The autumn sun is just right, the flowing water is gradually abundant, and the ships on the entire Grand Canal that communicates the north and south of the Ming Dynasty are endless.

Among these ships, there are grain ships loaded with large quantities of grain, passenger ships full of guests, and official ships of higher specifications or paintings of wealthy people can also be seen from time to time.

These boats of different sizes, either in a hurry or leisurely back and forth, are all this canal dug in the former Sui and perfected in the former Tang Dynasty to reach their destinations, and they all rely on the slender boatmen on both sides of the canal to carry this journey smoothly.

Looking at all this, the eyes of a certain black man sitting on one of the extremely inconspicuous passenger ships were full of pride. For seventy or eighty percent of these ships would have been in contact with him, or his men, and without his permission, they would probably have run aground somewhere and capsize, and the cargo or guests would have been buried in the belly of the fish.

He is Luo Haiming, the leader of the Cao Gang, the most powerful gang today!

As the leader of the largest gang in the world, Luo Haiming has a heroic aura that others dare not ignore, that is, those powerful people such as the elders or helmsmen in the gang, or their cronies, have to behave in front of him. To put it mildly, he is an emperor-like existence along this canal, and he is truly a man of his word.

It's just that Luo Haiming's mood has been quite bad recently, because there was a disaster in Suzhou City that he didn't expect and couldn't make up. That Li Yanjiu actually did a series of lawless deeds without telling himself, and finally put the entire Cao Gang's foundation in Suzhou into it!

When Luo Haiming learned about this, it was already a few days later, and it was already a little late to arrange for others to go to Suzhou to dredge up relations. And he also knew that as the power of the Cao Gang continued to grow, many court officials were already suspicious of them, and now that they could have such an appropriate excuse to attack the Cao Gang, they would definitely not leave any room.

The development of the matter was indeed as expected, even if the Cao Gang then sent people to Suzhou to explain many times and check up and down, but as a result, the Cao Yun-related matters there were still not taken back by them.

When this news became known to the rest of the gang, many people clamored to give Suzhou Mansion some good-looking, so that they could know that the Cao Gang was not to be insulted. However, Luo Haiming quickly suppressed the voices of these people and the actions they were about to make, because he knew very well what it would mean if he really did this.

The Cao Gang has indeed controlled the entire canal now, and as long as they make a difficulty, they can cut off this major artery that is related to the transportation of the entire world. However, if they do so, they will become the enemies of the whole world in the blink of an eye, and the imperial court will do everything in its power to completely exterminate them.

Don't look at the millions of Cao Gangs now, but there are only a few thousand people who are really available. The rest is just the bitterness of making a living from the river, and if they really risk losing their heads to do that rebellion, they will refuse, maybe as soon as the word arrives, countless people will rush to the government to report it.

This is where the shackles of the Cao Gang lie now, it seems to be a behemoth, but in fact it is just a façade. Others may not know all this, but he Luo Haiming is naturally clear as a helper.

So this tone, he can only be patient for the time being, even if he is quite angry in his heart, thinking that this is the imperial court crossing the river and demolishing the bridge, he can only admit it.

However, some things can be endured, and some things can't.

He can not do anything on the Suzhou side, but Lu Jin, one of the initiators of this matter, must be eliminated in order to make an example of everyone and appease the hearts of the gang.

As early as some time ago, the news channel of the Cao Gang had reported back the events of the day. The reason why Li Yanjiu and the others ended up like this was that in addition to their own big mistakes and the intervention of Yu Qian, an important minister of the imperial court, this guy named Lu Zhen also played a key role. Even in a sense, it was his running and tandem in this matter that made Li Yanjiu and them completely fall into a desperate situation.

And this guy named Lu Zhen has now left Suzhou by boat and headed all the way north, which naturally gives the Cao Gang a chance to kill him to vent his anger.

Although they also found out that he was also an official of the imperial court, a six-grade Zhizhou was really nothing. Even if the imperial court later found out that the incident was related to the Cao Gang, they would not risk completely paralyzing the canal to hold them responsible. Just as the Cao Gang is afraid of the court, in fact, the court is also afraid of him.

At this time, a tall man dressed in a shabby straight jacket walked to the door of this cabin and said to Luo Haiming, who was in deep thought: "Helper, I have found the whereabouts of the ship that Lu Zhen is on." Wang Laoqi and they have also brought people to surround them, just waiting for the helper to help you. ”

Luo Haiming came back to his senses at this time, with a trace of resolute murderous intent on his face, and after muttering something softly, he nodded: "Then do it." But let Wang Laoqi move quickly, don't leave too many handles. ”

"Don't worry, we won't even leave that guy's corpse for them!" The man agreed, and quickly shrank back again. Soon after, a small boat with a very fast speed rode the wind and waves and headed straight for the north.

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After late autumn, the days are short and the nights are long, and the sky gets dark early, which is really not a good thing for those who sail on the water. Because of the dangers of the waterway, after dark, unless there is an emergency, everyone will stop at the shore to rest until after dawn the next day.

The situation on the canal is also average, and after the sky has darkened, many ships have already approached the shore one after another, and they have dropped anchor and stopped boats. Although there is no decent pier here, fortunately, the water is gentle, and I am not afraid of any wind and waves at night.

As soon as the boats came to the back, the whole coast seemed to be lively, wisps of smoke rose from the smoke, and after a while, there was even the sound of bamboo coming from a painting boat that was higher than the average boat, and scattered over the quiet canal.

Many passengers walked out of their cabins unconsciously, and looked at the painting boat with some yearning and curiosity, guessing what kind of dignitaries and dignitaries were on this ship, and they could be so leisurely and elegant.

However, there are also some boats that stop moving after docking. Inside one of the seemingly ordinary ships, there were a few pairs of ill-intentioned eyes staring at the light boat that was only two or three zhang long a few feet away.

They have been following each other for several days, but except for seeing Lu Zhen and them come out after leaving Suzhou, they have not seen anyone since then. However, they believed that the other party must be in the boat, because neither the draft nor the stalking of the boat for several days could escape the eyes of these people who were accustomed to begging for a living on the water.

"Haven't you heard from the helper yet?" A man as sturdy as an iron tower asked with a sip of strong wine rather impatiently.

"It's almost ...... After all, people are officials of the imperial court, so there must be a proper arrangement. A lean man beside him answered.

Shortly after the words were spoken, a grasshopper boat quickly passed by their boat, and a bamboo tube was thrown onto the deck by the other party. The man guarding outside only glanced at the nicks on the bamboo tube, and then revealed his understanding, and the murderous aura in his eyes suddenly became a sheng, and he whispered to everyone in the cabin: "The helper is here, do it!" Let's do it tonight! ”

As soon as these words came out, the spirits of several people in the cabin were for a while, and the tall man even pulled out the water thorn on his waist and wiped it hard and carefully.

In the middle of the night, the waters are even quieter. At this time, several figures quietly slipped from the boat and fell into the water. They are all water-based people, so there is no movement when they fall into the water.

Not only is there silence when entering the water, but even when swimming in the water, several people are as flexible as fish swimming at the bottom of the water. Unless someone deliberately shines a torch into the water, it is impossible to spot them at night.

Five black shadows quickly swept past several of the ships, and then came to the side of the target ship.

After gesturing to each other, the lean man descended, sank to the bottom, and quickly came to the bottom of the ship. He hammered a chisel in his hand, and soon moved his hand under the ship.

Because of the water, the sound of the boat being chiseled below did not come much, but the first few people above knew that he had carved four or five holes in the bottom of the boat in a matter of moments.

That was enough to completely destroy the small ship, which sank completely in half an hour. And the next thing they have to do is to wait on the sidelines, and when the people on the boat notice the leak and jump out of the boat in a hurry, they will assassinate them one by one. They believed that with their many years of combat experience on the water, it would be easy to kill a few people who were suddenly in trouble and were not familiar with the nature of the water.

But what happened next surprised them.

After the ship was scuttled, it did slowly begin to sink into the water. But in this process, there was no movement on the boat, not to mention that someone ran out and jumped into the water in a hurry, and not even a word of exclamation came out, as if everyone on the boat had fallen asleep, or there was no one on it at all.

"This ...... What's going on? Everyone stared at the ship in front of them in amazement, and finally watched as it sank completely.

It was only then that they finally came to the conclusion that there was no one they wanted to deal with on this ship. Even the boatman he had seen during the day had abandoned the ship and left early because he had not paid attention to him.

This target ship, which they have been staring at for a long time and planning for a long time, was actually empty early in the morning!

In addition to being angry, a question arose in their hearts - where did Lu Zhen go?