In this wharf ambush, Chen Yingliang did not arrange for his headline entry-level running dog Ma Sanbao to follow him for two reasons. One is that the Guo Feng team led by Chen Yingliang is the most capable and reliable team. He took Ma Sanbao with him as a bodyguard; secondly, after contacting him for a period of time, Chen Yingliang discovered that Ma Sanbao not only had some martial arts skills, but also had a very easy-to-use brain. These are exactly what Chen Ci lacks, so Chen Yingliang, with the intention of learning from each other's strengths and testing and tempering, arranged for Ma Sanbao to follow Chen Ci's team to act, and told Ma Sanbao to only do one thing well - take down the big thief The head on the head!
Regardless of the fact that the Tian family brothers are the most powerful, and Tian Baishe is also the most cunning and scheming, in fact, in terms of the difficulty of the beheading tactic, it is even more difficult to capture the thief first against Zhang Qian, because Zhang Qian is a big thief. His head is very low-key, he is not as domineering as the Tian family brothers, he does not do things too extreme, and he does not dare to rob the tank boats like the Tian family brothers, so Chen Yingliang must focus on the most important Tian family brothers. The plot of using Pei Cuiyun as a bait to lure and kill the Tian family brothers was settled early on, but there was no way to behead Zhang Qian. They could only resign themselves to fate and pin their hopes on Chen Ci and Ma Sanbao.
Chen Yingliang had already had a primary and secondary plan in mind. Of course, Chen Yingliang had explained to Ma Sanbao beforehand that he would try his best to take Zhang Qian's head off when he followed Chen Ci. Ma Sanbao had never even seen Zhang Qian's face. Of course, he has no confidence in completing the difficult task Chen Yingliang entrusted, but of course Ma Sanbao can't refuse to accept this task. He just replied that he would do his best. Just clean up what Ma Sanbao said, and after encouraging Ma Sanbao a few words, he stopped talking, and let Ma Sanbao decide on his own.
Next, with Chen Yingliang's success in luring the enemy, the ambush at the pier officially started. Chen Ci's team first disembarked and assembled under the cover of twilight. Ma Sanbao also joined Chen Ci's team under Chen Yingliang's personal arrangement. Judging that the enemy coming from the lower reaches of the canal must be Zhang Qian's bandit gang, he arranged for Chen Ci's team to charge towards the lower reaches of the canal. As a result, Chen Yingliang's judgment was correct, and Chen Ci's team successfully fought against the planned enemy.
On the one hand, there is a bandit team that can only rob poor merchants, and on the other is an elite division that has been tempered in Yang Xuangan's rebellion. Naturally, there is no doubt about the result of the battle. They had to look for their teeth all over the place, and ran away with their heads in their arms. Then Zhang Qian's bandit gang quickly disintegrated like the Tian Bandit team, completely collapsed, and ran for their lives together. Nothing was found all the time, and several prisoners were captured for interrogation, and no one knew where Zhang Qian was.
The winter night came quickly, and the sky was already close to pitch black before it was half past unitary time. Even with a torch on, it was difficult to see 20 paces away. Seeing that time was running out, and the team of Zhang Qian's bandit gang being hunted down by Chen Ci's team was getting closer and closer. The more they ran away, the more scattered soldiers fled alone. It was almost impossible to find Zhang Qian's whereabouts. Ma Sanbao, who had been by Chen Ci's side all the time, made up his mind. First, he asked Chen Ci to stop for a while, and then While taking out a set of civilian clothes prepared in advance and quickly changing them, he said to Chen Ci: "Lieutenant Chen, you continue to lead troops to chase after me. I will disguise myself as a bandit and sneak into the bandit team to find Zhang Qian's whereabouts and fetch him." The first level, I will not act with you."
"What?" Chen Ci was taken aback and asked, "You went to Zhang Qian's whereabouts alone? Are you not afraid of danger?"
"Of course I'm afraid, but since the young master has explained it, I have to go if I'm afraid." Ma Sanbao, who had sneaked into the enemy camp several times alone to persuade him to surrender, smiled and replied: "But it's not too dangerous. That big thief Zhang Qian is now Either you are in the thieves brigade ahead, don’t be afraid if you stare at me, or you can use the brigade to attract your attention and escape alone with three or five cronies, and I don’t have to be afraid if there are not many people around me.”
Chen Ci was thinking about something else, but Ma Sanbao, who had already changed his shoes into civilian cloth shoes, stood up, pulled out his horizontal knife to check, and said, "Lieutenant Chen, don't waste time, quickly lead your team to chase after you. Zhang Qian may escape alone, or he may escape with the team, don’t worry, I have some martial arts skills, so the danger is not great. If you ask me later, you don’t have to worry about me, I will definitely come back alive.”
The battle was raging, and Chen Ci, who commanded the whole army, didn't dare to waste time. Seeing that Ma Sanbao had made up his mind, he didn't insist on stopping him. Then he cunningly lay down in the grass by the roadside, first found the corpse of a bandit soldier who had just been hacked to death by a soldier of the Nationalist Army, smeared the blood on his face and body, and then cut off his clothes and trousers with a knife. After opening a few holes, he pretended to be in a state of embarrassment, and waited until the Nationalist Army team had gone far away. Then Ma Sanbao got up from the ground and rushed towards the bank of the canal with his waist down. Bandit soldiers who escaped by playing dead by chance.
Taking advantage of the last twilight to get to the bank of the canal smoothly, Ma Sanbao didn't light a torch, and the one with one foot deep and one foot shallow just walked downstream, observing the movement of the river and at the same time paying attention to the roadside situation. Ma Sanbao still called out a few words in a low voice, "Is there anyone? I am from my own family. Is there anyone? I am from King Zhang of Jishan."
Ma Sanbao's efforts soon paid off. After walking eastward for more than a mile, a trembling voice finally sounded from the grass beside the road, "I am also a member of King Zhang. Have the officers and soldiers gone far?"
"It's far away, come out." Ma Sanbao quickly replied, and asked with concern: "Brother, are you injured?"
"I sprained my ankle and it hurts badly, please help me."
Amidst the groans, a bandit soldier covered in dirt and dead leaves crawled out of the grass. His hands and feet looked like he had suffered some leg injuries. Ma Sanbao hurriedly stepped forward to help him climb out of the grass. He checked the injured foot and asked casually, "What's your name? Whose subordinate?"
"You can just call me He Er, I am under the leadership of Wang Wuwang." The bandit soldier replied moaning.
"Are you the leader of the king?" Ma Sanbao looked up at the bandit soldier He Er in surprise, seeing that he was eighteen or nineteen years old with rough skin, a typical peasant boy with cross-eyed eyes, and asked in surprise Said: "I am also under the command of the five leaders, why have I never seen you?"
"I just joined King Zhang's team not long ago. I was still working on the mountain at the beginning. I was sent down the mountain to help the leader Wang a few days ago, so you probably haven't seen me." He Er was afraid that Ma Sanbao might misunderstand, so he quickly explained.
"Oh, so that's how it is." Ma Sanbao suddenly realized, and then said: "My name is Ma Sanbao, and I'm also the leader of the king. Your foot is fine, no bones are hurt, but the ankle is a little swollen. Rest for a day or two and you'll be fine." .I'll pack a bag for you, it will get better faster."
As he said that, Ma Sanbao actually tore off a strip of cloth from his own clothes and bandaged Na He Er's ankle. Thanks, I call him Brother Ma. After confirming that He Er had no doubts about him, Ma Sanbao asked, "Brother He Er, do you know where King Zhang is?"
He Er shook his head and said he didn't know. Ma Sanbao also knew that these gangsters were unlikely to know Zhang Qian's whereabouts, so he asked again: "Then how do we go back to Jishan? Today I have been watching the officers and soldiers by the pier, and I didn't hear anything. explanation in this regard.”
"Boss Wang didn't explain to us either." He Er replied truthfully.
"Damn, I don't know what to ask. It's really troublesome to meet this kind of rookie team." Ma Sanbao cursed in his heart, and then thought for a while, thinking that he should use He Er's cover again, and said: "So , it seems that we can only find a way to go back to Mount Ji by ourselves, can you walk? Let's try our luck downstream and see if we can find a boat to cross the river and return to Mount Ji."
Although the foot still hurts badly, but because he was afraid of being left alone by Ma Sanbao, He Er quickly agreed that he could barely walk. Ma Sanbao needed him to cover his identity, and of course he didn't refuse, and hurriedly helped him to stand up. He also bought him a branch as a crutch, and took him downstream to look for boats crossing the river, and took the opportunity to try to trick him into the internal situation of Ji Shan's gang. Of course, he knew everything about Ma Sanbao's clichés, and he quickly let Ma Sanbao figure out a lot of internal conditions of Zhang Qian's gang.
After being introduced by He Er, Ma Sanbao found out that Zhang Qian's bandit gang had already started marching northward at the fourth watch of yesterday. The bandit team that the second was in took a boat to cross the river 20 miles downstream of the Yongcheng Wharf, and hid in a forest to gather. After Shenshi in the afternoon, they marched westward under the personal leadership of Zhang Qian, and turned again after arriving near the wharf. They hid in hidden places such as woods and grass, and then launched a charge after seeing the fire on the pier. Then He Er's team didn't even meet the team of the Nationalist Army, and they were directly led by their own defeated soldiers and fled for their lives. Second, because the sprained ankle failed to keep up with the brigade, he fled to the dark place in the south to escape. Fortunately, he was not discovered by the pursuers of the Nationalist Army, and he was also very lucky to meet such a good third brother as Ma Sanbao.
After hearing He Er's introduction, Ma Sanbao felt a little bit secretly happy, because Ma Sanbao concluded through analysis that if Zhang Qian wanted to cross the canal and escape to Jishan in the south, generally speaking, there were only three ways. The bandits inside and outside crossed the river, and the Baoguo army pursued along the north bank of the canal. Under normal circumstances, they would definitely find the crossing point of Zhang Qian's gang and prevent Zhang Qian from crossing the river. The second way for Zhang Qian was to cross the river near the Yongcheng Wharf by boarding the gang boats that were attacking the wharf at that time. No bandit team fled to the river to board a boat to escape for their lives, and the gang boat did not dock to carry soldiers from the north bank, so the possibility of Zhang Qian crossing the river near the pier to escape was very small.
"If I were Zhang Qian, I would definitely choose the third way. I would first avoid the pursuit of the Baoguo army, then flee to the shore, and wait for the retreating bandit boats to pick me up and cross the river!" Ma Sanbao analyzed in his heart, and then secretly I made up my mind, "It's a gamble. Although Zhang Qian may not be as smart as Lao Tzu, but instead of running around like a headless chicken, it's better to just try his luck like this."
After making up his mind, Ma Sanbao didn't hesitate any more, he just continued to walk along the river bank with He Er, and kept searching for the remnants of the bandits and Zhang Qian's whereabouts. Twenty or thirty of them all took Ma Sanbao with He Er as their companions, but unfortunately, none of them knew Zhang Qian's whereabouts. Only one gang soldier told Ma Sanbao that he had fled under Zhang Qian's banner for seven or eight years. After that, Zhang Qian's flag was never seen again because of the relentless pursuit of the Bao Guojun and the complete darkness of the sky.
Seeing Zhang Qian's flag does not mean that Zhang Qian must be under the flag. Ma Sanbao, who is naturally cunning, understands this truth, so Ma Sanbao can only pray that the information is true. Zhang Qian has indeed fled in this direction. At the same time, the bandits and soldiers they met one after another escaped to the south bank of the canal by swimming, and invited Ma Sanbao to swim across the river as well. Ma Sanbao excused that He Er sprained his feet and couldn't swim, and couldn't bear to leave his brother to escape alone. , Declined the invitation of these bandit soldiers, those bandit soldiers did not hesitate, went down to the river to swim and cross the river to escape for their lives, not daring to delay on the too dangerous north bank.
Regarding Ma Sanbao's act of loyalty, He Er, whose feet hurt so much that he could barely walk, was of course moved to the point of tears, wishing to give his heart to Ma Sanbao. Qian was a big bandit who plundered canals for food, so he couldn't be ignorant of water. If he swam to escape like other bandit soldiers, then Ma Sanbao would be doomed to work in vain tonight.
It was getting darker, and the weather was bad and there was no moonlight. Ma Sanbao, who was not familiar with the terrain in this area, naturally had great difficulty walking. He had a deep foot and a shallow foot several times, and the gangster sprained one foot Bing He Er was even worse, not to mention more falls, and finally sat down on the ground in pain, crying loudly: "Third brother, don't worry about me, you go first, I really can't bear the pain , you run across the river, don’t worry about me.”
Those who are close to Zhu are red, and those who are close to ink are black. If it was replaced by Ma Sanbao when he was the head of the Chai family, He Er would definitely walk away after hearing what He Er said, but now Ma Sanbao has been with Chen Yingliang for a while, and he has been fascinated by it Knowing the kindness and loyalty of Chen Yingliang and Chen Laosan, the young master and old servant, and personally experiencing He Er's similar feelings, and through previous conversations, I know that He Er is just an ordinary farmer who is afraid of going to Liaodong as a slave and becomes a thief. My son, who has never had blood on his hands, is worthy of pity and pity, so after hesitating for a moment, Ma Sanbao chose to squat in front of He Er who was crying loudly, and said, "Brother, come up, I will carry you on my back."
He Er cried even louder, refusing to let Ma Sanbao carry it, and said: "Brother Ma Sanbao, leave me alone, the officers and soldiers are chasing so closely, how can you escape while carrying me on your back? You go, leave me alone, you I appreciate your kindness, and I will not forget your kindness even when I go to the underworld."
"Hey, why did you meet people like this after you joined the new young master?" After sighing lightly, Ma Sanbao turned around, patted He Er's head, who was crying bitterly, and said softly, "Be obedient, come up!" I'll carry you on my back, I'll try to take you across the river, but after crossing the river, you have to listen to me, don't be a bandit, go home and farm."
"Brother Ma San, I don't want to be a bandit. I never wanted to be a bandit." He Er cried bitterly and said, "It was the village head who picked me to be a peasant in Liaodong. I didn't want to be frozen to death and exhausted, so I escaped." When I came out, I was dragged up by King Zhang’s team to become a bandit. I don’t want to be a bandit. I listen to you. If I can survive this time, I’ll go home and farm immediately, and I won’t be a bandit anymore.”
"That's right." Ma Sanbao patted He Er's head again, helped him up, then squatted halfway in front of He Er again, and said with a smile, "Come on, third brother, I will carry you on my back and take you across the river. Just cross the river and go home, don’t go back to Jishan to become a bandit, that’s a dead end.”
He Erda cried and agreed, and then climbed onto Ma Sanbao's back, but at this moment, a low voice suddenly came from the dark place behind the two of them, "Two little bastards, you just now What are you talking about? Don’t go back to Jishan to be a bandit, that’s a dead end? Disturb our army’s morale, are you tired of life?”
Ma Sanbao and He Er looked back in surprise, only to see five or six tall men suddenly walking out of the dark place. The leader was a middle-aged man with black hair, fat and big, holding a knife and asked Ma Sanbao viciously: " Who is your leader? Did you just say you wanted to be a deserter? "
Ma Sanbao was taken aback, and didn't realize who the black-haired fat man was for a while, but He Er quickly jumped off Ma Sanbao's back, knelt down on his knees and crawled towards the black fat man, crying and begging: "My lord, Zhang Your Majesty, Brother Ma San was confused for a while, and he said something stupid, don't worry, we don't want to be deserters, we don't want to be deserters..."
"Shut up!" Zhang Qian kicked He Er over, lowered his voice and said angrily: "If you dare to speak louder and call the officers and soldiers, my lord will kill you with one knife."
He Er hurriedly shut his mouth, and quickly crawled to kneel in front of Zhang Qian, begging in a low voice, while Ma Sanbao was tongue-tied, suddenly pointed behind Zhang Qian, and exclaimed, "The officers and soldiers are here!"
"what?!"
Zhang Qian and several of his cronies were startled, and subconsciously turned their heads to look behind them. At the same time, Ma Sanbao suddenly took two steps forward, and stepped on He Er's back in the third step, taking advantage of the situation Jumping up into the air, holding the horizontal knife that was always out of its sheath with both hands, he slashed down on Zhang Qian's neck condescendingly, with a muffled sound, Zhang Qian, who heard the sound of the wind, didn't even have time to turn his head completely, Ma Sanbao's horizontal knife It had already been slashed heavily on the neck, and Zhang Qian's head flew into the air as blood spattered, falling three or four feet away.
After chopping off Zhang Qian's head with a single blow, just as his feet hit the ground, Ma Sanbao struck out again, knocking down the nearest bandit soldier and shouting, "Who dares to come here? I will fight him!"
Seeing Zhang Qian's headless corpse lying on the ground, and seeing Ma Sanbao standing majestically holding a knife, the remaining four bandit soldiers panicked, screaming and wanted to besiege Ma Sanbao, but they were defeated by Ma Sanbao, who was excellent in martial arts. After Sanbao yelled and cut off the arm of another bandit soldier with a knife, the other three bandit soldiers ran away immediately, and Ma Sanbao chased after him, scaring the bandit soldiers and screaming and running faster, and finally cut off the knife Hacked the broken-arm bandit soldier to death, then picked up Zhang Qian's head and laughed wildly.
Ma Sanbao laughed wildly, but the little bandit soldier He Er cried even louder, and reminded: "Brother Ma Sanbao, run quickly, if you kill King Zhang, the king's team will definitely not spare you, run quickly, or you will die!" It's dead."
Ma Sanbao laughed loudly, held Zhang Qian's head in his left hand, lifted He Er who was crying loudly with his right hand, carried it on his shoulder and strode north to the official road, and said with a smile: "Brother He Er, don't be afraid, I'll take you to a safe place. That boy Chen Ci is right, good deeds will be rewarded with good deeds, without your help, my hard work today must have been in vain."