After a while, the gathering of manpower was not enough to deal with the private tyrant, and Zhang Guangcheng must be in a hurry.

Thinking of the best time to smuggle salt out of the salt field on Chinese New Year's Eve, the first day of the new year, the second day of the new year, and the third day of the new year, and the best fighter plane to investigate smuggled salt, Han Xiufeng was also anxious, because the fighter plane was fleeting.

Sure enough, he sent away the family sent by Second Young Master Zhang to deliver the letter, and returned to the second hall to sit down, and not long after that, Zhang Shiheng ran in to report that someone had come to the yamen to find Mr. Xu.

Xu Lequn got up to apologize, went out to meet the people, and then hurriedly returned to the second hall, and said excitedly as soon as he entered the door: "Master Han, I finally found out, those smugglers really want to take advantage of the New Year's Yamen seal to smuggle it." Early this morning, we set off from the waist house, Dongsheng, and Xujiadun almost at the same time, calculate the time, and we should arrive at Erzao at this time, and we will meet with the accomplices who collect salt in Erzao! ”

Han Xiufeng thought to himself that I was waiting for the news of this group of smugglers coming from the canal, why weren't you and the businessmen behind you waiting for this news, you wanted to let this group of smugglers from the canal cover for them. Thinking that the current manpower could only barely deal with one of them, he immediately raised his head and said, "Changsheng, take the map!" ”

"Yes." will be able to justify the "black eating and drinking" immediately, Pan Er's blood is boiling with excitement, and he walks with the wind.

Zhang Daring regretted it, and secretly thought that he had already known that the new inspector was going to investigate the smugglers, not only should he not come to eat this meal, but he should not even celebrate the New Year in Hai'an. Well, now that he knows about this, he has to follow, and if he doesn't follow, it will be a dereliction of duty, and he won't want to do it anymore as an additional commissioner.

It's a blessing or a curse, and it's a disaster that can't be avoided.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and help put the dishes and chopsticks aside.

Pan Er brought the map, and as soon as Han Xiufeng spread out the map, Xu Lequn pointed to the approximate location of the private lords at this time and said, "Master Han, Master Zhang, Erzao is here." I couldn't see clearly at night, and the boat was not safe, so I guessed that they would hide in the harbor near Erzao for the night, and then leave early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon, you will be able to go to the Kushiba River, and you will be able to go to the Benjiaji tomorrow night at the latest. ”

"Mr. Xu, how many boats and how many people do they have?" Zhang Daring asked eagerly.

"Sixteen boats, more than fifty people."

"Shipwrights and sailors are counted in, too?"

"No, if you count the shipwrights and sailors, it is estimated that there are hundreds of them."

Han Xiufeng originally thought that there were more than 50 illegal salt dealers, and subconsciously asked: "Mr. Xu, you didn't say that at the beginning, why didn't you count the shipwrights and sailors at that time?" ”

"Master Han, if there is a ship, there must be sailors, Xu thought you knew, and I really didn't want to hide it." Xu Lequn also realized that this was an oversight, and hurriedly explained: "But you can rest assured, most of the sailors are temporarily recruited by them, and most of them are coolies who run boats, not brave and ruthless outlaws. ”

Han Xiufeng asked worriedly, "You won't fight with us?" ”

"Probably not."

Will be yes, won't be no, what should not be.

But what can be done now, I can only grit my teeth and eat this pot of raw rice, Han Xiufeng took a deep breath, stared at the map and said: "It's not appropriate to do it in Benjiaji, first, it is close to Fu'an, if they find that there is an ambush, they will definitely run to Fu'an, and when the time comes, we can't chase it, and it won't be if we don't chase it." Second, the river is too wide, and the river surface is dozens of zhang, so if you want to do something on the river, you can only recruit civilian boats to fight a water war with them, and our men and horses are not enough, and a water war is not necessarily their opponent. ”

"The Kushiba River is wide, and the salt river is not narrow." Xu Lequn reminded.

"Didn't you say they were going to go to the Yangtze River from the small river on the border between Rugao and Taizhou?"

"Xu said that the Yunyan River is not a Kushiba River. Master Han, look at how many small rivers there are west from us! Yehanzhuang, Mulberry Garden, Jiaogang, Zhangjiaozhuang, Xiucaigang...... As long as they enter the Yunyan River, it will be difficult for us to grasp their whereabouts if they drill into any small river. ”

The Yunyan River is also called the Lower River, and the large and small rivers on the north and south sides are as dense as spider webs. Looking at the rivers on the map that extended in all directions, Han Xiufeng frowned.

Zhang Daring is more familiar with Hai'an than Han Xiufeng, although he has never been in battle, but he is better at this kind of thing than Han Xiufeng, and asked coldly: "Master Han, how many people can you gather?" ”

"Counting your foreign commissioners, we have a hundred people."

"One hundred against one hundred, this battle is not easy to fight."

"Brother Zhang, don't hide it, the investigation of these private tyrants is an errand assigned by the official to the provincial government to pay off the official certificate, and when he met with the Lord of Taiwan, the Lord of Taiwan was assigned to do it in person! So this battle is not easy to fight, but it must be fought, and these smugglers must be won! ”

"Master Han, since it is an errand assigned by the master of Taiwan, can you transfer more troops from Taizhou?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"The more people who know, the easier it is to leak the news."

Zhang Daring secretly thought that he was naturally going to go, but he couldn't lose his life, and made up his mind that if the signs were wrong, he would run, and it was a big deal to take Han Xiufeng with him when he ran, after all, he was the largest court official in Hai'an, and if he died, it would not be easy for anyone.

However, thinking that the smuggler who was about to deal with actually smuggled sixteen ships of salt, one ship can hold 500 stone of salt, and 16 ships are 8,000 stones, which is more than 1.4 million catties. And those salts are private salt in the hands of private lords, but if they are seized, they will be gong salt, and they will be sold to the salt shop at a price that is worth 10,000 taels of silver, Zhang Dadao was a little moved: "Master Han, since we only have this little manpower, we can't do it on the river." ”

Han Xiufeng asked in a low voice, "How do you say this?" ”

Zhang Daring stretched out his finger and dipped a little wine, drew a river on the table, and explained: "We can't beat them in a water battle, and we can only fortify on the shore." But no matter whether it is a big river or a small river, there are north and south or east and west banks. We have a total of 100 men, and we have to ambush half of them on each side, and when they find out that they have been ambushed and have broken through, they will definitely jump over the wall and push the boat to the side, and then they will be 100 men against 50 of us, and we will not be able to cross the river for a while and a half. ”

"Makes sense." Han Xiufeng thought so.

Zhang Daring touched the corners of his mouth, and continued: "They are transporting private salt worth tens of thousands of taels of silver, and they will not easily throw down the salt to escape, and they will not sail at night, after all, it is not safe to sail at night, and if the boat capsizes, the loss will be great." So I think that instead of doing it on the river, it is better to wait for them to do it after they have landed, and run at night, sneak over and surround them, beat gongs and drums to make a strong noise, so that they can't figure out how many of us are, and take them by surprise! ”

"Brother Zhang, you mean to do it at night?"

"Well, you only have a chance of winning if you do it at night."

Han Xiufeng muttered: "But they can't see clearly when they do it at night, and we can't see it either." ”

Zhang Daring said eagerly: "Master Han, we have only a few people in the Communist Party, and this battle can only be fought like this." Even if we get rid of a few smugglers, it's okay, as long as we can find salt. If you want to talk about smuggling salt dealers, there are too many smuggler salt dealers, and those salt officials in the salt works can't catch them, let alone us. ”