Dongting Lake is located on the south bank of the Jingjiang River in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the name of Dongting Lake, according to historical records, began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was named after Dongting Mountain in the lake. This place is also a strategic place, its location is connected to Yangzhou and Jingzhou, and you can pass through the land of Xuzhou down the river, and you can go directly to Yuzhou when you go upstream. Dongting Lake covers an area of quite large, known as Dongting Lake for 800 miles, there is a small island in the middle of the lake is Dongting Mountain, the aquatic plants and reeds in the lake are luxuriant, if you are not familiar with the waters here, you will become lost in this lake. Because the Yangtze River, the main trunk outside this lake, runs through the four states, and most of the passenger ships and merchant ships come and go, which also makes the existence of some water bandits. These bandits are not stupid, and they gradually know that blindly plundering passing ships will make fewer and fewer people take the waterway, and then they will have to drink lake water and eat fish. Therefore, as soon as they totaled, they began to collect protection fees from passing merchant ships, without touching the goods and people on board, and the merchants felt that the waterway was fast and only needed to pay protection fees to pass, so they paid protection fees out of their pockets, so that the water bandits on both sides of the Yangtze River began to buy and sell one after another.

But the good times did not last long, a new group of water bandits on Dongting Lake, the number of people is not much, that is, more than 100 people, their boats hung with colorful brocade sails to and fro, led by a man wearing brocade clothes, he commanded this group of water bandits to sweep the three lakes and eighteen villages on both sides of the Yangtze River, and all those water bandits were integrated under their command, and then occupied Dongting Mountain in Dongting Lake as a water village. Passing ships have to teach them protection fees, whether they are civilian ships or merchant ships, they do not charge fishermen's protection fees, and they collect the most ruthless from the boats and official ships of the families in the past. The governor of Jingzhou Navy is Cai Mao of the Cai family, once the Cai family's ship was sacked by Jinfan thieves, and all the people on the boat were captured as long as they were the descendants of the Cai family. Cai Mao, the governor of the navy, was furious when he learned about it, and he led the Jingzhou navy to kill the Dongting Lake water village with great momentum.

The reeds in the water grow very luxuriantly, and there is a dense water surface more than one zhang high, which divides the surface of the lake into more than a dozen waterways. Cai Mao's warship is relatively large, as soon as it enters the waterway, it walks very slowly, the Jinfan thief is to catch Cai Mao's carelessness and send some water ghosts with good water nature, and all the Cai Mao's warships are leaked underwater, for a while, Cai Mao collapsed into an army, retreated for several miles, and no longer dared to provoke the Jinfan thief, and other forces who wanted to move the Jinfan thief all died down after seeing the Jingzhou Navy return with a feather, and since then this section of Dongting Lake has truly become the chassis of the Jinfan thief.

"Big leader, there is a group of people outside who claim to be from Yangzhou, the head of the Zheng family, who wants to see the leader, I don't know if you can see him?" There is a huge courtyard standing on Dongting Mountain in Dongting Lake, the courtyard is heavily guarded inside and outside, there are bright knives and guns inside and outside, there is a young man sitting in the main hall, wearing a brocade dress and satin, and there is a multicolored brocade sail erected behind him, on which a big black character is written "Gan".

"Isn't the second leader here? Call him here, Yangzhou Zheng family can be regarded as the leading big family in Yangzhou, this time there may not be good things, it's better to be careful! Now look at our infinite scenery, but it is also a time to make people's eyes red, go quickly - "The young man who likes to wear brocade clothes is called Gan Ning Zi Xingba, he has been an orphan since he was a child, and he has practiced a good knife technique by virtue of his talent, because Gan Ning is arrogant and righteous by nature, and he met his good brother Ding Feng, and the two brothers quickly became famous on the Yangtze River with their skills, and achieved a dominant water bandit, because Gan Ning preferred to wear a brocade dress to go out and pass away, He also made his own flags into colorful flags, and the people in this area called them "brocade thieves". Ding Feng was very dissatisfied with this name at the beginning, and other water villages were not dragons or tigers or dragons and other powerful and domineering names, but later the reputation also came out, and he could only reluctantly accept this name.

"Then did the Zheng family arrange to pick them up the mountain?" The man asked.

"Well, for the time being, we will take the mountain and arrange it at the foot of the mountain, but remember to be blindfolded when you come, and they must be restricted from moving around at will, and the rest will be done according to the daily routine, and I will make a decision after discussing it with the second leader." After thinking about it for a while, Gan Ning decided to use a safe way to discuss with Ding Feng first, and then see what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd of the Zheng family in Yangzhou.

After a while, Ding Feng came to the lobby and sat down, and then said, "Xingba, what is there that brought me in a hurry?" Could it be that the soldiers and horses of the imperial court came to encircle and suppress us, as if I hadn't received such a tip-I am dying of thirst, let me drink tea and catch my breath first, and I will rush up all the way!"

Because the Jingzhou Navy suffered a big loss in the hands of Gan Ning, Ding Feng was always worried that the imperial court would send troops to encircle and suppress them again. What he never expected was that the Jingzhou Navy was the only elite army on the water in the Han Dynasty, and none of them had any advantage in the hands of the Jinfan thieves, and the armies of other states and counties were all landlubbers, and they were even more powerless to manage these things. In addition, as soon as the Taiping Sect rebelled out, Liu Hongzhen, the son of heaven, was furious and issued a Ming edict to arrest the traitors, and the states and counties hurriedly repaired their armaments after receiving the order. According to the speed of information transmission in the Han Dynasty, the people sent by Ding Feng couldn't inquire about such news at all, but the more there was no news, the calmer it was, the more Ding Feng felt that this was the prelude to the coming storm, and he was worried day and night that he could not eat or sleep well.

"Cheng Yuan - you sit down and drink tea first, it's not the army of the imperial court that is coming, there is something that needs to be discussed with you, today the sentinel under the mountain came to report that the Zheng family in Yangzhou came to worship the mountain, and the bearer gave a heavy salute - I think this matter is a little strange, let's sum up first, don't fall into the trap of the official army, and all the family foundation we have finally laid down this little bit has been defeated!" Gan Ning hurriedly asked Ding Feng to sit down and take a sip of tea, looking at this brother who was busy with himself, Gan Ning's heart was warm, a person can have a few brothers who are intimate to him in his life.

"It's okay - it's okay if it's not an urgent report from the imperial court! Hey? You're talking about the Zheng family in Yangzhou, how could they come to worship the mountain? Although it is said that their merchant ships also take this waterway, but their family has paid enough silver taels, and as long as our brothers receive other people's silver taels, they will definitely protect the safety of their merchant ships. Or are there other bandits who don't give us face and make trouble on the Yangtze River? If that's the case, we have to send someone to check it out, and whoever dares to give our brothers eye medicine will make them not see the sun tomorrow! Ding Feng heard that it was the Zheng family in Yangzhou, and he was suddenly shocked, the Zheng family in Yangzhou can be described as a big family in Yangzhou, and some of the people in the Zheng family control the army of Yangzhou and control the officialdom of Yangzhou, if someone offends the Zheng family in Yangzhou at this time, plus they slapped the face of the Cai family in Jingzhou fiercely before, if the two sides join forces to exert force, although the Dongting Lake where they are located is a natural barrier, but it will inevitably hurt their muscles and bones in a battle, so that other bandits who hate them will take advantage of the situation. When the time comes, two fists will be invincible to four hands, and the good tiger will not be able to stand up to the wolves, and the country that has been finally defeated will be wiped out. Such a result is unacceptable to Ding Feng, and even more so they cannot bear it.

"Your worry is my worry, I first let people arrange them at the foot of the mountain to watch, you can arrange people to explore everything in Jingzhou and Yangzhou, and it will not be too late for us to see them again when there is news." Gan Ning nodded and said.

"Okay—I'll arrange it right away!"