It wasn't until he watched his brother disappear at the entrance of the fishing village that Jiang Dalong's heart finally let go, he couldn't support it anymore after being hit hard one after another, his legs were weak, his body was planted, and he relied on Zhang Hengqi, who was still desperately withdrawing, to death, but even so, his hands still clasped the other party's arms and refused to let him go.

Zhang Heng was also moved by his desperate action to protect his brother, and his movements couldn't help but slow down a little. The other bandits on the boat were completely stunned after seeing their big leader killed, and by the time they all came to their senses, the officers and soldiers had already outflanked them from the left and right, making it difficult for them to have a chance to escape.

As for the other water bandits in the rear, they completely lost the opportunity to resist and escape in the desperate situation of several times the siege of the officers and troops and the sinking of their own ships, either because they tried to resist and were killed, or they were captured by the officers and soldiers after falling into the water. This gang of water bandits, who had been plagued by Jiangzhou for more than a year, was finally completely wiped out with the death of their leader, Jiaojiang and the great dragon.

However, the pursuit of them by the official army did not stop because of this, and after learning that some people took advantage of the chaos to return to the fishing village, Lin Henian decisively ordered to search the village, and all the relevant bandits must be arrested, so that no one can slip through the net. With this order, more than 100 Xiang troops who came later rushed into the fishing village and searched this small fishing village in an all-round and carpet way.

The fighting power of the Xiang army may not be worth mentioning, but at this time it also showed their dutiful side, even if the village was still blazing at this time, they did not neglect in the slightest, and went to every house that had not collapsed, every corner of the village to find a place to hide. And their efforts really brought a lot of gains, and soon there were two boats, and more than a dozen wounded water bandit remnants were tied up and brought out. They took advantage of the chaos to escape into the village first, but there was no way back for them to get out of this village, so after some hiding, they could not escape the search of the officials and soldiers.

The last thing to be brought out was a middle-aged man who was dressed completely different from the bandits here and looked like a scholar, but because he was temporarily in a coma, the soldiers didn't know his identity, so they could only bring people out first.

But when this person was brought to Lin Henian and someone took water to wipe the soot and dirt off his face, Lin Dujian's face changed suddenly, and he couldn't help but exclaim: "Why is he here?" ”

Sun Tu was also on the side at this time to ask someone to identify the prisoners who were brought out, but there was Jiang Shihu, the second leader of the fierce Jiaojiao who escaped from Zhang Heng's men, and when he heard this exclamation, he also looked over and asked with concern: "Eunuch, who is this?" ”

"This person's name is Cheng Jichang, he is a Confucian merchant in Jiangzhou City, he was once a guest of Yuan Zhoutui, and he is rich, how could he fall into the hands of these bandits?" Lin Henian revealed the identity of this person with a suspicious face.

Sun Tu, on the other hand, showed a thoughtful expression, and immediately beckoned to a few water bandits who were already honestly bound, pointed to Cheng Jichang, who was still unconscious, and asked solemnly: "You recruited him from the truth, why is he here?" ”

After several water bandit minions looked at each other a few times, one of them said tremblingly: "This is our leader's honored guest, not kidnapped by us. ”

"What?" Lin Henian suddenly changed color, his face was full of disbelief, but Sun Tu thought of something at this time, and continued to ask calmly: "Is he your leader who went to Shazhou Island yesterday to meet?" And then shortly after he arrived, did you make this series of arrangements? ”

"No...... Yes, how could the general know so clearly? The minion looked at Sun Tu with some surprise. The latter didn't pay attention to what he meant at all, but looked at Lin Henian, who also had a complicated expression: "Eunuch, it seems that Xia Guan's previous speculation is correct, this person is the culprit who passed on the movements of our official army to these bandits, so that they can set a trap against us!" ”

As soon as these words came out, Lin Henian hadn't reacted yet, the other officials and soldiers were already angry, and the short-tempered ones were about to cut at the unconscious Cheng Jichang's body directly, but Sun Tu quickly stopped him with a knife: "Stop it, there is another inside story in this matter, everything has to fall on this person, and no one can touch him!" ”

Now Sun Tu is not only in the township soldiers, but also in the Xiang army has established a certain prestige, as soon as this statement came out, those angry soldiers finally did not make another move, just stared at Cheng Jichang angrily, and more people fell on the body of Lin Dujian who was still a little dazed, and he had not been able to recover from this shocking statement.

"Lin Du Jian ......" Sun Tu waited for a moment and didn't see his reaction, then shouted again: "This person can carry an extremely critical truth, how should we deal with it?" ”

"This ...... Sun Tuanlian, what do you say? Lin Henian's heart is completely messed up, if it is really as Sun Tu said, the problems involved behind Cheng Jichang will be big. This Cheng Ji Chang's status is not low, there are few people in Jiangzhou City who can support him to do such a thing, no matter which one of them can be offended by a small six-rank military attache of a certain person in Lin, so he subconsciously pushed the problem back.

Sun Tu sighed in his heart, the military attache of the Great Song Dynasty has been suppressed by civil officials all the year round, and his spirit has long been lost, even if he may have extremely key witnesses at the moment, the top local military attache like Lin Henian only wants to take himself out, but he has no responsibility at all.

Since Lin Dujian doesn't want to wade into this troubled water, then let his grandson lift the lid on this muddy and foul smell. Sun Tu wanted to get this, and immediately said: "Xia Guan thinks that he should be taken back to Jiangzhou and handed over to Taishou for careful investigation. I think that there were only a few people in the entire state government who knew about the arrangements and movements of our officers and troops before yesterday, and as long as he pried his mouth open, it would be difficult to quibble about the real culprit behind the scenes that caused the Jiangzhou bandits. ”

"That'...... Then do what Sun Tuan wants to do. After a little hesitation, Lin Henian nodded in response. However, his face was a little ugly, because he had already vaguely guessed something

Not only him, but Sun Tu has also deduced the truth behind this matter from what he said just now, but now it is difficult to announce it in front of everyone, so now he just decided to take this key witness to Jiangzhou for interrogation.

After the problem of Cheng Jichang was solved, the last few soldiers who had searched around the fishing village also came back in boats, and they brought out a large number of bandits' belongings, but there was nothing more valuable.

Seeing this, Sun Tu's brows furrowed even more: "Isn't that water bandit leader named Jiang Shihu still missing?" ”

"If you go back to the group training, the little ones have already searched the whole village, even if some horns and closed boxes are opened, they still can't find the leader of the bandits."

"Sun Tuanlian, the little ones have also looked for it in the village, and there is no place to escape from it...... such as a secret passage," Seeing that Sun Tu's expression was not good, another person opened his mouth to explain.

"Sun Tuanlian, it's just a fish that slipped through the net, why take it too seriously." Lin Henian had already calmed down at this time, and said with a smile: "Today, we have completely wiped out the fierce Jiao gang of water bandits, can he make any more waves if he escapes alone?" If you really don't feel at ease, you can ask the yamen to post pictures and graphics on him, even if he really gets out this time, it won't be long before he will be caught. Now that the whole army is exhausted, it is not a matter of continuing to be delayed here because of one person. ”

Sun Tu looked around, and sure enough, both the village soldiers and the Xiang army under his command were already tired, after all, they had been running around fighting since they left the city last night, and they were all at the end of their crossbows. He could only sigh lightly: "That's it, if that's the case, then let's return to the state city and report to the Taishou for their victory." ”

As soon as these words came out, they immediately won a burst of cheers from all the soldiers, and then under Lin Henian's order, all the horses regrouped, escorted the hundreds of captured water bandits, happily turned the rudder, and returned to Jiangzhou City, more than 20 miles downstream.

Even the officers and soldiers of this war against bandits also paid a heavy price, the township soldiers alone lost nearly 50 people, and the Xiang army suffered nearly 200 casualties due to poor combat, and also made an important thief leader Jiang Shihu missing, but this time after all, it was a change from the previous consecutive defeats, and the water bandits were suppressed, and even their leader Jiang Dalong had been given the head, which was enough to make all the soldiers who participated in the war feel proud of themselves.

Therefore, when the fleet returned to the Jiangzhou wharf in victory, and saw some people and colleagues waiting there, some people shouted loudly: "Our army has won a great victory, and all the gang of water bandits and fierce Jiao have been wiped out, and the bandit leader who turned over Jiangjiao was killed on the spot, and there are no more bandits in Xunyang River!" ”

The words spread far away to the shore, first causing everyone above to be stunned, and then the crowd erupted in cheers. The original worries and uneasiness completely dissipated at this moment, and the one who reacted quickly had already hurriedly turned around and ran back to the state city, running all the way, and loudly announcing this good news all the way: "The official army has won a great victory, the water bandit has been completely exterminated, and the leader has been awarded the head of the river Jiao!" ”

When these people shouted and ran into the city, the entire Jiangzhou City, which had been suppressed for a long time, was completely boiling, some people cheered, and some people pulled the people around them to ask loudly about the truth of this statement, and everyone's faces showed ecstasy, because this is undoubtedly a great joy for all Jiangzhou people, and the dark clouds that have been pressing on everyone's heads are finally about to disperse!

When an errand officer rushed to Cai Jiu with a face full of ecstasy and said good news to Tai Shouyu, his hand, which had always been steady, shook, and a full cup of tea soup was splashed on his official uniform. But he completely ignored these, and hurriedly walked to the outside of the official hall: "This official will go to the city gate to greet the triumphant army!" ”

On the wharf, when the ship finally docked, and the soldiers got off the boat with excitement and pride on their faces and met with their fellow people there, a figure carefully and slowly slipped from the back of the handsome boat into the river, it was the Jiang Shihu with a resentful face, no one would have thought that he who seemed to have fled into the fishing village before would kill him from the water at that time, and then hid in the stern of the handsome boat tightly guarded by the officers and soldiers, which is the reason why those officials and soldiers turned over the entire small fishing village but still could not find its trace.

Youdao is the most dangerous place, but sometimes it is the safest!