Li Yi stayed in the Tian bandit cottage in Mangdang Mountain for almost a day and two nights, and did not return to the Yongcheng dock until the early morning of the arrival day booked by the National Army, and brought the news that the Tian brothers were willing to join forces to do business to the two lieutenants of the Yongcheng garrison, Li Cai and Zhang Huaishen, and not long before that, Zhang Huaishen's cousin Zhang Di also returned to Yongcheng from Jishan, which was a little closer, and also brought the good news that Zhang Qian was willing to join forces with the Yongcheng garrison. Then, naturally, after hurriedly changing into the clothes of the people, Li Yi and Zhang Di were sent into Yongcheng City together, and directly to Xu Minlian, Dong You, Chen Yingliang and others who were looking forward to it.

The news that Li Yi and Zhang Di brought back was almost identical, they were all agreed to start at three o'clock in the evening, and when the Yongcheng garrison set fire to the dock, the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian's team would kill and respond, and join forces to loot the official ships of Taifu. As for other important situations, such as the time of the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian's troops, the route of the troops, the number of troops, and whether the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian had joined forces, Li Yi and Zhang Di did not know anything, and the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian did not leak a word at all.

After listening to the reports of the two messengers, Xu Minlian, the Taishou who did not understand military affairs at all, and Xie Weiping, the palace eunuch, inevitably looked at each other a little, and could not judge whether the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian had been tricked, and whether they would really bring their team to Yongcheng Wharf to die. However, Dong You, the county commander with a humble position, was forced to learn some experience in dealing with bandits and water bandits because of his long-term dealings with canal bandits, and after a little thought, he said: "Obviously, the two black and white thieves and Zhang Qian have already taken the bait, otherwise, it would be impossible for Deputy Li and Team Zhang to come back alive, and the two black and white thieves and Zhang Qian are not so good-hearted." ”

Xu Minlian and Xie Weiping turned their eyes to Chen Yingliang again, to see what the reaction of Chen Yingliang, who was famous on the counterinsurgency battlefield, Chen Yingliang smiled, knowing that although Dong You's words were a bit arbitrary, they did not consider whether the enemy might count on this level, but they did not say it to hit Dong You's self-esteem and self-confidence, but just smiled and said: "Dong County's order is reasonable, just by letting Deputy Li and Team Zhang come back, we can conclude that the two black and white thieves and Zhang Qian's rebel thieves have been tricked." And I also believe that the two black and white thieves and Zhang Qian did not have the courage to plan against us, and the rabble in their hands was not the material for setting traps in reverse. ”

Seeing that Chen Yingliang, a well-known boss, agreed with his opinion, Dong You really increased his confidence, and said: "Although the two black and white thieves and Zhang Qian were tricked, they didn't fully believe us, so they concealed the number, time and route of the troops, and let the two captains Zhang and Li set fire first, the purpose of which was nothing more than to test the truth and falsehood, and wanted to confirm the true position of the two captains Zhang and Li before making a move, if the situation was not right, they could escape immediately." Therefore, the lower officials believe that as long as we are willing to sacrifice some money and food, and really set a fire on the dock, we will definitely be able to lure these two bandits to the bait. ”

Xu Minlian and Xie Weiping nodded, feeling that Dong You's analysis was reasonable, Chen Yingliang also nodded, and then said: "Dong County's analysis is indeed very reasonable, but an important detail was missed, Zhang Qian and the black and white thieves agreed to do it at three o'clock in the unitary hour, which is very critical, the days are short in winter, and the sky is already dark at three o'clock in the unitary hour, and then do it, once the black and white two thieves and Zhang Qian realize that the situation is wrong, they can also escape quickly under the cover of night, and it is difficult for us to hit them hard, and it is even more difficult to capture the thief and capture the king first, First take down the three big thieves of the Tian family brothers and Zhang Qian. ”

With Chen Yingliang's guidance, Dong You, Xu Minlian and others discovered the treacherous nature of the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian and other thieves, and after scolding, Dong You said again: "Chen Zanzhi, how about we prepare more torches?" When the time comes, let each of our soldiers and servants have a torch, so that it will be easier to hunt down the enemy. ”

"Lighting more torches doesn't do much." Chen Yingliang shook his head, "Not far away, but in turn, it will expose the target, making it easier for the thieves to escape, don't worry, let me think about it." ”

Xu Minlian and Dong You and the others all closed their mouths, letting Chen Yingliang, who was full of bad water, ponder the plan, Chen Yingliang half-closed his eyes and carefully calculated, after a long time, Chen Yingliang suddenly opened his eyes and asked Li Yi and Zhang Di: "Deputy Team Li, Team Zhang Zheng, have you agreed on a contact method with the thieves?" For example, if there is a sudden change in the plan, how to notify the emergency contact? ”

Zhang Di shook his head and said no, and Li Yi replied: "Yes, Tian Baishe has explained to his subordinates, if the situation changes, let me go to the small stone bridge just three miles north of Yongcheng Wharf to find someone, there will be a vendor selling straw sandals, as long as I report my identity and tell the vendor about the situation, the Tian brothers will know." ”

"The three holes of the cunning rabbit are really a little clever." Chen Yingliang smiled and said, "But it's just right, it just helped me a lot." ”

After laughing, Chen Yingliang did not rush to explain the details of the contingency, and after thinking for a while, Chen Yingliang asked Li Yi again: "Deputy Li, there is another question, you said just now that the Tian brothers once personally hosted a banquet to entertain you, and asked you a lot about the situation in Yongcheng, so did they mention that there was a big beauty at the Yongcheng Wharf the day before yesterday?" ”

"Chen Zanzhi, why are you asking this?" Li Yileng paused, and then replied: "I mentioned it, Tian Heishe also mentioned it more than once, at that time, the villain didn't know Chen Zanzhi's identity, and he was afraid of revealing his feet, so he used the rumors he heard to sue him, saying that the beauty was the female dependent brought to Yongcheng by Lord Taifu Liang, and later Tian Heishe also asked where the beauty lived, and after the Taifu fleet arrived in Yongcheng, would that beauty also go to the dock to greet him, and the villain replied that he didn't know. ”

"Chen Zanzhi, Zhang Qian also mentioned this beauty." Zhang Di, who was the envoy to Ji Shan next to him, also hurriedly spoke, and reported: "Zhang Qian also asked about the identity and origin of the beauty, and the villain was also afraid of revealing his feet, so he said that he didn't know anything, and Zhang Qian was still a little disappointed at that time. ”

"I didn't expect that spicy girl to have such a big charm that could make several big thieves all target her." Chen Yingliang laughed heartlessly, slapped his thigh again, and said happily: "But this is the best, we have a greater grasp." Deputy Li, after the end of the afternoon, you personally go to the agreed small stone bridge, contact the Tian brothers' eyeliner, and tell him that the agreed time must be advanced, so that the Tian brothers are ready to start in advance. ”

"Let the Tian brothers do it in advance?" Li Yi was a little surprised, and hurriedly said: "Chen Zanzhi, if the Tian family brothers don't agree, or if they run away immediately because of any vigilance, then won't we give up all our efforts?" ”

"It's okay, I'll come up with excuses and justifications for you." Chen Yingliang said casually: "You went to sue the eyes of the Tian brothers, and said that they wanted to do it in advance, because I, Lord Liang from Taifu, was too cunning and worried that it would not be safe for the royal things escorted by Taifu to stay overnight outside the city, so after the Taifu fleet arrived at the dock, all the goods had to be moved into the county first, and then moved back to the ship tomorrow morning to be transported to Jiangdu." ”

Feeling that the excuse Chen Yingliang made was sufficient, Li Yi nodded hurriedly, and Chen Yingliang pointed out again: "You can tell the eyes of the Tian family brothers like this, just say that you don't know the time when the Taifu fleet will arrive at Yongcheng Wharf, so I don't dare to guarantee that there will be a chance to do it today, if the Taifu flotilla arrives at the canal wharf just before Youshi, then forget it, it is too early for everyone to do it, so we can only give up." If the Taifu fleet arrives at the dock after the time of application, then you should try to delay the time as much as possible, and at the first opportunity, you will set fire to it and start looting the treasure together. ”

Li Yi nodded hurriedly, but Chen Yingliang was not very relieved to let Li Yi repeat it, until he confirmed that Li Yi had not made a mistake at the crucial time before nodding with satisfaction, but Xu Minlian next to him was still a little worried, and asked again: "Chen Zanzhi, what about Zhang Qian's side?" There's no way we can get in touch with him? ”

"Don't worry." Chen Yingliang sneered and said: "Xu Taishou, such a big deal, do you think the two black and white thieves and Zhang Qian don't want to join forces to act and share the risk?" I bet that in this matter, the black and white thieves and Zhang Qian have been in secret contact for a long time, and we release the news to the black and white thieves, which is equivalent to telling Zhang Qian the news. ”

After sneering with great confidence, Chen Yingliang instructed Li Yi and Zhang Di again: "Deputy Li, Zhang Teamzheng, tell your brother when you go back, and cooperate with me to perform a play in the afternoon, and I will take that big beauty to the dock to greet the Taifu fleet in the afternoon, and then I want you to quickly vacate the dock to facilitate the docking of the Taifu fleet, you deliberately perfunctory and procrastinating with me, you can also deliberately quarrel with me, so that the eyes of the thieves believe in your sincerity." Again, I'll send ten soldiers to you, and you'll take them with you ....... ”

………………

After all the arrangements were made, Chen Yingliang sent two messengers to take two small boats upstream to contact the Baoguo Army, asking the Baoguo Army fleet to control the speed and control the arrival of Yongcheng Wharf around the time of the unitary hour, and then did not make any arrangements, and waited for the agreed time to come, but Xu Minlian and Dong You and other magistrates were unable to sit still, and kept sending people to inquire about the news. also completely angered the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian, who were already difficult to exterminate, causing a monstrous disaster.

You can't blame Xu Taishou and Dong Xian Ling for being too timid, but the current situation doesn't seem to be good, within a radius of ten miles with Yongcheng Wharf as the center, there has been no sign of a large group of thieves gathering, and Dong You's two inner lines inserted into the thief team have not sent any news so far, these signs are undoubtedly not good news for Xu Minlian and others whose purpose is to lure the snake out of the hole.

For these situations, Chen Yingliang continued to be as steady as Mount Tai, because Chen Yingliang knew very well that the Tian brothers were able to gather a large group of men and horses to sneak attack Caoliang, but the Yongcheng officials did not know anything before the military, which was enough to prove that the Tian family brothers' team already had some marching and ambush capabilities, and also mastered some counter-reconnaissance skills, and at the same time, Chen Yingliang did not believe in Yongcheng's neighbors, lieutenants, and party chiefs at all, and these local officials -- there was a good emperor like Emperor Yang of Sui who loved to toss in the court. These local officials don't say they can report the traces of thieves, so it's good if they don't run away with the people under their rule. Therefore, although no trace of the thief has been found so far, Chen Yingliang is still not surprised, and still firmly believes that his plan to lure the snake out of the hole will be successful.

Of course, on the surface, it is pretended to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai, Chen Yingliang said in his heart that he is not worried that it is also false, because he missed this opportunity, Chen Yingliang wants to capture the three thieves and capture the king first, it will be extremely difficult, but no matter how worried he is, there is no way, after the time has passed, Chen Yingliang can only secretly pray for the blessing of the sky, leading Pei Cuiyun, Changsun Wuji and Ma Sanbao and others out of the city, and go to the canal wharf to meet the so-called Taifu Yunbao fleet, and by the way, see with his own eyes whether his plan can succeed. Xu Minlian, Dong You and others continued to stay in the city for the time being according to Chen Yingliang's request, pretending to wait until they received the news before going out of the city to greet the marquis, so as to confuse the eyes that the enemy might send to monitor.

By the way, in order to persuade Pei Cuiyun to wear women's clothes again to accompany him to the dock to meet the ****, Chen Yingliang took a lot of words to succeed, but Pei Cuiyun was still extremely willful and wore a relatively neutral hunting suit, and said that he would not change it again, Chen Yingliang was helpless, considering that Pei Cuiyun might have to take some risks this time, and saw that Pei Cuiyun's beautiful figure was more youthful and moving, so he had to go with her.

When he led Pei Cuiyun to the Deyongcheng wharf, the wharf was still bustling with people, and there was no full martial law, and at the same time, there were only two wooden wharves moored with four civilian boats that were unloading, and several civilian boats stopped sailing in the river, waiting for the cargo ships on the wharf to unload and then dock. Seeing this scene, Chen Yingliang of course had the big temper of the small officials in the capital, first ran to the river donation platform and roared loudly at the tax collectors, and then ran to Li Cai and Zhang Huaishen, who were in charge of the safety of the wharf, like a clown jumping beam, jumped up and down, and asked Li Cai and Zhang Huaishen to immediately drive away all the cargo ships and vacate the dock so that the Taifu fleet could dock after arrival.

I was informed in advance, of course Li Cai and Zhang Huaishen didn't buy Chen Yingliang, the account of the little official in the capital, under the pretext that the Taifu fleet had not yet arrived, and had a big quarrel with Chen Yingliang in public, Chen Yingliang was pretending to roar, and never wanted to annoy Pei Cuiyun, who didn't know beforehand, seeing that Li Cai and Zhang Huaishen dared to contradict their sweetheart, Pei Cuiyun actually pulled out the knife directly and almost cut Li Cai, fortunately Chen Yingliang pulled the little pepper in time, so there was no extraneous branch to make things bigger, Then Chen Yingliang pulled Pei Cuiyun aside, and pretended to send his subordinates into the city to complain to Xu Minlian, and threatened to let Li Cai and others look good when the Taifu fleet came.

It is also a good thing that Little Pepper almost caused an incident, at least it attracted the attention of almost all the docks, and it must have attracted the attention of the thieves team on the docks, which made Chen Yingliang inevitably a little secretly happy, and at the same time, Li Yi, who went to contact the Tian bandit team, also returned to the dock quietly, and told Chen Yingliang with his eyes that the matter had been done, and Chen Yingliang's conscience was even more determined, so he also waited patiently by the river donation platform next to the dock.

It happened that the two big merchants in Yongcheng arrived, there were a lot of baton slender men on the wharf, and the goods were constantly moving back and forth, which seemed to be very lively and busy, and it was not early, and the shouts of shouting and urging workers were constantly coming and going. In such an environment, with ulterior motives, Chen Yingliang is of course sitting on pins and needles, anxious, but on the surface, he has to pretend to be casual, and from time to time he has to urge Li Cai, Zhang Huaishen and others to vacate the dock, the psychological pressure is extremely huge, but he doesn't even have an object to confide in, so he can only secretly pray for a qiēshun lì.

Time passed slowly, and finally, the time was finally coming, the city gate was about to close, the flow of people on the dock was decreasing, Xu Minlian and Xie Weiping finally led a large group of officials and servants to the dock, pretending to receive the news that the Taifu fleet was about to arrive. Chen Yingliang hurriedly stepped forward, continued to pretend to point to the four cargo ships still docked on the dock and complained, asking Xu Minlian and others to give the order to vacate the dock, Xu Minlian nodded again and again, gave a casual order, and said in a low voice: "Chen Zanzhi, why hasn't the team of thieves appeared yet?" Is there a leak? ”

"Don't worry, there's going to be movement." Chen Yingliang comforted in a low voice, and then instructed in a low voice: "Xu Taishou, after a while, you will first let the officials protect the safety of you and Xie Gongjian, and when the overall situation is decided, you will immediately put out the fire, there are many goods on the dock today, don't really burn these goods, then the loss of the people will be great." Xu Minlian agreed in a low voice, but his heart continued to go up and down, still feeling that there was little hope.

After another moment, when the sky gradually darkened, four tall and heavy official ships finally appeared in the upper reaches of the Tongji Canal, Chen Yingliang was very exaggerated and cheered loudly, saying that the Taifu fleet had finally arrived, and then roared loudly at Li Cai and Zhang Huaishen and others, asking them to do their best to drive away the dilapidated civilian ships on the dock that had not been unloaded so far, and let the Taifu ships dock first and unload the goods first.

Under Xu Minlian's personal order, Li Cai and Zhang Huaishen's team finally moved, while urging the civilian ships to leave, while preparing torches and braziers and other lighting objects, and then Xu Minlian asked Chen Yingliang if he did it according to the original plan, Chen Yingliang observed the situation around the canal, and saw that the canal around the canal in the twilight was still quiet and unmoving, and was a little worried and hesitant for a while, but he still nodded and said in a low voice: "Start according to the original plan, after the four official ships come ashore, they will be lit immediately!" ”

Xu Minlian gritted his teeth and sent someone to deliver the order, and Chen Yingliang's heart also rose to his throat - because once this plan failed, not only would the previous achievements be wasted, but it was also destined to cause damage to the dock, and it would also cause great damage to Chen Yingliang's illustrious reputation and official reputation. But when things got to this point, Chen Yingliang had no way back.

The latitude of Yongcheng is quite high, and it is darker in early winter, and it is difficult to see the situation outside in a blink of an eye, under the twilight that is getting darker and darker, four official ships with a deep draft slowly sailed to the side of the wharf, under the persecution of Chen Yingliang and Xu Minlian's shouting order, the four civilian ships that have not unloaded so far reluctantly temporarily sailed away from the wharf, and gave way to the berthing space for the Taifu official ships, and then the four official ships relied on the manpower of the slender man, one by one, and they were docked on the two wooden docks. Seeing this scene, Chen Yingliang glanced at Xu Minlian, and hurriedly led Pei Cuiyun, Ma Sanbao and others to greet him, and shouted hello to Qian Xiangmin who was standing at the bow of the boat with a smile on his face.

"Brethren! Do it! ”

When Chen Yingliang just walked on the dock, Li Cai on the riverbank suddenly shouted, and threw the torch that had been lit in his hand to the pile of goods next to him, and then countless Sui soldiers also threw the torches in their hands on the pile of goods, and the pile of goods suddenly burst into flames. Immediately afterwards, shouts and shouts broke out on the dock, and at the same time, Zhang Huaishen's team also concocted the same method, using torches to ignite another pile of dock goods, and at the same time shouting loudly the slogan of robbing the official ship, and began to expel the crowd of people on the dock.

The wharf, which still has a lot of people, was suddenly in chaos, and the officers and men of the Sui army who had received the order shouted the slogan of robbing the official ship, and the slender man ran around with a baton to flee for his life, and the unwitting auxiliary soldiers ran around like headless flies, shouting and asking what was wrong, and the officials and officials hurriedly protected Xu Minlian and Xie Weiping, and Li Cai, who had received a special order, also rushed to Chen Yingliang with ten **** soldiers disguised as ordinary officers and soldiers, creating a chaotic appearance.

At this moment, Chen Yingliang's heart almost stopped beating, and he closed his eyes nervously, and there was only one thought left in his mind, "God bless." ”

"Kill!"

The roar of the tide suddenly came, and at the same time, there were chaotic horns, war drums and gongs, Chen Yingliang quickly opened his eyes, and was extremely surprised to see that in the direction of the east and downstream of Yongcheng Wharf, as well as the northwest direction of the upstream of Yongcheng Wharf, countless torches appeared together, and there was also the sound of Chen Yingliang's dream of shouting and killing. In addition, in the upstream and downstream directions of the canal, dozens of large and small civilian boats with torches also appeared at the same time.

"It's about three miles away, and it seems that I'll have to practice scouts in the future."

With a smile in his heart, he made up his mind to abuse his subordinates in the future, Chen Yingliang turned to Pei Cuiyun, grabbed Pei Cuiyun's small hand, who was already nervous to pull out the knife, showed an extremely charming smile, and said with a smile: "Cuiyun, my virtuous sister, can you please do a little thing?" Brother, I beg you this last time, if you agree, I will definitely repay you well. ”