Chapter 27: The Ransom I

It was cold and windy outside, but inside the hall was warm like spring. Huang Yongtao walked into the hall and thought it was too hot in the house, so he took off the cloak, and the pretty maid who was serving on the side took the cloak and left the hall.

"You said that the Japanese invaders kidnapped Jiang'er?" Huang Yongtao stared at Chu Qinghong, who was kneeling on the brick floor. The Huang family intends to occupy Yun Guam Island in preparation for the succession of the head of the He family in the future. The prince Huang Jinjiang volunteered to take over this matter, and personally led people to Yunguan Island to investigate the situation on Yunguan Island, but he didn't expect Chu Qinghong to flee back alone and tell him that Huang Jinjiang had been kidnapped by the Japanese in Yunguam Island. It is true that the Japanese invaded the Great Zhao Haijiang, but the Japanese mainly operated on the coasts of the southern part of the Yangtze River, Fujian and Zhejiang, and rarely appeared in Liaodong. After hearing the news, Huang Yongtao has been haunted, suspecting that it was the He family's ghosts, and after Chu Qinghong fled back to Jinzhou, he was afraid that he would hold him accountable, and fabricated that Huang Jinjiang was abducted by Japanese pirates on Yunguam Island.

Chu Qinghong nodded, "Xiao's native is from Zhejiang, and in his early years, he saw the Japanese invade the county seat, and these people have a Japanese hairstyle. ”

"Wouldn't it be too arbitrary to conclude that they are a widow based on just one hairstyle?" Huang Yongtao still didn't believe Chu Qinghong's words.

"One of them also said a word in the Japanese language." Chu Qinghong recalled repeating this sentence. Huang Yongtao looked at a military attache next to him, and the military attache nodded. Huang Yongtao was suspicious of the letter, and at this time, the door of the hall was pushed open, and a person from the appearance was almost crawling on his knees and was brought in.

This person was the entourage who accompanied Huang Jinjiang to Yunguam Island a few days ago, and Huang Yongtao still had some impressions. Is there another man who has abandoned his son and run back? These people are useless! Huang Yongtao's face was gloomy.

"Sir!" Before Huang Yongtao could speak, the servant crawled up to Huang Yongtao, took out a letter from his chest, and presented it to Huang Yongtao, "The prince has been kidnapped by the Japanese invaders!" ”

Huang Yongtao trembled and tore open the envelope, and his face was solemn after reading it. In the letter, the "Wakou" asked him for 100,000 taels of silver! It is also necessary to bury the silver in the woods of the East Case of Yunguam Island within half a month, otherwise the ticket will be torn up!

Huang Jinjiang is Huang Yongtao's sister-in-law, and the most outstanding of Huang Yongtao's many sons, and is his established future heir to the Huang family. In the letter, the "Wakou" threatened to feed the corpse of Huangjinjiang to fish if he did not see Yinliang within half a month, and tied his head to the wall of Jinzhou City. If the "Japanese Invaders" really do this, the Huang family will lose face in Gaizhou - what prestige does the family that can't even save the life of their own sister-in-law have?

Huang Yongtao angrily slapped the letter on the desk, and Huang Yongtao slapped his hand on the envelope, only to realize that he had just been in a hurry to read the letter, and did not notice that the envelope contained other things. Huang Yongtao poured out the contents of the envelope, which was an ivory waist tag and a few strands of hair. In the world, parents who pay attention to the hair and skin of the body, and it is disrespectful to parents to damage the hair and skin. Thinking about these few strands of hair, Huang Yongtao also knew that it was Huang Jinjiang's hair that he was descended from, and the Japanese Kou cut off Huang Jinjiang's hair, which naturally showed that Huang Jinjiang's life was not easy in the hands of the Japanese Kou.

Scraping together 100,000 taels of silver in a short period of time is not a difficult task for a century-old wealthy family like the Huang family. 100,000 taels of silver is not a small amount, the salary of a soldier of the Great Zhao Zhenjun for a year is 12 taels, and 100,000 taels of silver is enough to support a town army of 8,000 people for a year. Converted into catties, 100,000 taels of silver is also more than 7,300 catties, so much silver can only be transported by boat to the Japanese Kou! Such a widow is not afraid of death, and he will ask for 100,000 taels of silver when he opens his mouth! Huang Yongtao was really unwilling to watch boatloads of silver being shipped to the widows, but he was reluctant to let his beloved son go.

Huang Yongtao ordered Na Hu to withdraw from the hall in disgust, and only one military attache and Chu Qinghong remained in the hall.

"The Japanese invaders want to redeem 100,000 taels of silver, and bury the silver in Yunguam Island within 15 days, otherwise they will tear up the ticket." Huang Yongtao said the contents of the letter.

"The life of the prince is at stake, and if the widow is just asking for money, this matter will be easy to handle." The military attache said.

"Yan Pu, 100,000 taels of silver, enough to support 8,000 soldiers for a year, the old man is really unwilling." Huang Yongtao sighed.

The military attaché's name is Yan Pu, and his military position is the deputy general of Jinzhou City, who was formerly a general in Mingzhou, Zhejiang, and was later demoted to Liaodong because he was hooked by his colleagues, and was favored by Huang Yongtao and stayed in Jinzhou as a deputy general. Huang Yongtao relies heavily on Yan Pu.

"Let's explore the reality of the Japanese first." When Yan Pu was a general in Mingzhou, he had resisted the Japanese and had some understanding of the Japanese invaders, "The large number of Japanese is mainly concentrated in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, and as for Liaodong, I have not heard of a large number of Japanese invaders." ”

"How to tempt?" Huang Yongtao asked.

"A lowly and coarse person can't think of any good ideas." Yan Pu shook his head and said, "Lord Wang might as well ask Mr. Chu?" ”

Yan Pu had never come into contact with the Japanese in Yunguan Island with his own eyes, so he did not dare to come up with an idea, and pushed this problem to Chu Qinghong, Huang Yongtao's staff.

Huang Yongtao saw that Chu Qinghong was still kneeling on the ground, so he asked Chu Qinghong to get up and speak. Chu Qinghong thought for a while and said, "Since the widow is just seeking wealth, the life of the prince will not be in danger for the time being. ”

Huang Yongtao's face looked a little better, and he listened to Chu Qinghong's words.

"There is not a word in the letter about how to send the prince safely to the prince, the prince can make a fuss about this, first prepare 10,000 taels of silver according to what the letter says, bury it on Yunguam Island, and wait for the Japanese to come to take the silver, just to take the opportunity to investigate the truth of the Japanese invaders."

Huang Yongtao considered it and decided to adopt Chu Qinghong's suggestion first.

The Huang family prepared 10,000 taels of silver overnight and set off at dusk. It is not a glorious thing for the son of the Huang family to be kidnapped by the Japanese Kou, and the Huang family does not want it to spread in Jinzhou City. Although the Huang clan is a first-class clan in eastern Liaodong, there are not a few people who can watch the jokes of the Huang clan behind their backs.

"The Huang family is quite diligent in repaying the money." Genius Meng Mengliang, Ling Feng, who was nesting on the pier, looked at a few sparse figures that appeared on the east shore of Yunguan Island and said. There are two or three hundred miles of sea route from Liaoxi to Dangdang Island, and the Huang family transported the silver to Yunguam Island on the third day after receiving the letter, which can be described as fast.

"One hundred thousand taels of silver, to say the least, there are more than 7,000 catties, do you see that these people carry more than 7,000 catties of silver?" He Tengxiao looked at the sparse figure of the Huang family in the morning light, and said, "The Huang family is testing us and wants to explore our details." ”

"Fucking thief! Huang Yongtao, this kid actually played tricks with us! Ling Feng took a sip and scolded.

"They keep an eye on them when they come ashore." He Tengxiao instructed Chang Qingdao, "If he comes to investigate our reality and kills them after going ashore, and doesn't teach Huang Yongtao a lesson, he won't willingly send us the silver." ”