Farmhouse life after traveling back to ancient times

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and the news spread by word of mouth, and they quickly reported it to the county government. The county magistrate, who was reluctantly called out from his peaceful life, sobered up a lot from his hangover and hurriedly asked someone to call the county lieutenant to organize people to fight the pirates.

The county lieutenant's surname was Fan Shan and his given name was Fan Zhao. He was from Haizhou, near the capital, and had passed the imperial examination. Originally, he could have been promoted after working as a county lieutenant for a few years, but he had a strong and upright character and was not good at flattery. He had been in this position for nearly ten years without any promotion, and he was not impatient or anxious.

When I heard that there was a life-threatening case today, I quickly called everyone to gather and head straight to the dock.

When they arrived at the dock, the man who asked for help saw that he only brought seven or eight people with him, and couldn't help but said anxiously: "With so few people, how can we rescue those dozens of powerful bandits?"

County lieutenant Fan Zhao stepped forward and asked, "Since this is the boat of Xuanzhou's family, are there any guards on board to go with me to rescue them?"

The man also answered loudly: "We encountered a merchant ship being robbed for the first time. We saw that my wife was an old acquaintance on the ship. The eldest master had already brought some servants to fight the pirates. He asked us to escort my wife and daughter to seek help first. Otherwise, if we just wait for this time, I am afraid that the county lieutenant will go and collect their bodies."

Fan Zhao frowned, thinking about how to deal with the situation.

The water bandits were strong. The people he brought with him were good at collecting taxes and bullying the villagers in the countryside, but he could not rely on them to fight the water bandits.

Fan Zhao pretended not to notice the trembling legs of the yamen runner who was traveling with him. He looked around, his majesty evident.

"There are bandits rampant on the river, endangering passing ships. Is there any righteous man willing to go with me to rescue people?"

The crowd was getting restless. Then, a man stepped out from the crowd, clasped his fists and said, "I am willing to go with the county lieutenant to wipe out the banditry."

Seeing that the man was strong and his movements seemed to indicate that he had practiced martial arts, Fan Zhao could not help but ask, "May I ask your name, warrior? Do you know how to swim? Fighting on water is not like fighting on land. It is really dangerous."

The man said, "Don't worry, sir. My name is Lu Fanghai. I served under General Wu Wenzhen for many years. I just retired and returned home at the beginning of last year. My skills are still there. A few pirates should be no problem for me."

After hearing what Lu Fanghai said, Fan Zhao felt relieved. General Wu was famous, and his soldiers were brave and resourceful. They had put down rebellions everywhere and fought in both naval and land battles. If this man served under General Wu, he would not have to worry about his incompetence and dying in vain.

So, they first ordered Lu Fanghai to board the official ship next to him. Seeing that there was someone leading the way and many porters and vendors signed up, the county lieutenant also asked clearly whether they could swim and had fought before, and only then allowed them to board the ship.

The person who brought the news was as anxious as an ant on hot pan, and kept urging the county lieutenant to speed up.

After finally gathering enough people on the boat, they followed the instructions of the informant and sailed towards the waters where the bandits were committing crimes.

Not long after, the sound of fighting was heard from afar. It turned out that it was the people from the Xuanzhou Tongpan family who came closer. They were protecting the merchant ship and fighting with the pirates, with wounds and blood on their bodies.

The frightened people on the merchant ship were gathered in the middle and trembling. Fierce bandits kept crawling up from all directions, waving their swords and shouting strangely, which made people terrified.

There were many light boats surrounding the merchant ship, and many pirates on the boats were cheering for the pirate who climbed onto the boat.

There was a sailboat not far away, with several figures standing on it, watching the battle here.

Seeing the government ship approaching, the bandits scrambled to retreat. The bandits who had committed crimes on the merchant ship did not have time to get off the boat, so they jumped into the river with a "plop". Some of them were cruel by nature, and instead of retreating, they advanced and rushed forward to fight with the government ship.

The official ship accelerated and headed straight for the sailboat. The sailboat was unable to avoid it and immediately tilted. The people on it lost their balance and fell onto the deck.

By the time he got up, the people on the official ship had already boarded. The strange thing was that there were only a few yamen runners with knives, and more of them were strong men dressed in ordinary people's clothes, rushing over and waving carrying poles.

Their movements were swift and powerful. Their weapons clashed with each other. Relying on their numbers, they fought with several people against one and suppressed the pirates on the boat.

The pirates on the small boat ignored the merchant ship and hurried back to rescue their leader, but they couldn't even reach the edge of the sailboat.

Lu Fanghai snatched a pirate's broadsword, threw away his carrying pole, and launched a fierce attack, specifically targeting the pirate's vital parts of his hands and feet, while moving swiftly among the crowd.

During the fierce fight, I saw out of the corner of my eye that a person who came on the same boat also snatched the weapons of the pirates. He was agile and flexible, constantly weaving through the attacks of the pirates, and there were wailing wherever he passed.

Lu Fanghai couldn't help but look at him twice more, and suddenly he saw a flash of a knife, and someone was slashing towards him. He quickly swung the weapon in his hand, and fought back and forth with the bearded man who was suspected to be the leader of the bandits. He was not at a disadvantage at all. The man also saw the situation here at this time, and hurried over with weapons in hand to help.

With the combined efforts of the two, the bandit leader was overwhelmed and was captured alive by the two in no time.

After the leader was tied up and pushed onto the official ship, the bandits on the surrounding small boats saw that their leader had been captured and they scattered in all directions, each fleeing for their lives.

Seeing the great victory of the officers and soldiers, the guards of the Xuanzhou Tongpan became even more brave. They quickly subdued the bandits on the merchant ship and tied them up on the official ship.

Everyone on the merchant ship, who was thought to be in great danger, escaped death. They counted their losses and sighed that being able to keep their lives was the best.

He kept expressing his gratitude, thanking the Xuanzhou Tongpan Gongzi and Dongxing County Wei Fan Zhao who came to rescue him.

When we returned to the Dongxing County dock, there was cheering on the shore.

It turns out that the waterway to Dongxing County has to pass through the Yuanshui River. There are rampant bandits in the river, and they are not picky about their prey. If they target you, the best outcome would be to take away everything without leaving a penny. If you say something wrong and make them angry, you might lose your life.

If you take the land route instead of the water route, it will take at least two more days to get around.

Normally, unless the locals have urgent matters, they will not go by water and cause trouble.

If it was a foreign passenger ship, those who had traveled by water for a long time would know how dangerous this area is. Those who did not know would have been dealt with by the pirates before they could even call for help, and their tracks would have been covered up, and they would have gone on their own.

The county government had few staff members to begin with, and many of them did not obey the county lieutenant's orders, so they had been unable to deal with the pirates.

This time, he borrowed the manpower of the Xuanzhou Tongpan and gathered some porters and strong men. He weakened the river bandits and captured their leader Guo Jianglong. It was indeed a great achievement.

The county lieutenant was very impressed by Lu Fanghai's brave performance in the bandit suppression operation. He asked about his address in detail before letting him go.

After returning to the county government office and reporting to the county magistrate, Fan Zhao mentioned that dock porters were used on this trip, some of whom were very skilled and could be recruited into the police squad, where they could be of great use.

The county magistrate did not comment on this and just let Fan Zhao make the decision.

He just suggested that the bandit suppression process be described in detail so that he could report it to his superiors, and maybe he would get some reward in return.

Fan Zhao had no choice but to explain the scene in detail so that the county magistrate could boast of his achievement.