Whispering Verse

"I don't need to pass this sentence back. His Highness sent me here this time. On the one hand, I have my own affairs, and on the other hand, I want to help you deal with the trouble of that batch of goods as soon as possible."

He looked at the woman in front of him:

"There can be no further delay."

"I understand. Miss Princes asked us to assist you and obey your orders no matter what."

Lesia's subordinates were willing to carry out this rather inappropriate order. Shade could only say that her leadership was indeed first-rate.

Although the "Princess Trading Partner" has many subordinates, few of them are fully aware of Lesia's identity. There are three people who can directly contact Tobesk. In addition to Ms. Anne Bonny, who looks like a fierce pirate, there are also William Kidd and George Robert.

The former is a businessman with a serious background. He is about forty years old and is the oldest of the three. The latter was in his early thirties, a baron, but the kind of down-and-out nobleman who had lost his family property and fiefdom.

Ms. Anne Bonny is responsible for handling private matters, Mr. William Kidd is responsible for the purchase of goods, the nominal operation of the small fleet and the preparation of false accounts, and Baron George Robert is responsible for managing the upper and lower relations of Moon Bay City. The three have a clear division of labor, and they support a large number of thugs. Although the trading company has a low reputation, it is still considered a force in the eyes of the underworld in the dock area of ​​Yuewan City.

This afternoon, the three of them met with Sha De. After confirming Sha De's identity, they all expressed that they could obey any order from Sha De.

The conversation moved to the study room at the top of the three-story building. Shade wanted to know where Lesia's batch of goods was currently stuck:

"The information your Highness received is not very detailed. I want to emphasize that I am not the kind of guy who likes killing people. But if we can eliminate this trouble by just solving one or two key people, then It could not be better."

When he sat down, Shade talked about his code of conduct, and then apologized awkwardly amid the different expressions of the three of them:

"I may have a strange smell on my body, please forgive me. It's not that I'm unhygienic, it's just the smell of corpses. You won't have to keep me for dinner in a while. I want to clean myself up first."

In short, although Xia De, who came from afar, had not done anything, he had already left the impression of a "ruthless person" in the eyes of the three people in the trading company.

As for Lesia's three ships of goods that cannot leave the port, they are still impounded. Those special alloys are used as ballast stones on the bottom of the ship to pretend to be ordinary metal, and the nominal cargo transported is food.

At present, there is no embargo on grain between the two countries, and many businessmen have come up with the idea of ​​reselling grain after seeing the special weather this summer. Therefore, the goods of "Princess Trading Partners" were withheld not for political reasons.

“Our ship was unable to depart for three reasons.

The Kasenlik Customs Department believes that the three ships of grain have quarantine problems; the Port Authority under the Yuewan City Council believes that our ships have passed the maintenance period and need to be re-inspected for safety before they can leave the port; the dock office in the dock area, They thought that we were in arrears with the 'Public Maintenance Fee for the Pier' that everyone had to pay, and they asked us to make up the money before they would let us go. "

"Customs, Port Authority, and Terminal Office? How did you offend so many people?"

Shade curiously asked the three of them. The three of them looked at each other, and Mr. George Robert, the down-and-out nobleman in charge of the up and down management, explained:

"The quarantine issue of the customs department is just an excuse. They actually suspect that we are spies, spies of MI6. But it is just suspicion, so they temporarily detained our ship and will not let our fleet leave until the investigation is completed. This The most troublesome thing is that it’s hard for me to get straight into the gray gloves.”

This was actually an injustice to them. Lesia was just doing some small business, and she had nothing to do with MI6. Of course, it actually matters that Shade is sitting here at this time.

"The matter with the Port Authority is because we robbed the Eddington family's business last year. You know the Eddington family, right?"

"I know that one of the seven glorious families of Moon Bay, like Hawthorne and Belindel, is the family that still controls the city council. Therefore, the Eddington family can influence the Moon Bay City Port Authority, so that's why your ship Just do the security check again?”

Shade asked, and businessman William Kidd nodded helplessly:

"That's it. Safety inspection is actually a trivial matter. If you want to check, we don't mind. But the Port Authority has been reluctant to send people to do this. We sent people to ask, and every time they said they Manpower is tight, or we are still waiting for the inspection documents to be stamped, so let us wait for a while. I am very familiar with the port authority's way of doing things. This is simply a deliberate delay, and we have no reason to refuse."

"What's going on with that dock office?"

Shade asked again, so Baron George Robert continued to introduce:

"The terminal office is responsible for managing and coordinating things related to port operations, such as cargo warehousing management, coordination of ships entering and leaving the port, port usage charges, etc. We originally got along well with the port office, but this spring, our people and There was a fight between another group of people on the dock. That group of people was called the 'Black Hand Gang', they were serious dock gangsters and the gloves of the Hawthorne family, yes, that's the Hawthorne family."

"You have been operating the dock for many years, don't you know this?"

Shade frowned slightly, and Baron Robert quickly explained:

"We actually know that, but this kind of small-scale fire is not very common. It has happened before. The big shots above will not interfere with the dock just because of such a trivial matter. I just don't know what happened this time, Hawthorne After that, the family asked the dock office to target us. Such targeting should be just a casual comment from a big shot, but when combined with the other two things, it became a troublesome matter."

"The Gray Gloves influence customs, the business-stealing Eddington family instructs the port authority, and the Hawthorne family, which also controls the gang, can influence the dock office."

Shade summed it up and felt that the brand new city was really different from other places. Most of the things in the City of Fortune are related to wealth. If you just get involved in these troublesome things, you can already get a glimpse of the whole city:

"Customs matters are the easiest."

He said to the three of them, and then explained a little:

"I have acquaintances in MI6, it should be no problem to ask them to help."

The three immediately expressed their understanding, probably thinking that MI6 could do something inside Gray Gloves. But Shade actually wanted to go to MI6, and then ask how to contact the local gray glove agents, and then use his identity as a "grey eagle" to find a way to get the trading company off suspicion.

Margaret had given him complete identification documents. The only problem was that Shade couldn't go directly to the door and tell him to prevent the agents from causing trouble for "Princess Trading Partner".

"I don't have a clue about the Eddington family for the time being. Baron Robert, I have to rely on you to smooth out the relationship."

He added, and Mr. George Robert nodded:

"I understand, this is my job."

"As for the Hawthorne family and the dock office, just like what you said, if it was just an ordinary mercenary, those big shots wouldn't be able to target small forces like us casually. What exactly happened at that time? Why did you mercenary?"

Ms. Anne Bonny recalled:

"That's a very common thing. Their people and our people had a bad time playing cards while drinking in the pub, and then they came to us to collect protection money. Of course we wouldn't pay it, otherwise there would be nothing we could do Hanging out at Yuewan Pier.

That night, we brought more than 20 people, and they were also more than 20 people, and they negotiated in the warehouse. When the negotiations didn't go well, they started fighting. But it's not a shooting, it's just a cold-arms fight. A person on their side had his head shot open, and a person on our side also had his right leg disabled. This was actually a small matter. Everyone had a tacit understanding that no one fired, and no one was killed in the end. Even the police were not alerted afterwards. "

It seems that the local martial arts is very abundant.

"So was there anything different then?"

Shade asked again, and Ms. Bonny thought for a while:

"We won that night. According to the rules, we arrested a few people and asked them to pay a ransom. Then everyone sat together and drank. It was over. But later it was rumored that some of the people we arrested were working for the big shot. He seemed to be looking for something. But because he was caught by us, some things were delayed, which made the local big shots unhappy. Does this have anything to do with it? This is just a rumor."

"Let me go investigate first."

Shade made up his mind:

"I will take care of the customs and Gray Gloves matters. I will go to the Hawthorne family and the dock office to check on the situation. I will leave the rest to you. Miss Princes is waiting for our good news."

"Yes, sir."

"Besides, I have some personal matters that I need your help with."

He briefly talked about finding someone in the lower city area centered on Herring Street, and emphasized that he must not be too conspicuous. Ms. Bonny also promised Shade that she would arrange someone to do it, and her people could do the job.

"Also, have you encountered any strange corpses locally recently?"

Shade asked again. He had not forgotten what happened with Mr. Bernhardt and the coroner:

"A corpse with a missing head, or a corpse with all the blood drained from its body."

"The murder case of missing heads is a very famous topic in the city recently, but we have never encountered it. I heard that the bodies were found in the city, and there has not been one at the dock. As for the whole body blood being drained, I have never heard of it. Urban legend?”

Shade nodded, and after informing the three of them that some letters addressed to him would be sent here, he also said goodbye to them. The sun sets and the day comes to an end. He did not stay here to continue to experience the prosperity of the city of wealth. Instead, he threw the glass slipper in the alley and returned to his warm home.