The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 128 Arresting Salt Smugglers: A Fizzly End

After three days of eating, drinking, and having fun, some people in Yangzhou finally lowered their guard against Tu Chengyu.

This meant that when Tu Chengyu led his men out of the city on the fourth day, there were basically no people watching them.

The remaining two or three who were still keeping watch were secretly dealt with by Lao Yao and his men who were left behind to clean up the mess after they left the city.

With no one watching him, Tu Chengyu went directly to his fleet at the dock after leaving the city.

During the past few days, when Tu Chengyu was at the Lin residence, only a small portion of the guards he brought were assigned to guard the Lin residence, while the majority of the rest remained at the dock.

The reason they were made to wait at the dock was simply because the Lin residence couldn't accommodate so many people.

Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a lucky accident, saving Tu Chengyu the trouble of mobilizing troops.

So why did Tu Chengyu mobilize troops?
This matter relates to what happened four days ago when he, Lin Ruhai, and Quan Wenwei discussed how to deal with the salt merchants.

At that time, Lin Ruhai told Tu Chengyu that he had his eye on two salt merchants and had received information that one of them would be making a move soon.

Lin Ruhai wanted to take the opportunity to deal with this salt merchant, but he was afraid that the soldiers of the Salt Administration Office were unreliable, so he asked the guards sent by Tu Chengyu for help.

That's why Tu Chengyu has been wandering around Yangzhou City these past few days, causing a disturbance to others.

After several days of preparation, Lin Ruhai received the news last night.

The Lu family, the salt merchants everyone had been waiting for, were finally ready to make their move.

Coincidentally, Tu Chengyu had persuaded most of the people keeping watch to give up in the past few days, and Lin Ruhai was fully prepared.

So they headed straight to the dock early in the morning, ready to catch the Lu family red-handed.

Upon arrival at the dock, the guards who had stayed there were already waiting on the ship.

As soon as Tu Chengyu and his group boarded the ship, several large vessels immediately set off, heading straight for the Yangtze River.

Upon reaching the middle of the river, the fleet sailed downstream towards the mouth of the Yangtze River.

They traveled like this for half a day, and around noon, the fleet arrived at a desolate beach on the riverbank.

Guided by the guide brought by Lin Ruhai, the fleet crossed the barren beach and found a tributary on its right side that was barely passable for large ships.

Next, everyone needs to go up this tributary to reach the final destination.

However, there is a small problem here.

Those were the large ships in the fleet, though they could barely navigate the tributaries.

However, to get in from here, you have to go upstream, and without boatmen, the journey would probably be very slow.

Unfortunately, the task they are undertaking today cannot involve the boatmen.

Therefore, once the fleet entered the tributary and the current calmed down, everyone had to abandon the boats and go ashore to continue their journey.

Fortunately, according to the guide, the place where the Lu family traded smuggled salt was not far from where the fleet landed, only three or four miles away.

At a dilapidated dock on the riverbank, three boats were lined up and moored.

Everyone on the boat, including the boatman, was forced off the boat by Tu Chengyu.

Once everyone reached the shore, Quan Xu and Su Xuanbao divided the guards they had brought into two groups to make final preparations.

Tu Chengyu was also busy; he was meeting with the subordinates that Lin Ruhai had sent to gather information earlier that morning.

There were two people who came, both of whom were Lin Ruhai's trusted subordinates and his helpers in keeping track of the Lu family's smuggling of salt.

These two were sent here by Lin Ruhai a long time ago to monitor the Lu family's every move.

They were arguably the ones who understood the Lu family's deal best.

Therefore, when they met Tu Chengyu, the two of them explained the Lu family's transaction to him in detail, so that Tu Chengyu would have a clear understanding of the situation.

After learning about the situation from these two people, Tu Chengyu gathered a few people who could make decisions together, and they discussed and made new arrangements.

Finally, after careful consideration, it was decided to split the force into three groups.

Old Yao and his men, led by Lin Ruhai's two subordinates, set off ahead of time to eliminate the visible and hidden sentries along the way.

The second route was for Quan Xu to lead about half of the guards to flank the Lu family and cut off their retreat.

The third route involves everyone remaining together launching a frontal attack.

With the three routes arranged, Lao Yao, as the one leading the way, naturally set off first.

Quan Xu also led his men to flank from the side.

Finally, Tu Chengyu and his group waited in place for a quarter of an hour before setting off.

If it's three or four miles, and you walk quickly on the main road, you might reach it in a quarter of an hour.

But in this desolate wilderness, filled with mudflats and puddles, it took them almost half an hour to get there.

Fortunately, Lao Yao and his team arrived in advance to clear out the enemy's lookouts; otherwise, given their slow pace, they would have been discovered long ago.

When they arrived at the destination, Lao Yao and his men were already waiting at the pre-arranged location.

After the two sides met, Tu Chengyu asked, "How is the Lu family doing now?"

Old Yao replied, "Your Highness, I have been keeping a close eye on things. They should have completed the transaction and are loading the goods onto the ship."

Tu Chengyu then asked, "Among these people, did you spot any Japanese slaves?"

Old Yao replied, "Their clothes are all similar, and you can't tell the difference from their appearance. However, some of them walk in a way that looks like Japanese slaves."

Tu Chengyu: "It should be the Japanese, no doubt. Did you see clearly how many of them there are?"

Old Yao: "I counted them all, and there are only about a hundred people in total. Most of them are laborers transporting salt, and there are only twenty or thirty thugs."

Hearing that the situation was the same as reported by Lin Ruhai's subordinates, Tu Chengyu felt relieved.

For Tu Chengyu, this operation was one he could not afford to fail.

Therefore, even though he knew the enemy was not many, he still sent out his entire force.

The goal was to capture everyone here and solidify the Lu family's charge of smuggling salt.

After getting the information from Lao Yao, Tu Chengyu was about to say something more.

Then one of Lin Ruhai's two men came running out from behind the small mound where they were observing the situation, and said urgently:
"Your Highness, they are about to complete the transaction. Now is the best time to attack."

These two informants have consistently made accurate judgments.

Since he said now was the best time to attack, Tu Chengyu believed him.

He turned directly to Su Xuanbao and said, "We can begin now. After you go down, make sure it's safe to do so, and try to capture them alive."

After receiving the order, Su Xuanbao waved to the guards who were ready to go.

Then, he was the first to rush out, and the guards followed closely behind.

Tu Chengyu and his group are currently behind a small hill, while the Lu family's trading location is on the riverbank below.

The two sides were at most forty or fifty meters apart.

Therefore, as soon as Su Xuanbao led his guards out of the mound, the Lu family members below the slope spotted them immediately.

As smugglers of salt, the people on the riverbank were quite daring.

When they saw someone rushing towards them with a knife, they didn't panic or scatter in all directions.

Instead, under the command of a few leaders, everyone gathered together, waiting for others to rush over.

They did this not out of recklessness, but because they had the confidence to do so. This was because, besides the Lu family, there were also salt smugglers trading with them on this riverbank.

These smugglers were all desperate criminals. They might not have any other skills, but they were all top-notch fighters.

The Lu family's thugs, along with the salt smugglers, made up about a hundred people on the riverbank, all of whom were capable fighters.

With such a formidable force, they wouldn't be afraid even if they encountered an enemy with a larger number of people. This is probably why they didn't panic when they saw Su Xuanbao leading his guards charging down.

Unfortunately, this time, the people on the riverbank encountered a completely different opponent than before.

This time, their opponents were no longer smugglers like themselves, but royal guards carefully selected from the Beijing Garrison and the Imperial Guard.

Moreover, these royal guards were quite uncivilized, wearing inner armor under their clothes.

Therefore, the people on the riverbank suffered a great loss when the two sides clashed.

In a single encounter, more than a dozen of Su Xuanbao's guards were cut down.

Then, another group joined, and more than a dozen more fell.

In two rounds, their side suffered about thirty casualties, while the opposing side only had a few minor injuries.

The Lu family finally realized something was wrong.

Among the group, a middle-aged man, who was surrounded and protected, shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Who are these people on the other side? If there's something to discuss, we can talk it over. Why fight like this?"

Su Xuanbao's orders were to capture them alive if possible, and he was still unsure whether Quan Xu had already circled around to the enemy's rear.

So when he heard the other side plead for peace, he ordered his guards to halt their attack.

When the people on the other side saw Su Xuanbao stop, a glimmer of hope arose in their hearts.

The middle-aged man continued, "No matter where you brothers come from, you're all just after money."

"If you can leave now, I will give my brothers two hundred taels of silver as a token of friendship."

Two hundred taels of silver is indeed a lot of money. If Su Xuanbao were really a bandit, he might have agreed to his request.

Unfortunately, Su Xuanbao was not one of them, so he refused outright.

The middle-aged man thought Su Xuanbao was greedy and wanted more silver.

After weighing the options, they immediately doubled the amount of silver.

Even with four hundred taels of silver, Su Xuanbao refused without batting an eye.

This angered the middle-aged man, who said directly:

"Brother, four hundred taels is no small sum. Don't be too greedy."

After he finished speaking, seeing that Su Xuanbao ignored him completely, the middle-aged man felt a little insecure and directly brought out his own backing.

"Brother, you may not know this, but today's business is being conducted by the Lu family, salt merchants from Yangzhou."

"The Lu family of Yangzhou is one of the twelve salt merchants, and they have connections throughout the entire Jiangnan region."

"I have lived for decades, and I have never seen anyone in the Jiangnan region who could offend the Lu family and still get away with it."

"Therefore, I advise you, if you know what's good for you, take these four hundred taels of silver now, and I will let bygones be bygones."

The middle-aged man said a lot, but Su Xuanbao remained unmoved, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man felt even more uncertain.

He said, "Brother, what exactly do you want?"

At this moment, Su Xuanbao finally spoke: "I want you to lay down your weapons and surrender."

If they laid down their weapons, they would truly become lambs to the slaughter. The middle-aged man wasn't that foolish; naturally, he wouldn't order his men to lay down their weapons.

At this moment, a burly man next to the middle-aged man said to him, "Steward Lu, I don't think things can be resolved peacefully today. Are you prepared to fight to the death?"

The middle-aged man, who was also the butler, said worriedly, "Master Yu, can you win?"

The strong, burly man said, "Even if we can't win, we have to fight. Are we really going to surrender?"

Butler Lu said, "If you can't win, why fight to the death? Can't you just run away?"

The burly man glanced at Butler Lu and said in a low voice, "You mean we should have our men hold them off while we escape?"

Butler Lu nodded subtly.

Upon hearing this, the strong and muscular man hesitated.

Steward Lu said, "As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn. This is not the time to talk about brotherhood."

After much deliberation, the strong and muscular man finally agreed to Butler Lu's proposal.

Then, the burly man shouted at the top of his lungs to his men:
"Brothers, we're all gangsters, we risk our lives, we're never afraid of trouble, don't you agree?"

Upon hearing this, his men shouted in unison:
"Yes!"

Then the burly man continued shouting, "Now, they've come knocking on our door, demanding that we brothers surrender. Do you think we can agree?"

The underlings answered in unison:
"No."

Inspired by the strong and muscular men, these henchmen were all like they'd been injected with chicken blood, eager to fight to the death.

But when it came down to it, before they could even put up a few fights, they saw their boss, along with Steward Lu and a few trusted men, sneaking away to the back.

Even the most naive person would realize at this point that they had been tricked by the boss.

Then, some of those who were just ready to fight to the death turned around and ran away with their leader.

Those who were already fighting with Su Xuanbao simply threw down their weapons and surrendered.

What should have been a life-or-death battle was turned into a one-sided affair by two cowards.

Su Xuanbao looked at the guys who had already run far away and was speechless.

He thought to himself, "If you had run away from the beginning, you might have had a chance."

Quan Xu has already circled around and blocked their retreat; there's no way you can escape now.

Sure enough, just as Su Xuanbao thought of Quan Xu, he saw Quan Xu leading his men to outflank him from the rear.

They directly cut off the escape route of those few.

Meanwhile, Butler Lu and his companions saw another group of people dressed in the same manner emerge from behind.

Despair overwhelmed them, and they collapsed to the ground.

Upon seeing this, Quan Xu immediately dispatched his men to drag these people towards Su Xuanbao's side.

Tu Chengyu stood on the slope and witnessed the entire battle.

He thought he had encountered desperate salt smugglers, and with some Japanese slaves among them, it would be a tough battle.

But he never expected that salt smugglers would have fallen to such a low level.

Thinking about this, he really didn't know whether he should be happy to have met such a scumbag.

We should still lament that the illegal salt trade has become so rampant that it no longer needs the protection of desperate criminals.

(End of this chapter)