Chapter 20 Grain Interception on the River

Although Xu Jinghong felt that this was an opportunity for him, he also knew that the matter was so big that he could not make a decision because of a momentary thought, so he asked Sun Zaiyuan to send a secret letter to him to come with him for a while in the past two days.

Now Sun Zaiyuan is always the person of King Jing, so in order not to doubt him, he will come to Guoansi unless Zhaocong's instructions. But this time Xu Jinghong really needs a clear-headed and resourceful person to refer to him, but he can't care too much.

Sun Zaiyuan came quickly. Just after noon the next day, he appeared at the side door of the Guoan Division. Under the cover of the gatekeeper, he easily came inside to meet Xu Jinghong. The two did not make any greetings, so they went straight to the topic: "The lord suddenly summoned me. I don't know what's wrong?"

After Xu Jinghong asked him to sit down, he said his current hesitation. Finally, he added, "You said that if this matter really let them win, how much damage will it be to the court, and can we profit from it?"

Sun Zaiyuan's face suddenly became much more solemn and fell into a long period of meditation. After a long time, he looked up and said, "It depends on what you think in your heart. If you just want to ensure your own safety and don't end up with birds, you still can't do this.

"Oh? But what's the reason?" Xu Jinghong asked in amazed.

"Because after all, there are still people who know about this matter. When this happens, the court will not stop and will definitely investigate it to the end. In that way, the lord could have prevented all this will be discovered, which will only make the lord more taboo by the court, and it is even possible to lose his life as a result.

After a pause, Sun Zaiyuan continued to analyze: "But if your ambition is more than that, if you want to do something big, you can still do this!" Although what he said was very vague and vague, both of them understood the meaning of the words, and there was a trace of light in his eyes. This is a crazy and bold idea. The existing strength in their hands is too weak, but it is because of this that he is particularly excited.

"What did you say? Even if I have such thoughts, I'm afraid that I can't really make a difference in a short time, right? And now that the matter is imminent, once it is done, there will be no remorse. Won't the court investigate it? Xu Jinghong asked doubtfully.

From his words, Sun Zaiyuan has heard his mind, which also made his heart start to stir. He is not a person who is content with the status quo, especially when he regards Xu Jinghong as the master who can assist him, and he hopes to realize his hidden ambition through him. Now that the opportunity has come, how can we not make him excited and excited?

After a long time, Sun Zaiyuan suppressed the inner turmoil, and then said slowly, "If the master really has such an idea, then we can do a good job of sweeping the matter afterwards, so that it is impossible for the court to know the truth of the matter in a short time. Of course, there is no impenetrable wall in the world, and one day things will be discovered by people, but since the master has already had other intentions, he must not be afraid that it will be known.

Xu Jinghong pondered for a long time before asking, "Then how to sweep the tail so that they can't find out for the time being?"

Sun Zaiyuan's face was even more lenched. He stretched out a finger: "First, get rid of this Cao Gang in your hand." He stretched out the second finger: "Second, it is to completely beat the Cao Gang into a traitor, and you can kill them on the spot without leaving any disaster. At that time, no one will believe their words, and the lord is naturally loyal to the court!"

Xu Jinghong nodded thoughtfully: "Yes, now we are the only ones who know what the people in the Cao Gang think. Isn't it up to us to decide what the truth is at that time? That's it! But I thought we could do something more in this matter to convince everyone that the Cao Gang stood with those remnants.

"This is all you need to let the head of the gang who came to inform inform him!" Sun Zaiyuan immediately understood Xu Jinghong's meaning, and a strange smile flashed on his face: "Then do everything according to the master's will!"

With this counselor supporting his opinion, Xu Jinghong finally made this risky decision. He nodded deeply: "Just do it! But at the same time, a certain eyeliner around me should also be removed, otherwise the matter will be spread by him, and our situation will be very bad!" Speaking of this, there was a murder in his eyes. At this moment, he obviously forgot the previous Taoist's persuasion to him and did not intend to show mercy!

Two days later, on the bank of the river, under the night, a group of strong men in dark tight clothes and holding various weapons were waiting quietly. Naturally, they are the remaining group of the four families. In order to hold the lifeline of the Song Dynasty in their hands this time, they can be regarded as pouring out.

Looking at the vast turbid river, several people became a little nervous. Think about it, they have never done such a risky thing before, and this time they are against the whole court. And more importantly, these people are not dead men who don't have many thoughts. Those who only know how to obey orders and don't want other dead men to be taken down in the previous Guoansi attack.

These people are mostly elites left over from the family, both in terms of their skills and minds. It is also because they are smart, so they have more concerns, and they don't have the determination and decisiveness of their previous actions. Ye Chao can also understand everyone's thoughts, so he only hopes to enter the river quickly. Once he gets on the boat, there is no possibility for everyone to turn back.

"Why hasn't the people of the Cao Gang arrived yet?" He looked at both sides of the river, but there was no agreed ship coming, and the time was about to pass. Their current power has been greatly reduced, and even the backers in the court have mostly been taken down by the National Security Division, so if they want to rob food on this river, they must have the cooperation and support of the Cao Gang. Although the current strength of the Cao Gang is not as good as before, it still has untime power on the waterway of the Song Dynasty, and this time their action is carried out on this river.

"Here it comes." After a long time, a shadowy shadow appeared on the quiet river. Looking in the direction, it was the Caobang boats they were waiting for. This made Ye Chao breathe a sigh of relief. At least if the other party didn't miss the appointment, then he could succeed this time!

A fast boat docked, and several bare men appeared in front of everyone. It was several important people of the Cao Gang - Sun Qianling, the new master, Che Jiao, and several other hall masters. These people hugged the people on the land and said, "Time is running out. Let's board the boat with us."

While they were talking, more boats came to the shore one by one, and hundreds of boats stopped densely on the shore. These boats are not too strong, and they are a little distrustful in the eyes of Ye Chao and others: "Master Sun, why do you only have these boats in the Cao Gang? Are you going to use these small boats to compete with the government's grain-lifting ships?

Sun Qianling smiled and was not angry because of the other party's rude words: "I don't know anything about these people. Fighting on the water is not just relying on the tall ships to win. Of course, these boats are not the only ones in our Cao Gang, but they must win this raid!"

In terms of the battle on the water, it is naturally impossible for these people to compare with the Cao Gang, so after seeing them full of confidence, Ye Chao and others said nothing and got on the boat with their invitation.

Then a hundred boats quickly went to the center of the river, and the shore fell into tranquility again.

Sun Qianling's boat is full of their own people, so there is nothing to worry about talking. Sun Qianling looked at the water with some uneasiness and asked the people around him, "How can the people of Guoanshi let the flood spread such a meaning to us?" What do you think we should do this time to really let us take them to attack the grain ship?

"Since this is the message from the National Security Department, there is nothing wrong with it. Maybe they think it's safer to lie down on the water than on land, so they let us take them to attack the grain boat. In this case, we will follow their instructions. It is not difficult to surrender as long as their people are killed. Xiang Pan, a master of the hall, said his opinion.

Now the car that is most trusted by Sun Qianling did not say anything. He just looked around uneasily. Somehow, he always felt a little unsteady. But at this point, they really have no chance to escape.

"Once there is a fight, everyone should pay attention to self-preservation and don't kill officers and soldiers, so as to ensure our own safety." Seeing that it was getting closer and closer to the predetermined place, Che Jiao told everyone.

"Yes!" Several masters nodded and responded, so that after the war began, they would restrain their subordinates not to work too hard.

On the river more than ten miles away from the Cao Gang, grain ships are slowly moving eastward. This is the life-saving food brought from Shu. Now the people in the imperial court have tried their best to buy millions of stone grain from the large families and surplus people in Shu. These grains will be the guarantee for the beam to support this period of green and yellow, so the responsibility of this team is also quite heavy.

Although they did not know the specific situation on the canal that day, they were careful along the way. In addition to dozens of defenders watching on the ships carrying food, there are three warships in the front and back of the fleet to guard the front and back roads. In this way, no matter which side the enemy kills, they have enough ability to deal with it.

The leader who escorted the grain this time was named Yang Jizhou after a general in Beijing. His ancestors also came from water war, so he still knew more or less about water war. In addition, he had no relationship with the family, so he was entrusted with such a heavy task. He also understood the importance of responsibility, so he did not dare to relax at all along the way and communicate with the ships before and after through flags from time to time in case of any problems.

It is precisely because of his caution that this team of ships is very slow. It has been more than half a month since they left Shu, but there are still three days away from the beam. Now, seeing that the surroundings were shrouded in darkness and the current was a little rapid because of the rain two days ago, Yang Jizhou ordered the fleet to stop again and wait until dawn.

Just as he settled everything down and sat back into the cabin to prepare for dinner, he suddenly stood outside and his men who were always paying attention to the movement on the water rushed over: "Lord Yang, something strange is happening outside."

"Huh? What happened?" Yang Jizhou did not dare to neglect. As he asked, he had stood up from the chair and quickly walked out of the cabin.

"Many boats of unknown origin are rushing towards us against the wind. Although I can't see how much has come because of the dark, the number is really a lot!" The soldier said immediately. But in fact, he doesn't need to explain more, because Yang Jizhou, who walked outside the cabin, could clearly see what happened there.

A small boat followed the wind and leaned towards the grain ship team at a very fast speed. Although these ships seemed to have no threat because of their small size, the number still made the officers and soldiers on the ship feel nervous for a while.

"What kind of road is this? Is it the fishing boat returning?"

"It doesn't look like it. How can anyone still be in such a hurry to sail at this time? Could it be..."

"Are they coming for us?"

All kinds of speculation spread on the ship, and Yang Jizhou's expression became extremely serious. He knew that it was no accident that these boats could appear here at this time. He immediately ordered: "Let the guard ship in front of you set up the position to fight, and warn these ships that if they don't retreat, they will only attack!"

The light came out, but those ships did not slow down at all and still rushed over at a very fast speed. At this time, Yang Jizhou and others knew that the other party was really coming for him. The so-called comers are not good, and the good ones do not come, they must also take action first and sink the enemy out of the alert.

With an order, people were busy on several large boats guarding the fleet in front of them. A stone-throwing truck with a height of more than ten feet was pushed to the bow, and then the stones of the ballast were put into the net pocket, and then thrown out by the stone-throwing truck and smashed straight into the boats in front of it.

"Bum! Bang!" Stones were smashed out one by one, and some of them hit the boat. The very thin boat was immediately smashed to pieces and disappeared as soon as it was rolled by water. But more stones are just smashed into the water. After all, it is now at night, and there is a long distance between them and the ship, so the hit rate is still a little insufficient.

And this blow of the official ship is obviously not enough to threaten the incoming ships. Those boats rushed forward at a faster speed, but in the blink of an eye, they were only a few feet away from the front warship.

At this time, the officers and soldiers on the warship suddenly rushed to the front, with a crossbow in everyone's hand, and the sharp arrows shot like raindrops at the people on the boat that had become closer and closer. The surroundings were suddenly shrouded by the sound of breaking through the air, and the first few boats were quickly covered by the rain of arrows. Many people on it were killed and injured, and the others jumped into the water and disappeared.

But for the official ship, this is just the beginning. Because they soon found that the number of boats rushing over was increasing, and the boat in front of them did not stop because there was no one on it, but leaned in the wind and then gently hit the hull of the warship.

What surprised the soldiers happened. The boats did not bounce off after collision like common sense, but leaned firmly on the warship like iron adsorbed by magnets. As boats kept leaning up behind, the three warships were surrounded by boats.

At this time, some soldiers shouted in surprise: "These boats are loaded with nails!" Everyone looked at it and saw that the bows of the boats were loaded with slender nails, so that after the impact, these small boats could be close to the big ships, making it impossible for the big ships to move at will, creating favorable conditions for the ships behind.

And the tactical purpose of the Cao Gang is more than that. Just after several warships had been completely burdened by the boats and could not move, Sun Qianling issued an order: "Rocket ready!"

"Sw..." Dozens of rockets crossed the sky and fell on those boats. Because they were aiming at these stationary targets, the officers and soldiers on the other side had no choice but to take them, even if they had found that danger was coming.

Because those boats are actually full of flammable firewood and a jar of spirits. After being hit by a rocket, these loads quickly burned. Then the whole boat also burned up, and then continued the fire to the big ship.

Although it is now on the water, the ships of this era are made of wood. Once they are lit, their end is naturally terrible. At this time, the soldiers on several ships had no time to stop the enemy and tried their best to put out the fire, which made the three warships lose their fighting ability at that time.

"Okay, the brothers of the Cao Gang are really good at the water war!" Ye Chao and others were very excited to see this scene, and then rushed forward in their boats. The ships just now are just to deal with the warships in front of us. Now is the time to launch an attack on those grain ships.

Dozens of fast ships full of the remnants of the family and the Cao Gang passed by the three chaotic warships and rushed straight to their targets. However, hundreds of soldiers on the three warships could only watch them pass by, but they had no time to go up and stop them again!

The turbid river has been shrouded in fire, and soon it will be stained red by blood...