Chapter 242 Action
Chapter 242 Action

"This is a returning Japanese pirate ship. Logically speaking, there should be no outsiders on the bed except the Japanese pirates. Of course, there are exceptions sometimes."

"Some Chinese merchants would take their favorable wind boats to Japan to do some business, but the Chinese people I found on the bed didn't look like merchants, but rather high-ranking officials!"

Laizi was beaming with joy. The reason he was so excited was not only because Ye Xuan promised not to kill him, but also because he promised to reward him with one hundred taels of silver after completing the task.

Laizi had been living on the streets for decades and had never saved a penny. If he could earn this hundred taels, he could go back to the countryside and buy dozens of acres of paddy fields and become a small landlord.

Therefore, these lairs were particularly attentive in doing their jobs, and sometimes Ye Xuan couldn't even tell who was the Jinyiwei.

"That's all?" Ye Xuan asked, frowning slightly.

It's not that he was dissatisfied with Lai Zi's efficiency, but in the past few days, not only was there no clue about Hu Weiyong, even the whereabouts of Zhu Huan had not been found, which put Ye Xuan under tremendous pressure.

However, according to Ye Xuan's prior speculation, Zhu Huan's disappearance was most likely related to Hu Weiyong, so as long as Hu Weiyong was found, Zhu Huan's whereabouts would naturally become clear.

However, Ye Xuan was still very worried. He was afraid that Hu Weiyong would kill Zhu Huan in a rage to vent his anger.

So this has little to do with Ye Xuan, but the accident happened because Zhu Huan came out to find him. If Zhu Huan really had something, Ye Xuan would find it difficult to face Zhu Yuanzhang, and might even cause Zhu Yuanzhang's wrath.

Lai Zi heard this and said mysteriously, "There is one more suspicious point, but I can't investigate it closely, so I'm not sure."

Ye Xuan's eyes lit up and he asked, "Hurry up and tell me, don't leave out any suspicious information."

The leper then said, "I went to the deck to relieve myself last night, and I heard a woman's voice in the cabin under the deck."

"Woman, what's so strange about this?" Ye Xuan frowned.

Laizi smiled mysteriously and said with some pride: "It is good to let you know that although these Japanese pirates are lustful, they rarely bring women with them when they go out on the ship."

"And I was busy on the ship all day yesterday. I even found many excuses to walk around the cabin, but I didn't see a single woman."

When Lai Zi said this, Ye Xuan suddenly realized.

Since these Japanese pirates did not have the habit of having women in the sailing era, and Laizi had been busy in the cabin all day without seeing any women, this proves that there should be no women on the ship.

Where did the woman's voice under the splint come from?

"Is it possible that she was a Japanese woman, but she was hiding in the cabin and didn't show up so you didn't see her?" Ye Xuan still wanted to confirm.

Lai Zi said respectfully, "Your Excellency, the women of the Japanese pirates are promiscuous by nature. They are not like the women of our polite country who are usually unwilling to have contact with men and never shy away from seeing men. If there really is a Japanese woman on the cabin, there is absolutely no reason for her to stay in the cabin for a whole day."

"And..." Lai Zi said mysteriously, "I heard the voices speaking our Ming language during the music, not the bird language of the Japanese pirates."

"Can you tell where the accent is?" Ye Xuan was shocked.

Laizi frowned and recalled carefully, then said, "It seems that he spoke the same official language of the Ming Dynasty as you do."

Ye Xuan's eyes widened suddenly. Combining the Ming official language, the Han woman, and the suspicious points found by the Jinyiwei scouts, Ye Xuan was almost certain that Hu Weiyong and even Zhu Huan were on this ship.

Because according to intelligence, this was a ship setting off to return to Japan. According to Ye Xuan's inference, Hu Weiyong's conspiracy to rebel was exposed, and he was very likely to contact the Japanese pirates who had colluded with him in advance and go to Japan to seek refuge.

All the logic is right, and according to Laizi's report, the ship will set off for Japan early tomorrow morning.

In other words, Ye Xuan didn't have much time left. He took out a ten-liang silver from his pocket, threw it to Laizi and said, "Well done. If it is confirmed that this is the ship, there will be a big reward!"

Laizi took the silver ingot and said with a smile: "Thank you for the reward, sir. I am willing to sacrifice my life for you!"

Ye Xuan waved his hand, ignoring Lai Zi's flattery, and signaled Lai Zi that he could leave.

The beggar didn't bother to argue. He took the silver and carefully left the alley.

…………

It was night at Quanzhou Port.

Hundreds of plainclothes guards quietly approached a three-masted sailing ship anchored at the dock in the dark.

At the front of the crowd, Ye Xuan said to Wang Feihu, "Try not to alarm these Japanese pirates. You will follow me and bring a dozen good fighters to the ship to find out the truth on the ship. Don't act rashly before you are sure whether Huang Zhangnu is on the ship."

Wang Feihu nodded and did not lie.

Soon a group of people approached the Japanese ship. With a gesture from Ye Xuan, seven or eight Jinyiwei guards including him threw grappling hooks onto the deck under the cover of night.

There is a rope connected to the bottom of the hook. As long as the hook hooks the deck, several people can sneak into the ship along the rope.

There were two Japanese ronin on the deck, walking back and forth with lanterns in their hands.

Two Jinyiwei in night clothes were the first to board the deck and quietly approached the two patrolling Japanese ronin.

With two "clicks", two bodies were thrown out from the cabin near the dock.

There were Jinyiwei waiting below. Upon seeing this, they quickly reached out to catch the body, preventing it from hitting the ground and making a noise.

Then Ye Xuan looked up and saw two Jinyiwei who had boarded the ship earlier sticking their heads out of the deck and making a gesture to everyone.

Ye Xuan and others then climbed onto the deck along the grappling hook.

After getting on the deck, Ye Xuan made a gesture to Wang Feihu. This was a gesture from the Jinyiwei, meaning to disperse and investigate.

Everyone then went upstairs, and Ye Xuan himself walked down the spiral staircase of the cabin to the deck.

The cabin on the lower level was dark, damp, and very narrow, with a lot of debris piled on both sides of the aisle.

If Ye Xuan did not have ten times the physical fitness, an ordinary person would be unable to see in the dark and would definitely make noise.

Ye Xuan checked more than a dozen cabins in a row. The cabins were filled with either cargo or dwarfs dressed in Japanese costumes. They were all sleeping soundly and had no idea that the ship had been invaded.

Ye Xuan did not disturb them and continued to check each cabin patiently.

Soon all the cabins on the second floor were checked, leaving only the last one at the stern.

Ye Xuan estimated that it seemed to be the place where Laizi said he heard the noise.

(End of this chapter)