Li Guo and his entourage left Nanjing, passed through Wuhan, crossed Dongting, went to Changsha, passed through Hengyang, and arrived in Yongzhou, Hunan.

When it came to the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River in Yongzhou, the water potential gradually decreased, the river channel was narrow, and the boat could no longer move forward. Li Guo decided to abandon the boat and go ashore.

Along the way, thanks to the fleet that transported them, they were safely sent here, so Li Guo was very grateful to the captain of the fleet, who looked shrewd and capable, although he was only in his twenties, he was calm and clever.

Li Guo ordered someone to take out the silver, in addition to the negotiated price, Li Guo ordered the people to take out an extra hundred taels of silver to thank the boatman.

"Boss, this is another wine for you, and I have rewarded you myself. Less is a little less, but although I lead a lot of people, most of the money is used on the right path, so in fact, I don't have much money to give. You take it, buy two glasses of wine with your brothers to drink! Li Guo felt that he couldn't take it, but in fact, as the saying goes, three years of Qing Governor's Mansion and 100,000 snowflakes of silver. But Li Guo doesn't have much money now.

The boat boss smiled and pushed Li Guo's hand away, "General, we can't ask for this money!" ”

Li Guo's face turned red, "Are you too little?" ”

The boat boss shook his head: "No, not only can't we ask for money, but we also don't want the boat fare!" ”

Li Guo was stunned, don't want the boat fare? So what do you want? Want Lee to live their lives? Now including Li Guo, all Li Guo's men and horses have gone ashore! If you want to say that you can't do it in the water, but these boatmen still want to let go with Li Guo on land? Impossible! But why don't they even want the fare?

Li Guo was puzzled. I really couldn't figure it out, so Li Guo was secretly on guard and asked at the same time, "Boatman." Why is that? ”

"General, I don't think you must know about the Cao Gang." The boatman asked.

Li Guo was stunned again, the Cao Gang was extremely famous, how could he not know it. When Li Guo was in college, he once read a history of the evolution of Chinese gangs and knew that the Cao gang prospered because of Cao Yun. Moreover, the Cao Gang evolved into the Qing Gang in modern times, and the Hong Gang evolved from the Hongmen were the two largest gangs in China in the old era.

It's just that Li Guo remembers. The Cao Gang was officially established in the Yongzheng year of the Qing Dynasty, but now it is the end of the Ming Dynasty. Could it be that there is a Cao Gang now?

So, Li Guo asked suspiciously, "Now there is the Cao Gang?" ”

"Yes! What's wrong? Since Emperor Yang of Sui opened the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Cao Gang has always been there! It's no wonder that General Li doesn't know that the disciples in our Cao Gang are all river boatmen. They are all united, and they strictly guard the secrets of the gang, so they are not known. The boatman explained.

"Oh." Li Guo nodded, it turned out that the Cao Gang had already existed, and it seemed that the words in the history books could not be fully believed.

"But why don't you want it? That's your fare! Li Guo asked, Li Guo has been in the northwest since he crossed, and this is the first time he has come to this big river, and he has no friendship with the Cao Gang. Why don't the Cao Gang want silver?

"This is the order of our Cao gang leader, and several of our gang elders also agree, we are willing to transport General Li's men and horses for free." The boatman arched his hand. Turn around and leave.

Li Guo grabbed him, this is not good, this thing is very strange, if you don't understand, Li Guo can't sleep.

"I thank you for your kindness, but why are you like this? I've got to figure it out, or I won't let you go. Let any of you go. Of course, I will treat you well and I will treat you as my guests! Li Guo's hand did not relax.

Gu Ying, Niu Decao, Luo Hu and others also held the handle of the knife.

The boatman was stunned, no matter what money you wanted, you still didn't let the family go! But depending on the situation, it is not to say that it is impossible to leave.

At this time, a tall sailor laughed, "General Li, we just admire you as a person, and we have nothing else to do!" ”

Li Guo turned his head to see that it was a sailor on his ship, this sailor was tall, and his body was strong and powerful all year round. Li Guo also deliberately pinched the sailor's arm and praised him for looking like a man.

"You are?" Li Guo realized at this moment that this sailor was very unusual.

The sailor bent down and saluted Li Guo, "Down there is Cao Zheng, the leader of the Cao Gang." ”

Looking at Li Guo's puzzled appearance, Cao Zheng smiled and said, "General Li's name has spread all over the world, and I, Cao Zheng, also know it, so I want to come and support General Li in person." ”

"Fortunately, I was able to support General Li, and along the way, I saw that if General Li was not entertaining guests, his usual diet was the same as that of other people, which was coarse tea and light rice, and there was nothing special about it. On that day, you robbed some people from Nanjing with a box, and I was shocked at first, but later I found that General Li had a great heart of righteousness, which made us people admire it very much. The strength of the Cao Gang is not too big, but whether it is for the country and the people, or for General Li, we are willing to send thousands of miles to the post for free! Cao Zheng said.

It turned out that this was the case, Li Guohan smiled and said, "I didn't expect that there would be righteous people like you on the rivers and lakes." Anyway, I Li Guo is not generous at this time, since you have this heart, then I will accept it, please accept my Li worship. ”

After Li Guo finished speaking, he gave a deep salute.

Then Cao Zheng hurriedly stepped forward to help, "Don't, General Li, why do we care about this little thing, you are admired for the country and the people." ”

In fact, what Cao Zheng said Li Guo was somewhat ashamed, because Cao Zheng's service to the country was for the Ming Dynasty, and Li Guo's service to the country was for the future of the whole of China, which was different.

Li Guo didn't explain, anyway, due to the limitations of the times, some things can't be explained. But it is not false to say that Li Guo is for the people.

However, these people are from the Cao Gang, which makes Li Guo feel that it is an opportunity. The Cao Gang is very powerful on the river, although it seems that it is not a climate yet, but he needs the support of these people in the future.

To do business in the north and south, east and west, water transportation is needed, and when there is a war in the future, it is necessary to transport troops and grain. Li Guo thought about it and nodded secretly.

Therefore, Li Guo grabbed Cao Zheng and said, "The Cao Gang is so loyal, but it makes me respect, and although I am from the northwest, I have always had the intention of training a naval army, but we are all landlubbers, can you Cao Zheng send a few people to help me train and train?" ”

"What? Do you have the idea of training a water army? Cao Zheng was surprised.

Li Guo nodded, "That's what I mean, I remember that there were Japanese robbers on the southeast coast before, although they were all put down by generals such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou." But it also illustrates a problem, the strength of the Ming Dynasty is too weak, if our navy is as strong as the Three Treasure Eunuchs back then, then how dare the Japanese invade us? ”

The eunuch of the Three Treasures was Zheng He, and Zheng He's voyage to the West was a great achievement, which made the Ming Navy dominate for a while. Li Guo admired it very much.

After listening to Li Guo's words, Cao Zheng admired the five-body throw to the ground, "General Li is far-reaching, it is really beyond my reach to the grass people, I didn't say anything, I will see who among my brothers will go with you!" ”

The boat boss on the side said, "Helper, I'm willing to go!" ”

"Okay, it's you!" Cao Zheng patted the boat boss on the shoulder, and then said to Li Guo, "General Li, his name is He Yong, do you think it?" ”

Li Guo already had a good impression of this ship boss named He Yong, of course he was willing.

Li Guo also patted He Yong's shoulder, "He Yong!" Ha Yong! This can't be done, not only must you be brave in the river, but you will also have to follow me to the sea in the future, and call the sea brave! Become a warrior at sea! ”

"Okay, then I'll change my name to Haiyong! Follow the adults to the sea in the future! ”

Everyone laughed, most people thought that Li Guo was just joking, but in fact it was not, Li Guo's ideal was not only to dominate the land, but also to be the king of the sea. (To be continued)