A few days later, late at night, on the Yangtze River in Jingzhou.
It is the flood season, and the water of the Yangtze River is roaring. A mist rose from the river, making it poorly visible. The east wind suddenly picked up, and the river water slapped against the embankment.
Ten huge loach boats came from the upper reaches in the shape of a swallow, cutting through the waves. Such giant ships are usually only seen in the Dengzhou seaport area in the East China Sea. They are generally only used to travel by sea, passing between the East China Sea coast and Silla, Baekje and other countries, or used as important ships for the Tang Dynasty sea route navy. Equipment is worth a lot of money.
In the whole world, apart from the imperial court, probably the only family in Chang'an who could command ten giant loach ships to appear on the Yangtze River at the same time was the Zheng family in Chang'an!
The ten giant loach ships covered most of the wide Yangtze River in Jingzhou, like a towering city wall rolling in, blocking out the sky and the sun. If it were broad daylight, such a scene would be truly shocking, and would definitely cause pedestrians on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to stop and exclaim.
But it is late at night, and it is the Yangtze River flood season. No one will ferry across the river at this time. Experienced fishermen will also drag the fishing boats ashore and eat two bowls of hot rice with their wives and children at home. They will never float across the river at this time. Come to the river to risk your life.
Above the Yangtze River, there is no other sound except the gurgling water and the howling east wind.
On the deck of a giant sea loach ship, there stood a muscular man of about forty, with sharp eyes and a dignified look on his face, watching the dark river surface closely.
"Master, the fleet has arrived at the agreed location." A young sailor in a short coat and bare feet came forward to report.
"Lay anchor, stop the ship, and raise the fire!"
"yes!"
In an instant, groups of torches lit up on the ten giant loach ships, making the river surface red. The torch flickered on and off, back and forth three times, and finally went out.
"Why is there no response?" The big shopkeeper frowned and asked the people around him, "Isn't this what the young master promised in the letter?"
"Exactly!"
"Wait a little longer!"
Ten giant ships were parked on the river, waiting quietly.
About a full hour passed, and almost everyone was impatient to wait. At this moment, several torches dimly lit up on the far bank of the river, flashing and extinguishing three times.
"Here we come." The big shopkeeper raised the corner of his mouth and said coldly, "The other party is really wary."
"What should we do now, big shopkeeper?"
"Send an order to turn all loach ships sideways and line up in a row, with the belly of the ship facing the direction of the torch, in preparation for the other party to load cargo on board. All porters are ready to load and unload cargo!"
"yes!!"
Immediately, the order was issued. Suddenly, ten giant ships as huge as a city wall, as if being twisted by a divine hand from heaven, slowly but extremely steadily, lined up on the Yangtze River, with their sides facing the river bank, forming a line across the center of the Yangtze River. Great Wall.
"W-W-W!"
From the direction of the river bank, there were three sounds of ox horns. The big shopkeeper waved his hand, and the torch on the flagship lit up again, flashing six times.
The other party responded to the horn three more times, and then the code word was completed.
The big shopkeeper grinned slightly and sneered: "You are so naughty, so many tricks!"
"Big shopkeeper, a boat is coming from the shore!"
"I saw."
In the dark night, a large ship sailed across the waves. With such a strong east wind and turbulent current, it traveled on the river as fast as an arrow, which made the sailors on the loach boat widen their eyes in surprise.
"It's a Wuyue warship!" the well-informed shopkeeper said in surprise, "Only this kind of warship transformed from a Fu ship is equipped with thirty-eight pairs of treading oars. Even if it travels against the waves and the wind, it can still pass through it. "Leng Ziru!"
The incoming boat sailed to the front of the "Great Wall" and shouted to it: "Where is the big shopkeeper?"
"here!"
When the ship arrived, it turned around and moved closer. On the bow deck, a man in black clothes and a mask stood, saying loudly: "May I ask the boss, is everything ready?"
Originally, this warship was not small, and could be called a giant ship in Jianghan. But standing side by side with the Zheng family's loach boat, it's really a small witch meeting a big witch. The man in black looked up and saw that a few feet high was the side of the opponent's ship, which gave him a sense of oppression.
"It's been prepared." The big shopkeeper replied from above, "Where are your goods?"
"No hurry. Let me get on the boat to check first!" the man in black replied.
"What a waste of time! If you waste another moment, the young master will suffer for another moment!" The big shopkeeper cursed secretly and shouted: "Put down the plank and let him come up!"
The sound of "rumbling" sounded, and a mechanical door was opened on the side of the giant sea loach ship. A large deck was lifted out from the inside and placed directly on the bow of the warship. The man in black boarded the boat with a few followers, exchanged a few words with the big shopkeeper, and then looked around inside the boat. At the same time, several other similar warships approached other loach ships, and people also came on board to inspect them.
"You are really very careful!" the big shopkeeper said sarcastically with a half-smile. "No wonder, in such a big business, you can't be careful. But, when will you release my young master?"
"Don't worry, your young master will be free once this batch of grain is successfully transported out of Jingzhou." The man in black replied.
"What? Didn't we agree in advance that we would release my young master while trading grain?" the big shopkeeper said angrily.
"I apologize to the shopkeeper. Things have changed and I have to do something to deal with it. Don't worry, we don't dare to abuse the dignified young master of the Zheng family. He will not be wronged at all - well, after the inspection, everything is normal!" Hei Someone said.
At the same time, all other ships have also completed their inspections.
The big shopkeeper gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger.
"Can we start trading now?"
"certainly!"
Several horns were blown, and dozens of large and small ships slowly sailed from the river bank. These ships have extremely deep drafts, and there are grain bags piled high on the decks of the ships, so they move relatively slowly.
The big shopkeeper frowned: "It's so slow, when will it be possible to load hundreds of thousands of stones of grain?"
"I didn't say I would give you all the food this time. There are only 150,000 shi here." The man in black said, "After you have transported this batch of food and disposed of it properly, we will follow the same method and carry out the rest of the transaction. ”
"What?" The big shopkeeper was obviously a little angry, "Ten giant sea loach ships, just to transport you 150,000 shi of food? I said, you guys are too good at joking! Do you know that we mobilized the fleet once? How much food money will be spent, how much time, manpower and material resources will be wasted?”
"There is no other way. As the saying goes, it is only with caution that the Wannian Ship can be built. This is also for the sake of safety." The man in black sneered proudly, "If we attack them all at once and hand over all the goods, what if something changes? Isn’t it a piece of cake?”
The big shopkeeper shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly: "You are too timid! Ten loach boats are enough to transport nearly 300,000 stone goods! Now you only give half of it... ugh!"
"For the safety of the eldest young master of the Zheng family, we ask the shopkeeper to take care of you. We are helpless, haha!" The man in black laughed.
At this time, dozens of large and small grain ships had arrived at the "Great Wall". All the loach boats opened their side hatches, built huge and strong decks, and began loading cargo onto the boats. The giant sea loach ship has a huge load capacity. There are usually hundreds of sailors and porters on board, and today there are nearly a thousand people on board, so the grain packages can be unloaded very quickly.
The Yangtze River suddenly became noisy and lively. There were many torches, lighting up the river surface like daylight. If someone saw it from a distance in the middle of the night and didn't know what was going on in this place, they would definitely be frightened.
Time passed very quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it was already dawn. At this time, the big shopkeeper saw that on the far river bank, there were carriages and horses like dragons and grain piled up like mountains, and there were a large number of army-like people on guard in the distance. On the river near the shore, the boats are like ants going back and forth, which is very spectacular.
"You guys are really powerful!" The big shopkeeper couldn't help sighing, "If this is the case, you should use more than ten thousand people."
"Yes! Even the porters have hired more than 8,000 people." The man in black said proudly, "This is an earth-shattering big business! Once we sell five hundred thousand stones of grain, we will be rich and rival the country. ”
"So far, you haven't mentioned asking me for money." The big shopkeeper said suspiciously, "Aren't you worried that my Zheng family will default on its debts?"
"Is it possible?" The man in black laughed proudly, "The young master of the Zheng family is a priceless treasure. With him in hand, why worry about you not paying for it? We are not in a hurry to get the money. In the future, we will have a safe way. If I ask you for money, you just have to be ready."
"Okay!" The big shopkeeper shook his head helplessly and said to himself: These people are so weird. Who knows what their plans are
After another hour, each loach boat was loaded with half of the grain, which was piled up like a mountain. There was no trace of the mountains of food piled up on the river bank, and all the porters and sailors were so tired that they lay down and panted.
"It went very smoothly, as expected." The man in black nodded with satisfaction.
"Your calculations are too accurate." The big shopkeeper shook his head and sighed, "It's the sunrise right now, and we can just set sail and leave!"
"Then let's go. What are you waiting for? Come back in five days for the rest of the transaction."
"Send the order, pull up the anchor and lift the ship -" the big shopkeeper ordered.
There was a sound of trumpets and flags on the huge ship. The ten giant loach ships slowly and clumsily turned their bows, raised their sails, and re-arranged themselves in a flying geese formation, preparing to set off for the return voyage.
The man in black boarded the warship he came from and breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, everything went well!"
At this moment, a strange scene appeared in the giant sea loach fleet that turned around. Several ships directly turned their bows in the opposite direction, and rushed down the wind towards the shore at extremely fast speeds.
"What's going on? What are you doing?!" The man in black shouted in panic, "Are you crazy and want to sink us?!"
"Something's wrong, run and retreat!" There was a cry from the warship, and the sailors raised the sails and anchors in panic, preparing to turn the ship's bow and escape.
At this time, the ten giant loach ships suddenly changed their formations, forming an inverted "U" shape, like the bloody mouth of a giant beast, and gnawed towards the riverside.
"No! I've fallen into a trap!!!" The man in black yelled in panic, "Escape quickly, start the boat quickly!"
"It's too late!" A thunderous roar came from the giant sea loach ship overhead, "You green forest thief, do you recognize the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty!"
"King Qi?!" The man in black looked at the 'big shopkeeper' in panic, and said in horror, "You, you are King Qi?!"
"Haha! Man, you've fallen into a trap!" Li You patted the side of the boat and laughed loudly, "Qin Mubai, as expected, you can predict events like a god, and set up such a huge sky net - today, none of you can escape!"
"Qin... Mu Bai!" The man in black was stunned for a long time, then suddenly laughed miserably, "You will regret it!"
After that, he jumped and escaped under the water.
"Go into the water and get someone!"
On the tall ship, more than ten people jumped off and quickly caught the man in black out of the water.
"You, you are Baiqi?!" Someone on the warship screamed. This scene is so familiar to them! They had witnessed this scene with their own eyes during the Xihecao military exercise before!
"That's right! They are the personal guards sent by Qin Mubai to this king, haha!" Li You laughed, "You are the so-called 'Bailang Navy', right? Instead of doing a good military academy, you will follow others to become thieves! Come on! Yeah, take them all!”
Suddenly, countless crossbows were set up on the side of the ship. The porters and sailors just now were all holding bows and arrows, glaring solemnly at every move of everyone on the warship.
"Don't stare, half of the people on these giant ships are my king's soldiers, and the navy soldiers seconded by King Wu from Dongting Lake, haha!" Li You laughed, "Send the order, launch an attack, on the water All enemy invaders who dare to act rashly will be shot!”
The giant ship was like a city wall, rolling towards the shore. Many warships and cargo ships fled in a hurry. However, these giant ships formed a huge encirclement. Although the small boats were flexible, once they approached the edge of the encirclement, they were shot fiercely by countless arrows from above their heads. Occasionally, some guys who jumped into the water to escape were shot fiercely by deep water crossbow spears, causing injuries to their hands.
On the river, drums were beating and screams were heard, and people within dozens of miles around were alarmed!
The man in black who was diving was kidnapped onto the deck.
Li You stepped forward, pulled off the mask that was tightly tied on his face, and sneered: "Although I don't recognize you, you should be the chief yamen officer in the Xiangzhou Governor's Mansion, Zhou Laojiu, right?"
The man in black looked pale and opened his eyes in fear: "How do you know?"
"Of course I told him." Hearing a familiar voice beside him, Zhou Laojiu looked around in panic. At this time, he saw the cabin being opened and two people walking out.
Qin Mubai and Li Ke!
"Why, how could you hide in here? I checked it just now!" Zhou Laojiu said in panic.
"Can't we pretend to be sailors and porters temporarily?" Qin Mubai and Li Ke laughed. Li Ke stepped forward, picked up Zhou Laojiu's clothes, and opened his bows to the left and right, and there were a few big mouths.
"You scum, you beast, you deceived me so hard! Fortunately, I still regard you as a powerful person and rely on you deeply!"
"Your Highness, this guy is just a small character running errands. Killing him like a dog is meaningless." Qin Mubai pointed to the shore and said with a smile, "The show is over there!"
At this time, there was a roaring sound on the river bank and it turned into a pot of porridge. The ant-like boats rushed about in panic, and countless people screamed and fell into the water. On the river bank, the porters and sailors, half of whom were water ghosts, ran around in panic. Many of them took out their prepared swords and fled into the distance.
Suddenly there was a thunderous sound of drum horns, the sound of rolling horse hooves in the distance, and a cloud of smoke and dust.
"Army! It's the army!!" The water ghosts shouted in shock.
A large group of cavalry rolled in like divine soldiers descending from the sky. In addition to the leading flag of King Wu Shuai, the flags carried by Zhang also included the two general flags of "Xue" and "Yuwen".
"Dogs | Sons of monkeys, do you recognize my murderous clang!" Yuwen Hongtai waved the gold-plated phoenix wings in his hands, and galloped at the front like a giant beast with teeth and claws, his hands raised and fell, and he couldn't escape. The famous water ghost still wanted to fight with his sword. In an instant, everyone was shattered with swords and their flesh and blood flew.
"Hahaha! Have fun - brothers, kill! Kill all these birds!"
"kill-"
The soldiers of Prince Wu's Mansion, led by the fierce general Yuwen Hongtai, rushed into the panicked jungle of water ghosts, like tigers rushing into a flock of sheep, and began a brutal massacre!
On the other side, Xue Rengui pressed Fang Tian's painted halberd on the saddle, led a large number of horse archers to guard the outside of the circle, and shouted: "Brothers, your eyes are bright, but anyone who leaks will be shot!"
"Yes!!!" All the sergeants agreed together. The sound of a bowstring being pulled was heard, and a circle of mounted archers had formed a huge blockade.
On the embankment of this empty mine, everyone has nowhere to hide!
"Third brother, I'm jealous of you!" Li You tutted, "You actually have such a strong general under your command, I'm really jealous of you!"
"Thanks to Mu Bai, isn't it?" Li Ke chuckled and nodded gratefully at Qin Mubai.
Zhou Laojiu's face was as pale as paper, and he suddenly screamed hysterically: "You, you'd better let me go quickly and stop the killing. No, otherwise!... "
"Otherwise you will kill Princess Wu and her daughter, right?" Qin Mubai sneered, "Save it for yourself! At this moment, Princess Wu must be sitting peacefully in Prince Wu's mansion to rest, so I won't bother you."
"No, it's impossible!" Zhou Laojiu shouted in surprise with his eyes wide open, "How could you possibly find them?"
"We can't find it, but there is someone who can definitely find it!" Qin Mubai said with a smile.
"Who, who?" Zhou Laojiu began to stutter.
"Of course it's your leader, Master Song Cao!" Qin Mubai said with a bright smile.
"Mu Bai, who is the Lord of Song Cao? Even I haven't figured it out yet?" Li Ke also asked suspiciously.
"Don't be in a hurry, just let me show off!" Qin Mubai said with a smile, "When the place is almost cleaned up, we will pull anchor and head to Xiangzhou. By then, everything will come to light!"
…
In the evening, the riverside, which had been noisy all day and night, finally gradually became quiet.
There were countless shipwrecks floating on the river. Occasionally, blood bubbles could be seen in the water. It was unknown how many water ghosts fell into the water and were buried in the belly of the fish. On the river bank, thousands of people were detained in one place and bound to each other under the strict supervision of a circle of soldiers. Yuwen Hongtai and Xue Rengui stood side by side, laughed heartily, and asked the flag bearer behind him to wave the flag toward the center of the river, making all the sergeants cheer and shout.
"Okay, it's time to wrap things up here." Qin Mubai smiled slightly and said to his side, "His Royal Highness, King Qi, I will leave this place to you for the time being. I will accompany King Wu to Xiangzhou first. Presumably, he has already arrived at this moment. I am extremely anxious to see Princess Wu and her daughter.”
"Okay, you go!" Li You said with a smile, "I will meet you in Xiangzhou after I have sorted out the affairs here. Then we will have a drink!"
"Okay, I won't come back until I'm drunk!"
Qin Mubai and Li Ke got off the loach boat and boarded the warship.
Li Ke shook his head and smiled: "Mu Bai, is this the divine fish spaceship that Xiangzhou Military Mansion is proud of?"
"Not bad." Qin Mubai raised the corner of his mouth and sneered, "Now you know how arrogant the officials and bandits in Xiangzhou are? Presumably before, they used warships as cover to walk openly on the Jianghan River , engaged in stolen goods. Most of these so-called Bailang navy are actually water ghosts. As for Du Chengyuan and others, there is no need to mention them!"
"Have you made arrangements for what to do with them?" Li Ke asked.
"Of course." Qin Mubai smiled slightly, "I have already predicted that they will not send any important person to deal with this transaction. Sure enough, they just sent an insignificant Zhou Laojiu to die. But don't worry , At this moment, the culprits such as Du Chengyuan and Wei Xiaochen have been secretly detained by Baiqi, who I had secretly arranged in advance, to prevent them from escaping after hearing the news. "
"What about Song Cao Lord? Who is Song Cao Lord?" Li Ke asked.
"You'll know soon." Qin Mubai smiled.
"You're going to die if you tell me!" Li Ke shouted angrily, "Say it quickly, don't let it slip!"
"Hahaha!" Qin Mubai looked up to the sky and laughed, walking towards the cabin.
…
At noon, Qin Mubai and others arrived at the governor's office in Xiangzhou.
At the gate of the backyard, there were people leaning on the door and looking forward to it, walking around anxiously. As soon as Li Ke appeared, someone rushed out and shouted: "It's His Highness and General Qin! I humbly serve Yin Yang and pay homage to His Highness and General!"
"Yin Yang, you are really back!!" Li Ke was overjoyed and rushed forward to help Yin Yang up. "Tell me quickly, how did you escape? Where are the princess and the princess?"
Yin Yang stood up and said excitedly: "Nvxia Chen saved us!"
"Chen Yan?" Li Ke's eyes widened in surprise and he looked around, "Where is she?"
"She said that she was not used to staying in this kind of place, so she left first." Yin Yang said, "She left a message and asked me to bring it to General Qin. She only said that after the matter is over, go home early."
"Go back home?!" Li Ke smiled strangely, "Qin Mubai, you still said you have nothing to do with her?"
"Is now the time to talk about this?" Qin Mubai said with a smile, "You'd better go visit the princess and her daughter!"
"Yes, yes!" Li Ke rubbed his hands excitedly and was about to walk away when he was suddenly startled and turned back to stare at Qin Mubai, "You asked Chen Yan to follow 'Song Cao Lord' and rescued him. Right? Then Lord Song Cao must have fallen into your hands now?"
"Does that need to be said?" Qin Mubai smiled mysteriously, "Nvxia Chen is absolutely reassuring in her work. Don't you think so, brother Yin Yang?"
"That's right!" Yin Yang laughed happily, "Your Highness, the leader of the water ghosts in the Xihe River, Lord Song Cao, has been arrested! The one who caught him is none other than Chen Nuxia!"
"What about others?" Li Ke asked.
"The Baiqi soldiers who were arranged by General Qin to come to rescue him have been taken away and detained together with Zhang Tong, Wei Xiaochen, Du Chengyuan, Ouyang Jun, Duan Rongji and other prisoners!" Yin Yang replied.
After listening, Li Ke took a deep breath and was stunned for a long time. He pointed at Qin Mubai several times with his fingers, but he was so surprised and surprised that he was speechless.
"I won't tell you now—I'm going to see the princess and my baby daughter first!" After that, Li Ke ran away anxiously.
Qin Mubai and Yin Yang laughed heartily to the sky, and their voices spread far, far away.
.
[More than 10,000 words have been written today. Let’s reward them with red tickets! ]