In Mei Baohua's opinion, he didn't immediately send troops when he learned that the lake bandits attacked Hushu Pass last night, and he had lost the opportunity. Since the lake bandits robbed Hushu Pass and robbed a large amount of silver, they must have dived into the depths of Taihu Lake and will not come back at all.

Taihu Lake is vast, with a radius of hundreds of miles, and there are many islands and reeds in it, so it is difficult to find the hidden lake bandits in it! And if the lake bandits took the silver and ran away, it would be almost impossible to find it.

However, since the celebrities and gentry in Suzhou came to ask for the suppression of the bandits, Mei Baohua could not shirk it, so she could only agree to come down and send troops as soon as she got the traces of the lake bandits. Several heads of the family also promised that they would pay for the food at that time.

"This lake bandit is really strong, it seems that these gentry are frightened." After the gentry left, Mei Baohua said to the staff.

Master Zhang was a little suspicious: "A few months ago, the emperor sent someone to build a tax department in Hushu Pass, and re-built the tax customs, since then, countless gentry are still ordinary merchants, all who pass through Hushu Pass must pay commercial tax according to the goods, the tax rate is as high as eleven, these gentry and businessmen in Suzhou are eager to die all the customs officials and tax collectors in Hushu, so that they can go back to the past, and they can rely on their fame to be exempt from taxes." Now that Hushu Pass has been copied by the lake bandits, isn't it just thinking with them, why do you still urge the proprietor to suppress the bandits, it seems that the thief is suspected of catching the thief. ”

Mei Baohua gasped: "You mean? ”

Master Zhang nodded: "It is very likely that these gentry colluded with the lake bandits and robbed Hushu Pass, and in order to wash away the relationship, they urged the adults to suppress the bandits." ”

Mei Baohua gritted his teeth and said: "They are really bold, first burned the royal newspaper, and then instigated the weavers to besiege the weaving yamen, and now they have led the lake bandits to rob Hushu Pass, killing dozens of tax officers and soldiers, is it really to rebel?" ”

Master Zhang sighed: "They are all put on the neck by His Majesty's knife, they naturally have to struggle, the proprietor, look at it, there will inevitably be greater movements in the future." ”

Mei Baohua sneered: "It seems that they don't know how powerful Your Majesty is, and when the Praetorian Guard marches south to Suzhou, all their calculations will be in vain." ”

To be honest, Mei Baohua has lived a little aggrieved in Suzhou in recent years, don't look at him as the governor of Yingtian, in charge of all the prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River in Nanzhili, with a high position and power, but many things are tied. Last year, there was a great drought in the south of the Yangtze River, and the people in several prefectures and counties could not eat so that there were countless displaced people, Mei Baohua mobilized the gentry in Suzhou and asked them to donate money and grain to help the hungry, but few gentry did not respond at all. On the surface, these gentry agreed well, and were willing to cooperate with the government's relief, but turned around and began to make a fortune in the country, annexing fields from the people at low grain prices, buying young men and women as slaves, and a dozen catties of rice could be exchanged for a young girl.......

Mei Baohua is a northerner and a member of the Shilin, but he was still shocked by the greed of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, the power of the gentry, and the intricacies of the gentry. However, his conscience was not clear, and he couldn't be in collusion with the Jiangnan gentry, so he was restrained in doing things, and he suffered from the gentry's coercion and trouble, and he didn't have much good impression of these gentry at all.

However, after ridiculing these gentry, Mei Baohua sighed deeply, after the emperor arrived in Suzhou, these gentry were unlucky, and they were not much better......

No official is not greedy, Mei Baohua is not a clean official, in the most prosperous place in the world, naturally it is not exempt from vulgarity, more than two years in office, but also got two or three hundred thousand taels of silver. If the emperor investigates corruption, he will definitely not be spared.

"Proprietor, this is an opportunity." Master Zhang's eyes rolled, "The officials of the Hushuguan Taxation Department were appointed by His Majesty, and now they have been robbed by the lake bandits, if the proprietor can exterminate the lake bandits and snatch back the tax silver robbed by the lake bandits, Your Majesty may be happy, and it is not impossible to be reused at that time, after all, it is impossible for Your Majesty to take down all the officials, and you must have henchmen around you, otherwise who will help Your Majesty govern the place?" ”

Mei Baohua thought deeply: "Okay, just do it!" ”

At that moment, Mei Baohua summoned his subordinate standard battalion and sent people to investigate the movements of the lake bandits.

Who knew that just a day later, the person sent had not returned, and someone from Wujiang County suddenly came and brought a fisherman, saying that he had found out the traces of the lake bandits, Mei Baohua was overjoyed and personally interrogated the fisherman.

"The villain is a fisherman in Wujiang County, who has no home, and lives on a boat on weekdays, making a living by fishing. The day before yesterday, because the fishing boat leaked, the villain stopped at a sandbar in the depths of Taihu Lake to repair the boat. In the middle of the night the day before, a fleet of ships suddenly passed near the sandbar, and there were twenty or thirty sand boats, heading in the direction of the eagle's beak rock, and disappeared into the reeds. The little one rowed back to Wujiang County today to sell fish, only to know that Hushu Pass was robbed, thinking of the situation he saw the night before, that fleet is likely to be the water bandits who robbed Hushu Pass! The villain didn't dare to hide it, and hurriedly reported to the government. The fisherman knelt on the ground and said.

"How can you be sure that the lake bandit is going to Eagle's Beak Rock?" Mei Baohua asked.

"The villain has been to Eagle's Beak Rock before, and it is a deserted island for miles and miles, because it is full of rocks, and there are few trees on the island, so there is no way to cultivate it, so it is uninhabited. And because the eagle's beak rock is surrounded by reeds, dense, it is difficult for outsiders to enter, so it is very remote. In previous years, the villain went to the island several times a month to pick up bird eggs on the island, but last year a group of strongmen appeared on the island and almost killed the villain, and since then the villain has not dared to approach the eagle's beak rock. There are no other islands around the eagle's beak rock for more than ten miles, so the villain can be sure that the lake bandits are the bandits of the eagle's beak rock, but he didn't know that so many people had gathered in just one year. ”

"You report the traces of the lake bandits to the government, aren't you afraid of the lake bandits' retaliation?" Mei Baohua asked as she stared at the fisherman's eyes.

There was a hint of hesitation in the fisherman's eyes, and then Fang said: "It's really a villain who is too poor, greedy for the government's reward for silver, so that he can earn some silver to marry a daughter-in-law......"

Mei Baohua nodded: "You lead the way for the official army, and after you find the lair of the lake bandits, the official will be rewarded, and the reward is enough for you to marry a wife and have children." ”

The fisherman was overjoyed and kowtowed: "Thank you, thank you, thank you." ”

Ordered someone to take the fisherman down, and Mei Baohua immediately ordered to gather the team. He had 3,000 standard battalion soldiers in his hands, and he gathered 5,000 soldiers from the local guards, and at the same time sent people to collect ships.

The gentry in Suzhou kept their promises, and when they heard that Mei Baohua was going to send troops, they took the initiative to donate money and grain, a total of 100,000 taels of silver and 10,000 stones of rice, which was enough to pay for the opening of the army, and enough food for the army to eat in January!

There were soldiers, money and food, Mei Baohua immediately led the troops to set off, 8,000 troops, he personally commanded the standard battalion, 5,000 local troops led by the soldier Dao Qiu Yu, divided into 100 sand boats, into the Taihu Lake. The fisherman was the guide, and sat on the front sentry boat, and was responsible for guiding the army.

The fleet traveled seventy or eighty miles for a day, and camped at night on a sandbank, where, according to the fisherman, he had repaired his boats in the first place, and then discovered the fleet of lake bandits during the night.

Mei Baohua was very cautious, and ordered the fleet to be arranged in an array from end to end, leaving a waterway for passage, and the eight thousand soldiers were divided into three parts and took turns to keep vigil on the boats. At the same time, a sentry ship was dispatched to lurk in the reeds in the direction of Eagle's Beak Rock, for fear of being attacked by lake bandits.

The night passed, and no lake bandits appeared, and it seemed that the lake bandits did not know about the arrival of the army. So Mei Baohua ordered, and the army continued to march towards Eagle's Beak Rock.

After walking more than ten miles away from the sandbank, there were dense withered yellow reeds in front of me, because it was already winter, and the reeds had already dried up.

"Lord Governor, through the reeds is the Eagle's Beak Rock!" The fisherman said.

However, the reeds are so dense that only a few very narrow waterways can enter. Mei Baohua was very cautious and did not lead the army into without authorization, but sent several sentinel ships to enter and investigate from the waterway. Half an hour later, the sentinel ship returned, and reported that it had found an island deep in the reeds, and there were hundreds of huts on the island, and many figures on the island could be seen shaking, which should be the lair of the lake bandits.

"The lake bandits didn't notice you, did they?" Mei Baohua asked.

"Hui Fushuai, we are very cautious, the boat hid in the reeds and did not dare to show its head." The general manager in charge of the sentinel replied.

Mei Baohua relieved herself and began to deploy tactics. The tactics were very simple, the soldiers were divided into two routes, respectively, led by themselves and Bingbei Dao Qiu Yu, a fleet of boats, along the east and west waterways into the reeds, and after arriving on the island, they went straight to the island, and attacked the lake bandits from front to back. Although the lake bandits are fierce, they are just a rabble, and they have 8,000 regular troops in their hands, and the number is several times that of the lake bandits.

Mei Baohua personally led the standard camp to take a boat from the east waterway into the reeds, into the reeds, and saw that the surrounding were dry reeds, dense, covering the sky and the sun, looking forward, you can't see the end of the reeds at a glance, the boat is in it, as if entering the world of reeds.

"Fu Shuai, this reed waterway is about three or four miles long, and the terrain is very complicated, if you are not familiar with it, it is very difficult to get close to the eagle's beak rock." The fisherman stood beside Mei Baohua and introduced.

Looking at the dense reeds, Mei Baohua nodded, deeply convinced. No wonder the lake bandits set up their lair here, if there is no outsider to guide the way, it will be very difficult to find a way into it.

The flotilla went deep into the reeds, and traveled for about two miles, when suddenly a loud "boom" was heard, and a cannonball fell from the sky and smashed into the lake next to Mei Baohua's boat, splashing a huge splash.

"Discovered by the Lake Bandits, speed up!" Mei Baohua's face changed, and she shouted.

"The proprietor, this lake bandit is not simple, he actually has artillery." Master Zhang was surprised.

It's not simple, artillery is a militaristic heavy weapon, and there are no ordinary guards, and just lake bandits shouldn't have artillery, and they just grabbed artillery, and ordinary people don't know how to use it!

Before Mei Baohua could figure it out, he suddenly saw a thick smoke rise in front of him, visible to the naked eye, there were several fires in front of him, and then the flames spread rapidly, forming a wall of fire in a short time, quickly approaching the fleet!

"It's not good, the lake bandits actually attacked with fire!" Master Zhang exclaimed, and his frightened voice was broken.

In early winter, the reeds dry up, and setting a fire simply can't stop it. The fleet is deep in the reeds, and there is nowhere to hide!

"Turn around, turn around!" Mei Baohua was so frightened that she shouted desperately.

In fact, without his orders, the officers and men were already frightened by the rapid fire, and the sailors began to try to turn the ship's bow. However, the waterway was too narrow, and it was difficult to turn around, so several boats collided in a panic, and the soldiers on board fell into the water one after another screaming.

The flames were approaching rapidly, and before they could get closer, the smoke and heat wave hit first, Mei Baohua took a breath, and felt that her throat was hot, and she suddenly coughed loudly. The sailors rowed desperately, trying to escape the fire.

However, not long after rowing, someone suddenly exclaimed, "The reeds in front are also on fire.......

And he saw that the reeds of the road from which he came were and the flames were rising, and the way was covered with flames.

Damn lake bandits, they actually set fire to both ends of the waterway!

The entire fleet was trapped in the waterway, and the three thousand officers and men watched in despair as the flames rapidly approached from both sides.

"Ahhh Some soldiers shouted in fear.

"I didn't expect this official to be buried in the fire!" Mei Baohua smiled bitterly, at the moment of life and death, he rarely calmed down.

Now it seems that this is clearly a trap, the army is marching in the lake, and the whereabouts are not easy to leak, how can the lake bandits find out and set up such a poisonous plan!

Thinking carefully about the cause and effect of the incident, from the looting of Hushu Pass by lake bandits, to the heads of the largest families in Suzhou who came to patrol the yamen to urge the bandits, to the sudden fisherman who claimed to have found the traces of the lake bandits, everything was so coincidental.

By the way, what about the fisherman? Mei Baohua hurriedly looked around, and the fisherman who was still by her side just now had disappeared at this time.

"What about the damn fisherman?" Mei Baohua said angrily.

"Just jumped into the water." Master Zhang replied, not understanding why the proprietor still paid attention to the inconsequential fisherman at this time.

Mei Baohua hurriedly looked around, and saw that the fisherman was in the lake about ten paces away, with a reed pipe in his mouth. Mei Baohua sneered and ignored him anymore.

Mei Baohua had already determined in her heart that this fisherman was the inner response of the lake bandits, and she had fallen into the trap from the beginning.

The flames were approaching quickly, and the waves of fire were rushing towards him, and even Master Zhang couldn't help but jump into the lake, trying to hide in the water to avoid the flames. Mei Baohua didn't move, because he knew that it was useless, the reeds were so thick, wherever the flames passed, the lake would boil, and the air would be evacuated when it burned, and the smoke would be billowing out, even if he was not burned to death, he would suffocate to death. The fisherman, for example, tried to dive to the bottom of the lake and breathe through the reed tubes, but it was in vain, because he could not breathe in the air at all!

Mei Baohua stood at the bow of the ship, greeting the arrival of the fire. At the moment of burning in the fire, the experience of a lifetime quickly flashed in my mind, but finally turned into a sigh.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the ministers are incompetent and sinful!" Facing the direction of Zhenjiang, Mei Baohua knelt down and muttered. The 8,000-strong army was burned to the ground, and the city of Suzhou was no longer defended.

Mei Baohua can imagine what will happen next, thousands of lake bandits will fight out from Taihu Lake, attack the city and plunder the land, and the entire Suzhou Mansion will be plunged into the flames of war......