Chapter VIII Officers and Soldiers Are Like Bandits
After everything was packed up, I heard messy footsteps coming from the bow of the ship. It seemed that the few remaining pirates were dispersing towards the painting boat. If they didn't escape now, how long would it take? Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe got out of the window and tried to get there.
Diving. A pirate happened to escape from the window. When he first saw Lin Fu, Fu Qinghe, an old man and a young man, got out of the window. They were stunned. When they were about to shout out to their companions, Lin Fu jumped over and rolled into the water together.
Lin Fu hooked his arms in the water and tightened the pirate's chin. He touched his neck with the blade of the knife and watched as a line of blood stirred up a bloody picture in the river, like an ink landscape.
Some officers and soldiers probably saw someone falling into the water here, and shot random arrows. The arrows had little force in the water, so Lin Fu even dived down, picked up an arrow, and stabbed the pirate's chest, and then let the body float up. He and Fu Qinghe
The dive continued and was hidden under the oar at the stern of the boat.
Fortunately, no more pirates fell into the water, and naturally no officers and soldiers went into the water to chase them. Lin Fu also doubted whether any pirates would jump into the water and escape and the officers and soldiers would go into the water to chase them. As the saying goes, don’t chase the enemy when you are in trouble. The officers and soldiers have already won. If there are more pirates in the pursuit,
Casualties, then the gain outweighs the loss.
The scattered sounds of fighting on the boat stopped, and the sound of shouting and shouting for fire-fighting came again. Lin Fu knew that he and Fu Qinghe were safe for the time being. Thinking about it, there have been two battles from last night to now, at least fifty or sixty.
Human life was lost like this.
"Maybe there won't be any more trouble." Fu Qinghe listened carefully to the movements on the boat and couldn't help but comfort himself.
"I hope." Lin Fu smiled and said.
Seeing that Lin Fu could still laugh, Fu Qinghe also smiled, thinking that no matter what happened, the two girls Su Mei and Su Mei could go ashore mixed with the meat tickets. When they got to the shore, Su Mei would be safe and sound again if she could reveal her identity.
At this time, they heard footsteps outside the stern of the ship, and two people walked alone to the stern deck. Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe both pricked up their ears cautiously.
"Captain..."
Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe were both shocked. Under the military system of this dynasty, there are four types of people who can be called captains by their subordinates, namely, captains of light vehicles, deputy captains of light vehicles, captains of cavalry, and deputy captains of cavalry.
They are all senior generals in the army. The chief general and deputy general of Ninghai Town are added with the title of Cavalry Commander and Deputy Cavalry Commander. They are senior and fourth-grade generals respectively. Unexpectedly, the two fast paddle boats of Ninghai Town Naval Division turned out to be Ninghai
A person at the level of a town leader personally leads the team?
"Well, have the casualties been checked?" It was the voice of a middle-aged man with a deep voice.
"Twenty people were killed, thirty-nine were injured, thirty-one of the enemy were killed, and one of the pirates was captured... These pirates are really hard to bite!"
Lin Fu thought that the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers was very weak, but he did not expect that the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers led by the commander of the military town was not very useful. However, these pirates are indeed very powerful. With these people - maybe more, but not much more -
- He dared to rush to Chongzhou County to kidnap meat tickets; Lin Fu had a direct fight with a person last night, but he still managed to kill him by a trick.
When calculating military merit, these things are ignored.
Although it was said that the pirates were completely wiped out, a pirate warship was captured, and all the hostages were rescued, the number of casualties on our side after the war with absolute superiority in combat power was far greater than the number of ranks gained. According to military regulations, not only were the merits not counted, but also the
Reprimand from the superior. Of course, over the years, the discipline of the local armies has been loose and their combat power is weak. It is not easy to win a small victory. If it were an ordinary general who led the team to achieve such a record, it would definitely be a great success. However, this time the team leader
He is a general-level figure in Ninghai Town, and handing in such a record will only make it more embarrassing, and may be used as a basis for attacks by his opponents.
Lin Fu didn't hear the middle-aged general speak for a long time, thinking that he was probably embarrassed by this achievement. The person next to him must be his confidant. After a while, he heard the middle-aged general's confidant say: "Captain, Dong Yuan has been
He slandered that our town army was weak in combat and lacked military discipline, and asked the imperial court to allow the local government to build a new army; if this battle report is handed over, I am afraid that it will be used as excuse for him again..."
"Who is Dong Yuan? It's his turn to point fingers at the army?" the middle-aged man said angrily, "In this rescue, we have to ensure that the hostage Wuxian will inevitably suffer more casualties."
"That's what I say, but when you talk to other people, especially those civil servants who like to stir up trouble, you tell them all the trouble - do you mean to cross out the injured?"
"They are not that stupid. Twenty people died, how could there not be a single wounded person? Besides, there is a battle here, and the camp should have received enemy information. I don't know how many people are staring at the river at this time. Let's go back
During the camp, can you hide the casualties and not report them?" The middle-aged man's voice slowed down, and you could hear that he was beginning to hesitate. He was probably more worried that this was not appropriate enough and would leave too many loopholes for political opponents.
"Captain..." Another person came towards the stern of the ship, interrupting the secret conversation between the two.
"Qianhu, what's the matter?"
"Spit," the visitor spat fiercely, and the anger on his face could be heard from the sound, "Thieves, those rich families in Chongzhou took us for granted, and the pirates from the East offered us a total of thirty thousand taels of ransom money.
We killed twenty brothers by licking the blood from our swords, but we only had a reward of three thousand silver. Let me take people to Chongzhou. I don’t have ten thousand taels of silver. I will chop up all these turtle sons and feed them to the bastards, so that they can have no descendants..."
"Nonsense, do you want to rebel?" the middle-aged man shouted in a deep voice.
"I don't have any money, and I'm being taken advantage of. It's really boring for the officers and soldiers to be in front of them." The visitor said in a low voice, which meant that it was a rebellion.
Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe knew that the officers and soldiers were arrogant, but they didn't expect that they would say such treasonous words semi-publicly.
"Okay, I know what's going on. You go down first. Bai Ming and I still have something to discuss..." the middle-aged man ordered.
"General Chen, please send someone to bring over the East China Sea bandit who was captured alive. I have something to ask him." The middle-aged man's confidant said to the side.
"Kill. When I heard that there was thirty thousand taels of silver to redeem my life, I felt angry, so I killed him. This thief even shouted that he had something important to report. Report, report, damn! When I heard the thirty thousand taels of silver to redeem my life, I
My heart became cold. Damn it, thief, he changed his story again and said that he had 60,000 taels of silver to redeem his body. Wasn’t I going to vomit blood? He was not allowed to speak and cut off his head with a knife. Now the battle report has been changed, and thirty-two thieves were killed...
..." The visitor, Chen Qianhu, spit into the water and walked away.
Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe thought to themselves that they really had to thank Chen Qianhu for recklessly killing the prisoners, otherwise Su Mei and Xiaoman would probably not be able to hide. The two people at the back of the boat probably had nothing to do against Chen Qianhu, and they seemed to be smiling bitterly when they heard them.
"Bai Ming, what do you want to do?" the middle-aged man asked.
"The captain knows what to do, so why are you asking about me?" The man seemed to add casually, "Thirty thousand taels of silver is enough for Ninghai Town to support itself for a year."
When Lin Fu heard this at the stern of the ship, he realized how arrogant and daring these officers and soldiers were. They simply wanted to grab the 30,000 taels of silver.
"Bai Ming, this is what the good news says," the middle-aged man said with determination. "After getting the clue to report the traces of the thieves, a certain person led an elite battalion to attack and met the pirate ship in the southwest of Xisha Island. However, the pirate ship was strong and powerful. Chongzhou
There was an error in the intelligence report. The actual number of thieves was twice that of our army. The battle could not be defeated for a long time. The weather was favorable and the thieves escaped far away. I regretted that I could not kill them all. I took the thirty-two thieves back to camp... How to write our casualties? Please think carefully about it.
one time."
"The pirate ship escapes far away - it takes seven or eight sergeants to make the pirate ship move and escape far away. Then choose eight reliable people to go on board. Adding the actual twenty people killed, the casualties will be written as twenty-eight dead."
The enemy was twice as many as mine. Twenty-eight of our men were killed in the battle, and the Thirty-Level 30 was achieved, which was considered a small achievement. Even if we couldn't catch up with the pirate ship, we still killed the pirates and defeated them. Our navy's warships were too far behind and we missed the opportunity.
"The man quickly made the plan according to the middle-aged man's wishes, "The superiors have been refusing to allocate the money for shipbuilding. We want them to know how strong the pirate ship is. The material damage will be destroyed by the enemy in a quick battle.
One ship, one medium-damaged fast oar warship...but the eight brothers sent out are now considered dead in battle, how will their identities be determined when they return in the future?"
"Are you willing to do such a good deal only once?" the middle-aged man said, "Eight people are still too few. I think people will continue to 'die' in the future... But if our warship is destroyed, it seems that it will also
As an excuse, we can 'capture' a pirate ship and bring it back as compensation if we chase it out of the sea, do you think this is good?"
"The captain is wise."
Lin Fu bit the meat with his teeth. How could the officers and soldiers be like bandits? I heard with my own ears that these officers and soldiers were more ruthless than pirates! How could they have the slightest sense of protecting the land and the people?
Even with their teeth itching with hatred, Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe hid under the boat and did not dare to move a little to alert the officers and soldiers on the boat. Soon, they felt the boat moving and slowly retreated from the river branch.
Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe did not soak in the cold autumn river water for half a day this time. They quickly found an opportunity to get on the boat and hide in the stern cabin.
Because this group of officers and soldiers only arranged for eight officers and soldiers who were "killed in battle" to pretend to be East China Sea pirates and drive the owner of the ship to escape to the sea. The other officers and soldiers pretended to pursue them on the speeding paddle boat behind them, and went out to sea one after another - the boat was still painted
After being tied to the stern of the pirate sailboat, there were even fewer people left to guard the boat, only two officers and soldiers who had changed into pirate clothes.
Since the fast oar boat kept behind and pretended to pursue them, Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe had no chance to kill and seize the boat.
The fast paddle boat "chased" behind, obviously to protect the pirate ship from going out to sea safely and to find a desert island to hide it. It had to be careful not to let other pirates pass by and be robbed. At night, just outside the seaport, the pirate ship lowered its sails and rested.
One night, the Shuiying galley warship also stopped for a day's rest. In the early morning of the next day, it set sail again and headed eastward. When it was getting dark, it docked at U on the south side of a deserted island nearly two hundred miles away from the Yangtze River outlet.
Font in the small bay.
Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe quietly got into the water, and then went to the outside of the bay and dived ashore.
Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe hid on the left and right banks of the bay, observing the deserted island in the dusk. This island was once inhabited by people. There were several dilapidated thatched sheds on the edge of the woods with most of their roofs blown off by the wind. There were also bonfires outside the woods.
There are traces of burns, the reflection of broken swords and broken halberds on the beach, and a few pieces of rotten ship planks scattered on the beach. It can be seen that there was a fierce battle here not long ago.
It may be that the pirates in the East have become more and more rampant, and the residents here have moved out; or they may have been coerced by the pirates; or it may be that in the fierce battle not long ago, the residents here were affected by the disaster; there are no fishermen here, and there are no fishermen here.
The pirates have been stationed there for a long time, and it is now an uninhabited island.
Seeing several ships anchored in the bay, I knew that officers and soldiers would spend the night on the island.
Although they were worried that Su Mei and Xiaoman's identities might be exposed, eighty or ninety officers and soldiers were on the island and there was no chance to make a move. Lin Fu and Fu Qinghe could only suppress their anxiety and wait for several ships tomorrow.
After you leave, it's the best time to take action.
They couldn't lie down on the rocks and lie in ambush all night. In order to avoid leaving traces, they walked east along the shallow water outside the beach for a while before landing. They got into the dense forest on the island and found a dry place to rest their feet.
There were also a few dry biscuits hidden, soaked by the sea water. They were salty and bitter, but they were still edible.
Fu Qinghe chewed dark dry wheat cakes and said: "Since there have been people living on the island, there should be water sources..."
Lin Fu nodded and said: "You have to endure it tonight. You can collect some dew to quench your thirst. After the officers and soldiers leave tomorrow, there should be some water and food left behind. It's a headache. They may take away the boat."
…”
"The bay is not deep enough to hide the boat. They don't want passing pirates to discover the people hiding on the island. The boat will probably take them away," Fu Qinghe said, "but after rescuing the people, we can build a raft and leave..."
Lin Fu looked at the waist knife at his feet. This knife was good for killing people, but it was too reluctant to chop wood. I don't think the officers and soldiers would leave them any handy tools. They had to build a raft and leave here before the officers and soldiers came to the island again. It was really a challenge.
Difficult project - no matter what, we will wait for the main force of officers and soldiers to leave tomorrow and rescue the people. He jumped on a chest-high boulder and wanted to observe more of the island from the gap in the forest.
Lin Fu learned from middle school geography. Most of the Yangtze River estuaries and nearby seas are sand islands, which are formed by the Jianghuai water system carrying a large amount of sediment from the upper reaches. Unlike ordinary bedrock islands that can basically maintain a stable state for thousands of years, these sand islands
Islands and sandbanks are greatly affected by the tides of rivers and seas, and they evolve continuously. When you encounter a sand island when you go out to sea, it may no longer exist in a few decades, and there is a legend that the fairy island is erratic and nowhere to be found; it may be found in
Over hundreds of years, it gradually connected with the mainland and became a new land.
The nameless island under his feet is a rare bedrock island in the nearby sea. The huge rocks under his feet are proof; the woods where they are hiding at this time are also proof - ordinary sand islands are mostly grown with grass and reeds, like
In the past, there were dozens of miles of reed marshes on Xisha Island; even if there were natural forests on the older sand islands, they were mostly shrubs. How could there be such lush trees and forests that looked more than a century old?
This desert island is not large in area. I just hid in the stern of the boat and saw the entire island from a distance. It is only four or five miles in diameter. The larger residential communities in later generations will be this large. The small sea to the south is deep.
It is considered a small natural sheltered harbor. The hilltop in the southeast of the island seems to be nearly 20 feet high and covered with dense forest.
Walking along the coast, I didn't see any creek mouths. Now is not the time to enter the dense forest to find water sources. What's more important is to recover our strength. Tomorrow, the main force of officers and soldiers will withdraw, and eight people will be left to guard them. I'm afraid these eight people won't be able to survive.