Yan Hong emphasized again: "Four brothers, this time, it is not to capture any rebellious thieves, and you don't need to fight hard. When you get out of the city, take as many steps as you can. If you encounter the obstruction of soldiers and horses, or the situation ahead is not right, you can return to the city in time, it is expected that the interceptors will not dare to chase into the Shaoxing Mansion, and attack the Jinyi Guard on the street, even if someone really dares to chase the city, you will run towards the hundred households, or command the yamen to run, how dare they not save? Remember, don't be reckless, be sure to save your life first, and don't care about anything else. ”

The four general flags have been in the guard for a long time, when have they ever seen such a commander who cares about the lives of his subordinates? I felt that it was useful, and I saluted in unison: "I will definitely go to the soup and go all out!" ”

At the same time, in the Shaoxing Mansion, in the bedroom of the prefect Li Wenzao, his favorite concubine was kneeling beside him with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes, beating his legs for him. This concubine, who is only in her twenties, frowned slightly, and quietly turned her head to yawn from time to time, and it seemed that she had not slept all night.

The prefect Li Wenzao sat on the chair, his eyes half-squinted, but he was still in good spirits. Across from him, stood a man. This man is not very tall, but he has a strong physique. is dressed like an ordinary Jiangnan peasant outfit, but when worn on this person, he feels awkward and incongruous.

But I heard Li Wenzao say: "Pingtai, what did the leader of your family Chen send you to?" There are no outsiders here in this house, this little lady is from my room, and I believe it. ”

The short man stood with his legs together, bowed first, and then said: "Back to the old man, the leader of my family ordered me to come to tell the old man Li that the boat group led by the old owner of Wufeng is now on the eastern ocean of Zhejiang. He has issued a strict order, as long as Xu Hai does not die for a day, his friends at sea will not send troops to attack the coast for a day, so as not to harm Xu Hai's life. In particular, the old shipowner said that if anyone did not obey the strict order and sent troops at this juncture, he would openly be an enemy of the old shipowner, and he would lead his army and horses, as well as the Japanese people of the 36 islands, and the big and small Franco-machine people, to attack together. Because of this strict order, Hugh said that there are several big groups of heroes, even those sporadic gangs, who have not dared to do business casually recently. ”

Although this man's Chinese is fluent, the pronunciation of the words in many places still seems stiff, especially the tone always has a strange smell, and when you hear it, you will know that it is not a native of the Ming Dynasty.

Li Wenzao also knows that the Pingtai opposite, although he is just the son of a fisherman in the Japanese Kingdom, and he is not even a ronin who does not have the word Miao, but he is brave, his martial arts are not weak, and he is also proficient in water, he dares to fight hard, and he is also clever, and he is quite valued by Chen Dong, the leader of the Japanese Bandits. And the old shipowner in the other party's mouth is naturally Wang Zhiwang Wufeng. This Wang Zhi lived in Japan, known as the King of Hui, and his subordinates were known as 50,000, and he was equipped with a large number of firearms purchased from the Western Franc machine, which was the largest force on the sea today.

At that time, not only did the vast number of maritime merchants subdominion to Wang Zhi, but also the big and small Japanese pirates and pirates also respected him as the leader of the alliance, and even the princes of the Japanese archipelago and the Europeans who traveled between the two oceans were also quite in awe of him. The so-called those who do not obey the orders of the five peaks are not allowed to exist in the two oceans. Although Chen Dong and Ye Ma are also regarded as heroes and outlaws who dare to kill officials and intercept ships, if they say that they openly disobey Wang Zhi's orders, they will not dare after all.

Hearing Ping Tai say this, Li Wenzao secretly scolded Wang Zhi in his heart, if you want to be a pirate, just be it, and play this hand. However, on the surface, the old prefect remained silent, twisted his hair and muttered: "Since the old ship owner has such a strict order, I don't know what your Chen leader means?" ”

The widow Pingtai said: "Since the old ship owner has an order, Chief Chen can't disobey it. As long as Master Li can manage to kill Xu Hai quickly, Leader Chen and Leader Ye will be able to land together. ”

Li Wenzao thought to himself, I was just asking you to raise troops to harass the coast, so that I could take the opportunity to kill Xu Hai, but you asked me to cut off Xu Hai first, and then I was willing to raise troops, which is funny. He still said quietly: "Even though the old ship owner strictly ordered that Leader Chen can't land with his own people, why not incite Xu Hai's old department to land?" ”

Ping Tai said: "Originally, the head of my family, Chen, also had this intention, but Diao Laosan, who was under Xu Hai, refused to send troops, and only said that there were officials from the imperial court to save their leader. ”

When Li Wenzao heard this, his face finally turned a little unhappy. Na Pingtai said again: "Boss, this Xu Hai is really the great enemy of my two families. Now that he is in Shaoxing Mansion, he is in the hands of Mr. Li, and he has to bother Mr. Li to cut him off. The head of my family, Chen said, as long as Xu Hai is killed, he can be exempted from the escort fee of Mrs. Li for three years. ”

The old lady Li that Ping Tai said was Li Wenzao's cousin Li Hongyuan. This Li Hongyuan is the number one businessman in the Li family, and he is engaged in smuggling in the sea trade, so naturally he is indispensable to fight some big robbers to buy a peace. In particular, he had a mortal enmity with Xu Hai, and the fleet that had previously gone to sea was destroyed several times, so in addition to hiring many dart masters to protect his safety, the maritime merchants bribed Chen Dong with a lot of money to ensure that the trade at sea continued. The amount of gold and silver spent in this year was staggering. Therefore, Chen Dong promised three years of expenses, which was also a bloody investment.

Li Wenzao secretly sneered in his heart, the cost of three years? As long as Hu Zongxian's plot can be thwarted this time and Xu Hai is killed, it won't take three years, and I will ask you Chen Dong and Ye Ma to be dogs for me! But in front of Pingtai, he just shook his head and said, "This matter is very difficult to do." That Yan Hong is not easy to get along with, he has the support of Lu Bing and Yan Song, and he has to work the backing, and he needs to think long-term to succeed. ”

Pingtai grinned and said: "Master Li, I, Pingtai, came to Shaoxing this time and brought eight subordinates, all of whom are warriors who can kill and fight. If it is inconvenient for Mr. Li to come forward, it is up to us to understand the matter. Let your soldiers and horses guide us to the inn, and then sneak in and kill Xu Hai and that Yan Hong together. ”

Li Wenzao shook his head again and said, "This can't be helped." In the Yunlai Inn, Jinyi Wei must be on guard. There are quite a few masters under Yan Hong, and although you warriors are brave, they may not be able to succeed. And Yu Deshui, the local Jinyi Guard, will not sit idly by and watch the elder grandson of the dignified Jinyi Thousand Households and Pavilion die in his station. His eyeliner will inevitably be there to monitor, as long as you make a move, I am afraid that even the commander of the yamen will send troops, and a few of you will not be able to help. Don't make a mistake, Old Man Rong has a thoughtful idea, and when he needs your help, he will come back to you. ”

At this time, Li Wenzao's personal length gently knocked on the door with Li Sheng, and after coming in, he muttered a few words in Li Wenzao's ear. Li Wenzao's face changed: "What? Out of the inn at this time? What a guts! You immediately notify the city gate, strictly check whether there are any Japanese robbers in the team Xu Hai, strictly intercept them, and never let Yan Hong and Xu Hai out of the city! ”

After Li Sheng left, Li Wenzao said to Ping Tai again: "Your people are resting here, the old man has to intercept Yan Hong and Xu Hai." Then he shouted again: "Prepare your horses, go to the east gate!" ”

Besides, Yan Hong used Xu Wenchang's strategy and sent Liang Rufei and other five people to stop in costume and just wait to set off. Xu Wenchang was left with four Hu generals to stay in the inn to protect Hu Baiqi and Wang Cuiqiao's master and servant. Yan Hong himself led twenty Jinyi official schools, Yan Feng and Yan Fu, escorted Xu Hai, He Qi, and Zhang Wu, and rode out of the inn and went straight to the east gate.

As soon as Fang came out of the inn, he saw that there were night guards on both sides, and they followed on horseback. When they arrived at the east gate, they saw that a team of patrol soldiers had already stopped them, and only said that now the Japanese and Xu Customs were in the city and were not allowed to leave the city casually. Yan Hongliang showed a sneering temper and shouted: "What is the matter with me at the Waikou Xu Customs? Ben Qianhu was ordered by Shangfeng to come to Jiangnan to handle this widow case, and now he is going to go out of the city to inspect the widowhood, you dare to stop it without authorization, and you have grown a few heads! The sentry guarding the gate did not lose his temper, but repeatedly explained to Yan Hong to make amends, but he was not allowed to leave the city.

When he was entangled, he suddenly heard the sound of bells and gongs, and the lanterns and torches behind him were like a long dragon, swaying. When I got closer, I saw at least one or two hundred soldiers, all armed with swords and guns, and some with bows, arrows, and firearms. One of them rode a horse, and it was Li Wenzao, the prefect of Shaoxing. At this moment, he was in a hurry to come, and he didn't care about sitting in a sedan chair slowly.

Li Wenzao and his entourage arrived, and when they saw that Yan Hong and his entourage were about to leave the city, they immediately stepped forward and arched their hands: "Yan Huhou, the officials are polite." ”

Yan Hong's son also arched his hand: "Master Li, it's easy to say." ”

Li Wenzao said: "I don't know what Yan Huhou wants to do when the sky is not clear, but he wants to go out of the city gate? ”

Yan Hongdao: "I was ordered by the Governor of Lu Dadu to go out of the city to inspect the situation. ”

Li Wenzao said: "Inspecting the situation is easy to say. But yesterday in front of the Yamen of Shanyin County, it was made clear that this widow Xu Hai must not leave Shaoxing City. Why did Yan Huhou take him and want to leave? ”

Yan Hong said with a smile: "The lower official didn't take him away, but this Xu Hai is the leader of the Japanese and is familiar with the Japanese situation." The official wanted to take him out of the city as a guide. After the inspection is completed, it will take half a month at most and six or seven days at least, and he will inevitably return to Shaoxing for detention. I hope Mr. Li will forgive me. ”

Li Wenzao said in his heart, you think I'm an idiot. He raised his eyebrows: "Huhou's words are wrong. Xu Hainai is a felon, and he was imprisoned in Shanyin County, and Hu Hou Qiang took him away. Now they want to take him out of the city, who will bear such a heavy responsibility? ”

Yan Hong said: "What does Boss Li mean, is this official not allowed to go out of the city?" ”

Li Wenzao said: "It's okay for the marquis to want to go out of the city, but Xu Hai, the widow, has to stay. ”

Yan Hong heard this, but bowed his head and said nothing. After pondering for a long time, he said: "As long as Xu Hai stays, the official can go out of the city?" ”

Li Wenzao said: "Exactly." He secretly calculated in his heart that if Yan Hong left Xu Hai out of the city, then Xu Hai's biggest talisman would no longer be there. He could have immediately mobilized troops and horses, or called the Japanese Pingtai and others to attack the inn at night and kill Xu Hai on the spot. It's not a hassle to go back and make a report of a prison escape and killing.