In the early morning of the next day, a large rock and a sack were missing from the pier outside Suzhou City, and someone heard the sound of a heavy object falling into the river. Immediately afterwards, I heard that the young master's third concubine went back to her hometown of Quanzhou to visit relatives. She didn't know when she would come back again, and the return date was undecided.
In the same gray morning mist, on an island far away in the sea outside Quanzhou City, taking advantage of the cover of the night before dawn, many ferocious bird-eating gulls rushed down from the stratus clouds, Landing on the island surface, densely covered the entire ground, these skuas greedily lowered their heads, and kept pecking and tearing something with the tip of their beaks stained with black blood, because there were too many birds, so The fight for food was also extremely violent, and from time to time, gulls would bite violently in order to snatch the eating place. For a while, bird feathers flew around on the dark island, blood and flesh splattered everywhere.
What they snatched was not the small chicks and turtle eggs that they like to eat every day, but... human corpses.
The entire island is now full of corpses! The pungent smell of blood rose to the sky. Fortunately, the early spring was cold, so there was no foul and rotten smell, but even so, so many corpses still attracted skuas from hundreds of miles away. .
What a feast.
There are faintly visible pier-like buildings on the island, but at this time there is no one there. The dead people’s eyes are wide open in fright, and the white eyeballs cannot move. They are covered with a layer of mucous membrane formed after death. It seems that they can’t imagine it. Someone will come to the island and kill himself.
With a snort, a skua precisely pecked at the unsightly eyes of the corpse, with a bloody eyeball in its mouth, proudly twisted its neck, and immediately lowered its head, as if afraid that some companions would rob it of itself. To eat food, spread his wings, moved to a place, hid under the reef and started to eat, but found that the food was a bit hard, and it grabbed his neck, clucking in a panic.
The island is full of corpses, the flesh flies to the bones, the viscera are pecked out, blood, death, flying, fighting birds, the breath of death and fear permeates the sea.
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…
With one hand, with some difficulty, he pushed aside the corpse above, and carefully drove away the damned skuas around him. A pair of eyes looked out nervously through the gap, confirming that the team of officers and soldiers who went to the island had already boarded the boat. After leaving, the island pirate who survived the catastrophe crawled out from the corpses of his companions with lingering fear.
This man was stabbed in the shoulder, bloody and bloody. If it wasn't for his identity, he would have sensed the murderous aura carried by those officers and soldiers very quickly, so he would have played dead beforehand and covered himself with his companion's corpse, perhaps he would have died long ago up.
Those officers and soldiers who came to the island were supposed to be the companions of these pirates, but suddenly became fierce, and the ruthlessness of the attack was unspeakable. Until all the people on the island were dead, the leader of the pirates would It occurred to me that the Ming family had come to silence them.
The man who escaped by chance had a dark complexion. It looked like he had lived at sea all year round. He had an ordinary face, a determined expression, and his eyes were slightly squinted. After going through such a catastrophe, he didn't seem to panic. Panting and sitting among the corpses of his companions, he forcibly calmed down, tore off the clothes of his companions, bandaged his wounds tightly, then got up, and searched for clean water and food on the island.
When the officers and soldiers left, they thought everyone was dead, so they didn't destroy the water and food, and gave him a chance to survive.
After regaining his spirit, the sky also dawned.
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Facing the morning sun rising from the sea, the man sat slowly on the pier, watching the flocks of birds flying and falling not far away, and the miserable appearance of those partners who had been with him for many years after their death. His lips started to turn white, but he held back the feeling of nausea, took a pot of water with his backhand, and poured it into his dry mouth.
The dead are all his partners, but he will not bury them. First, there were too many dead people, and it was impossible for him to bury so many corpses by himself. Secondly, if a person who is a pirate cannot be buried in the sea after death, it may not be a bad ending to be taken to the sky by these skuas. Thirdly, these pirates did a lot of evil in their daily life. Murder and adultery often happened. Now they are killed by people first, and then eaten by birds, which can be regarded as retribution.
His name is Qingwa, a native of Quanzhou, with ordinary family background and ordinary abilities, he has been a sailor at sea all year round. Sometime last year, the big ship he was on was hijacked by pirates. I don’t know what method he used to survive. I also joined the inside of the pirates, and began to become partners with the pirates, doing those ugly things on the surging sea outside Quanzhou.
The pirates on this island are the largest group in the sea, but it is strange that they do not do much business, and the leader seems to be deliberately covering up the whereabouts of this team. After staying halfway on the island, Qingwa finally discovered that the main business on the island was the cargo ships that Jie Ming's family sent to the West.
Every time a ship was robbed, no one was left alive, especially the court officials who were responsible for escorting the ship.
In just half a year, Qingwa was appreciated by the leader because of her calmness and cold-bloodedness, and became a small leader among the pirates. She gradually learned more details and had the opportunity to come into contact with some very important things. , It's a pity... At this time, this night, a group of powerful sailors found the island and slaughtered all the people on the island bloodily.
The morning sun was blowing, but it was not refreshing, because there were dead bodies and flesh all around her, Qingwa's throat groaned twice, and she recognized the pirate who was being pecked by birds on his thigh not far away. It is Cai Zai who lives in the same cave with him.
Qing Wa blinked her eyes weakly, stood up with some difficulty, walked to the side of Cai Zai's body, drove away those goddamn skuas with the wooden stick in her hand, looked at Cai Zai's body, was speechless for a long time, and finally calmed down. Huan said: "If I go back alive, I will take care of your parents."
After saying this, he resolutely dropped his partner's body and walked in another direction along the hidden path under the pier. All the ships on the island had sunk, but there was a pirate leader staying there. I don't know if the wooden boat there is still there.
Qingwa walked unhappily, but she was extremely determined. He had to return to the land quickly, because although he survived, the subsequent few letters of information were not sent out, and Mr. Tisi should have started to worry.
He wiped his tears as he walked, trying not to look back, although the pirates behind him all had ways of killing themselves, but after getting along for half a year, even if they were hard-hearted, they couldn't help but feel some affection.
At this time, a flame called anger rose in Qingwa's chest. Now that they can get evidence of the collusion between the Ming family and the pirates... Those troops last night were extremely powerful, what kind of forces are they? Since he came to the island to silence him, it must be a certain military leader who could mobilize the powerful navy along the coast... Could it be the Ye family? However, he is not qualified to judge, and he only hopes to send this information back to Suzhou as soon as possible.
Yes, Qingwa who was crying was one of the five crows stationed in Group B of the Quanzhou Inspection Division of the Overwatch Council. He was the spy who had reported to Fan Xian that the Ming family was connected with pirates.
※※※
Far away from this island, outside the city of Suzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, in that beautiful Ming Garden that seems to refuse to be contaminated with a trace of worldly atmosphere, Ming Qingda, the master of the contemporary Ming family, is standing respectfully in front of a chair, looking back at the chair. Questions from Chinese.
The person in the chair is a woman, an old woman.
Even in front of His Royal Highness the eldest princess, Ming Qingda didn't have to be so reserved and courteous, but in front of this old woman, he must bow his head, because this old woman is the real most powerful person in the Ming family... Taijun, his biological mother.
A few years ago, if it wasn't for this old lady who was cruel and ruthless, poisoned the most favored concubine to death, and chased the old seventh out of the house after the death of the old man, the favored family property of the Ming family would have been lost. I am afraid that it has already fallen into the hands of that person, so how can Ming Qingda have any share
Every time Ming Qingda looked at his elderly mother, he couldn't think of the four words "old and honored", but thought: "To be old and not die is to be a thief... The body of the seventh brother must have been turned into bones somewhere." Bar? Thinking like this, although his heart is at ease, he is also a little bit chilled, as long as this old woman is still alive, he cannot be regarded as the real principal in the Ming family.
"Your movements are too slow." The old lady of the Ming family looked at her son and said mercilessly and coldly, "If you want to wash yourself clean, then you should start doing it two years ago."
Ming Qing Dashi claimed to be smart, otherwise it would be impossible to control such a large property of the Ming family, but in front of his mother, he was criticized for not doing well, his face became hot, and he frowned and said, "Why two years ago?"
"Because two years ago, the palace decided to let Fan Xian marry Lin Wan'er!" The old woman said with a cold look in her eyes.
Ming Qingda looked respectful, but he had other thoughts in his heart, thinking that even if he had guessed at that time that Fan Xian would go to Jiangnan's internal treasury, who knew at that time that he was the emperor's illegitimate son? Who knew he was a descendant of the Ye family? Who knew that he would lead the Overwatch Council in the future? This old woman seems really confused.
The old woman scolded: "If I hadn't asked the military for help this time, if the Overwatch Council had found that island, with Fan Xian's character, how would I deal with you?"
Ming Qingda sneered in his heart without saying a word, and replied with a respectful expression: "It's really unfilial for a child to bother mother."