Twenty miles south of Hexi Town, the Jialing River makes a big bend here, winding and extending many small rivers and bays, which are not on the main channel and will not pass by ordinary merchant ships.

In a large bay in the middle, there are more than 40 large and small ships docked at this moment, including both three-masted ships that can carry hundreds of people, and two-story boats that can only carry dozens of people.

On the largest of them, on the three-masted ship, Zhao Sizheng, the leader of the Bailongzhai water bandits that Liu Ximing and the others had seen in Dingyuan County last time, was standing next to a big man with a respectful face.

This big man has bronzed skin on his face, two thin scars at the corners of his eyes, and a wide lion's nose, and is obviously a person who begs for a living on the water all year round.

"Big brother, this business is done, and it is enough for my brother to eat for a long time, should we go where to be happy and happy when the time comes? Hey, hey, hey. ”

Yu Yongkai should be able to recognize it if he is here, this man is Wu Lin, the big boss of Bailongzhai, and the one who said these obscene words is the former third master and the current second master Shu Yong.

Speaking of which, Shu Yong should also be grateful to Liu Ximing, if it weren't for his shot on the river in Dingyuan County, he would probably have to be his junior obediently, which is like now under one person and above a thousand.

Wu Lin glanced at Shu Yong, and scolded with his head and face, "You idiot, you know every day that you want to think about that thing in your crotch, this fucking battle is not over yet, all give Lao Tzu a little warning, these people of the Liu family are not good at stubble, have you forgotten the old ghost Lei who was sunk by the Fort of Hexi Town last time." ”

Shu Yong's face was full of embarrassment, he was in the second position, and he had to be scolded as a turtle son as before, which was really a little unhappy, but people had to bow their heads under the eaves.

He sneered, "Lei Lao Ghost knocked on the door before they even found out, and it was stupid to die if he died, this time it was the eldest brother you went out in person, plus our two thousand brothers, it must be a hand-to-hand capture." ”

Wu Lin heard this and wanted to scold again, so many brothers are present, there are you who the hell said bad things about the dead brothers, but thinking that he would have to fight a tough battle later, don't make any more trouble, he took it back when the words came to his mouth, and glanced at him with slanted eyes without saying a word.

Zhao Si stood aside and looked at Shu Yong with some disdain, this guy didn't have much ability, if it weren't for the fact that he had followed the big boss for the earliest, where would it be his turn to take this position.

Thinking of the third position deliberately vacated by the big boss, Zhao Si's heart was hot, he was the henchman of the second master, and his subordinates were now holding the original people of the second master, if he didn't come to sit in this position, who could still sit it.

He was about to say a few words to highlight himself, when a shout came from the shore: "Big boss, Qi Meng and they are coming." ”

Wu Lin immediately commanded in a deep voice: "Send a boat to pick him up." ”

With a "plop", a small boat was lowered on the main boat, and two bandits rowed the boat towards the shore.

After a while, Qi Meng and the others climbed onto the main ship along the rope ladder.

"I've seen Master Wu."

"Hmm", Wu Lin nodded expressionlessly, "How is Hexi Town now?" ”

Qi Meng glanced at his own people, and replied with a smile: "Congratulations to the big boss, this ticket will make a lot of money when you sit down, and now there are more than a dozen cargo ships of merchants parked in the town, Lao Qi, I went to inquire, there are as few as seventy or eighty thousand taels of goods, not to mention the goods in the town." ”

"I'm not asking this", Wu Linli ignored the ecstatic expressions of his subordinates, as if he hadn't heard what Qi Meng said, "How is the situation in the Inspection Division?" ”

"Ahem", Qi Meng was a little uncomfortable being stared at by Wu Lin, "The Inspection Department is still the same as before, it is estimated that there are more than 300 people, all of whom are staying in the compound. ”

After speaking, he hurriedly instigated Wu Lin to say: "Big boss, it's getting dark now, in order to avoid a lot of dreams at night, why don't you pull the anchor and set off now?" ”

"You don't have to worry about how I go, are you sure that the people in the Inspection Division are defenseless?"

"No, no, what can I do with it."

Qi Meng was a little weak when he was asked by Wu Lin at this time, but thinking of the consequences, he immediately became firm again, Liujiacun is so far away from here, how can he know it.

Wu Linxu squinted his eyes and glared at Qi Meng for a long time, and finally waved his hand and ordered: "Come on, pass the order, and raise the anchor!" ”

"Brother Qi, you stay on my boat, and wait until you get to Hexi Town."

Wu Lin didn't care whether Qi Meng and the others were willing or not, he raised his eyes and motioned for a few of his subordinates to take them to the cabin to stay.

Zhao Si waited for Qi Meng and the others to walk away before he said a little depressedly: "This Liu family has picked up a cornucopia, so many people have gathered in such a short period of time, there were only more than 100 people in Hexi Town last year, and now there are more than 300 people, what a fucking evil." ”

"Hmph, just wait until someone is caught and interrogated carefully, if there is really any good treasure, let's go to Liujia Village again, pass on the order, don't kill them all, especially that Yu Yongkai, it's useful to keep him."

"Yes, big boss, I'll arrange it." , Zhao Si didn't wait for Shu Yong's reaction, he directly took the words, turned around and went down to arrange.

When Bailongzhai opened, it was nearly three o'clock, and the sky had already darkened at this time, and there were basically no other ships on the Jialing River, only more than 40 boats in their line went upstream.

"Big boss, it's almost there."

Wu Linzheng was sitting on the bow of the boat with his eyes squinted to recuperate, and was suddenly woken up by Zhao Si gently shaking twice.

"Put out all the fires, as previously set, Zhao Si, you and I will lead people to rush from the dock, and we must not let these people run away. Second, you come ashore from the south and bring down those two batteries to distract them. ”

"It's all for Lao Tzu to listen to, and the main thing is to break up their team later, if someone only cares about grabbing things, don't blame Lao Tzu's knife for being polite."

"Yes", Wu Lin was murderous when he said this, and the water bandits shuddered and replied.

The fleet of Bailongzhai was divided into two in the darkness, Shu Yong led more than 500 of his men towards the bank of the river, while Wu Lin and the others still touched the wharf of Hexi Town.

Because of the discovery of clues in advance, Yu Yongkai arranged for Longxiang Camp to extinguish all the lights in the wharf and other places early, leaving only a few horse lanterns hanging on the streets of the town, and the dim lights kept swaying in the cold wind, giving Hexi Town a strange sense of tranquility.

The inspection compound is located directly opposite the port, which must be used as the main defensive area, and Yu Yongkai is on guard here with 240 people.

At the same time, there were two concealed batteries at each end of the harbor, each with two four-inch eagle guns, covering a 150° angle in front of them, with a total of 40 gunners.

Because they didn't know where the enemy came from, Yu Yongkai and Zhang Jingliang discussed, and arranged two 60-strong troops on both sides to defend them, and cooperated with the antlers to resist the horses and other things, and it should be no problem to insist on coming to the side of the compound to support.

When it got dark, the soldiers of the Longxiang battalion began to clear the interior of the town according to the warning regulations, and all the townspeople and former merchants were told to stay at their homes or inns tonight, otherwise they would be caught and punished by the inspectors.

Zhang Jingliang was staying in the southern fort to observe the movement on the river, and from time to time he picked up the monocular made by the Ordnance Bureau to look at the river.

Ma Weiwei was in charge of commanding the fort, and when he saw Zhang Jingliang constantly looking towards the river, he muttered: "Regiment commander, this dark piece, you always look at something, can you really see what you can't do." ”

Zhang Jingliang was speechless for a while, the second brother had often done this before, and he looked very majestic, he was just learning from it, who knew that Ma Wei was so uninteresting.

"Shhh

"Whoa"

As soon as the conversation in the fort quieted down, Zhang Jingliang heard a slight sound in his ears, "Listen, does this look like the sound of rowing?" ”

Ma Wei leaned over to the firing port of the turret and listened carefully for a while, then nodded at Zhang Jingliang in the dim light, "It's a bit like, what should I do, let's have an incendiary bomb?" ”

The incendiary bomb is also a newly developed artillery shell of the Ordnance Bureau, the shell is filled with half of the explosive and half of the white phosphorus, when the shot is in the air, the explosive explodes and ignites the white phosphorus, which can illuminate a large area, but the power is a bit great, if it hits the wrong place, it will be miserable.