Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 434 82 Bingyan controls strong Chu-2

Zhao Xingde and the others worked fast, Xiaoxing stayed overnight, and finally arrived in Luzhou as scheduled. A medium-sized merchant ship belonging to Fuhaihang was already waiting at the pier.When the Yangtze River is still dry in early spring, many reefs are 'exposed' to the water, and ships follow the turbulent river water with their sails flowing down.The boatman’s chant on the waterway and the ape’s hooves in the towering mountains rose and fell one after another. From time to time, there were several clear chirps of eagles in the canyon, which excited Du Chuijiao and other northern soldiers. Regardless of the cold wind in the river, they stayed on the deck most of the time during the day. Watch the river view.

Most of the rivers pass by the cliffs washed out by the river for thousands of years. If you look around, the top of the mountain is still covered with snow, and the forest below the mountain is already full of greenery.Because of the steep and steep mountains on both sides of the strait, the traffic between central Sichuan and Jiangnan depends entirely on this river. It is extremely fast from the upper reaches to the lower reaches, and slower to the upper reaches from the lower reaches. Sometimes trackers and mules and horses are required to drag the merchant ships.In addition to merchant ships and fishing boats on the river, bamboo rafts are also used to carry goods from time to time.Occasionally, I met a warship patrolling the river from the Kingdom of Shu. The merchants on the ship handed in the tax stamps completed in Luzhou for inspection, and the trade officials let them go.The goods in this ship are mainly old wines that are a specialty of Luzhou. Due to the difficult road to Shu, the cost of transporting grain is high. Over the years, the old grains are used to make wine, and they are transported along the river to the south of the Yangtze River for sale. Goods such as silk and satin were transported back to Shuzhong.If these wines have not paid the tax burden of the Song Dynasty, they are counted as bootleg alcohol, and sometimes they are also counted as bootleg wine if they have paid taxes.Zhao Xingde was also a merchant at this time, in order to avoid trouble, they trafficked Shu brocades down the river, Du Chuijiao, etc. and several Shuzhong sergeants pretended to be his buddies.

After the boats entered the section of the Three Gorges, they could only see the cliffs on both sides of the river, facing each other like a wall. There were few people in the mountains and only apes' hooves were heard.At this time, the reefs in the river flow appear and disappear from time to time, and sometimes the ship seems to rush straight towards the river, smashing into pieces, and passing by the reefs with the river flow at a critical moment.The mountains on both sides of the strait are emerald green, dangerous peaks are cut, sometimes they are like stone pillars springing up, sometimes they are like screens, sometimes they are like bells, and sometimes they are like pen holders.The river is fast-flowing, accompanied by raging waves roaring, the river water is like broken Qiong'chao'yu, the water foam splashes directly towards the boat, and the continuous mountains are changing and retreating quickly.

Du Chuijiao and other sergeants felt a little seasick, but the boatmen and merchants on board were calm.Zhao Xingde lamented: "The narrowness of the river here makes it difficult for the navy to fight against the heavy artillery from both sides of the river. The ship will suffer heavy losses. It is almost impossible to attack these lofty mountains one by one on land. The Xia Kingdom only controls the Three Gorges natural barrier, and the southeast has become impregnable."

After the great river rushed out of the high mountains and valleys like a herd of galloping wild horses, the mountains on both sides of the river gradually opened up, and the river gradually became gentle. Du Chuijiao and others breathed a sigh of relief, while the boatmen and merchants became nervous.After the ship left the Three Gorges, it undoubtedly entered the border of Song State.Generally speaking, the merchants who often travel on the river, the Jiangling Navy of the Song Dynasty, and even the powerful and powerful bandits along the river have a little friendship.The so-called people die for money, and birds die for food. The more violent the time is, the greater the profit from trafficking goods. Merchants all know that the Liao soldiers invaded the south, the southeast is in chaos, and the news of bandits is rampant. While earning a lot of money, he became uneasy.

Relying on the honor of the boss of the ship, the merchant ship successfully passed the investigation by the Navy of the Song Dynasty. It stopped in Jiangling for one night, and then sailed down the next day. , the water color is boundless, the dark clouds hang low in the sky, and it gradually starts to rain, causing countless ripples on the gentle river.It is not suitable to sail in the rain, so the merchant ships anchored on the north bank of the river.Zhao Xingde was not as anxious as before when he thought that once the ship passed Dongting, it would soon arrive in Ezhou.He lit a lamp like a bean in the cabin, and while thinking, he wrote down the general structure of the Ezhou Military Quartermaster Mansion on paper.He heard that Yue Fei was a man of "nature" and ordered his autobiography. Except for firearms, he should not like too many others to intervene in military affairs.Zhao Xingde also had no intention of competing with him for military power.But the three armies have not moved, and the food and grass go first, so I can spend more time on solving military supplies.He thought Yue Fei was a talented general, as long as he had soldiers and food, he would sooner or later beat the Liao army to pieces.Personal gains and losses are secondary.

It rains at night in Xiaoxiang, and the raindrops are pattering.Suddenly, Zhao Xingde frowned, and put down the 'mao' brush.There were bursts of women's cries coming from the bank, and it seemed to be mixed with the cries of children. It was intermittent in the sound of rain, but it lingered all the time.He stood up, and went to the boat boss with Du Chuijiao and others to find out about the situation.

The merchants on board the ship all gathered in the cabin, everyone looked at each other, no one spoke, some looked suspicious, some looked worried.Chuanlao Avenue may be people crying on the bank of the river, or it may be a trap set by robbers to deceive curious or lecherous passers-by on the river. False accusation of abducting people, or robbing a ship within.In order to prevent the thieves from cheating, even though some people on board felt sympathetic, they did not dare to lend a helping hand.The cabin was as quiet as if there was no one there, only the faint cries on the shore could be heard, which made one's hair stand on end.The boss of the ship advised the merchants to turn off the lights as much as possible, so as not to be seen by the thieves.Zhao Xingde also turned off the oil lamp, he took a deep breath, looked out from the porthole, he could only see the occasional rain on the river, and there was a pitch-black patch on the bank, so he couldn't see anything.

To prevent accidents, several people in the entourage gathered in the cabin where Zhao Xingde was.Zhao Xingde, Du Chuijiao, Liu Zheng, plus Shi Jingkui and other three Shu soldiers, there are only six people.Everyone took out the short crossbow weapon and put it beside them, and sat cross-legged quietly, the only sound in the cabin was the sound of breathing of varying lengths.About three quarters of an hour later, Ruoyou Ruowu's crying finally stopped, and everyone just breathed a sigh of relief.Suddenly there was loud shouting and killing, the torches flickered wildly, the light of fire and the light of knives, and the drizzle was extremely messy.

"Not good," Shi Jingkui's complexion changed drastically, "I have encountered a water bandit. We must kill them quickly!"

Zhao Xingde nodded, all the sergeants hurriedly stood up and ran towards the outside of the cabin.This cabin is at the stern of the boat, and the boat is parked on the shore, and everyone only needs to get into the water to swim up to the river bank.Water bandits usually don't chase after fleeing guests because they want the goods on board.However, as soon as he got out of the hatch, Zhao Xingde found more than a dozen water bandits on the poop deck, and more people continued to climb up.Seeing Zhao Xingde and the others, the thieves shouted together, each raised their weapons and rushed towards this side, a dozen arrows swished and shot through the wind at the same time.

"Kill!" Du Chuijiao slashed away the oncoming arrows, and kicked the water thief in front of him to the ground with a kick of his front legs.The water bandits didn't expect there to be such a group of evil gods on board, although there were a large number of them, they were caught off guard, and were immediately overwhelmed by Zhao Xingde and the others.However, this water bandit was very fierce, and after recovering, more accomplices gathered to kill them here.Due to the disparity between the number of people and the widows, Zhao Xingde and others had no intention of fighting, so they rushed to the side. Shi Jingkui, Wu Zonglian and Xu Dingshan used Zhuge short crossbows to force the thieves back temporarily.

"Jump!" Zhao Xingde gave a low shout, and patted Du Chuijiao and Liu Zheng on the shoulders, and they jumped into the water with a plop.Du Chuijiao and Liu Zheng are also water-savvy, after they entered the water, they swam desperately to the shore with Zhao Xingde.Behind them, Shi Jingkui and other three soldiers also jumped into the river in a normal way.

Although the river bank is not far away, there are more pirates around the merchant ship, and Zhao Xingde and others escaped from the merchant ship.The pirates didn't approach by rowing boats, but jumped into the bitterly cold river water from small boats one after another. Some even skilled swimmers saw the direction of Zhao Xingde and the others. There was a scuffle in the water.Although Zhao Xingde and the others knew water, they couldn't compare with these water bandits who lived in the rivers and lakes all year round. Soon, they were captured one by one, and they all drank a lot of river water. The water bandits got back the merchant ship and tied it up.

"How dare you hide your crossbows and shoot our brothers in the village? Who are you?" a middle-aged water bandit shouted sharply.He was a heavyset man with a faint scar on his forehead.A bandit next to him shouted: "Slaughter these fat sheep, dig out the hearts and livers and fry them." As he said this, he used a short knife to pick apart the robes of all the soldiers.The robes of Du Chuijiao and others were soaked by the river water. At this time, many old scars of old knives and arrows were 'revealed'.The faces of the water bandits changed drastically, and several of them shouted louder: "It's the spies of the government army!" Kill them! "

With a "pop", a leather bag fell from his arms.The water bandit leader's face moved slightly, and he ordered someone to take the leather pouch.He read the letters in Zhao Xingde's leather bag one by one, first slowly and then slowly, his complexion changed several times.Zhao Xingde suddenly felt remorse, only hated not destroying this thing.There was no Xia Guo's military secrets in the bag, but there were several letters between him and Chen Dong, including the strategy for setting up the Military Supply Office.In addition, there are a stack of articles written in the past and a few Fuhai Xingjiaozi.

"Brother Lu, what is written on it?"

"Is it a spy from the army?"

Several water bandits asked, but the leader surnamed Lu raised his hand to silence everyone.For some reason, the water bandits didn't dare to talk nonsense, they just sharpened their knives and glared at Zhao Xingde and others viciously.Most people thought that the village owner must have discovered the vicious treachery of the officers and soldiers, and after the interrogation was over, they started to dig out the hearts and livers of these spies first, and then threw them into Dongting Lake to feed the fish.

The leader surnamed Lu inspected the leather bag, and then walked in front of Zhao Xingde, and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Zhao Yuanzhi?"

Zhao Xingde remained silent, although he did not admit it, but the leader of the water bandits confirmed his guess from his expression.

The leader's eyes were full of shock, and he immediately bowed down and said: "Lu Mingyu of Yuezhou, almost killed my husband, Lu can't resign if he dies, please come down and punish him!" He was in a trance. Under the circumstances, he only knelt down to plead guilty, but forgot to untie the rope from Zhao Xingde's body.Many water bandit leaders in the cabin, together with Du Chuijiao and other sergeants, had bewildered expressions on their faces and eyes.