Time goes back to the night before.
While lighting beacons and launching rockets in Shiyang City, Gan Ning also had a clear look on the boat.
Gan Ning had anticipated this and immediately ordered everyone: "Turn around!"
Everyone was shocked: "Captain, Xiakou is in the south, now we are turning around to the north!"
Gan Ning narrowed his eyes: "Why, the action is not over yet, and it's hard for me to speak?"
Everyone: "But if we go north, how can we go back?"
Gan Ning snorted coldly: "Queyue City is holding Miankou hostage. If we run south now, can we run faster than the patrol boat departing from Queyue City?"
"When the time comes, there will be interceptions in front and pursuers behind, and our lives will be at stake!"
Everyone was silent.
But there are still some people who are lucky and say: "We will row hard and rely on our speed to find a way out."
Gan Ning's expression suddenly changed, he glanced at everyone, and said majestically: "Have you forgotten the oath of alliance made in front of General Yuan before boarding the ship?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this.
The commander's lips moved. Now that he had completed his task, he wanted to return to the camp as soon as possible.
But in the end, the commander finally spoke: "Get on the boat, cross the river, advance or retreat, live or die, all are at the command of Captain Gan!"
Everyone was discouraged. They thought they would be able to return to the south bank in a while and record a great military exploit. However, they did not expect that in the end they would go in the opposite direction.
Let's play and make trouble, no one dares to take the oaths they have sworn as farts.
Everyone was reluctant, but they could only repeat in unison: "Advance, retreat, life or death, all depends on Captain Gan!"
"Turn the helm!"
Following the commander's order, the men had no choice but to turn around and steer northward.
Gan Ning secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Speaking of it, these Yuan Jun had only known him for less than a few hours, so it was impossible for them to obey him.
Before and during action, under high pressure, these people can still follow themselves.
But after the task is completed, the fish falls into the sea, and the pressure on the shoulders is reduced, everyone will inevitably have more to worry about.
If Gan Ning had not made the oath at the beginning, he would have had to spend more words and words to convince these temporary subordinates.
In fact, Gan Ning had no intention of going back to Xiakou directly from the beginning, and the howling in Shiyangjin was also intended to confuse Jiang Xiajun.
Who would have thought that I had just finished causing trouble in Shiyang City, and not only did I not run away, but I also hid behind your house?
The sky was slightly brighter, and the boats finally reached a reed marsh.
Different from the Jianghan Plain of later generations, the ancient Jianghan Plain was covered with swamps and lakes, with very little land, hence the name Yunmengze.
As the most famous ancient Daze, Yunmengze still had a large scale in the Later Han Dynasty, although its area had shrunk greatly.
At this time, the vast area between the south of the lower reaches of the Han River and the north of the Yangtze River still belonged to the category of Yunmengze.
Although the scenery is meandering, the runoff of the Han River at this time varies greatly in different seasons because of the water distribution.
Many times, the Han River is extremely short of water in autumn and winter. Near the mouth of the river, only two stern battleships are needed to block the river.
The amount of water is the largest in summer, which is one of the reasons why Hanshui is also called "Xiashui".
For example, "Shui Jing Zhu·Xia Shui" talks about why Xia Shui got its name: "Fu Xia was named after the Fenjiang River, which dries up in winter and flows in summer, so it is called Najue."
It's late autumn now, and although this year's Hanshui River has declined somewhat due to the season, it's still quite abundant.
After setting aside a lush reed swamp, these boats also walked from the Han River to a swamp.
Gan Ning stood up, raised his right hand high, and shook the bell in his hand.
Not long after, many small boats emerged from the reeds around the swamp, surrounding Gan Ning and others.
Seeing that Soldier Yuan's soldiers were facing a formidable enemy, Gan Ning just smiled and said: "Relax, these people on the boat are all my troops."
The boats came closer at first, but when they got closer, they recognized Gan Ning and immediately got close to him.
"Boss!"
All the men said excitedly.
"Where's Lao Ba?"
Gan Ning scanned the circle of ships and saw all the leaders, except for the red-faced man.
Someone explained: "Lao Ba went to explore the road and said he would be back at dawn!"
Gan Ning nodded. He had asked Lao Ba to explore the way before going up to the boat.
I just didn’t expect that he hadn’t come back yet.
"Boss, you must have joined the Jiangxia Army to take us to Jiangxia Town?"
Someone recognized the clothes and armor worn by Sergeant Yuan and said doubtfully.
Gan Ning was stunned and said with a smile: "I have been to Jiangxia Town before, it's not interesting."
"I have already set the city on fire. I am here now to pick you up and join you to surrender to General Yuan!"
As soon as they heard Gan Ning's words, everyone immediately exploded and said excitedly: "Mother, no wonder I saw a fire in Jiangxia Town just now. It turned out to be the leader!"
"Besides the leader, who else is rushing to pull out the teeth from the tiger's mouth?"
"That's right!"
Although Shiyang City is the seat of Jiangxia County, it can also be called Jiangxia Town because it is not a county seat but a military town.
In fact, the Jiangxia Army generals themselves were accustomed to calling Shiyang City Jiangxia Town.
"We are going to join General Yuan. According to me, the water here is dense and it is the most suitable for doing our old job."
"You can go in and out of the river, and you can go back to Daze when you retreat. What can the official ship do to us?"
"Wouldn't it be a pleasure to have a light boat traveling freely?"
An old Jinfan thief muttered.
"Although it's fun, you want to be a thief for the rest of your life!"
Gan Ning scolded him softly, but he didn't mean to scold him.
"What's wrong with being a thief? You can do whatever you want, grab whatever you want, and play with whichever woman you want..."
The little boss muttered in a low voice.
Gan Ning didn't care and directly opened his coat, revealing the chainmail underneath.
This time everyone's attention was attracted.
"This, this, this...is this fish scale armor?"
"You are silly, fish scale armor is made up of scales. This armor is much more delicate than fish scale armor!"
"If you can, tell me what this is?"
"Why do I want to know that I still need to be a thief?"
As they talked, these people jumped on Gan Ning's boat and started touching it, but Gan Ning didn't mind at all.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is still a piece of soft armor!"
"I asked why it is so shiny. It turns out it is made of these small iron rings!"
"How many small hoops do you need to make such a thing? Boss, please move around and let's take a look."
Gan Ning turned around, and everyone's surprise became even louder: "This is more personal-fitting than leather armor!"
"This is called chain armor!" Gan Ning showed off.
Yuan Jun, who was walking on the waterfront, saw Gan Ning twisting and turning to show off, and he couldn't help but thought to himself: Wasn't he just given an armor by our young general? What's the air?
There are also this group of bumpkins, all of whom have never seen the world, and they don’t even know what this soft armor is called.
All right.
To be honest, we are also envious, we have never seen the world!
But we are regular troops. Although we are angry, we will not say it.
Gan Ning patted his chest and pointed behind him: "This armor was personally gifted by General Yuan. These people on the boat I brought are also soldiers under General Yuan's command!"
Gan Ning's subordinates were all surprised: "General Yuan? Which General Yuan?"
"Is it that General Yuan Yaoyuan?"
"How bold, how dare you call General Yangwei by name!"
The commander of the village suddenly changed his color and pulled out his saber.
The person who spoke also knew that he had said the wrong thing, and quickly slapped himself in the mouth gently.
"Hey, don't blame me, it's my fault."
"Boss, have you seen General Yuan?"
"But isn't General Yuan in Yuzhang County? Why is he here?"
Faced with everyone's incessant inquiries, Gan Ning just smiled and said: "It's a long story. In short, if we go to see General Yuan, we will have a way out!"
"..."
While everyone was talking, someone suddenly shouted: "Lao Ba is back! Lao Ba is back from exploring the road."
The red-faced man Lao Ba is also an old Jinfan thief. He is best at rowing. No matter it is in a fast river or a lake with dense water and grass, a boat with Lao Ba on it can always run smoothly.
Moreover, this man is born with a strong sense of smell for hydrology. As long as he takes a look at the water surface of any river or lake, he will know how deep it is and whether there are undercurrents and rocks. As for whether it is stagnant water or living water, he can tell it by smelling it with his nose with his eyes closed.
Especially for this last skill, Gan Ning could count on Lao Ba to find a waterway that would bypass Miangkou and go straight to the Yangtze River.
This is not impossible. The rivers and lakes of the Jianghan Plain in later generations can be said to be densely populated with stars. However, it is still not comparable to the Yunmengze period.
You must know that at this time, Yunmengze has not been completely silted up by the silt brought by the Yangtze River and Han River, nor has it been completely silted up to create farmland. The Great Jianghan Plain has not yet been formed.
Instead, rivers and lakes are connected, big rivers are connected to small rivers, and the waves are thousands of miles away!
And everyone is now riding in small boats, which can theoretically cross the vast swamp.
When the red-faced man saw Gan Ning, he was happy at first, and then his face fell.
Jumping on the boat, the red-faced man lowered his head and said: "Boss, I have checked everything you told me, but..."
Gan Ning looked at him and had an idea in his mind: "Just what?"
The red-faced man said: "It's almost winter now, and the water level of the Han River has dropped drastically, and it has been cut off from many lakes..."
"Many lakes have not been filled with running water and have turned into swamps, making it impossible to sail boats."
Gan Ning frowned, looked at the dozens of boats around him, and thought to himself: Is it possible that he can only force his way into Miangkou?
Abandoning ship and landing was definitely not possible. With the muddy and swampy terrain on both sides of the Han River, taking the land route was too risky.
If one move is not done well, the whole army may be annihilated.
Taking a deep breath, Gan Ning made a decision: "Send someone to keep an eye on Miankou. If there is any situation, report to me at any time!"
…
It's morning again.
Gan Ning was a little restless and couldn't take a nap.
At this moment, a light boat quickly sailed into the swamp.
The man on the bow of the boat shouted: "Boss, there is a stern ship in Miankou that broke through the Jiangxia Army patrol ship blockade. It seems that it is going to the south bank!"
Gan Ning got out of the cabin and kicked the sleeping red-faced old man awake: "Wake up, wake up, get up and steer!"
When Gan Ning and others rowed a small boat and arrived several miles north of Miangkou to observe, they saw nothing else on the river except some broken shipboards and broken wood, and Jiangxia warships sailing back.
…
It wasn't until that night that something favorable to Gan Ning and others finally appeared in Miangkou.
There is actually no patrol boat in Miangou tonight!
Although he didn't understand what was going on, Gan Ning decided to give it a try.
After throwing all the redundant things on the ship, including Gan Ning's six boxes of treasures, off the ship, and all the burdens that could be relieved, more than thirty fast boats began to fly across Miangou at full speed.
Not only did they not hold lamps, everyone remained silent, holding wood pulp in their hands and just rowing with their heads down.
Only the occasional ringing of bells reminded ships to keep a safe distance.
In this way, Gan Ning crossed Miankou without any danger and arrived at the south bank safely.
