Fourteen rivers and nine roads are not good men

  Yu Yiqin felt scared at this time, he didn't know what had happened to him just now, and he actually led less than twenty people - most of whom were only fifteen or sixteen years old boys, to attack the water bandits who outnumbered them.

  He looked at Yu Guozhen walking out of the reeds, swallowed hard, his own nephew, just one sentence, and he followed him, and in a few words, he convinced him to impersonate the inspector and say those words.

  The movements of the water thief were consistent with what Yu Guozhen had told him beforehand, and the whole process took less than a stick of incense!

  "Guo Zhen!" Thinking of this, he warmly called out Yu Guo Zhen's name: "Fortunately, fortunately, I didn't make any mistakes!"

  "Second Brother has the demeanor of a great general." Yu Guozhen praised in a calm tone, then beckoned to Ye Wuyue: "Wuyue, go bring Li Jinbao over."

  When he heard the name Li Jinbao, Yu Yiqin couldn't help but grit his teeth. He had originally been convinced that the slaughter of the Fourth House was done by Yu Guozhen, but now that he found out Li Jinbao really brought water bandits to Xiang'an, he began to suspect again.

  However, Li Jinbao was already a dead man when he was dragged in front of him, with a knife straight through his heart and no possibility of resurrection.

  "After seeing me, he wanted to fight to the death and was killed by my single sword. What a pity! He should have been left alive." said Yu Guozhen.

  "What a cheap life, it's better for him to die with one knife. This treacherous dog who betrayed his master!" Yu Yiqin plucked up the courage and kicked the corpse: "Guo Zhen, what should we do next?"

  Yu Guozhen said, "Our Yu family's motto is to train the household troops to protect the people and ensure their safety. Having captured these water bandits, it goes without saying that we will hand them over to the authorities."

  Yu Yiqin pulled him aside and said in a low voice: "I'm afraid there's an accomplice."

  "Take them back for a review, then send them to the government office. Those who were injured won't have to bother anymore, and it's just right to let the family guards practice their courage."

  This answer is very bland, but Yu Yiqin heard the sound of wind and rain, he smiled awkwardly and said: "Guo Zhen you are thoughtful, haha, haha!"

  "I'd also like to congratulate Second Uncle. Our Yu family has captured so many bandits, the government will have to reward us somehow. Second Uncle has made a great achievement today." Yu Guozhen slowly smiled: "The government is currently lacking people like Second Uncle who can bring peace to the area, perhaps they'll even give Second Uncle a black gauze hat."

  Yu Yiqin's face suddenly burst into red light, but he shook his head repeatedly: "This is all Gu Zhen's credit, I just happened to be there, how can I rob your credit?"

  "I am still young and cannot take this credit." Yu Guozhen said this sentence and turned to the youths: "Form a line!"

  At his word of command, the young men who were rejoicing and dancing with their captured swords and spears immediately formed up in ranks.

  Seeing that they were only bruised and scraped, Yu Guozhen smiled: "Today was a good job, go back and have a bonus meal, braised pork is enough!"

  The boys' faces showed a hint of excitement, the oily braised pork was their favorite, but even if Yu Guozhen treated them well, it was impossible to have braised pork every day, they could only eat it once every five days.

  "Then... Taizhu, bring out the spoils of war!"

  When sweeping the battlefield, Gao brothers were the main force. While others scrambled for swords and guns, they picked up silver coins instead. They didn't miss a single bandit or corpse that was tied up. As a result, after Yu Guozhen gave an order, they laid out a pile of things in front of everyone.

  There were small pieces of silver, scattered coins, small-denomination silver notes and worthless paper money, as well as women's jewelry. Yu Guozhen glanced at these spoils of war, he looked at Gao Buping, Gao Buping nodded, which made Yu Guozhen very satisfied.

  The young men did not secretly hoard these, perhaps because they simply did not think of it, and also did not contract the bad habits of the soldiers at this time, but this is still a commendable thing.

  "Everyone didn't secretly keep the spoils of war, I'm glad about that." Yu Guozhen didn't say much more, directly saying: "After returning, each person will be awarded an additional 50 cents."

  The young people cheered again, most of them were family members, and the money was taken back to supplement their families' expenses. Their parents would not know how to praise them!

  "This victory, the first credit should go to Er Zhu. If it wasn't for Er Zhu getting the news from the water bandits, we might have been the ones who got killed. Therefore, Er Zhu will receive an additional five taels of silver and his name will be written on the wall for ten days. The first achievement on the battlefield is Lao Gao, who killed the bandit leader with one strike, causing the water bandits..."

  Yu Guozhen listened to the discussion on merits and rewards, Yu Yi felt that his nephew was more and more extraordinary. Before the war, he planned, during the war, he executed, and after the war, he summarized, doing everything in a matter-of-course manner, as if he was born with this understanding.

  Apart from praising and rewarding, Yu Guozhen also couldn't help but scold them. Several people who were nervous and fell over were scolded by Yu Guozhen, and were ordered to practice more after returning. After a round of praise and punishment, everyone was in awe. Seeing that the hall seemed quiet, Yu Yikun stepped forward and asked: "Guozhen, what's next?"

  Yu Guozhen glanced at these water bandits, now the water bandits also knew that they were caught by a group of half-grown kids, one by one extremely ashamed and humiliated. At this time, they wanted to show off their heroic spirit, but someone was cursing and threatening them from the side.

  "Second Master, please wait a moment, let's first investigate what exactly happened before we talk." Yu Guozhen said.

  He pointed at the most vicious-looking one of the water bandits: "Luo Jiuhe!"

  Luo Jiuhe was one of the young men who had fallen over due to tension just now, and upon hearing his name being called, he immediately stepped forward and said loudly: "Present!"

  "Give this guy a knife."

  "Ah……" Luo Jiuhe did not expect such an order, he was stunned for a moment, seeing Yu Guozhen's gaze become severe, and suddenly thought that he had just made another mistake, if he didn't obey the order now, according to the rules of the small official, he would be beaten with a board and kicked out of the house.

  Let him go back to the streets and be that idle rascal again, eating only two meals a day and not seeing a drop of oil for a whole month.

  His eyes suddenly turned red, and he picked up a waist knife and walked towards the man. The water thief had a big guts, laughed loudly and said something like "Eighteen years later, another good fellow" or "Afraid of death, grandfather doesn't become a bandit". His eyes revealed a fierce glint, Luo Jiuhe locked eyes with him, and his legs couldn't help but soften.

  This was not the time of the battle just now, he hesitated a little, and the pirate saw it, and scolded again: "You dare to kill Grandpa, Grandpa will come back to claim your life after becoming a ghost..."

  "Braised pork, braised pork!" Ye Wuyue and Luo Jiuhe had a good relationship, seeing that he seemed to be somewhat guilty, while the small official's face became increasingly stern, so he quietly reminded him from behind. The fear of not having braised pork to eat apparently outweighed the fear of fierce ghosts, Luo Jiuhe let out a loud "ah" and closed his eyes to chop with his knife.

  Blood splattered on his face, warm and hot, Luo Jiuhe shouted again, the knife in his hand continued to chop wildly.

  That water thief initially just shouted "painful, painful", but after shouting twice, it turned into a howl. Luo Jiuhe's knife skills were somewhat problematic. The first two knives chopped at his shoulders without breaking through, and then he cut off one of his ears, directly slashing open his clothes, and made a move on the inside of his thigh.

  "Little brother, little grandfather, little ancestor... just be good and give me a quick one..."

  After a while, Luo Jiuhe opened his eyes and saw that the water thief was lying on the ground, weakly begging him for mercy. His body was already covered in blood, with half of his neck cut open, but he wouldn't die immediately.

  "Me... me..." Luo Jiuhe thought that all of this was caused by himself, his voice trembling slightly.

  Yu Guozhen hummed a sound, and Luo Jiuhe's performance made him somewhat disappointed. This young man was the smartest among the sixteen, but he had a small courage.

  In troubled times, having a small gallbladder is no way to cope with those crises.

  "That's enough." Yu Guozhen's order made Luo Jiuhe tremble with fear, he knew he had done something wrong and turned back to look at the young official.

  "I'm going to make a confession now. How did Li Jinbao collude with you, and how did he kill my entire family of four? I want to hear the confession." Yu Guozhen said: "If this confession doesn't satisfy me, Luo Jiuhe!"

  "Agreed!"

  "I point at one person, he doesn't answer, you go chop him."

  Luo Jiuhé had the opportunity to redeem himself, and of course he wouldn't let it slip away. This time he didn't close his eyes, but those water thieves saw the miserable state of their companion in front of them, who would dare try again? The first person Yu Guozhen pointed at hastily said: "Young master, I'll say anything, I'll say everything!"

  Yu Yiqin personally heard the confession of the water bandit, that Li Jinbao was acting on the orders of the fourth house to collude with the water bandits, with the goal of killing Yu Guozhen, the nephew of the third house, in order to seize his property. Upon hearing this, Yu Yiqin suddenly flew into a rage. The internal struggle between the four houses of the Yu family was one thing, but colluding with bandits to slaughter their own kin was another matter altogether!

  "This is it, this is it! He can also do such things, die well, die well!"

  His "good death" of course refers to the four houses. Yu Guozhen did not entangle this issue, and then asked how many people were in this group of water bandits, where their lair was, and those water bandits who had been frightened out of their wits naturally said whatever they had to say.

  This gang of water bandits, led by Xiao Balang and Xiao Shilang brothers, have been fishing and looting in the middle of Chaohu Lake. There are more than 50 people in total, but only half of them came this time, while the other half were taken by Xiao Balang to help private salt merchants transport private salt. Their old nest is a small island in the middle of Chaohu Lake, and Yu Guozhen also forced the water bandits to draw out the location of the island.

  After all the useful information had been inquired, Yu Yiqin thought of something and his face turned somewhat unsightly. He called Yu Guozhen to one side and said: "The fourth house did such a thing, naturally it is unbearable for both national law and family rules. However, if these thieves go to the government office and speak nonsense, the government has this excuse and can't help but put on us a hat of colluding with water thieves..."

  "They won't talk nonsense." Yu Guozhen smiled calmly: "Today's battle, although eight or nine of these young men under my command have seen blood, there are still a few who haven't taken anyone's life."

  Yu Yiqin felt his hair stand on end as he stared at Yu Guozhen: "Th...th..."

  "Second Uncle, these are thieves. If we don't kill the thieves, they will kill us." Yu Guozhen said coldly: "They still have more than 20 accomplices. Once their accomplices collude with more water bandits and raid the prison, not a single member of our Yu family will be left alive."

  After finishing speaking, he didn't care about Yu Yiqin's reaction and directly ordered: "Luo Jiuhe, take the knife. This time, keep your eyes open and chop him to death."