When Qin'er heard this, she immediately closed the window and pulled the Ninth Princess back: "Your Highness, go to the cabin quickly!"
This wooden boat was specially prepared by Fengxiang County Sheriff for the Ninth Princess. It had been modified by a salt merchant. The inner cabin was equivalent to a safe house. Even if the water bandits boarded the boat, it would be difficult to break through it in a short while.
The Ninth Princess knew that now was not the time to be willful, so she cooperated and entered the cabin.
However, there was not much tension on his face, but he frowned and thought for a moment, then said to Qin'er: "Go and find the boatman."
Qin'er hesitated for a moment, opened the hatch and walked out.
On the deck, hundreds of soldiers rushed out of the bottom cabin and rushed to all parts of the wooden ship.
These soldiers were all wearing fine armor, their eyes were very sharp, and their movements were quick but orderly. At first glance, they were all veterans who had been killed on the battlefield.
They are the princess's bodyguards and her dowry.
Seeing Qin'er opening the cabin door, the guard captain ran over quickly: "Miss Qin'er, if you are not with His Highness inside, what are you doing out here?"
"Your Highness wants to see the boatman." Qin'er replied.
"Meet the boatman..."
The captain of the guard glanced awkwardly at the captain of the ship who was directing the sailors.
As the favorite daughter of Emperor Dakang, the Ninth Princess wanted to marry in Tubo. Emperor Chen Ji was naturally distressed, and the bodyguards arranged for her were also elites selected from the Royal Forest Army.
The main duty of the Yulin Army is to protect the capital, and it is considered one of the most effective armies in Dakang.
Along the way, there were several groups of blind bandits who tried to intercept the Ninth Princess's team, but they were all easily defeated by the guards.
It's a pity that the guards are good at fighting on land, but become landlubbers on the water. Now they have to rely on the boss of the boat to get rid of the water bandits.
Isn’t it nonsense for the Ninth Princess to call the boat boss at this juncture?
Qin'er also saw the boatman busy, but did not explain.
In fact, she didn't know why the Ninth Princess was meeting the boatman at this time.
However, Qin'er will complete the tasks assigned by the Ninth Princess.
If the captain of the guard disagrees, she will personally bring the captain over.
When the captain of the guard saw Qin'er's expression, he knew that she was determined to find the boss of the ship. He sighed helplessly and ran to the bow of the ship.
After dancing and gesticulating with the boat boss for a while, the boat boss trotted over and followed Qin'er into the cabin with his waist bent.
"Your Highness, the captain of the ship is here."
"Caomin Zhang Heitou, pay homage to Her Royal Highness the Princess!"
The boat boss knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the ninth princess.
After kowtowing, he didn't get up. He just knelt on the ground, lowering his head and not daring to look at the Ninth Princess.
In fact, Princess Ninth meant that she could just find anyone on the ship, but she didn't expect Qin'er to directly find the boss of the ship.
But she didn't say anything, and asked calmly: "Are the water bandits here usually serious?"
"this……"
The ship boss didn't know how to answer.
The mountain people depended on the mountains to live on the mountains and the water, and the mountain people could no longer survive, so they went up to the mountains to become bandits.
The fishermen couldn't survive, so they had no choice but to go down the river and become water bandits.
In recent years, due to increasing taxes, the number of water bandits has increased dramatically.
If told truthfully, it would be a slap in the face of the imperial court.
But if there are not many water bandits, there is a group outside.
The boss of the ship didn't answer, which was actually an answer.
The Ninth Princess nodded slightly: "It seems there should be quite a lot."
Then he suddenly asked: "Didn't you take some precautions before setting off?"
"Your Highness, atone for your sins. This group of water bandits may have been established only in the past few days!"
The boss of the ship thought that the ninth princess was angry, so he quickly kowtowed and admitted his mistake.
I was also extremely depressed.
He received a notice more than half a month ago that he was going to take a nobleman to Jinchuan. In order to avoid trouble on the road, he specially drove the boat first and took care of all the water bandits he encountered along the way.
The water bandits accepted the money and were quite moral. From the time they set off until now, after they recognized the ship, they have not shown their heads.
The boss of the ship was still secretly rejoicing before.
Who knew that when we were almost at our destination, a group of water bandits suddenly appeared.
"Okay, I understand, go and do your work."
The Ninth Princess waved her hands, but there was a look of thought in her eyes.
"The grassroots resign!"
The boss of the ship bowed and exited the cabin.
After walking out of the door, he raised his arms and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
As the Ninth Princess, you don't need a reason to kill him, just wave your hand.
Besides, he just lied.
He told Princess Ninth that this group of water bandits was newly formed, but in fact it was not.
There were six water bandits chasing behind them. The newly formed water bandits would not have so many people and ships.
This group of water bandits either missed it during the last check, or they are unethical and want to extort another sum of money.
Thinking of this, the boss of the ship quickly ran to the stern of the ship.
The big ship kept slowing down in order to be more stable, but the water bandit's boat was narrow, long, and very fast. At this time, it was almost at the stern of the big ship.
When the boss of the boat arrived at the stern of the boat, he found that all the water bandits had their faces covered, and he couldn't help but feel a bad premonition.
Generally, water bandits do not cover their faces. Covering their faces indicates that the other party may have murderous intentions.
But now that the matter has come to this, I can only bite the bullet and shout: "Dear heroes, there are noble people on this ship. Please do it for your convenience and retreat first. Brothers will be rewarded afterwards..."
As a result, before he could finish his words, an arrow shot through the rain curtain and hit the captain of the ship in the chest.
Even the captain of the guard did not expect this change. When he ran over, the captain of the ship had already expired.
"father!"
The son of the ship boss howled miserably and rushed over.
But before they could reach the corpse, more arrows flew from the water bandit's boat.
The son of the ship's boss was hit by three arrows and fell to the stern deck with a thud. He twitched a few times and died.
Blood stained the deck and was washed away by the rain.
The soldiers of the guard were all wearing fine armor. When arrows hit the armor, they only made a clanking sound, but could not penetrate at all.
But the armor could not protect their faces, so all the soldiers turned their heads away, fearing that they would be hit in the cheek by arrows.
At this time, the water bandits' small boat had approached the big ship.
"Watch them boarding the ship!"
The captain of the guard turned around and shouted, pulled out his sword and got ready for battle.
But who knew that the water bandits had no intention of boarding the ship, they just clung to the ship, and soon a "bang bang bang" sound was heard from the hull.
"No, they are drilling the ship!"
The guard captain's expression changed drastically.
They were all wearing armor, and he wasn't too worried about bandits boarding the ship.
Although the water bandits' boat was fast, it was not big. The people on the six boats put together would never be a match for the guards.
But the consequences of water bandits scuttling the ship would be too serious. Basically, the people in the guard were similar to him, they were landlubbers. Once the big ship was scuttled, no matter how great their skills were, it would be in vain.
"Kill them with your bow and arrows!"
The captain of the guard roared at the top of his lungs.
A group of guards put away their long knives, took off the bows and arrows on their backs, and pointed them at the water bandits below.