Yang Zhi was originally an envoy of the Tokyo Palace Commander's Mansion, and he knew the military control and responsibilities of all levels of the Song Dynasty officials very well. With just one glance, he could see the clues of the barracks opposite.
He said straightly: "Sir, He Zhenyuan is a very brave fellow. He dares to build a battalion of soldiers and horses for a small rural corps to practice control?"
Gao Kan frowned and had a serious look on his face.
"Looking at this barracks alone, there should indeed be nearly a battalion of people, but it's probably difficult to make a conclusion."
"We saw patrols going back and forth here, plus the drill personnel in various places, there are one or two hundred people, and there are also many military buildings in the camp. We can't make a conclusion on these two items?" Yang Zhi said in surprise.
Gao Kan took a look and explained: "You and I can see these two hundred people, but if the Shangguan comes to check, these people will just take off their clothes, sneak into the village and become ordinary civilians. I'm afraid they will be together." Half of them are invisible, and as for the military buildings in the camp, it is easier to escape, just find any excuse."
When Yang Zhi heard this, he was angry, but there was nothing he could do.
Unless they can invite officials from the Bailing Village to see him in person, it will be difficult to convict him.
What's more, He Zhenyuan can do whatever he wants in Bailing Village, and even got this official position in the first place. He must have used tricks. There must be someone in the official office. Where can he find it?
Waving his hand, Gao Kan said: "He Zhenyuan has so many people under his command. If you want to take action, it will be difficult to free yourself."
Yang Zhi asked: "Please give me some advice."
Gao Kan frowned and pondered for a while before saying: "The terrain of Bailing Village is a pass. We came all the way and saw close to Zuoshan River. This is the best place to pass on the way north. The Jin cavalry that will attack Zhending Mansion in the future will definitely come here. Yes, I can’t let it go.”
"Although He Zhenyuan is supposed to kill thieves, he controls the stockade like an iron barrel. It's just a good use."
Hearing Gao Kan's words, Yang Zhidao said: "Young master, do you mean that Bailing Village must stay?"
Nodding slightly, Gao Kan continued: "I think not all of the people in Bailing Village are He Zhenyuan's confidants. If we can lure him out of the village and go outside, we can capture the thief first and capture the king first."
"But even if He Zhenyuan is restrained, it's still difficult for us to occupy Bailing Village." Yang Zhi asked again.
Hearing this, Gao Kan smiled and said, "Have you ever heard, Master Yang, that in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao A concealed the emperor's secrets from the princes?"
Hearing this, Yang Zhi immediately understood and said hurriedly: "Young master, what you want is that we only take but not kill, and ask He Zhenyuan to sacrifice his life for us?"
"Just save his life first."
Gao Kan said lightly.
He Zhenyuan used the land of Bailing Village to take advantage of both black and white, robbed and killed passing merchant ships, and innocent pedestrians as well. He had no idea how much blood was stained on his hands.
If it weren't for the fact that his men had strong soldiers and horses, which could be used to offset the lack of manpower on the cavalry of the Jin army, Gaokan would not have been able to keep him alive for a few more days.
It was just a matter of the moment. Gao Kan was originally thinking about whether he could secretly deploy manpower inside the stronghold to coordinate internal and external cooperation.
In an emergency, it is not impossible to capture Bailing Village by force.
However, this plan can no longer be used. It is better to take Lin Chong and Wu Song's trip first and lure people out of the stronghold to take action.
After checking into the village, Gao Kan knew what was going on, so the group came out of the village and returned to the fishing village to wait.
After Lin Chong and Wu Song set off, there was no news for two or three days in a row. Zhang Qing and Sun Erniang were like cows drowning in the sea, without any news.
On the third day, Yang Zhi came to Gaokan and informed him that there were merchant ships downstream and were being plundered by water thieves.
There were more than a dozen people on board, all of whom were killed by the thieves.
Perhaps this was done so brilliantly that it frightened many boatmen who were originally going to pass through Bailing Village. There were obviously fewer merchant ships on the water, and only one or two small boats were seen in a day.
On the fifth day, another large ship came down from the upstream, but it only docked at Bailingzhai Pier for a short while, and then went down the river.
Gao Kan asked people to observe secretly at the mouth of the river. When he saw the big ship appearing, he immediately came back to report it.
He immediately knew that Lin Chong and Wu Song should be on the boat.
So he immediately called Yang Zhi and asked him to count his men. He set off immediately and followed the big ship all the way downstream.
After walking for more than twenty miles, I saw the big ship docked on the shore from a distance, and I could vaguely hear the sounds of killing on the ship.
A cold light flashed in Gao Kan's eyes. Yang Zhi immediately led his men to kill him without giving him any orders.
When the people from Gaokan came closer, they only saw people on both sides of the boat being killed. There were few water thieves, and Yang Zhi led many people. Lin Chong and Wu Song also ambush the boat in advance, and soon killed this group of thieves. After that, only two or three people were left alive for questioning.
When it was time to get to the boat, Yang Zhicai personally got off the boat and asked Gao Kan to come on board and give instructions.
When Gao Kan got on the boat, Lin Chong and Wu Song saw him and hurriedly stepped forward to pay homage: "Master, it's really inappropriate to delay for several days and keep him waiting for a long time."
Gao Kan hurriedly helped the two of them up and said, "Hard-working Hero Wu, Coach Lin, where did you get such a big ship?"
Hearing this, Lin Chong explained: "Brother Wu and I set out to look for passing merchant ships upstream on the order of the young master. As a result, we walked for two days and didn't see any suitable ones. It wasn't until we were about to leave the boundary of Zhending Mansion that we saw one. When we got off the big ship, we wanted to board the ship for discussion, but we didn’t expect that the owner of the ship was suspicious of us and refused to let us board the ship.”
At this time, Wu Song continued: "We tried hard to persuade him, but the guy didn't listen. Instead, he falsely accused the two of us of being thieves. It's really annoying!"
There are thieves at the mouth of the river on the Tuo River, and all the merchant ships coming and going know about it.
The two people suddenly appeared from the river bank and were about to board the boat. Even Gao Kan would not have believed it. The boatman could not be blamed for this fact.
It's a pity that the boatman didn't believe them, so he suffered a disaster.
Lin Chong continued: "Later on, several small boats passed by. We saw that the boats were small and difficult to operate, so we ignored them. However, a day later, we saw that the boats that had gone down earlier came back upstream. After some questioning, I found out that the ship we got off earlier was indeed robbed by thieves, and all the dozen or so people on board were murdered by thieves without exception."
"Those boats didn't dare to continue downstream, so they had to turn back."
When Gao Kan heard this, he actually guessed how the two found the big ship.
However, he still asked: "Is this big ship afraid to continue sailing after learning about the thieves' hijacking and killing people? It happened to be that you met and invited you to board the ship?"
Lin Chong nodded and replied: "Young master, you are aware that this is the case. The two of us had experience on the previous trip, so we pretended to be walking guards this time, and told the ship owner that we could stay on the ship until the thieves wreaked havoc. They can leave by land and then wait downstream, then they can board the ship, so we entrusted the ship to us."
Listening to Lin Chong's explanation, Gao Kan secretly praised him for his dexterity. In this way, there were no ship merchants on the ship, so they would not accidentally injure their lives during the fight, which would make it easier for them to do things.
No wonder he had been on the boat for so long without seeing a single boatman.
I was just curious, since neither of them knew how to sail, how could they manage such a large merchant ship.
