Yu Huixuan hurried over. “General Gu, what seems to be the matter?”
Gu Bi glanced at him. “Are you in charge of the docks?”
Yu Huixuan shook his head. “No. I am the Denggao County Clerk. I happened to be nearby and came to see what was going on after hearing that there was trouble here.”
Suppressing the irritation in his chest, Gu Bi asked, “Where is our fleet? And what happened to the supplies and the two thousand soldiers aboard the ships? How did they all disappear?”
Yu Huixuan looked around, his face full of confusion. “You—you’re saying there used to be ships and two thousand soldiers here?”
Gu Bi felt the veins in his forehead begin to throb. “Of course. As the Denggao County Clerk, you should know that the ships were carrying extremely valuable goods.”
Yu Huixuan honestly shook his head. “I didn’t know that.”
Gu Bi was speechless.
Yu Huixuan looked puzzled. “Since your ships were carrying such valuable cargo, why didn’t you send people to guard them properly?”
Gu Bi didn’t even know what to say. He had sent two thousand soldiers. How could that possibly count as failing to guard them properly?
He exhaled softly and decided to ignore the fool of a clerk. Turning to his guards, he shouted, “Bring the person in charge of the docks here!”
Just then, Li Zan and Wang Boshan also arrived at the docks.
Seeing Gu Bi’s expression, Li Zan’s eyes flickered. He asked in a gentle voice, “What happened?”
Gu Bi snorted. “Advisor Li, you personally witnessed our fleet mooring here that day. Yet now there’s nothing left. Shouldn’t Da Qing give me an explanation?”
Li Zan’s voice remained unhurried. “General Gu, I know you’re anxious, but please don’t panic. So many living people can’t simply vanish into thin air.”
Gu Bi was so infuriated that he nearly lost his temper altogether. How could he not be anxious? That was five hundred thousand taels of silver!
Fortunately, although Li Zan spoke slowly, he acted efficiently. He immediately summoned the person in charge of the docks for questioning.
The dockmaster, Wang Liang, wore an odd expression. “The fleet you’re talking about? I know them. They left several days ago.”
To be honest, he was merely an ordinary helmsman. Being made to play the dockmaster and spout nonsense was putting an enormous amount of pressure on him.
“What? They left?” Gu Bi stared at him in disbelief.
Wang Liang nodded. “Several days ago, I think. They inexplicably sailed away, and we couldn’t stop them.”
“Impossible!” Gu Bi thundered.
Wang Liang looked utterly innocent. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask the others. There were plenty of people watching at the docks.”
“Besides, there were two thousand soldiers aboard your ships, weren’t there? If they hadn’t left of their own accord, how could we possibly have forced so many soldiers to do anything?”
Although Gu Bi felt it was impossible, Wang Liang’s explanation sounded logical. He immediately ordered his men to make inquiries.
After questioning everyone, they found that it really had been Gu Bi’s own people who had sailed the ships away. They had not clashed with Da Qing’s navy or anyone else.
Gu Bi might have suspected that everyone else had been deliberately coached by Da Qing’s forces. But even the sailors aboard Wang Boshan’s ship gave the same account.
Wang Boshan’s ship had been moored right beside Gu Bi’s fleet, so its crew had clearly seen what happened.
They also revealed a detail that no one else had mentioned.
“What did you say?” Wang Boshan stared at his sailor in disbelief.
The sailor wore a complicated expression. “They heard that a beautiful woman was riding a boar as large as a ship and playing in the sea. General Gu’s men insisted on going out to take a look, and they never came back.”
In truth, the sailors had wanted to go as well. The matter was simply too bizarre; they had never seen anyone ride a boar across the sea in all their lives.
However, they remembered their duty. Since they were in someone else’s territory, they did not dare abandon their posts.
They had originally planned to ask the men about it once they returned, but neither the men nor the ships ever came back.
Looking back on it now, they felt fortunate that they had not gone along. Otherwise, they might have met with the same fate.
Yes, by this point, they all believed that something had happened to General Gu’s men.
Wang Boshan shouted angrily, “Then why didn’t you report it immediately?”
The sailor stammered, “You—you never told us to report it.”
Although they were all from Sizhou, to put it plainly, these sailors were merely ordinary men hired to operate Wang Boshan’s ships.
Gu Bi’s ships were military vessels, and his men were military personnel. Their identities were entirely different.
At the time, the sailors had no idea whether the military ships had sailed elsewhere after leaving. If they reported something that had nothing to do with them, they might even be punished for meddling.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural for them to decide that fewer complications were better.
Gu Bi glared at the sailors, his face dark. “The lot of you are outrageous! Such important military information, and you didn’t report it?”
Terrified by his gaze, all the sailors fell to their knees and begged for mercy.
Wang Boshan frowned slightly. Strictly speaking, this matter was indeed outside the sailors’ responsibilities.
Who could have expected that the soldiers Gu Bi had brought would prove so unreliable? A single boar and a beautiful woman had lured them away.
However, this was not the time for him to say anything. Instead, he ventured a guess. “Could this be a plot targeting our Sizhou fleet?”
Gu Bi snorted and looked toward Li Zan. “That is something you should ask Da Qing’s military.”
Li Zan frowned. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
Gu Bi ground his teeth. “Two thousand of my soldiers and five hundred thousand taels of silver have vanished in Da Qing. What do you think I mean?”
Li Zan still wore a calm expression, but his words were far from polite. “What your men chose to do was their own business. How were we supposed to stop them? On what grounds?”
“I told you from the beginning to bring the silver ashore. You were the one who said it wasn’t necessary. Now that something has happened, you come looking for me? What kind of logic is that?”
“You!” Gu Bi’s chest ached with rage. “But my men and ships disappeared at your docks! You can’t deny responsibility for that, can you? You have to take responsibility!”
Li Zan shook his head. “You said it yourself—this is a dock, a place where ships temporarily moor. If something had happened to them here at the docks, then you would have grounds to blame Da Qing.”
“But they left of their own accord and only encountered trouble afterward. How can you pin that on us? No one anywhere would consider that reasonable.”
He advised meaningfully, “If I were you, I wouldn’t waste time arguing over responsibility with me. I would set sail immediately and see whether I could find them.”
His words left Gu Bi’s face shifting from green to purple. For a moment, he could not think of anything to say in response.
Ultimately, a dock was merely a place for ships to stop temporarily. Whether guests chose to stay or leave was not something the dock had the right to interfere with.
Wang Boshan frowned. “Our situation is special. Once they left, your dock should at least have informed us.”
Li Zan gestured toward the crowded harbor. “As you can see, the docks are packed with ships of every size. Who would pay attention to one fleet leaving?”
Gu Bi’s head throbbed. He wanted nothing more than to chop Li Zan into pieces and force the truth out of him.
He glanced back at the more than one hundred guards following him. With so few people, if he truly made a move, it was hard to say who would end up being chopped to pieces.
Gu Bi knew that something had definitely happened to the fleet. There were also around a hundred of his personal guards aboard. He refused to believe that those men would casually abandon their posts over a woman riding a boar.
Seeing the uncertainty shifting across his face, Li Zan kindly offered, “Perhaps I could send some men out to help you search the sea?”
Gu Bi nearly spat blood. Several days had already passed, and now Li Zan was suggesting that they search the sea? What were they supposed to look for—fish?
“I will report this matter to His Majesty and let him make the decision.” His eyes held both a threat and unwillingness as he stared at Li Zan.
On Daqing’s own turf, although he knew there was something fishy going on, he was truly powerless to do anything about it.
Li Zan paid no heed to his attitude. “That is all to the good. We in Daqing have clean hands and clear consciences.”
