Chapter 9

  The enemy situation ahead is unclear, Lin Xie does not rush back to Chongzhou, nor does he go to Anji County to take refuge.

  In the afternoon, Lin Xian gave 200 selected refugees led by Yi Ningzi a long spear, a single knife, a wooden plaque and other weapons to make up for the shortage of personnel.

  Li Shuyi knew that the journey was treacherous, but even if Lin Xie didn't want to do it, he would still suggest that Lin Xie go and do it. He just found it strange that Lin Xie had so many weapons on the boat.

  More than 200 refugees who were selected on the Xi Sha Island and boarded the ship had some boxing skills, and when they got their hands on weapons, not only did they not tremble with fear, but they even showed some excitement. Along the way for over 20 days, Lin Xie intentionally trained them, and now he dispersed them among the more than 100 guards as auxiliary soldiers, which could effectively increase the defensive strength of the two ships.

  Before Wu Qi and others returned with further details of the enemy situation, a large fire broke out in the direction of Anji County at dusk.

  The twilight merged, the boat sailed on the lake, and the surrounding misty haze was vast. Suddenly, a huge fire broke out in Anji County, which had been lost for a moment. The sky's late clouds also seemed to be burning with anger. Lin Xie stood at the bow of the boat, gazing towards Anji County, where the eastern gate facing Meixi Lake had already been burned and destroyed, leaving only half of it intact. In the midst of the raging flames, one could vaguely see the county's residents rushing in and out of the city gate, but it was impossible to tell how many Donghai bandits had poured into the city to burn, kill, and loot.

  As the dusk deepened, the big fire burning in Anji County was even more dazzling. Lin was anxious and waiting, and the rapid boat he sent out brought Wu Qi and a wounded scout back on board.

  The pirates from the East Sea, who attacked Anji County today, poured in from the direction of Dazhen Creek this afternoon, with over a thousand people, all fully armed and divided among twelve pirate ships. The direction of Dazhen Creek should have had early warnings, but it is not clear what happened to Anji County. When the pirates abandoned their ships and rushed ashore to attack the east gate, the defenders were caught off guard and closed the gates in a hurry, but it was already too late. There were only over 200 archers and swordsmen inside the city, and after the East Sea pirates entered the city, they set fires everywhere.

  Wu Qi reported the situation within Anji County to Lin Xie, also mentioning the ambush this afternoon. "The ambush at Shu Family Stockade was not large, with about 200 people, half of whom were local soldiers, while the remaining 100 or so were external guest soldiers disguised as traveling merchants who entered the stockade in batches and had been hiding there for over a dozen days, waiting specifically for us to arrive. I have been in Anji County for two days now, but it wasn't until I led my troops into the forest that we discovered signs of the ambush. This afternoon, I sent someone to scout out the direction of Meicun Lake Mouth and found no signs of an ambush gathering, but in the directions of Xiaopu and Qucheng, we did find traces of people and horses passing through..."

  "Xiaopu, Zhiguang." Lin rubbed his chin with a brush-like stubble, pondering. Xiaopu and Zhiguang were the entrance to Taihu from Xixi Creek.

  "The ambush troops attacking Anji County and Shu Family Stockade seem to be on different routes, there is a possibility of deliberately setting up an suspicious formation. However, they want to block us from leaving Anji County, and also need to set up enough ambush troops," Ao Canghai frowned, he was very familiar with the situation in Xie's house, "The bandits are looting Anji County, the garrison troops of Huzhou Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture, as well as the local militia will all come out to respond, Ninghai Town Water Camp will also send warships into Lake Tai to intercept, it is simply impossible for them to leave enough time to set up a formation against us."

  "I'm worried that their main goal is to attack the Ninghai Town Navy!" Lin said, "The Donghai pirates are making a surprise attack on the coastal areas, and the Ninghai Town Navy is the only regular army that can intercept them. Weakening the Ninghai Town Navy would be extremely beneficial for the Donghai pirates..."

  Anji County is located in the southwest corner of Taihu Lake, and it is the most inland of the four prefectures along the lake. More than a thousand pirates from Pingjiang Prefecture or Jiaxing Prefecture quietly crossed the border, detouring for 400-500 miles to attack the insignificant Anji County Castle, which left people bewildered. If one were to say that this was targeted at them, it would be completely inexplicable. Lin Xian would rather believe that the Donghai pirates wanted to lure out some of the warships from Ninghai Town's naval forces and annihilate them in Taihu Lake.

  "What should we do? Go to Taihu?" Ao Canghai asked, if the East Sea pirates' goal was to lure and annihilate the Ninghai Town Water Camp warships, they should have retreated into Taihu to observe the situation before the Ninghai Town Water Camp warships arrived to block their escape route, or directly turned back to Chongzhou.

  "There are still many doubts that make one think deeply......" Lin Yue shook his head, not deciding to withdraw to Taihu immediately. He looked up at the Anji County city which was being engulfed by the big fire, and then looked towards the direction of Shu Family Village where they had ambushed at noon. After a moment, he instructed Wu Qi, "You go ashore again, don't worry about the ambush troops in Shu Family Village, keep an eye on the movements of the Donghai pirates who are attacking Anji County city..."

  *********

  Qin Zitan stood under the ancient willow on the riverbank, the large fire that had engulfed Anji County illuminated a corner of Meicun Lake, making it crystal clear. Her piercing and divine eyes scanned the night sky shrouding Meicun Lake, wanting to find some clues from within. However, the dense and cloudy night sky obscured the two thousand-stone ships that Lin Xuan was on, leaving no trace.

  Shu Qingqiu, standing behind Qin Zitan, was the master of Shu Family Water Fortress. He had a mustache and a wide face with big eyes. There was a very shallow scar on his left cheek, which was mostly covered by his whiskers. If others didn't look closely, they wouldn't notice it.

  Shu Qingqiu had been a merchant sailor in his early years, traveling between Jin'an and Huzhou. Although he was called a merchant sailor, in reality he was both a merchant and a pirate, and the scars on his face were left from his days as a pirate.

  After Shi Jia's rebellion in Jin'an, Shu Qingqiu was bought by Shi Jia and returned to Anji County, waiting for Shi Jia's large army to attack, so that he could respond in Anji. Who would have thought that Shi Jia's large army was suppressed by the Confucian general Li Zhuo and never broke out of Dongming, so he remained dormant. It wasn't until Du Rong secretly came to Jiangdong Prefecture to organize Qingfeng Gang that Shu's family became the secret force of Qingfeng Gang in Huzhou.

  This time, the ambush on Lin Xie didn't work out, and the Shu family was exposed. Shu Qingqiu didn't think it was a big deal; rather than not knowing when to make a move, he'd rather openly join forces with the Xiao family for a final showdown.

  "No signs of him approaching Anji County were found..." Du Rong led the horse over, under the lamplight, the horse's back was covered in glittering sweat, apparently Du Rong had rushed over on horseback from elsewhere to meet with Qin Zitan.

  "He went to Taihu to prepare for the famine and rescued people on Xiasha Island, with a very strong sense of purpose. It's absolutely impossible that he would rashly land ashore to rescue the people of Anji County from the flood," Qin Zitan furrowed her brow in contemplation, "I just can't figure out why he is targeting the Xiao family so specifically."

  "I think he has long understood that the Baisha County robbery case was secretly manipulated by Young Master Shao..." Du Rong said.

  "A ruthless character, able to laugh off the hatred of killing his father and wife. Can Lin Xie be trapped in such a trivial and insignificant grudge? Qin Zitan shook her head slightly, 'If that's really the case, then he would be easy to deal with.'"

  Du Rong thought that if someone had ambition, they shouldn't be entangled in such trivial grudges. Neither Lin Xie nor Su Mei, master and servant, had suffered any substantial harm, and even Fu Qinghe had returned to Jiangning. What's more, both the young lady and the miss were now in his hands. What grievances could he have? Was there anything that couldn't be vented at the time?

  Du Rong still can't figure out how Lin Xie, Su Mei and Fu Qinghe managed to escape at that time.

  "If the young master could follow your plan, and not hesitate to kill Lin Xie at Meicun Lake first, then we wouldn't have to worry about these things anymore." Du Rong said.

  "The young master has his considerations," Qin Zitan also felt that letting Lin Mou go was a pity, but he knew that things had their own priorities and urgencies. Moreover, they were the second young master's people, and it would be strange if Xue Fei didn't fully adopt their suggestions without any reservations. He said, "The East Sea pirates are gathering in Changguo County in the form of a thirteen-family alliance. The young master can only directly control three families from behind the scenes. After the stormy season passes, if we can effectively strike at the Ninghai Town naval forces' living strength, it will be greatly beneficial for the young master to integrate the thirteen families' powers and will also make other pirate forces more reckless in joining us. In the past decade, the Xue family has been unable to leave Dongming due to geographical constraints, which is a natural shortcoming. If we can stand firm on the islands of Changguo County, we can sit back and observe the chaos in the world without missing the opportunity to seize power."

  Du Rong nodded, having to admit that Qin Zitan's analysis was very reasonable. However, as the subordinates of the second prince, they couldn't help but consider things from his perspective first. Although the eldest prince had been granted the title of Jin'an Hou Shizi by the imperial court due to his status as the eldest son, they didn't think that he would necessarily inherit the Jin'an estate in the future. They not only wanted to stir up trouble in the eastern and southern provinces, draining the imperial court's strength, but also wanted to help the second prince grasp a powerful military force.

  It was originally a good opportunity to win over the Taihu Water Village forces, but Lin Xuan gave them a chance to whitewash under the pretext of raising grain, resulting in far fewer people being won over than expected; The storm on Xi Sha Island and the abandonment of 200,000 refugees by local authorities were also a great opportunity for the Second Master, yet he couldn't understand how Lin Xuan managed to seize it again.

  Du Rong had a premonition that Lin Xie was such a thorny figure and would likely continue to be their stumbling block.

  Du Rong thought for a moment and said, "The young master has his own considerations, besides, the young master's affairs don't need our help. We can still rush to Taihu Lake and have a chance to kill Lin Xie."

  Qin Zitan still had a hint of hesitation, looked up at the vast night sky, except for the faint glimmer of water light, nothing could be seen, thinking that Lin Xie saw Anji County being attacked, should have retreated to Taihu.

  Although Lin Xie stabilized most of the Taihu Lake strongholds under the pretext of rationing, those Taihu thieves who were bought by Qu's family to participate in the raid on the river mouth had no other choice. Qin Zitan stepped forward to represent the Xiao family and recruit them, and these Taihu thieves chose to surrender without much hesitation. In the Xishan Island stronghold in the eastern part of Taihu Lake, more than 800 Taihu thieves secretly gathered.

  The battle at the river mouth showed that the unorganized Taohu bandits were not much stronger than a mob, and besides, there were Ninghai Town's naval ships patrolling on Lake Tai, so Qin Zitan did not plan to set up an ambush to rob him on his way to Anji County.

  At this time, Ninghai Town's naval warships had Da Gongzi's men going to deal with them. Qin Zitan thought that by adding the more than 100 elite troops at his side to the more than 100 village soldiers from Shu Family Village and the more than 800 Taihu thieves on Xishan Island, they could join forces on Lake Tai and find an opportunity to kill Lin Lian. Indeed, there was a great deal of confidence in this plan.

  After a moment, Qin Zitan nodded and said: "This heart disease is still better to get rid of first..."

  Shu Qingqiu said: "I'll go and arrange it right away."

  There was nothing good to arrange, Shu Qingqiu left behind more than 100 bandits to escort his family and the accumulated wealth of many years to follow Donghai Kou and withdraw to the islands of Shengshan. He and his two grown sons took more than 100 elite bandits and followed Qin Zitan and Du Rong on three large winged ships to Taihu Lake.