Ximen Shan nodded and agreed with Hongxing's handling method. Hongxing immediately ordered her servants to clean up the scene and dig holes to bury the murdered gangsters. Luo Chuan and Fei Ying also came to help, but Hongxing's dissuasion failed, so they had to let them do it. Everyone quickly finished cleaning up, and it was almost dusk.
Hongxing invited the four people from Ximenshan into the courtyard and sat down in the living room. Just as she was about to speak, someone came in and said, "Mrs. Qichen, Mr. Zheng and his men are almost at the door."
Hongxing was overjoyed and turned to Ximen Shan and said, "Senior Ximen, please sit down for a moment while I go to greet the distinguished guests."
As soon as Hongxing finished speaking, she heard someone at the door shout loudly: "Don't bother me, my eldest brother has already come in!"
Everyone looked over after hearing the sound and saw four people filing in. The first person to go was a man in his fifties, followed by two young men and women in their twenties, and the last one to come in was Dong Xue.
Hongxing hurriedly stood up to greet her, cupped her hands and said, "Brother, thank you for your hard work!"
The person who came was none other than Zheng Lang, the chief escort of the Bafang Escort Bureau. The men and women behind him were Lu Mei, the daughter of the deputy chief escort of the Bafang Escort Bureau, and his second son Zheng Bai.
Zheng Lang said unhappily: "Sister-in-law, your late husband and I are sworn brothers. It's hard work or not. My brother is gone, so I should take good care of my younger brother and sister, not to mention that my younger brother and sister saved my life. Sister-in-law, look. The criminals have been beaten away?"
Hongxing nodded and said: "That's right. Fortunately, the four seniors Ximen helped us, otherwise the outcome would be unpredictable."
Hongxing then said to Ximen Shan: "Senior Ximen, this is Zheng Lang, the chief escort of Bafang Escort Bureau. These two are Lu Mei, the second lady of the deputy chief escort, and Zheng Bai, the third son of Mr. Zheng. Dongxue is me. My personal maid, senior has already met her."
The four people in Ximen Mountain stood up and saluted: "The Ximen family has met the chief escort, Mr. Zheng, and Miss Lu."
Zheng Lang hurriedly returned the gift. He knew that Old Ximen was one of the top five masters in the world, but he also knew that Old Ximen was in western Sichuan. He had never seen Old Ximen before, so naturally he couldn't recognize him.
Zheng Lang saw that Ximen Shan was older than himself, so he thought he must be a senior in the world there. He travels around the world all year round and does not dare to neglect people from all walks of life.
Zheng Lang quickly said to Lu Mei and Zheng Bai: "Mei'er, Bai'er, why don't you come over to pay homage to Senior Ximen, Daxia Luo, Young Hero Ximen, and Miss Ximen?"
The two of them agreed, came to the four people of Ximen Mountain, and said, "Lu Mei, Zheng Bai, thank you for meeting Senior Ximen, Daxia Luo, Young Hero Ximen, and Miss Ximen!" After speaking, they knelt down to greet them.
Ximen Shan hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop him and said, "I don't dare to take it seriously. We are all from the world, so we don't need to be so polite."
Zheng Lang felt that what Ximen Shan said was reasonable, so he asked Lu Mei and Zheng Bai to bow and settle the matter. After everyone got to know each other, they exchanged a few words.
Hongxing said: "Everyone, please take a seat first. I have something to say to everyone."
Everyone knew that Hongxing had something to discuss with everyone, so they quickly sat down and listened. Hongxing waited for everyone to sit down and then said: "Everyone, although we fought off the gangsters today, they will probably come back soon! Let's discuss how to deal with them!"
Zheng Lang quickly asked: "Brothers and sisters, where did they come from?"
Hongxing replied: "They are from the Boat Gang!"
Zheng Lang was shocked and asked: "When did my younger siblings have a grudge against the boat gang?"
When Ximen Shan heard the word "boat gang", he naturally thought of the boat gang mentioned by Wen Fu, and thought that if they were the same boat gang, he would have to deal with them well.
Ximenshan also asked: "Mrs. He, what's going on with this boat gang?"
Zheng Lang was outspoken and immediately told Ximen Mountain about the various martial arts sects in Nanyang City. There are several factions in Nanyang City, and the Boat Gang is one of them. In the past year or so, the boat gangs originally only controlled transportation on the river, but now they have begun to think about going ashore. Frequent conflicts with various factions made the situation in Nanyang Jianghu tense.
Wan Lilang said that Jinling is the largest and most important town in the south of the Yangtze River. Its population is second only to the capital, so it is naturally easy for various factions to compete for territory. But Chengjiacun is just an ordinary village on the outskirts of Jinling, and it is profitable. He was just somewhat famous in the neighborhood, so how could he have such a big grudge against the boat gang? Wanlilang was puzzled, so he asked Cheng Jin.
Cheng Jin knew that his adopted brother was impatient, so he patiently let him finish his words first. When he asked himself, he slowly told everyone the whole story one by one. It turns out that a few days ago, the boat gang suddenly came to visit. The leader was the man who was knocked into the water by Liu Shui. He claimed to be Li Xing, the leader of the Lightning Hall of the Boat Gang. After Li Xing saw Cheng Jin, he asked Cheng Jin to join the boat gang and pay a large amount of money to the boat gang every month.
Cheng Jin felt baffled and immediately refused. Li Xing then threatened and asked Cheng Jin to tell the surrounding villages that they would all join the boat gang. If you don't obey, the boat gang will definitely punish you severely. Only then did Cheng Jin understand why the Boat Gang came to him in the first place. It was because among the nearby villages, Chengjia Village was the strongest and had many martial arts practitioners. Other villages do not have any powerful people and are simply vulnerable. If the Chengjia Village surrenders, other villages will not dare to disobey.
Cheng Jin still refused sternly and claimed that if they dared to act recklessly, he would definitely file a complaint with the government. Li Xing didn't seem to take the government seriously and still asked Cheng Jin to send all the money to the boat gang within three days. If they don't receive it on time, there will be a bloodbath in Chengjia Village. Cheng Jin thought he was just trying to scare him, but he didn't dare to risk the disapproval of the world and really dare to come and bloodbath the village. Therefore, Cheng Jin didn't take it to heart and didn't ask the government for help.
Cheng Jin never expected that three days later, Li Xing would rush into the village with three to four hundred people. They couldn't help but cut down people on sight. In the blink of an eye, dozens of villagers were killed or injured. Cheng Jin was shocked when he learned about it and hurriedly led people to stop him. But he was no match for Li Xing. Within a few moves, he was injured by Li Xing's palm. Cheng Jin had no choice but to lead Wen Yong, Wen Xiu and others to fight fiercely to protect the remaining villagers and retreat into his manor.
In his early years, Cheng Jin was worried about danger, so he built tall walls around his manor and prepared many powerful bows and crossbows. His original purpose was to guard against attacks by remnants of soldiers and bandits, but he didn't expect that it would come in handy this time. If it weren't for the high walls and powerful crossbows, they wouldn't have been able to hold on until Liu Shui and the others arrived.
After everyone heard this, Wan Lilang couldn't help but frown. He thought for a while and then said: "Brother, you are right. The Boat Gang has suffered such a big loss this time and will definitely not let it go. They will definitely come out in full force. Come to take revenge. I think it’s better not to resist. Why don’t you and your whole family go to my escort agency to avoid the limelight for a while. What do you think?” Cheng Jin hesitated and said, “My family can hide in your escort agency. But what should the other villagers do? Do we want them to abandon their homeland and flee for their lives?"
Wan Lilang thought for a while and said: "With our current strength, we really can't fight against the Boat Gang. Today we only have one of their hall leaders. I heard that they have four such branch halls. In addition, they have four major guardians. , the leader and deputy leaders are all masters among masters, and there are thousands of people in the Boat Clan. The total number of people here is only three to four hundred, and there are also many old, weak, women and children." Wan Lilang said the truth. , the nearly a hundred escorts brought by Chengjiacun and Wanlilang alone are indeed unable to compete with the boat gang.
Cheng Jin looked sad and couldn't help but glance at Liu Shui. But Liu Shui was a guest from afar and had just helped once, so it was not convenient for Cheng Jin to ask directly. After all, this was a matter of life and death, and he didn't want to put Liu Shui and others in danger because of his pleading. When Cheng Jin thought about it, even if Liu Shui and the others were willing to help, even if they were highly skilled in martial arts, it might not be of any use. After all, two fists cannot defeat four hands, and a tiger cannot defeat a pack of wolves. What's more, there may not be any masters in the boat gang who can beat Liu Shui and others.
Liu Shui naturally understood Cheng Jin's hesitation, so he asked: "Master Cheng, Mr. Wang, head escort, why don't you ask the government to send troops to completely wipe out this evil boat gang?" Wan Lilang said: "Young knight, you have something. I don’t know, this Jinling Jiedushi is very greedy, and he may have been bribed by the boat gang. Recently, the boat gang has caused trouble everywhere, and many people have complained to the Yamen. However, the government randomly sent people to deal with it, and said that there was no real evidence and let it go. If we go The government asks for help. If the boat gang doesn't come, we will be charged with fraud. If we don't pay enough fines, we will be jailed."
After Liu Shui heard this, he couldn't help but became furious and said, "Why would no one go to the capital to complain about such a corrupt official?" Wan Lilang sighed and said, "Some people have gone to the capital to complain before, but it had no effect. It is said that this Jiedu The envoy has connections with many important officials in the imperial court. Now that the new emperor has just ascended the throne, he probably doesn’t have time to take care of the distant Jiangnan. Even if he files a complaint now, it’s too late!”
Liu Shui was stunned and thought that this was true. This place was thousands of miles away from the capital, and it would take at least ten days to come and go. Even if he could report the matter to Zhao Yuankan, by the time he issued the decree, Chengjia Village would have been wiped out.
Liu Shui didn't have any good ideas for a moment, so he turned to look at Liangchen and asked, "Liangchen, do you have any good ideas?" Liangchen thought for a while and said, "Everyone, my servant thinks that the village master The worries are reasonable. If they disperse, it may not be appropriate. The boat gang must be very powerful and turn to deal with nearby villages. The maid believes that since we have defeated the boat gang once, we should continue our efforts and fight them again. It’s just that Before that, we need to make some preparations.”
Liangchen's suggestion exceeded everyone's expectations. Cheng Jin hurriedly asked: "Miss Liangchen, if you have anything you want us to do, please speak up." Liangchen said, "Although the boat gang is large and powerful, I think it is not scary." .According to the introduction of Mr. Wan, there are only ten boat gang masters at most, and the rest are a bunch of rabble. My maid also fought against them today. Those ordinary gangsters have limited martial arts. It is not a worry. As long as we can defeat them as soon as possible, their martial arts are the best. If the ten leaders are strong, the remaining gangsters will naturally flee in all directions."
Liangchen paused for a moment and then said: "My servant would like to ask the owner of the village to convene nearby villages to discuss joint efforts to defend the enemy and rescue each other. If the young and middle-aged men in each village dare to pick up weapons, I believe the number will not be small. In order to ensure that there is no Yu, my maid wants to ask the owner of the village to send someone to take over the helm of the Beggar Clan and invite them to deal with the Boat Gang together. At the same time, I want to send someone to ask the masters of the Qixia Sect to come and help. Once these people arrive, there will be at least ten of us and the Boat Gang here. The top ten masters are fighting each other. We have to set up an ambush and intercept the bandits where they must pass, and we cannot wait for them to enter the village."
Cheng Jin said: "There is no problem in summoning the justices of the nearby villages. But most of those young people may not have any martial arts skills, and I am afraid they have little fighting ability. Besides, the Beggar Clan and Qixia Sect have no friendship with us, so I am afraid they will not help us. ." Liangchen replied: "Don't worry about that. I don't expect those people to resist the thieves, I just want them to cheer for them and give them a deterrent effect. My young master has a token from the elder of the Beggar Clan. When the Beggar Clan sees it, he will I won’t refuse. When we parted ways with Aunt Xiaoyue and Miss Yunyan from the Qixia Sect this morning, they said that if we need their help, they can just send someone to deliver the message. But I don’t know if there is a very dangerous place that is conducive to us!"
Cheng Jin thought for a while, suddenly realized, and said: "There is no very dangerous place, but there is one place that is suitable for an ambush. If the boat gang comes, they must take a boat to the river first. From the river to us, it is about four or five miles, and in the middle There is also a relatively narrow mountain road. This road is rugged, with a small hill on both sides of the road, and it is the only place the boat gang must pass when they come to my house."
Liangchen nodded and said: "If the village owner decides to meet the enemy here, please ask the village owner to send someone to take us there later. Of course, if the village owner adopts the suggestion of Mr. Wan, then pack up as soon as possible and leave as soon as possible. So I estimate that the boat gang will come again tonight at the latest, leaving us not much time. Please make a decision as soon as possible, owner of the village, to avoid delaying time." Liangchen naturally cannot make up his mind for everyone.
Cheng Jin then asked everyone for their opinions, and most of them agreed with Liangchen's opinion. Firstly, it is difficult to leave their homeland, secondly, those young people are fierce-blooded and unwilling to be outdone, and thirdly, many of them have relatives who died at the hands of the boat gang and want to take revenge. Fourth, they have witnessed the martial arts of Liu Shui and others with their own eyes and have great confidence in them. Cheng Jin was overjoyed when he saw that everyone was willing to fight to the death, and asked, "Miss Liangchen, do you have any other suggestions?" Liangchen said, "If we decide to fight here, in order to avoid worries, I think I should give Lao Send the weak women and children into the city and place them properly so that they don't get into serious fights and become difficult to take care of."
Cheng Jin couldn't help but admire Liangchen for his thoughtfulness, courage and knowledge, and said, "Miss Liangchen is smart and witty. I want you to command everyone. What do you think?" Liangchen said humbly: "How dare I take this responsibility? These are some immature ideas of mine, and I will share them for everyone's reference." Cheng Jin thought she was afraid that Liu Shui would disagree, so he turned to Liu Shui and asked, "Liu Shaoxia, what do you think?" Liu Shui said, " Although Liangchen is smart and has some strategies, she is not familiar with this place. I think senior will take charge personally, and Liangchen will help from the side."
