Taihu Lake, known as Zhenze, Juqu, Wuhu and Lize in ancient times, is one of the five largest freshwater lakes in China.
It rests on the Yangtze River in the north, faces the sea in the east, and faces the Tianmu Mountains in the southwest. It is surrounded by many lakes and has forty or fifty rivers flowing in and out. The land in the basin is fertile and the products are abundant. It has been a treasure land in the world since ancient times.
Especially after the Song Dynasty's southern migration, the Taihu Basin suddenly became the political and economic center, and the population surged.
In order to develop agriculture and increase food production, large areas of rivers, lakes, and even entire lakes were reclaimed, and mountains and forests were destroyed, resulting in soil erosion and shallow rivers and lakes.
After human activities have made the environment more serious, floods and droughts have occurred from time to time. On average, there is a flood every five or six years, a drought every ten years, and occasionally there are tides.
After each disaster, there will be many people who have lost their livelihood. Some become refugees and may come back to rebuild their homes after relief, but some also become bandits and hide on various islands in the lake.
At present, on Jiaoshan Island in the northwest of the lake, there is a water bandit of more than 600 people. The leader is named Jiang Manhai, who brazenly calls himself the "Five Tiger King".
The shape of Jiaoshan Island is a bit like a duck with a big head and a big mouth, or a lightning symbol, and the water village is built on the duck's neck in the middle of the island.
In a wooden house in the village, Ding Zhigao and his father Ding Shouweng were talking.
"Da Lang, would that traitorous king really leave Lin'an for a woman?"
"Dad, this can only be very possible. That day in the fifth building, my son noticed that the traitor king looked at Wanwan in a wrong way. Didn't the half-que words later prove that he really likes Wanwan?"
"It's a pity that you accidentally broke this secret. Otherwise, our family may never be able to avenge this great hatred. Now I just hope that God will open his eyes again and make the traitor king really faint and leave Lin'an. !”
It turned out that Ding Zhigao, as the grandson of Ding Daquan, had also been hanging out in Taixue before, and lived in the same room as Liu Weizhen. However, the two dandies did not like each other and did not obey the other. However, he had a good relationship with Wang Hanzhen and others.
Almost two months ago, the Ding family planned to leave Lin'an and return to their hometown in Zhenjiang with Ding Daquan's coffin after Ding Daquan's first seven days were over.
Before leaving, Ding Zhigao invited Wang Hanxian and others to gather together. During the chat, he couldn't help but tease Liu Weizhen. Wang Hanxian took it as an embarrassment that his unmarried daughter-in-law had the same name as the person whom King Yan loved.
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional. Ding Zhigao was extremely sensitive to things related to his enemies, so he kept it in his heart. After returning home, he told his father, Ding Shouweng, that both father and son felt that this incident might not be a coincidence, and that they might be able to dig out something. secret.
So through Ding Daquan's connections during his lifetime, he made many inquiries, and finally confirmed that Wanwan was Ruochu. After all, several ladies from official families were present at the time, so this matter was not a secret in a small area.
At first, they wanted to use this incident to discredit King Yan, ruin the reputation of this big enemy, and incidentally provoke the Liu family's hatred towards King Yan.
"The story that King Yan and his wives have to tell"...
But considering the consequences of being found out by King Yan, the Ding family father and son were still afraid, so they could only give up unwillingly, hid the matter in their hearts, and left Lin'an sadly.
It's just that when the house leaks and it rains all night, unlucky people will generally be even more unlucky.
When the Ding family returned to Zhenjiang and passed through Taihu Lake, their boat was hijacked by the Five Tiger Kings. Jiang Manhai saw that the Ding family and his son were scholars and knew their identities, so he forced them to join his gang.
This Jiang Manhai was originally from Zhenze Town, Wujiang County. More than ten years ago, he had a grudge against the Liu family from the same town, so he had no choice but to escape to Taihu Lake and become a bandit. Soon he gathered a team of nearly a thousand people and started activities in the east of Hudong area. , living comfortably by plundering passing merchant ships.
Jiang Manhai is a man with some brains and acts in a measured manner. He usually does not kill all the ships. The stopped ships are released after paying a certain toll, so they do not attract much attention from the government.
The government also organized several armed sieges, but they were just a waste of money and food, and no profit was made. Later, they gradually ignored them, and the disaster was not big anyway.
But five years ago, after Liu Xiuli took over as the governor of Anji Prefecture, he began to carry out encirclement and suppression campaigns again, but he never achieved much results. Then he switched to recruiting troops. Unfortunately, Jiang Manhai was already related to the Liu family.
Qiu, how could you agree?
He did not agree, but his second-in-command Fangtang was bribed by Liu Xiuli, so there was a merger three years ago. Jiang Manhai finally had to flee with dozens of his confidants and give up his foundation.
After losing his hometown, Jiang Manhai had no choice but to go to the west of Taihu Lake to hang out, and slowly built up a team again. Especially after a major flood last year, his team swelled to four to five hundred people.
However, because there were more and more water bandits in Taihu Lake, the number of merchant ships gradually decreased, and Jiang Manhai's life became difficult again. Sometimes he could only venture to the Yangtze River to find food, so he began to plan to find another way out.
After the Ding family and his son joined the team, they naturally needed the advice of these two great scholars. After several calculations, a not-so-reliable plan was born.
Kidnap King Yan, then cross the sea and go north to join the Mongols!
If this thing comes to pass, it can be blamed on the Liu family, which is simply killing two birds with one stone, perfect.
The problem now is that King Yan will leave Lin'an, which is purely speculation by the Ding family and his son. They have been waiting for more than a month, and there is no sign at all. The Ding family and his son cannot help but become anxious.
Just when the father and son were at a loss and praying for God to open their eyes, a rush of footsteps came.
"The pigeon... the pigeon... the pigeon is back!" A middle-aged man, holding a gray pigeon in his hand, was very excited.
Ding Zhigao rushed forward, grabbed the gray pigeon, untied the small cylinder from its feet, removed the wax seal, took out a paper roll, unfolded it and took a closer look.
"Hahaha... Dad! I guessed it right, I guessed it right! The traitorous king is really here!"
"real!?"
Ding Shouweng took the scroll and after reading it quickly, he was overjoyed and said, "God helps my Ding family to take revenge! Let's go and report this to the King of Heaven!"
In Juyi Hall, Jiang Manhai was receiving a guest.
This guest is well-dressed and looks out of place in the water village. The key is that he is as short as a boy.
Jiang Manhai is obviously a rough guy, he doesn't know a few Chinese characters, but he likes to pretend to be elegant and speak in an airy tone, "Brother Kusano, you haven't been here for a while, but you have made a fortune, so you look down on me?" "
As usual, Kusano Asa bowed slightly, with a smile on his face, and his tone was a little weird, "The king is joking, we are old friends, why should I look down on you? I am really busy with mundane affairs and can't spare time."
"Haha, now that you have the Liu family as your new friends, your old friends won't matter anymore."
"I am a businessman, and I am talking about business. But please rest assured, King, no matter how much goods you have, I will buy them all. The price remains the same. I will never treat my old friend badly."
Jiang Manhai was actually just complaining, and what he valued most was the transaction, "Haha, brother Kusano is so cool, so for this transaction, I hope you will pay mainly in gold and silver. If it is not enough, I will use copper ingots to make up for it. What do you think?"
This request was actually in line with Kusano Asa's intention, because all the copper ingots he brought this time had to be traded with the Liu family.
The two discussed the details for a while and finalized the cooperation.
"Well, just like before, ten days later, we will trade at sea!"
153. Taihu Water Bandits
