Because of General Liu's big mouth that does not close the door, the news of Chen Yingliang's return to the Eastern Capital inevitably spread in the Eastern Capital, but in the evening of the same day, Xie Zichong and He Lanyi and other old acquaintances ran to Pei Hongce's house, and poured Chen Yingliang half to death with Pei Hongce's wine, and then the next morning, Chen Yingliang was transmitted to the imperial city by Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi, and jointly scolded Chen Yingliang for a bloody dog, and severely condemned the shameful crime of Chen Yingliang returning to the Eastern Capital and not coming to visit his elders.

Chen Yingliang didn't dare to talk back to Fan Zigai this time, because Chen Yingliang had already experienced Fan Zigai's ruthlessness - Pei Hongce, Liu Changgong and others told Chen Yingliang behind their backs, saying that this time in dealing with the aftermath of Yang Xuangan's rebellion, Fan Zigai inherited the will of Emperor Yang of Sui and killed the rebels' families, not only the whole family of the rebel soldiers was killed, but even those ordinary people who had received relief from the rebels Kailuokoucang, Fan Zigai also caught one and buried one alive, all buried alive in the suburbs south of Luoyang City. More than 10,000 people have died! Therefore, although Fan Zigai's attitude towards Chen Yingliang is still quite good as before, there is still some estrangement between Chen Yingliang, who is kind by nature, and him.

Fan Zigai didn't notice Chen Yingliang's estrangement from him, and he still worried about Chen Yingliang as always, and after asking Chen Yingliang's whereabouts, Fan Zigai also frowned and asked Chen Yingliang: "Do you plan to take office by land or water?" How many people are there from the belt? ”

"The younger generation took the waterway, hired a boat, brought ten family members, and my wife's brother who didn't go through the door." Chen Yingliang replied truthfully.

"Why do you bring such a few people?" Fan Zigai's brows furrowed even tighter.

"So many people or less?" Chen Yingliang was a little confused.

Fan Zigai frowned and didn't answer, and he didn't know what he was planning, and the emperor Fu Wuyi next to him coughed and said: "Ying Liang, Fan stayed behind for your safety, before the change, it was enough for you to take so many people to take office in Qian County, but now it is a little hanging, even if it is by water." ”

"Why?" Chen Yingliang was taken aback, then reacted quickly, and hurriedly asked, "General Huangfu, is there another accident east of the Tiger Prison Pass?" ”

"You guessed it." Huangfu Wuyi nodded and explained: "I just received the news today, Jibei Liukou Lu Xingxing, Shuai Rentai and Huo Xiaohan and other thieves, after being defeated by General Zhang Xutuo in Jibei, they fled west to the territory of Dongjun for trouble, and once surrounded Dongjun County to govern White Horse City, Right Yiwei Hu Benlang will Fei Qingnu was ordered to enter and suppress, although he successfully defeated the thief Kou and saved the white horse, but only killed the thief Shuai Rentai, Xiaochuang group of thieves, Lu Xingxing and Huo Xiaohan took most of the remnants of the thieves to the south, it is not yet confirmed that they arrived at Wagang Zhai Rang and other thieves to meet, Or wander to Liangjun or Xingyang - if Lu Xingxing and other thieves really wander into Liangjun, you will be in big trouble, and if you go east by boat, there is a chance that you will run into them. ”

"I'm not going to be that unlucky, am I?" Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly.

"Be careful, don't forget the lesson of our right military guard general Li Jing and Li Zhuguo." Huangfu Wuyi shook his head and said: "Besides, even if the two thieves of Lu Huo did not wander into Liang County, it is still quite dangerous for you to take this road, not to mention that the east of the Tiger Prison Pass is now becoming more and more chaotic, and there are also big thieves such as Zhai Rang, Shan Xiongxin and Xu Shiyun in Wagang, they originally made a living by plundering the Yongji Canal and Canal, and your reputation is so big, if they are unfortunate enough to run into it, they will definitely not give up with you, so Fan Liushou and I are worried about your itinerary." ”

After listening to Huangfu Wuyi's warning, and thinking of the unfortunate incident of Huangfu Wuyi's boss, Li Jing, the general of the Right Military Guard, who was hacked to death by a group of robbers, Chen Yingliang, who was actually quite greedy for life and afraid of death in his bones, was also a little worried, hesitated for a moment, Chen Yingliang said: "Thank you Fan Liushou and General Huangfu for reminding me, the younger generation understands, and the younger generation will borrow some family from Uncle Pei when he goes back, and take more people to Qian County." ”

"What role can a group of family members play?" Fan Zigai, who had been frowning, finally spoke, and said to Huangfu Wuyi: "General Huangfu, you arrange a boat and two schools to serve the national army team, and escort a batch of Jun kiln porcelain to the Jiangdu Palace for the imperial use when His Majesty Xià drives to Jiangdu, we will deal with the official document problems immediately, Ying Liang, you go with this team." ”

Huangfu Wuyi hurriedly agreed, but Chen Yingliang was very moved, and hurriedly saluted Fan Zigai and thanked him sincerely, but Fan Zigai said quietly: "What's polite?" The last time you were in Daxing, didn't you say that you had always been respected by your grandfather? When a grandfather doesn't love his grandson, does he still love others? ”

"This old stubborn is really a contradictory person." Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly in his heart and said: "It's so good to me, but it's so cruel to those people who can actually be completely forgiven." It's scary to think about being buried alive! ”

The fake public and private arranged a reliable guard for Chen Yingliang, and Huangfu Wuyi also asked Chen Yingliang to choose the escort team by himself when drafting the official document, Chen Yingliang was not polite, and immediately ordered Guo Feng and Chen Ci, the two most reliable school groups, Huangfu Wuyi smiled, and the good man let Chen Yingliang go to the end. Then Chen Yingliang naturally had to thank Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi for their favor again and again, and agreed to accept Huangfu Wuyi's invitation, and went to Huangfu Wuyi's house for a banquet that day, and was once again filled with half death by an old acquaintance in the eastern capital.

The next morning, Chen Yingliang said goodbye to Fan Zigai, Huangfu Wuyi and Pei Hongce and others, with the Taifu officials who escorted Jun porcelain to Mengjin Wharf to board the ship to the east, to Chen Yingliang's surprise is that the official who escorted the porcelain is not someone else, it happens to be the Qian Xiangmin who raided the rebel camp with the Baoguo army - this kid's luck is really not covered, after following Chen Yingliang to establish a miracle, Fan Zigai was overjoyed to fulfill his promise and gave him a two-level promotion, and after completely pacifying Yang Xuangan, he was rewarded for his meritorious deeds, and this kid was promoted by two levels, In a few months, he was promoted to four levels in a row, from a nine-grade school scholar to a seven-grade mansion, and also entered the Taifu Treasury with a lot of oil and water, and his luck made countless colleagues crazy, and this will reunite with Chen Yingliang again, Qian Xiangmin is of course very grateful to Chen Yingliang, and he is particularly affectionate.

The more affectionate scene is still Mengjin Wharf, when I saw Chen Yingliang appear with Qian Xiangmin, the two newspaper **** teams waiting in line on the wharf were of course thunderous, Guo Feng and Chen Ci also took Chen Yingliang's hand and complained vigorously, saying that Chen Yingliang was not interesting enough, and he came back the day before yesterday and didn't go to the national army camp to visit the old brother. As a result, Chen Yingliang was also a little confused, and hurriedly asked, "How do you know that I came back the day before yesterday?" ”

"Of course, it was Lvshuai Pei who sued us."

Guo Feng pointed to one of the people in his team to explain, Chen Yingliang turned his head in surprise, but saw his distant cousin Pei Xingyan with a smile on his face, standing in Guo Feng's team looking at him, Chen Yingliang patted his forehead, and then he knew that when he asked Huangfu Wuyi, he inadvertently asked Pei Xingyan to come over. Overjoyed, Chen Yingliang hurriedly stepped forward to greet Pei Xingyan, and then asked in a low voice, "How is it?" How is your sister doing now? ”

"It's okay, ignore her." Pei Xingyan replied very easily: "She has been spoiled since she was a child, she can do anything in her energy, and she can forget about it immediately after that, and after a few days, the little girl will forget about it, and she should be able to be quiet." ”

"It's for the best." Chen Yingliang breathed a sigh of relief - being entangled by a little pepper like Pei Cuiyun is not a pleasant thing.

So, after a delay of two full days in the eastern capital, Chen Yingliang finally continued to set off for the east, but of course these two days were not delayed in vain, and when he set off again, Chen Yingliang not only had many old friends around him, but also had an absolutely reliable escort team to protect himself as he went east, and the safety on the road could be ensured. - If it weren't for the bad impact, Chen Yingliang actually didn't even have to hire a boat, because after leaving Mengjin Wharf, Chen Yingliang lived directly on the official ship.

Reminiscing with a dry of old friends, of course, time passed quickly, sailing smoothly to the lower reaches of the Yellow River, Chen Yingliang and his entourage were also faster, and crossed the river in the evening of the same day, and turned into the Tongji Canal in the area of Xingze. It was also at this time that the fleet, which had been running for most of the day, began to be vigilant, Chen Yingliang unceremoniously took over the command of the fleet, arranged a night sentry, and stipulated the password code for the communication between the ships, and at the same time, although the moonlight was very good, Chen Yingliang was still very careful to decide not to sail at night, and ordered the fleet to rest at Xingze Wharf for the night, and it was not too late to enter the east at dawn the next day.

Regarding Chen Yingliang's order, Guo Feng and Chen Ci of course obeyed unconditionally, and Qian Xiangmin was also honest and obedient, but Chen Yingliang's distant cousin Pei Xingyan had something to say and questioned: "Chen Zanzhi, you don't need to be so cautious, right?" We have two regiments of people to protect the fleet, and we are the most elite army in the eastern capital, the moonlight is so good, what are we afraid of going directly east? ”

"Be careful." Chen Yingliang shook his head and explained: "After Yingze, we have to go all the way to Daliang (Kaifeng) to have a dock dock, during which the river section experienced is rarely populated, it is the place where thieves are rampant, although the **** is elite, but has not fought a water war, and is not familiar with the terrain in this area, adventurous night sailing, if you encounter a sneak attack from the water, I am afraid that I will suffer a big loss." ”

Pei Xingyan showed a disapproving expression, Chen Yingliang ignored him, at this time, Chen Ci suddenly came to Chen Yingliang's side, pointed to a small civilian boat behind him and said: "Remember the room, that boat has been following us, and when he saw us docking, he also followed the shore, as if he was following us, do you need to send someone to check the situation?" ”

"When will you keep up with us?" Chen Yingliang asked casually.

"It didn't take long for us to leave Mengjin and we followed." Chen Ci replied.

"It's okay, the thieves' spies can't go this far." Chen Yingliang shook his head and said lightly: "It should be just an ordinary passenger ship, follow us and want to get some light, so as not to be targeted by water thieves, these boatmen are also pitiful, let him go." Chen Ci thought about it, so he didn't pay attention to it anymore.

Xingyang and Guancheng are not far to the south of Xingze, the population is relatively dense, not the world of water thieves and bandits, Chen Yingliang carefully made various arrangements, Chen Yingliang's fleet composed of six official ships and one civilian boat was naturally silent all night at Xingze Wharf. In the early morning of the next day, Chen Yingliang and his entourage set sail again and sailed downstream, and Chen Ci mentioned that the small boat also continued to follow the light, still following Chen Yingliang's fleet to the east without mentioning it.

After the mouth of the Jishui River, the people on both sides of the river gradually decreased, the grass and trees became denser, Chen Yingliang, who did not want to repeat Li Jing's mistakes, also mentioned the spirit of twelve, and carefully got on the flagship where Qian Xiangmin was, and let Guo Feng's team in the front, Chen Ci's team in the back, and the two official ships carrying ordinary officials were clustered in the middle, Chen Yingliang and Qian Xiang commanded in the residence, and drove eastward carefully.

After traveling more than 20 miles to the east, there was no longer a population on the roadside, and the grass and trees and reeds were so deep that it was difficult to judge whether there were outsiders hidden, Chen Yingliang was also more and more cautious, but the more careful he was, the easier it was to get into an accident, first the fleet sailed into a relatively rapid river section, and then there were old and dilapidated dhow civilian boats in front, which sailed against the rapid current with difficulty, occupying the route of Chen Yingliang's fleet close to the south bank. Chen Yingliang didn't know much about water warfare and didn't know the danger, so he kindly ordered the boat carrying Pei Xingyan's brigade to drive carefully and not to hit the civilian boat.

No matter how careful you are, it's useless, when Pei Xingyan's boat was about to pass by the civilian boat, the civilian boat suddenly turned sideways in the current, and Pei Xingyan's bow hit the civilian boat directly, although Pei Xingyan's boat was a tall official ship, and it hit the ordinary civilian ship with a strong bow, so it didn't hurt to hit it, but after a loud noise, the hull of Pei Xingyan's team shook violently, and the **** soldiers who had never fought a water fight on the boat also suddenly staggered, including Pei Xingyan, who fell directly on the deck.

"It's a ship, be careful!" Amid the screams one after another, the remaining ships of Chen Yingliang's fleet hurriedly turned their rudders and staggered, for fear that there would be a series of collisions, and the well-organized fleet was suddenly in chaos.

"Bell, bell, bell!"

Another accident happened, the depths of the grass and trees on both sides of the canal suddenly sounded gongs, hundreds of ragged strong men roared and rushed out of the depths of the grass and trees with bows and arrows in their hands, pulled their bows and arrows and shot rockets at Chen Yingliang's fleet, and also shot the four ships in front and behind full of **** soldiers in an orderly manner, ignoring Chen Yingliang's flagship and another official ship carrying official porcelain. In addition, these rockets were very clever not to shoot at the hull deck, but aimed at the towering sails, which were shot by the rockets, and the sails soaked in tung oil quickly raised the fire, and in the blink of an eye, there was a roaring fire.

At the same time, in the sound of splashing, several heads suddenly came out of the water next to Chen Yingliang's boat, borrowed the tools in their hands and quickly climbed up, the action was extremely skillful, the officers on the ship didn't have time to react at all, those water ghosts had already rushed to the deck, the officials screamed and quickly pulled out to protect Chen Yingliang and Qian Xiangmin, who knew that those water ghosts went straight to the rudder at the stern, two of them quickly overturned the panicked helmsman, waved the knife and axe in their hands three times and two times to smash the wooden rudder, and the other few people cut the stone rope in a few strokes, Then he jumped into the river and disappeared without a trace.

"Oops! They're trying to make it impossible for us to control the boat! ”

When Chen Yingliang finally understood the true intentions of these water ghosts, it was already late, his boat and another ordinary official ship that had also been smashed with its rudder smashed had been pushed by the rapid current and wind, and rushed downstream, and the boat of the **** team was on fire and attacked because of the sails, and had never fought a water battle and had no experience, so he naturally couldn't keep up in the panic, so he could only scream and watch Chen Yingliang's boat being swept away by the rapids, spinning and quickly disappearing far downstream.

"Hit the mark!" At this point, Chen Yingliang still didn't understand that he had been ambushed by the enemy, and how could he not guess that the tattered civilian ship must be the bait of the enemy throwing bricks and jade? At the same time of nervousness and panic, Chen Yingliang couldn't help but secretly admire the enemy who arranged a trap for himself, this trap was not only tightly arranged, well-coordinated, and the target was directly aimed at the weak point of his fleet, but also skillfully used the favorable conditions such as water flow and wind direction, and successfully achieved the goal with only a little strength.

"Brother Chen, our ship can't be controlled, what should we do? What to do? Chen Yingliang secretly admired the enemy here, but Qian Xiangmin and Lord Qian were screaming like a pig, and he also pulled Chen Yingliang's sleeve and shouted with a crying voice, "Brother Chen, I don't know water, I can't water, what should I do?" What should I do? ”

"Don't be afraid." Chen Yingliang patted Qian Xiangmin's hand and comforted: "Tongji Canal is a canal, and the water flow of the canal is not as rapid as a natural river. ”

Qian Xiangmin temporarily shut his mouth suspiciously, but Chen Yingliang ordered the sailors to immediately untie the sail rope and let the sail fall, so as not to be blown further away by the cold northwest wind, but after the sailors of the flagship followed the order, the speed of the ship immediately slowed down, and then the other ship did the same, quickly retracted the sails, and the speed of the ship also slowed down quickly.

After being swept downstream by Chen Yingliang's crow's words, and being carried by the current for five or six miles, the water flow of the Tongji Canal really began to slow down, and the two official ships that could not control the direction by themselves were also even slower, no longer rotating and spinning, and there were signs of stopping on their own.

Chen Yingliang's crow's beak was fulfilled again, the sound of the gong was louder again, and more than 20 small boats rushed out of the reeds on the shore, rushing to the official ship that could not control itself like an arrow from the string, throwing the ropes with iron hooks at the front end onto the deck, hooking the side of the ship and pulling it to the north shore, the officers on the ship were all shocked and at a loss, but Chen Yingliang hurriedly shouted, "Cut the ropes, we can't let them drag us to the shore!" ”

"Brother Chen, look!"

Qian Xiangmin suddenly pointed to the north shore and shouted, Chen Yingliang hurriedly looked up at the north bank, but saw that in the woods on the north bank, countless young men who were excited and roaring rushed out at some point, holding all kinds of weapons, and waving military flags of different sizes and red tones, dressed in rags and different colors but quite in formation, as if they had received a certain amount of military training, and were rushing in the direction where their ship was. Chen Yingliang was suddenly shocked, and said secretly: "Oh no, it must be the anti-Sui rebel army, the rebel army from there?" ”

"Wagang thief!" The screams of a sailor on the boat told Chen Yingliang to answer, "Red flag! It's a tile gang thief! We've got a thief! ”