The Yujiang River flows through the south of Fuyang City, and the Jiangqiao Wharf is not far from the South City Gate, which is the largest waterway wharf within a radius of 100 miles, and is also the territory of the largest gang in the city, the "Siping Gang".

There were many gang disciples standing in front of the dock today, but like the patrols in the city, Li Hu and Mao Jie galloped past them, and these people just glanced at the silver needles on the cuffs of the two of them, and they didn't care.

The wharf was quite lively, among which there were three big official boats parked, several groups of brightly armored soldiers lined up in front of the boats, and a large group of people on the wooden bridge leading to the dock, huddled together in a chaotic manner.

Today is the day when Meng Yingchun, the general manager of Chongqing, was promoted to the deputy chief soldier of Chongqing Prefecture, and set off from Peiyang.

The more crowded and chaotic the docks, the easier it is to find cover. Li Hu and Mao Jie left their mounts on the shore, walked through the crowd to the wooden bridge, and squeezed towards the first of the three official boats.

These three official ships are not small, it seems that Meng Yingchun has been an official in Fuyang City for one term, and the harvest is really rich. The two squeezed to the front of the boat, Li Hu claimed to the soldiers guarding the ship that they were newly hired by Steward Hu according to what Wu Xianglian said yesterday, named Wu Lian, and as for Mao Jie, he pretended to be Zhou Jie, a cousin of the same villager, and also wanted to ask Steward Hu to arrange for a servant to do it in the General Soldier's Mansion.

Li Hu and the others had already hidden their weapons in their clothes, and looking at their short shirts, they did look a little like slaves who specialized in rough work.

Originally, Li Hu was a little worried that the soldiers guarding the ship might make things difficult, but the soldier only looked them up and down a few times, and then let the two of them get on the boat. As soon as he got on the deck, Li Hu immediately saw Wu Xianglian.

I haven't seen her for a day, Wu Xianglian is no longer a woman's outfit at this time, but has changed into a light blue short skirt shirt, and her black hair has been curled into two buns, which is a dress of a girl.

Seeing Li Hu take Mao Jie on the boat, Wu Xianglian was a little surprised, but she didn't say much, only said in a low voice: "Let's go to the cabin to talk." ”

Among the three official ships, Meng Qingchun, the deputy chief soldier, was on the big boat in the center, and the one on which Li Hu was on the boat, looking at the outfits of the people on the boat, except for some soldiers, most of them were some domestic servants in the Meng Mansion.

Wu Xianglian pulled Li Hu down from the wooden steps to the bottom cabin, and Mao Jie also followed behind.

The three of them entered a small cabin. Wu Xianglian closed the hatch, attached her ear to the wooden door and listened for a while, confirming that there was no one outside, before turning to Li Hu and saying, "What's going on, why did you bring him here?" Wu Xianglian said that he was of course Mao Jie.

Li Hu said: "This Brother Mao, I followed you yesterday and discovered my whereabouts, if I don't bring him, I will die with him in Fuyang City." ”

Hearing this, Wu Xianglian frowned, but Mao Jie had already arched his hand and said: "Under Mao Jie, he has a common enmity with the 'Heavenly Punishment', and this situation is critical, so he can only get out with the help of the two, don't be surprised." ”

"You are Mao Jie of the 'Taishan faction'?" When Envoy Cui besieged and killed Li Hu the day before yesterday, Wu Xianglian was also in the slaughterhouse and had heard Mao Jie's name.

Mao Jie said: "It's right down there." ”

Wu Xianglian's beautiful eyes looked at Mao Jie a few times, and it took a long time before she said: "Okay, since Mao Shaoxia is also being chased and killed by 'Heavenly Punishment', then let's help each other and get out together." ”

At this time, only a burst of gongs and drums and the sound of suona blowing came from the shore outside the cabin, and then another "crackling" firecracker sounded.

Wu Xianglian said: "I have spent money to buy off Steward Hu, let's pretend to be the servant of the Guo Mansion, Yahuan, and leave Fuyang on this ship, 'Tianzhu' and those gangs in the rivers and lakes will not dare to intercept the ships of the government." The two of you just have to stay in this cabin and don't go out, if there is anything to be dealt with by me, as soon as we get out of the Fuyang realm, we will immediately take a small boat to the shore. ”

Li Hu nodded, but Mao Jie said, "Thank you Mrs. Xu for arranging." ”

Wu Xianglian said: "I'm not Mrs. Xu, the concubine's real name is Wu Xianglian, Mao Shaoxia will call me Xianglian in the future." ”

Mao Jie said: "Then thank you Miss Xianglian." But I don't know where Miss Xianglian and Brother Wang are going to go after they go ashore?"

Wu Xianglian said: "The concubine has no plans, anyway, she just follows him, where he goes, the concubine will go." ”

In his words, he was referring to Li Hu, and Wu Xianglian's eyes were as bright as water when she spoke, and she also looked at Li Hu with affection.

Wu Xianglian is a beautiful and gentle woman, and most men must be overjoyed to be able to make such a woman fall in love with her.

However, Li Hu still had a nonchalant expression, and said: "The world is so big, everywhere is a place to stay." There is no place to stay here, there is a place to stay here, where to go and wait for Fuyang!"

While the three of them were talking, the official boat gradually left the dock and headed towards the center of the river.

At this time, I only saw a sound of footsteps outside the door, and then someone knocked on the cabin door, and a voice asked, "Is Miss Wu here?"

Wu Xianglian stepped forward to open the wooden door, but saw a man who looked like a domestic servant outside the door. He saw Wu Xianglian, and then glanced at Li Hu and Mao Jie in the cabin, and said, "Steward Hu has an order, tell Miss Wu to go up to the top cabin to meet him!"

Li Hu frowned, but Wu Xianglian looked calm and said, "Trouble little brother, I'll go up." ”

The servant said, "Go quickly, the butler is still waiting!" and then turned and left.

Wu Xianglian turned back to Li Hu and Mao Jie and said, "You sit here for a while, and I'll go up to the top cabin to see Steward Hu." ”

Li Hu said: "Can I accompany you?"

Wu Xianglian walked to Li Hu's side and said in a low voice: "I originally talked to the Hu housekeeper about the two of them to take a boat, but now there is one more Mao Shaoxia, and the housekeeper will probably look for me because of this." This little thing can be done for a few taels of silver, and I will be back soon, and you can stay in this cabin. ”

Li Hu nodded and said, "Okay, then you go and come back quickly." ”

Wu Xianglian answered, and then walked out of the hatch.

The Yujiang River is the largest tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and one of the largest rivers in Sichuan.

The official boat went down the river and arrived at the center of the river after a while. At this time, it is the spring of March, but see the blue water surging, very vast, the green hills on both sides of the bank are faint, the green grass is all over the field, along the water surface of the river bank, there are many Wupeng boats of different sizes, the fishermen on the boat are casting nets, it is a good picture of "spring fishing map" scene.

Although Wu Xianglian said that she would come back soon, after a meal, she still did not see her turn around.

Mao Jie sat in front of the window and looked at the river, and said: "Today's wind and sun are beautiful, and these fishermen don't want to stay at home, so they all come to this river to fish." ”

The speaker was unintentional, but Li Hu was shocked when he heard this, and jumped to the window in one step, looked out of the small wooden window, and his expression immediately sank, and said: "It's not good, those people are not fishermen, they are all 'heavenly punishment' killers who came to deal with us!"

Early spring and March is the season when the river tide is flooding, the fish and shrimp in the river are the most barren, it is by no means a good time to fish, Li Hu grew up in the dancing sun, since he was a child, he often watched the fishing boats on the river on the bank of the Jinxi River, and he was very clear about this.

In this season, it is not surprising that there are three or five fishing boats on the river, but now there are at least dozens of fishing boats on both sides of the Yujiang River just a few miles away, which is by no means unusual!

This is definitely a trap! "Tianzhu" must have known that they had laid a net on this boat, and those small boats in the river were not going to catch fish in the river, but people!

At this time, the big boat they were riding on had gradually deviated from its course while driving in the middle of the river, and was more than fifty zhang away from the other two official ships, while the small boats in the distance had accelerated their rowing speed and outflanked the boat.

If it is on the shore, as long as you can fight a bloody way, you can escape, at least there is a glimmer of life, but you are surrounded by the hundred-zhang wide Yu River, even if you want to go, there is no way out.

At this time, Mao Jie also saw that the situation was wrong, his face suddenly changed, and he hurriedly said: "What should I do? How will they know that we are on this boat? Why don't we break the plank and jump into the river, maybe we can swim to the shore!"

Li Hu glanced at the nearby river, then looked at the many Wupeng boats that had been outflanked from the river, and asked, "Are you very good at water?"

Mao Jie said: "My water nature is average, but we can't sit still, we have to find some way!"

Li Hu said: "Don't say that you are average in water, you are extremely water-based, and if you want to escape from the river, you will not have any chance." They have come out of the hole, and they are obviously fully prepared, and we can still fight on board, and if we jump into the water, we will die faster!"

Mao Jie said: "'Tianzhu' has laid an ambush on the water, how can there be no arrangement on the boat, we will do it with them on the boat, I'm afraid there is no way out!"

Li Hu squinted his eyes at Mao Jie and said, "Are you scared? That day in the Chi family ancestral hall, you said that you have a wife and children at home, but is it true?"

Mao Jie lowered his head and said, "It's true, they are all in Lujing, and my daughter is only three years old this year." ”

Li Hu said: "Since you have a wife and children, you should accompany them at home, sneaking into the 'Heavenly Punishment' is a matter of nine deaths and a lifetime, and you should not have come without the consciousness of fighting for your life." ”

Mao Jie suddenly raised his head, clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and said: "Who said that I don't have the consciousness to fight for my life! Since the day Mao decided to sneak into the 'Heavenly Punishment', he has already put life and death out of the way, but he died here, he can't eliminate the 'Heavenly Punishment', and he can't avenge the master's great revenge, I am not reconciled!"

Li Hu smiled coldly and said: "Whether you are willing or not, now you and I are surrounded by a very bad situation, there is no other way but to fight hard, if you want to die enough, kill a few more 'heavenly punishment' people!"

Mao Jie saw that Li Hu's eyes were sharp, and he clearly had the will to die, and his heart was also horizontal, and said: "Okay, since we can't go, we will fight with that group of killers to break the net!"

At this time, I could only hear the sound of footsteps on the board of the ship outside the door, and it was obvious that someone had gone out of the bilge again, and it was two people. There was another knock on the hatch.