Chapter 87: The Chief Official of the An

The local affairs in Chaohu are not very busy. The main source of income is the fishery of the dock. The government is just a place where the bad officials make money. The dock is full of busy scenes. However, when the Chaohu government, a few streets away from the dock, is a leisurely and elegant place. These officials in the government generally only do some flashy and superficial skills. At this moment, the government yawns, together with more than a dozen officials, are yawning and unable to raise their spirits at all. As for the upcoming tour of the Emperor Jiangnan Water Town in April and May, they are indifferent. Although Chaohu is large, it is far from the capital, it is just a good place for the Emperor to travel. Local officials also know that the temple will not actively promote officials here, so the local officials in Chaohu are also lazy.

I have to worry about being attentive to the emperor's trip. This is mainly due to the fact that the emperor said that the water towns in Jiangnan were beautiful because of the fat and clear water. They are all the simplest and natural. The manpower should not be added to one stroke to avoid breaking this great ink picture of the water town. Look, the emperor is talking about it. Now who dares to move the Chaohu area? It has been so many years since the local officials in Chaohu Lake were not so lazy that they even didn't even bother to build a bridge. A few months ago, the rain surged, crushing the three bridges in Chaohu Lake. No official sent an inquiry was to call it a broken bridge. It was called a broken bridge as beautiful. It was not until almost the end of March that the construction of the bridge began to start, so that the emperor's cruise fleet would not see such broken walls. Although local officials in Chaohu Lake did not have the idea of ​​promotion, everyone wanted to sit in this free seat for several years to retire.

The local government offices in Chaohu Lake in broad daylight are useless for experts like Bailong and Dao Xiaokai who can sneak in. Even the door locks of Chaohu government archives and royal households were stabbed by Dao Xiaokai with an inconspicuous iron wire picked up anywhere. When they were taken out, the wire was covered with copper rust.

The archives and file library was covered with spider webs. The moment I opened the door, the dust was fascinated. Bailong and Dao Xiaokai opened the door for a long time before they covered their mouths and noses and entered the house. Then they closed the door. There was almost no effort to find the information about the local fish gangs at Chaohu Pier. They were all on the surface of the shelves and were displayed in an orderly manner. However, there were no clean tables and chairs for the two to sit down and search slowly. It seemed that no one had come in to clean up the archives and file for a long time.

There are 200 local fish gangs of all sizes in Chaohu Wharf, almost all of which are recorded in the book. There are 20 to 30 foreign fish gangs. The power of these 20 to 30 foreign fish gangs is far less powerful than that of local fish gangs. After all, strong dragons do not suppress local snakes, and they will listen to anyone who comes to the territory. Everyone understands this principle. Generally, foreign fish gangs are just under the local fish gangs with names and people. Then, for convenience, they respect some local Tai Sui money, and then they can go on a boat to fish in Chaohu, and they can also accept special care and protection from local fish gangs. This is the best of both worlds, and the local fish gangs are also willing to accept these foreign fish gangs, although this is just a dock where vulgar workers and ordinary people gather. Where

Is there any reason why foreign monks can recite scriptures? But which local fish gang can collect more fish gangs from other places to strengthen their own power? Take the largest local fish gang on Chaohu Wharf for example. They have sixteen foreign fish gangs under their command, almost all of them rely on the local fish gang, so they are the most powerful. Dao Xiaokai also paid special attention to the most powerful local fish gang called the Hai'an Fish gang. There are nearly 200 fishing boats alone, and there are about 800 fishermen serving this fish gang. In fact, Chaohu is very powerful. Moreover, the leader of the Hai'an Fish gang is surnamed An, and now the head of the local government in Chaohu is also surnamed An, and 800 are related, but the file is not written.

Bailong flipped over for a long time, then threw it to the side and said, "What trick did you see? Can you find the whereabouts of Li Zi?"

Dao Xiaokai shook his head and said, "There are information from various fish gangs on the wharf. There is no record of any incidents in which a teenager was hijacked as a coolie recently. However, when I was in Yanjiang, I heard that Chaohu Wharf is not very peaceful. There are often cases where outsiders are abducted as a coolie. On average, there are several incidents every month. The outsiders sued the government but could not get any results. However, the archives here do not record any of these cases. I guess either the local officials are ineffective to the point of being injustice, but it is obviously unlikely, even if according to the

In normal process, local or foreign people go to the government to sue the report, and even if they are not received, they will record the case for easy reading. However, there is no record here. I guess someone deliberately covered up these incidents. It is very likely that it was a collusion between the government and the Fish Gang. It is hard to say whether the mastermind behind the scenes is in the local government in Chaohu or the Fish Gang. In short, we only need to find the connection between them and then catch the mastermind behind the scenes. The whereabouts of the boy will naturally be known. Follow the clues and find them."

Bailong hung a clutch sword around his waist, and then kept holding Li Zi's swordsman's attacking sword in his arms, and then said anxiously, "Then it's not too late now, let's go out quickly to avoid something happening to Li Zi."

Dao Xiaokai grabbed him and said, "Where are you in a hurry? Don't worry, if you are really kidnapped by the local fish gang, you will definitely not kill him. Eighty-mostly, you will have to starve for half a month. During this period, you will not starve to death and thirst. When you lose all your backbone, you will be able to work for the fish gang. These fish gangs use this despicable means to expand their labor. These files record that Chaohu fishing has been in good condition in recent years. When the fishing period comes, thousands of fishing boats will go out to the port to fish at the same time, and return with a full load, and there are still countless Chaohu River.

There are fat big fish in the water, so each fish gang is preparing to expand its labor, but now there are not many workers willing to work on the dock. Not to mention that this job is too hard, I can't make money for the fish gang. It's better to rent a small boat and run to the tributary next to Chaohu Lake to catch fish. I can sell the big fish gangs by myself. The money I earned for the fish gangs is my hard-earned money. In comparison, the hard work of the fish gangs has to be responsible for fighting sticks when the two fish gangs compete for territory. For that little money, it is really not worth the effort. The fish gang can't recruit people, so they can only traffic people in this way."

Bai Long said angrily, "These bastards!" He had already thought of the scene in his mind where Li Zi's little swordsman was working hard on a dock or fishing boat. Bai Long was just a pity that Li Zi was a boy who wanted to become a swordsman in the martial arts world who wanted to be the only one. Where can Chaohu Fish Gang be his destination?!

Dao Xiaokai pointed his finger outside the door and said cleverly, "Didn't I just say that there are nearly 200 local fish gangs at Chaohu Wharf alone. You can't go door to door to find which one of them kidnapped that kid, so you have to find someone familiar with all the fish gangs on the local wharf, and this person is in this government."

"who?"

Dao Xiaokai pointed to a name recorded on the file and said, "Isn't it just this chief with the same surname as the largest fish gang leader in the local area? Only he has the most right to eliminate all complaints from the officials. I believe that the hijacking of the tyrants here in Chaohu is probably related to this Chief An."

Bailong pressed the attack sword in his hand and said, "Go and find him!"

The Chaohu official has been in office in the first year of Zhengjia. Among them, the chief An of the surname has served the longest, and the rest of the chief resigned voluntarily after less than three years of office. This made Dao Xiaokai doubt this. The chief who served the longest for Chaohu, named An Chaohu, was a local from Chaohu. He passed the exam at the age of 34, but his qualifications were mediocre, and he did not have any eye-catching achievements and reputation in the local area, so he was directly sent to Chaohu as a parent official. During his reign, he still had no outstanding achievements, but he had been in office for a long time. Today, it has been eight years.

Dao Xiaokai was just wondering why the previous leaders had not even been in three years on average, but An Chaohu had been in office for eight years at once, almost nine years. There must be other reasons. Such a leader who was ineffective and had no achievements had either a deep background or was good at flattery and changed his mind. He had a good relationship with the upper and lower relationships, and had a smooth relationship.

Dao Xiaokai felt that the latter was more likely. An Chaohu was a native of Chaohu, and his relationship background must be very complicated. An Chaohu came to the local government of Chaohu through the examination for the juren. Moreover, the file records that the An family is not a prominent family, and there is probably no official road to arrange the Chaohu chief of An Chaohu, so Dao Xiaokai is more inclined to the latter, that is, the so-called Chaohu chief of the local government of Chaohu actually has a very close relationship with the largest fish gang in the local wharf. The same surname is An, and it is very likely to be a relative. In this way, if the largest fish gang in the family did something shameful, An Chaohu, the highest leader of the government, only needs to close one eye with one eye. Dao Xiaokai had a premonition that the incident of hijacking the strong men at the wharf in the past two years and the incident of Li Zi's swordsman being hijacked away by Li Zi.

Now you only need to find An Chaohu, the local chief of Chaohu.

It happened that after inquiring, I found out that An Chaohu had been sick for more than three months and had been home for more than three months. This surprised Dao Xiaokai, because the archives record that An Chaohu has always been healthy, and this person likes and is good at swiming quickly, and often can snorkeling in the Chaohu River. There has never been a case of this person being sick for recovery, but now he has been sick for three months. At present, the affairs of Chaohu government are all made by an eighth-rank sesame official, probably the local official captain, and the captain of this official captain is also surnamed An. Because this person has a rough face and a voice like a gong, he is called An Luo. Moreover, An Luo and An Chaohu are related to each other. The two are uncles and nephews, and An Chaohu is twelve years older than An Luo.

An Luo's mansion is located on the north side of Chaohu. It is an ancient style mansion that is eight in and eight out. It is not obvious from the outside. However, Dao Xiaokai can see that An Luo's mansion is a good land with a location that is backed by mountains and rivers, and the decoration of the inner courtyard must be very good. For a patrol captain who only costs six cents a month, Dao Xiaokai really can't believe that he can afford such a grand mansion, but if there is extra flow of water, it would be a different matter. Not to mention, Bai Long and Dao Xiaokai can guess that the nephew of the highest commander of Chaohu must be a trick, but I don't know if this An Luo has anything to do with the hijacking incident at the local dock in Chaohu.

Suddenly, Dao Xiaokai noticed the men walking towards the An family's house. These men did not look like elegant scholars in the water town, nor did they look like ordinary martial artists. After all, An Luo was the local patrol guard in Chaohu. There must be some local heroes and casual knights from Chaohu that went in and out of his house. This is normal, but these men who walked into the An family's house were clearly dressed in fish belly. Although they had deliberately taken off the bamboo hats and straw hats for fishing on the boat, the fishy smell could be smelled at once from a distance.

These fishermen did not enter through the main entrance of the An family's mansion, but entered through the side door. When they approached the door, they did not forget to glance around the surrounding door. Thanks to Bai Long and Dao Xiaokai standing far away, and hid vigilantly behind a porch to observe quietly, otherwise they would have been shocked.

When the men dressed in fishermen walked into An Luo's mansion, the side door was not closed. The middle-aged man, who seemed to be the housekeeper of An Luo's mansion, waved to a corner not far away, and there were immediately more than a dozen strong men in fishermen, one of them looked like a strong man who kidnapped Li Zi's little swordsman from the dock. These dozen strong men in fishermen each carried a big sack on their shoulders, and the big sacks on their shoulders were still shaking. It was obvious that the sacks on their shoulders were filled with living things. And judging from the size of the sacks on their shoulders, it was very likely that they were filled with living people.

Bai Long and Dao Xiaokai, hiding behind the porch, looked at each other, and then looked at each other in surprise. Dao Xiaokai said in amazement, "Can this An Luo eat the courage of the bear heart and leopard, collude with the fish gang on the dock, and do a human trafficking business?" Dao Xiaokai's face was very surprised. There were strict regulations in the dynasty, and the trafficking of humans should be killed at the worst, and the military should be exiled at the least.

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!