The fleet traveled for more than ten days, getting closer and closer to Jining Prefecture. On this night, the night was like paint. In the dark, Wu Shigong held the passionate Qiongniang from behind, and felt the boat under him gently shaking, and felt very peaceful in his heart.

But Wu Shigong suddenly found that Qiongniang's body was trembling slightly, Wu Shigong touched Qiongniang's face and found that his hands were full of tears. Wu Shigong asked softly, "What's wrong?" ”

When Qiong Niang heard Wu Shigong's concern, she couldn't help but turn over all of a sudden, leaned on Wu Shigong's chest and said, "Master, the slave family is afraid. The slave family is afraid to return to Defu. ”

Wu Shigong understood Qiongniang's worries. Qiong Niang used to be the wife of Qi County Ling after all. There are always some officials and relatives who come and go in Guide Mansion, and there will be some acquaintances. Qiongniang was afraid that these acquaintances from Guide Mansion would recognize her.

Wu Shigong had no choice but to stroke Qiongniang's smooth back and comfort her: "It's okay, we will also stay in Guide Mansion for a few days, as long as you stay in the inner house, no one will know your identity." In a few months, we will be moving to Runing Mansion, and by that time, no one will know you. ”

Although Wu Shigong's comfort could not completely dispel Qiongniang's worries, Qiongniang still felt very warm in her heart. She said: "The slave family knows that the master is good to the slave family. The good temper of the old man, the slave family knew before. ”

"Oh? How did you know that before? Qiong Niang's words immediately aroused Wu Shigong's interest.

"It's the old ...... It was said by the former husband and the slave family in small talk. ”

Qiong Niang's words made Wu Shigong more interested. He hurriedly urged: "What did the Qi county order say about me?" Tell me about it. "Everyone is interested in others saying their own things behind their backs, and Wu Shigong is no exception.

"The slave family said sir, don't be angry."

Wu Shigong patted Qiongniang's pink buttocks with a smile and said, "Definitely not angry." ”

"The first husband said: The master is a martial artist, and he is brave and powerful in the battle array, but in the officialdom, it is ...... It's ......"

Wu Shigong patted Qiongniang's pink buttocks again and said, "Hurry up." ”

"It is like a strong man, and his heart is like a woman or child."

Wu Shigong was stunned by Qi County's previous comments on himself. I was a little annoyed in my heart. According to Qi County's comments, hasn't he become a sissy?

But Wu Shigong thought about it quietly, but found that Qi County's comment still had some truth. In the past, in order to keep the official position of acting Qianhu, Wu Shigong always acted intentionally or unintentionally to avoid any conflicts, and did not use his strong force to seek any benefits for himself. Until now, it was only a "protection fee" of a few hundred taels of silver collected every year in the small town under the fortress of a thousand households.

However, Wu Shigong's style of acting is very inconsistent with his official position. In the era of the Ming Dynasty, which was completely official-oriented, Wu Shigong's behavior can be said to be the performance of an otaku.

And this time Wu Shigong's return to expand the army is completely a bit of a desperate and ruined ship. Wu Shigong decided that since the world was already in chaos, after coming back this time, Wu Shigong would completely tear off the mask of hypocrisy on his face and show his arrogant nature in his previous life.

Seeing that Wu Shigong had been silent, Qiongniang rubbed Wu Shigong with her body a little carefully and said, "Master, are you angry at the words of the slave family?" ”

Unexpectedly, Wu Shigong turned over, pressed Qiongniang under him, and said with a smile: "Little lady, let you take a good look now, what kind of man I am, master." ”

"Don't you, master! The slave family can't stand it."

……

When the fleet finally arrived at the wharf in Jining Prefecture, Wu Shigong was surprised to find that Zhang Xuebin, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen all arrived and greeted Wu Shigong on the wharf.

Finding the gloom on the faces of the three of them, Wu Shigong knew that there must be some trouble in the fortress of the Thousand Households. He first arranged for the officers to disembark, and then took the three of them to his cabin and inquired about what had happened to the fortress of Sennohe.

After the three of them sat down, they immediately reported to Wu Shigong: Since Wu Shigong went to King Qin with the army, the news about the Tatars raging in the capital has spread in Guide Mansion.

And because Wu Shigong did not follow the army of King Qin, Henan, and did not go to Tongzhou to join the army of King Qinwang of Henan when he arrived in Zuihou, there were many rumors about the army of Wu Shigong. The most exaggerated rumor is that Wu Shigong's army and the Tartar army met and were completely annihilated.

Therefore, the relatively peaceful situation, which was originally suppressed by the strong force of Wu Shigong's army, became a little chaotic. In addition, there has been another major drought in Henan this year, and the number of displaced people has increased suddenly, and now the situation in the entire Guide Province and Runing Province can be said to be chaotic.

Under the influence of this situation, Wu Shigong's industry has also been greatly affected. The income of those workshops has fallen sharply, to about half of what it was last year.

But that's not the main thing. First of all, he surrendered to Wu Shigong last year and the year before last, and the bandits who were almost combed by Wu Shigong became chaotic. At the beginning, those bandits were still under the prestige of Wu Shigong, and they did not dare to openly tear their faces, and the orders issued by the fortress of the thousand households were at most yang and yin.

But as the rumors that Wu Shigong couldn't come back spread more and more, coupled with the addition of those homeless people, the bandits' shili became bigger and bigger, and these bandits were ready to move. However, because the number of soldiers left in the fortress of Qianhusuo was not large, out of concern, Xue Yongli did not dare to send a large force to exterminate those disobedient bandits.

However, those bandits, seeing that their disobedient behavior did not arouse the reaction of the fortress of the thousand households, and the bandits immediately became emboldened, and they resumed their nature as bandits and began to loot everywhere.

Even more serious are the bandits in the mountainous areas north of Runing Province. Knowing Wu Shigong's departure, that Li Harrier somehow came back, he co-opted some of the cottages that were close to him before, and collected some homeless people, Shili soon grew stronger.

Li Harizi's move will definitely arouse the reaction of Lei Ying, the bandit boss in the northern mountains of Runing Province. Lei Ying gathered more than 600 of his own people, and notified Qian Qi, who was stationed in Li Harrier's cottage, and asked Qian Qi to lead some soldiers to exterminate Li Harrier together after joining with Lei Ying.

However, the news of Lei Ying's dispatch was betrayed to Li Harrier by a traitor of Lei Ying. Li Harrier took advantage of the situation to set up an ambush on the road where Lei Ying and Qian Qi converged, and caught Lei Ying off guard. Most of the manpower gathered by Thunder Eagle was lost, and Thunder Eagle was also seriously injured. If Qian Qi hadn't noticed that the situation was wrong, if he had accelerated and arrived in time, Lei Ying would have died in this ambush.

However, after receiving this blow, Li Harrier's momentum suddenly grew, and more and more bandits took refuge in him. Therefore, now in the mountainous area in the northern part of Runing Province, only the area near Wu Shigong's Qianhu fortress is still under the control of Qian Qi and Lei Ying, and the rest of the places are controlled by Li Harrier.

Because the bandits were raging, and because those bandits had stopped buying the fortress of Qianhusuo, and even bandits like Li Harrier still had a blood feud with Wu Shigong, so in the process of escorting the caravan, the escorted soldiers and bandits had exchanged fire three or four times. Fortunately, Wu Shigong still left a little prestige after all. Therefore, those bandits did not dare to do anything to the end, so the soldiers escorted by Wu Shigong only suffered seven or eight casualties in the firefight.

But even if it only lost such an insignificant number of manpower, it was unacceptable to the Thousand Households Fortress at that time. In the end, in desperation, Xue Yongli could only order to give up the trade route to Runing Mansion, and only maintain the escort work of the trade route from Guide Mansion to Jining Prefecture.

And Xue Yongli gave up the trade route to Runing Mansion for another very important reason: that is, since the beginning of spring this year, Lu Jianchen and Wu Shigong's salt business has stopped.

In fact, at the end of last year, Lu Jianchen sent someone to the fortress of Qianhusuo to inform them that their Lu family had lost their qualifications to do salt business, and from this year onwards, the Lu family would no longer be able to supply salt goods to Wu Shigong.

And after the beginning of spring, a Qi family, who was also a salt merchant in Yangzhou, sent a steward to Qianhusuo Fortress and Lu Yunhuan respectively, telling them that from this year onwards, their Qi family would provide salt goods. However, the price of salt supplied to Wu Shigong will be raised from one tael of silver per stone to two taels of silver.

After getting the news, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen, who were in charge of business, visited Lu Yunhuan, who was close to the Lu family, and asked him what happened.

But from Lu Yunhuan, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen didn't inquire about anything, and they learned afterwards that the price of salt supplied to Lu Yunhuan by the Qi family had not increased. Yuan Xingshan analyzed it with Zheng Zhen and thought that the situation of raising the price should also be related to the rumor that Wu Shigong could not come back.

In addition, now in the mountainous area in the north of Runing Province, a large part of the area has been controlled by Li Harrier, so starting from this year, Wu Shigong's salt business can be said to be paralyzed by a large part, and his income is only two or three percent of last year.

In addition, although Henan suffered from a severe drought, because Wu Shigong organized people to unblock the river and overhaul the water conservancy in previous years, this year, Wu Shigong and nearby Yao Yuanwai's fields were not only not affected, but also obtained a relatively good harvest. This is also the only good news that the three of them said when they reported to Wu Shigong today.

But because of this good harvest, it also brought trouble. Some of the nearby gentry coveted the 7,000 acres of land that Wu Shigong bought to supply the militia with money and grain, and they took out some old land deeds that they didn't know where they came from, insisted that some of the land belonged to their family, and brought the lawsuit to Yu Zilian, the magistrate of the county.

Under Yu Zilian's bias, the prospects for that lawsuit are very bad. If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't gotten the exact news of Wu Shigong's defeat, maybe Yu Zilian would have sentenced those lands to those gentry a long time ago.

And so many unfavorable things, but because of Wu Shigong's explanation before setting off - under the principle of maintaining the status quo and trying not to conflict, the people left behind in the fortress of Qianhusu did not dare to make drastic moves at will, so that the income of the fortress of Qianhusu has shrunk to less than half of last year's.

After reporting all this, Zhang Xuebin looked at Wu Shigong's face and asked cautiously, "My lord, it's good for you to come back." We finally have a backbone. But what are we going to do in the future, my lord? ”

Wu Shigong has been listening to the bad news, although he frowned, his face has always been very calm. Hearing Zhang Xuebin's words, Wu Shigong replied slowly: "What to do if you don't do it." There's no time left either. I don't have the time to talk about it. ”

When Wu Shigong spoke, his eyes kept looking out of the window of the cabin, Zhang Xuebin, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen followed Wu Shigong's eyes, and they saw that a group of soldiers were pushing a cannon from the ship to the shore.