Chapter 1 Danyang Under Martial Law

Danyang was under martial law for a full three days. During these three days, a large number of suspicious people were sent to prison. Most of these people were indeed Western Ling's secret agents and spies, but there were also some slippery characters who usually committed crimes but without clear evidence. During these three days, the bell tower started construction again. After being tossed around like this, the originally semi-open construction site finally began to be strictly managed. Although building a simple wall around the outside of the construction site to isolate the crowd was not easy in this era, because lightweight construction materials were basically non-existent. However, a circle of rammed earth walls was built.

After the construction site resumed work, Ye Tao was finally able to ask for leave to leave Danyang and go to Yicheng. This time, in addition to Dai Qiuyan and Sophie, Tan Weiran and Tan Weishi, brother and sister, were unexpectedly added. The prince and princess disguised themselves as ordinary wealthy children and mixed in with the convoy. Naturally, leaving Danyang under such circumstances, a considerable number of guards were indispensable. Ye Tao, who had originally planned to travel light, had to follow a string of tails, a motley crew of nearly three hundred people heading towards Yicheng.

Ye Tao never expected that the bell tower would bring such great changes to Yicheng. After the bell tower steadily and slowly operated for a period of time, the Seven Seas Tower had become the standard for the rhythm of life of the people of Yicheng.

Every morning, the bell woke up the city, and many people started a new day with the ringing of the morning bell. The docks began loading and unloading, many people began to go to the streets to shop, and went to the merchants and workshops where they worked. The military camps distributed throughout Yicheng began to drill.

At noon, when everyone heard the bell, they would put down their work, eat lunch, and rest during the most sleepy time of the day.

When an hour passed, the bell would naturally remind everyone that there were still several hours of work to do that day.

At dusk, the ringing of the bell was the signal for the subordinate officials working in the various government offices to get off work. At the same time, as the subordinate officials finished their day's work, the loading and unloading and counting at the docks also stopped, except for those particularly urgent goods that were still being loaded and unloaded, and the small officials who were working overtime yawned and recorded them in their notebooks.

And at night, the bell would remind some people who had to go to work tomorrow that they should rest. Everyone was the backbone of a family, and everyone's rest would bring an entire family into silence...

On the day they arrived in Yicheng, Ye Tao and his party realized this. Living in the comfortable and pleasant house in Chun Nuan Ju, Tan Weishi and Tan Weiran understood why Tan Weixin actually missed this not-so-gorgeous place.

But they didn't stay in Yicheng for too long. Qi Zhentao's men came to inform them that day that Master Qi was not in Yicheng, but on Crescent Island, a day's voyage from Yicheng.

Crescent Island was once used as a lair by Master Qi when he was a pirate before becoming a sea merchant. Although surprised that this place was reopened, Ye Tao could somewhat understand that in order to be determined to fight those big sea merchants in Chunnan to the end, it was necessary to organize a combat-effective fleet, and such a fleet was placed in Yicheng Port? Obviously impossible.

For Ye Tao, this was just an extra two days of round trip, but for Tan Weishi and Tan Weiran, who had come all the way to Yicheng to play, they were not as easily dispatched by Master Qi as Ye Tao was.

While Ye Tao was busy packing after receiving the news, Tan Weiran and Tan Weishi had not even had time to unpack their packages because they were carrying too many things.

"I'm really sorry, I promised Master Qi to come and help him. If you find it inconvenient, just tour Yicheng? Governor Peng will definitely be happy to entertain you..." Ye Tao said embarrassedly to Tan Weishi and Tan Weiran.

Tan Weishi glared at him and said, "Just kidding, if we don't go together, what are we doing here in Yicheng?"

Tan Weiran smiled and patted Ye Tao on the shoulder, and said with great interest, "Brother-in-law, I haven't been on a sea boat yet. Is it fun?"

Ye Tao smiled and said, "I don't know if you get seasick. It's fun if you don't get seasick, but if you do... then I don't know. However, you can't bring so many things to Crescent Island, and you can't bring so many people."

Tan Weiran nodded knowingly and said, "No problem, I'll arrange it."

Although Tan Weiran was usually careless, he was indeed a bit skillful in handling these daily affairs. In less than two hours, he selected twenty-four people from the two's guards, plus six people who served their daily life, and streamlined thirty people from the huge team to follow them closely. They would board the ship arranged by Master Qi early tomorrow morning and set off with Ye Tao and others. As for the others, with Tan Weiran's status, it was easy to borrow two warships from Min Yue, the governor of the Yicheng Navy. When Min Yue heard that the prince and princess were going to sail with Ye Tao to Crescent Island, he himself was very interested in seeing what Qi Zhentao had turned his original lair into. Sending two warships to escort was simply too easy.

As for the things that Tan Weishi and Tan Weiran brought, except for the daily necessities, all the things that were not very useful were left in Chun Nuan Ju. During the day they stayed in Yicheng, the two of them, like Tan Weixin back then, fell in love with Chun Nuan Ju, especially the quiet room built on the boulder and the suite on the top of the mountain, which was an excellent place to watch various sceneries.

For those who were on a boat for the first time, excitement could not prevent them from seasickness. Ye Tao used to follow Master Qi's boat many times, and he got used to it after vomiting. The closest activity the prince and princess had to water was boating on a lake near Danyang, blowing the wind. When the boat was still sailing near Yicheng Port and they could still see the ground, the prince and princess were quite excited to point at the flying seagulls, commenting on the endless sea view, and eating breakfast with the sparkling waves in their eyes. When the land had long since run out of sight, the ocean currents and sea breeze still made the ship, which was already considered a giant ship in this era, rise and fall, Tan Weiran was okay, and generously lay on the railing and vomited cleanly, and then continued to blow the sea breeze with a bit of dizziness, trying to make himself familiar with this feeling. But Tan Weishi was different. The little girl was thin-skinned and refused to vomit in front of others. She hid in the cabin and vomited into a wooden barrel, and the smell of vomit made her unable to recover for a while. Later, she lay on the bed with tears in her eyes, and softly cursed Ye Tao, who "tricked" them into getting on the boat. Ye Tao helped wipe the corners of Tan Weishi's mouth with a wet cloth while smiling awkwardly, without saying a word.

Since they had set sail when the sun had just climbed out of the sea, they had arrived at Crescent Island just after dusk. Although Master Qi had been a "serious" sea merchant for decades, Crescent Island had never been abandoned. Although the port facilities were simple, they had been well maintained. For a period of time, when Yicheng Port was being renovated and did not have the capacity to accommodate a large number of large merchant ships, but had to share the same pier with the navy, in those difficult years, it was once used to berth Qi's fleet to buffer the pressure of a large number of ships entering Yicheng Port. In those years, even Qi Zhentao could only determine two berths in Yicheng Port.

Crescent Island has survived like this. And now, a large number of people have come to Crescent Island and began to build ports, repair houses and other facilities on Crescent Island. Looking at this appearance, it seems that Master Qi has the intention of developing Crescent Island into a permanent base. Naturally, one of the reasons why he can do this is that Crescent Island is not small, and Crescent Island has sufficient fresh water.

What is surprising is that among the row of ships parked in the port of Crescent Island, in addition to some large cargo ships transporting building materials and supplies to Crescent Island, there are also four warships... and they seem to be "Lan Shui" class ships.

"Master, how did you get those big guys?" As soon as he jumped off the boat, Ye Tao saw Qi Zhentao waiting on the pier with a smile, and quickly leaned over and asked in a low voice.

"Don't worry," Qi Zhentao said with a smile, pulling Ye Tao towards the brightly lit houses on the island.

Ye Tao quickly stood still and reminded, "Master, there are still people on the boat. It's the Tan family's young master and young lady..."

Qi Zhentao was not frightened, but looked at Ye Tao with great interest and said, "I was wondering how you could get Min Yue to send two Cang Shui class ships to escort my ship. It turns out there are big shots. Why don't you come down? Seasick?"

Ye Tao nodded awkwardly. Qi Zhentao suddenly said, "Then don't worry about it. Seeing their appearance, it's even more embarrassing to see them now. We'll talk about it later." Qi Zhentao turned his head and shouted loudly to an old family member on the pier, "Lao Zhao, there are young masters and young ladies from the Tan family on the boat, serve them well and lead them to the North Courtyard."

As an old family member who had followed Qi Zhentao for many years, Lao Zhao immediately understood that the two people on the boat were not simple, even if he looked at the servants and guards who followed the two Tan family members on the boat. Although most of them were vomiting, those guards still braced themselves and looked around cautiously, and were very careful about the sailors on the pier who were obviously very bandit-like. Ordinary families could never afford such guards. Moreover, on Crescent Island, the North Courtyard was the most proper courtyard in the building complex on the island. Qi Zhentao usually lived there himself, but now he gave it to these two "Tan family" people, which obviously showed how important these two people were.

"Master, that ship..." Ye Tao asked relentlessly.

"It's okay," Qi Zhentao said magnanimously, "I have an agreement with Min Yue. Now I have the Lan Shui class ships, and the drawings of the Cang Shui class ships, but I don't have time to wait for the ships to be built. Min Yue lent me these four ships, without sailors, without crossbows or trebuchets. In three months, I will return four brand new Lan Shui class ships to him. No matter how you calculate it, he won't lose out."

Ye Tao was stunned. Qi Zhentao was actually using a lot of money and using such a strong relationship to make a time difference. To what extent had the struggle between the Seven Seas Trading Company and the Chunnan Sea Merchant Group developed?

"Master, what's going on now?" Ye Tao asked anxiously.

Qi Zhentao smiled and said, "Pirates, those big sea merchants in Chunnan really have a way to persuade the pirates to attack the Seven Seas Trading Company. But, they can only persuade the pirates. But, what about me? I'm a fucking pirate."

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Sorry, I had something to do today, and I came back late, I kept everyone waiting.