Against the current and upstream, the boat moved very slowly, and it wasn't until the next evening that they entered the borders of Tu Zhou Prefecture.

  It was during the flood season, entering the jurisdiction of Tu Zhou Prefecture, and the surface of the Yangzi River was again quite narrow, causing this section of the river to have a rapid current, with scattered floating objects such as withered grass, broken branches, and fallen leaves swirling along with the flow.

  Two corpses floated in from afar. It was nothing out of the ordinary, as since early morning, dozens of floating bodies had been seen drifting down from upstream. At this point, without needing Lin's explicit orders, the boatmen at the front of the ship took long bamboo poles to hook up the floating bodies and search for items that could be used to identify them, sending them back to the large ship.

  "It's a copper nameplate, the floating corpse also drifted from Qingyang, and he was still a Xiucai, with the surname Cui." Little Ge Storekeeper handed the tooth plate taken from the floating corpse to Lin Lian.

  The floating corpse had been pushed away by the boatmen with bamboo poles, following the current of the river. Lin Xulü was afraid of bad luck and leaned over to take a look, but did not retrieve the copper plaque.

  "This flood in Qiupu is not small." Lin Meng came over to take the copper plate and sighed, today in the river water encountered floating corpses were all drowned, and they all drifted from the counties south of Qiupu Prefecture.

  "Natural disasters and man-made calamities never cease." Lin Xie let out a soft sigh, telling someone to put away the copper plaque, it might come in handy someday.

  Generally speaking, when a flood occurs locally, the government will organize civilian ships to salvage floating corpses along the river. Lin and his party encountered dozens of floating corpses along the way, and it can be foreseen that the number of people drowned in the Autumn Pu flood is not small.

  In the previous dynasty, Jiangnan was divided into Jiangnan East and West prefectures. When Taizu established the country, most of the land between the Yangtze and Huai rivers was merged into Jiangnan East Prefecture, which was renamed Jiangdong Prefecture, while Jiangnan West Prefecture was renamed Jiangxi Prefecture. Qingyang County is located in the mountainous area west of Qiupu Prefecture, where Jiangdong and Jiangxi meet.

  Looking at the household registration of the floating corpses in the river, it is likely that the mountainous areas in the western part of Qiupu were hit by torrential rains and floods, and the mountainous areas in the eastern part of Jiangxi Prefecture may also have been flooded. However, the floodwaters in the mountainous areas of eastern Jiangxi Prefecture mainly flowed into Poyang Lake, so it would take several more days for them to flow downstream.

  Lin Xuan raised his eyes to look towards the riverbank, where several groups of horsemen were following the fleet at a distance, and there were also several black-sailed ships trailing behind, but it was unknown whether there were any hidden forces from the water strongholds in Poyang Lake, Jiangxi.

  "Should we anchor here for the night or continue on our journey?" asked Ge Cunxin, standing at the stern of the Dongyang ship.

  Lin Xie looked at the reeds in the north for a while and asked Lin Mengde beside him, "Is it here?"

  "Hmm." Lin Meng nodded in affirmation.

  "Then let's anchor for the night." Lin Mou ordered Ge Cunyong, who was following him, to inform all ships to prepare to dock.

  "Which bank to stop at?" Lin Xulü asked Lin Lian, he had seen many suspicious people on both banks along the way, in his opinion, they should continue sailing at night, so they could enter Yuxi River before noon tomorrow and return to Dongyang early, and this heart could rest early.

  "Let's moor on the north shore." Lin Xie ordered all the boats to head to the north shore, choose a place close to the shore to drop anchor and stop for the night.

  The Yangtze River makes a big turn here, forming a large beach and muddy shoal on the north bank. In winter and spring when the water is low, these beaches and muddy shoals are exposed above the water surface. At this flood season, all of these beaches and muddy shoals are submerged in water, growing into a large area of reeds.

  Lin Xulü gazed at the unusually lush reeds on the north shore of the river, and after the sunset sank into the distant mountains, the reeds in the dusk were dark and endless. Lin Xulü thought to himself: If there were dozens of pirate ships hiding among the reeds, they would not be able to detect them.

  As the sky grew darker, several bonfires were lit on the shore, and the horsemen who had been following all the way also dismounted to prepare for a night's stay on the shore. They knew that no one could be sent from the ship to drive them away, so they watched with impunity, like a pack of wolves stalking their prey, not knowing when to pounce and tear, but patiently waiting for an opportunity. On the other hand, several boats that had been following behind were afraid of a sudden attack on this side and did not dare to get too close, stopping far away.

  After a simple dinner, Lin Xuluo lay down on his bed for a while.

  Listening to the sound of the wind, the waves chasing each other, and the faint rustling of fine rain on the awning, I couldn't calm down and fall asleep. Getting up and putting on my boots, pushing open the cabin door, I found that most of the lights outside had gone out, with only a lone lamp under the awning still emitting a weak glow, barely illuminating the figure of the guard standing watch at the bow, where it seemed like many people were gathered.

  The dark and gloomy sky was a vast expanse, the rain fell into the river, shimmering with fragmented light. The reeds by the riverbank were also pitch black. The campfires on the riverbank had been extinguished by the rainwater, and it was unknown whether the riders who were keeping watch had changed places to take shelter from the rain.

  "Who's in charge of the lamp? How did all the lamps go out?" Lin Xulü saw two dark shadows approaching and thought they were the night watchmen, loudly scolding them, "How can you keep watch at night like this? What if pirate ships sneak up on us under the cover of darkness?"

  "Third Brother, it was I who had the lights extinguished." Lin Xie's voice came from out of the darkness.

  Lin Xulü felt a bit awkward, rubbed his nose, and was about to ask Lin Tie why he had extinguished all the lights when he heard a faint strange noise coming from deep within the reeds. He looked over cautiously, but it was pitch black in the depths of the reed thicket, and nothing could be seen, only the sound growing clearer.

  Enemy attack! Lin Xulü's mind was instantly occupied with this thought, and he quickly walked to the side of the ship, turning his head to ask Lin Fu: "Old Seventeen, did you hear any sound?"

  "There is a boat in the reeds..." Lin Xie said.

  Lin Xulü wanted to say something, only to find that the armed guards on this ship were all wearing rain cloaks and standing on the deck, thinking that Lin had already sensed the abnormality in the reed marsh and made arrangements. He took a deep breath, calmed down, and stared at the place where the sound came from.

  When Lin Xulü saw the six black awning boats emerging from the reeds, they were only about twenty steps away from the Dongyang. The first boat in front hung out an oil lamp. Although the light was dim, as they drew closer, Lin Xulü suddenly discovered a man in military uniform standing at the bow of the boat, his armor neat and tidy - it was Lin Jiyuan.

  "How could they hide in the reeds?" Lin Xulü asked in surprise.

  "It was I who had Ji Yuan and the others come," Lin Xie patted Lin Xu's shoulder, "We set out from Jiangning, there were several groups of people on the shore and in the river following us, the water route to Dongyang won't be quiet, everyone must be careful all the way; I'm afraid there will be more people watching the river mouth. Ji Yuan and the others have boarded the boat, we'll immediately head back to the river mouth, and then take the water route to Dongyang, from now on it's up to Ji Yuan to escort you."

  Lin Xulü's mind was a bit knotted, and for a moment he couldn't understand why Lin Xian had arranged things this way. He thought to himself: Could it be that he had known all along that someone would be hostile towards the river mouth, and had deliberately transferred Wu Wei away from the river mouth in order to lure the snake out of its hole? Was he now planning to lead Wu Wei back to launch a surprise counterattack?

  The rope ladder was lowered from the ship, Lin Jiyuan and Chen Shouyan led more than 200 local braves who had been taken to Dongyang as guards for Gu Wudun up the "Ji Yun Yi", Zhou Pu and Xiao Jiaoye Ge Cunxin led the Wu Wei down to the Wupeng boat along the rope ladder, the whole process was carried out under a weak copper oil lamp, in an orderly manner, without any chaos.

  "You and I are about the same build, put on this official robe so that those who are watching will think I'm still on the boat," Lin Xie handed Chen Shouyan the blue official robe he had changed out of earlier, then climbed down the rope ladder to the awninged boat below. "Once we've entered deep into the reeds, you immediately set sail and lead away all those who are watching from both the shore and the water."

  The waterway to Dongyang will not be peaceful from now on. Lin Mengde and Ge Cunxin, the Big Croaker, both stayed on the boat and did not follow Lin Xie back. After Lin Xie and his group changed boats to six black awning ships and hid deep in the reeds, Lin Mengde ordered the sails to be raised and set sail.

  ************

  "The boat moved, damn it, Lin Mou was really cunning, everyone thought they were going to anchor here for the night, but they suddenly wanted to get rid of us under the cover of darkness..."

  On the riverbank, under a simple canopy made of oiled cloth and several bamboo poles, two men crouched, staring at the reeds. Although the sky was dark, the water had a faint reflection, allowing them to vaguely see the shadowy outlines of ships like the Dongyang through the rain. The Dongyang set sail, and from the shore, one could make out the general situation.

  "Hurry, tell everyone to gather their horses and get ready to depart. We can't afford to lose anyone again." A man spat on the ground, rubbed his hands together, adjusted his sword, and ran off to untie his horse from a willow tree.

  Lin Jiyuan and his men were drifting downstream, on a boat with no mast, the cabin was full of people, and the top of the cabin was not higher than the green reeds in the water. Lin Xiehui would use this reed marsh to secretly cross Chen Cang, the scouts on the shore had not detected anything, let alone that they had never thought that Lin Jiyuan and Chen Shouyan had returned from the front line of Dongyang County several days ago, and last night they led the militia to hide in this reed marsh for a day and a night.

  The boats that followed behind were even farther away from the Ji Yun Society and Lin's fleet, and Lin had cleverly arranged for other boats to block their view from the outside, making it even more unclear whether Lin would make a move here. At this time, they saw the Ji Yun Society and Lin's fleet suddenly set sail, and they also hastily called up the sailors to follow the Ji Yun Society's fleet upstream.

  The boat sailed upstream, and this section of the river had no reefs or rocky outcrops. Although sailing against the current was slow and troublesome, it didn't require human labor. The fleet following behind was still manageable; the scouts on horseback along the shore were having a hard time due to the muddy roads after the rain, and traveling at night in the rain was truly torturous. However, this time they were more worried about losing the boat.

  Fortunately, at dawn when the sky was bright, both the Ji Yun Society and the Lin family's fleet appeared in sight. The soldiers on board were still dressed in their uniforms, with no other suspicious signs except for their sudden departure overnight. "Lin Fu" was still standing at the bow of the ship, wearing a green official robe and carrying a sword at his waist.