Chapter 511 The skinned village chief and the boat owner
"Taking tampering? How is that possible? The materials used are so good, it can't be destroyed in half a year even by tampering with it! Not even using force.
Do you know why the village chief is called a skinner? Because he is greedy for money and stingy. If he gets money from you, he can skin you. If you want to get money from him, you can’t skin him even if you skin him.
.”
Seeing that the fisherman changed his subject again and fished for his own taste, Zheng Junshan had no choice but to follow it and asked in a hurry: "Boatman, don't fish for taste! Tell me what's going on?"
"Don't worry! I've finished this mouthful..."
After the fisherman finished speaking, Zheng Junshan hurriedly signaled to the boat owner to fetch water. The boat owner also listened with great interest. After fetching the water, he was about to hand it over, but Zheng Junshan intercepted him.
Zheng Junshan took out a dozen copper coins and handed them over together with the water. The fisherman suddenly smiled and hid the copper coins tightly before drinking the water.
This move made Zheng Junshan couldn't help but curse, the village chief is an old bastard, and you are not a good person either.
After the fisherman drank the water, he no longer pretended to be a pessimist and said to several people: "Boss, have you forgotten what you asked me about the rising water in the river? Our village chief Papi made an article about it.
Those outsiders came during the dry season and did not know the situation of the rising river water. The village chief did not benefit from it, so he joined other village chiefs to seal the mouths of those who worked on us and forbid us to disclose it to the outside world.
After all, we wanted to live in the village, and the village chief promised us benefits. We didn't want to offend several village chiefs for a few outsiders, so we didn't reveal it.
We started building the house directly and had enough manpower. Within two months, the whole building was finished and painted beautifully. The business was booming, and several good ships came to add coal that day.
The situation did not last for half a year before the rainy season arrived. The water rose much more than usual that year. Half of the building was flooded and the walls were soaked off.
At that time, the coal station only sold coal, and the coal depot was well ventilated. Hehe...it was a disaster as soon as the water came. Most of the coal in the coal depot was washed away by the water, and many fields behind the coal station were covered with layers of coal.
Because there was a field belonging to the village elder Papi's family, he first went to the coal station, saying that the coal had damaged the land, and demanded compensation and cleanup fees. He also encouraged other people who had coal in the field to join the field.
The river flooded! It rushed everywhere, and some guys came with just one or two pieces of coal. There were too many people at the coal station, so I had to admit it and spend money to settle it.
Once the plan was done, Lao Papi came up with another plan, which was to sell the cleared coal to the coal station. The coal station was afraid of causing trouble again, so many guys got low-quality coal and even burned black wood to sell the coal.
Stand in your hands.
The people at the coal station came back to their senses and realized that they had not managed things well, so they gave gifts, money, and members to a few village chiefs, but they were just peeling off, how could they be so easy to get rid of?
The old man Papi told the people at the coal station that the coal station was on a low ground and would be flooded every year, so it was necessary to bury the building and raise the ground.
The coal station agreed, so Lao Papi sold the soil from a small dirt bag by the village to the coal station. Not only did the coal station spend money to buy the soil and transport it, but the small dirt bag was dug up and Lao Papi gained an extra piece of land in vain.
After the terrain was raised, the coal station was almost drained, the buildings were replaced with tile-roofed houses, and business was delayed. Lao Bapi didn't give up and wanted to arrange for people to work there to make money.
However, the coal station is not something to be trifled with. The person assigned by the village chief accidentally fell into the water and almost drowned after only a few days of work. As for the real situation, I don’t need to say more!
Anyway, until now, no locals dare to work at the coal station. They are all outsiders brought in by the coal station owners. Lao Papi did not dare to touch the coal station again after that, but Qian Coal Station still pays back every year."
Not to mention, the battle between the coal station and Papi really opened Zheng Junshan's eyes, especially with the fisherman's vivid description, which was a bit like a storyteller.
However, Zheng Junshan did not forget what he came for. He keenly extracted a lot of useful information from the fisherman's stories.
The first is the opening time of the coal station, which was shortly after the restaurant was opened. Studying this news further gave Zheng Junshan a lot of ideas.
Next is the ship. There were good ships that were present when the coal station opened. Zheng Junshan asked specifically. The style of the ship was roughly consistent with several ships in the target fleet, and there were not many such ships when the coal station was opened. It is unlikely to be such a coincidence.
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Finally, the people at the coal station were all from other places, there were no locals, or it could be said that there were no outsiders inside, which was in line with their inference of the Japanese spy base.
As for the fight between the coal station and Papi Village Chief, Zheng Junshan believed that it most likely happened in real life and it was not like a double act.
First of all, in rural areas, it is not uncommon for locals to join forces to trick outsiders, and there are many more ruthless tricks than this.
Secondly, at this time, the Jiangnan countryside was very particular about clan relations, and many villages were composed of big families. This can be seen from the names of several nearby villages, such as Caozhuang, Lijiacun, and Zhengjiawa.
In places like this, the village chief is generally the head of the clan, and by joining forces with outsiders, the people he deceives are his own family members. Once exposed, it will be difficult to survive in the village given the clan's historical background.
Finally, although we don’t know how much money was stolen from the coal station, it is estimated from the fisherman’s description that it would be no less. It is impossible for a Japanese spy to take the blame just for the sake of playing a double act.
But having said that, Zheng Junshan would not be careless. After all, there are still some doubts that cannot be explained, and those who should be careful will still be careful.
So when the small steamer was sailing away, Zheng Junshan made a few gestures from the boat, and a small fishing boat walking in the river slowly approached this side and lowered the net not far from the fisherman.
This small fishing boat belonged to the group of team members who were responsible for investigating several Jiangxin Islands. They passed by when the fisherman was talking about the village chief of Papi, and Zheng Junshan signaled to stop it.
Although he gained a small windfall, the fisherman did not stop fishing. As soon as the small steamer Zheng Junshan rode left, he continued to cast his net.
Zheng Junshan is particularly concerned about arranging various things now, so several team members on the fishing boat were selected to have fished before. They made it look impressive, which not only did not make the fishermen suspicious, but also made them talk.
After Zheng Junshan left, the boat reached Xinjizhoutou and turned around to walk from the south bank of the river. On the way, he met two teams from the south bank and exchanged information.
Zheng Junshan did not arrange for the two teams to inspect Jiangwan Coal Station. He even asked them to take over the work of fishing boats to investigate Jiangxinzhou and continue the investigation along the river.
After all, although he believed that Jiangwan Coal Station was 80% likely, Zheng Junshan did not want to give up the remaining clues before it was completely confirmed.
The small boat that Zheng Junshan took took a half-circle around Xinjizhou Island, then returned to the back bank of the river at the foot of Xinjizhou Island, entered the waterway covered with reeds on the riverside, and was not far from the small camp.
"Shipman, you should have noticed that we are not small businessmen!"
The captain nodded slightly, his heart having reached the bottom, but he had no choice but to pretend to be calm and said: "Don't worry, I will definitely not tell anyone about this, please..."
"Alas..." Zheng Junshan waved his hand, knowing that the boat owner had misunderstood and thought that he wanted to silence him by letting him sail to a remote place. It was difficult to dispel the other party's doubts with words alone, so he took out two small yellow croakers.
"Shipman, there is something I want you to help me with. If it works out, these are my thoughts."
Looking at the two small yellow croakers, the boat owner knew that he had gone astray. At the same time, his breathing became rapid. He knew the value of these two croakers, and he might only be able to earn them by running the boat for several months.
Moreover, this is an unexpected windfall, and you don’t need to use it for daily expenses. You can save it and you can buy a bigger boat soon.
The boat owner thought a lot. He wanted to save money to buy a new boat, buy new clothes for his wife, keep it for his son to marry, etc. Anyway, he used the money for various purposes.
Thought it over.
But in the end, the boat owner still resisted the temptation and asked in a low voice: "My lord, do you want to touch the boats parked in the bay?"
"Hmm..." Zheng Junshan was a little surprised that the ship owner actually thought of this level, but when he thought about it carefully, he had been asking the ship owner about the ship, so it was not difficult to think of this level.
However, it is enough to show that the captain's observation skills are not bad, which makes Zheng Junshan more confident in letting him do this.
Looking at the captain who obviously had something to say but was struggling for a long time, Zheng Junshan said: "If you have any requests, just ask! As long as it's not too much and within my ability, I will agree."
"This..." After the ship owner thought about it for a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "My lord, if you capture those people, can you transfer the ship to me?
The worst is fine. I can buy it at the market price, but I don’t have that much money and I need to default on it for a while. You see..."
Hearing this, Zheng Junshan thought for a moment and replied: "I can agree to this, and I can even transfer it to you at the market price a few months ago, but you must do it to my satisfaction."
Hearing this, the ship owner flushed with excitement. It's not his fault. The business in Nanjing is booming, and shipping has also gotten a share of the pie. Shipping has made more money, and the price of ships has also risen a lot in recent months.
Zheng Junshan did not lie to the ship owner. After all, this fleet had been established for many years. Although they were all good ships in the eyes of ordinary people, Zheng Junshan did not think that keeping the oldest ships was of much use.
The main reason is that those ships are all coal-fired ships. Although this is the mainstream power source for most small steamers on the Yangtze River, the ships used by the Intelligence Department are not used for running ships. Moreover, they are quite old, so these few
The ship has no effect on them.
After the boat owner calmed down, Zheng Junshan told him what he wanted to do. The main purpose was to go to the vicinity of Jiangwan Coal Station to gather information from people in various villages.
As for why he didn't go there in person, Zheng Junshan mainly considered that this is the countryside, and all his people here are strangers, and it's not like the large population in the city, so it wouldn't be appropriate to go there rashly.
But the boat owner is different. He has been running boats on this river all year round. More or less people from these villages have been on boats, so they can be considered half-familiar faces, so he asked him to explore the way first.
If enough information can be found, Zheng Junshan does not need to send many people. If he does not find what he wants, the captain of the ship will explore the way and he will not be in the dark.
After explaining what the captain was doing, Zheng Junshan glanced at the captain's son in the cabin and continued: "I still need your boy to do something else for me."
"This..." The captain hesitated for a moment, then asked: "If you need anything, I'll just go there. That kid is too young to do anything, right?"
"Don't worry...it's not a difficult matter. Just let him go around Jiangwan to explore the nearby terrain and other conditions. He will be fine.
The reason why I let him go is because he is very young and the other party won't care too much, so don't worry! You can come back after you go there for a walk."
The captain was still worried. Zheng Junshan had no choice but to persuade him, so the captain reluctantly agreed. He entered the cabin and talked to his boy for a long time before taking him out.
The young man looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old, but he had been sailing on the river with the boat owner for two years. Compared to the boat owner's worries, he was full of excitement. When he came over, he started asking Zheng Junshan what to do.
Zheng Junshan explained that it was actually not that difficult, just go around Jiangwan Coal Station and look at the terrain, the vegetation, and what was planted in the farmland.
After hearing this, the young man looked a little disappointed, but he still patted his chest and said he would complete the task.
Zheng Junshan saw it and asked with a smile: "Then what reason are you going to use to go there? You can't be empty-handed and have nothing, right? What will you say when others ask you?"
"Hmm..." The young man thought for a while, then suddenly and mysteriously ran into the cabin. After a while, he came out with a small cloth bag. When he opened it, he found a slingshot and a pile of steel balls.
"Can I take this? This is the slingshot I recently bought in the city. I will use it to hunt birds around there. I shouldn't be suspicious!"
Before Zheng Junshan could say anything, the captain grabbed the young man's ears and lectured: "You prodigal son, these are steel balls, how much do they cost? You can just use stones, why spend this money? I'm so angry..."
As he said that, the boat owner was about to fight. The young man quickly looked to Zheng Junshan for help, but Zheng Junshan stopped the boat owner.
"Using steel balls is indeed too extravagant. It's better not to use them. Let's pick up a pile of stones later and go over there!"
"Yes..." The young man responded aggrievedly. Zheng Junshan gave another order and carefully explained the precautions before letting the two of them disembark and go to their destination.
When we landed here, we were still three or four kilometers away from our target. After landing, the boat owner first went to the village, bought some things at the grocery store, and then took them to the destination.
The boat owner came up with an excuse for going there this time. He had a distant relative in Caozhuang over there, and he went shopping under the pretext of visiting relatives.
Zheng Junshan thought that just using a relative as an excuse was not enough. After all, the ship owner, a relative, had never been around, so he found another excuse to go to the countryside to look for some medicinal herbs.
The boat owner and his son searched for herbs while walking towards their destination. It didn't take long for them to find a small bundle. The young man also took a slingshot and gestured around, and unexpectedly he actually managed to shoot down a few.
When we arrived at the relative's house, there was a pleasant chat. After chatting for half an hour, the captain asked his relative to take him around to look for medicine, and then left the house.
The young man carried a few birds into the village and immediately attracted the attention of many children. One or two came up to inquire about it and soon became mingled with the children in the village.
The young man was originally thinking of an excuse to go to Jiangwan Coal Station, but a child said that the wheels could bounce, and then someone told him that he had seen it at Jiangwan Coal Station.
So the young man said he could make it for them, cut down a bunch of tree trunks, and went straight to the coal station with a group of children.