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  Just as they were about to make their escape, the sound of chaotic footsteps came from the bow of the ship. It seemed that the remaining pirates were fleeing towards the painting boat. If they didnt escape now, when would they? Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe crawled out of the window and prepared to jump into the water. Just then, a pirate who had escaped through the window saw Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe, an old man and a young man, crawling out of the window. He was taken aback, and before he could shout for his companions, Lin Xie pounced on him, and they both fell into the water together. In the water, Lin Xie hooked his arm around the pirates chin, holding the knife to his neck, and with one swift motion, a streak of blood appeared in the river water, creating a bloody painting that resembled a traditional Chinese landscape.

  It seems that some government soldiers also saw someone falling into the water on this side, and arrows were shot over in a flurry. The arrows had little force in the water, so Lin Xie had to dive down again to pick up an arrow and stab it into the pirates chest, then let the body float back up. He and Fu Qinghe continued to hide underwater, concealing themselves beneath the ships rudder at the stern.

  Fortunately, there were no pirates jumping into the water, and naturally, there would be no soldiers coming down to chase them. Lin Xie also doubted that even if there were pirates escaping by jumping into the water, would anyone come down to pursue them? As the saying goes, "dont pursue a defeated enemy", the soldiers had already won the victory, and if they continued to attack and suffered more casualties, it would be a loss.

  The chaotic fighting sounds on the boat stopped, and then came the loud cries of fire rescue. Lin Mou knew that he and Fu Qinghe were temporarily safe. Thinking about last night to now, they had gone through two battles, and at least 50 or 60 lives were lost.

  "Perhaps there wont be any more unexpected twists." Fu Qinghe listened carefully to the movements on the boat and couldnt help but comfort himself.

  "I hope so." Lin Xuan smiled and said.

  Fu Qinghe saw Lin Xie still smiling, and he also smiled, thinking that even if nothing else, Su Mei and the two women could mix in with the crowd of survivors to get ashore, and once they were ashore, Su Mei could reveal her identity and everything would be fine.

  At this time, footsteps were heard coming from the stern of the ship. Two people walked alone to the stern deck. Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe both carefully perked up their ears.

  "Duwei..."

  Lin Tie and Fu Qinghe were both shocked. In the current military system, there are four types of people who can be called "Duwei" by their subordinates: Light Chariot Duwei, Deputy Light Chariot Duwei, Cavalry Duwei, and Deputy Cavalry Duwei. They are all high-ranking generals in the army. The Ninghai Town garrison commander and deputy commander only hold the titles of Cavalry Duwei and Deputy Cavalry Duwei, respectively, which are fourth-grade and junior fourth-grade military officers. Who would have thought that the two fast warships of the Ninghai Town naval forces were actually led by someone of the Ninghai Town garrison commanders level?

  "Hmm, have there been any casualties?" was a low, husky voice of a middle-aged man.

  "Twenty killed, thirty-nine wounded, thirty-one enemy killed, one bandit captured... This gang of pirates is really hard to crack!"

  Lin Xie thought that the government soldiers were weak in combat, but he didnt expect the official soldiers led by the military governor to be of little use either. However, this group of pirates was indeed very powerful, first with so many people - perhaps more, but not many more - they dared to rush to Chongzhou County School to rob meat tickets; Lin Xie had a direct fight with one person last night and still managed to kill him by luck.

  When calculating military achievements, however, these are not taken into account.

  Although it was said that the pirates were annihilated, a pirate warship was captured, and all the hostages were rescued, but after the battle with absolute superiority, the number of casualties on our side far exceeded the number of enemy heads (first-level) taken. According to military law, not only could no merit be counted, but also subject to reprimand from superiors. Of course, in recent years, the discipline of the garrison troops has been lax and their combat effectiveness has been weak, so it is already difficult to achieve a small victory. If an ordinary general led the team to fight and achieved such results, they could be written into a big victory report. However, this time the leader was a Ninghai Town main general-level character, and submitting such achievements would only be more embarrassing. Its possible that the opponent will use it as a handle to attack.

  Lin Xie hadnt heard the middle-aged general speak for a long time, thinking that he was also ashamed of this battle achievement. The person beside him must be his confidant. After a moment, Lin Xie heard the middle-aged generals confidant say: "General, Dong Yuan has been slandering me, saying that our military strength is weak and our discipline is not good, and asking the imperial court to allow the local area to build a new army; this battle report will be submitted, Im afraid it will give him another excuse..."

  "What does Dongyuan count as, daring to point fingers at the towns military?" The middle-aged man said indignantly. "This time in the rescue mission, we must ensure that there are no casualties among the hostages, and it is inevitable that there will be some injuries."

  "Thats what they say, but the mouths belong to others, especially those literary officials who like to stir up trouble - their buttocks are all eloquent - should we strike out the injured personnel?"

  "Theyre not that stupid, twenty people died, how could there be no wounded? Moreover, since a battle broke out on this side, the camp should have also received enemy news. At this time, I dont know how many people are watching Jiangs side. When we return to the camp, can we conceal the casualties and not report them?" The middle-aged mans voice slowed down, and it could be heard that he was starting to hesitate, probably more worried that doing so would not be prudent enough, leaving too much vulnerability for political enemies.

  "Duwei......" Another person walked towards the stern of the boat, interrupting the two peoples private conversation.

  "Qian Hu, whats up?"

  "Damn it!" The newcomer spat, his voice full of resentment. "Those rich bastards in Chongzhou are playing us for fools! The ransom for the Eastern Sea pirates is 30,000 taels, but we only got 3,000 taels as a reward - and twenty brothers died in battle... If I dont get at least 10,000 taels to take back to Chongzhou, Ill slaughter these turtle sons and feed them to the dogs, making sure they have no descendants..."

  "What nonsense are you spouting? Are you trying to start a rebellion?" the middle-aged man growled in a low voice.

  "No money, and being treated as a scapegoat, these officials and soldiers are really not pleasant to deal with." The newcomer said in a low voice, implying that rebelling would be no big deal.

  Lin Zhen and Fu Qinghe were known for their arrogance and extravagance as officials and soldiers, but I never expected them to openly say such rebellious and unscrupulous things.

  "All right, Ive got it in mind. You go down first, I still have something to discuss with Bai Rong..." the middle-aged man instructed.

  "General Chen, would you trouble someone to bring over that pirate from Donghai who was captured alive? I have some questions for him." The middle-aged mans confidant said at the side.

  "Killed. Heard that there were 30,000 taels of ransom silver, got angry in the heart, and killed him. This thief was still shouting that he had important things to report. Report, report, report his mothers! Hearing 30,000 taels of ransom silver, my heart turned cold; this thief changed his mouth again, saying there were 60,000 taels of ransom silver, I wasnt about to spit blood? Didnt let him speak, one knife chopped off his head. Now the battle report has been revised... killed 32 thieves..." Chen Qianhu spat a mouthful of phlegm into the water and walked away into the distance.

  Lin Tie and Fu Qinghe thought to themselves that they should thank Chen Qianhu for his reckless killing of the prisoners, otherwise Su Mei and Xiao Man would probably not be able to hide; The two at the back of the boat probably had no way with Chen Qianhu either, and it seemed like they were smiling bitterly.

  "What should we do?" the middle-aged man asked.

  "Does Captain know what hes doing, and how did I get involved?" The man seemed to add casually, "Thirty thousand taels of silver is enough for Ninghai Town to spend a year."

  Lin tied up at the back of the boat only then realized that these officials and soldiers were so arrogant and daring, they simply wanted to take the 30,000 taels of ransom money.

  "Pa ying, jie bao zhe me xie," the middle-aged man said resolutely. "De xian bao zhi zei zong ji, mou qin shuai yi ying jing cui wang xi sha dao xi nan yu zei chuan xiang yu er zhan, ran zei chuan jian li, Chongzhou fa lai xian bao you wu, zei shi ji ren shu bei yu wo jun, jiu zhan bu xia, tian shi feng xiang you li zei yuan dong, hui bu neng jin zhu, xie zei shou san shi er ji gui ying... Wo fang de shang wang zen me xie, ni hao hao zuo mo yi xia."

  "The pirate ship fled far away - it would take seven or eight soldiers to make the pirate ship move, so we chose eight reliable men to go and add the twenty people who actually died, making the casualties twenty-eight. The enemy outnumbered us, our side suffered twenty-eight deaths, captured thirty-two pirates, which is a small achievement. Even if we couldnt catch up with the pirate ship, it was still a defeat for the pirates, my naval warship fell behind and missed the opportunity.

  The man quickly calculated the plan according to the middle-aged persons intention, "the top has been refusing to allocate funds for building ships, let them know how strong the pirate ship is, the losses will be written as one fast warship being destroyed by the enemy, one medium-sized warship damaged... but what about the eight brothers who were sent out and are now counted as dead? How will their identities be resolved when they return?"

  "What a good deal, are you willing to do it only once?" said the middle-aged man. "Eight people is still too few, I think there will be more and more people dying in the future... Just our warship was destroyed, it seems that we can also use it as an excuse, if we chase out of the harbor, we can capture a pirate ship back as compensation, what do you think?"

  "Duwei is wise and enlightened."

  The soldiers are biting people with their teeth, is this what the officials and soldiers should be like? What I heard with my own ears is that these officials and soldiers are even more ruthless than pirates! Do they have any awareness of defending the land and protecting the people at all?

  Even if they hated it, Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe hid under the boat, not daring to make a slight move to disturb the officers on board. Soon, they felt the painting boat start moving, slowly retreating from the river fork.

  Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe did not soak in the cold autumn river water for half a day this time, and soon found an opportunity to turn over and hide in the stern cabin.

  Because these officers and soldiers only arranged for eight "killed in battle" officers and soldiers to pretend to be Donghai bandits driving the ship eastward out of the sea, while the other officers and soldiers were on the fast boats behind pretending to chase after them, they went out to sea one after another - the painting boat was still tied to the back of the pirate sailboat, and there were only two officers and soldiers left on the painting boat who had changed into pirate clothes.

  Because the fast boat was always following behind pretending to chase, Lin Xuan and Fu Qinghe also had no chance to kill people and rob boats.

  The fast warship followed behind, apparently to ensure the pirate ships safe departure and find a deserted island to hide in, lest they be robbed again by other pirates on their way. At night, just outside the harbor entrance, the pirate ship dropped anchor and rested for a night, while the naval fast warship also stopped and rested for a day. On the second morning, they set sail again eastward, and only when the sky was about to darken did they moor in a small U-shaped bay on the south side of a deserted island about two hundred miles outside the Yangtze River estuary.

  Lin Tie and Fu Qinghe slipped quietly into the water, paddling to the outer side of the bay and landing on the shore.

  Lin Tie and Fu Qinghe hid on the shore of the bay, observing the desolate island shrouded in twilight. The island had once been inhabited, with several dilapidated thatched cottages standing at the edge of the forest, their roofs blown off by the wind. There were also signs of bonfires having been lit outside the forest, and the beach reflected the glint of broken swords and shattered spears. Several rotting planks lay scattered on the sand, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place here not long ago.

  Its possible that the pirates in the East China Sea have become more and more rampant, so the residents here have moved away; its also possible that they were coerced into joining the pirates; or perhaps the residents were affected by the recent fierce battle and suffered a disaster; now there are no fishermen to be seen, nor any pirates staying for long, in short, it has become an uninhabited island.

  Seeing several ships anchored in the bay, he knew that the government soldiers would spend the night on the island.

  Although worried that Su Mei and Xiao Man might expose their identities, there were 80-90 officials and soldiers on the island, and they had no chance to take action. Lin Xie and Fu Qinghe could only suppress the anxiety in their hearts and wait for the best opportunity to strike after several ships left tomorrow.

  They also couldnt lie in wait on the rocky cliff for a night, to avoid leaving any traces, they walked along the shallow water outside the beach and went ashore after a while. They drilled into the dense forest on the island, found a dry place to rest their feet. There were still several dry cakes hidden on their bodies, which had been soaked in seawater, salty and bitter, but still edible.

  Fu Qinghe chewed on a dark, dry biscuit and said, "Since there have been people living on the island, there should be a source of water..."

  Lin tied nodded and said, "Tonight we have to endure a little, at night we can collect some dew to quench our thirst, tomorrow after the officials leave, they should leave some water and food behind - its a headache, they might take all the boats away..."

  "The bay is not deep, it cant hide the boat, they wouldnt want passing pirates to discover the people hiding on the island, and most of the boats would be taken away," Fu Qinghe said, "However, after rescuing them, we can leave by building a raft..."

  He glanced at the waist knife by his feet, this knife is good for killing people, but its too hard to chop wood, Im afraid the soldiers wont leave them any handy tools. To build a raft and leave before the soldiers come back to the island again is truly an arduous task——never mind, tomorrow after the main force of soldiers leaves, well rescue the person first then talk about it later. He jumped onto a giant stone as high as his chest, wanting to observe more of the island from the woods.

  Lin Xiang learned from his middle school geography book that the estuary of the Yangtze River and its surrounding waters are mostly sandy islands, which were formed by the accumulation of large amounts of silt carried by the Jianghuai water system from upstream. Unlike ordinary rocky islands that can maintain a stable state for thousands of years, these sandy islands and islets are greatly affected by the tidal waves of the river and sea, constantly changing. When encountering a sandy island at sea, it may not exist after tens of years, giving rise to the legend of an immortal island floating and disappearing without a trace; or it may gradually connect with the land over hundreds of years, becoming new land.

  This nameless small island under his feet is a rare base rock island in the nearby sea area, and the giant rocks under his feet are proof; The forest where they are hiding now is also evidence - ordinary sandy islands grow more grass, reeds, like the tens of miles of reed marshes on the west sand island before; Even if the sandy island has natural forests for many years, it is mostly shrubbery, how can there be such lush and seemingly centuries-old arbor trees growing?

  This desert island is not large, just now hiding in the stern of the ship to see the whole island from a distance, its about four or five miles around, later generations slightly larger residential communities will exceed this size. The small sea on the south side counts as a small natural harbor, and the mountain head on the southeast of the island looks like its nearly twenty zhang high, covered with dense forest.

  Along the coast, I didnt see any river mouths. Its not a good time to enter the dense forest to find water sources now. More importantly, we need to recover our strength. Tomorrow, the main force of the government troops will withdraw, and eight people will be left behind to guard. These eight people are probably not weak.