The Chongqing River flows through the south of Fuyang City. Jiangqiao Wharf is not far from the south city gate. It is the largest waterway wharf within a hundred miles and is also the territory of the largest gang in the city, the "Siping Gang".
Today, there were many gang disciples standing in front of the pier with swords and swords, but like the patrols in the city, Li Hu and Mao Jie galloped past them. These people just glanced at the silver needles on their sleeves. , so don’t worry about it.
The dock was quite lively. There were three official ships parked in it. Several teams of soldiers in bright armor were lined up in front of the ships. There were also a large group of people waiting on the wooden bridge leading to the dock, crowded noisily. into a ball.
Today is the day when Chief Qian Meng Yingchun was promoted to Deputy Chief of the Chongqing Prefecture and set off from Peiyang. This is such a happy event for someone to be promoted to an official position. Of course, there will be many people coming to see him off at the dock. Some local wealthy gentry and merchants also brought In order to celebrate the occasion, the entire river bank was filled with mules and horses carrying people and transporting gifts.
The more crowded and chaotic the dock was, the easier it was to find cover. Li Hu and Mao Jie left their mounts on the shore, walked through the crowd to the wooden bridge, and squeezed towards the front of the three official boats.
These three official ships were all quite large. It seemed that Meng Yingchun had gained a lot from his tenure as an official in Fuyang City. The two of them crowded in front of the ship. Li Hu followed what Wu Xianglian said yesterday and claimed to the soldiers guarding the ship that he was the new employee of Butler Hu. The boy who came was named Wu Lian. As for Mao Jie, he pretended to be his cousin Zhou Jie from the same town. He also wanted to ask Butler Hu to arrange for him to find a servant in the General Military Mansion.
Li Hu and the two had hidden their weapons in their clothes. Looking at their short shirts, they did look a bit like slaves who specialized in menial work.
Originally, Li Hu was a little worried that the soldier guarding the ship might make things difficult, but the soldier just looked at them up and down, and then let the two of them board the ship. As soon as they got on the deck, Li Hu immediately saw Wu Xianglian.
Not seen for a day, Wu Xianglian was no longer dressed as a woman, but put on a light blue short skirt and top, with her black hair tied into two buns, like a maid's dress up.[
Seeing Li Hu and Mao Jie boarding the ship, Wu Xianglian was a little surprised, but she didn't say much. She just whispered: "Let's go to the bottom cabin to talk."
Among the three official ships, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Meng Qingchun was on the middle ship, and on the one Li Hu was on, judging by the costumes of the people on board, except for some soldiers, most of them were servants from the Meng Mansion. .
Wu Xianglian pulled Li Hu down the wooden steps to the cabin, and Mao Jie followed.
The three of them entered a small cabin. Wu Xianglian closed the cabin door and listened for a moment with her ear on the wooden door to confirm who was outside. Then she turned to Li Hu and said, "What's going on? Why are you doing this?" Bring him too,"
The person Wu Xianglian was talking about was, of course, Mao Jie.
Li Hu said: "Brother Mao followed you yesterday and discovered my whereabouts. If I don't bring him here, I will die with him in Fuyang City."
Hearing this, Wu Xianglian raised her eyebrows, but Mao Jie had already cupped his hands and said: "I, Mao Jie, have an sworn hatred with Tianzhu. This situation is critical and we can only escape with the help of the two of you." Please don’t be offended.”
"You are Mao Jie of the 'Taishan Sect'." Wu Xianglian was also in the slaughterhouse when Commander Cui surrounded and killed Li Hu the day before yesterday, and she had also heard Mao Jie's name.
Mao Jie said: "That's right."
Wu Xianglian looked at Mao Jie with her beautiful eyes for a few times, and then said after a long time: "Okay, since Mao Shaoxia is also being hunted by the 'Tianchu', let's work together and escape together."
At this time, they could only hear a burst of gongs, drums and suona playing from the shore outside the cabin, and then another burst of "cracking" firecrackers sounded. The three of them felt the ship plank shaking under their feet, but it turned out that the official ship had set sail. Sailed.
Wu Xianglian said: "I have bribed Butler Hu with money. Let's pretend to be servants of the Guo Mansion and leave Fuyang on this ship. The 'Tianzhu' and those Jianghu gangs must not dare to intercept the government's ship. You two can just Stay in this cabin and don't go out. If anything happens, I will take care of it. As soon as we leave the boundary of Fuyang, we will take a small boat and go ashore immediately."
Li Hu nodded, but Mao Jie said: "Thank you, Mrs. Xu, for the arrangement."
Wu Xianglian said: "I am not Mrs. Xu. My real name is Wu Xianglian. From now on, Young Master Mao will call me Xianglian."
Mao Jie said: "Thank you very much Miss Xianglian, but I don't know where Miss Xianglian and Brother Wang are going to go after they get ashore." [
Wu Xianglian said: "I have no plans. Anyway, I just follow him. Wherever he wants to go, I will go too."
The person in the words refers to Li Hu, and Wu Xianglian's eyes were as bright as water as she spoke, and she looked at Li Hu lovingly.
Wu Xianglian is a beautiful and gentle woman. Most men would be overjoyed to be able to have such a woman follow her wholeheartedly.
However, Li Hu still had a nonchalant look on his face and said: "The world is so big that there is a place for you wherever you go. I don't want to leave you here, I have my own place to stay. Let's wait until we get out of Fuyang where we want to go."
While the three of them were talking, the official boat gradually left the dock and sailed towards the middle of the river.
At this time, all they could hear was the sound of footsteps coming from outside the door, and then someone tapped on the cabin door, and a voice asked: "Is Miss Wu here?"
Wu Xianglian stepped forward and opened the wooden door, only to see a man who looked like a domestic servant coming out of the door. When he saw Wu Xianglian, he glanced at Li Hu and Mao Jie in the cabin and said, "Housekeeper Hu has given instructions to call Miss Wu." Go up to the top cabin and see him."
Li Hu frowned, but Wu Xianglian looked calm and said, "Sorry to bother you, brother, I'll go up right away."
The servant said: "You should go quickly, the housekeeper is still waiting." After that, he turned and left.
Wu Xianglian turned back to Li Hu and Mao Jie and said, "You guys sit here for a while, and I'll go up to the top cabin to see Butler Hu."
Li Hu said: "Can I go with you?"
Wu Xianglian walked to Li Hu and said in a low voice: "I originally made an arrangement with Butler Hu to take the boat together, but now there is an extra person named Mao Shaoxia. That's probably why the steward came to me. This little thing only requires a few liang." The money can be spent, I will be back soon, you can just stay in this cabin."
Li Hu nodded and said: "Okay, then go and come back quickly."
Wu Xianglian responded and walked out of the hatch.
The Yujiang River is originally the largest tributary in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and one of the largest rivers in Sichuan.
The official boat went down the river, and after a while it reached the middle of the river. It was March in spring, and the clear water was rolling and vast. The green mountains on both sides of the bank were faint, and the green grass was everywhere. On the water along the river bank, there were scattered There are many awning boats of different sizes, and the fishermen on the boats are casting their nets, which is exactly like a "spring fishing picture" scene.
Although Wu Xianglian said she would be back soon, the meal had passed and she still hadn't turned around.
Mao Jie sat in front and looked at the river, and said: "It's sunny and sunny today. I think all these fishermen don't want to stay at home. They all come to the river to fish."
In the speaker's heart, Li Hu was suddenly startled when he heard this. He jumped forward and looked out from the small tree. His expression immediately darkened and he said: "No, those people are not fishermen. I think they are all Come and deal with our ‘Tenchu’ killer.”
March in early spring is the time when the river tide floods. The fish and shrimp in the river are the poorest. It is by no means a good time for fishing. Li Hu grew up in Wuyang and often watched the fishing boats on the river by the Jinxi River since he was a child. Fishing is very clear about this.
At this season, it is not surprising that there are three or five fishing boats on the river, but now within just a few miles of the Chongqing River, there are at least dozens of fishing boats on both sides of the Chongqing River, which is absolutely extraordinary.
This is definitely a trap. "Tenchu" must have known that they were on this boat, so they set up a trap. Those small boats in the river are not trying to catch fish in the river, but people.
At this time, the big boat they were traveling in had gradually deviated from its course in the river, and was more than fifty feet away from the other two official boats. However, the small Wupeng boats in the distance were speeding up. , and surrounded the ship.
If they were on the shore, they could escape as long as they could carve out a bloody path, and at least there would still be a glimmer of hope. However, being heavily surrounded on the 100-foot-wide Yujiang River, there was no way out even if they wanted to.
At this time, Mao Jie also saw that something was wrong with the situation, his face suddenly changed, and he said anxiously: "What should we do? How do they know that we are on this boat? Why don't we smash the planks of the boat and jump into the river? Maybe we can Swim to shore."
Li Hu glanced at the nearby river, then looked at the many black-topped boats that were outflanking from the river, and asked, "Are you very good at water?"
Mao Jie said: "My water 'property' is average, but we can't sit still and wait for death. We have to find some ways."
Li Hu said: "Don't say that your water nature is average. Even if you are a person with excellent water nature, you will have no chance of escaping from the river. They have come out of the cave with so many ships, and they are obviously fully prepared. We can still fight on the boat, but jumping into the water will only make us die faster."
Mao Jie said: "'Tianchu' has set up an ambush on the water. How could it not be arranged on the boat? If we fight against them on the boat, we will probably have no chance of survival."
Li Hu squinted at Mao Jie and said, "Are you scared? That day at the Chi family ancestral hall, you said you had a wife and children at home, but it was true."
Mao Jie lowered his head and said, "It's true. They are all in Lujing. My daughter is only three years old this year."
Li Hu said: "Since you have a wife and children, you should stay with them at home. Sneaking into Tianchu is a matter of narrow escape. If you don't have the consciousness to risk your life, you shouldn't have come."
Mao Jie suddenly raised his head, clenched his fists, and gritted his teeth and said: "Who says I don't have the consciousness to fight for my life? Since the day Mao decided to sneak into Tianchu, he has put life and death aside, only death. Even if I can destroy the 'Tianchu' here, I won't be able to avenge Master, and I won't be willing to do so."
Li Hu smiled coldly and said: "Whether you are willing or not, now you and I are surrounded and the situation is very bad. There is no other way but to fight hard. If you want to die enough, just kill a few more days." Those who punished."
Mao Jie saw that Li Hu's eyes were sharp and he clearly had the will to die. His heart was filled with anger and he said: "Okay, since we can't leave, we will fight to the death with those killers."
At this time, a burst of footsteps could be heard on the ship's deck outside the door. It seemed that another person had gotten off the cabin, and there were still two people. The cabin door was knocked again.