Thirteen: Daring to laugh at Sun Jian for not being a real man

  Li Jinbao bit a grass stem and crouched in the reeds, occasionally slapping the water with a reed stick.

  By his side were six fishing boats, with more than twenty big men lying horizontally and vertically on the boat, some snoring loudly, while others were throwing dice to gamble.

  A thoroughly defeated man stood up with a scowl and yielded his seat to his companion, then went over to Li Jinbao's side.

  "Jinbao, are you telling the truth? Pearls worth over a thousand taels?" the man asked.

  "Shi Lang brother, when have I ever deceived you?" Li Jinbao lowered his voice: "Not just those pearls, the Yu family is a well-known wealthy household in Xiang'an, their shops in Nanjing can earn thousands of taels of silver every year, and their estates in Xiang'an also produce hundreds of taels. Adding to that, pawnshops, cloth stores, and other businesses... think about how much they can make in a year! Just the four houses I know of have three to five thousand taels of silver hidden inside, not to mention the other three houses!"

  Mentioning this, Li Jinbao gritted his teeth. He was ordered to come out and collude with the bandits of Chaohu Lake because two brothers he had known since childhood were bandits. The two brothers surnamed Xiao didn't have any great names, so they followed the clan's ranking order, one called Xiao Balang, the other Xiao Shilang.

  But when he found the two brothers, news from Xiang'an Town also arrived, his sister and nephew were all killed. He immediately decided to avenge the entire Yu family, in his view, the murderer must be Yu Guozhen, and the first and second houses of the Yu family could not escape responsibility.

  Having silver is good, pearls and the like are hard to part with. Even if you do part with them, people will still try to swindle you out of a layer of skin. Xiao Shilang spat and wiped his mouth: "Several thousand taels of silver as family property... damn it, I've been doing business in Wuhu without any capital, and I haven't saved up several thousand taels either!"

  "After this vote is settled, Brother Shilang will be finished." Li Jinbao said with a hateful tone: "I only ask Brother Shilang to grant me one thing, the people of the Yu family, kill them all, don't leave even half!"

  "That's natural... Hmm, how is it smoking, where did the water go?" Xia Shi Lang said this and sniffed hard, looking around, only to see a thick smoke rising from another river fork about 10 miles away.

  If they weren't so far away, these pirates would have been alerted immediately, but this was over a mile away, and Shōjirō didn't suspect a thing.

  People all love to watch the excitement, and at the water's edge they didn't look carefully, he and several water thieves went ashore, wanting to find a high place to see what was going on, but just then, several young men rushed out of the grass.

  "Mine, mine, no one is allowed to rob me." Ye Wuyue grasped a large ingot of silver in his hand and ran past Xiao Shilang from a short distance away.

  As soon as he saw the silver ingot in the young man's hand, Xiao Shilang, who had just lost all his money, suddenly lit up with excitement. This large ingot was worth at least ten taels!

  "It was something we all saw together, you just grabbed it quickly and ran off with it, everyone had a share!" the chasing boy shouted.

  This dispelled Xiao Shilang's last doubt. He turned his eyes and shouted: "The silver I lost, it was you who picked it up!"

  Ye Wuyue turned his face and looked at him, seeing Li Jinbao beside him, his face suddenly changed color: "Li... Li Jinbao, Li Jinbao has brought the water thief!"

  He yelled and turned around to escape, the three young men behind him also ran quickly. Li Jinbao recognized that these three young men were all troublemakers from Xiang'an Town, and suddenly became anxious: "Stop them, don't let them go back and report!"

  "Come on, let's catch them!" Xiao Shilang shouted, and took the lead in chasing after them. These water bandits were nominally led by his two brothers, but in reality, there was little restraint between them, and whoever grabbed the silver usually got to keep it.

  The pirates on the six ships all jumped ashore at once, and everyone knew that if they let these few little guys escape back to town and tell the tale, this trip would be a wasted effort.

  About three hundred paces away from them, under the ridge of a field, Yu Yikun, who was hiding, couldn't help but say in a low voice: "Good, they've fallen into our trap!"

  Three young men scattered and ran, the water bandits also dispersed to chase them. Because Ye Wuyue was holding a silver ingot, there were ten people following him. Although Ye Wuyue ran fast, the water bandit's speed was not slow either. The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer. Ye Wuyue suddenly jumped over a ditch, and Xiao Shilang, who was closely following behind, also jumped up with a sly smile.

  However, just as he was about to jump over, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of something moving in the ditch. Then, he felt severe pain in his lower body, and something had entered him, cold, hard, swollen, and throbbing. He let out a strange cry, and warmth seeped out, making the area between his legs suddenly wet and slippery.

  It was then that he saw clearly that there were actually four people hiding in that ditch!

  Kō, not chubby, lifted up the harpoon gun used to bind firewood, his strength was great, and even Xiao Shilang on top of him was held up by him. The three young men beside him did not have such strength, nor did they have his accuracy in hitting the vital point at once, only one harpoon gun pierced the abdomen of a water bandit, and the other two were stuck in the legs of the water bandit.

  "Buried... ambushed!" Xiao Shilang wanted to shout loudly, but his weight made the iron tip of the gun pierce even deeper, almost from his lower body to his throat. He only let out a low cry before his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

  He couldn't shout out loud, but the other pirates who came with him could, and immediately someone shouted loudly: "Come quickly, come quickly, this way!"

  The water bandits who were chasing the other two boys turned their faces, seeing that nearly half of their ten companions had fallen. Moreover, the remaining six water bandits jumped over the ditch and turned back to find Gao Nianzhi to kill him, when they heard a shout from behind: "Halt!"

  The ten rifles were raised, and then another shout was heard. Ten young men emerged from the prone ridges of the field, starting to sprint forward. Two of them slipped and fell due to tension, but the remaining eight quickly approached them.

  "Ah!" In the midst of the mournful cries, all five water bandits were shot and stabbed to death, none escaped.

  Around the age of fifteen, these young men were at an age where they feared neither heaven nor earth. Seeing blood not only didn't make them panic, but instead stirred up their wild nature. In the midst of chaotic stabbing, Gao Bu was still able to exchange blows with the bandits due to his experience. Seeing that the young men had become a disorganized mess, he gave the order: "Form ranks! Form ranks!"

  The sudden attack made the water bandits lose their footing, and when they came to their senses, they found that the attackers were just a group of 15 or 16-year-old half-grown boys, and their courage was suddenly boosted.

  Especially when their companions were there to ask for help, they would not be able to sit and watch, so those with swords in hand would charge over, while those without swords would prepare to return to the ship to fetch swords.

  Just then, as they were on their way back to the boat, two rifles suddenly appeared.

  Gao Dazhu and Gao Erzhu, these two men not only followed Yu Guozhen to practice martial arts earliest, but also followed Gao Bupang to learn some boxing, swordsmanship and staff techniques. Although they can't be considered outstanding, they are more than enough to intimidate the water bandits.

  Two pirates who wanted to retrieve their swords let out a miserable cry and fell down, the rest of the pirates were somewhat panicked at this time, not knowing how many people were ambushing them. They were in a state of panic, then they heard the shout: "Archers get ready, listen to my command, the patrol inspector is here, you dare to be so bold, water thieves, why don't you surrender quickly!"

  That was the voice of a grown man, then the reeds around him rustled loudly, and several flags suddenly stretched out, with no one knowing how many archers were hidden among them.

  "Surrender and spare your life!" The voice shouted again.

  The water bandits were originally a motley crew, and more than 20 people had been injured or killed in the blink of an eye. Especially when Xiao Shilang, the leader, was shot and lifted up, his life or death unknown, everyone saw the blood flowing down from the gun, their faces turned pale, and when they heard that they could live if they surrendered their weapons, some immediately threw down their knives and knelt down.

  With one leading the way, the others followed suit. In less than a moment, all of these more than ten pirates knelt down.

  "Get down, get down, with your hands, feet and head on the ground. Whoever raises their head will be killed!" Gao shouted sternly.

  Then these water bandits one by one stuck their heads to the ground, and the three young men began to tie them up with hemp ropes.

  This binding method is actually used by the Khitan people, who use it when they are selling horses in the north and catching horse thieves. A thief bound up like this cannot possibly escape.

  Li Jinbao was a man with discerning eyes, and when he saw Xiao Shilang being held up by the guns, he realized that something was wrong and didn't dare to stay any longer. He turned around and slipped into the reed thicket. When he looked back at the scene, his heart suddenly felt like it had been turned upside down. The ones who were tying people up were just a group of young men, and the one who called himself "Xun Jian" was actually Yu Yiqin, the head of the second house!

  Yu Yiqin, who has always been mediocre and incompetent in the eyes of Si Fang and Li Jinbao, when did he have the courage to set up this trap?

  Without thinking, Li Jinbao knew who was behind this. Who else could it be besides Yu Guozhen? At that time, in front of the fourth house, he looked at himself with such a cold gaze, and he knew that this kid was not a good thing!

  That kid is a freak!

  In a state of extreme fear, Li Jinbao quietly retreated backwards. He was afraid of startling those young men. If they were caught, these water bandits might be sentenced to exile and hard labor. But he, the one who had betrayed his master and led the bandits, would undoubtedly be put to death. Even if the government spared his life, that terrifying Yu Guozhen would absolutely not let him live...

  As Li Jinbao's mind turned to this, he thought of another thing, from the beginning to now, Yu Guozhen had not appeared, where was he?

  As soon as this idea was born, he felt a strong wind behind him, and after being kicked hard in the lower back, he rolled into the muddy mud under the reeds. He wanted to crawl up and escape with an "ah", but as soon as he turned over, he felt cold on his chest.

  What met his gaze was Yu Guozhen's eyes which were even sharper than a cow's ear knife.

  "You...you..." Li Jinbao stretched out his hand to grab the fifteen-year-old boy, and with a twist of the cow-eared dagger inserted in his chest, Li Jinbao's last bit of strength disappeared. His pupils began to dilate, and he knelt down in front of Yu Guozhen, clutching at his chest.

  "The front mid-knife, proof of a fierce battle." Yu Guozhen pulled out the knife from his body and whispered as he lost consciousness.

  "Monster... bastard!" Li Jinbao didn't know where he got the strength from, his body straightened up and spat out these two words.

  "Let the evil be evil." Yu Guozhen wiped the blood off his knife on the corpse, and smiled faintly.