(2-in-1)

Everyone hurriedly sat down again, and more than half an hour ago, everyone sat here. At that time, Shen Tan and Ma Bin were busy bragging to each other, and the guards were busy responding and coaxing, and no one took Lin Jue seriously. But now, everyone is sitting in a proper manner, and their eyes are also falling on Lin Jue, and no one is saying anything irrelevant.

Lin Jue nodded secretly, this is a world where the weak eat the strong, and the justice of this world is who is stronger than whom. Before, they ignored because they didn't show this strength, but now, after what they have just experienced, they will show respect. Compared to how wrong his own thinking was in the previous life, he always thought that forbearance and compromise would bring peace and respect, but it turned out that it was absolutely impossible.

"The first rule, starting tonight, no one is allowed to drink. Do you still have any objections to this article? Lin Jue said.

"Listen to you, if you don't drink, you won't drink." Ma Bin muttered.

Shen Tan said with a smile: "It's okay if Shen doesn't drink, Master Ma is injured on his hand, and he can't drink anymore, so everyone should abide by this." ”

Shen Tan's words were to give Ma Bin a small step down, after all, his hand is injured now and he can't drink, which is also a reason. It's better than being forced not to drink. After all, this one is a member of the Fifth Rank and a well-known deputy envoy of the Imperial City Division.

"Well, number two, from now on, you must have a regular routine. Do not eat and sleep in the sea, and do not wander around on the deck at will. The daily shift is guarded at the bow and stern of the boat, and the closer we get to Hongze Lake, the more careful we must be to show our tracks. This is not to restrict your freedom, but I just want to remind you that the plan began the moment we boarded the ship and left Hangzhou, and we should not take it lightly. ”

"What Lin Gongzi said is extremely true, I am careless. This must be observed. Shen Tan and Ma Bin are also understanding people, and they know that what Lin Jue said is true.

"Third, from now on, we can't call each other by the title of Lin Gongzi Shen and Master Ma. To blend in with the bandits, we all have to have another identity. I thought about it for a while, and according to the method we discussed before to infiltrate the bandits, since we are wicked people who killed people and absconded, we are called brothers. The elder Ma is the Ma Boss. Commander Shen is the second elder Shen, and I am the third elder Lin. The rest of the brothers are brothers who have gathered with us, each with a nickname. In the two days before arriving at Hongze Lake, we were familiar with each other, so as not to leave a trace. ”

"Yes, yes, I have wanted to say this for a long time, Lin Gongzi...... No, no, what the third said is that he is changing his words as soon as possible, so as not to leak his mouth in the bandits' den and cause big trouble. Shen Tan nodded and said loudly.

Ma Bin also nodded yes, and having the name of Ma Boss also comforted him psychologically. After all, he is the same age as Shen Tan, and the month is younger than Shen Tan, but Lin Jue makes him the boss, which is a kind of respect for him, and it also makes people feel comfortable.

"We're going to abandon the boat and walk in Gaoyou County, and then walk to the town of Guishan, southwest of Hongze Lake. Although ours is a broken boat, the brothers of the Imperial City Division of Master Ma also said that within a radius of eighty miles into Hongze Lake, the lake bandits are full of ears and eyes, and we must not leave a trace. In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that you must listen to me on this trip, and that you must not act without my permission, whether you do or speak, or you will be killed. I want to ask Master Ma and Commander Shen to be responsible for these points of discipline, and if there is any violation, please deal with it immediately, and there must be no hidden dangers. ”

Lin Jue's voice was calm but cold, and everyone's hearts were shocked, and they all sensed the murderous aura from Lin Jue's words.

……

After a day and a night, the boat sailed to the territory of Gaoyou County. At a remote wild ferry, Lin Jue, Ma Bin, Shen Tan and others got off the boat. After seeing the wooden boat sail back, several people passed through the wild village of Xiao Suo and headed straight to the northwest.

Less than 50 miles away from the south of Hongze Lake is a small town called Pingyuan Town, although it is still 50 miles away from Hongze Lake, but this is actually the place where the bandits of Hongze Lake are spreading. Lin Jue and the others arrived in Pingyuan Town in the evening, and several people had already changed their costumes, and they were only wearing cloth clothes, looking like they were desperate. As soon as they entered Pingyuan Town, Lin Jue and the others felt the strange gaze of the people in the town.

In fact, on the road more than ten miles away from Pingyuan Town, Lin Jue and the others found the figure of a prying eye following from afar. The lake bandits are all over the area within a radius of seventy or eighty miles, but all strange and suspicious people who enter these areas will be targeted, and the tricks of action will be completely mastered. The news will also be sent to the secret stronghold of the lake bandits in the town as soon as possible.

In fact, although this plain town is not completely controlled by the lake bandits, the eyes and ears of the lake bandits are hidden among the merchants who do business and the seemingly ordinary people in the town. You think there are no suspicious people around, but in fact, your every move, word and action is likely to be controlled by them.

The bandits are not all rabble, especially the bandits who can still exist in the prosperous and prosperous era of the Great Zhou Dynasty, they are by no means idle. The imperial court has suppressed the lake bandits many times, but has not been able to succeed, in addition to some other reasons, an important reason is that the lake bandits have such a powerful information and intelligence network. Once the officers and troops are dispatched, the information on troops, routes, weapons allocation, and so on will be quickly summarized so that the lake bandits can react.

The most famous battle is that in the seventh year of splendid splendor, 40,000 soldiers and horses surrounded and suppressed the water bandits of Hongze Lake, and were raided by more than 1,000 bandits in Tushan Town in the north, burning weapons and grain and grass, resulting in a huge battle of encirclement and suppression. This incident also caused a shock to the imperial court, and many people were unlucky. Later, the courtiers were rarely willing to take the initiative to mention the extermination of this group of lake bandits, because they were afraid that they would be implicated in the defeat. The court of the Great Zhou Dynasty chose to cover its ears and steal the bell and turn a blind eye, allowing this cancer to remain in the land of the Great Zhou.

Lin Jue and the others stayed at an inn in the north of the town, which seemed random, but this was carefully selected. Because this inn called Guangyuan is actually the eyes and ears of the Imperial City Division here. Being able to take root in such a place shows the strength of the Imperial City Division's ability. This Guangyuan Inn not only operates here, but also has the trust of the lake bandits, and has a good relationship with them. It was precisely because the owner of the Guangyuan Inn could transport a lot of salt and iron items embargoed by the imperial court around Hongze Lake from outside through the power of the Imperial City Division. This kind of convenience is exactly what the lake bandits need.

That night, the owner of the Guangyuan Inn sneaked into the low-class guest room of the Datong Shop where Lin Jue and the others lived, because there was their official here, Ma Bin, the deputy envoy of the Imperial City Division. The news they got in advance was that they were going to meet with Ma Bin here and report some things.

There were no fingers in the Chase Bunk guest room, and everyone sat in the dark, talking softly, and no one could see whose face clearly.

"Is the news out? Did you get any news here? Ma Bin's deep voice sounded.

"Report to the deputy envoy, the news has been released. I got the news here a day ago. The bandits must have gotten the news. Everything is okay. Someone came to me for news. This is confirmed by the lowly position. ”

"Very well, after we leave tomorrow, you can put some more news about our relationship with that incident. By the time we arrived in Kameyama, I hoped everything went well. ”

"Don't worry, my lord, I will do my best."

"Very well, that's done, and you can get out of here when I get back. I lack a little steward in the Imperial City of Beijing, and I think you can do it. ”

"Thank you, sir, I am grateful for my humble duties, and I will do my best."

"Alright, you go, so as not to leak the news."

"Retire from your duties."

A short meeting, or rather a brief conversation in the dark, brought the contact to an end. The next morning, when the few people settled the store and left, they didn't even make eye contact with the shopkeeper sitting behind the counter, as if what happened last night had never happened.

……

Guishan Town, located at the entrance of the lake bay in the south of Hongze Lake, guards the key road to the lake, and includes three deep-water wharves in the south of Hongze Lake. The lake floods year by year, so much so that it forms shallows reeds more than several miles wide on the lakeside, and for many years the aquatic weeds and reeds are rampant and the knuckles of the trees are entwined in the shallow silt, and the tangled climbing blocks the waterways along the lake, and it will be a huge and difficult task to clear the waterways that lead to the lake.

That's why the eight remaining deep-water marinas are precious. Several wharves in Tushan Town in the north are to ensure that Hongze Lake is connected to the canal and waterway for goods to enter and exit, and the east is connected to the entrance of Qingzhou Jian River is another wharf, and the three deep-water wharves in the south are under the jurisdiction of Guishan Town.

It is fine for small boats to enter and exit among the shallows and reeds, but large boats must use these deep-water piers to enter the lake, otherwise there is no way to enter. Because of this, the bandits entrenched in the lake must firmly control these key points that can be used to attack the island of Guishan in the lake. Twenty years ago, Gao Yuankui, the bandit leader in this Xiao settlement and grass, was originally born in Wuju and served in the forbidden army in the capital, so he naturally had a high military quality and strategic vision, and under his full management, Tushan Town in the north and Guishan Town in the south have become bridgeheads for the key places under the complete control of the lake bandits.

When Lin Jue, Ma Bin and the others arrived in Guishan Town, it was already late in the afternoon. On the way from Pingyuan Town to Guishan Town, as the distance from Hongze Lake got closer and closer, the atmosphere also felt extremely tense and weird. Even when walking in the wilderness where no one is walking, it seems that you can feel the eyes of the eyes that are watching in the shadows everywhere. Not to mention the woodcutters who occasionally meet on the road, the people carrying baskets, the people pushing carts, and so on. They all look like ordinary people, but you can immediately feel the difference when you look at them as you pass them. The eyes under the straw hat had a chilling sharpness and ferocity, as if they were about to draw a knife from their waists and slash at everyone.

Lin Jue and the others all understood that these were by no means ordinary people, but the eyes and ears of bandits. Such frequent snooping and even snooping close to the side is enough to show that the whereabouts of himself and others have actually aroused a high degree of vigilance among the bandits in Hongze Lake. In this area, their whereabouts have been monitored from all directions.

Of course, for Lin Jue and others, this is not surprising. In fact, Lin Jue and others already knew about these situations. On the way here, Lin Jue had already learned a lot about the situation here through Ma Bin's mouth, and of course the sources of the news were all from the hands of the Imperial City Division. In addition, the situation of being closely 'served' on the way from Pingyuan Town to Guishan Town was actually what Lin Jue and others were happy to see. This shows that the rumors that were made according to the requirements of the Imperial City Division before have worked, and have successfully aroused the strong interest of the lake bandits in themselves and the others.

Two days ago, on the way to Pingyuan Town, Lin Jue, Ma Bin and others discussed how to infiltrate the bandit village. This is actually the difficulty of the whole plan, mixed into the bandits, there is a possibility of negotiation or salary extraction, if this cannot be done, then don't talk about anything. Although the lake bandits are bandits, they are not people who want to enter the cottage to be lake bandits, and the lake bandits will beat gongs and drums to welcome you up the mountain. It is even more impossible to raise your fist in Guishan Town and shout, 'Lao Tzu wants to be a bandit, I want to mess with you.'" And it will be granted. If, on the contrary, suspicion is aroused in this matter, then they are greeted not by the glory of successfully becoming bandits, but by death. In the past ten years, the imperial court has not sent fine workers to blend into the cottage, and these people have also caused great damage, so the lake bandits are extremely strict in this regard.

It's a bit ridiculous to say, but it is sometimes more difficult to enter the cottage of Guishan Island as a bandit than to be a middle jinshi. This is also the reason why the number of lake bandits on Guishan Island has always been limited to about 3,000, and the number of people who have lived on the island has not exceeded 10,000, including their families and ordinary people who have volunteered to live on the island. Because the island is sheltered by die-hard elements who are hard-hearted and loyal.

In this way, it seems that being a bandit is extremely difficult, but as long as you know the inside story, there is nothing difficult about it. The rules are there, and you just have to follow the rules, then it's not so difficult. And there is only one rule for Guishan Island to absorb new members, and that is that you need to have a letter of approval from them. For the lake bandits who hold high the banner of killing the rich and helping the poor for the way of heaven, their name is very simple, if you want to go up the mountain, you need to kill people, and you kill corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and kill wealthy families.

In terms of general principles, what you are doing is righteousness, doing the right thing for heaven, and killing the rich and helping the poor. People who fall into the grass will put the righteous words on their lips, and they will accept that you will say these great truths, but in fact, the real truth is more straightforward and simple. If you kill such a person, it will be intolerable to the court, and you can only be a dead end, then you will be a bandit and regard this free land as your home. You're going to defend this place to the death, because once it's gone, there's no way out of your life.

It is based on this that Lin Jue and the others formulated a strategy for blending into the cottage. They used the various strongholds of the Imperial City Division to send out a message, and within a day, the news that a Tianchang County Order was killed by several thugs who rushed into the house and beheaded them became a reality. Even the Tianchang County Commander himself didn't make any response, but seemed to cooperate with the general and closed the front and back of the yamen after the news spread, as if he had really been killed.

Moreover, the street entrances inside and outside Tianchang County and the city gates posted shadow graphics, which painted the images of Lin Jue and others. It's just that he doesn't know what he is committing. But it is this vague description that makes the rumors more credible, and people think that they are deliberately covering up the truth in order not to cause panic. The Imperial City Division knows how to make a piece of news credible and confusing, and in short, they have fully demonstrated their means in this matter.

After arriving in Plains yesterday, a brief conversation during the night was about it. The conversation between Ma Bin and the owner of the Guangyuan Inn was to ask if Pingyuan Town had gotten the news, and the result was positive. And Ma Bin asked the owner of Guangyuan Inn to release another piece of news to add fuel to the fire, that is, the people who killed the Tianchang County Order had come to Pingyuan Town and were heading towards Guishan Town. Therefore, a large part of the reason why he has been taken care of so closely along the way is also related to this news.

The reason why Lin Jue and the others did this was naturally to let the lake bandits in Guishan Town know that these eight people were desperate people who had done a big case, and they obviously wanted to take refuge in the cottage. The rules for casting names have been satisfied, and what remains may be some temptations and tests of the lake bandits. Lin Jue firmly believes that the lake bandits do not want to expand their ranks, after all, the more people there are, the safer they will be, and the more capital they will have to fight against the official army. Especially after they just made a big case and hijacked the birthday gift of the Queen Mother. They were extremely cautious, and at the same time, they must have hoped to recruit troops as soon as possible to deal with the possible encirclement and suppression of the imperial court, so it was impossible for them to ignore the arrival of their eight people. If you can let the lake bandits take the initiative to contact themselves and others, it will be more credible than going to them yourself, and they will be able to enter the cottage smoothly.

When the eight of them hurriedly entered the town of Guishan, the whole town seemed to be quiet. The shops, taverns, and teahouses on the side of the road were full of people, and everyone looked at these eight people with their eyes. Eight people walked through the narrow and chaotic streets of the town, as if they were walking in a wilderness surrounded by wild beasts, as if in the next moment, countless wild beasts would pounce on them and tear them to pieces.

Two of the guards were visibly frightened by the stance, their faces turned pale, and their legs and feet began to tremble as they walked. Lin Jue said in a low voice: "Don't be afraid, it's useless to be afraid at this time, the more you are afraid, the more revealing you are." Not only don't be afraid, but also walk cross-shouldered. ”

Ma Bin said in a deep voice: "That's right, you have to walk sideways." This is already a bandit's den, and it's too late to escape at the moment, afraid of a bird? ”

Having said that, the hearts of the people are still hairy. In recent years, the bandits of Hongze Lake have become notorious, and in the past, they rarely disturbed the surrounding people, but now they dare to kill anyone, causing a miasma. These people had done some homework before they came, and they all knew the ferocity of these lake bandits. Moreover, they all knew what would happen next according to Lin Jue's plan. Lin Jue had already decided before entering the town that if no one took care of him and the others, they would take the initiative to make trouble.

"Follow me." Lin Jue spoke in a low voice, and then swaggered down towards the grass shed at the door of a tea shop at the entrance of the street. Ma Bin and Shen Tan looked at each other, and they also walked behind them.

There were more than a dozen people sitting in the tea shed, and when they saw Lin Jue and others coming, they all looked like they were facing a great enemy, and some people even reached out and began to grope around their waists. There was a bulge there, apparently hiding blades.

Lin Jue came to the shed and shouted, "Shopkeeper, is there a seat?" ”

A five-short man walked out with a smile on his face, bowed his hand and said, "This guest officer, drink tea, right?" ”

Lin Jue smiled: "Yes, my feet are sore and thirsty, drink a few sips of tea to quench my thirst." You're doing a good business here, and it's full. ”

The man laughed and said, "They are all idle folks, sitting for a pot of tea for a long time." Wait for me to let them move their nests, and they won't be able to while occupying the pit. It's delaying my business. ”

Lin Jue rolled his eyes, it was obviously a tea table, but he was said to be a pit by the shopkeeper. Greet the guests like this, and the guests still have an appetite. In a word, it is revealed that the shopkeeper is not the real shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper turned to the surrounding tea table and said, "Everyone, vacate the seats, and make a table for a few guest officials who have come from afar." ”

Seven or eight 'guests' got up silently and gave way to their seats with great cooperation. The shopkeeper turned around and smiled: "A few guest officers, please take a seat." ”