The news of the auxiliary general Qin Chengbo being hijacked and killed in Hongze Pu, and the water camp in Hongze Pu raising the flag to rebel, shocked both sides of the Shiliang River, and the refugees stranded on both sides of the Shiliang River immediately became restless.

  Dongyang's fleet withdrew from Shanglin Du without a fight, but on the way to Yeren Du, they encountered five groups of bandits who robbed their ships.

  When they went to Shanglin, it was a south wind, and the sailboat sailed quickly; when going south, there was sometimes a north wind, and when there was wind, they sailed with the wind, but when there was no wind or headwind, they could only row and punt, and the boat slowed down a lot. In addition, there were continuous bandits on both sides of the river, and Lin and his party took their boat to Ye Ren Du until the next day at noon.

  The bandits were not well-organized, and their weapons were crude. Some people even risked their lives to swim across the river to steal boats. It was easy to drive these bandits away, but Lin Xie gazed out at the rippling waters of the Shiliang River with a worried expression. Although not every refugee on both banks of the river dared to take risks, they had been stirred up by the Hongze Pu incident and seemed to be hiding a fire in their eyes as they gathered on the riverbank, making it a critical moment that could erupt at any time.

  In the past few months, local governments such as Jiangning Prefecture and Pingjiang Prefecture have blocked river crossings to prevent refugees from entering their territories, leaving tens of thousands of refugees stranded north of Chao Tian Tang. These refugees had fled their homes to escape official persecution, famine, or simply to earn a living, but were unable to find work or land to farm in the area. As a result, some of them turned to banditry, exacerbating tensions between local residents and refugees.

  The officials of Jiangdong Prefecture have been struggling in the officialdom for dozens of years, and they are all masters of intrigue and calculation. However, they all turned a blind eye to the huge and extremely dangerous powder keg on the north shore of Chao Tian Tang. The three departments of Jiangdong Prefecture and the various government offices of Jiangning Prefecture have discussed the issue of resettling the refugees on the north shore several times, but each time it was shelved due to various excuses, watching the refugees starve to death in the wild and pile up corpses by the roadside. I wonder what decisions these officials can make in this critical situation!

  The boat is near the shore, people are crossing.

  Last time I passed through the ferry at night after the rain, there were wine houses, inns, tax offices and sentry posts at the crossing. The surrounding area was filled with huts where refugees lived. Although they looked shabby, it was a relatively prosperous ferry terminal in the southern part of Shiliang County. Every day, boats came and went continuously, and there were also horse-drawn carriages heading east to Weiyang Prefecture. Countless refugees lingered here begging for food and doing odd jobs.

  At this moment, as the dusk deepened in all directions, countless black smoke columns rose into the sky above the ferry crossing, merging with the heavens. Not only were the wine houses, inns, and tax offices reduced to rubble, but even the surrounding refugees' huts had been burned to ashes. On the dock, several soldiers' corpses and those of low-ranking officials lay scattered about, along with a naked female corpse with white flowers, who had been raped and murdered. Several ferries had also been set ablaze and were half-submerged near the shore.

  The large number of refugees who had been stranded in the wild before had gone to unknown places, and only a few people were rummaging through the ruins for valuable items. Seeing the Dongyang ships approaching, they glanced at this side of the river and fled towards the forest on the east bank.

  After the Dongyang ship withdrew from Shanglindu at noon, it did not linger on the way. Along the way, many ferry crossings and villages were looted and burned by the bandits. Lin Xie speculated that someone had deliberately spread the news of Liu An'er gathering crowds in Hongzepu quickly, thinking that these water village leaders were indeed meticulous and interconnected.

  They had originally wanted to make a brief stop at Wild Man's Ford, but seeing the situation there, this idea could only be abandoned. Lin Xie let Da Yu Ye Ge Cun Xin signal to other boats, and under the bright moonlight, they continued their journey, determined to return to the south bank of Chau Tin Tong and finally take a breather.

  "Further south would be the territory of Jiangning Prefecture. The banner of Qin Er Gongzi has been prepared, should it be hung up now?" asked Cao Zikang.

  "Hang up." Lin Xie said.

  It is not known whether the warships of Jiangning Shuiying had been deployed, to avoid sudden encounters and misunderstandings, Lin Tie ordered his men to raise the banner "Zhao Wu Jiao Wei Qin" above his own banner "Jiangdong Ancha Shi Si Jin Chuan Si Yu Lin".

  Lin Mengde, Zhou Pu, Ge Cunxin and Zhao Hu looked up at the "Zhuo Wu School Lieutenant Qin" flag that was unfolded in the wind on the main mast, and they exchanged a knowing glance with each other.

  Qin Chengbo's eldest son died young, and his second son Qin Shizong entered the military through connections and served in his father Qin Chengbo's command. At a young age, he was already a fifth-rank officer, serving as the Zhao Wu lieutenant. When Qin Chengbo died at Luo Yang Lake, the Dongyang fleet retreated, rescuing Qin Shizong and over 100 other members of the Qin family. The Qin family on board should have taken Qin Shizong as their leader, but this young master, who had not suffered a single injury despite being a big and strong man, fell into a coma due to shock and high fever from dawn till now. Lin had prepared medicine for external injuries on the ship, but could not administer treatment to Qin Shizong's condition, so they could only hurry to Jiangning to seek medical attention, leaving the Qin family in a state of panic.

  "Master Lin," a maid in green clothes came out of the cabin and shouted to Lin, "Master Lin, my mistress asked you why you haven't docked yet to take a rest. It's almost suffocating in the cabin."

  Considering Gu Yingruo, Lin Tingxuan this half-dead man has five wives all on this boat, Lin Xian for a moment couldn't recognize which wife's maid this girl was, waved his hand and said: "Still need to wait a while..."

  Dongyang has only two layers of cabins on the stern deck that can accommodate people, with bright windows. The thirteen cabins below the deck are all watertight cargo holds with poor ventilation conditions, dark and fire-free, making it uncomfortable for people to live inside.

  There were only a limited number of cabins in the stern, which was originally designed for 16 crew members. At most, it could squeeze in 30 or 40 people. Lin Mou cleared out all the cabins to accommodate the wounded and those taking care of them. He, along with Cao Zi'ang, Zhou Pu, Lin Mengde, Zhao Hu, and other armored soldiers and local militiamen, were exhausted and simply rested on the deck. Whether it was the Qin family or the Lin family, they were all driven down to sit in the cargo hold.

  At first, these people still ran to the deck to breathe, but all the way they encountered five consecutive pirate robberies. They were not willing to come out even if Lin was tied up and driven away. It was unbearable to be locked in the cargo hold for a long time.

  That maid was somewhat afraid of Lin Xie, looking at his gloomy face, hesitantly said: "My mistress said..."

  "Zi Ling, what did the third madam say?" Gu Ying Xiu emerged from the cabin, she couldn't be too intimate with Lin Fu in front of outsiders, most of the time she was also locked in a lower cabin room with other women, now came to the deck to get some fresh air.

  "Can't we clear out a cabin at the back? Those who are injured can be placed there, it's not right for the servants to enjoy themselves while the masters suffer." Ziliang servant girl looked at Madame Qi coming over and plucked up some courage, speaking fluently.

  "What nonsense is this? If you're not comfortable living in the lower cabin, get off and go to Jiangning!" Lin Xie scolded mercilessly. Seeing that the maid was on the verge of tears, he felt annoyed and scolded again, "Get out!"

  Who would have thought that the dignified Lin Xiūcái would utter such ill-mannered words, causing Zǐ Líng's face to turn deathly pale, not daring to breathe a word, wanting to cry but not daring to cry, and slinking away dejectedly from the cabin.

  "Third Mistress is used to a life of luxury and has never suffered like this, don't be angry about it," Gu Yingru saw Lin Xie getting worked up over this matter and came over to advise him, "She usually treats the servants quite well."

  "I think she's gone mad, without us lowly servants fighting desperately in front, how could they escape from Shanglin unscathed?" Lin Xie asked sternly with a furrowed brow.

  Although Lin Mengde also had the view of master and servant, he knew what was important and urgent. At this time, he felt that San Furen's request was a bit excessive, but Lin Xie's reprimand was also too harsh. He thought to himself: Regardless of whether Lin Xie's words were sincere or not, the surrounding militia and guards must have been warmed by them. He also saw that the surrounding militia and guards had tightened their grip on their weapons and puffed out their chests.

  Lin Meng thought that some people were probably born to make others surrender, just like Lin Xuan's words earlier. They were simple and anyone could learn to say them, but how many people could say them with such a strong and natural tone as Lin Xuan? It made others feel that it was worth risking their lives for him at this moment.

  Lin Xie is not just talking, after withdrawing from Shanglinli, Lin Xie did not perfunctorily visit the Qin family or the Lin family, but instead sincerely inquired about the well-being of the local militia, Wu Wei and ordinary civilians who fled to Jiangning by boat; when traveling by boat, he also ignored the danger of falling into the water and personally ran to the fast sculling boat to inspect the defenses, and personally delivered food and water to the local militiamen on board.

  On the boat, no one was better at treating gunshot wounds than Lin Xie. When the situation eased slightly, Lin Xie let others take turns resting, but he himself did not refuse to work hard to stop bleeding and apply medicine for the wounded militiamen.

  Lin tied up his fatigue and just sat on the deck with his clothes, leaning against the ship's side, closing his eyes for a rest.

  Lin Meng thought that this trip was a hasty retreat, and they were constantly harassed by the bandits along the way. However, everyone's morale was not bad, which had something to do with Lin Fu's careful arrangements. Especially when they arrived at Shanglin Ferry, the enemy ships swarmed in like ants, but Lin Fu calmly led six ships to confront them at the mouth of the river for half a day. Meanwhile, the Western River grain boats received refugees along the stone bridge riverbank, many of whom were family members of the local militia. In the end, Lin Fu was able to lead everyone to safety, leaving a deep impression on everyone.

  From last winter, Lin Xie came to Jiangning, and Lin Mengde had been in contact with him. From the great disturbance at the feudal mansion to Lin Xie's self-establishment in Jiangning, from the Flowing People's tragic case to the East City incident, and then to these Luoyang Lake water battles, withdrawing from Shanglinli, the talents displayed by Lin Xie made Lin Mengde feel far inferior.

  Especially the Liangmen Tragedy, if it were someone else, most of the first batch of refugees recruited would be in a state of panic after the tragedy occurred. Lin Xie was able to turn the tragedy into a key opportunity for the rapid increase in cohesion among the river mouth refugees.

  This seems to have gone beyond the category of talent or ability, and it would be more accurate for Lin Mengde to make a correct judgment, or it would be more appropriate to say that Lin Xiangru is a born general.

  Gu Ying thought that the third madam's request was indeed a bit excessive at this time, and she advised Lin Xian: "I'll go talk to her, the old master is missing, the second master and the big young master are not here, the second young master died in a foreign land, this family still needs the third madam to take charge, if they harbor resentment in their hearts, I'm afraid they will suspect you of trying to seize the family property."

  Lin Xian let out a soft sigh, this boat was loaded with the Lin family's gold and silver wealth, worth about 160,000 taels of silver. However, since Lin Tingli might be appointed as the Magistrate of Dongyang Prefecture, and his eldest son Lin Xuwen held the position of Langzhong in the Ministry of Works in Yanjing, he couldn't possibly put this large sum of money under the name of Jiyun Society.

  Lin tied up lightly and said to Yingxiu, "You go sing the red face. And after arriving in Jiangning, they want to settle down where, you also discuss first, this road does not stop, tomorrow evening can arrive in Jiangning."

  Gu Ying nodded slightly, taking the nearly dead Lin Tingxun and the other ladies to Jiangning to escape the disaster. She couldn't live alone in the Gu house or elsewhere, besides, the Lin family had over a hundred people, and there was no one else on this side of Jiangning to take charge. This household needed her and Lin Mengde to manage it, but even more so, she had to avoid suspicion with Lin Xian. All these thoughts were buried in her heart for now.