Chapter 9: The Attack of the Tokai Invaders
Chapter 9
The enemy situation ahead was unknown, and Lin Jian was not in a hurry to return to Chongzhou, nor did he take refuge in Anji County.
In the afternoon, Lin Jian issued spears, single knives, wooden cards and other weapons to the 200 victims led by Ning Zechen who were selected to make up for the lack of manpower, and officially armed them.
Li Shuyi knew that the future was dangerous, even if Lin Tie didn't do it, he would also suggest that Lin Tie do it, but he just wondered that Lin Tie had so many weapons on the ship.
The 200-odd victims who were selected to board the ship on Xisha Island were somewhat fist-fighting, and not only did they not tremble when they got the weapons, but they were also a little excited. After traveling for more than 20 days along the way, Lin Jian also deliberately trained them, and at this time, he scattered them to more than 100 military guards as auxiliaries, which could effectively increase the defense force of the two ships.
Without waiting for Wu Qi and the sentinels to return to bring further details of the enemy situation, at dusk, a fire broke out in the direction of Anji County.
Twilight, boats on the lake, the smoke is vast in all directions, the sudden fall of the Anji County is blazing, the sunset in the sky is also like a fire and rage, Lin Jian stands on the bow of the boat and looks at the direction of Anji County, the east gate of the county facing Meixi Lake has been burned half of the fans, and the county citizens inside and outside the city gate can be vaguely seen in the blazing firelight, and the county people inside and outside the city gate cave are rushing in vain, and it is not possible to see how many Donghai Kou poured into the city to burn, kill and loot.
The deeper the twilight, the more dazzling the fire in Anji County, Lin Jian waited anxiously, and sent out an assault boat to pick up Wu Qi and a wounded secret sentry on board.
"The Donghai Kou who attacked Anji County poured in from the direction of Danuma Creek this afternoon, and there were about 1,000 people, all in armor, and they were divided into 12 loach boats. There should have been a warning signal in the direction of Danuma Creek, I don't know what happened in Anji County, and when the Kou abandoned the boat and landed and rushed to the east gate, it was too late to close the door in a hurry. There are only more than 200 sword and archers in the city, and Donghai Kou set fire everywhere after entering the city, "Wu Qi reported the situation in Anji County to Lin Lian, and talked about the ambush in the afternoon, "There are not many ambushes in Shujiazhai, about 200 people, half of the soldiers are in the village, and the remaining 100 people are foreign guest soldiers, pretending to be transit business travelers entering in batches, sneaking into the village for more than ten days, waiting for us to come." I entered Anji County for two days, and it was only when I ambushed the soldiers into the forest that I found clues. In the afternoon, I asked people to go to the direction of Meixi Lake to reconnoitre, and there was no sign of an ambush gathering, but in the direction of Xiaopu and Pheasant, I found traces of gathering people and horses to cross the border......"
"Xiaopu, Pheasant City." Lin Jian rubbed his chin and brush-like stubble, and pondered, Xiaopu and Pheasant City are the mouths that enter Taihu Lake from Zhuxi.
"The ambush soldiers attacking Anji County and Shujiazhai don't seem to be the same way, and there is a possibility that they will set up a suspicious formation, but if they want to prevent us from leaving Anji County, they must also deploy enough ambush troops to succeed," Ao Canghai frowned, he was very familiar with the situation of the luxury family, and said, "The Kou soldiers plundered Anji County, the garrisons of Huzhou Mansion and Jiahang Mansion and the Xiangyong will all be dispatched when they hear the wind, and the water camp of Ninghai Town will also send warships into Taihu Lake to intercept it, and it is impossible to leave them enough time to calmly deploy against us." ”
"I'm worried that their main target is the Ninghai Town Water Division!" Lin Jian said, "The Donghai Kou attacked the coast, and the Ninghai Town Naval Division was a formed army that could only intercept the flow and resist it, and weakening the Ninghai Town Naval Division would be of great benefit to the Donghai Kou......"
Anji County is located in the southwest corner of Taihu Lake, is the innermost part of the four provinces along the coast of Taihu Lake, more than 1,000 Haikou from Pingjiang Mansion or Jiahang Mansion quietly transit, detour four or five hundred miles, rushing to the irrelevant Anji County, somewhat people can't catch the mind. If it is said that it is aimed at them, it is completely inexplicable, Lin Jian prefers to believe that Donghai Kou wants to transfer some of the warships of the Ninghai Town Water Division and divide them in Taihu Lake.
"What are we going to do? Going to Taihu Lake? Ao Canghai asked, if the purpose of the East Pirates was to lure and annihilate the Ninghai Town Water Camp warship, they should first retreat into Taihu Lake to observe the situation before the Ninghai Town Water Camp Warship came to block the retreat of the shareholder Haikou, or directly turn around and return to Chongzhou.
"There are still many doubts that people can't figure out...... Lin Jian shook his head, did not decide to immediately retreat to Taihu Lake, looked up at Anji County, where the fire was burning, and then looked at the direction of Shujiazhai where they ambushed at noon, and after a while, he instructed Wu Qidao, "You still go ashore, don't care about the ambush soldiers in Rujiazhai, and keep an eye on the movements of the pirates who attacked the shareholders in Anji County......"
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Qin Zitan stood under the ancient willows of the river embankment, the fire burning in Anji County reflected a corner of Meixi Lake clearly, his awe-inspiring eyes scanned the Meixi Lake covered by the night, trying to find some clues from it, but the cloudy night covered the two thousand stone boats that Lin Jian was riding in.
Shu Qingqiu, who was standing behind Qin Zitan, was the head of the Shu family's water village, with a beard, big eyes and a wide face, and a very shallow scar on his left cheek, which covered a lot of his beard, and others couldn't see it if they didn't look carefully.
Shu Qingqiu worked as a maritime merchant in his early years, going back and forth between Jin'an and Huzhou, saying that he was a maritime merchant, but in fact he was also a merchant and a thief, and the scars on his face were left when he was a pirate.
After the luxury family rebelled in Jin'an, Shu Qingqiu bought the luxury family and returned to Anji County, waiting for the luxury family soldiers to attack, and he could answer in Anji. Who would have thought that the army of luxury families would be suppressed by a Confucian handsome Li Zhuo and never be able to beat Dongmin, so he has been dormant. It wasn't until Du Rong sneaked to Jiangdong County to organize Qingfengxing that the Shu family became Qingfengxing's secret force in Huzhou.
This time the ambush Lin was not successful, and the Shu family was exposed, Shu Qingqiu didn't feel anything, rather than not knowing when the ambush was the head, it was better to stand up and follow the luxury family in a big way.
"I didn't find any signs of him approaching Anji County...... Du Rong led the horse over, under the lights, the horse's back was oozing with shiny sweat, it was obvious that Du Rong rushed over from elsewhere to join Qin Zitan.
"He went to Taihu Lake to raise food and rescue disasters on Xisha Island, with a very strong purpose, and it was impossible for him to rashly land to save the people of Anji County from fire and water," Qin Zitan frowned and thought, "I just can't figure it out, why did he target the luxury family so much?" ”
"Thinking about it, he has long understood that the robbery in Baisha County was secretly masterminded by the young marquis...... Du Rong said.
"Heroic characters, the hatred of killing his father and wife can be talked about and laughed at, will Lin Jian be entangled in this kind of insignificant resentment and can't get out?" Qin Zitan shook his head slightly, "If that's the case, he'll be able to deal with it." ”
Du Rong is right to think about it, if he is an ambitious character, he should not be entangled in such trivial grudges. Whether it was Lin Jian or Su Mei's master and servant, they were not substantially harmed, and even Fu Qinghe had returned to Jiangning, not to mention that the young lady and the young lady had fallen into his hands, what resentment did he really have, what could he not vent at that time?
Du Rong still can't figure out how Lin Lian, Su Mei and Fu Qinghe escaped at that time?
"If the eldest prince can follow your plan and kill Lin Jian in Meixi Lake at all costs, he won't have to worry about these things anymore." Du Rong said.
"The eldest prince has his considerations," Qin Zitan also felt that it was a pity to let Lin Jian go, but knowing that everything had priorities, and besides, they were the second prince's people, and it was only called a ghost if the extravagant flying bear could fully adopt their suggestions without reservation, he said, "Donghai Kou gathered in Changguo County in the form of thirteen alliances, and only three of the eldest prince could directly control behind the scenes. In the first battle after the storm season passed, if it could effectively hit the living forces of the water division in Ninghai Town, it would be of great benefit to the eldest prince to integrate the thirteen forces, and it would also make other pirate forces join in more unscrupulously. In the past ten years, the luxury family can not get out of Dongfu, the terrain is too restricted, there are natural defects, if you can gain a firm foothold in the islands of Changguo County, you can calmly sit and watch the chaos of the world, will not miss the opportunity to enter the world. ”
Du Rong nodded, and had to admit that Qin Zitan's analysis was very reasonable, but they were subordinates of the second son, and everything could not be considered from the perspective of the second son first. Although the eldest prince was named the prince of Jin'an because of his status as the eldest son, they did not think that he would necessarily be the eldest prince who would inherit the foundation of Jin'an in the future. Not only do they want to make the southeastern counties chaotic and consume the strength of the imperial court, but they also have to control a new force for the second prince.
Originally, it was a good opportunity to encircle the forces of Taihu Lake Water Village, but Lin Jian gave the Taihu Lake Water Village forces a chance to wash their hands in the name of raising food, which caused the manpower they attracted on this trip was far lower than expected; The wind disaster on Xisha Island and the abandonment of 20,000 or 30,000 displaced people were a rare opportunity for the second son, but he couldn't understand how Lin Lian could take the lead again.
Du Rong had a hunch that Lin Lian, such a tricky character, was likely to continue to be their stumbling block.
Du Rong thought for a while and said: "It's true that the eldest prince has his considerations, and besides, we don't need our help in the affairs of the eldest prince's side, we still have a chance to kill Lin Jian when we rush to Taihu Lake." ”
"......" Qin Zitan still hesitated, looked up at the vast night, except for the faint sparkling water, he couldn't see anything, thinking that Lin Jian saw that Anji County was attacked, and he should evacuate to Taihu Lake.
Although Lin Jian stabilized most of the Taihu Lake water villages in the name of raising grain, the Taihu Lake thieves who bought the Qu family to participate in the attack on the estuary had no other choice. Qin Zitan came forward to solicit on behalf of the luxury family, and these Taihu thieves chose to surrender without hesitation. In the Xishan Island Village in the East Lake of Taihu Lake, there are more than 800 Taihu Lake thieves who have secretly gathered.
The battle at the mouth of the river showed that the unorganized Taihu Lake bandits' combat power was not much higher than that of the rabble, and besides, there were Ninghai Town's naval warships patrolling the Taihu Lake, Qin Zitan did not plan to set up an ambush and kill on the way to Anji County.
At this time, the naval division warship of Ninghai Town had the men and horses of the eldest prince to deal with, Qin Zitan thought that with more than 100 elites at hand plus more than 100 soldiers from Shujiazhai and more than 800 Taihu pirates from Xishan Island, he would find an opportunity to kill Lin Tie on Taihu Lake, and he was indeed very sure.
After a while, Qin Zitan nodded and said, "It's better to get rid of this henchman first......
Shu Qingqiu said: "I'll arrange it immediately." ”
There is nothing to arrange, Shu Qingqiu left more than 100 soldiers to escort his family and the domestic thieves who had accumulated for many years to retreat to the Shengsi Islands after following the Donghai Kou, and he and his two sons who grew up to be adults took more than 100 elite soldiers to follow Qin Zitan and Du Rong to Taihu Lake in three big wing boats.