The people of Hai'an also pay attention to feng shui, whether they are building a house or burying their ancestors, they must ask Mr. Yin and Yang to see feng shui. But the land is the life of the people, whether it is a large family or an ordinary farmer, if someone in the family dies, they are reluctant to bury in a good land, most of them are buried by the river, and the ancestral grave is not as important as the northerners.

There is a cemetery on the river port at the junction of Tianjiazhuang and Hujiashe, there are new graves buried in the past few years, and more old graves have been buried for more than ten or even decades. Some of the graves were buried at the bottom of the slope, and the river embankment was constantly collapsing due to the rain, and the decay and even collapse of the coffins were clearly visible when boats passed by here during the day.

The north bank is the Liujiadun of Qilidian, it is said that there were several families earlier, and later because the dead people on the south bank were buried more and more, those families did not dare to live anymore and moved away one after another, and the same as the south bank became a cemetery, and this area gradually became a famous "chaotic gate" (mass grave) within a radius of dozens of miles.

There were too many dead people buried, and the yin qi was too heavy, and the people in the vicinity not only did not dare to live along the river here, but also did not dare to work until too late in the fields on both banks. The river harbor was overgrown with reeds, and because they grew in the wrong place, almost no one dared to cut them back to make mats or make fires.

The reed-covered river is barely enough for boats, and five or six miles to the southwest is a large east-west river, and on the south bank of the river is Rugao County.

Li Zhaoshou passed by here for the second time, lying in the cabin with his eyes closed, listening to the sound of firecrackers in the distance, yawning and saying: "This section of Rugao is easy to walk, but it is a little troublesome to enter the river." When the time comes, see if the gate is good, if it is not good, go around a section, find a closer place to carry the salt through. ”

"Big brother, you mean to carry the salt to the river?"

"You can't do a hammer deal, and if you can't use a knife or gun, you can't use a knife or gun." Li Zhaoshou turned over, and said listlessly: "Third child, when the time comes, you will go through the lock with the boat, and I will go with the salt, and then find a place to meet when the ship crosses the lock and enters the Yangtze River." ”

"It's okay, there's nothing to be afraid of when you wait until you get to the river."

……

As he spoke, there was a rush of footsteps on the shore.

Li Zhaoshou went to the shore in the afternoon and took a turn, remembering that the nearest house was three or four miles away from here, thinking that the suspicious ghost had heard it wrong. Just as he was pondering whether to go out and have a look, there was a "dong dong" drum sound from the shore, and the drum beat was so rapid that it made people tremble.

"Brothers, copy guys!"

Li Zhaoshou realized that something was wrong, and he didn't even bother to put on his clothes, so he picked up the musket in his hand and got up, but climbed to the bow of the boat to see, the north and south banks were faintly full of human figures, and he was about to ask what way to deal with it, when there was a fire on the north bank, and he saw a figure rushing down the river embankment with a torch, and then there was a gong sound of "clang.

"Listen to the people on the boat, the yamen is on an errand, and they will be arrested before they are tied!"

"The official is going to catch the thief, and he doesn't put down the knife and gun!"

"Put down your blade, hold your head and go ashore, dare to make a mess, and kill you!"

Zhang Daring, Yu Youfu, Jiang Huai, and several flood soldiers from the Foreign Affairs Bureau, each led a team of people who were still criminals in the afternoon, and surrounded them from the south bank, and spread out on both sides of the fire on the opposite bank, holding knives, guns, and sticks to reprimand the private lords and boatmen who had just gotten up.

I couldn't see clearly in the middle of the night, for fear of accidentally hurting myself, and in order to deter these private tyrants, Zhang Jingjun and others had a white cloth with the word "soldier" written on their chests. Pan Er and Chu Chenggui had already touched the other side of the river, and together with Bao Zheng and Jia Chang of the three villages, they led the young men gathered in the evening to beat gongs and drums, bluffing.

It is worth mentioning that when Pan Er was in the capital, he not only donated an official but also bought an official uniform, which he deliberately wore tonight, brandishing an oxtail knife, and shouted at the top of his voice: "If the people on the boat hear it, they will be captured if they don't tie their hands, and they will be killed!" ”

"Drive them over here. As for the torches, hurry up and light all the torches, and not a single one of them will run away! Chu Chenggui was extremely nervous, but he still shouted.

Li Zhaoshou finally saw clearly, there were many people on the south bank, but there were more people on the north bank, and while signaling his subordinates and boatmen to quickly untie the cable, he held a gun and shouted: "The lord on the shore, the little one is just passing by the treasure land, and he doesn't want to cause trouble." Can you raise your noble hand and let go of the small horse, the small one will be rewarded. ”

Zhang Daring clearly saw that the bandit leader had a shotgun, and hurriedly kicked the green battalion soldier from Taizhou, and then hid to the side and shouted: "Officers and soldiers catch thieves, it is a matter of course, less nonsense, put down the shotgun for Lao Tzu!" ”

Li Zhaoshou couldn't see the shore clearly, and was about to let his subordinates fight with these officials, when suddenly there was an explosion, only to hear the third child standing in front of the left scream and crash over, and he was also knocked off the boat by a stumbling and fell into the river with a pop.

"Bang!"

The Green Battalion fired a second shot, and three more smugglers who were about to support the boat were overturned.

Zhang Daring didn't know how many muskets the privateers had, so he didn't dare to hesitate any longer, brandished his knife and shouted: "Brothers, give it to me!" If anyone dares to resist, call me to death. ”

"Kill!" Ma Guozhong's blood was boiled by the rapid drumming, and the officers and soldiers were victorious, and several of them were knocked down with two shots, and their heads rushed down the river embankment one by one.

Chen Jingjun was hesitating, and the two behind him also rushed down, thinking that Master Han was beating the drum behind him, he didn't dare to rub it anymore, and hurriedly raised his stick and rushed to the nearest boat.

"Fight, fight with these dog officials!" Realizing that it was impossible to hold the boat away, one of the salt barons slashed at the night that rushed in front of him, and was about to deal with the second one, when suddenly it was dark in front of him, and he was knocked unconscious by a man who rushed down diagonally.

"Sixth, you guys go to the west, don't crowd all here!"

"Brothers, follow me!"

Liu Daring confirmed that all the salt boats were here, and when he saw that the illegal salt on the third boat in the east was getting more and more fierce, he actually killed from the boat to the shore, and immediately rushed over with a knife.

Han Xiufeng, who was beating a drum in front of a grave, also realized that he could only suppress the private tyrants and kill, and he must not let them fight back to the shore, otherwise this gang of splashes who could only fight with the wind would easily collapse, and hurriedly said: "Big head, you also go over, hurry up and help Master Zhang!" ”

"Fourth brother, what should you do when I'm gone?"

"What time is it, less nonsense."

"Okay."

The big head didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore, so he picked up the flat shoulder and rushed to the east.

The private lord on this boat was the most difficult to deal with, and he actually cut three or four splashes, Zhang Daring dealt with two by himself, and was wielding an oxtail knife to desperately block, and the big head went down to knock down one of them, and then rushed to Zhang Daring, and took it on the side of the private lord who was screaming.

One force will drop ten.

Although the private tyrant quickly raised his knife to block it, but the whole person was slashed, how could Zhang Daring miss this opportunity and rush forward is a knife......

The officials not only came prepared, but also occupied the territory, rushing from the embankment to the embankment, and the private tyrants who were already caught off guard were some in the narrow bow or stern of the boat, and some were standing in the cold mud, and the leader was thrown into the river by a shot.

Han Xiufeng desperately beat the drum to cheer up his subordinates, and there was not a single guard around him, Xu Lequn was really nervous just now, and he didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the few private lords who killed from the boat to the slope were cut down by Datou and Zhang Daring.

Pan Er was still banging the gong desperately on the other side, and the young man he and Chu Chenggui found were still holding sticks and shouting desperately on the riverbank, and the splashers who had rushed to the boat were red-eyed, and they couldn't tell who was the private lord and who was the sailor in the middle of the night.

"Bang!" The green battalion soldiers loaded the gunpowder iron sand, and saw a few private thieves who wanted to run away and shot again.

The gongs and drums were noisy, shouting and killing, and the sound of happy moans was endless, and Han Xiufeng was also experiencing this situation for the first time, and he was nervously beating the drums desperately, as if the drumsticks were not beating cowhides but private stalks.

"Master Zhang, the three boats here have been taken."

"Go over there, there are two more people over there who don't want to die!"

"Brothers, go!"

……

Xu Lequn saw it clearly, and couldn't help but turn around and say: "Master Han, Master Han, it's done, I didn't expect that the private scoundrel here would be vulnerable!" ”

"Taken them all?" Han Xiufeng asked, but his hand still didn't stop.

"The boat was all taken, and several people seemed to have run away, some of them went to the reeds, and some took advantage of the chaos to run to Tianjiazhuang."

"Order, don't chase after the poor."

"Okay, I'll go and call Master Zhang."

Han Xiufeng put down the drumstick and walked down the embankment, and then the torch that had just been lit brightened, only to see that the reeds on the embankment, especially the side of the boat, were full of people, some were motionless, some were holding their arms and legs or rolling with a headache, the river was all stained red with blood, and the people standing such as Zhang Daring, Datou and Jiang Huai were full of blood, and almost all of them were bloody people as far as the eye could see.

Zhang Daring wiped the blood off his face, and said with palpitations: "Master Han, I didn't expect that these dogs also have shotguns!" ”

"Where's the gun?"

"Two poles were found on this boat, one pole was found on that boat, and one rod was held by the bandit leader, and the bandit leader fell into the river, and I let the fourth child fish for it, and I don't know if he is dead." Zhang Daring took the private spear from his subordinates, and raised it in front of Han Xiufeng and said: "Master Han, look at it, this is a flintlock gun from the tap fire, and at a glance, you can know that it was bought from a foreigner, which is not only shorter than the shotgun of our green battalion, but also sharper than the shotgun of our green battalion. ”

"Fortunately, if you do it at night, if you do it in broad daylight, you may not be able to take down these salt lords."

"Yes, these dogs are ruthless, and we have a lot of casualties like this."

Han Xiufeng relieved himself and hurriedly said, "Hurry up and save people, save our people first!" See how many have died in battle, and carry all the dead to the shore. ”

"Master Han, why don't you let Pan Er and Chu Chenggui bring Qingzhuang over and let them save people and collect their bodies. I ran away a lot just now, but I haven't found the bandit leader yet, I haven't seen anyone alive, and I haven't seen a corpse when I'm dead. We'd better guard the salt ship first, just in case they kill us. ”

"Well, you have to be careful." Han Xiufeng climbed onto a salt boat and shouted at the opposite bank: "Changsheng, Chenggui, I will let the first two boats cross the river, you all come over." ”