Xu Ping'an and the others have arrived at Wulin Wharf, where it is not big or small, how can dozens of fishing boats docked on the shore, not to mention those large merchant ships transporting goods.

In short, it looks like a dense stream of sails drifting on this river, and the same goes for the depths of the Grand Canal at the end of the sight.

All around, there are old men with their sleeves and the smell of sweat, and there are also many young people who are as thin as bamboo poles working hard here, and they are tired of moving up and down, and even the perennial labor is so dark that they can't tell the difference between one, two, three, and four.

Xu Ping'an was wearing a torn coarse cloth clothes, and he deliberately got a lot of mud, which was almost the same as Li Ji's clothes.

These two clothes were sewn by Yu Youwei in the room in the middle of the night last night.

"Childe, what now?" Li Ji opened a pair of copper bell eyes and said in a low voice, feeling a bit like a thief.

"Let's all dress up in disguise, so let's go out of the river first, and secretly inquire about the news, to see if we can see something valuable, listening to others is not as good as what we see. ”

"Okay!" Li Ji nodded emphatically.

This guy gave birth to a black-faced King Kong, tall and burly, standing in front of Xu Ping'an, there is no ruffian hooligan who dares to come up and make trouble.

It was late spring, and it was cold on the Grand Canal.

A galleon passenger ship that is customary in the Central Plains went down the river against the wind and waves, accompanied by more than ten people, mostly peddlers, pawns and travelers.

It made Xu Ping'an cry and laugh, Li Ji, such a man with five big and three rough skills, such a martial arts wizard, as soon as he got on the boat, he was shocked and unstable under his feet, just like the little daughter-in-law entered the door of her in-laws' house, she was sincerely frightened, and her face became a little pale.

When he got on the boat, he became cringe, and he didn't say a word, and after not much time, he suddenly vomited and vomited on the boat.

Such a big guy, he actually got seasick!

"Childe, I knew I wouldn't come, this bullshit sail sits on my stomach and stomach is about to turn over!"

Xu Ping'an rolled his eyes, he couldn't figure out how this guy was seasick, and said with a smile: "Sleep, I'll stay on the boat for a while." ”

The Dafan passenger ship starts from Wulin Pier and docks at several piers along the way, and there is an endless stream of pick-up and drop-off passengers.

Xu Ping'an also saw the water transport terminal in Yangzhou, which is indeed extremely prosperous and lively. Day or night, passenger ships or cargo ships often dock.

In these places, there is no shortage of old men who take jobs waiting day and night, and it is often seen that officials and officials can maintain order here, and some places even have some special temporary yamen.

The most surprising thing was that occasionally some of the most powerful people could be seen shuttling through the crowd of people in the cabin, whether it was coolies or merchants, who did not dare to offend them in the slightest as if they were gods.

At this moment, there sat a man beside him, a burly man in a straw hat, who was a coolie.

However, after Xu Ping'an's conversation and observation, it seems that this person is a small leader among the many coolies, quite prestigious, named Quan Nong.

"In fact, since the period of the previous dynasty, the green forest robbers in the Yangjing area have been rampant, and they have been killed endlessly, and countless salt taxes have flowed into the hands of the knights of the rivers and lakes. In addition to stealing and selling illicit salt, the knights also organized crowds to gather together, form alliances with the government and private irons, and run rampant in the township to oppress the good. If it is in troubled times, these behaviors are still reasonable, and some of them are forced to walk on this road without reluctance. But now that the country is peaceful and prosperous, the country and the people are safe, these guys do a lot of things that are not beneficial just to enrich their own pockets, and they only sigh that we people are suffering. Quan Nong said with some emotion.

Xu Pingzhu, who was a scholar who came out to pick up the work, nodded, and asked quietly: "I have also heard for a long time that there are many water bandits in Yangjing, so such a huge bandit, is there no set of procedures or unspoken rules in private?"

After hearing this, Quan Nong's face sank slightly, and he was a little scared and stopped.

Finally, when he looked around and found that there were no people on the road, he slowly spoke to Xu Ping'an.

"I shouldn't have told you this, lest something happen to you because of a moment of curiosity, but the first time you came to the Grand Canal to beg for a living, big brother, I know the hardships, so I'll tell you. ”

"It's good to have a good memory after you listen to it, and don't talk nonsense. ”

Xu Ping'an was a little interested and nodded.

"There are indeed some unspoken rules in this Yangjing area, there is a wharf on this Grand Canal, called Guicao, which is one of the largest water transport wharves outside Yangzhou City, almost that place is where all ships must pass through, where there is a group of people known as King Kong Lux, are some Jianghu people with extremely high martial arts. ”

"All the ships that passed by in Yang Jing's generation can be safe and sound as long as they pay a huge amount of silver to this group of people, on the contrary, all the ships that are unwilling to pay silver will end up strangely sinking near this pier, and even the corpses cannot be found, so this pier is called Ghost Cao. ”

Xu Ping'an smiled: "Where is there any ghost in the world, this is clearly killing people and overselling goods, and I know that it has something to do with this King Kong Lux." ”

He pretended to be a stunned young man who didn't know what to say, and wanted to ask for more news, but in fact, his heart was very uneasy.

Vajra Lux and Buddha can have a certain relationship, both are the inheritance of Lingshan Buddhism, and it seems that there have been similar characters in the rivers and lakes, so will this ghost be a den of that force?

"Shhhhhhh

"Little brother, be quiet, don't let others hear. ”

"Now that I'm about to go to the Ghost Cao Wharf, there are many people, and this force is taboo and can't be mentioned!"

"Even if the Grand Canal runs for hundreds of miles, and there are countless green forests, no one dares to provoke them!"

Xu Ping'an nodded in panic, and asked again: "Then Brother Quan, do you know, if it is something shipped out of the imperial court, what about it?"

"The people are afraid, but it doesn't mean that the government is also afraid. As far as I know, some goods are shipped out of the Grand Canal every month, including salt from Yangzhou and other places!"

Quan Nong smiled bitterly when he heard this: "The collusion between officials and businessmen has reached a point, who can tell whether the officials are officials or bandits?"

Xu Ping'an was stunned, has this Grand Canal been dim to this extent?

What he understands here is another model than what Liu Yuan said, he doesn't think that Liu Yuan dares to deceive himself, he can only say that the people behind the scenes are too sophisticated.

Maybe except for the only big guy, it is estimated that those Vajra Lux don't know who they are doing things for and how much they have done.

After that, he didn't say much, and waited until he got to the ghost dock to inquire about these Vajra Lux.

According to his agreement with Yu Xun, the ships transporting official salt passed through this road, and Yu Xun's people would secretly protect the official salt, and once someone did it, he would arrest people.

And he and Li Ji didn't have anything to do, but Yu Xun believed in him and wanted him to come along, check the water of the Grand Canal, and cooperate with him by the way.

Even their whereabouts are unknown.

After a stick of incense.

Everyone got off the boat, and the ghost had arrived.