A triangular area in the border area of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, due to the Mekong River flowing through here, cutting off the surrounding lofty mountains, coupled with numerous deep valleys and turbulent tributaries between the mountains, resulting in countless canyons and cliffs, forming a large area of traffic blind spots, including the northern part of Myanmar Cicada, Kochin and Wa, Thailand's Chiang Rai Province, the northern part of Chiang Mai Province and Laos Luang Namtha Province, Phongsali, There are more than 3,000 villages and towns in Oudomxay province and the western part of Luang Prabang province, which is known as the Golden Triangle.

The Golden Triangle region belongs to the tropical rainforest climate, such a climate and environment, is very suitable for the growth of opium and other drug plants, the sun is abundant, the precipitation is abundant, here to sprinkle the seeds of drugs, they can grow freely without management. In addition, the Golden Triangle region is located on the border of the three countries, with convenient transportation and a very advantageous geographical environment, and it is difficult for the relevant countries to carry out in-depth or effective control over the Golden Triangle region for a long time, creating an excellent place for all kinds of separatist forces, regional forces or national armed forces to survive and maneuver.

Since the 20th century, there have been many famous drug lords in the Golden Triangle, and for a long time, there have been many rebels and other drug forces active here, so it is also known as the "adventurer's paradise". For example, Kunsa, Luo Xinghe, Peng Jiasheng, etc. In order to produce and sell drugs, these drug lords have organized a group of well-armed local armed forces to openly confront the central governments of Myanmar and Thailand. The complex geography, the complex peoples, and the deformed forces have created an excellent stage for the mystical stories staged here.

The Mekong River waterway that Ren Pingsheng will pass next is the only way to reach the Chinese border through the Golden Triangle, whether it is from Saigon in Vietnam or Bangkok in Thailand, the end point of this waterway must pass through the Golden Triangle, without exception.

Although the Golden Triangle is notorious for its danger and chaos, Ren Pingsheng also has his reasons for choosing to take this path. One reason is that the big drug lords are a thing of the past, in the late 70s and early 90s of the 20th century, due to the Myanmar, The second reason is that it is very close to the Chinese border, due to history and war, a large number of Chinese have fled abroad, and they have survived in the Golden Triangle, there are many Chinese living in the local area, many people can understand Chinese, and merchants and residents accept RMB transactions, which is a rare advantage for Ren Pingsheng, who is alone on the road.

Therefore, Ren Pingsheng spoke Mandarin in Chiang Rai Province unimpeded, and soon rented a Chinese boat "Huaxing" at Chiang Saen Pier, and after settling the cost of the Thai driver, the "Huaxing" set off with Ren Pingsheng and his medicines, and continued north along the Mekong River to the Golden Triangle.

"Huaxing" is a domestic bulk cargo ship, registered in China, hanging the flags of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, a total length of 35.3 meters, 7 meters wide, 3.1 meters deep, a carrying capacity of 180 tons, powered by diesel, has been 10 years old, perennial in the Mekong River Golden Triangle for transportation, mainly freight-based, taking into account some individual passengers.

The crew of the "Huaxing" has five people, all of whom are from Xishuangbanna Tai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, China, and the captain Huang Weihua is 35 years old this year, but he looks about the same as 40 years old, his face is full of traces of wind and frost, black and thin, and his eyes are vigilant.

Among the other crew members, a thin woman of about 30 years old with a yellow complexion was his wife, her name was Li Yan, her facial features were of obvious Thai descent, and she mainly cooked and cleaned on the boat; two 18-year-old young men were his sons, one named Huang Shunfa and the other Huang Shunwang, although these two young men were not tall, but they looked lean and powerful, but their exports were vulgar. There is also a bald and fat middle-aged man, his name is Wang Jianxing, he is the engineer on the ship, and Huang Weihua's fellow countryman, and they have been sailing together for more than ten years.

Huang Weihua has been shipping on the Mekong River since he was 19 years old, and has been walking on this waterway for more than ten years, saving some money through thrift and thrift. It wasn't until 3 years ago that Huang Weihua and Wang Jianxing took out a loan to buy the "Huaxing", because they were shareholders, in order to repay the loan as soon as possible, so the whole family was on the boat to help, every day and every month, running back and forth on the Mekong River, just to pull a few more trips and make a little more money.

Ren Pingsheng chose the right person this time, Huang Weihua is very familiar with the Golden Triangle, under his leadership, the boat went very smoothly, one day and one night, "Huaxing" has gone out of the Thai border, into the territory of Myanmar, stopped at the 10,000 pump wharf, replenished fuel and drinking water and continued to set off, in front of the legendary Mae Kong River on the most dangerous waters - Meng Xitan.

When he was at the Wanzhu Wharf, Ren Pingsheng saw that a large number of warships had gathered here, and although the ships were covered with tarpaulins, Ren Pingsheng could still see the outlines of artillery and machine guns, and this was an armed inland river patrol boat, so how could it be concentrated here? I had not heard the news of the recent war in Southeast Asia, and Ren Pingsheng was a little puzzled, so he took a few more looks.

He found that these ships did not belong to one country, and some of them had Thai written on them, and some of them had Lao and Burmese written on them, and the armed ships of these countries were converging in the Golden Triangle at the same time. However, the existence of these ships made the atmosphere at the Wanzhu Wharf very tense, and if it weren't for the fact that the "Huaxing" was a Chinese cargo ship, it would not have been able to dock here.

Taking advantage of the supply of the "Huaxing", Huang Weihua pulled Ren Pingsheng aside and told him with a worried face that there has been a lot of unrest in the Golden Triangle of Burma recently, and within 40 kilometers around Mengxitan, there are often river bandits and militants haunting, and many cargo ships have been robbed, and Huang Weihua has been robbed three times in the past six months, although there are no casualties, but the cargo owner and the ship owner have suffered a lot of losses.

Ren Pingsheng asked him what he could do, and Huang Weihua gestured with his hand to count the yuan, saying that it was to break the fortune and eliminate the disaster. Ren Pingsheng thought to himself, you know that this area is dangerous, so what are you doing with my goods, are you colluding with Jiang bandits and slaughtering me as a lamb together.

Although he thought so in his heart, he couldn't say that, Ren Pingsheng still politely asked Huang Weihua to help him drive the boat and lead the way, and try to avoid the Jiang bandits, if he couldn't avoid it, he also had a way to deal with it.

Huang Weihua had a sad face, looked at him for a while, then stopped saying anything, and went to the ship.

Huang Weihua estimated that he really regarded Ren Pingsheng as a fat sheep, but Ren Pingsheng knew in his heart that of the 250,000 yuan he brought out, the trip from Mumbai to Bangkok and Bangkok to Chiang Saen had already cost 100,000 yuan, and it cost 50,000 yuan to charter the "Huaxing" for a trip, and he only had less than 100,000 yuan left.

But no matter what, the voyage still has to continue, and Ren Pingsheng can only fight on his own.

After departing from the Wan Pump Wharf, the course of the Mekong River began to deepen, the surrounding waters gradually narrowed, and from time to time there were some shoals waiting for ships to enter the net, and the speed of the "Huaxing" dropped significantly.

Ren Pingsheng stood on the side of the ship of the "Huaxing" and observed the river, on both sides are towering peaks, strange rocks are craggy, like the teeth of a giant beast, the narrow river channel is locked in it, "Huaxing" is like a prey that throws itself into a net, sailing towards the mouth of the beast alone, the grass and trees on the mountains on both sides are flourishing, from time to time there are birds singing and beasts crying, I don't know if there are thieves and ghosts hiding inside, it is terrifying.

I don't know if Ren Pingsheng is lucky, or Huang Weihua's superb skills in taking charge of the boat, "Huaxing" after crossing a few bends, did not see other ships approaching, the mountains on both sides of the river are also quiet, Huang Weihua's expression relaxed slightly, he obviously increased his speed, wanting to get out of this dangerous water area as soon as possible.

Seeing that the water area in front of me is gradually widening, and the height of the peaks on both sides of the river has also decreased, there are more than ten grass huts scattered on both sides of the river in front of me, which looks very strange.

Ren Pingsheng was about to ask a question, Huang Weihua happened to see it, his face suddenly changed, as if he had seen something very terrible, he turned his head and shouted a few times to the cabin, Li Yan, Wang Jianxing and Huang Weihua's two sons rushed over, and they moved many cement slabs from the bilge together, carefully blocking both sides of the ship.

Seeing Ren Pingsheng's puzzled look, Huang Weihua told him that these grass huts were built on bamboo rafts, anchored and fixed by underwater anchors, and there were actually many people hidden in them, and a grass shed was estimated to accommodate about 5 people, these people were armed bandits, who often carried out robberies in this section of the river, and the grass huts were actually the "barracks" of the militants.

Huang Weihua remembered that the last time the "Huaxing" drove from the Chinese border, there were no straw huts on both sides of this section of the river, but today it suddenly appeared, and it was very likely that there were Jiang bandits in ambush, and he asked the crew to prop up the cement slabs, also to guard against the Jiang bandits' shooting.

Sure enough, Huang Weihua's worries quickly turned into facts, when the "Huaxing" sailed into the river between the grass sheds, suddenly from the grass sheds on both sides of the automatic rifles stretched out a dozen automatic rifles, dense bullets like a torrential rain towards the "Huaxing", fortunately Huang Weihua had already prepared, erected a cement board retaining wall, but those bullets also shot the cement board full of holes, barrage flying.

Ren Pingsheng and the crew hid in the cabin, listening to the bullets hitting both sides of the ship like beans, all of them were sweaty and hairy, and they were frightened, Li Yan hid next to a small Buddha shrine in the cabin, her eyes were closed, her hands were folded, and she was chanting words in her mouth, begging for the blessing of the Buddha and Bodhisattva, Wang Jianxing and the two young men were also as pale as earth, only Huang Weihua was calm, he gritted his teeth, did not look away, and maintained the "Huaxing" to continue to move forward.

Fortunately, due to the effect of the cement slab, the Jiang bandits' shooting did not cause much damage to the hull, and seeing that the "Huaxing" was about to sail out of the range of bullets, Huang Weihua's face also relaxed, and then Huang Shunfa hurriedly ran up, shouting: "They are coming, they are chasing." ”

Ren Pingsheng ran to the stern of the boat to take a look, and then there were 3 more speedboats on the water, where this kind of long-tail speedboat passed, it brought up a long white wave on the water surface, making a loud whistling sound, which was very scary from the momentum, and they were extremely fast, easy to move, and soon shortened the distance with the "Huaxing" a lot.

"Throw it, throw it. Huang Weihua shouted at the crew while increasing his horsepower.

Before Ren Pingsheng could react, several crew members lifted the cement slab that had played a big role just now, and threw it into the river "plop, plop", it turned out that Huang Weihua wanted to reduce the weight of the hull so that he could speed up to get rid of these speedboats.

After the cement slabs were thrown, the diesel turbine of the "Huaxing" also maximized its horsepower, and the speed of the ship suddenly reached more than 40 kilometers per hour, which opened the distance between several speedboats, and Ren Pingsheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that the "Huaxing" was about to die, suddenly two speedboats appeared on both sides of the waterway in front of them, rapidly approaching at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour, and the Jiang bandits on the speedboat held automatic rifles and fired a burst of strafing, knocking off the porthole glass of the "Huaxing" a lot, Huang Weihua and others were afraid of being shot, so they had to crouch on the deck, no one controlled the boat, the speed of the ship dropped a lot in an instant, and the speedboats behind also caught up.

Ren Pingsheng complained again and again in his heart, this is over.