Nineteen, Youth

  Three fishing boats were swaying slowly on the water, with a deeper draft, looking like they had a bountiful harvest. The sky was already late, and it should be fishermen returning fully loaded.

  Lu Laojiu took a sip of the wine from the gourd, smacked his lips, and cursed at the three fishing boats. These fishing boats were all manned by stinky, miserable wretches who didn't have any valuable catches, unless they wanted to eat fish themselves, otherwise they wouldn't even bother with them.

  The fishing boat brushed past Laojiu Island, and Lu Laojiu didn't pay much attention to it. There are thousands of big and small fishing boats in Chaohu Lake, who can remember each one?

  He took another sip of the wine from the gourd, and found that the three fishing boats had turned back again. It seemed they were going to dock at Lao Mountain Island. Lu Laojiu suddenly became alert, he stood up straight, staring at the three fishing boats. When he saw them starting to move away again, he cursed: "You bastards, if you dare to pass by, you'll die without a burial place!"

  Then, a powerful arm stretched out from behind and clamped his neck tightly, Lu Laojiu was still somewhat dazed in his mind, thinking it was one of his companions playing a joke. When he realized the other party really wanted his life, his heart had already turned cold, and a sharp cow ear knife was viciously stabbed into him.

  Gao Dazhu carefully put down the body, then gestured to the three fishing boats in the lake. The three fishing boats immediately turned around and headed for the shore. In an instant, more than 20 people had landed.

  Yu Guozhen had a curved knife hanging from his waist, holding a spear in his hand, with a cold expression on his face. He glanced at the excited young men behind him, who were fifteen or sixteen years old and more eager to fight than adults, especially after knowing that they would have a batch of competitors, which made them cherish their current life and burst out with endless enthusiasm.

  If they were to suffer a crushing defeat, that enthusiasm would be extinguished, but Yu Guozhen would not allow such a thing to happen.

  After observing for a while, the lair of the water bandits was found to be very simple, just a cave. From time to time, some water bandits would come out of the cave, but only two people stayed at the entrance. Yu Guozhen learned from the previous confession of the water bandit that this cave could hold more than 100 people. He estimated that there were more than 30 water bandits, a few more than he had previously been informed.

  "Dà zhù, you bring your men around to the back, I and èr zhù will attack from the front. I'll give you a stick of incense time, then we'll attack from both sides. Do you understand?"

  Gao Dazhu smiled foolishly and nodded to indicate he understood.

  Yu Guozhen crouched down, using the island's weeds and shrubs as cover, and began to crawl towards the bandits' hideout. Outside the cave, two bandits sat together chatting, talking about which town's brothel was better. Yu Guozhen approached to within over ten zhang of them, but they still hadn't discovered him. However, it would be difficult to advance further, as the shrubs came to an end here.

  "That group of salt smugglers said that as long as this batch of goods can be sold smoothly, they will take out some men to help us, and the Yu family's business will be greatly boosted..."

  "You see those few people who came last time, each and every one of them was so arrogant, do you know why? I actually heard that they were military officers from the Wei camp..."

  This conversation made Yu Guozhen slightly stunned, and the anger in his heart suddenly boiled over. The Dongxu and Liugei bandits were causing chaos in the country, and the soldiers in the Wei Suo were not thinking about protecting their homes and defending the country, but were colluding with the water bandits to sell private salt, and even wanted to kill him together with the water bandits!

  Time flew by in a flash, and Yu Guozhen suddenly stood up. He rushed out first, but how could Gao Buping and Er Zhuang let him take the lead? The father-son duo, one on the left and one on the right, quickly charged forward.

  When Guo Zhen rushed over, the two water bandits who had let out a cry of surprise had already been knocked to the ground by Gao Da and Gao Er Zhuang.

  Hearing the howling sound, three more water bandits rushed out of the cave. Yu Guozhen shouted loudly and stabbed with his spear.

  This was a standard assassination move, concise and neat. The red-tasseled spear pierced deep into the pirate's chest, then stuck at the tassel, with blood spurting out of the wound, blocked by the opened tassel, which instantly became more vibrant with fresh blood.

  Yu Guozhen drew out his long spear and kicked over the still warm corpse. Beside him, Luo Jiuhe shouted loudly, using his rifle as a club to knock down a pirate, then Ye Wuyue immediately pounced forward, chopping off the pirate's head with one knife.

  "Don't compete with me!" Lu Jiuhe was furious. He had been looking forward to this opportunity to make a good impression and wash away the shame of last time.

  "And another one, hurry up!" Ye Wuyue laughed and said.

  The last water bandit was also knocked to the ground, and seeing his companions rushing up, Luo Jiuhe glared with his eyes and stabbed fiercely: "For braised pork!"

  This shot nailed the water thief to the ground. Luo Jiuhe was afraid that it was not enough, pulled out the gun and gave another shot: "For the sake of Zhuo's hoof!"

  "Good job!" Yu Guozhen looked at the large pillar coming towards them, his plan was somewhat redundant, originally he was afraid that the Water Bandits organization would start an effective defense, but now they were attacking from both sides.

  "Not even leaving one for me to kill." Da Zhu smiled foolishly again, but his words were filled with murderous intent.

  "You're still afraid of having nothing? There's plenty, a whole cave full."

  Yu Guozhen's words made Dazhu's eyes light up: "Young master, shall we proceed into the cave?"

  "It's unnecessary... will you be able to bear it, Xun Haozi?" Yu Guozhen burst out laughing.

  "Right, let's get the sulfur going!" Gao Erzhu chuckled and said: "Big brother, go get some hay, not too dry, a bit damp is good!"

  After the short fight, five water bandits were killed by everyone with ease, and the young men also relaxed. Gao Dazhu led a few people to cut grass and dry branches, tied them into a small bundle, ignited and threw them at the entrance of the cave. A moment later, thick smoke billowed out, and under Yu Guozhen's signal, the young men quietly waited with wet clothes wrapped around their mouths and noses.

  A violent coughing sound came from the stone cave, Yu Guozhen signaled to continue throwing hay, and after a while, one of the bandits couldn't bear it anymore, and rushed out while coughing.

  Gao Dazhu quickly understood Yu Guozhen's intention and shot the escaping water thief to death. His body blocked the water thieves behind, who were tripped and fell, and before they could get up, Luo Jiuhe was shot again, dying on the spot.

  "Cough... Cough... Which hero is it... Cough... Who wants to annihilate us?"

  Xiao Si Lang coughed and shouted loudly. When the smoke rose, he knew something was wrong. Today, he was caught off guard.

  "Pay no attention to him, continue to ignite." Yu Guozhen instructed.

  Xiao Si Lang heard the sound outside was not very clear, but the smoke in the cave grew thicker and thicker. He knew that if this continued, he would really be smoked to death in the cave.

  "Cough... everyone get ready... charge out, or else... we'll be smoked to death..." He coughed as he spoke to the crowd of pirates.

  Everyone knows this truth, but those who rushed out were just a miserable cry and then silent. Therefore, the people who came later did not dare to rush out. But now if they drag on, it will be suffocated by smoke, so under Xiao Si Lang's agitation, the water thieves began to charge towards the cave entrance again.

  The cave was originally quite hidden, and the entrance was not spacious. At most, four people could go out shoulder to shoulder. Xiao Si Lang ran in the front, and when he reached the entrance, he shouted: "Kill!"

  The rest of the water thieves were choked red-faced and thick-necked, at this time they couldn't help but fear, and rushed out fiercely. At this moment, Xiao Si Lang fell down with a "thud", and the rest of the water thieves didn't suspect anything, continuing to charge forward.

  Rushing out of the cave, they hadn't even had time to take a breath of fresh air when they were met with a massacre. Yu Guozhen was no benevolent soul, his orders were clear: anyone who didn't obey him would be killed on the spot. And so the young men charged forward with swords and guns, and in an instant, the pirates let out a chorus of mournful cries.

  Xiao Si Lang, who had fallen to the ground, was motionless, but his eyes, which were stuck to the ground, were wide open, revealing a fierce and hateful glare. He listened as his fellow comrades let out one mournful cry after another, and he knew that these people outside really wanted to wipe them all out, not even daring to breathe loudly.

  He was skilled in holding his breath, so he endured for half a stick of incense. The cries outside had all disappeared, and the remaining few water bandits retreated into the cave, coughing violently while crying out for mercy.

  They have completely lost their nerve and no longer have the will to resist.

  "Come out, put down your weapons and surrender with your hands up, or we'll storm in!"

  The smoke outside had subsided a bit, and finally such a shout came over, the remaining water thieves completely lost their minds, hearing the shout, they actually threw away their weapons and fled with their heads in their hands.

  Xiao Si Lang heard the voice was very unfamiliar, he could be sure that he did not know the other party. Then he heard laughter and curses, the vast majority of voices were a bit hoarse, like the changing voices of young boys.

  "It's... it's Yu Jia's little dog!" At this time, Xiao Si Lang finally guessed the identity of the attacker, and he gritted his teeth in his heart: "This little dog... I will kill this little dog and his whole family one day!"

  The thick smoke in the cave has dissipated, but Xiao Si Lang is still crouching down. He quietly lifts his head and sees that no one has entered from outside until now.

  He was anxious and hesitant, one moment hoping the enemy wouldn't come into the cave to search, and the next hoping they would be careless enough in their search that he could escape. Just then, he heard a voice outside: "The bandits have all been killed, gather up, return to the boat."

  Then there were footsteps fading away, Xiao Si Lang was still uneasy, then he heard the sound of insects chirping outside, which finally made him relax.

  If someone is at the entrance, the insect will not make a sound. When the person walks away, the insect will start making noise again. Thinking of this, Xiao Si Lang slowly got up, listened carefully for a while, then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and leaned against the wall to sit down.

  "No, they've taken the living mouth away... Go back and investigate, you'll know what's in the cave, they must come back, this place can't stay for long!" Before he sat down for three breaths, Xiao Si Lang jumped up again as if there was a needle under his butt.

  He took three steps and two strides, cat-waisting out of the hole. The light outside was a bit dazzling, he raised his hand to shield his eyes, and when he put it down after adapting, he suddenly froze.

  In front of him, six young men held guns with cold smiles, while the leader's smile on his face carried a chilling meaning, making Xiao Si Lang almost fly away in fright!