Chapter 443: What I Saw on the River
Chapter 443: What I Saw on the River
The fight didn't take too long, that is, about half an hour, after Jiang Feng shot the scolding fool leader on the shore with an arrow, he vaguely heard the sound of some people running away in a hurry.
Then the whole river was completely silent, and the soldiers of the three boats put away their lanterns and bamboo guns, and after crossing this section of the river, the front became much smoother, and the captain of the boat was about to raise the sails and speed up. Unless the other party also pursues the boat, it is impossible to dive into the water and get on the boat like Fang Cai.
After the soldiers who fought on the ship were cleaned up, they went back to sleep in the cabin one after another, and twenty or thirty guards and soldiers walked out of the cabin, it turned out that in the battle of Fang Cai, Jiang Feng's subordinates did not all go out at all, but took turns to fight, as for why Jiang Feng came to the front line to fight, it is very likely to have fun.
I wanted to go into the room to see what kind of mental state Tang Xuan was, but as soon as Jiang Feng entered, he found that Tang Xuan was already asleep on the bed, obviously because the things she encountered tonight frightened her too much, and she was extremely tired.
Jiang Feng looked at the reassuring smile on the girl's face, couldn't help but shake his head, and said to himself:
"I really don't know what's going on in this girl's head?"
Walking out of the wing room and closing the door, Jiang Feng leaned over the gap in the plank that had just been broken, fished a few handfuls in the river, washed his face casually, and walked into the room himself.
After the annexation and merger of the bandits in the previous few years, most of those who had boats and people were restrained by the thirteen chambers of commerce, and the remaining rogues were basically poor outlaws, and they didn't even have a decent boat, so they could only rely on diving and climbing boats on the slow-moving river.
In the three days on the boat, Jiang Feng has already encountered four waves of such rogues, and on the road it seems that the world is peaceful, but in the places where the power of the government is weak and cannot be reached, the blazing fierceness of the bandits is much more powerful than Jiang Feng's previous impression.
What does this mean, the governing power of the government is still enough to maintain order, but the uncontrolled power is also gradually strengthening, how can these small gangs scattered there in the past have such combat power.
The next morning, according to the captain of the boat, it would take a while longer to reach the place where there were houses and a port, that is, the river was still as clean as it was at night, and the boats that accompanied it would not be seen until two or three hours.
This kind of situation is a good time for ill-intentioned people to take advantage of the opportunity of lax precautions in the early morning to get on the ship, so Jiang Feng, who got up early, and those rotating guards have long been patrolling around the ship.
After walking for an hour, there was a big ship on the opposite side, this ship was much larger than the three ships that Jiang Feng called combined, and it was suspiciously called a giant ship here, Jiang Feng roughly estimated that it was either a collision or a battle between the two sides.
I was afraid that my own boat would not make any gains, so I hurriedly commanded my subordinates, and those guards all took action, in these river boats, there are ballast objects, not how much wind and waves there are on the canal, but for the stability of the boat.
Half of it was stones, but Jiang Feng and his party also had some things in the ballast, and in a short time, many of the people in the compartment of the ship had already loaded their arquebuses, waiting for the order to act at any time.
According to the rules on the river, the boat boss parked his three boats to the side, letting the big boat pass first, Jiang Feng was also standing on the side of the boat, squinting at the big boat, it turned out to be the appearance of a building boat, but in a waterway like a canal, the combat power of the building boat is indeed the largest.
Even from a long distance, you can see the sails on the building ship constantly adjusting and changing, obviously slowing down.
The boat boss standing at the bow of the boat was also a little nervous, suddenly scolded secretly, patted his head with his hand, and hurriedly ran to the cabin, Jiang Feng was stunned, and couldn't help but clench the handle of the knife with his hand, thinking to himself Is there something wrong with this ship boss?
Soon, however, the captain of the ship had already run out of the cabin, holding a flag in his hand, embroidered with the words "Walk with the River", and shouted at the boatmen on the other two ships:
"Don't stand stupidly anywhere, hurry up and wave this flag, or it will be smashed and sunk directly by the slap stick!"
After saying this, the boatmen on the two ships also hung up the flags in the same way, and in this process, the building boat over there slowly approached, getting closer, and Jiang Feng, who was backlit, saw a big flag floating on the bow of the other party, and a pelican was embroidered on it.
To be honest, Jiang Feng has seen such a boat for the first time, the sides of this building boat seem to be the arthropods of insects, and there are six long poles pulled up by ropes, and at the end of the long poles, large stones are tied. Apparently this is what the captain of the ship is talking about.
The power of this thing can be imagined, the two boats are staggered, this big pole is smashed down with a boulder, and no ship can bear it, and the boat will be smashed directly.
What he saw next made Jiang Feng gasp, there were actually small cannon mounts on the bow and sides of the ship, but the caliber didn't seem to be as big as the caliber of a one-pound cannon like the Franc machine, it was obviously a crude musket like a tiger squat cannon, and the power was average, but even if it was like this, it was too amazing.
Some of the people on the big boat were holding three-eyed guns, some were holding bows and arrows, looking at Jiang Feng's ship coldly, and a man dressed in close water came over and asked loudly:
"Where did you come from, where did you go?"
The boat boss who was standing beside Jiang Feng hurriedly stepped forward, and said with a smile:
"It's the ship of the Sanjiang Commercial Bank, and the heroes look at our flag, this is the ship of the Chamber of Commerce."
The people on the opposite boat obviously saw the flags hanging on the masts on Jiang Feng's three boats, and the faces of those with knives and guns were a lot relaxed, the man nodded, but then asked again:
"At this time, there is a mess on the water, why did you come out so early?"
After seeing the flag hung up, the man had to interrogate, this is obviously Jiang Feng's three ships, the time of appearance is too suspicious, it stands to reason that there are no boats at night, when it is dark, they are all anchored in a certain port, and the ships are all about the same, and there will be no situation where anyone is much faster than whom.
On the entire river, there are basically many boats, or not a single boat can not be seen, so the boat that Jiang Feng and they are riding on is indeed too conspicuous.
The captain of the ship was open in his heart, and replied loudly:
"Our proprietor has an urgent matter to go south, so I brought my guards and strong men, and to tell you the truth, I also repelled a few bandits on the way!"
When he spoke, he pointed at Jiang Feng with his hand, the big man's gaze turned around, Jiang Feng smiled slightly, and there he hugged his fists and signaled, the big man on the building boat glanced at it a few times, Jiang Feng's bearing was indeed like a businessman in a layman, and the guards on each ship were all holding weapons and were frank, but they couldn't see anything wrong.
What's more, he had also heard of the name of this Sanjiang Commercial Bank, and the three flags fluttering on the bow of the ship were issued by the shipping company, which was equivalent to making a guarantee.
With a slight groan, the big man said loudly:
"That's to delay your trip, a reminder, thirty miles further south, there is no banditry, I will help ensure that your ship is passable, whether it is day or night, my brother will go up to suppress the bandits, disturb!"
After saying this, the big man nodded, and the sails on the ship were raised, and the speed of the boat slowly increased, leaving this section of the river. The captain of the ship said a few flattering words there again and again, and sent it off with a smile on his face, and when the big ship had completely gone away, he called on his sailors to open the boat.
Jiang Feng was a little puzzled, but the boat boss took the initiative to come over and explain:
"Master Jiang, this big river is now protected by this Cao Gang, everyone who sails on this river has to follow the Cao Gang to pay money to buy a convenience, saying that it is to learn the rules of the sea, this Cao Gang says that they are the righteous people on the river to gang up, in fact, everyone knows, they are just the watchdogs raised by the Thirteen Chamber of Commerce, these years, money is the biggest!"
The rules of the sea, it is obvious that Jiang Feng has set his own rules, all maritime merchant ships, they have to pay fees with Huazhou, Yizhou, and now the fleet of Malacca City, and there are also such rules on the canal, Jiang Feng couldn't help but laugh secretly.
Unlike those bandits, such a ship has firearms, and the soldiers on the ship are all fierce people, I believe that according to the Daming Sailor, it will not be much worse, and it is not a private project of the Daming Sailor, according to the name of a Cao Gang.
Such an armed organization is in the hands of the private businessmen, presumably it will not be just this building ship, and the thirteen chambers of commerce are legal organizations in the civil society and have close ties with the government, and there is such a legal armed organization in Jiangnan that is not controlled by the imperial court, and it is such a powerful armed organization.
I don't know, is this a crack in the foundation of the Ming Dynasty's rule.
The boat boss over there had already prepared everything to stop, and the boat slowly sailed into the middle of the river, speeding up, Jiang Feng rushed in the direction where the boat disappeared, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth......
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