Seeing the three merchant ships slowly approaching, Hou Xing hinted at his men to prepare for battle. As the saying goes, "The mantis stalks the cicada, followed by the oriole." Who knows if the oriole will kill the cicada after killing the mantis? Seeing him like this, Zan Wanshou waved his hand gently. The enemy that had just suffered heavy casualties and was unable to withstand the enemy was wiped out in two rounds of shelling. If these merchant ships really wanted to attack, they would definitely not be able to withstand it with the scarred ships and the few escorts. Thinking of this, Zan Wanshou ordered someone to shout to the incoming ship.
After the official ship revealed his identity, the merchant ship also responded. They claimed that they were merchant ships coming from Bozhou. Seeing that it was getting late, they found a place among the reeds in Huiwan Bay downstream to spend the night. When they heard the shouts of killing in front of them, they knew it was a robbery by bandits, so they followed the sound and came to take advantage of the water. The bandits unexpectedly launched a surprise attack. Hearing this, Zan Wanshou let out a long breath, and immediately sent someone to contact the merchant ship, and arranged for Hou Xing to treat the wounded and clean the cabin. As for the two burning official ships, one was about to burn out and the other was also on fire, so they ignored them.
While everyone was cleaning the battlefield, a man named Yu San came aboard a merchant ship and invited Zan Wanshou to rest at a camp in the reed marsh of Huiwan five miles downstream. The weather was hot in May, and Yu San was not wearing the cloth or silk gown commonly worn by businessmen. Instead, he was only wearing a short Gua suit, exposing all his tendons. Zan Wanshou couldn't help but feel suspicious when he saw that Yu San's eyes were naked and his figure was fierce. He didn't look like a businessman at all but a soldier. However, although he is young and has little experience, he is not a pedantic person. He knows that if the other party has malicious intentions, he will not come to the rescue at all, or after killing those enemies, he will also deal with the official ship. Thinking of this, he readily agreed to Yu San's invitation.
Extremely exhausted after the battle, Zan Wanshou fell asleep in a simple tent after arriving at the reed field camp. When they woke up early the next morning, Yu San and Hou Xing were already waiting outside the tent. The three of them were eating and talking about the battle last night. According to Yu San, there were about 100 enemies who attacked the official ship. In addition to about 20 people who escaped, more than 30 people were killed and more than 30 people were lightly or seriously injured. These prisoners will be sent to the nearby government for disposal. . In addition to some daggers and shields, the most valuable items captured were the eleven small boats and the six cannons on the enemy ships. Yu San's men hurriedly moved the gunboats before they sank.
Hou Xing reported his losses to Zan Wanshou. Two of the five official ships were damaged, and all the supplies on board were also destroyed. Although the remaining three ships were damaged, they could still sail to Jiading City. The casualties among the accompanying personnel were quite serious. In addition to more than half of the scribes and sailors, thirty-six of the fifty escort sergeants were killed or wounded, leaving only fourteen with combat effectiveness. With heavy casualties, not only was the safety of the rest of the trip not guaranteed, but even the number of sailors operating the ship seemed to be stretched thin, which troubled Hou Xing quite a bit.
When Zan Wanshou heard this, he stood up and bowed deeply to Yu Xing and said: "If it had not been for the help of a righteous man, Zan would have been killed by the Perak Army. A drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring. If a righteous man had not been able to help him in the future, he would have died." If it’s difficult, just tell Zan to do it.”
Hearing this, Yu Xing stood up and laughed loudly and said: "It was not the Thunderbolt Army that attacked Lord Zan last night, but someone else."
"Does Yishi Yu know who the attacker was last night?" Hou Xing asked.
"Although Yu doesn't know who is behind the attackers, he knows that it is definitely not the Perak Army because he is a member of the Perak Army," Yu San said seriously.
At that moment, he told the two of them his identity and what he knew. Although Yu San is the deputy brigade commander of the Special Forces Brigade and a senior officer of the Perak Army, he is not aware of the conspiracy of Cao Zhizhou, Liu Daler, Yulin and others because he is not at the core decision-making level. As early as ten days ago, he led a special company to quietly go south and ambush in this reed swamp. According to the intelligence from the General Staff, hostile forces were preparing to ambush Zan Wanshou, who was going to Jiading to take up his post, and this was where the attack took place. And his mission is to destroy the enemy's conspiracy. To ensure a smooth operation, he took three gunboats disguised as merchant ships and a team of frogmen.
Zan Wanshou originally thought that the attacker was the Perak Army, but unexpectedly it was the Perak Army that saved him. Things suddenly turned around, which made him unable to recover. Regarding Yu San's statement, Hou Xing weakly raised his own doubts: "The Perak Army started with firearms and was invincible. Yesterday's attackers also had artillery, iron balls and other firearms, and they were very sharp... .." As soon as Hou Xing finished speaking, Yu San laughed and took over: "How dare those shabby Tie An pretend to be our army's sharp weapons? The firearms equipped by our militia are much better than those rags!" At that moment, he ordered The seized firearms were brought to the two men for comparison.
Zan Wanshou took a closer look at the firearms delivered and saw that the grenades used by the Perak Army were small and delicate, while the iron balls used by the attackers were large and rough. Yu San saw that Zan Wanshou was looking at it carefully and explained that the Pili Army grenade can fire just by pulling the bracelet, and it will explode shortly after landing, and the enemy will not have time to react before it will blow up. The attacker's grenade needs to be ignited with a fire stick. Not to mention the trouble, it will get wet by rain and extinguish. If the lead is too long, it will be thrown back by the enemy; if it is too short, it will explode in your hands and injure yourself. What's more important is that although the attacker's grenades are large, their power is far less than that of the Thunderbolt Army's grenades.
Seeing that Hou Xing still had doubts, Yu San set an example for them. He first threw two types of grenades into an uninhabited reed patch, and saw that the small grenade of the Perak Army knocked down at least half more reeds than the attacker's grenade. He threw the two types of grenades into the water respectively. The bulky grenade made no movement after entering the water, while the explosion of the small Pili Army grenade raised a splash of water several people high. The shock wave even brought several fish with their white bellies to the surface. . The fish had apparently been killed and knocked unconscious by grenades.
"As for the attackers' artillery, they are poorly made and can easily explode and injure themselves. Compared with our army's artillery, they are not only less powerful, but also very heavy." Yu San gestured with his hands and added. The two of them were naturally convinced by this statement. After all, just two rounds of shelling last night killed and injured more than half of the hundreds of attackers. Yu San saw that the two of them were listening intently, and became even more proud, so he continued to introduce the types of artillery of the Perak Army: light artillery, heavy artillery, fortress artillery; curved artillery, direct artillery; rifled artillery, non-rifled artillery... He also said that he only brought light artillery with him on this special operations trip. If the heavy artillery was equipped with solid ammunition, one shot could send the enemy ship to the bottom of the river. At the end, he added disdainfully: "How can we, the Perak Army, be impersonated by these young men?"
Yu San's words reassured Zan Wanshou. Yes, if the Perak Army really wanted to kill him, why bother going to all this trouble? They could just rush over and bombard them. Although his bodyguard is highly skilled in martial arts and proficient in fighting, how can his body face firearms? But who exactly attacked him? Will you take action again? When Zan Wanshou thought about this problem, he became worried again. Yu San looked at his expression and said, "Master Zan, don't worry. Since I have been ordered to come, I will escort you to Jiading smoothly."
