The prince is very fierce

We sailed down the river day and night and arrived at Jinling, 300 miles away, around the afternoon of the second day.

Jinling is the most famous city in the south of the Yangtze River. Its prosperity even surpasses Chang'an in the northwest. Thousands of pavilions unfold like a painting scroll, and the 18-mile Qinhuai River is full of beauties, leaving countless footprints of literati and poets.

At dusk, the boat entered the mouth of the Qinhuai River outside Jinling City. The not-so-vast river was full of painted boats and merchant ships. Even outside the city, there are still buildings on both sides of the river, and various manors and villas are hidden in them. Literati and ladies walk along the river bank, and there are also scholars who write on the river bank.

Xu Buling followed his future daughter-in-law out, not wanting to steal the show, but dressed in a white scholar's robe and a square scarf on his head, dressed like a young scholar, standing on the edge of the deck, admiring the beautiful scenery of the river bank.

Mrs. Lu was obviously a little excited. She stood beside Xu Buling and pointed to the countryside behind the river bank: "...there, and that manor, the land from Jiangjun Mountain to Longhu, all belong to my Lu family. When I was a child, I often went to the mountain to play, and I went to the temple with your mother to burn incense..." She looked like a rich woman introducing her own things.

Xu Buling stood with his hands behind his back and listened to Mrs. Lu's introduction with a smile, and slowly came to Nanshan Port outside Jinling City.

In order to protect against foreign enemies, large ships are not allowed to pass through the water gates of Jinling City. It is very cumbersome to enter the city, and you have to report to the government office to remove the iron piles under the water. Therefore, merchant ships load and unload goods at the port outside the city, and the ships of wealthy families are also moored outside the city.

Watching the ship slowly approaching the port, Mrs. Lu looked around for a few times, raised her hand and pointed at the several watchtowers built at the entrance of the river bay, and whispered:

"When did the government build the watchtower? The people walking on it don't look like soldiers..."

Xu Buling squinted and looked around, but saw that there were many black-robed men with swords on the huge port. Their uniforms were obviously not from the government, but they were dressed in a uniform manner, obviously belonging to the same organization.

"Is this a private port?"

Xu Buling asked, not quite sure. After all, the scale of Nanshan Port in front of him was a bit large. All ships coming from the south of Jinling had to dock here to unload, otherwise they had to go around half a circle. With the scale of Jinling City, it is conceivable how large the throughput is. The Xu family's collection of import and export tariffs in the Western Regions is an important source of finance, and they support an army of 200,000. If this Nanshan Port is private, it can't just be described as extremely wealthy.

Mrs. Lu was also a little confused, and whispered: "Nanshan Port has been here since ancient times, and no one dug it out, so how could it be private? My family's boat used to stop here, and there were only warehouses on the shore, and there were no messy people..."

While speaking, Xiao Qi walked out of the cabin, took a look, and explained:

"Nanshan Port was allocated to the Yang family by the Jinling prefect, and it was like this a few years ago."

Mrs. Lu was stunned when she heard this, and said with a little displeasure: "What is the Yang family? The whole world belongs to the king. , can the things of the court be allocated to others? "

Xiao Qi's expression was calm, and he said softly: "A few years ago, there were some bandits who robbed money and killed people in Nanshan Port. Merchants were panicked, and the government couldn't catch them. Later, Yang Yingxiong of the Yang family volunteered to find some people to watch over Nanshan Port and build these things, and the bandits stopped making trouble. Later, they said that they collected some tolls in order to make a living, and the government acquiesced. "

Xu Buling pondered for a while: "It sounds a bit strange. "

Xiao Qi naturally understood Seeing the strangeness in it, he said helplessly:

"I secretly asked someone to investigate. The bandits were arranged by Yang Yingxiong. They killed people, kidnapped people and threatened merchants, and took Nanshan Port for themselves. Yang Yingxiong's sister is the concubine of King Wu. With King Wu as a support, it will not be resolved even if it is brought to the emperor. The prefect of Jinling has no choice but to compromise."

Hearing this, Xu Buling frowned slightly: "Since you know, why don't you do something about it."

Xiao Qi shrugged helplessly: "How can I do something about it?"

Mrs. Lu heard someone behind her The shadow of King Wu was not happy, so he explained to Xiao Qi:

"Xiao Qi has no official status, so it is not easy for him to intervene when King Wu is involved. If he writes to Prime Minister Xiao for this matter, he will definitely be at odds with King Wu. The Xiao family lives in Jiangnan, just like the noble families in Suzhou City, who exposed King Su's plundering to the court, and offended him directly."

After hearing this explanation, Xu Buling understood a little bit - the most taboo thing for the vassal king is that someone reports to the emperor, especially his subordinates. The noble families have always been family-oriented, taking the way of long-term prosperity, knowing how to forbear and analyze the situation, and being smooth and not easily making enemies. Xiao Qi will definitely not make enemies with King Wu for these things, and even if he knows, he can only turn a blind eye.

The ship slowly entered the port. Xu Buling took a quick look and saw that there were more than a hundred ships anchored in it. There were thugs leading the accountant standing on the shore, counting the number of people from house to house and collecting silver and money.

Xiao Qi always kept a low profile when traveling in Jiangnan. He just passed by Jinling and did not notify the Lu family to come and greet him. At this time, before the shore, several bandit-like men stood on the dock with knives drawn.

The accompanying housekeeper Hua Jingting did not say what it was. He raised his hand and asked the servants to get some silver and arranged for the boatman to lower the deck.

Xu Buling saw this scene and frowned slightly.

Xiao Qi considered it for a while and said, "It's really hard for me to manage. But the King of Wu came to you this time and asked you to ask for something. You can give Yang Yingxiong a little warning. The King of Wu should not take it to heart. As the prince of a vassal king, you should do the same."

Mrs. Lu thought so too: "What's wrong with the King of Wu? He has a bunch of old soldiers under his command, which is incomparable to the King of Su. This is public territory. It's not a matter of how much money is extorted from the King of Su..."

The lineage of the King of Su is not a family. As a vassal king guarding the border, he must not give in to the court and the powerful enemies outside the pass. To put it simply, if you can spend a few taels of silver today to avoid small troubles, you can get a marriage, cede land, pay tribute, and become a vassal tomorrow to avoid big troubles. This is a matter of attitude.

Xu Buling did not respond, but turned to look at the Nightingale next to him:

"Nightingale, take Aunt Lu in and wait."

"Okay, young master."

Nightingale naturally obeyed the order and helped the puzzled Mrs. Lu into the cabin.

The ship docked and the deck was lowered. Xiao Qi stepped back a little and did not show up. It seemed that she wanted to see how Xu Buling handled things.

Xu Buling asked the maids and guards to wait on the ship and walked down the deck alone.

The thugs and accountants on the shore saw that the boat was carrying people from a wealthy family, and the banditry on their faces subsided a little.

The leading man saw a handsome and weak scholar coming down, and raised his hand:

"How many people did you bring with you? The port charges silver per person, one penny per person. Since the boat has a shallow draft, the cargo is not included."