He is as nimble as a snake in the water, so he is nicknamed "Old Snake".
He claims to be a descendant of Mrs. She, a general of the Yang family. Because of this status, he is quite respected in the green forest.
Although the so-called "Old Lady She" was misrepresented because the accents of storytellers these days were not very standard, in fact, her surname was "Zhe" and she was the daughter of Zhe De, a famous general in the Song Dynasty.
This is not important. What is important is that She Ding, the "Queen of Generals", lived in the wilderness and had to survive by robbery. He gradually became prosperous on the Yangtze River and became a famous water bandit in Taiping Prefecture.
The boss of "Eight Monsters".
This group of water bandits also had contacts with the officers and soldiers on both sides of the Yangtze River, and they were particular about which ships could be robbed and which ones could not.
Today, the bearded commander of the tax army, Wang Tai, informed them: a group of fat sheep have arrived, bringing a lot of money and goods, but no backers, just too many guards.
The smuggling business between the Song and Jin Dynasties has been going on for hundreds of years. Even if the Jin Kingdom is gone now, the rules are still the same, and the water is deep.
A caravan came that didn't know anything. Wang Tai could tell at a glance that they had no way to go.
Do you dare to imitate smuggling? Of course it is robbery.
The tax soldiers notified the water bandits, and She Ding immediately arrived with his men.
But there were only 18 people on She Ding's side, and there were about 30 people guarding the caravan, so he had to choose one of the ships to attack.
In the end, they chose the boat Wu Dexian was on. It had the leader of the caravan on board, had the most copper coins, and had the most valuable goods.
They left three people to stay in the water village. Fifteen people took action. Three people pretended to be Lifu, and six people pretended to be boatmen and got on the boat. The remaining six people hid early in the bottom of the boat, three at the bow and three at the stern.
Use reed pipes to ventilate the ship.
When the boat arrived at the center of the river, it was time to start.
She Ding and the three men climbed onto the stern of the boat. Each of them brought two knives and threw them to the three boatmen at the stern.
The two guards were standing there with their swords pressed. They heard some movement in the cabin and turned their heads to look. When they turned around, six water bandits were already slashing at them with their swords.
"Do it!" She Ding shouted.
But the combat effectiveness of the two guards was obviously beyond his expectation. They were much stronger than ordinary caravan guards, and their weapons were also sophisticated. The water bandits went up to fight with them several times, and there were gaps in the swords.
"Damn, this stubble is pretty hard!"
Having said that, six desperadoes dealt with two people and still killed each other.
She Ding spat, secretly hating the two men for being so fierce and hurting three of his brothers.
They quickly rushed into the cargo hold and saw three warriors who had just killed the guards in the cargo hold.
"Look, old snake, I killed this guard leader. I wiped his neck with one knife."
The person who spoke was "Waterworm" Lao Liu, so he was called Lao Liu. He had no name or surname. He was the one who killed Jiang Xing, and he excitedly asked for credit from Lao She.
"What's the point of a sneak attack?" the old snake scolded, "Go to the bow of the ship and kill the remaining people."
Lao Liu chuckled and said, "The deal is done! It's a lot of money."
"Damn it, I still have to share the spoils with Wang Tai..."
At this time, there was a sound of fighting from the bow of the ship, and the water bandits didn't pay attention. They had killed five people, including the leader of the guard, and only two guards and three short-lived ghosts were left.
There are also six water bandits on the bow to kill them, which is enough.
They spoke quickly but moved swiftly through the cargo hold.
But... I saw a water bandit screaming and falling into the river.
There was a guard on the bow holding a crossbow, and another guard holding a knife. The two of them cooperated with each other, and they were temporarily at a disadvantage in the fight with six water bandits, and even shot one dead.
"Bird Hozen! Kill my brother and die!"
She Ding was furious and immediately picked up the knife and killed him.
…
At this time, it had only been a short time since Li Xia forced Bai Mao to unshackle him.
Bai Mao just took out a piece of iron wire from his hair and took off the shackles on Li Xia's hands. The shackles fell off with a "ding" sound, and the water bandits jumped onto the bow of the boat and attacked the two guards.
Immediately afterwards, the guard fired a crossbow, and She Ding led his men to kill him.
Before Bai Mao had time to bend down and untie the shackles on Li Xia's feet, Li Xia turned pale with fright and shook like a sieve.
It is true that he is a gangster, but the people in Lin'an Prefecture, a prosperous place, are not like this Yangtze River water bandit. The big owl of Lin'an Prefecture even carries a folding fan when he goes out...
Li Xia was actually very calm. He held the sword in one hand as a defensive gesture and held down Bai Mao's head with the other, saying: "Untie my feet too."
Bai Mao hurriedly knelt down and huddled at Li Xia's feet, like an ugly puppy.
"Explanation." Li Xia said, his tone calm but strong.
This gave Bai Mao a small sense of security. He squatted there shivering and went to pick out Li Xia's shackles, thinking that Li Xia was a highly skilled martial artist.
"Jiang Xing is dead." Li Xia glanced at the situation and made a judgment.
Jiang Xing seemed to be very skilled in martial arts. If he died, it would be because he was too careless.
Li Xia quickly glanced at Wu Dexian again and saw that he had shrunk into a ball...
Just at this moment, he saw someone rushing towards him out of the corner of his eye.
Li Xia quickly stabbed out with his sword...
~~
"Waterworm" Lao Liu didn't take Li Xia seriously.
In his eyes, this young man was tall, thin, and prettier than any woman he had ever seen. He must be holding a sword just to show off.
Lao Liu liked sneak attacks, but didn't like head-on confrontations. He didn't want to follow She Ding to kill the two guards, so when he saw Li Xia turning his head, he immediately pounced on them with a dagger.
An inch short, an inch dangerous.
Lao Liu understood the truth, but he was extremely confident that the dagger would be able to cut off the palm holding the sword before Li Xia even raised the sword.
In the midst of lightning and flint, Li Xia thrust out a sword without guarding or blocking.
The key is the movement of the legs.
His heart was as calm as water. Fencing is a sport for wise men, and the test is a split-second decision...
~~
"My hands are shaking, my hands are shaking..."
Bai Mao was trying hard to control his hands and unshackle Li Xia's feet.
But the shaking never stopped, and the wire never got stuck in the right place.
suddenly.
"Ouch!"
Bai Mao screamed and was kicked to the ground by Li Xia.
There was blood splattered on his forehead. Bai Mao looked up and was stunned...
~~
At this moment, Lao Liu pounced, Li Xia drew his sword, and Bai Mao was kicked to the ground.
There was a "ping" sound, very soft.
The long sword penetrated Lao Liu's throat, and blood dripped on Bai Mao's forehead.
The tip of the sword slid across with blood, smooth and brisk, not like killing someone.
But Lao Liu has been penetrated by this sword...
"Untie my shackles." Li Xia said.
He quickly took a step back, sheathed his sword, and Lao Liu's body fell down.
Li Xia turned around and saw that the water bandits had hacked to death two guards.
"Untie it." Li Xia urged again, trying to control his tone so as not to scare Bai Mao.
However, the water bandits had already seen his sword strike, and they all turned to kill him.
A roar erupted on the river.
"Old Six!"
"God damn it! Chop him up!"
"Dive into the river!" Li Xia shouted.
The sound of a big sword breaking through the wind sounded, and several knives were swung towards Li Xia.
"Jump!"
Li Xia jumped straight into the Yangtze River.
With a "click", Bai Mao untied one of Li Xia's shackles, and the feet in front of him had already jumped off the ground.
At this moment, Bai Mao also had the opportunity to jump into the river, but when he raised his head and saw the surging river water, he felt numb and fell to the ground.
"Grandpas, have mercy! Grandpas, have mercy..."
"Plop." Li Xia had jumped into the river.
He knew he had no choice.
Being able to stab a water bandit to death with one sword was a complete fluke. The other party underestimated the enemy, used a dagger, and fought alone... All kinds of reasons combined to make him hit with one sword.
This is actually nothing special. In the official competition, you need to hit fifteen swords...
The next moment, there was another "plop" sound, and a water bandit jumped into the river.
On the boat, She Ding yelled: "Osprey, bring him up and chop him up one by one to avenge Lao Liu... You bastard, if you fight with us in the water, you will be damned dead!"
~~
Far away, on another river boat, Han Qiaoer raised his hand and pointed, crying: "Brother Li jumped into the river..."
No one pays attention to her anymore, everyone is busy and confused.
As soon as Nie Zhongyou saw Jiang Xing's boat drifting further and further away, he arrested the boatmen and crew one by one and interrogated them with beatings and kicks.
"Grandpa, please forgive me. I'm really a boatman. I really don't know. If I knew... I wouldn't dare to support your boat..."
By the time Nie Zhongyou carefully examined and determined that the boatman on the boat was innocent and ordered them to row the boat to chase Jiang Xing's boat, it was already too late.
Of course, without this trouble, they would not be able to catch up. These boatmen are far inferior to the water bandits in rowing.
Soon, the hijacked ship disappeared on the vast river, which was exactly what Li Bai said: "The shadow of the lonely sail in the distance is gone in the blue sky, and only the Yangtze River can be seen in the sky."
Reluctantly, the remaining two ships had to dock at the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Nie Zhongyou met up with Lin Zi and others, leaving Lin Zi to look at the carriage and goods while he led Liu Jinsuo and ten others downstream to search for traces of the water bandits.
Lin Zi quietly raised many concerns, such as whether he would be eaten by water bandits again if he separated, whether he could deal with water bandits with only such a few people, and whether he should reveal his identity first and contact the officers and soldiers to suppress the bandits...
However, Nie Zhongyou thought that this time it was a sneak attack, calculated deliberately and unintentionally. If it were a head-on confrontation, his twelve people would be able to defeat this water bandit.
Lin Zi had no choice but to obey orders.
He sat by the river, feeling bored in his heart. The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became.
It is a great shame and humiliation for the dignified Imperial Army to be made so embarrassed by a few thieves...
"Grandpa, can Brother Li come back?" Han Qiaoer asked in a low voice again.
Before Han Chengxu could answer, Lin Zi responded first: "He is dead, absolutely dead."
"He's not dead..."
"he died."
Lin Zi insisted on having sex with a little girl.
Han Qiaoer finally burst into tears, with runny nose and tears, and said: "I'm not dead..."
"He's dead. Look, I still have the key to his shackles. How could he be flopping around in the river with that thing? He's dead."
Lin Zi said, and with a wave of his hand, the key made an arc and fell into the river.
…
That night, Han Qiaoer tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.
She got up secretly, hugged her knees and looked at the Yangtze River in the night, feeling that she was beginning to hate it.
Because Li Bai and Li Xia, whom she liked, both fell into this place and died.
She looked up to the sky again and murmured in a low voice: "Li Taibai got drunk and caught the moon, and rode a whale to the sky. I wonder if Brother Li can ascend to the sky."
There were footsteps in the night, and a weak voice answered behind her.