Shuai Zeng, who was reporting to Sun Shao on the situation in Funanguo, suddenly shuddered. Sun Shao looked at him with concern: "What's wrong?" Under the weather? ”

Shuai Qiang laughed, looked around, and shook his head suspiciously: "It's nothing, I suddenly felt that something was wrong, as if there was a murderous aura." ”

Sun Shao was stunned for a moment, and glanced at Han Long who was standing behind him, Han Long turned around and went out to give a few orders, and after a short time, he returned to Sun Shao's side and shook his head. Sun Shao waved his hand and motioned for him to step back. Shuai Zeng smiled awkwardly: "King, maybe I've been in Funan for too long and I'm suspicious." ”

"It's not a bad thing to be careful." Sun Shao smiled: "You go on, what kind of person is Fan Man, the king of Funan?" ”

Shuai Zeng took a sip of tea, stabilized his mind, and then said: "Fan Man was originally the general of Lao Wang Panquan, and he fought with Panquan for many years, and after Panpan's death, he assisted Panpan, but he was originally a confidant of Panqing, the eldest son of Panpan, and Panpan was not in agreement, and some people said that Panpan's death was related to him. Three years ago, Pan Pan died in an accident, and Fan Man set himself up as king. In the past few years, he has conquered the south and the north, and successively attacked more than ten countries of various sizes such as Qu Dukun, Jiuzhi, and Dian Xun, and opened up five or six thousand miles of land, and was an extremely warlike monarch. The war against Yuenan originated in Linyi, but the main promoter was the king of Funan. ”

"Really?" Sun Shao smiled: "How many people does he have?" ”

"The total is about fifty or sixty thousand." Shuai Zeng said cautiously: "His soldiers and horses are scattered and scattered, and there are fifty or sixty thousand standing troops, but when the war is together, he will recruit men and horses from those small countries, and the total number should be around 100,000." The most powerful of them is the three hundred elephant soldiers, which are his weapons for victory in every battle. Shuai Zeng paused for a moment, revealing a worried look: "King, although the speed of these elephant soldiers is not fast, the impact is very strong, if you don't prepare, the casualties will be very amazing." ”

"Elephant soldiers? I know that Jianzhong captured two war elephants when he was in Lurong City. However, the three hundred elephant soldiers are indeed quite amazing. Sun Shao looked at Shuai Zeng, his eyes were full of appreciation: "Your news is very timely, I didn't expect that he has so many elephant soldiers, and if he meets him in a hurry, he will definitely suffer." ”

"Hey...... The minister's task is to find out the enemy's troop deployment and prepare for the king's strategy. Shuai Zeng smiled shyly: "By the way, the most powerful on the land of Funan is the elephant soldiers, and the most powerful on the sea is their sailors." ”

"Their sailor?" Sun Shao said with great interest: "Tell me about the strengths and weaknesses of their sailors compared to us." ”

…… Funan Wang Fan Man is over 60 years old this year, although his figure is not tall, but he is very strong, with a dark square face, two thick eyebrows, a pair of big eyes, a big nose, a wide mouth, and a silver beard floating on his chest, which looks extremely powerful. His upper body was draped diagonally with a piece of brocade, the glittering brocade lining him full of wealth, and the exposed right shoulder was knotted with oil.

Standing in front of him was a middle-aged man in his forties, with short black hair, a vicious face, and two big eyes full of light, he was Fan Man's nephew Fan Zhan, and he was one of the most capable generals under Fan Man, this time he had just returned from Lin Yi to report the military situation to Fan Man.

"King Yue's army said in the first half of the year that they would come to conquer, but they themselves were in a mess, and they haven't seen half a ship until now." Fan Zhan patted his bulging belly disdainfully: "They came to a general surnamed Lu, but he was too stupid, he only brought a month's military rations to Xijuan City, and Ou Lian left the empty city to him, and then went to attack his grain road, but in two months he collapsed on his own, gave up Xijuan, and retreated to Jiuzhen." ”

"Oh?" Fan Man's eyes flashed, and he stared straight at Fan Zhan: "Since everything is going well, what are you doing when you come back?" ”

A flash of shame flashed in Fan Zhan's eyes, and he sighed twice: "Uncle, they are in trouble." ”

"What's the trouble that even you can't solve?"

"Pirates."

"Pirates?" Fan Man was stunned for a moment, his big knuckle hand pinched the short sword at his waist, and his brilliant eyes swept over Fan Zhan's face: "You mean, you met pirates?" ”

"Yes." Fan Zhan nodded again and again in embarrassment: "Two months ago, a group of pirates came from the east of the Rising Sea (that is, the South China Sea), they attacked Da Nang and attacked the country of Linyi. So I sent three boats to hunt down ......."

"Did you catch it?" Fan Man shouted angrily, glanced at Fan Zhan, and sneered: "Looking at you like this, you shouldn't have caught up." ”

"I didn't ...... Didn't chase it. Fan Zhan's black face turned a little purple, he licked his thick lips, reached out to wipe his curly hair, and said in a voice so low that he could barely hear it: "Those three ships...... Never came back. ”

Fan Man, who had just been so angry that he turned around, turned his head and glared at Fan Zhan when he heard it, and it took a long time before he laughed, but there was no ridiculous meaning in that laughter, but it made Fan Zhan feel cold all over his body: "The pirates are not caught, and even the ship is gone?" What kind of pirate is so powerful that even my sailors in the south can't beat him? ”

"No...... I don't know. Fan Zhan's mouth seemed to be blocked, and he was vague. Fan Man was angry and funny, it was the first time he had seen Fan Zhan like this, of course, Fan Zhan had been with him for so long, and it was the first time he lost the battle, no wonder he was embarrassed.

"And what did you do then?" Fan Man calmed down, sat back on the throne made of jade grinding, and looked at Fan Zhan calmly. Fan Zhan sighed softly, and then said: "I later sent people to sweep several nearby islands and catch a lot of pirates, but it is very strange that none of these pirates captured admitted to attacking Linyi Kingdom, and among the spoils of war, I really didn't find anything from Linyi Kingdom." I interrogated the pirates in detail, and none of them had seen them, but they provided information that there had been some pirates on several islands near the county of Yuenan, but that they had not been seen for the last two months, and had not gone out to sea with them to fish. ”

"Well, and then what?" Fan Man's eyes flickered, stroking his beard and muttering, listening attentively to Fan Zhan's every word.

"Later, I went to the islands to check on them, and I found that all the pirates on those islands had been killed, the pirate flags and ships were gone, and only a hundred and ten corpses remained, buried in a large pit. It was buried so carefully that if it weren't for the sight of a few wild dogs wandering around, we probably wouldn't have noticed it. ”

"I'm afraid it's not a pirate." Fan Man sneered: "When did you see a pirate kill someone and bury it?" More than a hundred people were all killed, and not a single one escaped the net, this group of guys of unknown origin is really terrifying. ”

"Exactly, so I don't dare to chase anymore, let Ou Lian be careful and rush back to report to the king."

"Could this group of people be Zhuya's sailors?" Fan Man pondered for a long time, and suddenly asked, "Yue Guo has been shouting for revenge, could it be their sailor who will take revenge?" ”

"Unlikely." Fan Zhan shook his head: "If it's the sailors of the Yue Kingdom, why do they dress up as pirates?" And I've been paying attention to the sailors of Zhuya, the flags of the warships of the sailors of Zhuya are very familiar to those pirates, as long as they appear in Linyi, there is no reason for those pirates to be unrecognizable. ”

"Could that be the sailor of King Yue?" Fan Man said worriedly: "I heard that his sailor is also very powerful. ”

"It's even more impossible." Fan Zhan smiled dumbly: "If King Yue comes, will he still be so polite?" must have killed Nanjun directly and cut off the head of the old thing in Oulian, how could he be allowed to recapture Xijuan City again. Moreover, I have heard from the merchants of the Yue Kingdom that when his sailors are dispatched, the movement is so great that it is impossible to hide it from our ears and eyes. ”

Fan Man was silent. To be honest, he didn't believe that King Yue would really fight him for a few merchants. King Yue sent an envoy to him, and he looked imposing, but he didn't believe the envoy's words at all. As long as anyone with a little brain, they will not believe these lies and big words. Don't talk about killing a few businessmen, even if you kill an official of the Han people, what can you do? They don't have to send a few people to question them, and as long as they say a few kind words and send some tribute, the matter will be over. The emperor of the Han people is too far away from here, they can't take care of it at all, it is said that the Han people have been busy killing themselves all these years, and countless people have died, and it is impossible to have time to take care of here, otherwise, Ou Lian such a useless thing dares to be king?

Although Fan Man had never been to the Han Dynasty, he was not ignorant of the Han Dynasty, he learned some about the situation of the Han Dynasty from the mouths of those Han people who fled to Jiuzhen and Yuenan, and also learned about the situation of the Han Dynasty from the mouths of the endless stream of merchants, he knew that the Han Dynasty was no longer the powerful Han Dynasty, and it was not worth fearing at all. What they Han people are best at is cannibalism, and the general Fubo, who once killed Jiaoluan, died miserably in the end, and although the current King of Yue and King Wu are uncles and nephews, they are enemies of life and death.

King Yue won't really come to fight him.

Fan Man believed Fan Zhan's words, he was very unhappy, he had conquered so many countries, established a huge kingdom, and conquered the vast sea frontier, he was a well-deserved overlord of the sea, how could he tolerate a few pirates doing nonsense? Pirates can exist, but they must be under his jurisdiction, listen to him, he lets them live, they can live, he lets them die, then they must die.

"How many more men do you need to take down those pirates?"

Fan Zhan had actually thought about it on the way, but he still thought about it for a while, making himself look more stable: "Twenty warships, twenty supply ships, in a month, I will definitely be able to cut off the heads of those disobedient pirates." ”

"Don't take it lightly." Fan Man glared at Fan Zhan expressionlessly: "You can kill more than a hundred pirates silently, and attack Da Nang under your nose, these people are by no means mediocre, maybe habitual thieves, you have to deal with it carefully." I will give you thirty warships, thirty supply ships, and three months' time, and you will bind these pirates before me before the New Year. ”

"Yes." Fan Zhan was overjoyed, and immediately knelt in front of Fan Man and kissed Fan Man's shoes. Thirty warships means three thousand warriors, plus more than three thousand people under him, he now has nearly seven thousand troops, which is the strongest one under Fan Man, and even Fan Man's sons are not as good as him. He felt a great deal of trust and love from it.

"Let's teach those pirates who don't know what to do." Fan Man leaned down and kissed Fan Zhan's forehead, "Lord Shiva will bless you well." ”

…… Cui Qian stepped on the sturdy deck with his bare feet, looked down at the Yishang who knelt down in front of him in fear, checked the Roman gold coin in his hand, and scolded: "This King of Funan is so bold that he dares to sit on the ground and raise the price, and the price has doubled just by walking on his ground?" Dare to block my financial path to cross the country, I think he is really tired of it. He kicked the Yi merchant with his foot: "Are you really from Daqin?" ”

"Yes, yes, I'm really a merchant of Great Qin." The high-nosed Yishang sweated like rain, lying down on the deck and kowtowing repeatedly, making Cui Qian very worried that his nose would hit the deck first.

"You get up first." Cui Qian threw the gold coin in front of him: "This ...... You put it away. ”

"No, no, no." Yi Shang was so frightened that his already white face turned even whiter, and he trembled and took out a large handful of gold coins from his arms: "These...... All these are given to you, all to you, and I beg you to spare them...... Spare my life! ”

His Chinese was not good in the first place, and when he spoke slowly, he could barely hear clearly, and Cui Qian couldn't understand a word of this nervousness. But looking at him like that, Cui Qian also knew that he was buying his life with money. After all, Cui Qian was also a pirate before he became a general, and this kind of thing is not less.

"Hey, hey, hey......" Cui Qian glanced at the gold coins with some reluctance: "You get up, Lao Tzu doesn't take your money, you put the money away and go to Zhuya to trade." Cui Qian waved his hand and motioned for the Yi merchant to get up, Yi Ren turned his two gray eyes, and looked at Cui Qian and the others in horror, and when he found that although Cui Qian and the others looked vicious, their expressions were very different from ordinary pirates, he slowly believed the words of the translator, although these people looked like pirates, but they were not pirates.

"Go to Zhuya, when you come back, there will be no pirates here." Cui Qian laughed, turned around and entered the cabin.

"Thank you...... Thank you, thank you! Yi Shang was grateful, and did not dare to pick up the gold coins scattered on the ground, picked up his robe, and hurried away. As soon as he got on the boat, he pulled up the sails and ran away.

Cui Yan looked at the gold coins on the deck, shook her head with a wry smile, picked them up one by one, and followed into the cabin: "General, the Yishang is gone, what should I do with the money?" ”

Cui Qian glanced at him: "It's divided for the brothers." Let them rest well and make a trip to Da Nang in the evening. ”

Cui Yan smiled, threw the gold coin in her hand, and said with some puzzlement: "I just went to Da Nang two months ago, why did I go to Da Nang again?" ”

"Go get some food, get some fresh water, and then we'll head south." Cui Qian crouched on the chart and said without looking back. "This bullshit King of Funan actually dares to dominate the South China Sea, it's really unbelievable, let's go and teach him a lesson, let him know what a sailor is."

"To the south, to the south, to the south?"

"Are you stupid in Zhuya?" Cui Qian drank a little impatiently: "We are pirates now, where can pirates go?" Where can we rob, we will go there, and Luo Luo asked so much what to do? ”

Cui Yan was startled, the gold coin in his hand fell, and he didn't dare to pick it up, so he turned around and walked out of the cabin. The gold coin rolled over the deck with a "rattling" sound, and rolled all the way to Cui Qian's feet. Cui Qian bent down, picked up the gold coin, looked at the avatar on it, and grinned: "Hehe, since the king trusts me so much and entrusts me with such an important task, if you don't stir up this bullshit Funanguo, what else do I call it a fate?" To be a pirate, who else is better than me? He raised his head, looked at the sea outside, and sighed with emotion: "Lao Tzu has been holding back for a few years, and he is finally going to sea. ”

In the middle of the night, Da Nang was calm and quiet, the boat that had been broken during the attack two months ago had been cleaned up, the bodies had been towed away, and the blood had long since been washed away by the sea. Hundreds of merchant ships docked in the harbor, their lights twinkling like stars in the dark night. The two Linyi soldiers held the spears in their hands, looked at the singing and dancing sound coming from the brightly lit fort on the slope of the mountain, and scolded indignantly. Since being attacked by a group of pirates of unknown origin, Da Nang has issued martial law bans, and no one is allowed to neglect them, but these bans are only effective for ordinary soldiers, and have no effect on Prince Gou Liang of Limyi Kingdom.

Since the former prince Ou Chu died in Yuenan, Ou Liang has naturally become the crown prince, and he has become the most powerful person in Linyi country except for King Ou Lian. He was ordered to guard Da Nang, but in fact he took the opportunity to blackmail the merchants, and those who gave him benefits were good people, and those who did not give benefits were pirate spies, and half of the hundred and ten ships detained in this harbor could not afford to pay huge bribes and were detained.

Of course, there are also some businessmen from the Yue Kingdom.

The merchants of the Yue Kingdom were originally the most popular merchants, not only for their exquisite goods and fair prices, but also for their kindness. The most important thing is that they don't treat these soldiers of Linyi as outsiders, they say that Linyi was originally a Han person like them, everyone speaks the same thing, wears the same clothes, although now that Linyi is a country, it is no longer the Linyi County of the Han Dynasty, but they are still willing to treat these soldiers as their own people and sell goods at a relatively low price. However, since a few merchants were killed in Funan in the first few years, things have changed, and the Lim Yi State ordered a heavy tax on the Vietnamese merchants, and the attitude has obviously become very bad, and the Yue merchants are no longer so kind to the soldiers of the Lin Yi State, and they try to avoid staying in Da Nang if possible, which is really not good, and they also hide in inconspicuous corners. But the soldiers of the Linyi Kingdom could see anger in their silent eyes, and they always felt that these merchants would not give up.

Soon, the news came that the king of Yue had sent an envoy to question the king of Funan, and then there was a rumor that the diplomacy had broken down and that the king of Yue was going to send troops to conquer the country of Funan. Hearing this news, not only the soldiers of Lin Yi felt ridiculous, but even the merchants of Yue Kingdom were a little depressed. They know the situation of Funan, and they also know the situation of Yue, Funan's military strength is at least three times that of Yue, how can Yue be Funan's opponent? King Yue, like the previous Han court, just talked about it and took care of it, he wouldn't really start a war with Funan for the death of a few merchants.

There has never been such a thing in all dynasties.

The merchants did not resent the king of Yue, the king of Yue was already very good to them, the high status of the merchants of the Yue country was unimaginable before, and they were willing to think about the king of Yue - the king of Yue did not want to avenge them, but the national strength of the Yue country was insufficient. Besides, they themselves don't think that the death of a few people is worth the war between the two countries, and if there is a war, they are worried that it will become an excuse for the court to increase taxes.

Seeing that the merchants of the Yue Kingdom who had the most smiles became depressed, the soldiers of Lin Yi could only express sympathy, they were humble and light, and such a national event could not be commented on by them. Besides, it's not bad to be able to blackmail the wealthy Yue merchants behind the chief, although they can also make profits in the past, but after all, they are not as cheap as robbed.

The sound of the water never tiredly sounded, and the two soldiers of Linyi State sniffled, sat on the dock, and paddled with their feet in the water. The sea is very cool at night, which can make people feel refreshed and drive away heavy sleepiness.

"Well, did you catch anything good today?" The triangular-eyed soldier sniffed and asked his companion. His companion did not answer him, and there was silence around him, except for the sound of the waves. He turned his head dissatisfiedly and looked at it, and was taken aback that the place where there should have been a companion was empty. He was stunned for a moment, and was just about to get up, when suddenly his feet and neck tightened, and a force came from the water, dragging him down.

Kraken? His hair stood on end in fright, and he raised his spear and stabbed into the water. The spear was grabbed by something and dragged downward. Before he could react, he was dragged into the water, and the astringent, salty water poured into his mouth and into his lungs, but he soon lost his senses. A short sharp knife slashed through his neck, ending his pain.

Before his consciousness dissipated, he seemed to see two men crawling ashore, spears in their hands that belonged to him and his companion, who were at his side, their terrified faces close at hand.

After a few moments, the two guards grumbled softly as they walked towards the hut on duty. When he walked to the door, the hut opened, and a shirtless soldier walked out of it while lifting his pants, scolding in his mouth: "You two guys, every time you come to work, you have to be late, but you are laid off very early, do you think Lao Tzu is easy to talk to, so you take advantage of Lao Tzu for nothing?" ”

The two soldiers did not say a word, and squeezed past him, one entered the house, but the other suddenly turned around, covered his mouth from behind, and then slashed his neck with a short knife, blood gushed, and all his strength was lost in an instant, and he spun around softly, and fell to the ground, staring wide at the two companions who had just fallen from duty, and cut off the necks of the companions who were still in the room one by one.

Soon, the iron cable guarding the harbor was pulled up, and ten warships broke through the darkness and quickly crossed the iron cable and entered the harbor.

(To be continued)