Time is the best healer. Three or two months have passed.

The perpetrators of the robbery of the birthday card at the junction of Huazhou and Xiangzhou were identified as Ma Anguo and his soldiers, but this group of people probably fled into Xixia territory. The Song Dynasty court could not send anyone to pursue them, so they could only let it go.

A night attack on Wangjiaji killed three hundred officers and soldiers. The bandits on Qingfeng Mountain in Qingzhou suffered a fierce attack. Unfortunately, the local army was really weak in combat. And because of the steep mountains and complex terrain, they were unable to win in repeated battles and lost troops and generals.

More than half of the eight or nine hundred minions in Qingfeng Mountain have been damaged, and their destruction is only a matter of time. Qingzhou Military and Horse Supervisor Huang Xin plans to personally lead his troops to strangle the bandits.

It was at this juncture that the strong men from Taohua Mountain and Erlong Mountain took this opportunity to burn, kill and loot, and marched all the way to attack Qingzhou City. Qingzhou Murong Yanda was as timid as a mouse, so he was so frightened that he hurriedly recalled his army to defend. This lasted for two or three months.

The bandit suppression operation ended in an anticlimactic manner.

Qingzhou's thousands of troops and horses could do nothing to stop a few gangs of thieves. This was a shame for the imperial court, a great shame and a great humiliation. The people who suffered deeply criticized the dog officials for their incompetence.

However, Murong Yanda had a good sister, and Concubine Murong supported her. He also had the traitor Cai Jing to win over her, and the bandits failed, but they killed thousands of enemies. The bandits were unable to retreat, so they had to retreat and look for opportunities.

This matter is so bloody that no one mentioned it.

As for the rampant bandits in the water town of Jeju, they attacked the two villages of Chao and Song Dynasties, killing people and plundering money. Later, they were retaliated by the local tycoon Chao Tianwang and his soldiers and defeated them one after another. Hundreds of enemies were killed, and they shivered on the island.

This incident became a good story, spreading the reputation of Chao Gai. Rumors spread from one source to another, and the elder of Yuncheng County recommended him to be the Zhizhai and the Zhizhou Zhizhou.

He wanted to recommend him to be the military supervisor, but he was declined by King Chao Tian because of his loose personality.

This made Chao Gai's reputation even more admired in the rivers and lakes. Heroes who had no choice but to live in the rivers and lakes for various reasons came to join him one after another.

In the past few months, many heroes from all walks of life have defected to King Chao Tianwang. Currently, there are no celebrities in the original trajectory, and they will be copied by the military. Those who have decent character and are willing to work hard are organized into a special operations team.

The three major scandals gradually subsided and became people's talk before and after dinner. Just like the Kuotian Fa and the Hua Shi Gang incident, so many families were killed, but it did not happen to them. Afterwards, life went on as usual.

The spies sent by Chao Gai to inquire about the news did not affect him. Seeing that the rumors outside had passed, all the businesses in the house were on track. There were no other morons, so he was ready to travel around and make friends with heroes.

But before leaving, he discussed and arranged many things with Wu Yong. For example, what arrangements would be made after Han Shizhong led the team back from the Xixia border. Some things also had to be handed over to the three men of the Ruan family who were developing the navy in Shijie Village.

Chao Gai once again came to the lakeside fishing village. In the past few months, he often took time to inspect. Knowing that there were checkpoints in the reed swamps and dry land along the way, even if he saw it more than once, he still secretly sighed that it was beautifully done.

In the past few months, Chaojiazhuang has become increasingly prosperous and has gained momentum.

Shijie Village is not idle either, he still focuses on taking care of it. Every month, he allocates a large amount of money for food. Ruan Xiaoer, Ruan Xiaowu, and Ruan Xiaoqi are really capable. They can recruit people and build ships all at once.

quietly.

In just two or three months, large and small fishing boats were acquired one after another, and there were three to four hundred speedboats scurrying in the waves, including a dozen swordfish boats with a capacity of 400 tons (the unit of carrying capacity in the Song Dynasty was one stone equal to one stone, and one stone equaled 120 kilograms).

)

Three to five hundred young fishermen took their settlement allowance and joined Chaojiazhuang. They set up camp on the shore of Shijie Lake, hired experienced boatmen, and built wharves and docks in the deep water area. New ships would enter the water every three to five.

The navy army has the same organization as the Chao Mansion guard, with hundreds of people organized into several hundred-man brigades. Every day they fight on land, train on the water, and sail into the water to shout to kill Zhentian.

Wang Lun of Liangshan had known about this for a long time, so naturally he didn't care. He also allowed these fishermen to fish and fish in the water. Of course, in the eyes of the outside world, they were afraid of being beaten, and they were cowering and not daring to come out.

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Since the entire Shijie Village reached an agreement with Chao Gai Village, live fish will be delivered every day. With the unexpected income, the lives of the impoverished fishermen have gradually improved. Naturally, they are grateful to Chao Gai in their hearts, and San Ruan called him privately.

Most of the households in the village have taken refuge in Chaojiazhuang! Even those farmers who did not work for Chaojiazhuang still worked hard and sent the best fish.

This is why no news came out!

Even if someone knows that there is something going on here, they don’t know that it is the navy from Chaojiazhuang. And there are people coming every day, trying to join the team of the three Ruan heroes...

In addition to hiding a naval force in Shijie Village, Chaofu Industrial Restaurant is also very good. It is located on a piece of dry land in the lake, and the surrounding shallows are all covered with lotus leaves. The three-story restaurant is surrounded by thick willow trees, and the scenery is pleasant.

The hotel is called Penglai Pavilion! It is located in the lake and has a leisurely and elegant reflection. Fishermen who fish nearby like to come here when they are tired. In addition to delicious meals, you can also join in the fun in the underground gambling house!

Chao Gai didn't know that there was a gambling room underground at first. He noticed something was wrong when he noticed that many customers were running to the basement while eating here. He went over and discovered the situation underground.

At that time, he was still very angry, thinking that San Ruan acted without permission without obeying orders. However, later Ruan Sanxiong sincerely admitted his mistake and explained the situation.

Only then did he calm down.

It turned out that it was Ruan Xiaowu and Ruan Xiaoqi. After Ruan Xiaoqi confirmed that Zhai Wu, who lived in a shabby place, was a con man, the three brothers discussed opening a casino in the basement of the restaurant. He would not play rogue or cheat, so it naturally attracted many people.

Although Chao Gai's anger subsided, he still severely punished the three people for not reporting in time. In the end, he was given the order to make the gambling house lose money. There is an upper limit, and there must be no deception...

It’s September, and the weather gets cooler in the ninth month of the lunar calendar.

Chao Gai came over again and saw a new situation. The defense of the former village on the land was strengthened. The burnt-yellow reeds were harvested and tied into bundles, piled up and distributed regularly. There were many strange faces at the sentry station and in the camp.

Ruan Xiao's three brothers had already received the information from the spies and came to accompany them in person. They reported the current number of people and training status as usual without asking.

"Brother, our treatment is good, and fishermen from the surrounding fishing villages come here because of it. We don't dare to accept them, so we only recruited them with the unanimous consent of our three brothers." Ruan Xiaoer pointed to the recruits who were boarding the boat in the distance and explained in detail.

This is indeed the case. Chao Gai gave ten guan of money every year, and took care of food and food. The taxes were heavy, and the fishermen who lived a miserable life naturally rushed to join him. As the saying goes, if you put up a recruiting flag, you will have people who can feed you.

Ruan Xiaowu looked at the boats coming and going on Shijie Lake and asked in a low voice: "Brother, we now have nearly 800 naval officers, nearly 1,000 shipbuilders, and nearly 2,000 crew members. Do we still need to recruit more people?"

"

"That's right, the food consumed every day is staggering, and the amount of money spent every year is even more amazing." Ruan Xiaoqi looked at the food consumption and money distribution, and finally matured a lot. He no longer thought that recruiting troops and buying horses was as simple as talking.

"Recruiting, of course recruiting. You have also heard about it, so feel free to go to the water." Chao Gai smiled and patted the shoulders of the three sworn brothers: "There are enough small boats, buy big ships that can go to sea."

The three Ruan brothers had some doubts but did not ask any more questions. They would naturally find out later.

Chao Gai talked with the three brothers again, learned about the food consumption situation and the soldiers' reactions after training, and told Wu Yong if he had anything to do after leaving. If he found any unexpected situation, he would hide in the water directly.

He told those who went to sea to pay special attention to Tsunade and recruit sailors as much as possible. He said goodbye to the three brothers, whipped his horse and whip, and returned to Chaojiazhuang.

"Official, high official, we are back."

Just when Chao Gai entered the village with a few personal guards, he heard someone shouting louder, and two men rushed out from the concierge.

One was a burly man with a pockmarked face, and the other was a thin, lean man with a donkey face. The two ugly ghosts looked at Chao Gai with surprise on their faces.

Damn, where did those two ugly ghosts come from? Chao Gai was startled and looked up and down before remembering that they were Liu San and Lai Yong who were sent on official business more than three months ago.

"It turns out to be the mistress, Xiaoyong, how are you doing recently?"

He fell out of love faster than turning over a book, and came forward with surprise on his face and called out affectionately. Liu San and Lai Yong seemed to have seen their relatives, thinking about the hardships of the journey.

"Okay, I'll give you fifty taels of silver." Chao Gai didn't want to listen to the nonsense of the two bullies. He waved his hand and asked, "Has Dean Dai followed you?"

Before Liu San and Lai Yong had time to claim credit, there were voices in the courtyard.

"Brother, my younger brother Dai Zong has met Brother Tianwang."

"My younger brother Hou Jian has long admired the name of the Heavenly King and paid homage to King Chao."

I saw Wu Yong and Shi Xiu coming in a hurry with two strange men. After being reminded by Wu Xuexu, the two men rushed to Chao Gai and bowed down.

"Oh my, two brothers, let's get in love quickly. Chao has heard of these two famous names a long time ago, but he is so busy with things at home that he has no time to visit." Chao Gai quickly stepped forward and stretched out his hands to hold them.

Someone supported them. Taking this opportunity to look up and down, they found that they really had extraordinary temperaments.

Dai Zong, in his thirties, has a broad face, square lips, protruding eyes, delicate eyebrows, and a slender figure. He is a prisoner of the Jiangzhou two courts. He is a man of justice and wealth, and values ​​loyalty and friendship. It is said that he can travel eight hundred miles a day by practicing magic.

, nicknamed the Shenxing Taibao. His martial arts skills can only be considered average, but he is the number one runner in the Water Margin.

Hou Jian, in his thirties, is short in stature, has dark skin, and has slender arms. Because he is dark, thin and agile, he is nicknamed "Three-branched Ape". He is originally from Hongdu and is a tailor. He also likes to dance with guns, sticks, and needlework.

No one is around him. In his original career, he was responsible for making military uniforms such as cheongsams and jackets.

Talents, these two are talents!

Chao Gai supported the two of them enthusiastically, greeted them with warm greetings, and said thoughtful words. He was so moved that the two of them were praised repeatedly, feeling that the King of Heaven was generous and benevolent. Hearing the name of King Chao along the way, his ears almost became calluses.

As expected, being famous is not as good as meeting, and meeting is even more famous.

Next, Chao Gai naturally ordered to go down and hold a big banquet to welcome the two of them. Liu San and Lai Yong, who had been working hard, followed Zhan Guang to the banquet.

This was an unprecedented special case, which made the two of them smile from ear to ear. They said in their hearts that the high officials valued them. How could they know that there would be another hard job waiting to be dispatched?

…


Chapter completed!