Pirate Song

Liu Zhixian also felt a headache about this matter, and he also understood that what Gao Huaiyuan said was indeed the truth. Now the lake pirates are rampant. After stealing the throne, there is no guarantee that he will not be punished for ineffective handling, which will be a great disadvantage to his future career!

But if you want to suppress the bandits, you need someone with money and food supply. He has no place to solve this matter, which makes him feel quite embarrassed. Now that Gao Huaiyuan has a solution, he hurriedly asked: "Gao County If Wei has any clever plans, you might as well tell them quickly!"

"This matter is not difficult to deal with! This kind of matter is not only a matter of our Daye County, the matter of the Lake Pirates is also a matter of the prefect of Ezhou, and Ezhou is currently busy with pre-military affairs, so it is certain that there will be no troops. To encircle and suppress the lake pirates, my lord only needs to report this matter to the magistrate, and ask the magistrate to send people to suppress them. If the state government can't send people, it is natural to give the lord an explanation, and the lord might as well ask the state government to send some people. Qian Liang, our Daye County sent people to do this, so wouldn't it be convenient to solve the matter of Qian Liang?

As for the manpower, it is easy to say, the twelve townships now have a lot of township braves, this time only 20 people came from each township, and asking each township to send dozens of township braves is enough to deal with the lake robbers, the officials are willing to stay In Marsh Mountain Township, I personally led the army to fight against the lake pirates. As for the money and food, I am afraid I will trouble my lord!If it doesn't work, this time we suppress the bandits, we can also ask the big households in Zhashan Township to pool some money and food, and use it for military supplies. I guess this is also done for them, and they will not be stingy!

I don't know if my lord thinks the method of dismissing officials is feasible? "Gao Huaiyuan then said his way.

Liu Zhixian is also a person who has been in the officialdom for a long time. After listening to it, he immediately understood Gao Huaiyuan's meaning. After summing up, he immediately said: "Lieutenant Gao is young and promising. I didn't think of such a way. , I think this matter is feasible, so I will do it according to your method first, and I will leave this place to you to deal with. I will return to the county and send someone to report this matter to the prefect, and ask him to make a decision! As for the mobilization You can deal with the matter of manpower at your own discretion, but I am not as good as you about the matter of marching and fighting, so it is more appropriate for you to handle this matter with full authority!"

Although Liu Zhixian is not an upright official, he still has self-knowledge, knows what to do, at least he never tells Gao Huaiyuan what to do with swords and guns. This is also Gao Huaiyuan's luck. Otherwise, it would be difficult for him as a magistrate to do his job as a county magistrate if he encounters a magistrate who must do everything by himself and pretends to understand!

After the two settled on this matter, Liu Zhixian got up in a sedan chair and went back to the city, and handed over all the matters here to Gao Huaiyuan. Wu Zuo also finished the autopsy here and left a detailed record, and then returned to the city to assist Liu Zhixian Report to the magistrate of Ezhou, so Gao Huaiyuan became the number one person in charge here.

However, Gao Huaiyuan still couldn't think of a good way to deal with the pirates in Niangzi Lake, so he first arranged for archers and village warriors to help the people in Jinjia Village bury the bodies of the victims and help them take care of the funeral. After these people entered the village and saw such a tragic scene, they were all filled with righteous indignation. Many angry people pointed to the lake in the distance and cursed, vowing not to give up with those lake robbers.

It took them two full days just to deal with the funeral of these victims. During these two days, since they were not regular troops, they naturally did not have tents and other supplies. Gao Huaiyuan could not let so many people lie in bed Lian Tiandi slept in the sky, so he temporarily borrowed the houses of some people in Jinjia Village in the village to house these brave archers temporarily, and sent people to Zhaoshan Township to recruit the local Lizheng, senior elders and others to serve these brave archers To prepare food, let's solve everyone's eating problems first.

At any rate, he settled down first to deal with it. In two days, Gao Huaiyuan sent the leaders of the bow and arrow clubs in each township to return to their hometowns, and notified the Lizheng and household heads of each township to organize the brave men of the bow and arrow clubs in the village. Going to Zhaoshan Township to listen to it, and at the same time returning to Daye County, Liu Zhi County is not bad. He sent someone from the county government warehouse to transfer a batch of grain to Zhaoshan Township for Gao Huaiyuan's use, and finally relieved Gao Huaiyuan temporarily. Urgent.

While doing these things, Gao Huaiyuan also ordered Zhou Jun to send someone from Crouching Tiger Village to transfer Zhao Tong and other capable personnel. Gao Huaiyuan was not at ease. The real elites could only be regarded as his subordinates in Crouching Tiger Village. In addition, the fifty archers under the county government Guo Liang and the village braves from the Gaojiazhuang Bow and Arrow Club could act as the main force. The rest of the village warriors were not well trained, so they could only be used as auxiliary soldiers. In this way, a temporary team was built first, and some preparations were made in advance for the next step to suppress the bandits. It's good for the subordinates to accept the tempering of actual combat again.

It is impossible for such a movement to act completely covertly, and the lake pirates have been active in this area all year round, and there must be many eyeliners for them to inquire about the news. Let these lake thieves calm down and stop committing crimes in a row. The second is to let the local people see the determination of the government this time, and try to win the hearts of the people as much as possible for the next action.

However, Gao Huaiyuan was still at a loss as to how to deal with these lake pirates who were haunting the Niangzi Lake. Speaking of it, Niangzi Lake is not too big, but if you calculate it, it is still not small. The width is tens of miles, the lake covers hundreds of thousands of acres, the entire watershed area is thousands of miles large, there are countless ports and branches along the coast, and there are many scary places for lake robbers to hide. With this amount of power, trying to wipe out all the lake pirates in Niangzi Lake is undoubtedly like looking for a needle in a haystack.

What is more difficult is that the lake pirates are very familiar with the terrain here, and they are good at using boats to come and go on the lake freely. People don't live in the area of ​​Niangzi Lake. Although they have the advantages of human harmony, they are completely at a disadvantage in terms of geographical advantages.

After receiving Gao Huaiyuan's order, Zhou Hao rushed over with a group of young Zhuang Ding, and Zhao Tong brought more than a dozen well-trained dogs to cooperate with Gao Huaiyuan's bandit suppression operation. .

Speaking of Zhao Tong's hound team, Gao Huaiyuan has spent a lot of money and invested a lot of money in the past year. He sent people to collect all kinds of fierce dogs from all directions for domestication. Ferocious dogs were bred, and a batch of paparazzi had been born before the Spring Festival last year, and the batch of hounds brought by Zhao Tong this time were selected from among them, and these dogs were all urinated and accepted strict regulations by Zhao Tong and others. The training is no longer comparable to ordinary dogs. Although the ferocity is far less than that of the world's best bulldogs like Tibetan mastiffs, it is much more powerful than ordinary dogs, whether it is tracking, attacking, or lurking. They all have their own strengths in attacking, sneak attacking, and guarding, and they are really powerful. Most people want to get close to them without a little courage. Even Gao Huaiyuan felt a little scared when he saw a large group of such guys!

Speaking of these hounds, Zhao Tong took them into the mountains for training a few days ago, and encountered a pack of wolves. As a result, a pack of dogs did not lose against a pack of wolves. In the end, they drove away the pack of wolves and won a big victory. It really made Gao Huaiyuan happy.

So this time Gao Huaiyuan asked Zhao Tong to bring a group to help the battle, and it must have played a certain role. The arrival of these dogs was very new to the townsmen, and many people used things to tease these dogs. Dogs, as a result, the hounds turned a blind eye to things that were not given to them by their owners. They didn't even look at them, and only ate the food given by their owners, which surprised many people.

When Zhou Hao and others arrived, the affairs of Jinjia Village were basically dealt with. Gao Huaiyuan saw that the village here was too small to accommodate too many people, so he led his troops to move to a remote village south of Zhashan Township. In the abandoned temple not far from the lake, it is said to be a temple built in the Tang Dynasty. However, after years of wars, the incense gradually faded away. In addition, the officials of the Song Dynasty court mostly advocated Taoism, and the temple was even more The incense is not strong, so no one takes care of it all year round, and it becomes an abandoned temple.

Fortunately, there are still some houses in the monastery that have not collapsed and can be temporarily occupied by people, so Gao Huaiyuan set this place as the headquarters of the bandit suppression command, and also used it as a barracks, which solved the problem of their residence and reduced the impact on the local people. harassment.

After finishing these things, Gao Huaiyuan really had time to sit down and think carefully about how to suppress the bandits. He still trusted the people around him for such things, so he sent Zhou Hao, Jia Qi, Zhou Jun, Xing Catcher, Guo Liang and others called to his residence to discuss how to deal with the lake pirates.

"To be honest, my lord, this time the matter is much more difficult than the previous ones. These lake pirates have existed in this area for a long time, but they have not been able to completely remove them. Five years ago, Ezhou water The army also specially sent a battalion of water troops to search and suppress them in Niangzi Lake, but in the end they could not completely solve them, but suppressed their momentum. If we come to encircle and suppress these lake pirates now, I will There is no good solution!" Xing Tutou, as the old local snake on the ground in Daye County, first expressed his views on this matter, and there was a sense of helplessness in his words.

"Catcher Xing, don't weaken our morale first. You couldn't deal with those lake bandits before. You may not be able to deal with them with Gao Xianwei. With Gao Xianwei here, who are we afraid of!" Guo Liang said immediately. Rebuttal Xing Butou said, as if he was flattering Gao Huaiyuan.

"Guo Liangxiu wants to say that! What Xing Butou said is reasonable. This time the matter is indeed very difficult. I don't have a good way to deal with those lake pirates right now. That's why I called you over to discuss and find a good way. To deal with them, although things are not easy to do, but we have to do it, otherwise, I am really sorry for those people who were harmed by the lake pirates! It can only make those lake pirates go on rampantly and unscrupulously in the future! So no matter how hard it is Let’s do it, we can’t back down this time, the solution depends on people, no matter how powerful they are, they are just a bunch of gangsters, and the people’s hearts are on our side, so I don’t believe we can’t deal with them!” Gao Huaiyuan stopped their dispute , and spoke to the crowd.

"My lord! At present, the lake pirates are haunting the lake. It is not an option for us to stay on the shore like this. First we have to solve the problem of boats. Otherwise, we don't even have boats. Even if we stand Seeing the lake pirates on the shore, there is nothing you can do! From a small perspective, we should raise ships first! Then go into the water to search for those lake pirates, and after finding their lair, send troops to wipe them out in one fell swoop!" Zhou Hao standing aside Speaking out, out of habit, he almost called Gao Huaiyuan the eldest brother in public, but fortunately he changed his words temporarily and changed it to an adult.

Gao Huaiyuan nodded: "That's a good point. It's not enough to deal with lake pirates without a boat. I'll make a note of this in advance. I'll discuss it with the Lizheng and senior elders here. There are many fishing villages nearby. Let's borrow some fishing boats first! "

"It's probably not enough to have fishing boats alone. Although most of the people we have on hand are water-savvy, driving a boat is another matter. Water warfare is different from fighting on land. I'm afraid it won't work if you don't have good hands to control the boat! It's best We can still gather a large number of fishermen to help us with their boats, otherwise, we still have a lot of people and we are no match for water thieves!" Judge said, shaking his head.

Gao Huaiyuan thought about it too, if he wanted to come and go freely in the lake, he didn't need a boat alone, he needed someone to drive the boat, otherwise it would be useless!So I made a note of this matter and prepared to postpone it for a later date.

"The matter of ships and people is not a big problem. The news of the massacre of the people in Jinjia Village by the lake pirates has spread in this area. The people can say that they hate their actions. It is a matter of people's will for us. The biggest advantage, but our problem right now is, how can we find these water thieves, and then wipe them all out, at least we must kill them to be considered a success, lest they come back again once we leave! The key question is How to find them must be solved first!" Gao Huaiyuan said what he had been thinking about for the past few days.

After listening to the question raised by Gao Huaiyuan, everyone immediately spoke to themselves and put forward their ideas. Zhou Hao simply commandeered a large number of fishing boats and searched the lake with a net until he found the water thief's lair, but Xing Tuo shook his head and disagreed. What he did was to offer a reward for revealing the location of the robbers in the lake, while Guo Liang proposed to send a group of people dressed as fishermen to spread them into the lake to find out the whereabouts of the robbers.

Gao Huaiyuan sat there, frowning with Jia Qi and listening to everyone discussing this matter, frowning, sometimes nodding and shaking his head, and finally interrupted everyone's discussion, and said: "I think the best way to do this is to search the lake surface in a large area first. No way, our manpower is limited, and the surface of Niangzi Lake is very large. After hundreds of people scatter into it, it is nothing at all. Moreover, even if we encounter thieves with such a large-scale search, the thieves have already died or are hiding. , If we don’t confront us head-on, in the end we will have to work in vain, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Even in the New Year, we may not be able to search the entire lake area, so this method will not work!

As for the reward that Xing Butou said, it is more feasible. There are many fishermen around the lake area. Maybe someone knows the hiding place of the thief. With a heavy reward, there is no guarantee that there will be something.

As for sending people to go to the lake as fishermen to investigate, that's another way, but it's dangerous. If you encounter lake pirates, if the people you send out don't respond in time, you will be in danger!It is feasible, but it is necessary to select bold and careful people to do this thing!

Right now we don't have a better solution, so let's do this for the time being. If we want to deal with these water thieves immediately in a short time, I'm afraid it will not be easy, so let's stop here first!

Zhou Jun, on my behalf, go to Zhaoshan Township and find the Lizheng, Household Head, and Senior Elder in this area. Also, I am asking about the old people who are most familiar with the situation in the lake. Can you please invite me? , find some too!

Xing Butou, together with Yasi, write some reward announcements. I will give out two hundred guan as a reward first. Anyone who can provide the hiding place of the water thief and verify it is true will be rewarded!

As for the manpower here at the moment, divide up two teams first, Guo Liang arranges for two people to lead a team, Zhao Tong and you also cooperate, bring a few hounds along the shore of Niangzi Lake, patrol the shore, and visit as much as possible along the coast See if you can find any traces of water pirates!

Now we are in the open, and the water thief is in the dark. Please pay more attention to the situation and collect as much information about the thief as possible, then we will discuss how to deal with it! "

Gao Huaiyuan began to arrange this matter separately. Although he failed to discuss how to solve the lake pirates, he first asked his subordinates to take action. Otherwise, sitting here and thinking of a solution is not the way to solve the problem. Get up and talk!

After everyone listened to the order, they immediately started to go down and get busy. The people assigned by Gao Huaiyuan immediately left the temple according to Gao Huaiyuan's instructions, and started to act separately.

Gao Huaiyuan called together the heads of bow and arrow clubs in various townships and distributed them. Since Dong Qiang performed very well this time, Gao Huaiyuan specifically named Dong Qiang and asked Dong Qiang to stay by his side and act as one of them. The deputy uses it, and the heads of other townships follow Guo Liang's command at any time.

Guo Liang divided the archers into two groups, and Zhao Tong also took the hounds he brought this time with the two groups of archers, and searched for the hatchback along the lakeshore, and the entire bandit suppression operation was officially launched.

And the rest Gao Huaiyuan took Guo Liang, Dong Qiang and other club leaders and organized them together. Otherwise, based on their current cooperation, once they encounter organized thieves, they may suffer a big loss. of!

And Dong Qiang suddenly found Gao Huaiyuan at night, entered the door and clasped his fists at Gao Huaiyuan and said, "Master County Captain! I'm not talented, but I have a way to deal with those water thieves as soon as possible!..."