Xu Ruyu followed Mo Nian across the mountain pass, through the dwarf pine forest, to the grain field in front of the village, turned around, and saw the group of pirates poking their heads out of the mountain pass. Xu Ruyu stood still, looked at the bandits in the mountain pass and said, "They really hesitated there. ”

Seeing that he was so calm, Mo Nian's uneasiness in his heart gradually calmed down, but he became more and more curious about his identity, his calmness and calmness were far from what ordinary people could do, and it would never be as simple as a secret sent by Qingjiang.

The pirates stopped at the mountain pass, and separated more than a dozen people to continue the search downward.

Xu Ruyu turned around and saw someone poking his head out at the entrance of the village to look around, and said to Mo Nian: "You call a few people over, and there are some things that you tell them to do." ”

Mo Nian beckoned a few people who poked their heads out to come out, and when he saw that they all looked flustered and trembling, he wanted them to hide in. Xu Ruyu said: "It's not real on the mountain pass, it doesn't matter if you call them over." ”

Xu Ruyu left a few brave children, told all the villagers to hide in the shadows, found as many iron tools as possible, and asked him to build several bonfires in the village and pour water on them. More than a dozen pirates burrowed into the dwarf pine forest, their figures disappeared from time to time, and they stopped there after a distance of less than a hundred zhang, and the remaining bandits in the mountain pass quickly converged when they saw that there was no danger.

After the two battles of the East China Sea and Fuzhou, the Puji bandits really became much more cautious. The corners of Xu Ruyu's mouth twitched slightly, thinking: If you kill it desperately, it will really be a headache.

A moment later, more than 100 pirates descended halfway up the mountain, and Xu Ruyu motioned to the villagers to light the damp bonfire, and immediately several pillars of black smoke pierced the blue sky above the mountain col. More than a dozen archers hiding near the pass poured out in unison and released arrows to bring down the two pirates who remained in the pass. The villagers of the col tapped the iron tools and shouted loudly in unison, but no one was visible.

The pirates halfway up the mountain were panicked for a moment, but they did not see any ambush soldiers pouring out, so they settled down a little, formed a circle in place, and sent more than a dozen people to disperse to collect the ambush soldiers who might be hidden in the dense forest.

As if he remembered something, Mo Nian was instantly stunned, and said: "There is such a big movement in the village, but there is no trace, the pirates are suspicious and continue to probe down, what should we do?" ”

Xu Ru smiled foolishly: "Such a big movement here is to scare the bandits on the seawall." Don't stop, if the bandits on the seawall think that the people who entered the mountain have been wiped out and sail away on their own, it will be a headache, you make those children shout louder. They are not afraid of children. ”

The pirates who stopped halfway up the mountain didn't understand what the col was doing, and after hesitating for a while, they still slowly descended, but the speed of their march was even slower.

But when Mo Nian was about to let the villagers scatter and flee, there was a sudden sound of fighting on the other side of the mountain, although it didn't last long, the more than 100 pirates who moved downward immediately realized what had happened to the seaside, and they all stopped their downward steps and rushed towards the mountain pass without a pause.

More than a dozen archers were still more than 100 steps away from the mountain pass before the bandits left and hid in the dense forest.

Mo Nian saw another fifty pirates pouring out on the other side of the mountain, and knew that Zheng Cangsheng would not be in any trouble if he led more than thirty people to solve the few pirates on the ship, but one hundred and fifty or sixty pirates stopped at the mountain pass, thinking that he had already seen that the sea ship had been taken by Zheng Cangsheng and them, and at this time he neither rushed down nor returned to the seaside, which made Mo Nian's heart tighten.

The bandits finally moved, Mo Nian watched a head disappear from sight, his hanging heart finally let go, and he hugged his fist at Xu Ruyu and said, "Mr. is really not an ordinary person, let's go to the mountain pass to have a look." I thought to myself: The identity of such a person is not something I should speculate, so I didn't ask anything more from the side. Xu Ruyu doesn't have to be embarrassed to make up any lies full of loopholes.

Xu Ruyu looked at the Puji bandits who were still in formation halfway up the mountain but had completely lost their arrogance, sighed secretly, and thought: The Puji bandits finally don't have the courage to break the cauldron and sink the boat. In the distance, three sea boats were slowly sailing away from the coast, stopping on the sea hundreds of feet away from the shore, Zheng Cangzi forked on the deck of one of the sea boats, holding a narrow and long-bladed saber in his hand, and was excitedly rowing on the boat.

On the beach outside the broken embankment, there were six corpses dressed as pirates, blood was still gushing out, and Zheng Cangsheng was leading more than a dozen people to turn around the foot of the mountain.

When Zheng Cangsheng came up from the back mountain, the group of pirates was heading north along the coastline.

Xu Ruyu said: "You can't let him go like this, otherwise there may be more pirates gathering here next time, and you will have to move elsewhere." ”

Zheng Cangsheng already knew that the strategy to seize the boat was said by the person in front of him, and he was thinking about what to say to be grateful, when he heard him say this, he was slightly stunned and asked, "How can you stop them?" ”

Xu Ruyu smiled slightly and asked him, "The supply of this group of pirates should still be on the ship." ”

"The pirates only brought dry food for three or four days when they landed, and the pirates just hurried into the mountains, and the dry food was left on the ship, and if they grabbed food tonight, they would have to go hungry." Zheng Cangsheng's brows were furrowed, and he said worriedly: "There are a few villages on the other side of Qishan, and there are fewer people than here, so it seems that they are going to suffer." ”

Xu Ruyu watched Zheng Cangzi and the others lean towards the shore in a sea boat, and said: "You let the villagers flee to other places, although the possibility of the bandits returning is very small, but it is also necessary to take precautions, but send someone to notify several nearby villages, be careful, we take the sea boat, and embellish the group of pirates." If they want to loot the stockade, we will come ashore to help. ”

The bay is surrounded on three sides by the hilly hills of the coast, and only a large gap is formed in the Dazhangxi River valley more than ten miles to the north, which is connected to the plateau plain behind the offshore seamount belt.

I can't see how wide the waterway of Dazhang River is at the back of the mountain, but at the sharp bend, the cliff and stone that are only two hundred steps apart between the two banks are sandwiched, the water potential is turbulent, the white waves are surging, the river turns over a sharp bend, the river channel is relaxed at a very fast speed, and there are miles into the sea, but the stream is only seven or eight miles away from turning to entering the sea, and the fierce water potential is still rushing straight into the sea for a distance of five or six hundred steps before mixing into the blue water.

When the sea boat turned into the river channel of Dazhang Creek, it was embellished with the one hundred and fifty pirates, looking at the turbulent and fierce water, it was estimated that it would not be possible to go up the current with the power of the sail, and if you wanted to paddle water, I was afraid that the whole boat would have to use it, Xu Ruyu watched the pirates flow up along the embankment of Dazhang Creek, turned his head and asked Zheng Cangsheng: "Turn that bend, how wide is the waterway, and is the water in a hurry?" ”

"The bend used to be a flat lake, wider than the mouth here."

"To the south of Dazhang River, apart from your stockade, how far is the nearest resident stockade?"

"There are thirty miles of mountain roads, as long as they don't pass Dazhangxi, they can't find anything to eat before dark." Zheng Cangsheng seemed to know what Xu Ruyu was thinking, and he replied without hiding his excitement.

"Okay, everybody get on a boat and get ready to go around the corner. Send a few of them out of here with the other two ships, lest the pirates take it back again. ”

Thirty-eight people gathered in a shipyard, except for ten archers, everyone else struggled to control the boat against the turbulent water, towards the bend, Xu Ruyu stood on the side of the ship, his eyes stared at the group of pirates more than a hundred zhang away from the left bank, thinking in his heart whether to take action to clean them up.

Zheng Cangzi came over panting, swirled his sore arms a few times, and asked, "Are all the people in Qingjiang like you?" ”

Xu Ruyu smiled dumbly and said: "The Puji bandits have suffered two major setbacks in Yongyang and Qingjiang, and their courage has been discharged, and they were scared away by us, so it's nothing remarkable. ”

Zheng Cangzi asked, "Are you going to drive out the Puji bandits from Zhangtai this time?" ”

"What do you think?" Xu Ruyu asked rhetorically.

Zheng Cangzi smiled and said, "If you are sent by General Qingfeng, that is." Seeing that Xu Ru smiled foolishly and didn't answer, he only guessed correctly, and said happily: "Go up along the Dazhang River, you can go to Jian'an Fort in two days, if you can talk to the head of the family, mention my name, and say that I want to join the side disciples this year, so that I can learn the skills to fight pirates." ”

Zheng Cangsheng, who paddled on one side, said: "Jian'an Fort is only sixty miles away from here, but the road along the way has not been renovated for many years, and it takes a day or two to walk along Dazhang River. After destroying this group of pirates, I will lead the life to Jian'an Fort. ”

In Xu Ruyu's impression, Jian'an Fort is in the low ridge fifty miles southeast of Zhangtai City, and the Dazhang River, which originates from Daiyun Peak in Zhongshan Fujian, has more than 500 miles of twists and turns, and the low ridge where Anbao is located is located in the middle reaches of Dazhangxi.

The bend gradually approached, the speed of the boat became extremely slow, the bow of the boat turned the direction, Xu Ruyu saw that the bend passed, and there was a flat lake, and thought: As long as the curve is only two hundred steps long is widened a little, the water will not be so urgent. Thinking of this, I remembered that Xiao Yizhi had promised to persuade Gu Changhuai to go to Qingjiang Mansion to assist in water conservancy, but I don't know if he made the trip.

With Gu Changhuai's help, this bay can be quickly transformed into an excellent port, and the water camp will be stationed here, and the Ryukyu Island and the nearby islands to the south will be able to break away from Gongliang Yuqin's sphere of influence. The black trade between Puji and Luzon would be broken.

This bay is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and at the bottom of the mountain is a long and narrow coastal plain, with about 20 miles of twists and turns, the narrowest point is only to Lixu, and the widest point is this valley, which is less than 10 miles.

However, if you want to build a fort and build a port here, without the support of the Zheng family of Zhangtai, you can only send troops to take the entire Zhangzhou.

Although the power of the Zhangzhou family is weak, and the number of people is also small, and the number of people in the whole territory of Zhangzhou is less than 500,000, which is not as good as an ordinary big city, but the Zongzheng family in Quanzhou regards Zhangzhou as their own backyard and rashly sends troops to Zhangzhou, which will inevitably lead to a conflict with the Zongzheng family. Xu Ruyu had nearly 100,000 troops, but they were mainly concentrated in Yongyang Mansion, and the troops of Qingjiang Mansion could not tell how many of them entered Zhangzhou except for dealing with the Puji bandits entrenched in Wenling City. At this time, it is more advantageous to take Zhangzhou than to condescendingly peek at Zhangzhou on Wuling Mountain.

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