(Tonight there are still two chapters, this is the second chapter, seeking red tickets!)

  The big fire in Ji'an County town burned for a whole night without stopping, and not only Ji'an County town, but also the bandits looted many local gentry families near the county town.

  Jian County's knife and bow troops, as well as the village braves, were weak in combat strength and lacked unified command and deployment. In the chaos, they were defeated by the Donghai bandits' elite troops who had internal responders leading the way, and they fled in defeat. The war fire spread along the banks of Zhuxi, Daxunxi, and Meixihu overnight. Just looking at this situation, it's unknown how many bandit soldiers invaded Anji County.

  Qin Zitan and Du Rongze took advantage of the night to lead more than 100 elite soldiers and more than 100 soldiers from Shu's village, divided into three boats, departing from Anji Shu's village to Taihu Lake, chasing after Lin Xie and his party who might have retreated to Taihu Lake ahead of them.

  After dawn passed, the sky gradually turned blue.

  Qin Zitan was resting in the cabin, and when she woke up, she saw a faint morning light coming through the gap between the boards. She thought it was almost dawn, and heard Du Rong and Shu Qingqiu talking outside the cabin. She got up, rubbed her face, and walked out of the cabin. Just as she was about to ask where they were, she heard the person standing on the deck shouting: "What's that over there?"

  Qin Zitan looked ahead, in front of him was a bend at the exit of Meixi Lake, with a long dike stretching out horizontally before his eyes. Beyond that was Zhuxi Creek. The dike was covered with dense forest, and at this time when the sunlight was faint, the trees looked vague and thin, like cut-out paper, but with several tree crowns protruding from behind the forest.

  The sky was still not bright enough, and those tall trees seemed to be floating on the treetops like very faint shadows, easily overlooked.

  Qin Zitan was suddenly enlightened: What is that tall tree? It's clearly a mast disguised as a treetop. If it weren't for the dense forest in between, and the fact that they were looking up at an angle, if not for the timely discovery by the boatman, they might have been fooled into passing by without noticing.

  At this time, in Mei Creek Lake, only the two boats with Lin Xie's high mast could think of who was hiding behind the trees in the bay with his toes.

  "Damn it!" Du Rong also saw that it was a mast, and he broke out in a cold sweat. They had originally planned to go to Taihu Lake to join forces with the Taihu thieves to rob and kill Lin Xie, but how did they expect Lin Xie to be ambushing them at the mouth of Mei Creek?

  After seeing the mast of the ship behind Linzi, they removed their camouflage and raised their sails. Du Rong tested the wind direction and felt unlucky, as they were downwind from the ambush ships.

  Du Rong knew that the Dongyang ship, a compound sailboat sailing with the wind, was fast. The three black-awning ships they were on were full of people and wanted to escape back to Anji County before Lin Xie caught up with them and merged with the bandits led by Da Gongzi, which was impossible. Moreover, there was only one ambush ship in the bay ahead, and they were not sure if another ambush ship had been missed, blocking their retreat to Anji County.

  Lin Tie led this expedition to raise grain, with a total of 400 people following him. Du Rong had already probed the situation through several previous disturbances: Lin Tie personally led only over a hundred elite soldiers from the Ji Yun Wu Wei, and apart from that, they were all civilian militia and sailors selected from among the refugees, divided between two ships, with each ship having only 50 elite soldiers and over a hundred miscellaneous troops.

  Three roads are placed in front of Du Rong, Qin Zitan and Shu Qingqiu.

  They had three ships with over 250 soldiers, sailors and rowers. Relying on their numerical superiority, they could force their way through the mouth of Mei Creek Lake. As long as they occupied the upwind position, they could manipulate the oars, borrow the water flow to sail against the wind, and their speed would be much faster than that of large sailing ships, thus gaining the initiative. However, in a naval battle, when the military strength was similar, the advantage of warships would become extremely obvious. Their side had small boats with crowded people, with 80-90 people on each boat. They could take advantage of their numerical superiority only if they could smoothly dock and board the enemy ship. If they encountered fierce ramming before docking, there was a risk of capsizing. Lin Xie's subordinates were familiar with naval warfare, but Du Rong and Qin Zitan did not have confidence in rushing through the narrow lake mouth, which was less than 200 meters wide.

  If you can't move forward, then retreat.

  It's no use retreating either. If they retreat, the pursuing boat will be sailing with the wind at its back, and the wind is quite strong. They won't even have time to return to Shu Family Stockade before being caught up. Moreover, there's another ambush boat that might be blocking their way back.

  Unable to advance or retreat, they could only land nearby. The Fouchuan ship was large and had a deep draft, making it impossible to approach the shore. To pursue, they could only use the light assault boats to land. As long as they landed, Du Rong and Qin Zitan were not afraid of Lin Xie pursuing them. Without the advantage of warships, Lin Xie's advantage was actually very limited, despite having 400 men under his command.

  "Abandon ship and go ashore?" Du Rong asked Qin Zitan.

  "Will there be an ambush on the shore?" Qin Zitan asked, "We don't know where Lin's other ship is hiding, but it can always be thought that the other ship cannot be hidden on the shore. We fear the enemy ship's advantage, abandoning the ship and landing on the shore may be the only correct choice, how can we know if Lin wants us to make this choice?"

  "...Du Rong never thought that Lin Xie would turn the tables and set an ambush, his heart was momentarily frustrated, and he no longer had his previous confidence. He looked up to see dense forests on both banks, all of which seemed to be hiding ambushes."

  "Rather than fleeing in disarray, let's prepare to meet them head-on. You, I and Shu Dangjia will each take one of the three boats. Even if we can't engage them smoothly, there's a good chance that two of the boats can escape..." Qin Zitan said.

  "Good......" Du Rong didn't want to lose his nerve to Lin Xie either. Obviously, they had more people and a stronger presence, but they were scared off by just one of Lin Xie's ships, which would surely become a joke among others later on.

  Qin Zitan had someone bring him a suit of armor, seemingly forgetting the fact that he didn't have the strength to even tie up a chicken. He wanted to learn from Lin Xuan's experience and lead the troops himself. Du Rong didn't think otherwise and jumped onto another boat with Shu Qingqiu.

  **********

  Seeing the three enemy ships not retreating or approaching the shore, but instead lowering their sails and rowing to meet them, Lin Xie took off his sword from his waist and ordered those around him: "Prepare for battle!"

  The two sides approached each other, and the sky also brightened up. Lin Xie could already see Du Rong's face clearly. He swung his sword towards Du Rong, smiling as he said to Ao Canghai beside him: "Last winter when I first entered Jiangning, I declared to everyone that I would not coexist with this child. Let's see if it's possible to bury him in this lake today..."

  The upper strings of the triple-bow bed crossbow on both sides creaked, and the giant iron arrows as thick as spears flashed with a cold gleam. The bowmen also sat in an orderly manner, using their feet to pull open the crossbow and string it up.

  When he saw the three bows and arrows on the boat pointing at him, Du Rong suddenly realized that he had been deceived by Qin Zitan. He, Qin Zitan, and Shu Qingqiu were divided into three boats. If Lin Xie could only intercept one boat, who else could it be besides him?

  Du Rong finally realized it was too late, four thick iron arrows as thick as spears shot out of the giant crossbow, three of them shooting into the air and stirring up waves on both sides. One arrow flew diagonally through the air and pierced the ship's sail, followed by several blood-curdling screams, but it was unclear how many people were pierced by the giant arrow...

  In short, within the effective range of the triple-bow bed crossbow, thick shields and armor are mere decorations.

  When Lin Xie deployed all four of his three-bow bed crossbows on this ambush ship, Du Rong also understood that Lin Xie had accurately anticipated they would force a breakthrough. The combat strength deployed by Lin Xie on this ambush ship was difficult to shake off even if they could smoothly board and fight, but apart from fighting to the death, Du Rong no longer had any other options.

  Qin Zitan and Shu Qingqiu passed each other on two boats from both sides, but after occupying the upwind position, they did not turn their heads to chase Du Rong together with Lin Xian, and instead continued to flee downstream.

  Du Rong's spearhead had just managed to reach the front of the Fouchuan ship when they were already hit by Lin Kui's four rounds of concentrated fire. Of the elite troops, Shu Jiazhai soldiers and ninety boatmen who followed him, except for those who jumped into the water in fear of death, fewer than forty men could still stand up to counterattack with long spears over a zhang (ten feet) long...

  When over a thousand pirates of the Eastern Sea were about to raid Anji County, Lin Tie had the audacity to set an ambush for them at Meicun Lake. Du Rong knew he was doomed from the start. Standing at the bow of his ship, he couldn't even see the faces of those hiding behind the gunwales. Two bamboo spears emerged from either side, cutting off his retreat. A spear thrust into his chest, and the elite troops of the She family, who had been prepared to fight to the death with him, were also struck down by the bamboo spears and fell into the water. The sound of bows being drawn and arrows being fired at close range was like a dirge, hastening their demise. Du Rong's vision went black, his consciousness slipping away into an endless dark abyss as he plunged forward and fell.

  Ao Gang Hai ordered his men to use hooked spears to pull in enemies who had fallen into the water or were injured or dead.

  Most of the ones who wore armor were the elite of the wealthy families. Ao Cang Hai had nothing to say to these people, and those who still had a breath left were all stabbed once more with a knife, their armor was stripped off, and their corpses were thrown back into the water; only the soldiers from the Shu family village were taken alive, and they were tied up with hemp ropes and locked in the bottom cabin.

  Lin Tie didn't care what Ao Canghai was doing, he stood at the bow of the ship and gazed into the distance. The other two ships had already escaped far away. "Ji Yun One" could only move fast by borrowing the wind, but with a body so massive, even if they used long bamboo poles to push against the lake bed, it would still be very slow; it was impossible to catch up with those two ships. He thought that Da Jia Ye Ge Cun Xin led "Ji Yun Two" and lay in ambush at the river fork of Zhang Creek, probably also finding it difficult to keep them there, after all, the powerful bed crossbow and the concentrated zhang tao were all on this ship.

  "Du Rong still has a breath left." Ao Canghai said, walking over with the knife that was still dripping blood.

  "Are you not going to kill him?" Lin looked at Ao Canghai in surprise, and then said, "At this time, leaving him alive is of no use, so let's lock him up first; it's as if he were already dead. Perhaps he will be useful later, but for now, he's a hot potato."

  Can these small actions behind their backs really deceive Li Zhuo and some big figures in the court?

  Lin Xie was clear in his mind that the situation in Hongze Pu was precarious, and the pirates in Donghai were gradually becoming a major threat. The court's situation was already critical enough, especially after the elite troops from East Min had been transferred to the northern front one after another. It was unlikely that the imperial court would want the Shi family to rise up again in rebellion.

  At this time, capturing Du Rong alive was like holding a hot potato, it burned his hands and he couldn't bear to throw it away. Lin Xuan thought about it repeatedly and decided to secretly detain Du Rong first, if he died in prison that would be the end of it.

  In short, Lin Xie didn't think he could get any secrets out of Du Rong's mouth anymore.

  The battlefield has been swept clean on this side, and Ge Cunxin, also known as "Big Croaker", is arriving from the rear with his ship "Ji Yun Er" to join forces.

  The elite troops and sharp weapons, such as the bed crossbow and the squatting crossbow, were mainly concentrated on Lin Xie's ship. The ships of Ge Cunxin had mostly newly recruited militiamen, and Lin Xie also ordered them to try not to use scorpion crossbows. Although they intercepted and killed dozens of people on the two boats carrying Qin Zidan and Shu Qingchun from behind, they did not achieve the feat of annihilating a single boat, and it was inconvenient to pursue against the wind, so they came over to join forces with Lin Xie.

  The over a thousand elite Donghai bandits lurking in Anji County are the real threat to them, and they cannot be underestimated.

  "It's time to go to Shu Family Stockade, there shouldn't be any more ambushes!" Lin Xie said, waving his knife towards the direction of Shu Family Stockade ahead, "Let's go there!"