Salt Lock Across the River

As mentioned before, the ship was divided into three levels. The first level below the deck was for cargo holds and the crew's quarters, while the cabins above the deck were occupied by the Jia family members.

Furthermore, because the second floor was more enclosed, it was allocated for the use of the female members.

It is said that Ruan Rong went up to the second floor with worries all the way. She bumped into two flustered old women. Because she had a guilty conscience, she didn't dare to stop them to ask the reason, but dodged to the side.

Who knew that the two old women didn't bother with formalities, only apologized without turning their heads, and hurried downstairs.

Servants in wealthy families always paid attention to 'etiquette'. If it wasn't for something important, they would never be so flustered.

Ruan Rong couldn't help but be curious about what was happening outside, so she went straight to Daiyu's room—as the hostess on the ship, Daiyu's room had a panoramic view overlooking the bow.

Pushing open the cabin door, she saw Lin Daiyu, Zijuan, and Xueyan leaning against the window, peering down through a crack. Except for Daiyu, who was barely calm, the other two maids looked panicked.

"What happened?" Ruan Rong walked quickly behind the three and asked curiously, "Why do you all look like the sky is falling?"

The three women were startled. When they turned around and saw it was Ruan Rong, Daiyu quickly made some room and said, "You'll know when you see it for yourself!"

Ruan Rong didn't stand on ceremony with her, went straight to the window, and seeing that they were still carefully opening only a crack, she directly reached out and pushed it wide open, sticking her head out to look.

She saw six large grain transport ships lined up in a goose-wing formation across the nearly hundred-meter-wide river, blocking the entire waterway. The decks were densely packed with at least seventy or eighty people, shouting at the Jia family's servants from across the river.

"Could it be that we've encountered river pirates?"

Ruan Rong muttered casually, scaring the two maids pale. Especially the younger Xueyan, whose eyes turned red and almost shed tears.

Daiyu quickly pushed Ruan Rong, protesting with dissatisfaction, "Don't scare people, sister! How can there be so many river pirates on the canal? Besides, which river pirates use grain transport ships? There must be some other reason!"

Saying that, she turned her head to comfort Xueyan, "Don't panic yet. When Zhang Momo comes back, we'll know what's going on."

Coincidentally, Zhang Momo barged in at this moment. Before she could catch her breath, she reported, "Don't be afraid, miss. It's not robbers ahead, but a group of salt smugglers!"

It turned out that the six grain transport ships were actually a merchant fleet transporting salt north. Because they were carrying too much cargo and were too deep in the water, one of them accidentally got stuck on a reef, and the bottom of the ship had a small hole.

Seeing that if they delayed any longer, the entire ship of salt would be ruined, the salt smugglers simply blocked the waterway, wanting to forcibly requisition passing passenger ships to transport the salt to the ferry thirty miles away.

If Jia Lian had set off two days later, this misfortune would have been borne by others—but coincidentally, with Sun Shaozong's help, the Jia family set off a few days earlier, and ran right into this group of 'roadblocks'!

The sudden jolt of the ship just now was caused by the crew urgently dropping the four-clawed iron anchors.

If it were an ordinary passenger ship, seeing that the other side was so numerous, they might have given in—but the Jia family's servants usually did good deeds if they didn't bully others, so how could they be coerced by a few salt smugglers?

So the two sides started cursing at each other at the slightest disagreement!

It is said that Jia Yucun was originally taking a nap in his room. After hearing the report from his servant, he hurriedly got up, put on his clothes, and rushed to the deck. Seeing the two sides cursing at the top of their lungs, he stomped his feet anxiously and shouted, "Stop cursing, stop cursing, stop it for me!"

However, the Jia family's servants had never taken this 'down-and-out scholar' seriously.

Hearing Jia Yucun's scolding, the servants not only cursed even more happily, but some people deliberately shouted at the top of their lungs, "Jinling Prefect Jia Yucun is here, you donkey-fucking things, why don't you get out of the way!"

Jia Yucun trembled with anger, but he couldn't do anything about them. He had to approach Jia Lian and pleaded bitterly, "My Lian, Second Master! Quickly tell them not to curse anymore, what if it causes trouble?!"

It is said that 'like master, like servant', but in fact, the reverse is also true—the Jia family's servants didn't take the salt smugglers seriously, so how could Jia Lian, who was used to being a young master, be afraid of them?

"Trouble?"

He curled his lips and sneered, "They dare to block the Rongguo Mansion's ship, I think they're the ones who are in trouble! When we get to Qingzhou Prefecture, I, Second Master, will let these bastards know what regret is!"

Jia Lian spoke heroically, but Jia Yucun didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He quickly pointed to the grain transport ships in front and said, "Second Master is probably unaware, but whenever official salt is transported, there must be a flag of the Salt Administration Office on the ship, but these ships don't have any signs, they must be private salt! They dare to transport so much private salt in grain transport ships in broad daylight, there must be powerful figures backing them, they may not be afraid of our Rongguo Mansion!"

After saying this, a hesitant look appeared on Jia Lian's face, but due to his pride, he couldn't bring himself to back down for a moment.

Jia Yucun quickly seized the opportunity and added, "Moreover, private salt smugglers are mostly desperate people. During my tenure in Jinling, I heard about salt bandits killing officials and rebelling several times. If they are really provoked..."

Hearing the words 'killing officials and rebelling,' Jia Lian immediately shuddered. What face did he care about then?

He hurriedly jumped up and scolded, "Stop cursing, stop cursing! Quickly shut your mouths for Second Master!"

His scolding was immediately effective, and the arrogant servants fell silent like cicadas in winter.

However, it was too late to back down at this point. The five large ships opposite them had already surrounded them in a fan shape. Unfortunately, the Jia family's passenger ship had just dropped anchor and hadn't had time to adjust its sails to the wind, leaving it paralyzed and unable to move forward or backward!

Only then did the arrogant servants finally realize that they had been provoking over a hundred burly men with fierce expressions and sharp blades!

One by one, they suddenly felt as if their throats had been choked, unable to utter a complete sentence. Where was their eloquence from just now?

As they got closer, they saw a middle-aged fat man in a sable coat on the opposite ship, surrounded by many salt smugglers, pointing and cursing, "What kind of Jinling Prefect is he? A small official like a sesame seed, daring to act important in front of me?! In a moment, throw everyone on this ship into the water to wash their stinky mouths that only know how to spout nonsense!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Jia family turned pale. Being thrown into the water in the middle of winter would likely leave these pampered individuals half-dead, if not completely dead!

In desperation, the arrogant servants were forced to muster some courage and hurriedly revealed their trump cards, "What do you want to do? The one in charge of this ship is Lian, Second Master from our Rongguo Mansion!"

"Yes, we are from the Rongguo Mansion!"

"Our Second Master's in-laws are the Wang family, the Nine Provinces Governor!"

Each trump card they revealed was bigger than the last, and the arrogant servants straightened their backs again, with more foul language creeping into their speech.

The fat man on the opposite ship laughed loudly upon hearing this, "So it's the precious son of First-Class General Jia She! Very well, I'll give the Rongguo Mansion some face—except for Jia Lian, throw everyone else into the water!"

The arrogant servants initially thought they had intimidated the other side when they heard the first half of his words, and they were about to take the opportunity to show off again. Who would have thought that the last sentence would take a sharp turn, immediately scaring them speechless.

It was only at this moment that Jia Lian realized that Jia Yucun's prediction was correct. The other party indeed had powerful figures backing them, and they didn't even put the Rongguo Mansion and Wang Ziteng in their eyes.

As they spoke, the large ships had already approached. The salt smugglers worked together to set up the gangplanks against the ship's side, and then they surged up like a tide, each wielding knives and spears!

The arrogant servants immediately panicked. Some froze on the spot, unable to move; some let out a cry and turned to flee into the cabin; and even more spineless servants directly knelt on the ground, calling out to their grandfathers and ancestors in a chaotic mess.

The situation suddenly collapsed to such an extent that Jia Lian and Jia Yucun were both ashen-faced—especially Jia Yucun, who was already regretting his decision to travel with Jia Lian. If he had known he would encounter such a disaster, he wouldn't have come along!

Just as everyone was feeling apprehensive, they saw the arrogant servants who had just fled into the cabin rush out again, each with a ghostly expression on their faces.

Immediately afterward, a large wooden pole as thick as a pillar 'shot' out from the cabin, swaying and heading straight for the bow of the ship!

Thanks to the book friend 'Adventure of the Soul in Masterpiece' for the reward.