The Jiangnan Canal, formerly known as the Jiangnan River and the West Zhejiang Canal, is the southern section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. It starts from Zhenjiang and Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province in the north, goes around the east bank of Taihu Lake to Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and reaches Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province in the south. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the low terrain between the Yangtze River and the Qiantang River, the rivers and lakes were dense, and there were canals connecting rivers and lakes. After generations of excavation and dredging, the Jiangnan Canal began to take shape. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty re-excavated and widened the ancient canal south of the Yangtze River in the sixth year of his great cause, forming the current Jiangnan Canal.

The people of Jiangnan commonly call the Jiangnan Canal "Guanhe" or "Guantang". The canal starts from Zhenyang in the north, passes through Danyang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Tongxiang to Hangzhou. The canal is connected to the Yangtze River in the north, the Qiantang River in the south, and the Jindan Licao River, Wuyi Cao River, Xicheng Canal, Wangyu River, Liuhe River, Wusong River, Taipu River, Wuxingtang, Pinghutang, Huatingtang, Hangzhou-Ningbo Canal and other canals are connected, which is the main road of river transportation in the south of the Yangtze River.

In the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, the river instead of the road is another feature of it. In ancient times, there were almost no roads here, just a water. Boats are the main means of transportation. There are two tools of connection between land and land: the boat that moves and the bridge that is fixed. If you are close, you will walk on the bridge; Far away, or to transport goods, by ship. Therefore, Jiangnan is the world of ships and bridges, there are more than 5,000 bridges in Shaoxing, and 72 bridges in a small new town, which is far better than Venice, the water capital.

More bridges means that the waterways are developed. Not too far back, there were boats here. This is true in the big cities, and even more so in the countryside. At that time, the popularity of boats was like that of later generations when families had bicycles, and many families had cars. The river is the road, the road is the river, and the river is the road in the south of the Yangtze River.

As the saying goes, rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, rely on the water to eat the water, many of the people in the south of the Yangtze River rely on the waterway to eat, and the poor people don't even have their own houses. The family is crammed into a canopy boat, this is their home, and the water people are their collective name.

The vertical and horizontal waterways have also brought a headache to the people, in ancient times, there were dragons, water bandits, floods and waterlogging three evils to harm the people. Jiaolong is actually the Yangtze crocodile, the Jiangnan water network is dense, in ancient times there were a lot of crocodiles, often haunted and ate people, with the later population of Jiangnan, the living space of the crocodile was gradually squeezed by humans, since the Southern Song Dynasty. Crocodiles are rarely seen in the waters around Suzhou and Taihu Lake, but after the Qing Dynasty, crocodiles were gradually squeezed out of the densely populated water network, and their habitat became larger waters such as the Yangtze River and Taihu Lake. The disappearance of crocodiles is one less harm, but on the dense water network and waterways near Suzhou and Hangzhou. The bandits and the floods never stopped.

Water bandits have been active in the land of Suzhou, Hangzhou and Wuzhong since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and many generals of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period were born from water bandits. Since then, the imperial courts of successive dynasties have repeatedly attacked. But it didn't have much effect, and the water bandits were like weeds in the field, cutting a stubble and growing a stubble.

In the early years of Xianfeng, taking advantage of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom uprising, a group of water bandits emerged at the junction of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, led by more than 30 years old. Blind in one right eye, known as one-eyed Zhao Qi, a native of Suzhou. In his early years, he was a tenant farmer outside Suzhou, but he lost his harvest due to natural disasters. The government and landlords were very tightly exploited, and he accidentally killed the grain officials who came to urge grain, and was forced to join the water bandits.

Zhao Qi was a tenant farmer in his early years, and he knew that the life of the poor people was not easy, so he gathered a group of water bandits and specially robbed official ships and merchant ships, which made merchants near and far frightened, and called this area the river of death. Zhao Qi and the others pretended to be coolies pulling goods on ferries on weekdays, and when there was a sale, they gathered together to do it.

Since the Taiping Army advanced into southern Jiangsu, Zhao Qi and others have reined in a lot, as long as it is a ship under the banner of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they will let it go. Tang Zhengcai, the general of the Taiping Army, led a Taiping Army Navy Division to Suzhou and Taihu Lake, Tang Zhengcai admired Zhao Qi's name, and wanted to meet Zhao Qi for incorporation, but then the war was tight, and Zhao Qi and others had the attitude of waiting to see the victory or defeat of the Taiping Army, and the matter was temporarily shelved. But the two sides still reached a tacit understanding, the Taiping army would not commit Zhao Qi, and Zhao Qi would not rob the Taiping army's ship.

On the morning of this day, some of his brothers reported to Zhao Qiyu that there was a big ship with suspicious whereabouts, the draft on board was very deep, as if it had pulled valuable goods, and there were many officers and soldiers on board wearing Qing army uniforms, but they did not carry the flag of the government, but it looked like an official ship, which had arrived at Jinniutang. On weekdays, when encountering a large group of official ships or the inland river division of the Qing army, Zhao Qi's gang of water bandits did not dare to act rashly, but at the moment it had not been opened for three months, and he heard that there was only one big ship, Zhao Qi immediately took the case and ordered his subordinates to gather brothers and ships to prepare to hijack the ship.

At noon, sure enough, there was a big boat to the Suzhou waterway that came slowly, sailed into the Wusong River, the Wusong River is still called the Wusong River in this place, and it is called the Suzhou River when it reaches the boundary of Shanghai, the Wusong River is only one or two miles wide, the reeds and aquatic plants on both sides are all over the place, and there are many port forks, Zhao Qi and others have long been ambushed in several port forks of the Wusong River.

Seeing the arrival of the boat, sure enough, the draft on the boat was very deep, Zhao Qi slanted his left eye and looked, overjoyed, and made a whistle, several small boats shot out of the harbor fork at the same time, flying closer to the big ship.

Zhao Qi flew onto the ship with a steel knife in his hand, and there were seven or eight men wearing Qing army uniforms on the bow deck, who were stunned by the sudden Zhao Qi, and hurriedly pulled out their waist knives to engage in battle. But these people don't seem to be accustomed to water warfare, Zhao Qi and the others' boat collided, and under the shaking of the hull, several people stood unsteadily when they boarded.

Zhao Qi rubbed his body and slashed down two people with a knife when he boarded, and then several people were also hacked to death on the spot by the bandits who boarded the boat one after another.

The fighting and screams from the boat sounded, and more than a dozen people dressed as Qing soldiers were immediately snatched out of the boat and stern, and Zhao Qi and more than ten other water bandits immediately fought with these water bandits. After fighting for a while, these Qing soldiers were not accustomed to water warfare, and gradually suffered heavy casualties.

At this moment, a Qing army general was snatched out of the ship, wearing the uniform of the Qing army's three-grade military attaché, and he shouted: "Stop! After he stopped drinking, several Qing soldiers gradually retreated, and the water bandits robbed the ship also had a civil and military distinction, as long as the other party did not fight hard, they would not kill him, seeing that the enemy retreated, Zhao Qi also beckoned his subordinates to retreat temporarily.

"You're the shipowner?" Zhao Qi shook the steel knife and said, "Quickly leave the valuable things, jump into the river by yourself, and spare the lives of you dog officials!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the group of Qing soldiers shouted and scolded, and the Qing generals led by them stepped forward, calmly faced the water bandits, and then pointed at Zhao Qi and shouted: "You bandits, you dare to rob official ships in broad daylight, aren't you afraid of Wang Fa?" ”

Zhao Qi hahadaxiao, said: "You dog official is dying and you dare to be strong, come on, kill me all!" ”

"Wait!" The general on the bow of the ship hurriedly said: "I have something to say!" ”

Zhao Qi squinted his left eye and asked, "What else do you have to say?" ”

"This official is an official of the imperial court." The Qing general calmly replied: "The long-haired thief in Suzhou has an urgent official business to rush to Shanghai, if this brother can let us pass, this official will be grateful." ”

Zhao Qi snorted: "You dog official!" In the past five years, we have robbed countless official ships, all of which are corrupt officials and corrupt officials! To an official like you, Lao Tzu will take your head and ask for a reward from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! ”

"Do you really refuse to give you a way?" The Qing general said in a yin voice: "If you are willing to let go of this official, this official can ensure that you are an official in the imperial court, and in the future, you will follow this official to eat and drink spicy food." ”

Zhao Qi glanced at the Qing general and said coldly: "Dog official, how can Lao Tzu Zhao Qi be a court eagle dog?" spread it out, insulting Lao Tzu's name! Kill me! ”

The water bandits swarmed up again, and after a moment of fighting, most of the more than 30 Qing troops on the boat were killed, and the Qing general's martial arts were good, but he was also not used to water battles, and was cut in the foot by Zhao Qiyi, and Zuihou was held down.

Zuihou, along with the Qing general, seven Qing soldiers were captured, and a row of them were tied to the bow of the ship. "No more nonsense!" Zhao Qi sneered: "This leading official stays, and later binds the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom camp to ask for a reward, and the rest are chopped up and sacrificed to the river god!" ”

Just as the water bandits were about to kill the prisoners, the water bandits watching the wind from the bow of the boat suddenly shouted loudly: "There is a ship coming from the east!" Look at the flag is a ship of peace! ”

Zhao Qi smiled and said, "It's just the right time, brothers, please reward the people who hand them over to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!" ”

Hearing this, the Qing general's face changed greatly, and he hurriedly said loudly: "This brother, if you have something to say, as long as you let me go, this official still has a large amount of silver taels in Shanghai, and this official can give 100,000 taels of silver with both hands!" ”

Zhao Qi snorted and laughed: "Dog officer, are you a three-year-old child?" When you go to Shanghai, where can you find the silver? When the time comes, you're just afraid that you'll turn your face and deny people, and take me and others as anti-thieves to invite merit. Don't talk nonsense, say one more thing, Lao Tzu slaughtered you! ”

The ship of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom came from the Suzhou Creek, a total of three large boats, more than ten small boats escorted, saw this big ship from a distance, the Taiping army sailors divided several small boats to rush first. Zhao Qi and others caught the small boat of the Taiping Army, told the reason for the incident, the small boat of the Taiping Army turned around and flew to the main general on the big ship, after a while, a big ship of the Taiping Army approached, and the two boats connected and set up a plank, Zhao Qi and others escorted seven Qing prisoners to the big ship of the Taiping Army.

The Taiping Army is also strange on this big ship, in addition to the Taiping Army wrapped in red turbans, there are also many foreigners dressed in colorful clothes, Zhao Qi and others have never seen foreigners, and Zhao Qi and others watched it out of curiosity.

A general of the Taiping Army stepped forward, clasped his fists and said, "This general is Yao Yuan, the life-saving officer in the west hall under the command of the Western King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. ”

Zhao Qi replied: "In Xia Zhao Qi, an idle man begging for food on this Wusong River." The two exchanged pleasantries, Yao Yuan had also heard of Zhao Qi's name, and he really accepted it at the moment.

After the greetings, Zhao Qiyi waved his hand and pushed several Qing army prisoners forward, and said, "General Yao, these people are the dog officials of the Qing court, who were held by us and dedicated to the general's ranks. ”

Yao Yuan was overjoyed, and immediately asked the identity of the Qing general, but several people refused to say anything, zuihou Zhao Qi's subordinates searched for the Qing general's seal letter on the Qing army ship, Yao Yuan was overjoyed and said: "Zhang Guoliang!" You dog thief is Zhang Guoliang Zhang Demon Head! (To be continued......)