Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 834 Passing Jining

Archery on a boat is very immoral, and this canal is no better than the sea. The distance between boats and boats is very close. If you shoot indiscriminately with bows and arrows, what should you do if you accidentally injure others?

The boats of Wang Tong's fleet picked up grass balls, and the surrounding boats thought they were going to do something, but when the arrows came out, they were all taken aback, hurriedly avoided, and even the angry people cursed secretly.

But everyone also knew in their hearts that such a large fleet dared to shoot arrows so ostentatiously, it must have a lot of background, even though it looked like a civilian ship, it was better to offend less.

After a few arrows were shot here, the surrounding boats finally felt relieved. The archery skills are really wonderful. Although the canal is calm and calm, it is inevitable for the boats to shake back and forth on the water, and there is a breeze blowing. The grass ball was also wobbling, but within a distance of nearly sixty steps, none of the arrows missed, which is remarkable.

At first the people on the other ships looked for a sheltered place, and later they all went to the deck, where they were hit by an arrow, and everyone cheered here.

After the ten arrows here are shot, the grass ball is full of arrows. There is actually another subtlety that the onlookers can't see. The grass ball is not big at all. One arrow lacked a position, and all ten arrows hit the target, which was a test of alignment and judgment.

"Mozhigen and Batu were originally brothers. Their original small tribe was contested by several tribes because of a beautiful woman. Although it was dedicated to the nobles of the Horqin tribe, the tribe that did not win was sent Ruthless, come here and kill their tribe completely, these two escaped this disaster because they let their horses go far away, and after that they have been working as horse thieves on the grassland, and they also act as eyeliners for Ji Town."

Wang Tong was on the second boat, looking at the man standing in front of the boat shooting arrows, Wu Er next to him introduced there, the one who shoots arrows is Mo Zhigen, it is said that according to the Mongolian language, this is the master archer. mean.

"Have you checked the details? Nearly [-] Tartars died in our hands!"

"Please don't worry, my lord. I dared to bring it back only after I found out the root cause. It was originally planned to be a guard on the Zhuangzi. After Li Chengliang finished fighting Duolun, all the ministries on the grassland went back and wiped out like crazy. Everything is a bit like our Ming Dynasty. They didn't stay in touch, and these two brothers couldn't stay on the grassland any longer, so they came here to join them. They had done business many times in the past, and this time they specially checked through Li Zongbing."

Wu Er's errand was considered complete. Wang Tong nodded there, turned his head to look at the grass ball, and said with a smile:

"It's a sharpshooter!"

Wang Tong didn't lower his voice, Mo Zhigen heard it too, bowed on the roof of the cabin, and another man came up with a bow and arrow, presumably it was Nabatu.

Archery scores are high and low, and it is still necessary to see the high and low on a target. Batu also heard Wang Tong's praise for his brother just now, and wanted to show his ability. He hesitated on the top of the boat with a bow and arrow. But it was a bow and an arrow. The first arrow was shot, and the rope hanging the grass ball was shot. The second arrow was shot, and it was nailed to the wooden pole on which the rope was hung. The third arrow was also nailed, and several arrows were shot in a row. , are neatly nailed to the wooden pole.

This shows his skills even more. Wang Tong smiled and clapped his hands there, and the boats on both sides were thunderous. Walking on the canal, although the scenery on the bank is constantly changing, it is also boring. There are such wonderful things on the river. The style is really refreshing.

If Mo Zhigen and Batu didn't have bows and arrows in their hands, they would look like rural men in the Northland, short and stocky, with bowed legs on horseback. Originally, their hair was braided. When they came to the Central Plains, they would have been shaved bald.

"You brothers, do a good job. On the prairie, regardless of ability or bloodlines, I don't pay attention to this here. You have made contributions, and you can be prosperous and rich in Ming Dynasty. Even on the prairie, you can be guaranteed to be nobles."

Called over to give a few words of encouragement, but the two were very excited. When they met, they bowed and knelt on the boat, trembling. At first, Wang Tong felt a little puzzled, thinking that the time between the two sides was still short, how could these two be so ignorant? humble,

After Wu Er explained it on the sidelines, he understood that Wang Tong is famous on the grassland now. Back then, Altan Khan was like an emperor on the grassland, but this kind of existence was killed by Wang Tong and wiped out the country. It is conceivable what kind of status these warriors have in their hearts.

After being encouraged by Wang Tong, the Mo Zhigen brothers kowtowed again and again. Wang Tong smiled and asked them to go back to their duties. Just as they were about to talk to Wu Er, they found Wu Er staring at the river.

Following Wu Er's gaze, he saw a small boat the size of a sampan, with a relatively wide sail on board, running in parallel among the big boats on the river, and walking quite quickly. There were three people on the boat, one of them Controlling the sails there, the other two stood at the bow and stern and looked around.

When the boat passed by Wang Tong's fleet, the two big men on the boat watched carefully. When the boat passed by, Wang Tong pondered and asked:
"What? Something strange?"

"Returning to my lord, it was the people on the river who came to see the goods just now!"

Wu Er looked at the back of the small boat, and said in a deep voice there, the canal is not peaceful, and a case was made on the river, people were killed and buried on the shore, the boat was changed, the victim could not be found, it was a case without a head , the oil and water on this river are rich, and there are many people doing business on this river.

After so many years of peace, there are fewer and fewer forces on the canal. Such things as theft, looting, murder and extortion are profitable, but in most cases the profits are not much, but the troubles are not small. The big forces on the river It is often focused on entraining goods and trafficking contraband, such as illegal salt.

But bandits are bandits, and they won't stop eating fat meat when they see it. They always patrol the river regularly within the area they control.

Seeing that person with rich wealth and seeing if there is any backstage background, he secretly started to make a fortune without anyone noticing, and even the person who was hired by someone to do some murder and silence on the river, this is also possible. of.

Wu Er was looking around there, but Shi Qi on the other boat had already climbed onto the cabin, and was watching from a distance with his hands on the awning. With his old age, he naturally understood what he meant just now.

Wang Tong didn't feel anything about this at all. These forces in the Jianghu were nothing in front of the officials. The difference between Yinghuo and sunlight was really not worth mentioning.

But the group of guards who followed him did not dare to neglect, Wang Tong's status was precious, in case of any accident on the road, everyone really couldn't afford it.

"My lord, if it's the official ship of the imperial envoy, these people on the river would not dare to act. Let's go back to Jining and change to the official ship there."

It was Liu Sanlang who came to speak out, and he and Shi Qi were considered to be senior characters in the group. These words were what they could say, but Wang Tong was very firm about it:
"Don't you have the confidence to protect this Marquis comprehensively? Don't tell me that after passing Jining to the south, there will be no kingly law in Ming Dynasty. This Marquis came here to investigate the case, not to show the prestige of this imperial envoy, don't change it!!"

This is quite different from Wang Tong's style of handling affairs, but Wang Tong said that after a few more mature people discussed it, the matter was not too big. There were hundreds of guards on a dozen ships, and the boatmen and sailors were all on the canal. It's an old-fashioned style that has been running for many years, so you don't have to worry too much if you take precautions.

But after a day in Jining, the vacation-like idleness on the ship disappeared. Everyone became nervous. There are quite a few people in the guard who know how to swim. Needless to say, Sha Dongning is a child from a family on the sea. Tan Dahu and Tan Erhu were forced to learn swimming by General Tan since he was a child. Bao Erxiao grew up by the canal, and his water skills are not bad.

After all, this ship is no better than on land, and people who don't know how to use water are taking advantage of it. Even elite soldiers and strong generals may not be able to show their abilities. Of course, Wu Er and Shi Qi also know how to swim, Liu Sanlang and the two Mongols But people are dying. Mo Zhigen was still seasick when he first boarded the boat, so it goes without saying.

Jining Prefecture is much more prosperous than Linqing Prefecture. Wang Tong admired this. When Wang Tong was a child, he took the sea route to Macau. When he was an adult, he would spend his time in Beizhili, Shanxi and the grasslands. It was the first time to go south. Once, the Canal River Basin was the most prosperous area in Ming Dynasty, which really taught Wang Tong a lot of insight.

Linqing Prefecture and Jining Prefecture may not be as prosperous as Tianjin Wei, but in this era, they are still remarkable and affluent cities. All the way to the south, all the populated places along the coast seem to be more and more prosperous and prosperous. After Jining, the situation changed.

According to Jinyiwei’s documents, from Jining to Xuzhou, and from Xuzhou to Shanyang, the two sides of the canal in this section are very uneven. Many bandits and pirates are active, and the folk customs are also aggressive. Local clans often have private soldiers in their hands, colluding with bandits. , but these things are just understanding, and have nothing to do with it.

After passing Jining Prefecture, I walked for a day but entered Weishan Lake. The surface of Weishan Lake in this era is several times or even ten times that of later generations. When boats sail on the lake, there is no limit to see.

Right now, the wind is favorable, and after a day and a half, you can leave Weishan Lake and enter the boundary of Xuzhou. However, you have to anchor on the lake when it is dark. It is also possible to sail at night with wind lanterns. Anchoring and resting on the lake for a night is the safest way.

The boatmen and sailors that Dong Chuangxi arranged for Wang Tong were indeed old-fashioned, but they found a sandbar full of reeds and shrubs in the lake before dark, and anchored near this sandbar.

As early as when we were at the dock in Jining Prefecture, the guards on the boat bought sheep, chickens and ducks, and got a few big fish in the river, and all the people packed them up on the edge of the sandbar. However, the watchman on board greeted loudly and said:

"A ship is coming!!"

(End of this chapter)