The Book of Troubled Times

Chapter 557 It is difficult for an upright official to deal with household affairs

The captain answered honestly: "Normal people go out on the ship along the old waterways that have been explored by predecessors. If you wander around, it is easy to encounter unknown turbulence or reefs, and you will die without a whole body. Therefore, in the vast sea, there is no place that has really been explored. The area is very small, and there are extremely many islands that have not been discovered...well, for example, the island where you two live in seclusion, we have never found it before."

Zhao Changhe nodded, let alone islands, even if there is a continent, it cannot be discovered casually.

The captain continued: "The Tianyuan pirate group has been operating in the East China Sea for nearly thirty years. It has been ups and downs, sometimes wreaking havoc and sometimes dormant. I don't know whether it is due to internal reasons or what. Anyway, they have been around a lot, and they know many things that others don't know. Earth...This time they have angered Poseidon. I heard that they escaped from the base where they have been stationed for a long time. No one knows where they are now fleeing. They need to search again. We are a multi-national coalition, and I am just one of them."

Sanniang said: "Oh, Ganqing is a general. Which country are you from?"

The captain said: "We are the Kingdom of Java...I am Admiral Lai Qi."

Zhao Changhe was a little tranced as he listened to the familiar place name and the mismatched Chinese name, and his mind was a little wandering.

Sanniang was laughing: "Hey, General, I'm disrespectful."

Lai Qi was embarrassed and silent.

As for their ships, which are not much better than fishing boats and have shabby equipment, it is a bit embarrassing to say that the admiral is true. It is not as convincing as Lingling Admiral Xing Daorong... In fact, they are basically an army formed by reorganizing fishing boats and merchant ships. , it is customary to call him the captain instead of the general on the ship.

Sanniang also knew that these small countries were mostly like this. The population of many "countries" was no larger than that of a county. No, some were just towns. It was difficult for anyone to organize a powerful navy. He didn't ridicule, just said: "With just a few ships like yours, how can we find people? Even if we find them, why don't we just send them away?"

Lai Qi said: "Many countries have joined forces, we are not the only ones."

Sanniang asked deliberately: "Since Poseidon is called God, can't he be found? Do you still need to search for him?"

 Lai Qi said awkwardly: "There should, there should be a decree soon."

Poseidon indeed did not send a decree saying where the pirate group is. Blind believers think it is a test from God. Those who are more rational know that the so-called Poseidon is not omniscient and omnipotent. Even in the sea, He cannot know everything.

Not only was it impossible to know everything, it even failed to destroy the pirates, causing people to run away. Blowing can lead to a glorious victory, but the essence is that people run away, which is a bit different from the expectations of "gods".

But since Poseidon has personally taken action, He must be looking for it, and he may find it soon. Sanniang's question was even more malicious, because she couldn't find where the pirate group was at the moment, so she could use the enemy's ship to find her mother's family.

Guigui felt very happy when he thought of this, and said contemptuously: "I thought you had some clear goal to suppress the bandits, but after working for a long time, you didn't even know where the bandits were... Since we are looking for them in multiple countries, how can we communicate with each other when we find them? ?”

Lai Qi said: "We will gather at Dong'an Island. There is also the headquarters of the coalition forces. Penglai General Hai Changkong is the commander-in-chief and we have agreed to arrive in seven days."

 Hearing this name, Sanniang suddenly became a little distracted.

Zhao Changhe took over the conversation: "It's okay, you can go out."

Lai Qi smiled and excused himself: "You two, please use it slowly."

Zhao Changhe got up and went over to close the door. He walked back slowly, picked up the wine bottle and poured Sanniang a drink: "What's the matter, enemy?"

Last time Sanniang told a story, she actually didn't get to the key points and was vague. For example, Sanniang "will talk about it later" about the cause of her mother's death.

 It is ultimately a matter for the parents, so it is understandable that they do not want to discuss it in detail.

 But now Sanniang speaks very naturally. She took Zhao Changhe's wine and took a sip, and whispered: "Hai Changkong is Hai Pinglan's personal guard. Like Hai Qianfan, they both have given surnames and are actually adopted sons... Hai Changkong was still under 20 back then. Young man, he fled to sea with Hai Pinglan and made great achievements along the way. I was also very close to him when I was a child."

"The adopted son, is he conceptually qualified to succeed? If you are not here." Zhao Changhe keenly discovered the point.

Sanniang laughed dumbly: "It's possible. Although he has hundreds of adopted sons, it is really possible that he will be the best among them. The premise is that there are no mother and I... When mother is still alive, no one really feels that they have a son." I hope it won’t be because of this, they don’t have that kind of strength. When my mother is gone and they hunt me down, it may really be because of this.”

"Well…"

“Yes, he was the one who pursued me most diligently at that time.” Sanniang smiled and said, “Let’s call him an enemy, but I find that I can’t seem to bear any hatred.”

Zhao Changhe said: "Because the real core enemy is not him, you can't hate Hai Pinglan. It's been so long, and you are lazy, let alone hate a small character."

Sanniang lay on the table and muttered: "Actually, it's not, because it's just a mess."

Zhao Changhe asked: "What is the situation?" Sanniang muttered: "I told you before that the cause of my mother's death is a mystery... Someone previously proposed to establish a country in Penglai, and Hai Pinglan supported it. He could not forget the time when he was separatist in Jiangnan. , dedicated to restoring the country. Penglai has a good climate and a large population. Isn’t it a small Jiangnan?"

 “Is your mother against it?”

"My mother was opposed to it at first. She was far away from her homeland and always regarded the sea as a place of refuge. She never thought about settling here. When she saw that Hai Pinglan had lost her ambition and wanted to stay on the island, my mother was very worried. Not happy."

 “In the beginning, originally…”

"Yeah, I didn't know why, but I agreed again. It was supposed to be a happy ending, and everyone was already making preparations for the founding of the country in full swing, but on the night before the ceremony, Hai Pinglan announced that she had been attacked and killed."

 Zhao Changhe: "?"

Sanniang smiled and said: "What's funny is that Hai Pinglan himself was seriously injured. Do you think his injury was really caused by an enemy attack, or was it a counterattack when he killed my mother?"

 Zhao Changhe was speechless.

Sanniang said: "The first reaction is that there is a dispute between the two parties over power, such as who should be the king? After all, my mother has been in charge of everything for so many years, and her prestige is the highest among pirates. If she wants to be the queen, Hai Pinglan seems really unable to fight. But how could Hai Pinglan be willing to give the throne to his wife? So they fought and killed by mistake."

Zhao Changhe said: "You can basically think so, right? I can't think of other reasons. Of course, if the couple quarreled over other things and caused the manslaughter, it would also be true logically..."

“Right, even if you try to find other reasons, you must first make sure it was him who killed him.”

“Well, I was attacked by a hammer in my own palace. Where is the enemy?”

"Yes. At that time, everyone thought it was a husband and wife fighting over the throne. How could the pirates who were loyal to my mother be happy? I was not happy either. In fact, I was the most excited person at that time. I came to the door to ask for an explanation, followed by Hai Qianfan and a large group of generals." Sanniang sighed: "Do you think I took advantage of the opportunity when he was also seriously injured to force the palace to seize the throne?"

Zhao Changhe scratched his head: "It's very similar."

"Those who were loyal to him, such as Hai Changkong, naturally started a civil war with us. Later, he personally suppressed it while on his sickbed. Hai Qianfan protected me and retreated, and a group of people ran back to the sea to become pirates." Sanniang He said: "Later I also said that he continued to encircle and suppress the pirates and treated them completely as enemies. I couldn't bear the death or injury of the pirates, so I went to land."

Zhao Changhe was stunned for a while and suddenly frowned.

Sanniang said: "What, did you find something wrong?"

Zhao Changhe did find a problem - in fact, from beginning to end, there was no real answer as to whether Hai Pinglan was the one who killed him...

Hai Pinglan personally suppressed his daughter, and later suppressed the bandits, which gave people an absolutely solid impression. In fact, as a king, it should be said to be a quite normal reaction. After all, there are many emperors who have been deposed by their children.

Sanniang couldn't think of so much at that time and ran away to believe in gods. She wanted the gods to come to the world and let people know that all the emperors' hegemony was dust.

 But after so many years of calmness, she transformed from a young girl into a mature woman, a venerable religious figure, the leader among thousands of people. When Sanniang recalled the past, she must have begun to feel that something was wrong, so she began to say that "the cause of death is a mystery" and "not sure if it was a homicide."

 But here’s another problem…

If there is really a misunderstanding, Hai Pinglan has ten thousand ways to convey it to the Tianyuan Pirates to try to resolve the misunderstanding. After all these years, I haven't even tried to explain, I have allowed misunderstandings to exist, and even organized a coalition to attack this time... then it may not be a misunderstanding.

This mess of bad debts has become a mess. How can Guigui be in the mood to think about it all the time. What's more, because I have a thought in my heart that "it's not him", I don't want to take the initiative to investigate the case and find out the truth. What if it is confirmed that it is him?

 It’s better to leave it alone and run away far away. To her, the affairs of the Four Symbols Sect were far more important than the bad things at sea. If it hadn't been for going to sea for some reason, she might not have wanted to take another look at it.

Looking at Sanniang lying on the table, Zhao Changhe suddenly said: "I suggest you...ask him."

Sanniang raised her head: "Huh?"

"I used to be afraid of meeting Xia Longyuan, but it turns out that it doesn't matter if I do. The pressure I put on my heart doesn't exist at all." Zhao Changhe said: "You should also ask... If it's not him, then you will definitely have enemies, father and daughter. Let's take revenge together. You are now at the third level of the secret treasure, and your strength may be better than that of your father. If there is something he can't avoid, you two may be able to do it together..."

Sanniang narrowed her eyes and looked at him steadily: "What if it's him?"

Zhao Changhe said: "I have been here as an enemy for so many years. Is he the same as before? If so, it would be ridiculous to lie to myself that maybe it is not him. The dignified Venerable Xuanwu doesn't even have the courage to face the enemy directly. No?"

 (End of this chapter)