Of course, my noodle shop can't sell all those weird noodles, and most of the ghosts are still used to eating ordinary noodles. But I couldn't get out of it alone, especially when I had to go out every once in a while, and I couldn't stay in the noodle restaurant all the time, so I started to train a noodle roller to be a chef.

The noodle roller has become sluggish because of the damage to his soul. But it's not really a fool, it's just that its language ability has declined, and its brain can't turn around. However, since the time when Boss Cha was there, the dough roller has been staying in the kitchen and being responsible for rolling dough. Although the chefs of the noodle restaurant have changed several times, the process of making noodles is similar, and no matter how stupid the noodle roller is, he has already seen it well.

So, under my careful guidance, the dough roller also boldly began to become an apprentice chef, specializing in learning how to make a few simple pasta dishes. I have prepared some exclusive seasonings and sauces in advance, coupled with the unique yin attributes of purple wheat noodles, the noodles made by the dough rolling ghost according to the gourd painting scoop are actually like that.

Later, when I went out on a boat, I simply left the noodle shop to the noodle roller to take care of, and then paired it with a few clever ghost slaves to give it a hand.

This small noodle restaurant in a remote fishing village is becoming more and more famous, and in addition to the expedition team, the fishermen of Hekou Town, who fish in the Stygian Sea, sometimes drive boats to eat noodles. Combined with the ghost slave sailors and other customers I brought with me after engaging in the transshipment trade, the small fishing village, which originally had only a hundred permanent residents, gradually developed into a small bazaar, with more than 500 people and ghosts together.

Seeing the fishing village becoming more and more lively, the village chief Wang Shou was also very happy. In the underworld, a barbaric place that relies on strength to speak, the more people there are, the stronger the strength, and the more they have a foothold.

And there is another point, 99% of the permanent residents in this fishing village are ghosts, and only Liu Han and I are big living people. Such a proportion of the population, coupled with my tolerant attitude towards the ghost slaves under my command, makes the status of ghosts in the fishing village not low, and it is simply a veritable "ghost village".

However, whether it is Wang Shou, the village head, or the sarcastic ghost and scissor ghost who have a certain amount of power, they still regard me as the backbone of this small fishing village, and they have to come to me to discuss major matters. From this point of view, I am like the "uncrowned king" here!

But I don't want to be a "king", the purpose of my coming here has never changed, that is, to escape the pursuit of the underworld, to take refuge incognito, it's not good to be too high-profile. But the trees want to be quiet and the wind does not stop, and my business grows bigger and bigger, and people will always be worried.

A few months later, I was leading the Mockery on the Victory to prepare a shipload for transfer to the Great Falls. As I passed through the town of Estuary, I had to call at the port as usual and then go to the town's officials to get a way-guide paperwork.

But the situation in Hekou Town seemed to be a strange thing at this time, the port was unattended, the pedestrians on the street looked anxious, and a group of guards also hurried past the vicinity of the port, as if a war was about to start.

Before I could get off the boat to find out, a tax collector came on board and told me that a large group of water thieves were gathering on the river outside the town, and it was likely that they were coming to attack the town of Hekou tonight!

I frowned and thought to myself, "These water thieves are getting bolder!" It was already bold to dare to openly gather a crowd to attack a small yin city like the Eighteen Caves before, but this time he actually started the idea of Hekou Town. You must know that although Hekou Town is not a big Yin City, it is still a medium-sized Yin City with regular city defense troops after all. ”

Since there were thieves blocking the way outside the town, I thanked the tax collector and prepared to sail out of the harbor and turn back to the fishing village. But the tax collector said to me, "These bandits are so powerful that the mayor has sent us to recruit passing ships and sailors to serve as temporary guards. I see that you have a giant crossbow on your ship, so stay and help us fight the water thieves together!" ”

Before I could answer, the sarcastic ghost standing aside was not happy, and directly refused: "Forget it! We are not obligated to be cannon fodder for you! ”

The tax collector's face changed suddenly, and he looked at the sarcaster with annoyance.

I quickly dismissed the unbridled sarcasm and said to the tax officer, "This is a big matter, let us discuss it internally before giving you an answer!" ”

Subsequently, I summoned Liu Han and consulted with the leaders of the sailors, such as the sarcastic ghost, the iron head, and the water demon. Their opinions were basically the same as those of the sarcasm, and they all believed that the Victory had fought with the pirates a few times before, and they had been worried about it for a long time, and they should not be involved this time. Besides, we are not from the town of Estuary, so we can't do our lives for them.

But after thinking about it, I still felt that it was not the best choice for the Victory to leave alone at this time. After all, if the Victory wants to engage in the transshipment business, it will inevitably have to pass through Hekou Town from time to time, and it will also need to get a guide from the town before it can go to other Great Yin Cities to do business. If you have a request for someone, you can't make the relationship too stiff, otherwise you won't want to hit the estuary town in the future.

Moreover, the relationship between our small fishing village and the town of Hekou can actually be called a cold one. Once the town of Hekou falls, the fishing village will be equivalent to no shield, and the boats of the water thieves can go directly to the fishing village through the town of Hekou, and we will probably be the next wave of attacks.

In addition, the sailors on the Victory have a lot of experience with these water thieves, and they don't necessarily lose to them if they fight again. Taking a step back, our home port is not in Hekou Town, and even if we can't beat it, we can still run, so naturally we won't stay for others to be buried.

After some careful analysis, everyone else was convinced by me and agreed with me. So, as the owner of the ship, I went over again to negotiate with the tax collector.

When the tax collector saw me coming back, he probably thought that there was still something to be done about it, so he hurriedly offered to give us a commission on a per capita basis afterwards. Not only the Yin Xiu, but also the ghost sailors on the ship, when the commission is deducted from the tax on the cargo on the Victory. However, the commission he offered was too low to appeal to me.

I thought about it for a moment and replied, "We don't want commissions." Well, if we help defeat the water thieves this time, the next time it's my turn to help, I'll ask Kawaguchi Town to help too. How about neighbors helping each other? ”

The tax officer was overjoyed and quickly nodded in agreement.

But Liu Han interjected at this time and said: "There is no basis for what you say, should your mayor write us a note or something?" ”

The tax officer hesitated for a moment, and said with a sad face: "I am only the official in charge of taxation, and it is already the biggest preferential treatment that can be given within the scope of my authority to promise you tax reductions and exemptions." If you want the mayor's pledge, I'll have to ask for it myself......"

Liu Han insisted: "Then you go and ask for instructions, we will ask for this condition!" ”

The tax collector couldn't, so he got off the boat and went to the mayor. About half an hour later, he brought back a letter, which was handwritten by the mayor himself, and handed it to me.

I opened the letter, and it praised me, calling me a righteous man, and promising to help the Victory in every possible way. The signature is the signature of Lin Miao, the mayor of Hekou Town.

Satisfied, I raised the letter in my hand and said to the tax collector: "All right, we agree to go to war!" ”

In order to facilitate the war, I also specially asked the tax officer for a warehouse at the port, and unloaded all the goods loaded on the Victory and temporarily stored them in the warehouse. The tax collector was even more pleased to see that I was so determined that he was willing to deposit even such valuable goods on board as he was in the port, and soon emptied a warehouse for me to use.

After unloading the cargo, the Victory immediately became brisk, knowing that the speed of the ship is a very important part of the water battle. Ships with less load also have better dexterity and can be used in a variety of tactics when fighting.

Just as preparations were made, Hekou Town sent another guard officer, who was the commander Xu Zhou, who was in charge of commanding the few warships in the town.

Xu Zhou said to me: "Your Victory's combat ability is no less than our warship, just join us in a team and follow my flagship!" ”

I was a little surprised, I wondered what kind of battle plan he had laid out, and he didn't plan to stay in Hong Kong. But since she had promised to help, she had to obey their commands, so the Victory left the harbor with a few ships from Estuary and sailed into a very hidden but also very narrow waterway.

When he arrived at the predetermined position, Xu Zhou revealed his battle plan to me. It turned out that there were not many civilian ships in the town and other temporary recruits from other places, and they were already very crowded in the harbor. If even a few warships were to fight in the port area, it would inevitably turn into a chaotic battle.

So, Xu Zhou simply left those civilian ships in the port, and when the water thieves attacked, he sailed out of the port to intercept the enemy head-on. But those ships are actually only used to lure the enemy, and the real winners and losers are still our warships with real combat capabilities.

Xu Zhou said: "When the time comes, we will rush in from the middle of the fleet of water thieves, cut off their formation, and make them unable to take care of their heads and tails." Then, flank them back and forth and try to eat all the ships they enter the encirclement! ”

I was amazed at Xu Zhou's bold vision. Although it is doubtful whether just a few ships can cut off the fleet of water thieves, such a tactical idea is quite right. I've seen the raids of the water thieves in the Eighteen Caves before, and they like to swarm and scare with their momentum, but they don't have much tactics to speak of. If you can give them a hard blow in the first place, you may be able to destroy their morale directly.

However, when the night came, Xu Zhou summoned several captains for a final pre-war meeting. He announced with a serious face: Judging from the information sent back from the spies, this time the water thieves almost went out, the leader was a terrible ghost, and the total number of water thieves was at least two thousand, more than ten large ships, and countless small boats. Obviously, this battle must be very difficult to win!