Chapter 23: Inviting You into the Urn

  In the seventh month of Chongzhen 2, Lin Chunhong bought a large amount of land in Bailizhou and negotiated with many landlords. These landlords were scattered throughout Jingzhou Prefecture and haggled fiercely with Lin Chunhong, who claimed that a large amount of silver had already been transported to Bailizhou and the highest price he could accept was one or two taels of silver per mu. This greatly disappointed the landlords, who refused to sell and spread the word about Lin Chunhong's "evil deeds" in taking advantage of them to lower the price, saying: "Is your silver so mighty just because it's in Bailizhou? You've made some money and become arrogant; you'll eventually suffer retribution."

  In the second year of Chongzhen, August, due to the rampant Jiang bandits, the people of Baili Zhou fled severely. The Baili Zhou patrol inspector was established under the jurisdiction of Zhijiang County to strictly investigate the passing thieves. Lin Dewen's son Lin Chunhong took office as the patrol inspector of Baili Zhou. After taking office, Lin Chunhong built a large number of wooden warehouses and docks in Baili Zhou, but ignored the matter of recruiting bowmen.

  This matter had long been known to Zhang Zhao and others, on the second day of October, without a moon, it was so dark that one could not see their fingers in front of them. Zhang Zhao carefully selected more than 200 Jiang pirates, went upstream, and headed for Baili Island.

  "Brothers, do you know how much money we sold the wood for after it was transported to Wuchang last time?" The Jiang gangsters stared at Zhao Hehai with fervent eyes, and Zhao Hehai stretched out four fingers, saying word by word: "Four thousand taels of silver!"

  The Jiang gang members whistled one after another, and Zhao Hehai pressed his hand down to signal them to be quiet. He continued: "Lin Xiao San has transported all the silver to Bai Li Zhou. The night before last, I and Jiao Yu brothers secretly went to take a look. There were five big boxes full of silver, which he had prepared to buy land with. Damn it, after this time, everyone will be set for life."

  Jiang Fei's eyes sparkled with infinite longing for a beautiful future, and the oar in his hand moved with even greater vigor.

  "Tell the brothers to be quiet, we're almost at Liu Xiang. Be careful not to alert Lin Xiao San." Zhang Zhao said to Zhao He Hai as he saw them approaching their destination.

  Zhao and Hai whispered: "You say Lin Xiao has accumulated a huge fortune in just two years, how did he do it? This kid is also stupid, he was appointed as the patrol inspector, but didn't recruit any archers, otherwise we wouldn't have targeted him."

  "More than two hundred brothers are still afraid of the bowmen? Those bowmen are good at collecting taxes, but when it comes to fighting, we brothers are the ones who are fierce. I reckon he thinks we don't dare to land." Zhang Zhao said.

  Zhang Zhao finished speaking, gazing out at the dark river surface, and continued: "After we're done with this job, we should think about finding a place to settle down. This can't go on forever. We were eight brothers in the beginning, but now there are only three of us left."

  "Where is Yang Yiren?"

  "I've thought about it too, we rob others, and they have to be on guard. We were tricked once, and that's our own fault for being blind. Can't blame others." Zhang Zhuo sighed with endless melancholy.

  "Ke Yang Yiren is a corrupt official!" Li Mengshen had been resentful of corrupt officials, if their superiors hadn't embezzled military pay, they wouldn't have become river pirates.

  "In this world, no official is not corrupt, we can't kill them all even if we want to, what's the difference between killing one more or one less?"

  Zhang Zhao's words made Li Mengshen and Zhao Hehai fall silent. Who would be willing to do something that would shame their ancestors like Jiang Fei?

  Zhao Hai gazed at the southern bank of the Yangtze River, judging from the faint outline of the shore that they still had a distance to go. When he saw a string of lights, he pointed at them and said, "We're almost there."

  Zhang Zha closed his eyes and looked at the lanterns, ordering: "After the meeting, follow the original plan. Third brother, you take care of the position on the shore, don't make any mistakes. After landing, get the silver and leave, don't stay too long, and don't kill too many people, they are all struggling to make a living."

  Zhao and Hai nodded and said: "Then how will Lin Xiao San be dealt with?"

  Zhang Zhao patted Zhao Hehai's shoulder and said, "I heard that the little guy is good at using big knives, has some martial arts skills, and can make money. If you can capture him alive, then capture him alive; if not, just kill him."

  The boat suddenly stopped abruptly, and it had already arrived at the shore. Zhang Zhao waved his hand and ordered, "Brothers, take action!" After finishing speaking, he and Zhao Hehai led the way to land first, leaving behind Li Mengshen and more than 20 brothers to guard the boat.

  The bandits jumped from the boat to the shore one after another, slightly adjusted their formation, and then rushed towards the lights.

  That place with the lamp is a warehouse, where a row of houses are built. Normally, there are people patrolling around. Especially for wood warehouses, fire prevention is key, and patrols mainly target potential fires. Since Lin Chunhong took over as patrol officer, he has been staying here every day, and outsiders don't know what he does.

  Still a mile away from the warehouse, the bandits hastened their pace. They all knew that Zhao Hehai had investigated and found no combat personnel here except workers. It was also true that tens of thousands of taels of silver were waiting for them to take, and anyone would be excited about it. But just as they rushed faster and faster, suddenly a large number of torches lit up from the warehouse, and upon closer inspection, there were more than 300 people fully armed, staring at them with fierce eyes. The one holding a big knife in front of the array was none other than Lin Chunhong.

  The bandits were shocked and stopped in their tracks, staring at Zhang Zhong and Zhao Hehai with suspicious eyes.

  Zhang Zhao was also shocked, it seemed that today he had fallen into an ambush. Fortunately, Zhang Zhao had experienced many storms and was able to suppress his violently racing heart. He was just about to order a retreat when Lin Chunhong shouted: "Zhang Zhao, don't run away! If you do, we'll launch a fierce attack on your side, and your brothers will definitely suffer heavy casualties."

  The Jiang bandits couldn't help but get furious, and they cursed in unison: "Damn it, who wants to run? You have the guts to come over here!" But their curses were like fists hitting cotton, Lin Chunhong's men didn't make a sound, quietly staring at them.

  This pressure also gradually silenced Jiang Fei's curses. Zhang Zhao thought that it was unlikely to end well today, and if the brothers retreated without being able to board the ship in time, they would definitely lose a large number of men. But rushing forward, the enemy's 300 men didn't seem like easy targets either. Even if they won, Zhang Zhao estimated that not many of his brothers would be left. Zhang Zhao made up his mind and immediately ordered: "First and second teams follow me to intercept, everyone else follow Zhao Hehai to retreat!"

  "Big brother..."

  "Don't say any more, let's hurry up, if we're late, none of us will be able to leave!" Zhang Zhuo said with an unusually firm tone. Seeing Zhao He hesitating, he smiled slightly and said: "They can't do anything to me, this place is close to the river, don't you still trust my swimming skills?"

  Zhao Hehai finally felt at ease, and led most of his brothers to turn around and escape. As soon as Jiang's bandits moved, Lin Chunhong waved his big knife and ordered the army to charge, and soon became entangled with Zhang Zhao's rearguard troops. For a time, the sound of clashing knives and guns mixed with mournful cries rose and fell. Zhao Hehai looked back at the bloody battlefield, suppressing his grief, and led his brothers to continue retreating.

  Zhang Zhao held a long spear and saw Lin Chunhong rushing towards him with a large knife. He thought to himself, "To capture the thief, first capture the king." Lin also had this idea, so they quickly clashed. Zhang tightly gripped his spear, shaking it into a flower shape, making it hard for Lin to see where the spearhead was. Lin didn't care and swung his knife at Zhang with a slanting motion. Zhang quickly used his spear shaft to deflect the knife, using a bit of force to send Lin's knife flying off course. Lin took advantage of the momentum and swung his knife down along the spear shaft, aiming for Zhang's arm. Just as it seemed like Zhang's arm was doomed, he rotated his spear shaft around Lin's knife, causing the knife to leave the spear and fall downwards. Zhang saw an opportunity and thrust his spear at Lin's chest. But unexpectedly, Li Zuguang suddenly appeared in front of him, using his shield to block the spearhead. Lin used the back of his knife to strike Zhang on the back, and Zhang was caught off guard, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he fell to the ground. Li Guangzu and another strong soldier rushed forward, capturing Zhang alive and holding a knife to his neck, forcing the Jiang gang to surrender.

  Zhao Hehai was leading his brothers in a frantic rush when he suddenly saw Zhang Zhuo being captured, and with a loud roar, he turned around and charged back. The other river bandits, seeing this, also followed Zhao Hehai and turned around to charge back. Zhang Zhuo was greatly alarmed and cursed: "You damn well better hurry up!"

  Zhao Hehai, disregarding everything, charged forward with his pu dao to join the battle array. Zhang Zhuo was furious and roared: "Zhao Hehai! If you're my brother, then quickly leave, otherwise I'll haunt you as a ghost!" At this time, Zhang Zhuo's face was covered in blood, looking like a fierce demon. Zhao Hehai felt sorrowful and indignant in his heart, hesitating on the spot.

  Lin Chunhong burst out laughing: "You can't leave now!"

  As soon as the words fell, a sudden noise came from the riverbank, mixed with miserable cries. It turned out that Zhou Wang led the boat worker team to take advantage of the opportunity and was attacking the Jiang thief on the remaining ship.

  "Zhang Zhao, now that your retreat is cut off, aren't you going to surrender?"

  Zhao Hai saw that the road behind was cut off, and he calmed down instead. He ordered the Jiang gang members to stop fighting with each other and said to Lin Chunhong: "Speak up, what do you need in order to let my brother go?"

  Lin Chunhong smiled and replied: "I just need your big brother, and it's even better if you brothers can come together!"

  Zhao Hehai thought Lin Chunhong just wanted to take credit and be rewarded, so he loudly scolded: "Corrupt official, you want to use our brothers' blood to get promoted and rich? No way! Even if I'm left with only one breath, I'll fight you to the death!"

  Zhang Zhao understood Lin Chunhong's words and said, "You can have me do whatever you want, but you must let my brothers go!"

  "That's alright, but apart from you, Zhao Hai and Li Mengshen must stay behind!" Lin Chunhong learned from Zhang Daohuan that these three brothers were originally in the navy, so he wanted to recruit them under his command.

  Zhao Hei was grieved by the unknown fate of Li Mengshen, and seeing Lin Chunhong being so deceitful, he shouted loudly: "We brothers have been licking blood on our blades for many years, killing people like hemp, we've long owed a death, at worst we'll die together with the net."

  Just then, Zhou Wang appeared with over a hundred men, escorting Li Mengshen from behind. Li Mengshen was limping and obviously had an injured leg. Zhao Hehai saw this and threw down his wooden sword, shouting: "It's all over! Big Brother and Second Brother have been captured, I won't survive alone either. Brothers, let's go! The three of us will stay behind."

  "Those who want to leave, put down your weapons and squat with your heads in your hands!"

  All of a sudden, a loud clang was heard, and a Jiang gangster's wooden sword fell to the ground. The Jiang gangsters saw someone take the lead and immediately threw away their weapons, hugging their heads and squatting down. Zhou Wang walked over to Lin Chunhong's side, leaned in close to his ear, and whispered: "We have to let Zhao Hehai go, otherwise the Jiang gangsters will scatter like sand, and it will be even harder to subdue them!"

  Lin Chunhong suddenly woke up and immediately said: "Zhao Hehai, you take the other brothers away, my big brother and second brother will stay here for the time being. I'll drink with them and get closer to them!" Zhang Zhao was just beside Lin Chunhong, listening to Zhou Wang's words roughly, and finally put his heart at ease. After thinking for a moment, he said to Zhao Hehai: "Third brother, take the brothers away, prepare silver coins, and prepare to redeem me and second brother!" Zhang Zhao's words were also considered kind and thoughtful, knowing that Zhao Hehai was unwilling to abandon the two of them to live on their own, so he pretended that Lin Chunhong was asking for silver coins.

  Zhao Hai had no choice but to leave with his remaining brothers in a state of disarray, and Lin Chunhong did not stop them.

  Lin Chun-hung and others took Zhang Zhaohe and Li Mengshen back to the warehouse, leaving only Zhou Wang and other core personnel behind, and began interrogating Zhang Zhaohe and Li Mengshen.

  Lin Chunhong sat in the chair, staring at Zhang Zhao and not speaking, leaving Zhang Zhao bewildered. Zhang Zhao couldn't help but say: "Today I was caught, it's hard to escape torture, what's the point of interrogating me?"

  Lin Chunhong smiled slightly, took out a piece of paper from the desk and read: "On September 3rd of the first year of Chongzhen, Yu Fanghai, the chief of the Ministry of War's Department of Military Affairs, and two others were killed; on December 15th of the same year, Feng Yidao, the push officer of Jingmen Prefecture in Huguang, and seven others were killed..."

  Lin Chunhong read on item by item, and when he finished, he added a sentence: "Indeed, he was sentenced to death by lingchi."

  Zhang Zhao gritted his teeth and said: "I can only regret not having killed Yang Yiren."

  "Yang Yiren's dog and pig ears, why bother with him? Killing him is of no benefit, and not killing him does no harm."

  "What's the point of saying all this? You're sending me to Jingzhou Prefecture, and I suppose you'll get promoted. Let me think... what position will you be promoted to? Currently, it's from the 9th rank, or maybe bought, so probably up to the 9th rank. Hmm, not bad, can be a county governor or a historian!" Zhang Zhao's words were not without ridicule, making Zhou Wang and others unable to help but get angry. Zhou Shiliang stepped forward, kicking Zhang Zhao's knee with his foot, saying: "You dare to spout nonsense, kneel down!" Zhang Zhao stood unsteadily, kneeling on one knee, continuing to say: "After being promoted, you can go attack Wu Dang, and then be killed by Wu Dang!"

  This finally touched Lin Chunhong's sore spot, his chest heaving constantly, unable to bear it, he drew out his wooden sword and pointed at Zhang Chao, shouting: "Do you think Wu Gan can live for a few more days? I'll kill you now, and tomorrow I'll chop Wu Gan into ten thousand pieces!" After speaking, he hacked towards Zhang Chao. Zhou Wang saw the situation and immediately stopped Lin Chunhong, saying: "Zhang Chao wants you to kill him right now, don't be impulsive!"

  Lin Chunhong listened, with great difficulty suppressing the anger in his heart, and said calmly: "Insulting one's ancestors is like a shrew scolding on the street. A man should not stoop to such behavior!"

  Zhang Zhao saw Lin Chunhong suppress his anger in an instant, and he also secretly admired him. He said: "I'm dead anyway, I just have a question, you're making a fortune now, why do you want to be a patrol officer, this crappy official?"

  "Whether I do inspections or not is none of your business. Now, I'm showing you a way out, as long as you're willing to follow me and do things my way, I'll ensure that you and your brother won't die."

  "What do you need me to follow you for?"

  "The Yangtze River is in turmoil, and you are well aware of the losses I have suffered. So, all I want is for you to help me maintain the safety of the waterway."

  Li Mengshen's leg was injured and he was now lying on the ground, when he heard that Lin Chunhong had let them go, he said: "I don't know how Master Lin will keep us brothers from dying?"

  "You've killed too many officials, so surrendering is unlikely. You can change your name and surname, and settle in Zhijiang, I can completely arrange this for you."

  Zhang Zhaixin had been thinking for a long time, he had always wanted to find a stable place to spend his life, and following Lin Chunhong might be able to fulfill this wish. However, he still didn't quite trust Lin Chunhong, and didn't dare believe that he could protect himself. So he said: "We brothers also understand Mr. Lin's sincerity, otherwise Mr. Lin wouldn't be bothering with us. It's just that I'm still a bit uncertain whether Mr. Lin can really protect us."

  Lin Chunhong said with a big tone: "This is easy to handle. You can continue to be your water gang, as long as you don't intercept my goods, do whatever you want. But I remind you, don't think that the government of Jingzhou Prefecture has no way with you now, but your case is known throughout the country, once the imperial court gets serious, you will not be able to escape. Moreover, from ancient times to the present, which water gang has ever succeeded? Yang Xiao was so powerful on Dongting Lake in the past, wasn't he also eliminated by Yue Fei? I can let you go now, and it's not too late for you to come back and find me after you've figured things out!"

  Zhang Zhao and Li Mengshen were shocked and asked: "Really let us go?"

  "Of course. You can continue to be water bandits, I don't care, but if you intercept my goods, don't blame me for being impolite. Don't think that just because I'm on the water and you're helpless against me now, take a look at the lumber outside, how many ships can I build? The refugees are gathering in large numbers now, can you handle them?"

  Zhang Zhao still couldn't make up his mind to follow Lin Chunhong. He knew that being a water bandit would definitely end in a bad outcome, but was following Lin Chunhong really the best choice?

  Lin Chunhong saw Zhang Zhao hesitating and gave an order: "Release the two of them, treat them with good wine, and let them go."

  Zhang Zhao didn't stand on ceremony either. After eating and drinking, he left with Li Mengshen. He still wanted to take a look and see if following Lin Chunhong had any prospects.

  Regarding Lin Chunhong's handling of Zhang Zhao, Zhou Wang and others were somewhat skeptical, even suggesting that Zhang Zhao was a wolf in sheep's clothing, and even if he surrendered, it would be beneficial for the time being, but a disaster later on. Lin Chunhong disagreed with this view, believing that as long as Zhang Zhao returned, he would definitely be sincere, otherwise he could have pretended to surrender now. After handling Zhang Zhao's matter, Lin Chunhong took the opportunity to discuss the purchase of land with the landlords in Baili Zhou, raising the price per mu to three taels of silver, and most landlords readily signed the contract. As a result, nearly 40,000 mu of arable land in Baili Zhou fell under Lin Chunhong's control. Due to the severe escape of farmers, many lands were left unattended and had to be abandoned.