The Dongyang ship was surrounded by seven or eight pirate ships, and Lin Xie stood on the deck, seeing that each pirate ship had ten to twenty people standing on it, all bare-chested and biting their knives, making gestures as if they wanted to climb aboard. The bow of the ship also had people throwing ropes with hooks to try to hook onto the Dongyang ship. The ballast stones loaded on ordinary sea ships were large blocks of long strip stone, each weighing over a thousand catties, but the Dongyang ship this time carried ballast stones that were only twenty or thirty catties in weight, specifically prepared for use as falling rocks in naval battles. Two to three hundred such stones were moved up and neatly stacked on the deck. Although the Dongyang ship was high and large, throwing these stones down would not only smash people's brains but might also create a big hole in the bottom of the pirate ships. However, Lin Xie wanted to avoid attracting more pirate ships to surround the Dongyang ship, so he didn't want to show off too much. He ordered his men to use axes to cut off the hooks thrown by the pirate ships and to use long bamboo poles with iron nails at the end to poke at the pirate ships, preventing them from getting close. He also ordered his men to raise half of the wind sail to take advantage of the wind power to swing the ship's body to the right, using its height and size to capsize two pirate ships and sweep thirty or forty people into the water. The pirates who fell into the water were not shot at but allowed to escape, only prevented from climbing back onto the ship.
The lake bandits had few bows and arrows, with only eight or nine hunting bows on seven or eight boats. The arrows came flying over sporadically. The Dongyang ship's cabin side panels were originally high, and the militia used wooden plaques to block them. The lake bandits recklessly fired all their arrows, but only two militiamen were accidentally hit, one in the arm and the other in the calf.
The small boat saw that the big ship was hard to control, so it took a bunch of oil-soaked grass and set it on fire, throwing it onto the ship. Then, it took a clay pot filled with oil and smashed it over. The oil floated up to the deck and flowed everywhere, burning fiercely and scaring everyone. The militiamen were all flustered and wanted to grab buckets to pour water and put out the fire. Lin Xie ordered Zhao Qing-shan, Lin Ji-yuan, and Chen Shou-yan to restrain the militiamen and prevent the enemy from boarding the ship. This kind of fire was just intimidating at first glance; the deck had been covered with wet cowhide, which would not be easily burned through. Moreover, water could not extinguish oil fires, and pouring water on it would only cause the oil to float on the surface and spread everywhere, making it harder to control. Soldiers who had experience in naval battles knew that they needed to use fine sand and wet cotton to smother the fire. Zhao Qing-shan and others watched as more than a dozen sailors from the Dongyang quickly put out the big fire in an orderly manner, feeling ashamed. Lin Meng-de was also someone who had seen the world, but he had never encountered such a large-scale naval battle before, and his heart was racing with fear until he finally calmed down a bit.
At this time, the lake bandits brought over a slightly larger boat, and saw several strong men standing on the bow deck, holding long bags like cloth sacks, with one end heavy with things. Those people swung the long bags forcefully over their heads, and after two circles, they let go of the bags and flew them over. The bags were filled with sharp-edged stones, and this side was unguarded, seeing things flying over, still using wooden boards to block, some people couldn't withstand the great force, and instantly two or three people's arms were broken, and holes appeared in the wooden wall along the ship's hull, and then saw that boat again poured out more than a dozen people holding short bamboo spears in their hands, throwing them at the holes, while several stone bags flew over, and immediately several people who failed to dodge were hit by bamboo spears and stones, with blood and flesh blurred.
On the other side, Zhao Qing-shan was in charge. He could no longer hold back his temper and ordered the wounded to be taken to the cabin for treatment. He concentrated all thirty bows in his hands and shot them at the pirate ship. Lin Xie also ordered the Dongyang ship to collide with the pirate ship. The front of the Dongyang ship's hull was still equipped with a collision bar with sharp spikes, which looked slow but hit the pirate ship in the middle, and the sound of the opponent's shipboard cracking could be clearly heard. After a wave went away, the pirate ship, which was less than one-tenth of the capacity of the Dongyang ship and was considered a large ship in Hongze Pu, was pressed down by the Dongyang ship's hull and capsized. On this side, there was no room for mercy. Under the light of the fire, people were seen underwater, and long bamboo poles with iron nails were used to fiercely poke them. The nearby water surface was immediately stained red with blood.
Although the lake thieves didn't have any large ships that could compare to the Dongyang number, they did have several sturdy ships covered in thick cowhide, with openings on both sides for oars and arrow holes on all four sides, making them suitable for naval battles. These were the elite troops secretly accumulated by the water stronghold over the years, and this time no one would hold back. However, their goal was not to capture Qin Chengbo, but to leave his ships stranded in Luo Yang Lake. As long as they could trap the Qin family's fleet in Luo Yang Lake, even if the Dongyang number wanted to build a hundred more ships, it wouldn't be a problem. The main force of the water stronghold would focus on pinning down the Qin family's fleet, and while they were engaged in battle, they wouldn't have any spare energy to deal with the Dongyang number. Those small ships saw that the Dongyang number was too powerful and its defenses too tight, so they couldn't climb aboard and could only engage in ship-to-ship combat on the water surface, which put them at a great disadvantage. At this point, they could only disperse and keep their distance, preventing the Dongyang number from passing through to rescue the Qin family's ships.
Lin Xiang stood on the deck, observing the situation on the lake. Although Qin's ship was surrounded, it relied on its sturdy hull to resist the pirates' boarding while slowly moving southward, attempting to retreat back into the Shiliang River and escape.
On several of the fast sculling boats, among the hundreds of scullers temporarily hired from Linli, there were indeed water bandits' spies. In the narrow and crowded fast sculling boats, three or five spies would grab weapons and kill indiscriminately before jumping into the water to escape, causing chaos on the boat. Moreover, the other scullers could not be trusted and were all thrown overboard.
The two fast sculling boats carrying the local braves were slightly better off, only throwing the unfamiliar outsiders overboard while keeping the familiar locals on board to row and steer. The other four fast sculling boats had the Dongyang infantry throw all the scullers overboard, but without scullers, the ships could not move. The Dongyang infantry themselves took over the oars, but rowing required coordination, and hastily assigning inexperienced people to row only resulted in the ship spinning around in circles on the water.
The water bandits' ships seized this opportunity, with several boats combining forces to strike the fast sculling boat from one side. In an instant, two fast sculling warships were capsized, and over a hundred Dongyang infantrymen fell into the water, only to be slaughtered at will. Seven or eight fish-shaped boats could be seen darting back and forth in that area of water, with long guns and sharp spears constantly stabbing downward, causing gruesome casualties that were unbearable to behold.
There were still many fallen rowers in the lake, and although there were some thieves among them, the vast majority were laborers who made a living at Shanglin Ferry. The local people could not help but rescue them, so Lin Xian ordered the Dongyang to sail to that area of the lake immediately, and Zhao Qingshan also sent someone to shout loudly for the rowers to swim over.
The boatmen, who were more skilled in the water than the infantry, were all bare-chested and lightly dressed as they rowed. They swam nimbly in the water, hearing the sound of the rescue ship approaching from this side, and swam with all their might to come over. The rebel ships did not bother these laborers too much, only intercepting and killing government soldiers on the lake, allowing the boatmen to swim towards the Dongyang ship. The Dongyang ship dropped down a rope ladder, while shouting loudly for the fallen boatmen to report their hometowns, and rescued people at the same time. Many of the local militiamen on board were also from nearby villages in Shanglin, making it difficult for the rebels to sneak onto the ship. In an instant, they had rescued dozens of people onto the ship, including more than a dozen officials who had fallen into the water earlier. These officials had coldly watched Lin Xue being humiliated by Qin Chengbo at Shanglintou Wharf, feeling only satisfaction in their hearts at that time. Now, seeing Lin Xue rescue them, they regarded him as a reborn father and mother, wiping away tears and snot. At this point, there were only about 40 or 50 officials from the two ships of Dongyang who had survived. They didn't even bother to go and rescue Qin Chengbo, crying out for Lin Xue to let the ship escape southward to seek reinforcements in Shiliang County.
"Come on, send the masters and village elders to rest in their cabins, don't let anyone disturb them..." Lin ordered.
"Director Lin, how did the lake bandits suddenly go berserk?" Shi Liang County instructor Lu Dongyang didn't even care about his wet clothes being out of place, after falling into the water and escaping onto the Dongyang boat. He felt like he was reborn, calmer than the others as he boarded the ship, staring at the chaotic scene in the lake where the bandits were killing each other, also unclear how the sky had suddenly turned upside down.
Hongze Pu has 48 shallow lakes connected, with mountains on the west side, known as "poor mountains and evil waters". The fishermen and boat households in Hongze Pu formed a self-defense force to resist extortion and theft, and built strongholds in strategic locations, forming the water stronghold of Hongze Pu, which has a history of over 100 years. These forces usually have a much weaker degree of resistance against the government compared to real bandits or vagrants, but are widely present in the Huai River basin. The government also turns a blind eye to the existence of these water strongholds and does not treat them as rebels. It was only last year that Hongze Pu's drastic increase in fishing taxes and levies severely threatened the livelihoods of fishermen and boat households, leading to a months-long anti-taxation movement that made these water strongholds more organized.
As for Lu Dongyang's doubts, Lin Xie also had no answer. These officials who were sitting on the deck in a mess, like dogs in mourning, should have been less exploitative of the fishermen in their daily lives, how did things get to this point? They only knew that these weak and vulnerable people were easy to bully, and they hated not being able to exploit them to the bone, leaving no room for maneuver. When the contradictions became irreconcilable, they were puzzled and perplexed.
"Get Lord Lu a clean set of clothes..." Lin Fu said.
"No, give me a knife and I can also help you kill thieves and enemies." Lu Dongyang said.
Lin Xian saw that Lu Dongyang had more backbone than the other officials, so he had someone bring him a set of clothes to change into, put on a leather armor, and handed him a waist knife. He stood on the deck with Lin Xian to observe the enemy situation together.
At this moment, the Dongyang infantry who fell into the water were also killed by the lake bandits. There were four fast sculling boats, each carrying 120 local militiamen and 150 infantrymen. Due to the lack of rowers on the infantry boat, Lin Zonghai did not dare to drive the fast sculling boat to pierce through the enemy in the lake, so he stopped with the infantry boat in the middle of the lake to defend against the enemy. Once the fast sculling boats lost their mobility, they immediately fell into a passive state. The lake bandits who had just hit the Dongyang ship with stones earlier threw over ten bags of angular stones wrapped in cloth, causing heavy casualties on the four fast sculling boats.
After all, on those four fast sculling boats, apart from the Dongyang infantry, there were more than a hundred local militiamen who were also sons of this village. Even if Lin Tie could bear not to rescue them, Zhao Qingshan, Lin Jiyuan, Chen Shouyan and others would not sit idly by and let the lake bandits slaughter them all. Lin Tie ordered the Dongyang ship to charge forward horizontally, driving away the water camp ships on the right side of the fast sculling boats, reducing their pressure, while shouting orders for Lin Zonghai to lead the fast sculling boats to patrol nearby, waiting for the Qin family's fleet to rush out and merge, not to rescue rashly.
Lin Zonghai had just thought of going to Liqi, but at this time he saw the lake thieves emerging one after another. He stood on the bow of the fast boat, looking out, but couldn't see very far, and wasn't clear how many lake thieves were gathered in Luo Yang Lake. Without Lin Xuan saying anything, he didn't dare to rashly go to the center of the lake to rescue the Qin family's ship team.
Lin Zonghai was to board the Dongyang, shouting for Lin Tie to throw over a rope ladder. Firstly, the Dongyang was a sturdy and large ship, and there were no nearby water bandit ships that could match it, so boarding the Dongyang would temporarily ensure safety. Secondly, once he boarded the Dongyang, he could more conveniently command the 300 village braves in battle.
Lin tied the pig oil to his heart, only then would he let Lin Zonghai board the ship. He said loudly: "Uncle Zonghai drives the boat to resist the enemy and charge into battle, I'll be here to beat the drum for Uncle Zonghai and protect his rear... Uncle Zonghai doesn't need to worry about this side..."
Lin Zonghai thought that Lin Xiang had just arrived to rescue them, and it was already a matter of hometown and kinship, so he no longer hoped to be able to command the entire situation on the Dongyang ship. With the Dongyang ship as cover, Lin Zonghai led over 100 militia members in operating two fast sculling ships, and didn't have to worry about being surrounded by the water bandits' ships. The counterattack was even more fierce, after all, the militia's ships, equipment, and personnel training were far superior to these water bandit mobs. Those two Dongyang prefecture cavalry ships saw that they had a large ship protecting them, and were no longer in a panic. They sent over several long bamboo poles, and poling was always simpler than rowing. They didn't have to be trapped in the middle of the lake anymore, but those scullers rescued by the Dongyang ship were unwilling to go back to controlling the ships for them.
Qin Chengbo's fleet sailed through a fierce battle and finally moved to the south bank of Luoyang Lake.
The Qin family's defensive forces were mainly concentrated on the tower ships, which could carry over 400 people, including 300 elite warriors. When encountering enemies, nearly 200 more people would be transferred to the tower ship for defense. In contrast, the defensive strength of other ships was much weaker, with fewer than 20 guards assigned to each ship. The escort fleet from Dongyang Prefecture was also cut off at the outer perimeter, and the tower ship retreated to Nanmenzi. The Qin family's other ships all fell into chaos. To prevent the lake pirates from using these large ships to attack the tower ship, the people on board set fire to the ships when they abandoned them, and the flames illuminated the sky, making the small Luo Yang Lake shine brightly.
The main warship of the Shuizhai is naturally holding onto the Lou ship, and everyone would think that Qin Chengbo would hide most of his gold, silver, and treasures on the Lou ship. Moreover, Shen Rong, Lin Tingli, Liang Zuoren, and other high-ranking officials from Dongyang Prefecture and Shiliang County are all accompanying Qin Chengbo on the Lou ship. If they can be intercepted and killed, Dongyang Prefecture will have no one to organize an effective counterattack in a short period of time, which is also very important for the water bandits of Hongzepu to gain enough preparation time.
Although there are tens of thousands of fishermen living around Hongze Lake, only more than 3,000 people who have been organized in advance, undergone simple training, and equipped with weapons can be deployed to fight on the water. Except for the 500 or 600 people sent to secretly block the rear route at Shiliang River, they are all out this time on Luoyang Lake. The Lou ship has not yet descended, and the main force of the Qin family is still unscathed. There are more than 400 elite troops on the Lou ship and two Qin ships, and nearly 500 combatants escorting the Dongyang ship fleet. In particular, the Lou ship and the Dongyang fast-sailing ship have too great an advantage on Luoyang Lake, so the water stronghold forces dare not be careless and mobilize all available forces and large ships to come over, leaving the Qin family ships that were captured and set on fire to be handled by reserve personnel. These reserve personnel are temporarily organized fishermen who have not undergone any training and only knew about the gathering at Luoyang Lake before the event started. However, it should not be difficult for them to transfer the goods and treasures that Qin Chengbo wanted to take to Yanjing from the burned ships. Cao Zikang and Ge Cunxin led their men to mix in with these ships and wait for opportunities to fish in troubled waters.
