Delong

Chapter 91 The Golden Cone Walk (2) (2 in 1)

The meeting ended without any results, but the fruitless end itself is a result-it was not dark, and the brocade patrols and the fast-horse documents of the military officials flew out without mentioning it. At the same time, the huge fleet did not dare to The stop is to take advantage of the warm afternoon sun and no ice obstacles, and try to slowly turn into Huanshuikou.

In fact, when we got here, the problem has already become very serious-the local gangs who master the trackers and specialize in the official ship business, the Long Whale Gang or the Giant Whale Gang have also heard the news of the turmoil ahead, or they are the first The first-hand information acquirers and disseminators are actually unwilling to send out trackers and ice breakers to help.

The reason is that they are afraid of casualties of the trackers and ice-cutters, so they cannot give an explanation to the top and bottom.

Obviously, this is not wanting to wade into muddy waters.

"Is this something they can't do if they don't want to?"

The planners of the counties who were still frowning a moment ago were furious, but what they said unexpectedly made sense.

"How big is the business in Huan Shuikou? They were allowed to take over by the Long Whale Gang for five or six years. What they want is to dare to go up at this time? Otherwise, why are their Zuo brothers forced to settle down from the local poor to become the world's richest in five or six years? The Whale Gang has also become the most famous gang in the world?"

"At this time, Zuo Caihou is pretending to be a good person? If he really wants to be a good person, he will distribute his belongings to the gang!"

"There's no need for him to dispose of his belongings, just replace him with a gang leader who is willing to provide a tracker. The market is so big, there are not enough heroes looking at their Zuo brothers?"

"Pegasus went to the Yamen of Pengcheng County to find Hei Shou Zuo Cai, and told him that Miss Bai, 'Yi Tian Jian', is now on board, and he still doesn't care about his elder brother's willfulness! I really thought that with his second brother's ability, he could run amok The world is over? Can Zuo Caijiang be worthy of Miss Bai's sword?!"

"It's nothing more than another way of saying it. With the 'Yitian Sword' on board, what casualties is he worried about? Which thief dares to touch the fleet?!"

With some words, he scolded a group of long whale gang or giant whale gang's helmsmen and co-rudders, and the group of helmsmen could only bow their heads and agree, none of them dared to be arrogant.

Zhang Xing saw it clearly on the boat, and he became more and more sure of a point of view he deduced before—that is, these rivers and lakes gangs are a kind of social interest structure. It is the interests that attract practitioners with ordinary needs, and then create Gangs, not gangs themselves, attract practitioners.

It's just that practitioners have the right to speak and have a strong sense of presence, which makes gangs, an organizational form that is difficult to spread universally in another world, stronger in this world, more common, and can be officially acquiesced That's all.

In stark contrast to this, it should be the sect—the sect obviously relies on the existence of the real theocracy, and because of the high degree of ideological unity between theocracy and the regime, it is naturally government-friendly.

Not to mention how Zhang Xing watched coldly on the river, and then made up his mind to spread his political papers. He only said that after getting off the boat on the lively pier on the shore, after a lot of noise, the leader of the Whale Gang, Zuo Caihou, the boss Zuo finally couldn't resist Hold the pressure, appeared on the shore.

This is a man who is only about 37 or [-] years old, with plain appearance and simple clothes. He simply wears a blue turban on his head, and his weapons are not visible at all.On the contrary, there were a dozen strong and strong men behind him, all of them were dressed gorgeously and somewhat strangely, and their weapons were also sophisticated, even a little exaggerated - some of them carried three knives, others carried two swords, one long and one short, and even more. It doesn't matter if someone is carrying a big long knife, the key is that there are many gold rings on the back of the long knife.

It is full of quack spirit.

If you think about it, the Huaihe River is the boundary between the north and the south, where the Central Plains and the East Territory and Huainan and even Dongyi are separated. Many officials and powerful families are unable to become officials, but they are enough to raise countless reckless heroes.

As soon as the man arrived, he bowed his hands to several high-ranking officials, with a humble attitude, but although the latter was resentful, he obviously lost his previous arrogance when he saw the man and many masters of the rivers and lakes, and then he only looked on the boat. Not to mention Zhang Xing, none of the entire Jinyi patrol team wanted to get involved in this matter, even Hu Yan with a black ribbon got into the boat directly.

To put it bluntly, the matter of delaying the schedule is likely to be a matter of head and hat for the professional accounting officials, because that is what they do in the first place.But for the Jinyi Patrollers who came to escort this batch of food, it is not necessarily so serious, because their task was given by Taili. No matter how exaggerated Cao Zhongcheng's statement is, it is impossible to really demand the heads of the entire patrol team for this matter.

In addition, this is not a trip to Jiangdu. After a month or two of hard work, everyone has half loaded the boat, so they all have a bit of a mentality of not getting muddy.

And because of this, since the meeting at noon, the Jinyi patrol team has put on a cold-eyed attitude. Zhang Xing's indifference is not his own indifference, but speaking on behalf of the patrol team... Well.

Seeing the reluctance of the Jinyi Patrol Team to get involved, after some involvement, a group of people could only go to a place a little further away from the pier to discuss, and even local officials participated in it. I don’t know what they talked about, but after a while However, the planners still came with the gang leader.

"The left gang mainly meets us for inspections in person?"

On the step on the shore, Qin Bao frowned slightly, and then looked at Zhang Xing on the other side of the step.

"Why do you need to see the patrol inspector?" Zhang Xing smiled with a half-smile, and stared at several senior planners.

"Zhang Baishou." The leader of several planners hurriedly cupped his hands on the shore. "Zhang Baishou must make it easy... Today's incident is mainly due to the thieves in front of us. The Long Whale Gang is worried about the troubles encountered by the trackers, so they can't be careful, but they don't know that Zhang Baishou is with you... And if they see Bai Xunjian If you are also in the team, you will naturally feel at ease... After all, who is below the grandmaster can be a white patrol?"

Below the grand master, those who can be the sword of that old lady, there are not one hundred but eighty... Zhang Xing complained in his heart, and there was a joking smile on his face, but he nodded in the end and signaled Qin Bao to get out of the way... Not sticking to mud is not sticking to mud, but others I have worked hard enough, how many people are along the way, can I still stop it?

Immediately, several planners came up with Zuo Caihou, the leader of the Whale Gang, and a person dressed as a Taoist.

"Leader Zuo, let's go in by yourself. The one on the top of the boat looking here is our inspection." After getting on the boat, Zhang Xingfu called to the leader of the Changjing Gang again, cupped his hands slightly, and spoke politely, but there was nothing before. The indifference to those planners. "But please stay with the guards."

"I've seen this Zhang Baishou."

Zuo Caihou didn't panic, but earnestly replied and explained. "This is not my guard, but a hero who just came from Huanshui River. I brought him here to ask him to talk about the situation upstream."

Zhang Xing was stunned, but shook his head again: "It doesn't matter, just ask this hero to tell me, the Zuo gang leader will go and meet with my inspector, it's all right."

Zuo Caihou was stunned for a moment, but the senior strategist next to him became impatient and quickly introduced: "Why is Boss Zuo so ignorant? How can there be mediocrity under Bai Xunjian's command? The second brother Qin just below is the third on the list Hundreds of Ben Leishou, this one is the world-renowned desperate Zhang Sanlang... He is ranked in the list of people in the world. He has always been good at both civil and military. As for Bai Xunjian, who is like a fairy, the daily inspection team affairs are all handled by Zhang Sanlang and a Zhongzhen governor directly under Hei Shou! Didn't your third son tell you?"

Leaving aside the bragging of the chief strategist, Zhang Xing could see clearly that when this man mentioned his nickname, this leader of the Killer Whale Gang had already woken up... I don’t know where he got his reputation ?

"It turned out to be Zhang Sanlang from the Haoyi Mandong Capital." Zuo Caihou repeatedly cupped his hands, his attitude even more impeccable. "I was in Huaishang and Huanshui, and I heard a lot about Zhang Sanlang Gaoyi, who often rescued people in Jing'an Terrace. I really didn't expect...I didn't expect to meet at the riverside today!"

Suddenly, Zhang Xing knew that he had saved those high-ranking guests, and he had more thoughts in his mind, but he didn't delay his face and smiled: "Your Excellency wants to say, it sounds like a big name, but I didn't expect it to be just a white ribbon." Bar?"

Zuo Caihou laughed in embarrassment, without losing his simple and honest attitude.

"Leader Zuo, let's go." Zhang Xing urged sideways. "Don't delay the trip of the fleet, this hero can rest assured to stay with me."

Boss Zuo just cupped his hands, nodded slightly to the person dressed as a Taoist, and then went to the top of the boat.

Zhang Xing also behaved politely here, but invited the Taoist to get off the boat and sit on the shore... The two of them, plus Qin Bao and Zhou Xingfan, passed a group of officials and rich people from the rivers and lakes, and went to a tea shack on the ferry. Sit down, and then come to greet.

"Your Excellency is a local, and your surname is Zuo?" Zhang Xing was surprised for a moment.

"It's not Zuo from Zuo Gangzhu's family, it just happens to be in the same village with the same surname." The Taoist smiled wryly when he heard this, obviously because he had experienced many similar questions.

"Speaking of which, what is the origin of the Zuo gang leader's family?" Zhang Xing continued to ask indiscriminately.

"This kind of thing can be answered by anyone who finds us in Xiapi or even near Xuzhou in the southern section of Pengcheng." The Taoist replied seriously. "The ancestors of Zuo Gangzhu's family were our local big men in Pengcheng County. In their generation, the three brothers can make a fortune, so they are more dignified... Zuo Gangzhu is the boss, and he is called Zuocaihou; the second child is called Zuocaihou General, he is a master of alchemy, nicknamed Ziwujian, he is used to wandering around, and usually doesn't care about things; the third child is Hei Shou, the local resident of Pengcheng County, called Zuo Caixiang."

"The name is quite interesting." Zhang Xing said with a smile. "What about your Excellency?"

"Me?" The Taoist was surprised for a moment.

"Yes." Zhang Xing answered seriously. "What is your name? What is your origin? What is your cultivation?"

The question was too straightforward, Zhou Xingfan couldn't help but glance at Zhang Xing, but Qin Bao, who had never heard of it, was just drinking tea.

"I... I am called Zuo An. I am the same village and surname as Zuo Gangzhu, but I don't have such a good fate." The Taoist smiled wryly. "When I was young, my family was dilapidated, and it happened that the Qingdi Temple took in people, so I was sent to the temple to support me. The temple gave me a dharma name, called Zuoyou. I was enlightened and built a foundation in the temple. I sent it to the temple in the East China Sea, and now I managed to connect the eight meridians, so I couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to go home to show off, but when I returned home in the middle of this year, my home was lost in Yang Shen's chaos , so I wandered around here for half a year..."

"My condolences to brother Zuo." Zhang Xing cupped his hands slightly and continued to ask. "Then dare to ask Brother Zuo, what demands do you have this time?"

"Demands?"

"Not bad." Zhang Xing answered seriously. "I see that you brought the news here, and then came to see my family with the leader Zuo for inspection... I have been dizzy for half a year, and I want to seek refuge with the villagers for a safe life, or I want to find a place to advance and make a future ? These are all human nature, if you have an idea, just say it directly, we are definitely willing to help."

"I..." The Taoist was nervous for a moment, and then laughed dryly again. "I didn't think too much about it, I just came from above Huanshui and gave a message to my fellow countrymen by the way."

Zhang Xing was stunned, and then nodded: "Brother Zuo is quite righteous... Then how about Huan Shui's upper reaches?"

"There are several troubles. The giant whale gang in the lower reaches of Xiapi County and Pengcheng County is not bad. The upper reaches of Pengcheng County are in chaos. There are many bandits seeking money and food by virtue of the shallow water in winter. As for the big troubles, the main In Qiaojun County, there are several large villages in Dangshan, Jishan, and Yutoushan, all united together, controlling the upper half of Qiaojun's water interception section, and the momentum is great." Zuoyou said earnestly.

Zhang Xing nodded again and again: "I know, I know, as soon as the cottage comes out, food is just another way of saying, and now it's winter again, even if I know it's a death, I have to try... I understand what you mean, Who let us transport food?"

Zuo You repeatedly nodded.

But this time, Zhou Xingfan didn't dare to say anything, but Qin Bao took a look at Zhang Xing.

At this point, he said a few more words about local conditions and customs. Seeing the leader of the Zuo gang carefully get off the boat, Zhang Xing also stopped talking, turned around and went up to meet him. The other three naturally followed suit.

"Left leader."

Zhang Xingyao cupped his hands. "What did you say to my family inspector?"

"It's just a meeting. Seeing that 'Yi Tian Jian' is here, I feel relieved. I will set sail immediately and try my best to send the brothers from the seven counties in the southeast to Huanshui before tomorrow morning." Zuo Caihou responded with a smile. "I also hope that this trip will go smoothly and not delay the official duties of the brothers from Jiangdong Seven Counties and Jing'antai."

"That's good." Zhang Xing also smiled. "We also talk about it neatly here... It's a pity, brother Zuo You is so righteous, but he doesn't try to repay it, it really makes me feel ashamed."

"Don't worry, Zhang Sanlang." Zuo Caihou said and walked down, speaking with a smile. "This is what our Long Whale Gang said, and I will naturally thank you."

"That's only Boss Zuo's." Zhang Xing shook his head, but turned his head to look at Qin Bao and Zhou Xingfan on the pier. "Qin Erlang, go to the boat and pick out a good horse and a good knife; Xiao Zhou, go to the official boat behind and fetch 20 taels of silver...and give it to this left righteous man."

When the two of them heard the words, they didn't care about anything, and went directly to the boat. The officials, heroes, gangsters, and Lifu on the surrounding docks had already started making noise—the dog in brocade clothes seemed to want Boss Zuo to come out with this message The reward is silver, but unexpectedly it is still generous.

It's really a cold hair on the waist, and it's thicker than ordinary people's thighs.

But Zuo You was stunned for a moment, and wanted to decline.

Seeing this, Zhang Xing turned his head back and stopped: "Brother Zuo must not refuse, you are certainly a high-minded person, but haven't you heard the story of the gentleman who redeemed people in the ancient kingdoms of the Eastern Region in ancient times?"

As he said that, Zhang Xing talked about the 'allusion' of Zi Gong redeeming people, and then he bit Zuo You: "You can accept it with confidence, this move is to reward you for your righteous deeds, not for your people, don't you?" Saying that you are from Boss Zuo's village and your brother, you are a Dongyi spy, so don't delay your message to reward, otherwise, if there is any trouble in the future, who will tell us?"

By this time, Qin Bao and Zhou Xingfan had already come down, and each of them presented a gift of thanks, while Zhang Xing just bowed his hands, and boarded the boat with the two of them.

On the other side, amidst the sound of tsk-tsk, with the wave of the left boss, the huge fleet finally began to slowly turn towards the mouth of the Huanshui River.

Let’s just say, now that the Jinyi Patrollers will not get a reply from Taichung for a while, they can only bite the bullet and do it, especially when they are about to turn into a narrow inland river and may encounter bandits, they have to drive A small meeting... It was called a meeting, but it was just a general breather. After gathering information from all aspects, it was decided that Bai Yousi's fleet would be in the middle, Hu Yan's fleet would be at the tail, Li Qingchen would be at the head of the fleet, and Qian It is a simple strategy for Tang and Zhang Xing to lead seven or eight cavalry each to cover the left and right wings on land.

Among them, Zhang Xing was ordered to cover the right wing, that is, the east bank of Huanshui, and Qin Bao and Zhou Xingfan were among them.

But that night, before the second half of the fleet entered Huanshui, Zhang Xing and Qian Tang had already led their respective teams to leave Xucheng Wharf, and entered the wilderness with the first half of the fleet.

At this time, the young Mr. Zhou finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"Brother Zhang."

Beside the bonfire, Zhou Xingfan, who had just gone to the boat to fetch food, asked seriously in a low voice while manipulating the food. "Is there something wrong with Zuoyou?"

"Almost." Spreading out the paper, Zhang Xing, who was fiddling with charcoal pencils, responded calmly. "A master at the Eight Meridians stage, even though he is only the lowest level master, he is still a master. He is too obedient to us, and he doesn't ask for anything. Besides, the origin is unknown. He said he was the boss of Zuo. My fellow countryman, but his family disappeared during the war, and there is no proof. More importantly, our fleet just arrived, and he came from the upper reaches. I said there was food in the boat, and the thief had to fight for the food. Yi Wu Reli's Youdao seems to have known it a long time ago... I am not surprised at all."

"It turns out that the third brother has known for a long time that the food is deliberately tested." Zhou Xingfan heaved a sigh of relief, and looked at Qin Bao who had been silent all this time. "Second brother Qin has already seen it?"

Qin Bao smiled honestly and didn't say a word, just helping the other party to start boiling water and rice.

Zhang Xing just nodded perfunctorily, and began to try to draw on the paper.

Seeing this, Mr. Zhou became more and more relaxed, so he couldn't help adding firewood to the fire while continuing to say: "So, we are actually loosening the outside and tightening the inside. How to guard against thieves, Zhang Sange and Bai Xunjian, And Big Brother Hu and Second Brother Qin, they should already have plans, right?"

Zhang Xing finally looked at Zhou Xingfan with a strange expression on his face, making the other party feel terrified.

At this time, Qin Bao seemed to be a little helpless, and lowered his voice to ask: "Third Brother, do you really care?"

"It's not that I don't care." Faced with Qin Bao, Zhang Xing naturally wanted to be honest, so he put down the pen and paper, feeling helpless. "The current situation is that the team is so big and the fleet is so long, we only have a group of [-] or [-] people, and we can't manage a lot... Especially since everyone has made a fortune, as long as there is a word from Zhongcheng, who is willing to do it for those counties? Officials take the responsibility? My own team is full of ghosts, the county, the Jinyiqi, and the whale gang, if they don’t agree with each other, how can they do things? Besides, with such a large group of bandits, I’m afraid it depends on the attitude of the local military town. Row."

"The key is..." Qin Bao gritted his teeth. "There is one thing, I can't get over this threshold in my heart."

"Food?" Zhang Xing blurted out.

"Not bad." Qin Bao sighed. "What if the food is robbed and the court asks the seven counties to make up for it?"

"Then I'll ask you the other way around." Zhang Xing answered seriously. "You know that the Central Plains has suffered wars this year, and you also heard today that in Qiao County, a little far from the imperial court, there are cottages on several mountains... Are the people in the cottages more innocent than the people in Funiu Mountain? Some? It’s winter, aren’t they hungry? If food is robbed by them, it’s not a human life?”

Qin Bao hesitated for a moment, and continued to speak seriously: "The third brother's words are reasonable...but once the seven counties are re-levied, the officials will do their best, and coupled with the road problem, the actual consumption will be more than the food on the ship; And here, are they thieves? The people in the den of thieves were good citizens before, but how can they be good people if they become thieves? Nine out of ten are not working... I was pitiful in Funiu Mountain before. Those people, because they didn't lose their crops."

"What you said is more reasonable." Zhang Xing listened carefully to the other party's words, and nodded repeatedly to show his agreement. "So aren't we still trying to protect the fleet as impartially as possible? Besides, Qin Erlang, since you said that, I still have two new questions for you."

Qin Bao immediately stood in awe, and sat by the fire, cupping his hands: "Third brother, please tell me."

Mr. Zhou, who had already been dumbfounded, couldn't help being awed.

"The seven counties will be requisitioned again, and the officials will do their best, even including the road consumption you mentioned... Is it supposed to be like this?" Zhang Xing responded quietly. "Also, how did the thieves on the mountain in the hinterland of the Central Plains get here? Who forced them not to produce? Didn't they want to honestly let the men farm and the women weave for their own food?"

Qin Bao hesitated to speak, and could only lower his head sadly.

And at this moment, the three people by the fire, plus the other four patrol riders who had been listening by the side of the fire, almost all raised their heads, because they clearly heard that someone stepped on the dead branches around the fire. , and that is a simple guard they put specially behind the tree.

Of course, it could also be a rabbit.

But after a while, there was no movement at all, and I don't know if the rabbit froze suddenly.

"Catch it back." Zhang Xingduan didn't move, but continued to fiddle with his charcoal pencil with his head down. "If there is trouble in the back, just blow the whistle, please inspect and shoot."

PS: Good night everyone, go to bed early today, work hard on the last working day!

(End of this chapter)