Chapter 213: Capturing the Thief Ship

After Zhang Zhimu listened to Zhizhou's words, Zhang Zhimu remembered. There are two warships in Xuzhou that once sent the Yaogang people back to Lingshui Wharf, and they are familiar with the thieves of these two ships. Zhang Zhimu said: "It would be great if someone who understands the situation shows the way. ”

Zhizhou said: "I am worried about this matter, if Zhang Yishi can solve this problem, it is really the blessing of the people and the blessing of the court." All our officers and soldiers in Xuzhou will wish you a helping hand, and our two warships can also be under your command. ”

Zhang Zhimu was so angry in his heart, and said in his heart: "This matter has become a helping hand for me." ”

But with them, a lot of things are much easier to do, because the name is justified.

Leaving the Zhizhou Yamen, Zhang Zhimu gave a not thin gift, Zhang Zhimu knew that whether it was in his previous life or now, most of them would be rewarded accordingly.

Lord Zhizhou looked at the gift given by Zhang Zhimu, as if he wanted to stop talking. Zhang Zhimu saw it in his eyes and wondered if this adult had too much appetite and was not satisfied. If that is the case, the gift given to him should also be taken back.

Unexpectedly, Lord Zhizhou hesitated for a while and said, "Zhang Yishi, this official has a reluctant request. Zhang Yishi can still help. ”

Zhang Zhimu felt a little disgusted in his heart, but still said: "Don't be polite, adult, please tell me something." ”

Lord Zhizhou said: "Zhang Yishi, can you give a copy of your "Yaogang Weekly" to this official." Many of our colleagues knew that Zhang Yishi had arrived in Xuzhou, and they were asking the official to see if he could get the "Yaogang Weekly". ”

Zhang Zhimuxin said: "So that's the case." He laughed out loud and said, "No problem, every time a new newspaper arrives in the future, I will have someone bring two copies to the adults." ”

When Lord Zhizhou got up to send Zhang Zhimu, he measured it with his hand and said, "I want three copies!" ”

Zhang Zhimu and Lord Zhizhou laughed at each other and said, "Okay, just depend on the adult." Three copies. ”

Back at the Xuzhou branch, Zhang Zhimu told Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He about the meeting with Zhizhou.

Chen Yufeng's experience in the rivers and lakes is still old-fashioned, and he said: "We can't completely listen to the officials and soldiers, they won't get too detailed information. Let's ask the locals about it. ”

Zhang Zhimu called Li Zhi and Li Jing over and said, "You two must do everything you can to inquire in detail about all the relevant information about the water bandits. Yes, find the locals. ”

Meng Si'er, who came over together, said: "Let's find Liu Qin Liu, the shopkeeper who came from Tongguan with us last time, I seem to have heard him say last time that their personnel and goods were robbed by water bandits, and then they were ransomed, I don't know if it was done by the same gang of bandits." Maybe they have a way to get in touch with the bandits. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "This is also a clue, you go and check!" ”

In the past few days, various businesses in Xuzhou have been coming to invite guests, and Zhang Zhimu has asked Lu Chengxiang to come forward to deal with it. Inviting an old local boatman as a guide, Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and Ouyang He took the steam flat-bottomed boat to navigate the waterways that could be passed throughout this section of the Yellow River. Zhang Zhimu tried to ask the old boatman about the water surface where the bandits were, but the old boatman knew very little, he only knew that there were still many people in that lake, but they rarely came out to contact the outside. Outsiders seldom go into the lake, and even those who are bold do not see them and come back. Therefore, people outside think that this lake is very evil, and no one wants to go in.

A few days have passed, and Zhang Zhimu still knows very little about the water bandits. I just know that due to the repeated diversion of the Yellow River, there are several rivers that turn south from the Yellow River to Kaifeng, and one of the small rivers has a lake in the low-lying area southwest of Xuzhou, and people call her Wuluohu. There are several large and small islands in the lake, and on one of the largest islands there is a group of water bandits who have been entrenched for many years. When they are not working, they also fish and farm, and when they have free time, they come out to rob. The officers and soldiers encircled and suppressed several times, but because they were not familiar with the roads inside, they ended up in vain.

Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng Ouyang He discussed: "If we don't understand the situation, we must not act rashly, it is better for us to go south as planned first, and when everything is done, when we come back, we are thinking about how to deal with them." ”

Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He also said: "It seems that this is the only way, we can't stay here for too long." ”

Just when Zhang Zhimu and the others were about to put down this matter first and wait for them to come back, Lord Zhizhou sent a message saying: "I came back with a boat today, and I was almost robbed by water bandits." ”

Zhang Zhimu hurriedly sent someone to the dock to ask the boatman what was going on.

It turned out that this was a relatively large sailing ship returning to Xuzhou from Huai'an, and soon after they left Huai'an, they were intercepted by two bandit boats. The people on this boat relied on their tall strings and tried their best not to let the bandits get on the boat, but fortunately, the south wind was very strong at that time, and the big boat was full of sails, and they accelerated to escape, and when the boat of the water bandits pulled up the sails and wanted to catch up, they had already run away, and the bandits chased for a while, and when they saw that there was no hope, they went back.

Zhang Zhimu discussed with Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He: "The water bandits are very arrogant now, they come out once, if they don't succeed, they will definitely wait there to start again." ”

Chen Yufeng said: "It just so happens that we will go to meet them, and it would be great if we could catch them." ”

For this matter, Zhang Zhimu and the others came to Fan Chengkun's big ship together, and called Liu Yun, Li Wei, Li Jing, Fan Chengkun, Mu Yi, and Shi Tao over for a meeting. After Ouyang He finished the briefing, Fan Chengkun said: "We can use that flat-bottomed steam boat as bait to walk back and forth on the river, and our warship will follow farther behind." When the bandits find out that there is a boat, they will naturally come out to intercept it, so we might as well let them get on the boat and then clean them up. ”

Everyone unanimously agreed with Fan Chengkun's first sight, and the next morning Mu Yi personally took the flat-bottomed steamboat and wanted to sail south. A hundred musketeers were placed on board, all on standby in the cabin. Behind the steam warship, dragging a warship far behind. Keep the distance between the two ships within the range that can be seen with a telescope.

This time, there were two sailing boats that were big for the bandits, because if the boats were bigger, the entry and exit of the inner lake would be very restricted. This time, two big ships came out at one time because the two masters of the water bandit cottage came out. In the past few days, the second master has been a little tired of staying in the cottage, and wants to come out to relax. The taste of the second master is still very high, those small boats and boats he is not willing to touch, yesterday I finally met a big ship, now I thought it must be a good deal, but carelessly let the boat run away, the angry second master of these water bandits and minions scolded a good meal.

But these bandits still told the second boss that the deal was not done, and we had to withdraw according to the rules. The second boss was angry, and he said, "I don't care about the fucking rules, just wait here, and no one will be allowed to go back until I make a big deal." ”

In fact, the second master knew in his heart that the Ming army sailors who could deal with them had all gone to deal with Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and they had no energy to deal with them. The combat effectiveness of the general local naval army is not at all in his eyes.

This time, they thought that they could wait for the ship from Huainan, because if the ship ran away, it would definitely spread the news of the robbery in the direction of Xuzhou, and no ship would come over in a short time.

What they didn't expect was that the boat in the direction of Huai'an in the south did not wait, but a flat-bottomed boat came from the north, which should not have come. The second boss said: "It seems that this unlucky guy was sent to the door by himself." We can't treat us well. ”

When the punt approached, the two boats suddenly drove out and caught the punt left and right, and then threw the rope hook onto the boat and hooked the boat. The second master saw that his brothers had hooked the boat with their hands and feet, and he knew that today's deal was done, and shouted, "Brothers, get on the boat!" Damn it! Can you be so sharp without scolding you yesterday? ”

The bandits shouted and crawled towards the punts, but the bandits who didn't climb past wondered how the people who got on the boat quickly lost their voices. The two masters also felt strange, how could the people on the boat not move, didn't they see good things and couldn't take care of anything? He also boarded the punt with the help of the bandits. As soon as he got on the boat, he understood why the bandits didn't move after they got on the boat. It turned out that there was a row of musketeers on the ship, and the muzzle of the black hole was pointed at them. No one dares to speak out, let alone speak out. They are afraid that if they make a little noise, they will make others angry, and they will die. They didn't know that this was the new musket of Yaogang, and they thought it was the musket of the Ming army's musket battalion.

Mu Yi saw that the sailors on the ship were very obedient, so he ordered them to go down to the cabin one by one, watch over, and then ordered the musketeers to jump onto the two bandits' boats. The bandits on the two boats were still a little bloody, and they began to resist, but after a burst of gunfire, they were all honest. After driving all the living sailors to the flat-bottomed boat and locking them in the warehouse, Mu Yi ordered the flag to send a signal to the back, telling the boat behind to come over. Because both sides are within the observation range of telescopes, the flag language is still a good means of communication.

After a while, the boat behind came up. Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng and others are on this boat.

Seeing that Mu Yi's work was done beautifully, Zhang Zhimu was very happy and said, "Okay, Mu Yi did a good job." You'll do the rest. I'll just wait for the results. ”

Just as Zhang Zhimu said. Liu Yun and the others are already familiar with the rest of the work.

The first is to scare one by one, and when those who are scared to death, they will all be singled out, give them a chance, and report others, which are basically two categories of things, one is murder, and the other is rape. These people, who saw the only hope of survival, desperately reported others, and as a result, half of the more than 50 bandits had killed people and raped women. These bandits are going to be killed. In the end, the last chance to survive those who have never committed murder and rape is to kill a water bandit who has committed such a thing. In order to survive for themselves, these bandits can no longer see the righteousness they usually have in the cottage, and they kill one of their brothers in exchange for their lives.

The second master was tied to the mast, and at first he scolded and screamed loudly. Liu Yun went over and said to him: "You are already a person who raises his hands to surrender and is greedy for life and afraid of death, and your brothers have seen it, so you can save some effort and don't pretend to be a hero here." ”

Liu Yun's words are still very smart, and the two masters are really no longer called. However, Liu Yun found that this second-in-command watched his brothers being beheaded and killed one by one, and he was so frightened that he peed his pants, and it seemed that he was also a master who was afraid of death. Because of his brothers' confession, this second leader has not only killed one person, but also countless women who have been raped by him. He knew what his fate would be, but he thought it was strange why the opponent didn't report to the officials for a reward when he caught the bandits, but killed them directly.

When the bandits were almost killed, Liu Yun said: "It's time for this second master, who will kill him?" ”

The second boss trembled when he heard this, Li Wei looked a little angry, and said: "Look at this bear, when you killed others, didn't you think about being killed?" ”

Fan Chengkun said: "Don't be too embarrassed by this second master. He was confessed by his own brother, which shows that he did not do a good job. But after all, someone is in charge, can't you give him a chance to make a meritorious contribution and exchange his own life? ”

Fan Chengkun's words made the second master tremble, he raised his head and said: "Guys, if you have something, you can say something, I will never be ambiguous." ”

Liu Yun said: "Can you take us into the cottage? ”

"This..."The second master hesitated, and Liu Yun immediately shouted: "Take it down and cut it." ”

The two soldiers began to untie the rope, and at this time, the second master hurriedly told him that he would do so.

Fan Chengkun said to Liu Yun: "Okay, just give him a chance." Let's see if he cuts it if he is even the slightest bit unhappy, I don't care. ”

This time, the second boss was very cooperative, Liu Yun brought a pen and paper and asked him to draw which places can enter and exit this flat-bottomed boat, and those can enter and exit these small boats. As well as the structure of the cottage, the rules of entry and exit, and so on.

For the sake of safety, the other bandits were interrogated in this way, and after checking that they were correct. Liu Yun reported the situation to Zhang Zhimu.

There are four or five islands inhabited in this lake area, and the cottage of these water bandits is on the largest island, and the name of this big island is called Wuluo Island, and there are more than 1,000 water bandits on the island. There are also two kinds of water bandits here, one is a special water bandit, who has to practice hard when they have nothing to do on weekdays, and they generally live on Wuluo Island. The other is those who usually fish and farm, gather when there is something to do, and fish and farm at home when they have nothing to do, and these people live on those small islands. There is a rule here, that is, you are not allowed to have any contact with people outside the lake, and if you do, you will destroy the whole family. Because they are afraid of exposing the routes in and out of the Lake District.

This is also the reason why people from the outside rarely know what is going on inside the lake.

Li Yunhe and Fan Chengkun's opinion after discussion was that they should take the boats of the two bandits and go into the cottage, with the flat-bottomed boats following behind, and the mortars on the flat-bottomed boats, because the warships could not enter the lake, so they would stay outside and be responsible for answering them.

Everyone has no objection to this plan, and it is best to wait until the time is dusk to enter the cottage. So I can't go yet. This is a good time to do the work of these bandits. For the bandits who had a home in the lake, Liu Yun promised them that after occupying the cottage, he would let them go home. For those professional water bandits who have been educated to do work, they all agree to join the kiln.

The time was almost up, Liu Yun sent thirty musketeers on each ship of the bandits, and now the musketeers in Yaogang used bullets that fired the primer, no need to ignite, just load the bullet and pull the trigger. Not to shoot. When aboard, all musketeers were to lock the muskets that pulled the trigger to prevent misfire.

This time, Li Wei personally arranged twenty mortars on that flat-bottomed steamboat, and two hundred musketeers were also arranged on this ship.

The water bandits said that the cottage on the island is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are a total of three walled gates, which one of them is built by risk. The first gate is the water village, and you have to take a boat to get in. The walls are all built with stones against the mountain, which is very strong. The village is like a town, with taverns and shops.

Zhang Zhimu felt that there seemed to be fewer people going, and Liu Yun said: "It's enough." The musketeers are different from before, their main force is veterans who have fought the Mongol cavalry and the Qing army. The gap between them and the recruits is not ordinary, and the recruits follow them, and soon their self-confidence comes out.

When he set off, Chen Yufeng wanted to get on the boat and follow, Liu Yun smiled and said, "Uncle Shi, you will follow such a little thing, what will you do if you encounter a big incident in the future." ”

Chen Yufeng had no choice but to do it, and said: "Don't be careless, if this point is taken down, it will be a foot for us to stand firm here, and it is not a trivial matter." ”

Liu Yun said: "Don't worry, uncle! ”

Looking at Liu Yun and them in the distance, Zhang Zhimu was still very relieved, if the sneak attack failed, twenty mortars would be very powerful, and the ordinary city gate should be able to shoot down. Use *** to deal with cold weapons, if you can't win, you really can't say it.

Because they were counting the time, the sailing ships of the two sailing boats circled the winding waterway and came to this Wuluo Island at dusk.

Li Jing's men sat on the sailboats of the two bandits, and next to each of the surrendered bandits sat a special soldier of Li Jing. The special *** knife in their hands was through their clothes, against the water bandit next to them. Tell them that if they dare to make a mess and talk about it, they will be given a cold heart at once. After the water bandits saw this *** knife, they were very afraid. Li Jing's special forces also told them that if they were stabbed by this kind of bayonet, if they did not die immediately, the wound would soon begin to rot, and life would be worse than death. The bandits were soaked with sweat and sweat, and they all said that they would guarantee their cooperation. Someone dared to say: "Don't worry, we all killed our own people, and when we return to the island, we will be known by the big boss, and we will die even worse." ”

Li Jing and the others also knew that they were telling the truth, but they still didn't dare to relax a little.

When the boat came to the water gate of the first village, Li Jing stabbed the second master with a knife, and the second master hurriedly scolded the master at the gate of the village: "They are blind! Seeing that Lao Tzu came back, he didn't open the door. ”

The minions on the stockade immediately shouted: "Second master, don't worry, we have already seen that it was your ship that came back, and we also saw the brothers on the ship clearly. Our brothers have gone down to open the gate for you, don't worry, the water gate will open slowly. ”

When the water gate was slowly opened, the two sailing ships sailed into the gate. After the boat came in, the gate slowly closed again. By this time it was already dusk, and it was even darker when the ship entered the stockade. After walking for a while, the boat stopped at the pier. At this time, more than a dozen minions took the cable and tied it to the dock. The men led by Liu Yun approached them one by one, forced them all with knives, and then escorted them all onto the boat and locked them in the cabin.

After Li Jing led the people ashore, they ran back, they wanted to deal with the water bandits on the gate of the water village and put the flat-bottomed boat in.

When Li Jing and the others came to the gate of the water village, the bandits felt a little strange, these brothers who went out to do business, got off the boat and didn't go back to drink and ran here to do something, and when they saw that the people who came were all living people, they felt that something was wrong, and a small leader shouted: "Stop, without the token of the owner of the village, outsiders are not allowed to approach the gate of the village." ”

Li Jing said: "I came here after receiving an order from the owner of the village. ”

This little leader was even more wrong when he heard it, first of all, Li Jing's accent was the accent of a northerner. He just wanted to resist with the guy, but Li Jing's *** knife was already on his throat. More than a dozen minions guarding the gate of the wall were gagged and tied up, and Li Jing and the others came to the wall to solve the more than 20 minions on the wall. Li Jing stood on the wall and looked down, and said in her heart: It's really mysterious. If it weren't for the success of the sneak attack, if this walled gate was attacked hard, it would be difficult to say whether it could be breached. Because from here, a few feet high, the ship can be sunk with stones. It seems that which water bandits are right, I originally thought that the water bandits were trying to scare themselves, and deliberately said a little mysterious. It seems that the bandits are not lying. This walled gate is too dangerous, otherwise the mountain would not have sent more than 30 people to guard here.

Li Jing took out his glasses and could already see the flat-bottomed steamship, and he ordered the flag-playing and flat-bottomed steamship to contact them and tell them that the Zhaimen had been occupied, so please come quickly.

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Calculus formulas, tables of chemical elements; Conquer Japan in the east and attack Mayi in the south; Penicillin, syringe. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".