The three or five thousand water bandits standing in the front yard of the official mansion still didn't understand what Lu Bu meant.

Liu Ye already understood.

He said to Lu Bu: "Wen Hou is doing this because he wants to use the water bandits to turn Chaohu Lake into a trade route with escorts? ”

"Exactly." Lu Bu said: "I don't have much money to ask for, and whoever is given will not only let them go but also escort them all the way, so that they can pass safely." If anyone refuses to give, let them taste the taste of a dime. ”

"I see." Liu Ye responded.

Lu Bu waved his hand at him and motioned for him to continue.

Liu Ye stood beside Lu Bu and shouted to the water bandits present: "Wen Hou's meaning is actually very clear, that is, let you flow for a long time, and make the Chaohu Lake waterway a passage that merchants are willing to take from here. Instead of dying here! Once there are no merchant ships coming and going in Chaohu, who will we loot in the future? Could it be that the fishermen on the lake were robbed? The fishermen also live a hard life, and no one has much food at home, so how can they get more benefits from the merchant ships if they rob them? ”

When Zheng Bao was entrenched in Chaohu Lake, Liu Ye was responsible for settling the water bandits.

He came forward to speak, and the bandits were still easy to understand.

"Gong Liu, just say what we should do." A water bandit shouted: "When you meet a merchant ship, how can you rob it?" ”

"It depends on how much cargo the merchant ship carries." Liu Ye said: "If the goods are small, each ship will charge them a hundred copper coins. If you encounter a lot of goods, you can also collect a hanging. It's just that no matter how much you charge, you have to report to the government and pay the money. Wait until the end of the month to settle the balance with you. ”

"Let's not plunder the merchants as we did before." A small leader of the bandits shouted: "When they see us, they will not want their lives, and if they collect all their goods, they may not be able to do anything." ”

"You still don't understand what Wen Hou means." There was really no way to communicate with the water bandits, Liu Ye said: "Wen Hou wants you to collect tolls, not to rob merchant ships. Every time a merchant ship passes by here, it is robbed by you, who will dare to walk from here in the future? Without merchant ships, what will you eat in the future? What do you get to the city to have a good time? ”

As soon as Liu Ye explained this, the water bandits immediately understood.

Lu Bu meant to let them collect the money, and not to rob the merchant ships too cleanly......

"What if we encounter a particularly good cargo, and we can't help but rob it for a while?" A water bandit shouted.

Lu Bu stepped forward with a cold face: "The rules I have set, if anyone dares to break them, I will let him taste the bad rules!" If such a thing really happens, whoever kills people and sells goods will have their heads cut off whoever participates. Whoever robs the merchant's goods, whoever robs it, will chop off which of his hands! ”

When he said these words, Lu Bu's tone was unmistakable.

No one of the water bandits present dared to say anything anymore, and they shrunk their necks one by one, not daring to look at Lu Bu more.

"It's all gone." Lu Bu waved his hand.

The three to five thousand water bandits, like a pardon when he waved his hand, fled outside the official mansion in a swarm.

Lu Bu asked Liu Ye: "Have you found that old man's children?" ”

"Found it." Liu Ye replied: "But I have suffered a lot, and I have been sent back now." ”

"How do you deal with robbers?" Lu Bu asked.

"Before Wen Hou made the rules, the water bandits would often do this." Liu Ye replied: "They can't live for a long time, and the government can't do anything about them......"

"I haven't heard that the government has no way to take them." Lu Bu explained: "Those water bandits who didn't come immediately sent people to exterminate them. In the future, anyone who dared to loot in Chaohu Lake or collect tolls from passing ships would be arrested and beheaded in the name of thieves. I didn't care about any rules before, and I didn't want to do it. The water bandits who snatched the children of the old couple, count them lucky, and I won't care about them this time. If you dare to harass the people in the future, you will see one and catch one, and kill one and kill another! ”

"Chaohu bandits have been accumulated for many years." Liu Ye said: "The government can also get a lot of benefits from the looting of the water bandits, so it will not interfere too much in the past." Unless they have gone too far, they will let people admonish them. ”

"In the future, I won't just warn you, I'm going to really kill someone." Lu Bu smiled slightly and patted Liu Ye's arm lightly: "Ziyang should understand that in troubled times, if you don't use the heavy code, no one will be convinced." Everyone is thinking about how to fish more in troubled waters, and they don't care about other people, let alone the way of the world. If they come nonsense, how will we control Chaohu Lake in the future? If it provokes a popular uprising, it is not a trivial matter. ”

Liu Ye nodded and said nothing.

He agreed with what Lu Bu said.

In fact, he had also persuaded Zheng Bao before to take care of the water bandits in Chaohu.

But Zheng Bao only cares about making money, where did he think about it so much?

The people in the Chaohu area are not only exploited by the government, but also by the water bandits, and many of them have enmity with the water bandits.

In order to take revenge, some people even joined the water bandits, hoping that one day they could fight to the death with their enemies on the water.

If such a situation persists for a long time, it is really possible to provoke a popular uprising.

Agreeing with Lu Bu's statement in his heart, Liu Ye couldn't help nodding.

Lu Bu then said to him: "In the troubled times, although civilians are like grass mustard, if there are too many grass mustard, they will also gnaw the towering trees to death and consume them!" As long as it is alive in this world, every flower, grass, tree and tree, we should not despise it. Especially the civilians who are most easily ignored by us, and have always made people feel that they are swallowing their anger. ”

"I understand what Wen Hou means." Liu Ye first replied, and then asked Lu Bu: "I don't know when Wen Hou plans to leave, and how do you plan to settle Chaohu?" ”

"I definitely can't stay in Chaohu Lake for too long." Lu Bu replied: "In two days, I plan to leave here first. Ziyang is familiar with Chaohu Lake, and I will leave this place to you to take care of first. When Chaohu's affairs are mostly stable, I will send someone to take over, and ask you to come to my side to do things. ”

"When Wenhou returns to Pengcheng, you have to be careful in everything." Liu Ye reminded: "In recent days, Wen Hou first took Huainan, and then Lujiang. Later, the soldiers actually won Jiangdong without blood, and the army returned and pinched Zheng Bao easily. Wenhou's prestige is already known to the world, and the so-called prestige has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that more people will come to join the service, and the disadvantage is that Wen Hou will also attract envy because of this, especially Cao Mengde and Yuan Benchu! ”