw a family member hurriedly walked out from behind the screen, hurriedly rushed to the front, bowed down, and whispered a word.

"Oh, quick, call him in!"

The reason why Liu Ba Nu didn't go to rest at this time was to wait for Chen Biao, who came from Anding in a hurry, and when he heard that he had arrived, his spirit suddenly lifted, his eyebrows raised, and he ordered impatiently.

"Yes, sir."

Since Liu Ba Nu ordered this, the famous family didn't dare to delay a little, so he hurriedly answered and hurriedly ran out of the study.

"Big brother, good news, that Fang Wansheng is very good, hey, it's still the eldest brother who sees the person, with this person cooperating, I can let go of my hands and feet to do a big job."

Although he rode his horse for more than 100 miles, his body was inevitably a little tired, but Chen Biao's spirit was very good, and as soon as he entered the door, he was already laughing and pulling his throat.

"Be careful!"

Liu Ba Nu was obviously not as blindly optimistic as Chen Biao, although her face was full of joy, she still didn't forget to ask for details.

"Big brother, here's the thing...... hey, with the cooperation of this surnamed Fang, plus the few of his subordinates are always fed with silver by our brothers, why worry about the big thing, if you want me to say, Ming'er should move!"

Chen Biao didn't notice that the joy on Liu Ba Nu's face obviously had a haze of suspicion, he shook his hand with a big grin, and described in detail the experience of meeting Fang Wansheng today.

"No, we'll have to look at it again."

Liu Ba Nu did not reply immediately, but lowered her head and paced back and forth in the study for a few steps, before raising her hand and making a decisive decision in her tone.

"Ah, this, big brother, Lianghu and other places are now bullish in the salt market, and if they don't make a move, if that kid really supports those dogs in Shandong, won't I lose most of the territory in vain, this ......"

Chen Biao was gearing up to do a big job, but when he heard Liu Ba Nu say this, he was in a hurry, and he jumped to his feet and buried himself.

"Hmph, it is precisely because of the tension in the salt markets in various places that we have to be more careful, Er Anzhi that Fang Wansheng is not deliberately acting on the secret order of that little child? If I really fall into it, the consequences will not be easy to play, and this matter will have to be seen again, so I will try a few more times before deciding. ”

Although the eighth master at the end of the Jingshi had a secret order not to act recklessly until Hongqing left, but the current situation forced Liu Ba Nu to not move, not for anything else, just because the salt merchants in the provinces under his jurisdiction were already complaining, and even some small salt merchants who were not very cooperative had already handed the case to the Yamen of the two Huai salt transport envoys, if he didn't take action again, Liu Ba Nu really didn't dare to guarantee that Hongqing would not make a big fuss about this matter, in case he really took the opportunity to reduce his Liu Ba Nu's territory and quota, The consequences are also not something that Liu Ba Nu can afford, because of this, it is imperative to sell smuggled salt, but Liu Ba Nu does not intend to act blindly, and she has to be completely sure before she dares to really make a move.

"Okay, little brother, just try it again according to the old rules."

Although Chen Biao was not very convinced by what Liu Ba Nu said, he didn't dare to refuse, so he could only accept it in a sloppy manner.