On a nameless island off the coast of Dengzhou, the beach was a mess after the storm, with dead branches and broken trees covering the entire beachhead, and even a broken merchant ship ran aground there.

Several ragged men lay in the pile of rags, motionless and unaware of life and death. I don't know how long it took for a sudden shower, and the tall man in the middle seemed to be awakened by the rain, only to see his lips move, and he spit out a few words vaguely - "good wine, good wine", and then there was no movement.

After a long time, the rising tide gradually overflowed his calf, and a foraging crab, thinking that he had found a delicious snack, slammed the huge tongs down.

"Ahh

The man exclaimed, and sat up, and then when he saw the great crab, he stretched out his hand and grabbed it, and said to himself:

"Straight thief, pirates bully me, God bullies me, even you little thing has to bully me. But I also want to thank you, my lord is hungry. Then he peeled off the shell and swallowed it alive.

A raw crab went down, he recovered a little strength, and then saw the merchant ship, and wondered for a moment, when it was blown here by the storm last night, it was only because the boat could not dock that a few people jumped into the water to survive, and now why was it pushed to the beachhead again?

This man is naturally Duan Jingzhu, there was a storm yesterday, they struggled on the boat for a day and a night, and finally were swept to this unknown place.

At this time, he suddenly thought of something, and immediately got up and went to the beach to look for it, and then found seven companions in the pile of tattered debris, as well as the Aliqi that Yu Liao had brought back. After some slapping and pushing, several people finally woke up. So he climbed aboard the merchant ship again, but fortunately the cargo hold was relatively sturdy and the food in it was still intact. Then he rummaged through the corners of the boat, found a fairly usable iron pot, and after a pillar of incense, the rich and fragrant smell of the seafood porridge wafted on the beach, and after a few people had filled their stomachs, they finally regained some strength.

"Director Duan, what kind of place is this?" One of the team members asked, looking around.

"I know what the hell this is."

Duan Jingzhu replied, then carefully observed the place he was in, and found that except for the low mountain peaks behind him, there was a vast sea in all directions.

"Take a look at the top of the mountain, maybe there is land over there?" Duan Jingzhu said, cleaned up the pots and bowls with a few people, and went to the top of the mountain.

About half an hour later, the group reached the top of the mountain, and then found it in despair that it was an isolated island, and fortunately there was a large island a few miles to the south, which seemed to be inhabited.

"Fortunately, there is still hope, let's go down and repair the boat, and there will be a way to go back to that island." Duan Jingzhu pointed to the big island in the distance and said to everyone.

As a result, everyone's mood relaxed, and everyone laughed and turned around to prepare to go down the mountain. At this moment, Aliqi suddenly cried out:

"Smoke!"

When everyone heard this, they immediately turned around, and looked in the direction of Aliqi's finger, and sure enough, at the foot of the mountain to the south, a faint wisp of cooking smoke rose from the trees.

"There's someone here!"

Everyone shouted excitedly. So they followed the mountain in that direction. About half an hour later, a low stone house appeared in everyone's field of vision, and everyone hastened to walk over. Just as he approached the back door of the house, Aliqi, who had the head, suddenly made a "silence" gesture, and then everyone heard the sound of an argument coming from the house.

"You dead old man, the old man guards your safety every day, and counts some of your sea cucumbers as a bird."

"Hero, you just took a lot last month, and this time you will keep some for me, otherwise I will live as an old couple without even anything to exchange food."

"Dead old man, you didn't say anything last month, why are you alive and well."

Then there was a sound of pushing and pushing, followed by the sound of a kick on the door, and soon three men in strong suits were seen descending the path in front of the courtyard.

"Pirates!" One of the team members screamed.

At this time, everyone could clearly see that the outfits of those three people were the same as the pirates they encountered at sea yesterday. Aliqi made a murderous gesture, Duan Jingzhu thought about it for a while, but he was worried about startling the snake, so he shook his head and refused. After a while, a boat sailed away on the sea in front of them, and only then did the people get up and go to the courtyard in front of the house.

It was a low stone house, with only two narrow rooms, a small courtyard in front, and an elderly couple with sad faces stood at the gate, they looked at the sudden appearance of a few strangers, and were startled, and then showed a panicked look.

"Old man is not afraid, I waited for the merchants who were blown here by the wind and waves, and only then did we find this place when we saw the cooking smoke."

Duan Jingzhu explained to the old man gently, and took the opportunity to look at the house, but saw that there were only a few old household items in it, a broken net, and a pot of miscellaneous fish still stewed on the simple stove. He suddenly remembered that there was still some food and silver taels on the merchant ship, so he ordered two members of the team to go back and fetch some.

As the time spent together slowly increased, the two old men's wariness of the visitors gradually weakened, and they gradually said something. Originally, this place was called Xiaoshidao, and the larger one in the south was called Black Mountain Island, and then a day's boat ride to the south was Dengzhou Mansion.

Duan Jingzhu gasped when he heard this, he couldn't imagine that a storm would send them to the open sea of Dengzhou, but fortunately, he figured out where they were and had a bottom in his heart. A few people gossiped for a while, and the two team members who took the food came back, and the two old men looked at a bag full of grain and two big silver ingots, and couldn't believe their eyes, and only then did they fully believe that these people were really good people, and then they knew everything about Duan Jingzhu and the others.

He said that the southern island of Montenegro is plagued by bandits all year round, and fishermen and passing merchant ships on the surrounding islands have all suffered from it. His old couple lived on Xiaoshi Island by fishing for some sea cucumbers on weekdays, but they were robbed by them every time, and it was the Black Mountain Island pirates who came just now.

"Are there ordinary fishermen on Black Mountain?" Duan Jingzhu asked.

"There are also sixty or seventy households, and there are also some shops and inns, and some merchants of all kinds come and go on weekdays, and do some shady business with the bandits."

That is the bandit's nest, I can't say that this encounter was done by this group, but I don't know how much the horse was robbed, Duan Jingzhu thought secretly in his heart, so he had the idea of going to investigate.

"Old man, can outsiders from Black Mountain Island enter?"

"You have to be led by locals or acquaintances, otherwise you can only find a secluded place to steal it, but the flat places of the island are guarded, and the rest of the places are dangerous, and there are bandits patrolling from time to time, and it is very difficult to steal them."

"I think of that Black Mountain Island and see, what can the old man do, if it becomes a problem, he will not be disadvantaged to you."

When the old man saw that Duan Jingzhu was going to Black Mountain Island, he hesitated for a while before saying, "Tomorrow, you will pretend to be my nephew, and the old man will take him over to try." ”

Duan Jingzhu saw that the old man was overjoyed, so he went back to the boat to get some food, and fixed the boat, and several people got together at the old man's house that night.

The next day, the old man went out to sea to cast a few nets and catch some fish, and then put them in a bamboo basket and took Duan Jingzhu to drive to Black Mountain Island.

It took a full hour for the fishing boat to get up to the wharf of Black Mountain Island, Duan Jingzhu carried a load of fish, followed the old man to the island, walked about 100 steps, and saw a simple gatehouse made of wood, located in the middle of the road, and several bandits in strong gear were checking the pedestrians.

"Old man Yu, what are you doing here?" The bandits recognized the old man, and when they saw him coming, they opened their mouths to ask.

"The old man caught some fish this morning, and sent it over with his nephew in exchange for some food." The old man hurriedly stepped forward and said respectfully.

"Is this your nephew?" At this time, several bandits looked at Duan Jingzhu behind him.

"That is, it's called Yu Erniu, and he used to live on Dadan Island." Yu Laohan replied as he took out two big fish from the bamboo basket and handed them over. "This is just this morning, a few people try it."

When the bandits caught the fish, they said no more, waved their hands and let them in. Duan Jingzhu secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and walked quickly with Yu Laohan to the island. Looking all the way, I saw a huge mountain facing southwest, a mountain peak of more than 100 zhang in the middle, from the sea to the foot of the mountain is a gentle slope, and the residents live on the gentle slope to form an inverted "Ding" shaped simple market.

Duan Jingzhu followed the old man to the fish market to sell fish goods, and then wandered on the street, by the sea is a horizontal street, there are low stone houses built on both sides, a few slightly magnificent are restaurants, inns, and even see a brothel at the entrance of the "Ding" street, the straight street leads to the mountainside, there is a castle surrounded by stone walls, and there are a few men in strong clothes in front of them, so as not to let outsiders approach.

At a dim sum stall on the street not far from the castle, Duan Jingzhu and Yu Laohan each asked for a bowl of hot soup and a dough cake, and ate them slowly. After a while, I saw a few people coming out of the castle, and the first one was a man in his forties, of medium stature, dressed in a blue robe, like a scholar. On the side was a man dressed as a scribe in his thirties, followed by several tall and stout men.

Duan Jingzhu vaguely heard the words "Dengzhou" and "Adult", thinking that this place had something to do with the official government of Dengzhou, and it was possible that there was collusion between officials and bandits.

After a bowl of soup and cakes, and the time was in the afternoon, seeing that there was nothing to inquire about for a while, the two got up and went to the dock to prepare to go back. When they arrived at the corner of the street, they saw smoke and dust billowing in front of them, and dozens of bandits drove a large group of horses over.

Duan Jingzhu's eyes were sharp, and he recognized at a glance that the man with a short beard and a full face was the leader of the fleet that robbed them at sea the day before. Seeing those people approaching, he quickly pressed the hat, turned sideways to the side of the road, and thought to himself, "This guy's lair is really here." ”

After a while, the horses ran out, and he saw some bandits pressing more than ten prisoners over, it was the men of the fleet, Duan Jingzhu calculated according to the number of people, about three merchant ships were robbed. Thinking that most of the merchant ships had escaped the catastrophe, it would only take a few days for the petty officials to take action when they got the news, and their hearts were a little more relaxed.

After another moment, all the bandits also passed, Duan Jingzhu watched those horses and men enter the castle, but he didn't have a plan for a while, so he had to board the boat with Yu Laohan and leave, looking at the Black Mountain Island that was gradually moving away, he said fiercely in his heart: "Gentleman's revenge, ten years is not too late, master, let you thieves live happily for two more days." ”