Li Jinglong said to Xia Xun that he would set off in five days, he took 5,000 officers and soldiers of the Beijing battalion, and there were invitations from officials from all walks of life along the way, and he stopped and stopped, although Hangzhou was not far from Jinling, and he had to delay for a lot of time, so it seemed that Xia Xun could grab at least half a month's time, and if he wanted to avoid Li Jinglong from giving him small shoes to wear, he had to find out some practical and useful information within half a month.
However, he didn't get any useful information from Li Jinglong, Jin Yiwei didn't have many secret agents with public activities outside of Yingtian now, and no one specifically spying on the news of those pirates, this information was not necessary for the current Jin Yiwei, so he couldn't borrow the power of Jin Yiwei.
It is also not appropriate to inquire about the local government, and if the local government has information that is really valuable, the imperial court does not need to send a prince to take charge of the suppression of bandits.
What's more, even the officers and soldiers of the guard station have the eyes and ears of pirates, how can there be no fear that as soon as he arrives at the door, he will be known by someone with a heart, so Xia Xun can't take this risk.
In this way, he has to rely on himself, but he is not familiar with the world, and the only way to start is the market, and how much credibility is the information he gets from the market In order to get first-hand information, Xia Xun passed through Hangzhou without entering, went directly to Haining County, and rushed to Yanguan Town, the closest to the Qiantang River.
Haining County was Haining Prefecture in the Yuan Dynasty, and was reduced to Haining County in the second year of Hongwu, which was under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou Prefecture, and there was Shidun Town Patrol Division in the southeast of the county; In the northwest of the county, there is the Ochre Mountain Town Patrol Division.
In the third year of Hongwu, Haining Wei was set up here, and in the twentieth year of Hongwu, Haining was set up to guard thousands of households.
It stands to reason that there are two inspection divisions to maintain local law and order, and there is an officer and soldier of the Thousand Households Office who are in charge of coastal defense, and this place should be unusually peaceful, but because this place is close to the sea, there are often pirates landing, and the information obtained by Jingli, Ling Potian and a group of pirates, appeared here.
Xia Xun thought that such a not peaceful place must be very poor, but when he arrived here, he found that it was unusually prosperous, all kinds of fish, shrimp, crabs and mussels and other seafood, and even various styles of Chinese and foreign goods, all of which were sold on the street.
Just like the old Shanghai in the thirties, there is a kind of prosperity in the chaotic atmosphere.
Xia Xun wandered on the street for a while, and two people gradually came into his sight, and these two people walked in front of him, one in his early thirties, with handsome eyebrows, a thin waist, long hands and long feet, and his demeanor was vigorous.
The other was more than ten years older than him, with a beard, a tall and burly figure, a little rosacea red on the tip of his nose, and a face full of horizontal flesh, very fierce.
Xia Xun noticed them because of their skin color and their feet.
Both men were barefoot, with trouser legs and clothes tied around their waists, their broad shoulders and strong chests, their skin dark and swarthy, faintly revealing copper coin-like lines, like rusty bronze.
Xia Xun once lived by the water with Hu Jiuliu for a year, and he knew that this skin color, commonly known as rust, was a kind of stain caused by living on water all year round, often entering and exiting big rivers, and not bathing with clean water in time.
And their bare feet, with long toes and flare like goose flippers, and they fall silently to the ground, and they have a steady grip on the ground, which only sailors who stand barefoot on the deck all year round have such a mark.
Xia Xun's heart moved, since these two people have been begging for a living on the water all year round, they may have some understanding of pirates, so he immediately followed behind these two people.
The two of them were very familiar with Yanguan Town, and walked with a smile, and turned into a bluestone alley, and soon appeared next to a river, the river was leisurely, slightly turbid, and there was green grass in the water like silky wisps, and on both sides of the river bank were riverbanks built with stones, and on each side of the riverbank there was a wooden promenade hanging out of the water, and there was an earthy yellow fence near the water, and on the other side was an inn, a tavern, and a shop selling groceries.
Some people are in and out of the store, some people are sitting and chatting under the fence, whether they are sitting or walking, the pace of life is extremely leisurely, the pace of life here is obviously much slower than that of Yanjing like Ying Tianfu, standing here, your pace will slow down unconsciously, even if there is something in your heart, the mood will not be so impatient, compared with the noisy and noisy city, this is the rhythm that a seaside town should have.
Xia Xun watched them walk into an old hotel, and then walked in.
Dried tofu, duck breast, the two big men ordered a few small dishes with wine at random, asked people to warm the pot of wine, sat down at the window, Xia Xun also ordered a few things at random, and listened to their chat, so as to find an excuse to make friends with them.
The small shop is very quiet, Xia Xun noticed that there is a table of guests in the store, and there is a pot-bellied woman sitting in front of the table opposite, about thirty years old, next to an old man in his fifties, the two of them look a little similar, like a father and daughter, the two of them ordered a few light side dishes, and were whispering something there, and there were two children standing next to them, looking at the outfits, they should be the servants of the family.
Xia Xun retracted his attention, listened attentively to the chat between the two big men, only listened to them talk about how much money these ships could make, and what did they say which girl in Lichun Courtyard in the east of the town was funny, laughing while talking, very happy, Xia Xun couldn't talk about the topic at all, and couldn't help but be secretly anxious.
At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and someone rushed to it, because the corridor hanging on the water was paved with a wooden boardwalk, and it could be heard from afar.
A sturdy man in his early twenties, also with his shoulders bare, appeared at the door, panting and said, "Big brother, the officers and soldiers are here."
Xia Xun's heart moved, Qu Ran looked up, and saw the burly forty-year-old man standing up suddenly.
Xia Xun said in his heart: "This person is the boss, they are pirates."
But in a blink of an eye, seeing another man in his thirties, Xia Xun immediately changed his opinion, this person should be the boss, he was still sitting there and raising a glass to drink, when the person outside came to report the news, his wine glass was just raised to his mouth, and after listening to the person's report, he was not in a hurry, this glass of wine drank slowly and methodically, wiped his mouth, and then asked calmly: "How many people, are you sure they are coming to us?"
The man at the door hurriedly said: "About a dozen people, led by a small flag, came here, thinking that someone recognized the face of the eldest brother and secretly reported it to the officers and soldiers." ” The shopkeeper was settling accounts, hearing this, he raised his head in surprise, holding a brush in his hand, looking at a loss, and the table of drinkers next to him was also a little surprised, standing up to leave, but the big man who reported the news was standing at the door, the small shop was not big, and the door of this small hotel near the water in the south of the Yangtze River was also very small.
The man at the door hurriedly said, "Big brother, let's go quickly."
The middle-aged man raised his glass and poured wine, the wine was as thin as a hanging thread, and it was firmly in the cup, not messing up at all, he smiled calmly and said: "Don't worry, Ah Mei is trading, since someone recognizes us, then let's delay for a moment more and attract more people to come, so that Ah Mei will be safe." ” He glanced at the panicked old man and woman, and said with a smile: "You flash to the side, I Xu Hu will leave after eating wine, and I will not hurt the lives of innocent people."
Old Lei, what are you panicking, sit down, wait for them to come" Xia Xun was excited in his heart, stepping on the iron shoes and finding nowhere to go, it took no effort to get them, and he didn't think that these people were pirates.
It is said that there are at least hundreds of large and small pirate gangs in the East China Sea, in case they are just a small so-called gang, or they don't know Ling Potian's news at all, wouldn't it be a big loss to expose their identities for this It would be too nonsense to help them repel the officers and soldiers, make up an identity and break into their interior, and it would be too nonsense to blend into the gangsters so easily, even if they really believed it, what if they let themselves hand in a letter of surrender or drag me to the sea, and it would take a year and a half before I could go ashore with them At this moment, Xia Xun had a few thoughts in his heart, all of which felt inappropriate, and when he was hesitating, the footsteps of a group of officers and soldiers were like thunder, and they had already roared, and one of the colonels saw Xu Hu sitting upright through the window, and immediately pointed to him: "It's him" The little flag officer immediately waved his hand and shouted majestically: "Take him down" The officers and soldiers immediately rushed over with knives and guns, and the woman with Liujia retreated in a panic, and the old man said hurriedly: "Don't hurt my daughter."
And he escorted the woman into the corner.
Xu Hu called with a smile: "Old Lei, it's up to you" The big man surnamed Lei stood up suddenly, and the stool under his buttocks was already in his hands, only to see him shout: "Open" There was a loud click, and an extremely strong stool was actually broken in two by him like rotten wood, and the big man surnamed Lei held a broken stool in each hand, roared, and rolled out like a black whirlwind.
The corridor was extremely narrow, the soldiers were crowded together, and they couldn't be used, and some of them were even more in the way, and the big black man held two stools in his hand, and he shouted like thunder all the way to the past, like a whirlwind and clouds, and many soldiers had no chance to make a move, so they were squeezed down the river by their own people who hurriedly retreated and dodged.
There are those who can barely parry a few moves, and they can't help the two stools that dance like a windmill surnamed Lei, are beaten to the ground, and the black man is killed, and his arms are dancing like a windmill all the way to the past.
The big man on the side picked up a gun, and he was eager to try, but he didn't even have a chance to help.
Xia Xun couldn't help but be taken aback when he saw this scene, this big man surnamed Lei has a bit of brute strength, this place is narrow, and he can't use his tricks, even if I make a move, I'm afraid I won't be able to bargain.
Looking at Xu Hu who was sitting calmly, I don't know how deep his kung fu is, I'm afraid I can't take him easily, as soon as he thought of this, Xia Xun calmed down, and pretended to be a panicked diner, retreating to a corner To be continued: