These water bandits around Xishan Island can exist until now, and they can still develop and grow, naturally it will not be simple, plus they occupy the passage of merchant ships in the past, and the harvest is naturally not small. After the action of these five water bandits, a large amount of money was seized in the old nest of this water bandits, which made them feel that they had gained a lot.

Therefore, the leaders of the five water bandits suddenly felt that it was actually quite cost-effective for them to take the banner of the Sailing Army to do something to other water bandits, and it was actually not so bad to surrender to the Jieyi Army. Water bandits, do it yourself, do it for others. As long as you can get practical benefits, what do you do, and who you do for whom, so what does it matter?

Therefore, after the first operation, without waiting for the new military order of the Jieyi Army, they began to attack other bandits who did not act or were still negotiating terms with the Jieyi Army. And after the first operation, after the sailors of the Jieyi Army had already traded food and daily necessities for them according to the previous agreement, the five water bandits were also slightly relieved. In their opinion, the sailors of the Jieyi Army and them are already considered to be the same forces of the sailors under the command of the Jieyi Army.

Of course, they will not fully trust the sailors of the Jieyi Army. However, the benefits in hand have lowered the vigilance of the Jieyi Army's sailors, making them far less wary of the Jieyi Army than before. At this moment, in the name of commending and reading out the military order of the governor of the Jieyi Army, the Jieyi Army entered the lair of the Wulu Water Bandits, and investigated the base camp where their coalition army was located.

Although there are many leaders among the Five Routes Water Bandits who feel that the Jieyi Army Sailor will not let them stand alone like this, the envoy sent by the Jieyi Army Sailor said that he was ordered by the Metropolitan Governor of the Jieyi Army to use Xishan Island as the transit place of the Taihu Lake Sailor and to talk to them about the tax and escort of the merchant ships, and the leaders of the Five Routes Water Bandits basically did not have much suspicion about the Jieyi Army. However, they are still on guard when they should be on guard, but they all think that before their strength suddenly weakens, the sailors of the Jieyi Army will not attack them again.

And the leader of the Wulu Water Bandit learned that among the several town army generals of the Jieyi Army's water division, there were still a few who were born as water bandits, and immediately wanted to ask the Jieyi Army for a name, that is, they also wanted to become the Jieyi Army's water division and a town water army, but they had to be independent and stand. The leader of the water bandits said that they could buy food and grass materials and armor equipment from the Jieyi Army without the free provision of food, grass and armor equipment from the Jieyi Army. Of course, it can also be exchanged for combat exploits. In addition, the materials they captured after the attack on the Qi army were also owned by themselves.

"These things that don't know how to live or die are now getting more and more excessive, and they want to stand side by side with us and under the righteous army. Governor, now that we have explored the area where they are, should we immediately take action to wipe them out? "After Qin Shouyi and other generals learned that the water bandit coalition had sent envoys to discuss with Li Qingping about claiming his name, they were filled with indignation and demanded to attack and destroy the other party.

Qin Shouyi and the others knew very well that if they really gave the name of the third town of the Righteous Army's Water Division to this water bandit coalition, they would be a little troublesome if they wanted to do something to each other at that time. After all, if the other party has been included in the Jieyi Army Water Division system and is still attacked by his own people, the impact will be great.

Among the Jieyi Army, not only the sailors have recruited a lot of water bandits, but it can even be said that the sailors of the Jieyi Army are retrained by the scattered and mixed formations of various water bandits. Even in the army, there are other rebels who join or are not defeated by the Qi army and are encircled and suppressed by the Jieyi army. If the sailors of the Jieyi Army attack the "own people" who have surrendered and divided the establishment name, it will have a very bad impact on the Jieyi army, and even cause a certain amount of turmoil among the Jieyi army. And now that the Jieyi army is confronting the Qi army, the south and the north, and any problems within the Jieyi army will bring serious consequences.

In addition, the Jieyi Army is now preparing to absorb the rebels in the south who are close to the territory of the Jieyi Army, and if they are made aware of the situation here, it will hinder the next move of the Jieyi Army. Even if the Jieyi army is not very worried about internal problems, however, at the current time when the Qi army is approaching, any small problem may bring a series of unforeseen consequences. Therefore, Qin Shouyi and others, especially those generals who went south from Zhao State, understood the possible consequences.

Li Qingping said in a deep voice: "It's okay, we're just negotiating with them now, no matter what excuse we use, we can drag them down and make them unable to succeed." I know what you're worried about, and I'm going to take small steps back down so that they don't leak out some information that shouldn't be leaked. In addition, our concession will also prevent them from being too afraid of us, and then be on guard. ”

Li Qingping also understood that what these generals were worried about was not that these water bandit coalition forces could really obtain the orthodox establishment of the righteous army, but that these water bandit coalition forces would be the first to spread these information to everyone who knew about it. In that case, if they take action against these water bandit coalition forces, the consequences will be exactly like what Qin Shouyi said before.

Li Ziran asked in a deep voice: "Governor, since we have already explored Nanze Island, the old nest of the water bandits, why don't we just go out and sweep them away?" It's so clean, and that's a good thing for us. ”

Li Qingping said: "How can we not know this? However, the movements of our sailors have always been under the surveillance of this coalition of bandits. We are at war with them, even head-on, and it will not be difficult to destroy them. However, what worries me is that they fled south and threw themselves directly into the southern Qi army. You must know that the news that we fought with the Qi army's naval division in the waters of Taihu Lake and completely annihilated the other party and some of the actions of attracting water bandits in the northern part of Wuxing County have been known to the Qi Military Office, and now, in the northern part of Wuxing County, the Qi army has begun to transfer heavy troops. ”

"If this water bandit alliance goes south and joins the Qi army, I'm afraid we can only watch them become a member of the Qi army, serve the Qi army, and form a Qi army sailor team in the south. That's definitely not a good thing for us. In addition, there are many bandits around us who have not surrendered to us, and I want to use their hands to attack these bandits and force them to surrender to us. Have you not noticed that in the last few days there has been a sudden increase in the number of bandits who have surrendered to us and who have sent people to contact us to discuss their surrender? The reason why this is so, it is because they are now afraid of this water bandit coalition. In just four or five days, two medium-sized water bandits and four small water bandits have been defeated by these five-way coalition forces. ”

Speaking of this, Li Qingping couldn't help sneering: "Let them surrender to us, they are not happy, either they are unwilling to give up the power in their hands, or they are unwilling to give up the wealth they have accumulated, and they are not willing to return to the old life of being restricted. ”

"We have sent men and horses to persuade us to surrender many times before, but they have all used various excuses to prevaricate. But now, as soon as the five-way coalition army came out, it directly destroyed the five bandits, killed the leaders of the bandits, took their money, beheaded all their subordinates, or became captive slaves, and their families were also divided among these bandits and disposed of at will. Now they are afraid, they understand who should surrender between our Jieyi Army sailors and the five-way water bandit coalition. ”

"We will do it to these bandits ourselves, and it will inevitably allow more bandits to join the alliance of the five water bandits and work together to fight against us, and we are even more worried that these five water bandits will accept the strength of these water bandits who are unwilling to surrender to us, so that the strength in the hands of the five water bandits will be strengthened more and more. In addition, once we dispatch a large army to attack these water bandits, it is bound to make it difficult for some of them to escape or flee north and enter the territory ruled by the Qi army. But now let these five-way coalition forces attack, so that all the bandits who are unwilling to surrender to us lose their way to retreat, and our surrender can be smoother. After all, it is not unacceptable for us to surrender rather than be destroyed. Li Qingping slowly said his plans and worries.

"Now that we have discovered the nest and defense of the water bandits, what we need to do next is to secretly mobilize our forces and prepare for a surprise attack on Nanze Island, and at the same time, we must continue to let these five water bandit coalition forces attack other water bandits who are unwilling to surrender to us, and at the same time, lower their vigilance. But now, what we need is how to mobilize our ships without the thought that the bandit coalition is going to attack them, so that we can make a surprise attack. ”

Qin Shou thought for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Governor, what do you think about the last general, if you can mobilize our people and horses to leave, I just don't know if you can let these water bandits be fooled." ”

Li Qingping smiled: "What do you think, but it doesn't hurt to say it!" ”

"We've pretty much stabilized our rule here, but our roots are still on the vast eastern landmass. To operate here, it also requires a lot of materials and people. The water bandits of the Five-Route Coalition now know that we are going to start construction here, and use this place as the station of our Jie Yi Army's naval division, and this Xishan Island as a transit point and resting place for merchant ships. Then are we taking advantage of the money we have gained here to send warships back to raid Nanze Island? ”

"Good...... It works! Governor, in this way, we can mobilize the warships in the southeast and north of Xishan Island, but we will not let these bandits have much suspicion. In this way, our actions on Minamizawa Island will be taken by surprise. When several other town army generals heard Qin Shouyi say this, they couldn't help but admire in unison.

Li Qingping pondered for a moment and said, "Just like this, I'm afraid it will be difficult to hide from the other party." If we turn back, we will inevitably pass through their north, and they must be very vigilant about the movements of our ships now, and even then we will be detected by the sentinels sent by them. Therefore, once we have signs of going south to Nanzawa Island, I am afraid that these water bandits will definitely find the abnormality. ”

Qin Shouyi did not have any frustration because of Li Qingping's disapproval, but smiled and said: "Looking at the expression of the governor, the last general will understand that the governor actually has an idea." It seems that it is definitely not a problem to solve this water bandit coalition. ”

Li Qingping couldn't help but shake his head and smile, and said, "As far as your old Qin's eyes are good, you are right, I do have an idea, which is also related to your suggestion." It can also be said that it is just a supplement to your suggestion. ”

"We're going to do it now to bring back the money we got from the bandits we killed here and the money we got from the bandits who surrendered. This time, in the waters of the central part of Taihu Lake, we exterminated many water bandits, and also forced a lot of water bandits. The harvest is very clear to all the generals, and it can be said that it is very extraordinary. But most of it is money, and it doesn't have much effect on the moment. After all, the consequences of not being able to buy things with money here, the surrounding bandits are very clear. ”

"So, it was our original plan to bring back the money and some valuables. However, our original plan was to wait until the fleet carrying the thousands of civilians and some civilian officials arrived, and then bring them back. But now it seems that we can send warships to escort a group of transports back at this moment. ”

"And on our way back, we will inevitably meet up with the convoy that has come here. At that point, we swapped escorts with the convoy and turned back. And at this moment, the coalition of bandits will not find out about these situations, because they have seen us escorting a convoy of convoys eastward. Even if we turn back and let the patrol boats of the Five Bandit Coalition find out, we can show the officials and refugees on it, and let them know that we are escorting these people to Xishan Island to settle down. And now is the perfect time for us to take action on Minami Ze Island. ”

Li Qingping clenched his fists fiercely and said in a cold voice, "These five-way water bandits have a great impact on our original plan, and now they have to make inches of progress, pressing us step by step. There is no room for such evils. By the time our sailor ship turned back, the coalition of these sailors had almost cleared out the surrounding bandits who still wanted to exist on their own, and what we needed to do was the final touch. In this way, we have almost completely cleaned up the surrounding waters. ”

Saying that, Li Qingping ordered Qin Shouyi in a deep voice: "General Qin, you are in charge of this operation, the fleet of the Second Town Water Division, the overall operation, in addition, I will also bring back some of the captured merchant ships for the use of the government and the people in the lakeside waters in the west of Songjiang Mansion." "In addition to the large amount of money harvested in this central water, there are also a large number of ships. In addition to a part of the warships, there were also a part of civilian ships. For example, merchant ships, fishing boats, etc. As a result, none of these boats are being used efficiently here, and even if they are allocated to some fishermen, there is still a surplus.

After thinking about it, Li Qingping added: "By the way, bring back all the craftsmen gathered from various water bandits this time, and let them use them for our use in Songjiang Mansion, stay here, and they can't play a role for the time being." "After exterminating many water bandits, the sailors of the Jieyi Army also found many craftsmen from the hands of the water bandits, all kinds of craftsmen, of course, mainly shipwrights and blacksmiths. These craftsmen played a significant role in repairing warships and armor equipment, and they were indispensable for large-scale bandits.

For the sailors of the Jieyi Army, these craftsmen are naturally very useful to themselves. However, the sailors of the Jieyi Army have the backing of the entire Jieyi Army, the stable jurisdiction of the two provinces as the backing, and the entire Zhao Zhao Kingdom as the backing, so they naturally don't need to bring these craftsmen with them at any time. Of course, among the sailors, there are naturally craftsmen equipped with the army. Otherwise, there would be no way to repair warships, armor, and equipment, as well as bed, crossbows, catapults, and other things. Therefore, these craftsmen are not very important to the sailors of the Jieyi Army, but they are of great significance to the entire Jieyi Army.

If the fleet of the sailors of the Jieyi Army wants to act, it is naturally impossible to hide it from those who have a heart, and it is not easy to draw a detailed demarcation line in the vast waters. Besides, now this water bandit coalition is still on the side of the righteous army. In addition, many bandits travel to and from the waters under the guise of fishing boats and purchased merchant ships, and even the Jieyi army cannot attack these ships casually.

Seeing the dispatch of the Jieyi Army's naval division warships, those who were unwilling to surrender, whether it was the water bandits who were unwilling to surrender, or the five-way water bandit coalition army, they were all trembling, and they were deeply afraid that the Jieyi Army was going to attack them, so all parties sent people to investigate the reasons for the dispatch of the Jieyi Army's warships and the target of the Jieyi Army's naval division warships.

However, the action of the Jieyi Army this time was deliberately to let these people find out, so the Jieyi Army Water Division did not do much to cover up, and all the bandits quickly figured out the reason and goal of the Jieyi Army's Water Division's trip. They were relieved to learn that the sailor warship of the Jieyi Army was going to escort the spoils back to Songjiang Mansion. Especially the five-way water bandit coalition army, they can only let go of their hearts at this moment.

Among them, many water bandits also drooled over the materials transported by the Jieyi Army Water Division, which was the harvest of the main force of the Jieyi Army Water Division for more than a month, and it was the wealth of the four largest water bandits in the south and Xishan Island, and now, all of them fell into the hands of the Jieyi Army.

However, no one dared to attack the fleet of the sailors of the Jieyi Army, even if they knew that there was a lot of money among these dozens of big-bellied cargo ships, but even if they were given another guts, they would not dare to have the idea of making a move. Because around this cargo ship, there are nearly 100 warships of all sizes to escort it.

Of course, even without the escort of warships, these bandits did not dare to make a move against the cargo ships of the Jieyi Army at this moment. Of course, they are not in the mood to do anything to the cargo ships of the Jieyi Army at this moment. The five-way water bandit coalition wants to hang under the name of the Jieyi Army, so naturally they will not shoot at the cargo ships of the Jieyi Army, as for the other water bandits, they are now difficult to protect themselves, where is they still in the mood to think about any wealth?