In the southeast, the Southeast nobles are completely above the government. Those who come here and are disobedient are either dead or crazy. Those who can still insist on being officials in the Southeast have basically compromised with the nobles and are naturally their own people. There has always been a saying in the Southeast that the emperor is unknown, only the nobles are known. In fact, this is something that everyone knows.
Originally, these were smuggling ships that were about to go out to sea. The imperial court had issued a clear order that no one was allowed to go out to sea privately. Since their ships were burned, they could only blame themselves for their bad luck.
But they can allow the government to investigate openly.
The captain nodded with a sad face: "The government has already investigated, Master Qi, those Japanese people were led by the group led by Matsushita, you know..."
A wave of relief... Mr. Bai Qi's right eyelid twitched violently.
Of course he knew this Matsushita Yilang. He was a Japanese ronin who went into exile overseas because he offended a daimyo in Japan. He was eventually taken in by Shen Hai. He had been helping Shen Hai with smuggling and doing some shameful things. They had had a lot of dealings in the past.
Since it was Song Xialang who made the move, it meant that Shen Hai must have been behind it. The last bit of luck in Bai Qiye's heart disappeared, and he rubbed his brows with a splitting headache: "Go and make arrangements, I want to go out to sea."
He was also a famous pirate in the past and naturally had his own power on the sea. Otherwise, he would not have been able to expand his business so much. Although he can no longer compare with Shen Hai, he is not completely powerless.
The captain and his men hurriedly agreed and went down to make arrangements.
Master Bai Qi returned to the cabin and closed his eyes to rest for a while. Suddenly, he told Qin Feng, "Don't tell the young master about this."
Qin Feng was stunned for a moment, then nodded in understanding: "Yes, they were afraid that the young master would hear the news, so they didn't dare to report it, and waited for you to make the decision." After a pause, Qin Feng couldn't help but ask Master Bai Qi: "Master Qi, if this really happened, what should we do?"
Although the burning of the ships seems tragic, in fact, this is probably just a small lesson given by Shen Hai. If we can't give Shen Hai a satisfactory answer, then things will be more difficult. Burning these ships is not the worst. If all the ships going out to sea are targeted in this way in the future by Shen Hai, then it will be really over.
The imperial court was already being controlled by others in every way. After losing Xu Shun, Duke Chengguo and even Qi Yunxi in succession, its power was at a standstill. If something happened here again, it would be like a fire in the backyard as well, and both ends would suffer.
Mr. Bai Qi's eyes were deep and he didn't say anything for a while.
After a long while, so long that Qin Feng thought that Master Bai Qi would not speak again, he said in a deep voice: "It really has come to that time, between two evils, choose the lesser of two evils. Where has Shen Yao Niang been kept?"
Of course he was raised in the Xu family. Qin Feng called him godfather in some confusion, and then he suddenly realized.
Mr. Bai Qi was having a headache. If it wasn't necessary, he didn't want to take the step where his true intentions were exposed. But now he could only take it one step at a time depending on the situation.
Qin Feng understood what Mr. Bai Qi meant, and didn't dare to say anything more to disturb him, so he quickly retreated.
Late at night, Bai Qiye's ship quietly sailed away from the sea and arrived in the waters of Huizhou.
But the small island that he had been able to land on before was now heavily guarded. Even though Bai Qiye showed his identity badge and the token given by Shen Hai, the people guarding the island would not let them go forward. Bai Qiye had an increasingly ominous feeling in his heart. He could not help but personally walk to the bow and raised his voice to ask those people: "I am Bai, can you please come out to see me?"
After all, he was once a famous figure on the sea. Seeing him, the people below did not dare to say anything unpleasant. After a pause, there was a rustling noise over there, and then finally someone who could make the decision stood up. After checking Bai Qiye's token, he raised his eyebrows at Bai Qiye, turned and left.
Bai Qiye's men were all a little confused and tried to persuade him, "Qiye, judging from the situation, I'm afraid they are here with bad intentions. We only brought three or four hundred people here. If... we may not be able to escape unscathed."
For no apparent reason, they became enemies with Shen Hai. In fact, the people under them had already been in panic for a long time. Everyone knew what Shen Hai's presence at sea meant.
Master Bai Qi glanced at the people below, still as calm as a mountain: "Why are you panicking? It's not time for you to panic yet! Stay calm!"
As soon as he spoke, everyone below fell silent.
After more than half an hour, someone finally came over there and bowed to Master Bai Qi: "Master Qi, please come in."
Bai Qiye got off the boat, and Qin Feng and the others followed closely, but those people blocked their way with fierce looks: "Our boss said that only Qiye can go to the island."
Qin Feng and Qin Chong suddenly became anxious, staring at them and confronting them, almost drawing their swords.
Master Bai Qi turned his head and glanced at them, then nodded solemnly: "Qin Feng, you two listen to them, nothing will happen to me."
Those people laughed at Qin Feng and the others provocatively: "Did you hear that? Master Qi himself is not afraid, so what are you afraid of?"
The other party was arrogant, but there was nothing they could do. Qin Feng and the others couldn't help but stand there solemnly. The atmosphere between the two sides was tense.
When Mr. Bai Qi arrived on the island, he was sent to a sedan chair. He didn't know how far he had walked before the sedan chair finally stopped. He got off the sedan chair and saw a few mud houses. He frowned for a moment, as if thinking about something, but soon the door inside opened. He didn't have time to think too much and hurriedly walked in. When he walked inside, he saw a familiar figure at a glance and couldn't help but walked a few steps quickly: "Old Ma!"
Boss Ma turned around with a half-smile, glanced at Master Bai Qi, and shook his head with a fake smile: "No, no, no, Master Qi, please don't call me that. How can I deserve it?" He said with a stern face: "Master Qi, just call me Boss Ma like everyone else."
This is what it means to draw a line in the sand.
At this point, Master Bai Qi was certain that it was because of Shen Yaoniang. Although he felt numb inside, he still pretended to be puzzled and smiled bitterly: "Old Ma, you are really making things difficult for me. What is the matter? Given our friendship, can't you give me some advice? What did you do to cause such a big fuss? You burned our ship. Others may not know, but you do. We rely on these goods to save our lives, and now we have suffered heavy losses."
Boss Ma suddenly said sinisterly: "Seventh Master, please stop deceiving me. Don't you know why?"