The big man surnamed Lei waved the two benches, like a dragon that had cleared the level, and kept moving forward without hesitation. He made the whole corridor jump and retreat. Xu Hu still had time to take care of himself.
Sitting there, holding a chopstick of food and a sip of wine, he was calm and unhurried.
Suddenly, the man who reported the news shouted: "Brother, many more officers and soldiers are coming."
Xu Hu smiled slightly, drank the last glass of wine, then stood up, walked to the shopkeeper, took out a bunch of money from his arms, threw it on the table, and said with a smile: "Housekeeper, here are the drinks, food and compensation for you.
Your bench money.”
The shopkeeper was holding the pen and was speechless. Xu Hu laughed, grabbed the pen from his hand, dipped it in the ink, walked to the corner, raised his hand and waved the pen,
A five-character quatrain was completed in a moment. He threw the pen on the table, put his hands behind his back, and walked away laughing along the other side of the corridor, as if there was no one around, and looked wild and wild.
Ink was dripping on the wall. Xia Xun looked at it carefully and saw the words: "The people in Congshi are close to each other, and the road to Pingsha is wide. The weather will be better tomorrow morning, and the greenery will splash on Zheng'an."
Xia Xun was shocked. Not to mention his calligraphy, this five-character poem that he wrote in a blink of an eye would never have been possible for him. He never expected that such a rough and heroic sea pirate could be full of literary talent.
At this time, the big man surnamed Lei also kicked off his big feet and ran over, shouting: "The officers and soldiers of the brigade are here." As he said this, he threw the tattered stool legs in his hands at the pursuers.
A soldier who was chasing after him immediately raised his knife to block the stool. The leg of the stool was struck by a big man named Lei. There were already cracks in it. Then it was chopped with a steel knife, and it broke into two halves with a cracking sound. One half was sharpened to a sharp point.
The stool legs flew diagonally into the store, flying towards the pregnant woman's towering belly.
The old man screamed "Ah!", but he was old and had poor limbs. He couldn't stop him in time. Xia Xun was about to leave the shop to chase the three pirates. He was shocked when he saw this scene and picked up the wine bottle on the table.
Smash it hard.
The wine pot was made of tin and weighed a pound when filled with wine. Xia Xun threw it hard and accurately hit the sharpened stool leg. It hit the ground next to the hem of the pregnant woman's skirt.
The man was so frightened that he almost fainted. Big beads of sweat flowed down his face, and his face turned sallow.
The old man quickly supported his daughter and said in panic: "Oh my god, what can we do?"
The officers and soldiers outside were chasing the pirates with a rumble. The two children were only eleven or twelve years old and could not support the housewife. The shop owner was afraid that something might happen to the pregnant woman in his shop, so he quickly bowed to Xia Xun and begged: "Guests."
Officer, guest officer, please help this sister-in-law quickly and make sure nothing happens."
When Xia Xun saw it, he was afraid that the woman would be frightened and cause a miscarriage, so he gave up the opportunity to chase the pirates, rushed to the old man's side, supported the woman and said: "Old man, I've offended you. In urgent matters, I will help you."
The daughter went to see the doctor."
The old man said yes again and again and thanked her without words. Xia Xun said he was going to help her, but he bent down and picked up the woman, saying to the old man: "Excuse me, there is a doctor somewhere, please lead the way!"
The old man led Xia Xun and ran out in a panic, telling a child to find his uncle quickly. Xia Xun hugged the woman. Although he was young and strong, he was exhausted from running all the way.
At the medical clinic, the doctor asked about the situation, quickly took his pulse, and then asked someone to cook a dose of decoction to calm the fetus and calm the mind.
In fact, after staying in the shop for a while, the woman gradually calmed down. After taking this decoction, her anger improved. The old man who was wandering around calmed down, and then he realized that his benefactor was nearby and hurriedly came up to him.
He thanked her and said with tears of gratitude: "Brother, this old man's daughter went through a lot of troubles to seek medical advice and she was almost middle-aged before she became pregnant. If there is any good in this, the old man would really regret it. Little brother, this is such a great kindness.
There is nothing I can do to repay you, so please accept my respect from the old man!"
As the old man was about to lift his robe and kneel down, Xia Xun quickly held him up and said, "Old man, please don't do this. Anyone who sees something like this should help him."
While the two were talking, a child led a middle-aged Confucian scholar in. The Confucian scholar was dressed in a green shirt, with a green scarf on his head. His face was clear, and he had three little beards under his chin, and his face was white with anxiety.
Qing, rushed into the hospital in panic, saw his wife sitting on the chair, and immediately asked in a trembling voice: "Madam, how are you now?"
Before the woman could reply, the old man came up to her and explained the situation. When the middle-aged man heard that the mother and son were safe, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. He quickly walked to Xia Xun and expressed his gratitude again. Listening to him
After talking, Xia Xun learned that this person's surname was Yu Mingren, who lived in Taipingli, Qiantang. He and his wife came to Haining to visit his father-in-law. Today, his father-in-law and his wife were walking on the street and took a break at a small shop by the river.
A few old friends didn't accompany me because they didn't want something serious to happen.
Xia Xun was concerned about the whereabouts of the pirates and wanted to say goodbye. Yu Ren refused to let him go. He grabbed his wrist and insisted on inviting him to sit with him at home to entertain his benefactor. Xia Xun refused in every possible way and could not get away.
His father-in-law is a local resident and may be able to get some news and go home with him.
Yu Ren called a car to take his wife and invited Xia Xun home. His father-in-law's family was a well-to-do family in the local area. They had a courtyard in front and back and were elegantly decorated. There were three main rooms, two side rooms on the left and right, and two more.
The wing room has a single door. On the south side of the east and west wing rooms, there is a courtyard wall that divides the courtyard into an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard. There is a moon gate in the middle of the courtyard wall, and behind the moon gate, there is a screen wall.
Yu Ren and his father-in-law invited Xia Xun to sit in the living room, and immediately ordered tea to be served and a banquet prepared in the kitchen.
After sitting down for a while, he recounted his identity again. Xia Xun only said that he was a merchant who came to the coast to buy some marine goods. Judging from his appearance, Yu Ren was not suspicious. Listening to Yu Ren's self-reported identity, his ancestral home was Kaocheng, Henan, and he was an official.
Family. His grandfather Yu Jiusi once served as the marshal of the Huguang Xuanwei Division in the Yuan Dynasty, a high-ranking official of the third rank, and was later transferred to the general manager of Hangzhou Road, so he moved his family here and has lived here ever since.
His father, Yu Wen, served as the head of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry in the Yuan Dynasty. He was much inferior to his grandfather, and was only an official of the sixth rank. Yu Ren's generation was also well-read in poetry and literature, but Yu Wen was an upright man with an indifferent temperament.
I didn't like being an official, so after I passed the scholar examination, I never went any further to take the judicial examination.
He has been married for many years and has no children. He is now thirty-one years old. According to the age at which people get married in this era, he is already middle-aged and has a child. It is extremely rare. No wonder he and his wife are so nervous. At this point, he is
He thanked her endlessly and asked his wife to take out fifty strings of treasure notes, hoping to give them to Xia Xun as a gift.
Xia Xun declined politely and changed the topic and asked: "Brother Yu, I was in the store. I heard that the pirate called himself Xu Hu, there was a big man named Lei, and there was a certain girl. Who are these people?"
ah?"
Yu Rendao: "Ah! Is that the leader of the bandits Xu Hu? He has a pretty good reputation. Along this coast, there are hundreds of large and small pirate gangs. Many of them go to the sea to be pirates and come ashore to work for the people. Their identities are hidden.
, it is not easy to confirm, but such pirate gangs are actually very small in power. On the outer island closest to Haining, there are only two real large groups of pirates, and the Xu Hu whom Xiandi just mentioned is one of them.
.
It is said that Xu Hu’s father was once an old subordinate of Zhang Shicheng. After Zhang Shicheng was defeated and committed suicide, one of his generals, General Su, led his troops to sea and became a pirate. This general Su also had two lieutenants, one named Xu and the other named Lei.
That girl is General Su's daughter, her name is Su Ying, but everyone calls her that, not Xu Hu's girl.
General Su led his army to the sea to become a pirate. He himself became the chief, and the two lieutenants became the second and third leaders. Now that the older generation has died, because General Su only had one daughter, the position of the chief was passed on.
General Xu's son Xu Hu was given, General Lei's son Lei Xiaoxi became the second leader, and Amei was the third leader. These pirates, although they are said to be pirates, are actually very well-behaved. Sometimes they have difficulties in making a living.
They will rob merchant ships, but they will only rob government merchant ships or smuggled cargo ships from Fuso, Luzon and other countries, and will not harass coastal people.
They robbed merchant ships and eventually sold them ashore. Their goods were sold cheaply. In fact, many local merchants secretly had dealings with them and said they were pirates. In fact, there would be no one walking around on the streets in a big way.
Go and pay attention, I don’t know who reported it today, but the officers and soldiers came to arrest him."
Xia Xun thought to himself: "Are they Zhang Shicheng's remnant? Although they have a good reputation here and seem to be quite content, but with this relationship, will they be affected by Ling Potian, who is bent on rebellion?
Are you instigating this guy with the intention of rebelling?"
Yu Ren added: "The other group of troops also lived on the outer island, but it turned out to be Fang Guozhen's old tribe. Many of the people in Fang Guozhen and Zhang Shicheng's old tribe were fishermen who were familiar with waterways and skilled in naval battles. Later, Fang Guozhen and Zhang Shicheng were defeated by me one after another.
At the hands of the Ming Emperor, some of their remnants fled to the sea and became erratic pirates.
The leaders of this pirate group are a couple. The husband's surname is Chu and the wife's surname is Mi. They are called Xiao Chu and Xiao Mi. Compared with Xu Hu's group, their behavior is much more brutal. They are responsible for consolidating the island.
They annexed some small groups of pirates along the coast, and also recruited some Japanese pirates. They only engaged in business without capital, starting from Liaodong and Shandong in the north, and reaching Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong in the south. They burned houses and looted property. Our Ming Dynasty has a long coast and is hard to guard against.
The coastal areas are all affected by it.
What's more, they also took refuge in the biggest pirate in Southeast Asia, Chen Zuyi, known as the King of the Sea. Chen Zuyi has been entrenched in Malacca (Malacca) for many years. He has thousands of pirates and hundreds of warships under his command. Japan, Ryukyu and even the Ming Dynasty have all suffered from it, and many coastal areas
Small countries even have to pay tribute to him to ensure peace. The Ming Emperor once offered a reward of 500,000 yuan to capture Chen Zuyi. So far, he is still at sea. With this man as his backer, the Ming Navy has gone out to sea several times to encircle and suppress Chen Zuyi, but to no avail.
return."
Xia Xun secretly said: "It seems that the whereabouts of Ling Potian will most likely fall on these two groups of pirates, but how can I contact them to find out?"