I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 18 I know you know I am weakest when I cross the river

The third day of April, the first year of Xuanhe.

In Suzhou, Zhao Zicheng and Yang Zhi had just set off and were heading north along the canal.

At the same time, Zhenjiang Prefecture, Dantu County, and Jinshanzhou, located more than 200 miles northwest of Suzhou.

A group of pilgrims wearing conical hats are gathering in Jinshan Temple.

Jinshan Temple, known as the most ancient temple in Jiangnan, was built in the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and by the Xuanhe period, it was 800 years old. The temple was built on a high sandbar, facing the Yangtze River, with Yangzhou's Guazhou Ferry on the other side.

For thousands of years, merchants traveling from the south to the north have had to pass through here, and many people are accustomed to burning incense here before crossing the river, praying for smooth sailing.

Therefore, the temple is bustling with people every day. No matter how suspicious a person is, he will seem less suspicious when he comes here.

After the group of pilgrims finished burning incense, they came to an unnoticed corner of the side yard. Then two of them, who looked particularly tall and fierce, took out two boxes and handed them to the other group.

"This is a small gift from our Haisha Gang and the Giant Whale Gang. We're giving tea to the brothers from Chuzhou."

The other group took the box, took a quick look at it, and their eyes lit up, their eyeballs widened a bit, and then they laughed jokingly:

"I don't know what you want us to do? Boss Shi, when did you come up with the name of the Haisha Gang? It sounds impressive."

"You don't have to do anything. Just help us get twenty or thirty small boats. You don't have to worry about the manpower and weapons. I didn't choose the name Haisha Gang myself. It was that bastard Zhu Zhen who gave it to me. Now that we've been blamed, we need to be worthy of the name. We can't bear this bad reputation in vain!"

The party that was forced to pay was quite dissatisfied after hearing this: "Boss Lu, Boss Shi, you've overstepped your bounds, haven't you? We respect you as the most respected people on Taihu Lake, and we accept that. Now that we've reached the Yangtze River, you're still hiding this from us and eating alone. Aren't you afraid that your fellow gang members will call you disloyal? Do you really think that just because Zhu Zhen calls you from the Haisha Gang, you can get ahead of others?"

It turned out that one of the two tall and ferocious men was Shi Sheng, the powerful man from Gusu who had been accidentally captured by Zhao Zicheng.

For more than half a month, he was surrounded by officers and soldiers sent by Zhu Jie to hunt him down. He was in such a miserable state that he had to flee to seek refuge with his colleague Lu Xing'er in Wuxing next door.

Shi Sheng and Lu Xing'er were both Zoroastrians, considered members of the same religion, and both had made their livings on Lake Tai, so they had some friendship. Historically, both men later became accomplices to Fang La, one offering Suzhou and the other Huzhou.

Shi Sheng fled to Lu Xing'er's village and hid there for several days. He felt he had been wronged and wanted to seek revenge. However, he was not strong enough and had no chance to commit the crime, so he had to share the information he knew about the treasures on the Hua Shi Gang.

The two men discussed it and felt that it was impossible for the people from Yingfeng Bureau to go through Taihu Lake again, and if they wanted to take action, they could only do it on the Yangtze River, so they took a group of their men north.

But they couldn't sail directly from Taihu Lake to Zhenjiang via the canal, as they would be inspected along the way and easily exposed. In order to avoid detection, they had to split up into smaller groups and take smaller routes.

In this case, they can only find a group of local colleagues on the Yangtze River, some gangs of private salt dealers on the Yangtze River, spend some money to solve the problem of the boat. If that doesn't work, they can only bring them into partnership to work together.

The current situation is clearly developing towards the latter.

The local gangs were unwilling to lend them the boat for any reason.

Who knows how big a case this gang will take on? If the case is big enough, the local gang will be unwilling to accept it if they can't get a share of the profits.

Shi Sheng finally tried to persuade him: "It's not that we are not righteous, but this idea is difficult, and we are not sure of winning. We don't want to implicate our friends in the underworld."

The other party still didn't believe it, and the leader just sneered: "If you insist on doing it even though you are not sure, the profit will be huge."

Shi Sheng gritted his teeth and finally said in defense: "My son died at the hands of that bastard official. I am seeking revenge. Money and property are secondary. What hatred or grudge do you have?"

When the other party heard him talk about his son's death, he became serious, but after thinking it over, he was still unwilling to give up: "Even if it's for revenge, if you make a big deal out of it, won't it be us who will be investigated?

Whether we take action or not, we will be retaliated by the government. So, either we all work together and share the harvest, or we go our separate ways and don't even think about getting a boat from us."

Shi Sheng actually didn't mind having more people share the money. He cared more about revenge, so he glanced at Lu Xing'er next to him.

Ever since Shi Sheng lost his own water fort, he has been living in Lu Xing'er's fort and has to rely on the other party for everything.

Seeing that everyone's pressure was coming upon him, Lu Xing'er didn't want to lose his reputation, so he protested, "Since all the brothers think highly of me and are willing to join us in this cause, there's no reason for me to turn you away.

"I'm not really in this for the money, but I just can't stand that corrupt official Zhu Jie's exploitation of the people. The money he's transporting with the Flower and Stone Gang this time was all taken from the people of Jiangnan. It's ill-gotten gains! Of course, we must uphold justice! However, with so many people, chaos is inevitable. You can share the money afterwards, but you must obey orders when you take action. Otherwise, we'd rather not do this business."

The local gang still needed the information provided by Lu Xing'er and Shi Sheng, so the deal was made right away.

The two sides shared some information, especially Shi Sheng's personal testimony, emphasizing several key points for his accomplices to pay attention to:
"The trick this time is mainly because of the escort officer, Yang Zhi. I heard he's a descendant of Old General Yang, and his family's spear and sword skills are extremely impressive. Previously, my son and several of my capable brothers in the gang were killed or captured by him with one sword."

The local bandit leaders were also slightly surprised when they heard this. They also felt that Shi Sheng's words were a bit of an exaggeration and could not help but question: "Is he really that powerful? Could it be that your people are not good at martial arts?"

Shi Sheng's old face flushed, and he said angrily, "If you don't believe me, you will know when you try it yourself! Besides, my son suffered a loss at the beginning mainly because he didn't expect Yang Zhi to have a precious sword. Our weapons are incompatible with it. Any wooden pole will be cut in half, and even the edge of an iron knife or axe can be cut into a big gap.

This time we know his strengths and weaknesses, and we don't need to be afraid of him! This guy is from Shanxi and has no experience in swimming. If he falls into the Yangtze River, we won't have to do anything; he will drown!"

……

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

After Zhao Zicheng, Yang Zhi, Deng Yue, Murong Yan and others left Suzhou, their journey was very peaceful for three consecutive days.

The distance from Suzhou to Zhenjiang is more than 240 miles. If you travel 80 miles a day on the canal, it will take just three days to complete the journey.

Three consecutive days of calm were not enough for veterans like Yang Zhi and Deng Yue to let their guard down.

Murong Yan, who had traveled so far for the first time, was inevitably a little lazy. The last time she traveled far, she only went to Wuxi. This time, she was able to go to Zhenjiang and saw many sights she had never seen before.

The night they arrived in Zhenjiang, the fleet stayed overnight at the mouth of the canal, waiting in line to cross the river the next morning. Murong Yan, however, was impatient and quietly pleaded with Zhao Zi, "Brother Zhao, why don't we go ashore tonight? I've grown up and haven't even seen the Yangtze River. I don't want to wait until tomorrow. Why don't we go to the riverside and look out at Jinshan Temple?"

Zhao Zicheng patiently tried to appease him, "We'll be crossing the river tomorrow and will pass by Jinshan Temple anyway. It won't be too late to wait and see. We need to hurry tonight and make some minor modifications to the boat. If we do encounter bandits tomorrow, we'll be prepared—and it's best not to encounter bandits."

Zhao Zi said that he didn't want to cause any more trouble, so he would rather make the women around him unhappy than create any unnecessary complications.

He was well aware that his group was already hated, not to mention that Yang Zhi's physique seemed to make him prone to trouble, so it was better to be cautious.

Fortunately, Murong Yan was a woman of the underworld, not one to be coy or pretentious. When she heard that there was something important going on, she did not insist and only asked Zhao Zicheng what to do specifically:
"How else can the ship be modified? I've noticed you've been acting mysterious these past few days. You even had Envoy Yang prepare a batch of cargo without anyone knowing. Could it be all for today?"

Zhao Zicheng nodded. "Two days before departure, I specifically asked Envoy Yang to ask Zhu Jie for a batch of equipment and materials, some of which were slightly modified, in order to prepare for possible naval battles. Envoy Yang is a skilled warrior but not a good swimmer. I've thought that if anything were to go wrong, it would most likely happen during the river crossing."

No matter how well prepared you are, you can never be too prepared.

As Zhao Zicheng spoke, he took Murong Yan down to the bottom cabin and opened a pile of large boxes on the boat.

This time, the transportation plan for the Hua Shi Gang is obviously different from the last time.

Last time, Zhu Jie had loaded all the gold, silver, treasures, Taoist scriptures, and the rockery onto the same ship. That shipment was a bit too much of a "put all your eggs in one basket," but Zhao Zicheng understood. Zhu Jie knew that Yang Zhi was the most skilled of the military officers he could mobilize, and he was counting on this strongest expert to single-handedly protect the entire important cargo.

But since they had suffered a loss last time, they must learn from their mistakes this time. So when they finally set out on their journey, Zhao Zicheng suggested that they split the boats into two, one for the open and one for the secret, with one boat specifically for loading the rockery and the other for the treasures and scriptures.

Yang Zhi was in charge of the boat carrying the rockery. Zhao Zicheng and the Murong family were on the boat carrying the Taoist scriptures and treasures. Meanwhile, the steward sent by Zhu Jie to monitor the situation would also be on the treasure boat.

The treasure ship actually doesn't need so much cargo capacity, so Zhao Zicheng used the extra space to bring a batch of other things, almost all for today's naval battle.

After opening the box, Zhao Zicheng carefully took out a pile of caltrops wrapped around a fishing net, which also had a specially customized hard bamboo support.

Murong Yan had lived in the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River since she was a child, and had seen many boats sailing and fishing, but when she saw this caltrop fishing net, she had no idea what it was.

"Are these caltrops on the fishing net used to prevent fish from escaping?"

Zhao Zicheng laughed and said, "Of course not. These fishing nets are specially equipped with bamboo supports. Once they are hung on the side, sharp spikes several feet long will naturally extend from both sides underwater, and the nets and caltrops can be hung on them.

The resistance won't be too great when sailing, much easier than using a normal fishing trawler. However, if someone tries to approach the boat from underwater and drill it, they'll inevitably end up... in a fate worse than death."

Murong Yan imagined it for a moment, and a shudder ran down her spine. Still possessing a touch of chivalry, she couldn't help but say, "Zhu Jie is exploiting the people's wealth. By protecting his property, aren't we aiding and abetting his evil deeds? Brother Zhao, I don't blame you. I'm just confused."

Zhao Zicheng sighed and said seriously, "I don't want to commit more murders. If he is indeed a person who is doing justice for the people and wants to take advantage of Zhu Jie's ill-gotten gains, I don't want to get involved.

But Shi Sheng and his gang are opportunists who are both indecisive and treacherous. They even framed us first. If they were the ones who did it, I wouldn't show any mercy. As for the others, we'll see what happens. Maybe they'll find their plan difficult and retreat, leaving us unable to catch up.

As long as nothing happens to me, I'll be fine. After this trip, even if the court grants me another official position, I won't help Zhu Zhen do such things again."

Murong Yan nodded silently, and her mood was not so shaken anymore.

She continued to watch Brother Zhao move out some novel gadgets from several other boxes, and asked Deng Yue to call a few trusted servants to learn how to use them overnight.

It can be seen that in order to avoid exposing himself in advance and alerting potential ambitious people, Zhao Ziwei kept his backup plan hidden until the very last moment.

Because Zhao Zicheng didn't know whether there were any traitors among the officers and soldiers of this fleet.

Yingfeng Bureau is a filthy place where a group of shameless profit-seekers live. Duan Ming and Shi Sheng were both two-faced people before. How could Zhao Zicheng trust the people from Yingfeng Bureau again?

He could only count on Yang Zhi's few personal soldiers who had been through thick and thin with him, and the servants of the Murong family.

Fortunately, the little gadgets for naval warfare arranged by Zhao Zicheng did not have any epoch-making innovations. Their principles were basically the same as those of the weapons used by people in the Song Dynasty, and an experienced person could learn how to use them with just a little guidance.

"These pottery jars are filled with kerosene from the Yingfeng Bureau's inventory, but I've added some pine resin and other ingredients to adjust the consistency. Once thrown onto a wooden boat and set ablaze, ordinary pirates will have no chance of putting out the fire. Be very careful when using it."

"Soak these thick hemp ropes in mud tonight. Tomorrow morning, spread them on the decks of our boat and Yang Zhishi's. Let the excess hang over the side. The mud won't dry out for a day, so it's enough to prevent fires when we cross the river."

"With enough crossbows and those caltrops and bamboo skewer fishing nets hidden beneath the water, tomorrow will be fine. Everyone should have confidence."

Zhao Zicheng boosted the morale and then ordered everyone to make preparations overnight.

Yang Zhi's personal soldiers and the servants of the Murong family had been a little nervous during these three days.

Because they found that this Mr. Zhao seemed to be just a playboy, with no experience in the underworld and no arrangements.

Unexpectedly, when we were about to cross the river the next morning, he suddenly seemed like a different person. He made a series of deployments in an orderly manner and looked very confident.

Is this the style of a Confucian general described in the storybook?

"I didn't expect that Mr. Zhao is so thoughtful. He's not like those stupid people who have become stupid because of reading too much."

For a moment, the morale of the fleet became more stable. Everyone was full of fighting spirit, just waiting to cross the river.

-

PS: I'm going out for the weekend, and will resume updating twice a day, morning and evening, starting tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)