Seeing that the three merchant ships were slowly approaching, Hou Xing secretly hinted that his subordinates were ready for battle. As the saying goes, "The praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch follows", who knows if the yellow finch will kill the cicada together after killing the mantis? Seeing him like this, Zan Wanshou waved his hand lightly. The enemy, who had just suffered heavy casualties and was overwhelmed, was wiped out in two rounds of shelling, and if these merchant ships really wanted to attack, they would certainly not be able to resist with the scarred ships and few escorts at the moment. Thinking of this, Zan Wanshou ordered someone to shout to the incoming ship.

After the official ship revealed its identity, the merchant ship also replied. They claimed that they were merchant ships from Banzhou, and when they saw that it was getting late, they looked for a place in the reeds of Huiwan downstream to prepare for the night. Hearing this, Zan Wanshou let out a long breath of turbidity, and immediately sent someone to contact the merchant ship, and arranged for Hou Xing to treat the wounded and clean the cabin. As for the two burning official ships, one was about to burn out, and the other was also on fire, so they ignored it.

While everyone was cleaning up the battlefield, a man who called himself Yu San came to the merchant ship and invited Zan Wanshou to rest in the camp in the reeds of Huiwan, five miles downstream. The weather was hot in May, and Yu San did not wear the cloth or silk gown that merchants often wear, but only wore a short hexagram, revealing the tendons and flesh all over his body. Zan Wanshou couldn't help but be suspicious when he saw that Yu San's eyes were naked and his body was fierce, not like a businessman but a military man at all. However, although he is young and inexperienced, he is not a pedantic person, and he knows that if the other party has malicious intentions, he will not rescue him at all, or after destroying those enemies, he will easily solve the official ship. Thinking of this, he readily agreed to Yu San's invitation.

After the battle, he was extremely tired, and after Zan Wanshou arrived at the reeds camp, he fell asleep in a simple tent. When they woke up early the next morning, Yu San and Hou Xing were already waiting outside the tent, and the three of them were eating and talking about the battle situation last night. According to Yu Sansuo, about 100 of the enemy attacked the official ship, and in addition to about 20 who fled, more than 30 were killed and more than 30 were seriously wounded. In addition to a few short knives and shields, the most valuable items seized were eleven small boats and six guns on enemy ships, which Yu San's men moved down before the gunboats sank.

Hou Xing reported the losses to Zan Wanshou. Two of the five official ships were damaged, and all the supplies accompanying the ships were also destroyed. Although the remaining three ships were damaged, they were still able to sail to Jiading City. The casualties among the entourage were quite serious, and in addition to the scribes and sailors, more than half of them were killed or wounded, and thirty-six of the fifty escort sergeants were killed and wounded, and only fourteen were combat-ready. Under the heavy casualties, not only was the safety of the next trip not guaranteed, but even the number of sailors operating the ship was stretched, which made Hou Xing quite annoyed.

When Zan Wanshou heard this, he stood up and bowed deeply to Yu Xing and said, "If it weren't for the help of the righteous people, Zan would definitely have lost his life in the hands of the Thunderbolt Army." The grace of a drop of water should be reciprocated with a spring, and if a righteous man has difficulties in his day, even if he commands Zan to be. ”

Hearing this, Yu Xing stood up and laughed: "It wasn't the Thunderbolt Army who attacked Lord Zan last night, but someone else."

"Could it be that Yu Yishi knows who the attacker was last night?" Hou Xing asked.

"Although Yu doesn't know who is behind the attackers, he knows that it is definitely not the Thunderbolt Army, because he is a person from the Thunderbolt Army," Yu Sanzheng said.

At that moment, he told the two of them who he was and what he knew. Although Yu San is the deputy brigade commander of the Special Brigade and a senior officer of the Perak Army, he is not at the core decision-making level and does not know the conspiracy of Cao Zhizhou, Liu Daer, and Yu Lu. As early as ten days ago, he took a special company to quietly go south and ambush in this reed. According to the intelligence of the General Staff, there are hostile forces preparing to ambush Zan Wanshou, who is heading to Jiading to take office, and this is the place where the action is taken. And his mission is to sabotage the enemy's plots. To ensure the smooth operation, he brought with him three gunboats disguised as merchant ships, as well as a squad of frogmen.

Zan Wanshou originally thought that the attacker was the Thunderbolt Army, but he didn't expect that the one who saved him was the Thunderbolt Army. Things took a sudden turn for the worse, and he couldn't come back to his senses. Regarding Yu San's statement, Hou Xing weakly raised his own questions: "The Thunderbolt army started with firearms, and because of this, they were invincible, and yesterday's attackers also had artillery, iron balls and other firearms, which were very sharp and ......." As soon as Hou Xing's words fell, Yu San laughed and took over the conversation: "Those broken copper and iron dare to pretend to be our army's sharp weapons? The firearms of the militia in our army are also much stronger than those rags! Then he ordered a firearm to be brought and seized for comparison between the two.

Zan Wanshou took a closer look at the firearms sent and saw that the grenades used by the Thunderbolt Army were small and delicate, while the iron balls used by the attackers were large and rough. Yu San saw Zan Wanshou looking at it carefully and explained that the Thunderbolt grenade only needs to pull the bracelet to ignite, and it will explode after landing in a short time, and the enemy will blow up before he has time to react. The attacker's grenade needs to be lit with a fire breaker, and it will be extinguished by the rain if it is not to mention the trouble. If the lead is too long, it will be thrown back by the enemy, and if it is too short, it will explode in your hand and injure yourself. What's more, although the attacker's grenade is large, its power is much smaller than that of the Thunderbolt grenade.

Seeing that Hou Xingshang had doubts, Yu San gave a demonstration for the two. He first threw each of the two grenades at an uninhabited bush, only to see that the Thunderbolts' small grenades had knocked down at least half of the reeds that had been blown down by the attackers' grenades. He threw two more grenades into the water, the clumsy grenade did not move after entering the water, and the explosion of the Thunderbolt grenade made a splash several people high, and the shock wave even brought several white-bellied fish to the surface. The fish were apparently killed by a grenade and blown unconscious.

"As for the artillery of those attackers, it was crudely made and could easily explode and injure themselves. Compared with our artillery, it is not only not powerful enough, but also very bulky. Yu San gestured with his hand and added. The two of them were naturally convinced by this statement, after all, last night, two rounds of shelling killed and wounded more than half of the 100-person attackers. Yu San saw that the two of them listened attentively, and became even more proud, so he continued to introduce the artillery types of the Thunderbolt army: light artillery, heavy artillery, and fortress artillery; curved guns, direct-fire guns; rifled guns, non-rifled guns...... He also said that he had only brought light artillery with him on this special operation, and if the heavy artillery was combined with solid ammunition, he could send the enemy ship to the bottom of the river with one shot. At the end, he added disdainfully: "How can my Thunderbolt Army be pretended by these Xiaoxiao."

Yu San's words dispelled Zan Wanshou's doubts. Yes, if the Thunderbolts really want to kill themselves, why bother, just rush over and shell directly. Although his guards are strong in martial arts and proficient in fighting, how can their bodies face firearms? But who attacked him? Will it be done again? When Zan Wanshou thought of this problem, he became worried again. Yu Sanguan looked at him and said, "Don't worry, Lord Zhan, since I have been ordered to come, I will escort Lord Zhan to Jiading smoothly." ”