Chapter Seventy-Seven: Commander Fan Opens the Net

Li Zhi came over and said to Zhang Zhimu: "The last two pigeons, when they left Xuzhou, were released. It is estimated that it has already arrived at Tongguan by now. I don't know what happened to the kiln now? ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Yes, this thought of going back made my heart fly back." I don't know what's going on at home. ”

This way, although it is against the current, there are some places that cannot be borrowed from the wind that need to be pulled by the slender man, and the speed should be slower. Still, nothing happened along the way. When the ship was about to arrive at Sanmenxia, something happened. There were too many boats parked in front, all waiting to line up to cross the Kaiyuan New River. It will take a few days for the ship in front to pass. Yang Yulin came over and said: "Don't you have a bronze medal from the emperor, take its new river master, dare not let us go first." Zhang Zhimu knew in his heart that this bronze medal should be easy to use. But I insisted on sticking in front of the ship in front of me, and I couldn't bear it. Chen Yufeng saw it and said: "Don't be informal, don't be small when you do big things, borrow me the bronze medal, and I will meet the head of the river." ”

Chen Yufeng came back soon and said that he didn't need a bronze medal, and when he heard that we were the ships of the Huwei Dart Bureau and the Kiln Gang, the principal didn't say a word, let us go first. Zhang Zhimu said: "Then we are welcome, the boat here is slow, and the past ship will go directly to Tongguan Wharf to meet." Our boat went first, and waited for everyone in Tongguan, and Liu Yun and Li Wei delayed. ”

In this way, Zhang Zhimu's boat advanced to Kaiyuan Xinhe. After entering the Kaiyuan New River, Zhang Zhimu admired our great ancestors, the Kaiyuan New River built by the Tang Dynasty, although it has been continuously silted up by the sediment of the Yellow River, but people have dredged it again and again, and it is the ancient artificial river channel that has been serving the passing ships. Boats across the Kaiyuan New River, can be described as thrilling, the river is artificially dug out of the mountain, rows of slender men along the cliffs on both sides of the plank road shouted trumpets, hard to pull the rope, the boat is also moving forward little by little, the whole open source new river has eighty or ninety sheets in length. At that time, there was no spirit of opening the mountain, and it was completely artificially chiseled little by little. Zhang Zhimu thought that the fastest way to improve the traffic conditions here was to have a motor boat to tow these boats crossing the river, which could greatly increase the speed and capacity of the traffic here. It will also free up hundreds of slender men here, so that these strong laborers can do more meaningful things.

When Zhang Zhimu's boat docked on the dock, what he didn't expect was that Fan Chengkun led people to greet him on the dock. Taking a closer look, Fan Chengkun's two warships were also leaning on the dock. After nearly two months of leaving, Fan Chengkun seems to be more stable and sophisticated. Everyone greeted each other and came to the Yaogang Hotel together. When he arrived at the door of the inn, Lu Yun had already led people to greet him. When he entered the store, Zhang Zhimu saw it. Lu Yun runs the store well, and half of the rooms have customers. Lu Yun said that there is no meal now, and there will be more meals then. Our private rooms are usually booked in advance. Zhang Zhimu said: "Then I want to decide first, two big ones." Today, we comrades from the south are invited to try the Yellow River carp and catfish soup. Ha ha! Zhang Zhimu is very happy now.

A lot of the things in the store are new, Zhang Zhimu asked, has the basement been opened. Lu Yun said, nothing dangerous happened, we let anyone move. Zhang Zhimu said: "That's good. If you have nothing to do, you must manage it well. Lu Qi said: "I just want to open another shop in Tongguan." The places are all optimistic, and a few personnel have been found. Isn't Zhang always a look? Zhang Zhimu said: "I don't have to worry about these things." When your father comes, let him take a look." Your father should be so happy to see you, how good it is to have such a good place here. Hearing Zhang Zhimu's very satisfied words, he knew that his efforts were not in vain, and a smile was on his face.

Fan Chengkun introduced the situation during this time. After Fan Chengkun led the fleet to leave, he didn't know that Zhang Zhimu had already opened a store in Tongguan. He smoothly took a few boats all the way to Lingshui Wharf. Because Fan Chengkun is at Lingshui Wharf, the time is not short. Along the way, I thought that I finally had a place to use. Therefore, he did not dare to slack off in everything, and he must bow down to everything, and set a good example for his subordinates. Seeing that the commander was busy, the officers at all levels under his command did not dare to slack off. Slowly, Fan Chengkun's subordinates are very disciplined. After running in along the way, the subordinates were stable. It's almost time to Lingshui Wharf, Fan Chengkun thought, Zhang Anyway, he will never be on these boats. In order to develop greatly in the future, it is necessary to have its own dock. However, except for a director sent by the government who was greedy for food and drink, and led a few people to collect some taxes, the other affairs of the entire wharf were controlled by the two families of the Qin Wang, and no one else could interfere. These two families are both black-hearted, and I don't know how many dock bearers and boatmen died at their hands. Each of them had twenty or thirty thugs, and if there was a slight displeasure on the dock, they would raise their hands and beat them. The main thing is not the few people they raise, the main thing is that they all have a background in the government. Only by getting rid of them can he really gain a foothold on the Lingshui Pier. As for the heads of those official offices, as long as they use money to take care of them, they don't care who has the final say on the dock. Fan Chengkun didn't think of a solution to them for a while. If you want to use it to kill Hukou, you can't think about your own manpower. Don't get into trouble all at once. Thinking about it again, anyway, now the reputation of Yaogang and Huwei Dart Bureau is very great, and ordinary people don't dare to mess with themselves. I can't get them all at once, so I just get them one by one. There is no one on the dock who does not hate them, and it will be easy to go back and stir up all the people on the dock. When we take the dock, we must treat these brothers on the dock who are in trouble together.

When the ship docked, the people sent by the two families on the dock saw that it was a boat with a tiger dart board, and knew that it was a boat from Yaogang. I didn't dare to be too embarrassed, but I felt a little uncomfortable when I saw that the head of several ships was Fan Chengkun. This Fan Chengkun turned out to be a man on the dock who carried a job, and he was willing to fight and scold if he was willing to scold, and today he has ascended to the sky in one step. They forgot a word, and Shibei was impressed for three days.

Fan Chengkun followed the gangplank and came to the dock, a guy on the dock, holding a whip in his hand, pointed at Fan Chengkun and said, "Fan Da, you have been fucking messing around on the dock for all these years, and you have forgotten the rules." "That means it's asking for money. But if you want money, you can say it well, the current Fan Chengkun is the commander of the fleet, how can he be mixed up if you humiliate him so much. Fan Chengkun saw that there were only two of them on the dock. Fan Chengkun pulled him when he came to him, this kid didn't expect Fan Chengkun to dare to pull him, and as soon as he struggled back, Fan Chengkun pushed him and pushed this guy into the water. The brother on the boat pressed this guy into the water with a bamboo pole, and the guy next to him saw that there were still people on the dock who dared to provoke them, so he whipped at Fan Chengkun. In fact, this guy didn't realize the seriousness of the matter, otherwise he wouldn't have whipped people. But Fan Chengkun knew what to do, reached out and grabbed his whip, and pulled him back, this guy was dragged over, and before he could stand firmly, Fan Chengkun flew up and lifted him into the river. He was also pressed into the water with a bamboo pole. When both of them were dead, he pushed them all into the river with bamboo poles and floated away with the current. There were some people on the dock next to them, and they all surrounded Fan Chengkun and gave him a thumbs up. Fan Chengkun said: "Keep it secret, everyone disperse first." I'll talk to you again when I have time. Then, send someone to ride a horse back to the kiln to inform the family to come and pull the goods.

The two people who drifted away along the river belonged to the Qin family, and in the evening, the Qin family found out that the two had not returned. Because the person who went to the pier had to come back at night to pay the account, but there was no information about the two until the lights went out. This incident made the housekeeper angry, thinking that these people are becoming more and more unruly. There was also someone next to him who fanned the flames and said, "These two guys, don't you take the money and go to find Sister Yao!" The steward said, "I will not break their legs when they come back tomorrow." ”

However, until noon the next day, the two did not return. Only then did he send people to look around, but he didn't find it. It is estimated that the two of them are almost to the Yellow River, where to find them.

Here, Huang Yukun received a notice, but he didn't expect someone to come back so soon. Hurry up and let Li Yunhe send all the people who can be sent out, Lingshui Wharf. Li Yunhe couldn't leave here, because after Zhang Zhimu left, the iron furnace and steel-making furnace had never been extinguished, and several people were looking at the furnace in shifts. The remaining cattle and horses at home, put on a few steel spring carriages that were processed again, and all went to the dock. Fan Chengkun saw that there were not enough people coming, so he asked the people from Yaogang to lead the way, and the people on the boat on his side hired a lot of carriages and horses to transport the goods to Yaogang together. Most of the people on the ship had never been to the kiln, so of course they were very happy. After arranging the things on the ship, Fan Chengkun personally led people and carried the silver box back to Yaogang. This is, the goods sold in Tongguan have more than 100,000 taels of silver, and Fan Chengkun didn't dare to be careless at all.

When Huang Yukun saw that he had returned so much silver, he knew in his heart that something unusual must have happened on Zhang Zhimu's caravan road. Fan Chengkun also told Huang Yukun lightly about the encounter with the king warship and the battle. Huang Yukun knew that things would not be as easy as Fan Chengkun said. The ashes sent back are the best illustration of this. Fan Chengkun found Li Yunhe again and said, "Mr. Zhang said, let me ask you for a musket." We are now, two big ships, two small boats. There were dozens of men, but there were only five muskets, which was not enough. When Li Yunhe and the others heard that they now had a fleet, they were very happy. Take a sip and say, "Yunhe, you can take out some new guns." "No problem, I can give it to you now, fifty new guns, five hundred." Fan Chengkun said it was great. Fan Chengkun said: "I want to send the personnel back to the kiln for training in batches, but it is inconvenient to train and release guns at the dock." Huang Yukun said: "It's best to send it back, there is Li Yunhe here to help, and it is convenient to use something." Fan Chengkun said to Huang Yukun: "There are a lot of people on the boat on the dock, I can't stay longer, I have to go back immediately." Huang Yukun said, "Take care of yourself over there." ”

Fan Chengkun returned to the dock with a musket**, and due to the large number of goods, it was transported several times before it was finished.

What made Fan Chengkun feel strange was that no one came to collect the money, not even the tax. At this time, the person who came from Tongguan and delivered the letter to them arrived. When Fan Chengkun heard that there was a branch in Tongguan, he was very happy, and he also strengthened his determination to take this wharf.

He also sent someone to the kiln to inform Huang Yukun of the good news. The messenger arrived at the kiln, and the family was eating. A few children, looking at the Tongguan pickles that Zhang Zhimu brought back, no one could eat them. As soon as Zhang Zhimu left, the children couldn't think about it. After a long time, I can't forget to order it, but as soon as this pickle is on the table, it arouses my thoughts about Zhang Zhimu again. It was only under persuasion that the children began to move their chopsticks. The children ate a few bites, but they couldn't take it anymore. This pickle is really delicious, especially if this is what Zhang Zhimu asked people to bring back, it is even more delicious.

Fan Chengkun had just distributed the new guns by ship. Someone came to report that the merchant ship that had just arrived had been hijacked. Fan Chengkun immediately went over to inquire about the situation, and the two merchant ships said that they were not far from the dock, and they were robbed by two thief ships with 400 stones. Fortunately, only valuable goods were picked up, and no one was hurt. Fan Chengkun let the hijacked ship get on his own warship, and then the two warships, anchored, went down the river, and chased them. Maybe it was two thief ships, but I didn't expect that someone would dare to chase after me, and they were still slowly wandering in the Fen River. Maybe looking for the next prey. The hijacked boatmen quickly recognized the two thief ships. Fan Chengkun ordered the warship to come up. By the time the thief ship found out that the comer was not good and wanted to run, it was already too late. But these thieves were not ambiguous, and they shot rows of bows and arrows, and at the same time accelerated to escape. But Fan Chengkun and the others went by in a row, and all the people alive on one ship surrendered, and the other ship that entered from the shore immediately leaned ashore, jumped ashore and ran away. Fan Chengkun didn't let him chase either. Two ships were captured, and Fan Chengkun was delighted. Back at the dock, let the hijacked shippers distinguish that their goods were taken away, and the hijacked shipwrights were grateful and tearful. said that Fan Chengkun saved himself. Fan Chengkun said: "Don't thank me, thank you if you want to, Yaogang fleet." According to Zhang Zhimu's method, Fan Chengkun did a lot of work for the five bandits he caught, and they all joined the Yaogang fleet.

At this moment, the reputation of the Yaogang fleet became even greater. Fan Chengkun knew that those two would not watch themselves sit big, and they would definitely find a way to deal with themselves. The more there is no movement now, the more bad it is. So I warned my subordinates to be careful. Because the reputation of the Tiger Dart Bureau is too great now, beware of them not daring to deal with us openly, they make it secret. It's their ability to look after the house.

really let Fan Chengkun say. The sudden disappearance of the Qin family made the Qin family very uneasy. Because these two men will not receive much silver in a day, they will not take this money and run away. Therefore, it is likely to be killed by the enemy. But the docks are full, and there are no people who dare to move the two families of King Qin. But suddenly, the Yaogang fleet fell into their sight. This fleet, under the banner of the Tiger Mighty Dart Bureau, is now very famous. In fact, they didn't know that the emperor later gave them bronze medals. There is a high probability that they will do it. The Wang family discussed: "It's a pity that I can't grasp the handle now." The Qin family said: "Do we still use a handle to do things?" Even if there is no shame, they can't be allowed to sit on the Lingshui Wharf. Otherwise, there will be endless troubles. They must be eliminated sooner rather than later. Or use our old way. As he spoke, he put his hand on his neck to measure the movement of wiping his neck. The two families understand each other.

Fan Chengkun, who had been worried, suddenly had an idea. I thought that if the two families of the King of Qin took the initiative to take action, I would take the initiative and change the passive to the active, so that the game of chess would be alive. Therefore, he arranged for his subordinates to be loose on the outside and tight on the inside, and they did not take off their clothes and sleep at night. One day, the people below reported that there were several people on the dock who did not look right. They pretended that there was nothing wrong, but their eyes secretly looked into the boat. Fan Chengkun knew that the time had come. Ordered a captain to leave with a dozen people in a big way. In fact, he sneaked back at night and ambushed outside the docks.

However, there was no movement for two days. Some people below were very anxious and said, "It's not coming." "Fan Chengkun said in his heart that he was fighting with me, you guys are still almost. He said, "Come on, don't be careless." ”