Along the way, Baozu Wen took great care of Changsheng. Seeing that he was worried and Changsheng couldn't bear it, he comforted him, "General Bao, you don't need to worry too much. The other official ship is going upstream, so of course it's not as fast. We were going down the river so fast, they might still be on their way back.”
"Little brother, you don't know something," said Zuwen, shaking his head. "Although they are going upstream, they can sail and take advantage of the wind. What's more, there are more than 20 oarsmen on the boat. Unless the boat is attacked by someone on the way, Interception, otherwise there will be no delay.”
Without waiting for Chang Sheng to speak, Zu Wen said again, "Our two ships are carrying military rations. The return time cannot be delayed, otherwise they will be punished by military law. How dare they be careless?"
Chang Sheng originally wanted to suggest that Zu Wen stop the boat and observe it for a few days before leaving. After hearing what Zu Wen said, he gave up the idea. This road was unworkable. No matter what happened to the other ship, The boat must go downstream on time.
Changsheng grew up in a mountain village and has little knowledge. He has not been with Taoist Master Lin and others for a long time. He hid in the mountains for three months before. He has almost no idea about the current situation. He only knows that the world is not peaceful and that everywhere in the world is not peaceful. The Jiedushi envoys held their own troops and fought in melee for years, but they didn't know who the Jiedushi envoys were, let alone whose territory they were going to pass next.
If you don't understand the situation, you can't give any reasonable suggestions and can only sigh helplessly.
Bian Zuwen said, "We passed Ezhou yesterday, and we will arrive at Xiangzhou early tomorrow morning. When we arrive at Xiangzhou, you can disembark."
After saying Zu Wenyan, he patted Changsheng on the shoulder, turned around and walked into the cabin.
Chang Sheng watched Zu Wen leave. On that day, he did not tell the truth to Liu Governor. He only said that he was going to Xiangzhou. Therefore, the messenger sent by Liu Governor told Zu Wen that he was going to Xiangzhou, but in fact he was going to Xiangzhou. Ganzhou downstream.
In this situation, we can only take one step at a time. If there is really war happening downstream, it is not a bad idea to disembark from Xiangzhou, but it will waste more time on the way. It only takes six days to take the boat from Xiangzhou to Ganzhou. But it will take at least two to three months to travel by land.
The official ship went down the river. The boss of the ship must also know that another official ship had an accident. He has been standing on the bow of the ship. When encountering ships going upstream, he will inquire about the situation downstream. However, these ships are all light boats and sampans. He was moving close by and knew nothing about the situation downstream, and he had never seen another official ship.
Although this day was uneventful, everyone's mood became heavier and heavier. They didn't encounter the returning official ship today, so something must have happened.
But regardless of whether something happened to another official ship, they could only bite the bullet and continue downstream. They were carrying military rations and had a mountain of military orders. If they were delayed, they would be beheaded.
In the evening, Changsheng met Bao Zuwen again. He wanted to find out who might have robbed another official ship, but seeing that Bao Zuwen was worried, he could only hold back this idea. Even though he knew the details, he still helped. If you're not busy, it's better not to ask around.
After staying up all night anxiously, the next morning, the boat docked at Xiangzhou Pier. Zu Wen and the boat boss immediately disembarked to inquire about the news.
The people who boarded the boat had gone down a bit from Ezhou before. This time the boat docked again and went down a lot more.
Changsheng had been undecided about whether to disembark from Xiangzhou. He was hesitating when he found out that Mrs. Zhao and her family were still on the boat. Mrs. Zhao and her party were five people. The eldest lady who was close to Chen Liqiu was her daughter. Apart from their mother and daughter, Along with the maid, and two martial master-looking followers.
After weighing for a long time, Chang Sheng finally stayed on the ship for two reasons. First, he did not know martial arts and it would take several months to travel by land. The war was chaotic and the journey would be even more dangerous. The second is that this girl Zhao is Chen Liqiu's confidante. Although he has no ability to protect them, he can still do what he can in case something unexpected happens. At the worst, he can know the situation of Miss Zhao.
At Chenshi, Zu Wen and the boss of the boat came back. It was not until Zu Wen pulled up the anchor and sailed the boat that he realized Chang Sheng had not gotten off the boat. "Little brother, why are you still on the boat?"
"My schedule has changed. I have to go to Ganzhou," Changsheng said, then asked, "General, do you have any news about that boat?"
Pai Zuwen shook his head and said, "No, our two ships are not under the jurisdiction of Xiangzhou, and they don't pay attention to our whereabouts, but according to them, there doesn't seem to be any fighting downstream."
"There was no war. Who intercepted that ship?" Changsheng asked.
Pai Zuwen waved his hand and said, "As long as there is no war, I am not very worried. What I am most afraid of is the rebellion by the rebels. Ordinary water pirates would not dare to attack the official ship. Maybe the ship ran aground and was damaged somewhere. Make repairs everywhere.”
Hearing what Zuwen said, Changsheng felt relieved. He was nervous and didn't sleep much last night. After Zuwen left, he went back to the room to lie down and rest.
The weather was already very hot at this time. After lunch, Changsheng came to the shade of the side of the ship. There were many benches on the ship. He took one and sat on the bench to enjoy the cool breeze.
At this time, in addition to the officers, soldiers and oar workers, there were only less than thirty people on the boat. These people were all going to Ganzhou, including Zhao's mother and daughter.
There are many forks along the river. Some rivers flow into the river, and some tributaries are diverted from the river to other places. At midnight, two tributaries appeared ahead. These two tributaries are branches of the river, one in the north and one in the south. .
Because of the tributaries that divide the water, the water flow of the river is not as fast as that in the upper reaches. There are several small sampans casting nets for fishing at the diversion of the two tributaries.
Seeing the official ship going down the river from upstream, the small sampans left the tributary one after another and rowed towards the official ship.
Changsheng stood at a high place and was the first to notice that something was wrong. He hurried back to the cabin and shouted a warning, "General, there are several small boats approaching us."
Pa Zuwen had not had a good rest in the past few days. He was resting in the cabin at this time. Hearing Changsheng's warning, he hurriedly got up and rushed out of the cabin.
Seeing that the boats were acting suspiciously, Zu Wen immediately shouted an order and summoned the officers and soldiers to guard the grain.
Before all the officers and soldiers who were escorting the food ran out of the cabin, the awning of one of the small boats was suddenly lifted off, and a man jumped out of it, riding the waves and rushing towards the big ship.
Although most people in the world are good at Qinggong, it is not easy to practice it to the level of riding the waves. There is no doubt that this person is a master.
"He's from the Beggar Clan." The soul of the Immortal Dead appeared. Although he didn't recognize the person, he recognized the person's clothes. The disciples of the Beggar Clan all had yellow cloth patches on their chests. Because the distance was too far, he could count them. It's unclear how many patches the man has on his chest, but he can only vaguely see a lot of them.
The man walked quickly on the waves, and after a while he approached the official ship. Using the force of his steps on the ship, he turned around and climbed onto the second deck.
This person seemed to know that the rudder was on the second floor. After jumping on the deck, he immediately unsheathed his sword and rushed into the helm cabin.
Chang Sheng could not see what happened next, but before Zu Wen and others could get down to the second floor, the official ship began to turn and slow down.
As soon as the official ship slowed down, several other sampans took the opportunity to approach. Each sampan had two beggar gang disciples. One was dressed as a fisherman and the other was hiding in the canopy of the boat. They stayed close to the official ship, and the beggar gang was hiding under the canopy. The disciples used Qinggong one after another to board the boat.
After these people boarded the ship, they immediately started fighting with Ba Zuwen and others, and screams were heard immediately.
Changsheng hates and fears the Beggar Clan disciples the most. These people do all kinds of evil and can do anything.
The incident happened suddenly, and he was not sure if these Beggar Clan disciples were coming for him. He could swim, and the current here was slow, so he would not drown if he jumped into the river, but these Beggar Clan disciples came here in a boat. , even if he jumped into the water, they could punt and catch him.
Just when he was hesitating, a Beggar Clan disciple jumped from the second floor to the third deck. He saw a bald man holding a walking stick standing in front of him. He thought he was a monk and slapped him when he came up. "Where did the bald ass come from? He's so damn depressed."
The other party's slap was a forceful one, and Chang Sheng was knocked to the ground directly. The Beggar Clan disciple ignored him and rushed straight into the cabin.
Most of the people who boarded the boat were family members of officials, and many were accompanied by martial arts masters. When they saw the thieves boarding the boat, they all stepped forward to stop them with their swords drawn out. However, this disciple of the Beggar Clan was very skilled in martial arts and slashed all the way in. No one was his opponent.
Although the Beggar Clan was small in number, they were all experts. Although the officers and soldiers were larger in number, they were no match for them. They killed them all in just a moment.
The Beggar Clan disciples then divided into two groups. A few people restrained the helmsman and ordered him to sail the official ship into the north branch. The other people came to the third floor and drove the people in the cabin to the deck and robbed them of the gold they carried. Silver money.
There were also men among the people on the boat. One of them, an old man, saw the Beggar Gang robbing and committing murder, so he stepped forward on a crutch and said, "Bold bandit, do you know who I am?"
"I don't care who you are!" A disciple of the Beggar Clan used his knife with his backhand and chopped off the old man's head.
The old man's body fell not far from Changsheng. After his head was chopped off, blood spurted out for more than five feet, spraying all over his head and face without hesitation.
Those pampered female relatives had never seen such a bloody scene. They were horrified and screamed.
"Shut up," a Beggar Clan disciple shouted angrily, "If you dare to yell again, I will be killed directly."
After being scolded, everyone no longer dared to say anything. Several Beggar Clan disciples, armed with sharp knives, searched for everyone's money one by one.
By this time, Changsheng already knew that these Beggar Gang disciples were not here for him, but to rob the rice grains on the ship and the money of the people who boarded the ship. Another official ship must have also been robbed by them.
At this moment, a Beggar Clan disciple came nearby. After plundering an old woman's money, he saw the monk he had knocked down earlier wiping the blood from his face. He felt disgusted and kicked him out. He kicked off the boat.
This man exerted all his strength with this kick. Changsheng almost lost his breath. It was not until he was jolted by the cold river water after falling into the water that he regained his breath. He knew how to swim. After falling into the water, he was face up again, worried about the nearby sampan. When the Beggar Clan disciples on the board came close to kill him, they simply stayed still, closed their eyes and pretended to be dead.
The official ship changed its course to the north under the control of the Beggar Clan disciples, and he drifted straight downstream.
After being far away from the official boat, Changsheng turned over, stepped on the water and looked out. The official boat had sailed into the northern tributary, and the sampans and small boats also left with it.
He was currently in the middle of the river, and the current was not very fast. He had two options at the moment. One was to swim south and go ashore from the south. This would keep him away from the Beggar Clan, and there was no need to cross the river to get to Ganzhou.
The second is to swim north and land from the north.
The Beggar Gang robbed an official ship in broad daylight. This was a legitimate rebellion. Although the Beggar Gang committed all kinds of evil, they did not have the courage to openly rebel. Moreover, they were not masked to hide their identities, which showed that they were not prepared to survive at all. , kill them all, and the news will not leak out.
After anxious thoughts, Changsheng swam north. Chen Liqiu's confidante was still on the boat. He had to try to rescue him...
