Jingzhou, lower reaches of Han River.
A fleet of more than thirty ships was heading east along the Han River.
With the west wind blowing, the sailors hoisted the sails one after another and tied them tightly with ropes.
"Boss, this west wind came just in time. I think it won't take more than three days for us to reach the river!"
A red-faced man said excitedly towards the bow of the ship while tying the sail rope.
Standing on the bow of the boat was an extremely strong man. His face is like gold, his eyes are like cold lightning, and he is looking at the rising sun in the east.
"It's not fast enough. Let the brothers dig out everything and work harder!"
The strong man just glanced at the water sideways and estimated the speed of the boat. It was obvious that this speed was far from meeting his requirements.
The red-faced man said with a sad face: "Boss, brothers have been eating, drinking and sleeping on the boat for the past few days. They haven't even had a hot meal. Today, the wind blows and we have to paddle. I'm afraid there will be some complaints. .”
The strong man frowned slightly and sighed slightly: "Brothers, you have been following me, Gan Ning, and you have suffered a lot along the way..."
"In this case, you go and send the signal now and distribute the goods Liu Jingsheng gave me to the brothers on each ship."
The red-faced man was surprised: "That's a dozen big boxes full of goods, and you want to share it, boss?"
When everyone on the boat heard about the reward, they all gathered around.
Gan Ning nodded and said: "Tell my brothers again, if we can reach the Yuzhang River within ten days, I, Gan Ning, am willing to share all the property I brought out from Yizhou!"
"I can't do this!"
Everyone on the boat immediately jumped for joy, and no longer looked as tired as before. Then I immediately grabbed the oar, pushed me around and ran to all parts of the boat, and started rowing hard.
The red-faced man swallowed, looked at several large boxes placed in the cabin, and immediately turned around to deliver the news.
After a while, the speed of the entire fleet was much faster.
On the evening of the next day, Gan Ning's fleet arrived at the mouth of the Han River.
Because this place is the mouth of a river, it should have been named "Hankou".
However, the Han River was called Xiashui in ancient times, and it was not until the Han Dynasty that it was renamed Han River. Therefore, the place where the Han River enters the river is still called "Xiakou" and is also called Miangou.
The Han River flows through the three counties of Nanyang, Nanjun and Jiangxia, and is the lifeline connecting the three counties of Jingbei. Xiakou, as the place where the Han River enters the river, is a choke point that tightly chokes the lifeline.
If you zoom in and look across the Yangtze River, Xiakou is right in the middle.
There is an endless stream of ships coming and going here every day.
The ships going down the river from Shu were mostly loaded with Shu brocade and salt; the ships going upstream from the east of the river were mostly loaded with cloth, pottery and fine rice.
Ships from all directions meet and shuttle at Xiakou.
A few years later, due to its favorable geographical location, Xiakou developed into a megacity known as the thoroughfare of nine provinces.
However, Xiakou at this time was where Huang Zu, the prefect of Jiangxia, was stationed.
The Han River flows into the Yangtze River from west to east. There was a city built on the north bank, called Shiyang City, which was the seat of Huang Zu's county seat. A city was also built on the Nan'an Mountain. Because its shape resembled the moon, it was named Queyue City.
Shiyang City and Queyue City face each other across the water, one facing the south and the other facing the Hanshui Entrance from the north.
After Gan Ning failed to rebel against Liu Zhang in Yizhou, he took his tribe down the river and fled to Jingzhou.
His hometown is in Nanyang. At that time, he went upstream from Xiakou and followed the Han River back to Nanyang.
Therefore, Gan Ning knew very well that his more than thirty ships, large and small, could not escape the watchers on Queyue City and Huang Zu's navy patrolling the water during the day.
It is impossible to pretend to be a merchant ship. There are more than 800 people on his more than 30 ships. Which merchant ship is not filled with goods, but is full of armed thugs!
It's better to dock nearby first and try your luck at night!
Finally making it to night, Gan Ning rang the bell as a signal and led the fleet to slowly sail towards Xiakou.
However, despite all the precautions, Gan Ning and his party were discovered by Huang Zu's navy.
At first, Huang Zu's navy thought they were blocking merchant ships that were trying to cross the border without paying taxes, but when a torch was thrown over, Huang Zu's soldiers on the warship were shocked.
Good guy, not to mention there are dozens of boats, they are all densely packed with big men!
Dang, Dang, Dang!
"Enemy attack!" "Enemy attack!"
Huang Zu's soldiers beat gongs and shouted, while firing three rockets into the sky to warn the water village behind.
Gan Ning let out a long sigh, knowing that his plan to sneak into Xiakou failed after all.
"Boss, it's just a Mengchong, let's force our way through it!"
"Yes, the boss will give me fifty brothers. I will go up and seize this Mengchong boat for us. Then we will rush downstream directly. I don't think they can stop us!"
The eyes of the people behind Gan Ning were shining with fire, and they were full of eagerness to try.
Gan Ning waved his hand: "That's all, my life is like this, it's not worth the risk for my brothers!"
Gan Ning naturally looked down upon the patrolling Meng Chong. But what if we capture this ship? There are still many giant ships in Huang Zu's water village.
"Let the brothers hide the guys and don't expose them easily."
"I have an old relationship with the governor under Huang Zu. As long as we don't be rough, there won't be anything important!"
"yes!"
Although everyone was unwilling to do so, they did not dare to disobey Gan Ning's decision.
Soon the sound of bells started to ring on Gan Ning's ship, and then one by one, the rhythmic sound of bells soon spread from the first ship to the last ship.
After everyone was ordered, they all carefully concealed themselves and hid their bows, crossbows, swords and arrows behind their backs. Those who were wearing armor quickly put on cloth clothes to cover themselves.
"Brothers from Jiangxia County, don't panic. I am Gan Ning Gan Xing Ba, and I am your distinguished guest from Liu Jingzhou. I passed by you last year, and I even gave dozens of pieces of Sichuan brocade to you, Governor Huang and Governor Su!"
Meng Chong's boat was lit with torches, and Gan Ning could see more and more Huang Zu's soldiers on the deck, many of whom had already begun to bend their bows and arrows, so he shouted quickly.
Meng rushed forward. Zhang Shuo, who had just been promoted to military lord, was about to order an arrow to be fired when he heard the names of Liu Biao, Huang Zu and Su Fei being announced one after another on the opposite side. He couldn't help being shocked and shouted to his left and right: "There is no one for me. Order, don’t act rashly!”
"If the enemy ship is not close, no one is allowed to fire arrows easily!"
After stabilizing his soldiers, Zhang Shuo shouted to Gan Ning: "You said you are Gan Ning, do you have proof?"
Gan Ning was stunned when he heard this. He really didn't have any valid identification.
In his early years, due to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Gan Ning took refuge in Bajun from Nanyang. He was "little powerful but good at knight-errant". He was young and frivolous, and liked to show off his power. So he gathered a group of young people who were like him. They were light knights who killed people, killed people for money, and also liked to show off.
Yizhou is famous for its Shu brocade. In his early years, in order to show off his reputation, Gan Ning not only made his subordinates wear brocade and swagger in the aisles. Wherever he went, he also liked to use expensive Sichuan brocade as a rope to maintain boats, carriages and horses.
Hence the name "Jinfan Thief".
