The large ship was like a building, moored at the pier made of pine wood. After the lighthouse on the upper deck was lit up, it shone brightly like a full moon, illuminating not only the ship's deck but also this side of the pier in great detail. Ordinary people had never seen such bright lights before, and they considered it a rare sight. At midnight, many refugees who were stranded on both banks hadn't gone to sleep yet, and they all gathered at the riverbank to watch. There were about two or three hundred people, making quite a lively scene.

  Hongze Lake and Shiliang River form an important waterway connecting the Huai River and the Yangtze River, but due to Hongze Lake being a shallow lake area composed of dozens of large and small lakes, cargo ships with a thousand stones can't navigate through it easily even during the flood season in spring and summer. Therefore, most of the boats traveling between Hongze Lake and Shiliang River are Wu Peng wooden boats with a load capacity of around 200 stones, while thousand-stone large boats are rarely seen, looking majestic when moored by the shore.

  Four men who had been drinking at the ferry tavern earlier blended into the crowd, took a glance, and then quietly withdrew to a secluded spot in the thick grass.

  "Damn it," a middle-aged man with half his face covered in curly whiskers cursed, "Isn't this trying to tempt Grandfather into hijacking the ship?"

  "Just take a look at the ship, didn't you see those ten guards at the bow? That Cloud Gathering Society is really something, and that Lin Mou is a real dog official. He's just a small ninth-rank prison officer, but he dares to equip his private soldiers with such heavy steel broadswords... and the armor they're wearing is top-notch..." The man with a shallow scar on his forehead said with a covetous look in his eyes.

  "How can you tell from so far away whether those men are wearing good or bad armor? You're just bragging!" the bearded man said in a disgruntled tone.

  "Why was Ma Lan able to become the eleventh leader? Wasn't it because that young whippersnapper joined and brought out six suits of rusty iron armor to distribute among everyone? The ship's lanterns were shining brightly, like a moonlit night, and your eyes aren't blind. Can you say that the six suits of rusty armor Ma Lan brought out are better than what these people on the ship are wearing? And then there's the martial artist at the front, who's wearing fine scale armor, which costs several hundred taels of silver to make just one set. No matter how good your bow and arrow are, you can't shoot an arrow through his throat even if you're right next to him. That person's skills may be two levels below yours, but with that armor, he can easily take you down. Is a knife good or not? You can't just look at the blade to tell. Try clashing knives with someone and you'll know who's better. You'll understand what I mean." The man with the scar on his forehead chuckled without getting angry.

  "That's even more reason to take action!" The bearded man, Sun Diancang, shouted, his mouth watering at the words of the scar-faced man.

  The other two middle-aged men with short beards and red faces were also frowning, not saying a word. Sun Gunzi saw their silence, elbowed one of them in the waist, and asked in a low voice: "Shi Yi brothers, do you think we should call some more people over, or wait until they leave tomorrow before making our move?"

  "There are a few things to consider: Lin Xie's reputation is still decent, and the Ji Yun Society has been recruiting refugees to work on the north shore of Chau Tin Island. Regardless of whether they can recruit workers or not, the amount of rice and copper coins distributed is in the tens of thousands, benefiting many people; there are only ten guards on the ship, but their spirit and energy are all robust and sharp, wearing and holding fine armor and sharp weapons, and there are more than 40 other sailors and boatmen on board, who are also strong and brave, so their equipment shouldn't be too bad either. How many lives will we have to sacrifice in order to take over the ship? Moreover, Lin Xie is not an ordinary person in Gu Wu Chen's eyes, and the Xi He Society will definitely go all out to protect him. Do we want to kill everyone from the Xi He Society and completely offend the Jiang Ning River Gang?" said a middle-aged man named Shi Yi.

  "Let him swagger and pass through, wouldn't that be a loss of face for everyone?" The bearded man was unwilling to retreat like this, saying "If he had restrained himself a bit, we would have let him off." It's really infuriating.

  "Besides getting a few good swords, what's the benefit of hijacking this ship?" Another middle-aged man asked with a smile, "Hijacking this ship will stir up trouble, Lin is no longer an insignificant person in Jiangning City, if he is killed and abandoned in Shiliang River, Gu will be extremely furious, the situation on both sides of the river will become tense immediately, do we still want to make that big deal?"

  "Today, it seems that we really can't make a move," the scar-headed man cursed, "It's really unbearable to see these corrupt officials being so arrogant. This Lin, who scattered rice and copper coins at the Chaotian Inn, was probably also buying people's hearts. I've lived for half my life, but I've never seen an official who isn't black-hearted or a dog that doesn't eat shit."

  "It's also good to let him swagger past," said the red-faced Hanzi, nicknamed "Shi Yi", "The internal line has passed on information that the prey is still uncertain which waterway to take north, and we really can't afford to have any movement here that would scare it away. We not only can't make a move, but also need to prevent other Daoists from making a move..."

  ************

  Liu Xilin slept soundly on the boat for a night, and the next day Lin Xian wanted Sun Jing Tang to send a boat to take Liu Xilin to Jiangning. Taking a boat south by water was safer than riding a horse over land.

  Sun Jing Tang carried out the instructions, and they stayed in Shanglinli for a day or two to load tea goods. A boat was sent back to Jiangning to add two more fast sculling boats to catch up, which would not delay much. Liu Xilin was the future Dongcheng Colonel of Jiangning Prefecture. Such a person, the Western River Association could only regret that they had no opportunity to get close and curry favor with him. Sun Jing Tang had to accompany Lin Fu to Shanglinli, so he assigned a big leader to lead more than ten brothers to escort Liu Xilin and others to Jiangning, instructing them to be careful and serve along the way.

  Sun Jing Tang didn't rest well last night, worrying about this side. He couldn't guess what Lin Xie was thinking, the Dongyang ship's bright lights at night were dazzling, and the Wuwei guards were standing on deck in armor, forming a battle array with a show of force, but it could also provoke the bandits' greed. He knew that Lin Xie had hidden some elite troops on the ship, but could the combat power of more than 50 people, no matter how elite, withstand the ant-like swarm attack of the bandits?

  No one knows how many of the stranded migrants along the Shiliang River are law-abiding.

  Nothing happened that night, and by morning, Sun Jing Tang was eager to set sail for Shanglin. The Lin family's privately raised militia had more than 500 men, with decent equipment and training, making them one of the few elite forces within the Dongyang Prefecture. As the leader of the River Gang, Sun Jing Tang was quite familiar with these circumstances, and as long as they arrived in Shanglin, the bandits and pirates would have second thoughts about their intentions.

  Sun Jing Tang climbed up the Dong Yang number from the rope ladder, didn't see Lin tied to anyone, and asked Zhao Hu who was standing on the deck blowing the river wind: "Where is Mr. Lin?"

  "What does Sun want with me?" Lin Fu came out of the rear cabin, holding up the hem of his green robe with both hands, careful not to step on it.

  "Mr. Lin, the south wind is strong today, I came to ask, when will we set sail? With this wind, I might be able to make it to Shanglin for lunch," said Sun Jing Tang.

  "I have something to discuss with Master Sun," said Lin Fu, "There are many refugees on this bank, all pale and thin. I still have several dozen stones of rice on the boat for ballast, I hope Master Sun can send two brothers to help me, leave the ballast rice at the ferry terminal, let them borrow a place from the people on the shore to cook porridge, and pick up the two brothers when we return."

  Sun Jing Tang thought that it's better to have one less thing to worry about, and the dozens of stones of rice at the ferry terminal would only be able to relieve a few people, but would instead attract more refugees from nearby areas, which wouldn't bring much benefit. However, it also wouldn't cause any harm, so Sun Jing Tang found two brothers and personally went ashore to inform the tax officials and guards that Lin Xian was an important person in front of the Jiangdong Provincial Governor, warning them not to bully the two members of the Western River Association who would be staying behind to distribute porridge.

  The wild man's ferry was delayed for a long time, and Lin Xie didn't set sail until much later. They didn't rush to Shanglinli in one go either, but instead stopped briefly along the way. Sun Jing Tang watched from the rear of the boat as Zhou Pu, Cao Zi Ang, and two others rode up on horseback from behind. The Dongyang ship was heavily loaded and had no dock, so it couldn't get close to the riverbank. As a result, Zhou Pu and the others didn't stop when they approached, but instead urged their horses on and jumped onto the deck of the Dongyang ship. Sun Jing Tang watched as the four horses soared into the air, jumping from the riverbank onto the deck of the ship, which was more than three zhang away from the shore. It wasn't difficult to jump such a distance on flat ground, but it was much harder to do so without stopping and while jumping from the riverbank onto the ship. The Dongyang ship was only about two zhang wide, and it was impressive that Zhou Pu and the others were able to jump their horses onto the ship without falling off. Zhou Pu was Lin Xie's personal attendant and was known for his excellent horsemanship, but Cao Zi Ang was a leader of the refugees who had been recommended as the new village head, and Sun Jing Tang hadn't seen him ride a horse in the past few days at the river mouth. He didn't know that Cao Zi Ang's horsemanship was also so impressive.

  Seeing Zhou Pu and Cao Zikang riding horses to chase, Sun Jing Tang subconsciously thought that something urgent had happened at the river mouth and needed to be reported to Lin Fu. He also felt a little nervous in his heart.

  Lin Xian knew that Zhou Pu and Cao Zi'ang were chasing after them on horseback, causing a big commotion. He saw Sun Jing Tang looking in their direction and smiled, saying: "It's really not letting people take it easy, even the smallest things at the river mouth have to be chased over to give me a headache..." Without saying anything to Sun Jing Tang, he went into the cabin with Zhou Pu and Cao Zi'ang to discuss matters.

  Sun Jing Tang did not suspect anything else, even if he was suspicious, what could he be suspicious of?

  *********************

  "We received the letter and had the boat take us to the north shore, where we temporarily sent someone to secretly bring back Xiao Jia Ye from Longjiang Shipyard to assist Jing Zhong. We rode fast horses on the way and met with Wu Qi at Wild Man's Ferry. Last night, at the Wild Man's Ferry tavern, we found out that one of them was Wu Shi Yi, the leader of the Rich Ridge Lake Water Fortress in Hongze Pu. The others were not all from the Rich Ridge Lake Water Fortress, and it is temporarily unclear what their identities are. I suspect that the various forces in Hongze Pu have already secretly united." Cao Zi Ang sat down to take a sip of tea, catching his breath, and then told Lin Bing about the information he had exchanged with Wu Qi. Lin Bing had a way to communicate with Wu Qi through simple signals using lanterns, and unless absolutely necessary, Wu Qi and his men could hide in secret and play a greater role.

  "I also suspected as much," Lin said, "which is why I sent an urgent message for you and Bao to come over and discuss it."

  "Fuling Lake is not even a hundred feet deep, and the thousand-ton ship is useless," said Cao Zikang. "If I were in his shoes, I would also make Qin Chengbo my prey. We already know how you handled things at Ye Ren Du, are you trying to muddy the waters?"

  "Can't you feel it?" Lin Xie sighed and said, "I'm worried that the situation here will become more dire, and the crisis in the world will be even harder to overcome..."

  Shiliang River and Hongze Creek, although not navigable by large ships, are quite convenient for Wupeng flat-bottomed boats with a load of 200 stones. They have always been one of the main waterways for north-south transportation, second only to the Baisha River system in Weiyang Prefecture. If Hongze Creek is disrupted, not only will the northern part of Jiangdong County, including Dongyang and Huai'an Prefectures, fall into chaos, but this waterway will be cut off, putting even more pressure on the grain transportation within Weiyang Prefecture. In those days, there was no Grand Canal system like Lin Bu's impression; instead, grain transportation relied on multiple waterways that converged at the mid-point of the Huitong River. The previous dynasty also did not build a large canal in Weiyang Prefecture (now Yangzhou).

  "Hongze Pu's forces must be eliminated. Although the fishermen have dispersed and the authorities are not currently pursuing the matter, with the precedent of the Qing bandits, wouldn't Hongze Pu's various factions fear that the authorities will settle old scores in the future? If Hongze Pu's factions have indeed secretly united as we suspect, it's like an arrow on the string, and they must be released. Whether we like it or not, Hongze Pu will certainly become chaotic, unless we can deploy half of the Jiangning Water Camp's warships and soldiers to stabilize the situation..." Cao Zi'ang said.

  Lin tied nodded, the Hong Ze Pu family's forces had secretly colluded with each other. Whoever quit would have the possibility of selling out another family to the authorities, and they were all tied to the warship. No one would allow others to quit, except for a way to walk into darkness, this kind of thing could not be stopped. Qin Cheng Bo was just their target, otherwise there would have been trouble when Chen Han San's troops entered Huai'an to catch thieves.

  Cao Zikang, Zhou Pu and others hated Chen Hansan and his followers to the bone, and also resented that the Hongze Pu family's power could not lead the fishermen and boat households to rise up and use their knives to eliminate Chen Hansan and his followers.

  The trend of the world is like this, and Lin Xie has no power to change it. As Cao Zi'ang said, in order to stabilize the situation in Hongze Lake, unless half of the warships from Jiangning Water Camp are deployed to intimidate Hongze Lake, this is only a temporary solution, and cannot thoroughly resolve the intensified contradictions between officials and civilians, let alone Li Zhuo has no right to deploy half of the warships from Jiangning Water Camp to stabilize the situation in Hongze Lake.

  "It's also impossible to control too much, Qin Chengbo has been in Jiangning for three years, and has taken countless people's money, no matter what, it's right to first lead the fish into Hongze Lake." Lin Fu said.

  In fact, the Qin family has nearly a thousand servants and four or five hundred elite warriors who will follow Qin Chengbei to leave Jiangning and head north. Even if Qin Chengbei heads north without relying on external support, unless the various forces of Hongze Pu unite, there really isn't any family or several families that have the ability to gnaw down this hard bone.

  Lin Xie showed off his military strength last night, firstly to make the small bandits retreat in despair. The Dongyang number has a hidden elite force, although not many in number, but Lin Xie is also not afraid of the single water village forces from Hongze Pu coming out to rob ships. Secondly, it was to test whether the various forces of Hongze Pu have united together.

  Qin Chengbo, in preparation for thieves, melted the silver he had collected over the years into large silver balls weighing one thousand taels each. It is said that there were either six or eight hundred of these balls, and countless other precious treasures and antiques. The amount of wealth Qin Chengbo will take with him when he leaves office to head north will be a staggering figure. If the various forces in Hongzepu, including the water village, fishermen, and boat households, were to join together and make Qin Chengbo their target, the more arrogant Lin Xianyue is on his journey, the safer he will be. Many signs have already indicated that the various forces in Hongzepu have secretly joined hands to launch a major operation.

  Besides, with the ability of Shen Rong, the governor of Dongyang, more than half of them have also sensed the strange phenomenon of Hongze Pu. If Shen Rong really believed that the fishing household disturbance in Hongze Pu had passed, after being transferred to Liu Xi Lin, why would he go to the trouble of secretly leaving a part of the elite troops of Dongyang Prefecture in Shiliang County?

  Lin Xuan suddenly realized a problem: would Shen Rong, who had long been aware of Hong Zepu's abnormality, also deliberately allow Qin Chengbo to resign and head north to Hong Zepu and return to his hometown in Zhong Lixian?

  *************

  P.S: Looking for red envelopes.

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