Chapter 015｜Jiangzhou boat company

With Wushan fisherwoman's knowledge of medicine, and her profound kung fu, Xie Kangtu was pulled back from the brink of death. However, due to the loss of too much blood, her was extremely weak upon awakening. He struggled to open his eyes and nodded to the crowd. When he saw Li Jing and Alone Star, his eyes were filled with relief.

Thinking of this boat owner who had never met before sacrificing his life to save him, Li Jing pulled Alone Star to kneel and kowtow.

Seeing Xie Kangtu wake up, A yYue pressed her small face against his pale face. Everyone's heart was relieved, even the unsmiling Wushan Fisherwoman's gaze was much softer.

The Wushan Fisherwoman said, "Mr. Xie has just awakened, his body is weak, it is not appropriate for him to speak and move, you all go to the outer room first and wait quietly."

The crowd exited the Secret room. A Yue did not want to leave, and the Wushan Fisherwoman seemed to acquiesce. Li Jing pulled Alone Star and went to the outer room. The shopkeeper went out to arrange the meal. The crowd was hungry and thirsty after all this fuss, and when the meal was served, they all dined in silence.

Soon, the Wushan fisherwoman took A Yue out of the secret room and ordered Gu Musheng to go inside to keep watch. The shopkeeper re-served the meal, but the Wushan fisherwoman did not take it, and only let A Yue eat on her own. After all, A Yue was so young that when she broke the cake, there were always crumbs falling down. Li Jing took a piece of cake and broke it up to feed her slowly.

Liu Ji got up to take his leave, "Your honorable Lady, shopkeeper, Mr. Xie is out of life danger, so I have to go take care of the aftermath."

The Wushan fisherwoman asked, "How will Mr. Liu reply to your superiors?"

Liu Ji sighed, "Though I have only a partial understanding of the reasons behind this matter, it is evident this case is not simply a result of the military whimsically killing people, nor can General Yang She's sixteen men mysteriously vanish without a trace. Let me figure out a way to handle this."

Wushan Fisherwoman said, ""I'm afraid that if your superior persists, you may find it challenging to explain this matter clearly."

Liu Ji spread his hands: " My official position is just more than nothing, I can resign at any time. At Jiangling, my family still have some land, my resignation back home is also not a bad choice." With a bow, he left.

The shopkeeper had to assist with the aftermath and withdrew as well. Only Li Jing, Alone Star, and A Yue remained in the room before the Wushan Fisherwoman removed her veil and ate some pancakes. As for drinking water, she still insisted on using her portable water bag.

Not long after, Gu Musheng came out of the secret room and reported to Wushan Fisherwoman, "Master, Mr. Xie's injuries have stopped, but his breath and physical strength are still weak." Wushan Fisherwoman immediately dictated a prescription, and ordered him to take medicine overnight. When Li Jing saw that Wushan Fisherwoman was devoted to taking care of Boat Owner Xie, his heart was touched and puzzled at the same time.

That night, the crowd settled down in the shop. Wushan fisherwoman did not live in the guest room, and worried about Xie's injury, so she meditated as rest in the indoor. Li Jing's clothes were too thin, so the fat shopkeeper found him a soap-coloured garment. Li Jing was taller than his peers, so he found it fit, with his clothes on in the chamber outside he accompanied the small Alone Star to sleep. A Yue was well-behaved and slept on Alone Star's side with his clothes on. Gu Musheng sat cross-legged at the door to guard.

On the following day, the Wushan fisherwoman asked the shopkeeper to help her hire a pointed sailboat, which was driven by Gu Musheng, and the group travelled to Jiangzhou. From Congyang to Jiangzhou the waterway was nearly 500 miles, although the boat has a strong wind drive, but not as fast as a large ship, after three days and two nights they arrived in Jiangzhou. Fortunately, on this journey, even though many boats on the river travel back and froth without resting , no one bothered them, it was all safe and smooth.

During the trip, the Wushan fisherwoman took good care of Xie Kangtu. In addition to ordering Gu Musheng to decoct medicines and serve him, she also made massotherapy and took care of him personally, as if she was serving her relatives, and Xie Kangtu's qi and blood gradually recovered. After the Ancient Qin was recaptured, it never left the Wushan fisherwoman's side. Li Jing was puzzled earlier, but after careful consideration, his heart was bright: the Wushan fisherwoman was certainly an outstanding martial artist and acted in an unruly manner, but she seemed to be extremely infatuated with Zhang Xian's son. Xie Kangtu and Zhang Xian were good friends and they had friends all over the world, to know Zhang Xian's son's trail, she need Xie's full assistance.

Jiangzhou boat company is at the bank of the Xunyang River. It had been rained for days and the late autumn looked more desolated.

It was morning. Gu Musheng moored his boat and went ashore. He took Xie Kangtu on his back and followed his instructions, passed through a downtown area and entered a narrow alley. Both sides of the alley were full of stone walls, the road surface was also densely paved with green bricks, quiet and deep. At the end of the alley were two vermilion lacquer gates, the lintel of the door hanging a large plaque in gold letters on a black background: Jiangzhou boat company. The writing was powerful, as if made by iron stroke and silver hook, obviously they were written by some famous artist.

The gate was closed. Xie Kangtou crouched on Gu Musheng's back and let out an "eek". Attentive Li Jing found that although the vermilion lacquer gate was closed, there were obvious cracks in the two doors, which seemed to have been pried by knives and swords. Gu Musheng walked to the door, reached out and pushed, the door immediately opened. Xie Kangtu steeply screamed, his voice mournful, startled Li Jing.

On the inner side of the courtyard door, an old man in grey robes was face down, his hands curled up, and underneath him was a puddle of black blood, which had congealed into black lumps in the autumn sun. Looking at his white beard dipped in black blood, Li Jing vaguely felt: Jiangzhou boat company had been looted. 

This was a double courtyard house, with a small pavilion in the front courtyard, corridor rooms on both sides, roofs with overhanging hills, green bricks and grey tiles, looking extremely ancient, neat and solemn. According to Xie Kangtu's guidance, Gu Musheng quickly walked through the pavilion and entered the main hall. The main hall was about five zhang (about sixteen merters) in length and three zhang (about ten meters) in width, with dozens of seats laid out on the wooden floor, and two of the four walls of the hall were filled with iron cupboards, which looked cold and gloomy, just like a traditional medical doctor's medicine cabinet. With the slight light out of the gloomy late autumn Li Jing saw that these iron cabinets were all messed up, some falling on the ground, some leaning against the wall, some stacked on top of each other.

The Wushan fisherwoman lit a flint and lit the candles on the lamp stand in the hall. Under the light of the fire, the hall was filled with corpses lying on the mat, in the corners of the walls and by the door, and the air was filled with an unpleasant odour. A Yue was so young that she had never seen so many dead people and cried out in fear. Li Jing hurriedly leaned over and picked her up, gently comforting her.

Wushan fisherwoman's figure flashed through the hall and she searched in the backyard. Soon she came back to the hall and talked to Xie Kangtu who leaned on the soft couch : "At backyard, the bedrooms, kitchen, dressing room, outhouse, etc. all had been checked, three strong men, an female servant were dead; at this hall thirteen people, all strong men were killed; in the yard, one old man was dead. All their injuries have been examined, they all were killed by a chokehold at a fatal move, the technique is exactly the same. However, if it's the same person doing it, this person's martial arts skills are rare in the world."

Li Jing was convinced. The Wushan fisherwoman was an expert in martial arts, and she was able to judge the general situation of the assassins based on the traces. However, why would such an expert want to kill people in the boat company?

Xie Kangtu was already weak, when he saw the tragic death of the people on the boat company, his eyes seemed to be spitting fire. The Wushan fisherwoman didn't try to console him, saying, "It seems that the murderer killed people quite neatly. I do not know what kind of treasures Xie shipowner's boat company actually hid? This person not only killed all, but also rummaged through boxes, and it seemed that he wanted to turn the place upside down."

Xie Kangtu forced to hold tears, and mumbled: "This Jiangzhou boat company, was established in Jin Dynasty over two hundred ago. Through generations of ups and downs, it is still working. Now at Xie's hands it is ruined, how can I face my ancestors?" After saying this, turbid tears overflowed out of his eyes.

The Wushan fisherwoman ordered Gu Musheng to move the bodies to the front yard before attempting a proper burial. Xie Kangtu introduced the overview of the boat company.

Jiangzhou was under the jurisdiction of Chen State. South of the Yangtze River, boat is the main means of transport. There were over one hundred boat companies, large and small boat, Jiangzhou boat company had the longest history, managing the most vessels. Throughout these waring ages, the civil boat companies had no involvement with the government . They just followed the rules of commerce to carry out shipping, the government also have much to rely on them.

At the generation of Xie Kangtu , in order to prevent the increasingly rampant water bandits on the river, Jiangzhou boat company and the docks along the river have recruited strong men with martial arts , for ship escort, or disposal of shipping business. At headquarters there were thirteen elites, at branch with ten people, or n three or five. There were a total of twenty-four places along the river. In addition to high martial arts, these people also had their own expertise, business, shipping, accounts, purchasing, voyages, construction, maintenance, etc. the old man killed in the courtyard door was the head manager, named Xue Changfeng. He had been in the business for more than 40 years, dedicated to his work. No one could expect that at such a sudden disaster, he died tragically in the courtyard.

Hearing this, the Wushan fisherwoman asked, "Mr. Xie, the eighteen people on the boat trip were killed, are you going to report it to the officials for disposal?"

Xie Kangtu wiped away his tears, silent for a long time, and let out a long sigh: "Jiangzhou ship company does not exist anymore, what can the government do? If reported to the officials, they will have to ask some questions about where we came from, which will inevitably lead to complications (he glanced at Li Jing and Alone Star and A Yue) ... Although I don't know martial arts, the murderer's brutal tactics are not ordinary thieves and bandits, and I'm afraid that the officials can't do anything about it. I think, we should arrange a proper burial of the dead, and then try to find out the real murderer, and avenge those brothers ..."

The Wushan fisherwoman nodded and said, "I think that, the bandit are not only here to kill, they must be looking for valuable things. Mr. Xie, could it be that your company has a lot of treasures?"

Xie Kangtu shook his head and said: "Although I have some money, but most of them have been stored in the Di shop (Note: Di shop appeared in the Southern States during the Xiao and Liang time, and then gradually evolved into cabinet keepers, their function is to storage goods or money, that is, the predecessor of ticket offices, pawnbrokers, and banks at the later days of), our storage of money is extremely limited, only the current account books and business documents etc., are stored in an iron cabinet, and they will not attract trouble. "

The Wushan fisherwoman raised her eyebrows: ''This is weird. Previously, in Congyang, Mr. Xie and his brothers were robbed and killed; now that we are back in Jiangzhou, the boat company has also been robbed, could it be that Yang She is under the orders of someone of great importance? When Musheng killed Yang She's group at the Mountain God Temple, he claimed that he was under the command of Yang Su, a great general of the Sui Dynasty. If this is true, it must be Yang Su who dispatched his men to the south in secret, seemingly looking for important clues ..."

When Li Jing heard this, he was secretly shocked. He glanced at the little Alone Star who was sitting on the side, recalling the perils of this journey, he gently put down little A Yue that he had been holding, and kneeled down and kowtowed, "Thank you, boat owner, it's all because of our brothers who have dragged dozens of lives of your company, and also ruined the big ship ...."

Xie Kangtu's body was inconvenient, so he could only reach out and showed him to get up: "Little brother, please get up quickly! Han Zhong had already explained the original reason, has and I had already promised to help, even though to put my life and death at risk. I'm just an ordinary civilian, I don't have the chance to get to know General Han, but you have this responsibility and courage at such a young age, I admire you!"

The Wushan Fisherwoman said, "Little brother, you can tell me again what happened along the way."

Li Jing didn't dare to hide any more, so he told the reason in detail. When he talked about the old boatman, the Wushan fisherwoman interrupted him: "I think this man is the 'Master Zhen of Acupuncture'."

Xie Kangtu was stunned and immediately interjected, "Could it be the Zhen family from Fugou in Xuzhou?"

Wushan fisherwoman nodded and said: "Talking about acupuncture methods, Fugou Zhen's techniques are the best in the world. The name of this Zhen master is Zhen Shicheng, and his whereabouts are uncertain, curing the sick and help the weak. Sometimes he pretended to be a woodcutter, and sometimes a boatman. When my master was alive, I got mis-carried when practiceing kung fu, and my hands and feet became numb, and I couldn't move for half a year. Fortunately, Master Zhen performed acupuncture to heal me."

Li Jing then knew that he met a great man of seclusion, and then he told them about how Zhen Shicheng cured little Alone Star's injury and how they accidentally met master monk Seng Can and others. Li Jing expected Wushan fisherwoman and Xie Kangtou would comment on the monk, but Wushan fisherwoman said: " Please retell me about the appearance and deeds in detail again."

Li Jing told it as it was. Wushan Fisherwoman hummed, "So this Turkic prince has brought his experts with him! "Sui State is newly established, how could we tolerate such foreign troops moving in our territory"

Xie Kangtu, however, said, "The Lai Gu'er that little brother is talking about, I met him after the fire on the big ship. This person's heart is of profound plots, his martial skill is of top level ... However, how did he become the minion of a foreign prince?"

By this time, Gu Musheng had already removed all the corpses and came in to ask for instructions. The Wushan fisherwoman said, "Mr. Xie, these men are dead, please bury him as soon as possible. Musheng is quite capable, let him go to the market to buy some coffins, and ask some monks to pray for the dead souls, and hire some more to bury the dead."

Xie Kangtu thanked, "you are more thoughtful and meticulous. Recently, I was struck by a sudden change, and I was at a loss for words. Brother Gu, please go to the inner room to get some money before you go to the market to do your business."

Li Jing thought to himself, "Mr. Xie is really confused. The boat company has been looted, how can there still be money in the inner room? Gu Musheng said yes under his breath, but his feet did not move. Xie Kangtu patted his head: "I forgot to tell you, at the inner courtyard, the first bedroom at right, on the stone wall installed an 'Iron Eight Trigrams', there is an iron handle in each direction, at 'gen' position, turn the iron handle to left for three times, and then to the right for three times, you can open the switch, and enter the secret room. There are some gold and coins in the secret room, just take them and gave the dead an elaborate burial ... remember, only the 'gen' position can be moved, for the rest of the iron handles, there are all concealed weapon devices, beware not to be injured."

Gu Musheng learnt and stepped into the back hall. Not long later, only a rolling noise was heard, and the stone wall opened. But Gu Musheng let out a cry of surprise.

Li Jing thought that Gu Musheng was hit by a hidden weapon, and was about to go to check, but he saw a flash of silhouette, Wushan fisherwoman floated like a wisp of light smoke into the back hall. Soon, Gu Musheng carried a person bound up like dumplings out, and placed him on the ground.

Li Jing was surprised, Xie Kangtu was even more surprised. This person was about over twenty years old, wearing luxury silk and fur clothes, his eyes were covered by black cloth, mouth stuffed with silk scarf, hands clipped at his back. his body was tied tightly by ropes, his breathing very weak, it seems that he was almost out of breath. Wushan fishermen order Gu Musheng to untie him and pull out the silk scarf out of his mouth, take away the black cloth from his eyes, the man was still unconscious.

The Wushan fisherwoman casually poked at the man's ribs with a point of her finger. The man's body moved slightly, and in a short while, he opened his eyes and looked blankly at the crowd, the knot in his throat sliding up and down, he seemed very hungry and thirsty. Wushan Fisherwoman signaled Gu Musheng to fetch water and helped him sit up. The man took two gulps of water and coughed violently.

When he was fully awake, Wushan Fisherwoman said sternly "Speak! Who actually ordered to kill those eighteen people!"

The man opened his mouth, gradually regained his composure in his expression, and said, "Gentlemen, how could I harm a human life when my hands are powerless?"

Xie Kangtou said: ''How did your honour enter the secret room? I am not talented, but in ten years after the secret room was completed, except me, no one can enter it. You sneaked into the secret room, although being bound all over the body, but also unharmed, and killed all in my boat company , do not you think it strange?"

The man let out a long sigh, "I have been caught in a trap, what is there to say ..."

Wushan Fisherwoman ordered morosely, "MuSheng, drag him out and chop him up!"

Gu Musheng answered, catching the man, and walked outside.

The man suddenly laughed out loud, "Wushan Fisherwoman, truly living up to her name!"

The Wushan fisherwoman called out, "Musheng, drag him back!"

The man was taken nearer, without fear.

Wushan Fisherwoman said, "How did you know my name?"

That person said, "Because my father had been saved by your honour. This time I am travelling south, as an envoy of the Sui State to visit State of Chen, and I am also following my father's order to pay a visit to the Wushan Mountain for you."

Wushan Fisherwoman was shocked, "Who are you? And who is your father?"

The man said, "I am Gao Sheng Dao. My father's name is Gao Jiong, a native of Bohai."

Li Jing and Xie Kangtu were both shaken. This Gao Jiong, was none other than the Chancellor of the current dynasty - Left Premier, and left general, with the title of Duke of Bohai County.