Chapter 99: Destroy the water bandits, Shen Dajiang
The Dinghai Gang, who had been driven away by Xiao Jingchuan before, came back after Xiao Jingchuan ran away, trying to reoccupy the port and monopolize the maritime trade of Donglai County.
After the newly appointed county governor learned about this, he naturally did not want to give the benefits back to this gang.
That's why today, the director-general was asked to take people to deal with it.
Soon, the team arrived at the port.
Looking around, you can see many docks.
There are many people gathered near each pier, and there are many large and small boats docked.
There are merchant ships for transportation and fishing boats for fishing.
Several fishing villages are located nearby surrounding the port.
Most of the villagers make a living from fishing and have stayed near this port all their lives.
The arrival of their group also alerted many people inside and outside the dock.
"Where are the supervisors of the Water Transport Department? Why don't they even have any minor officials?" Inspector Zheng Qiushan raised his eyes and looked around, frowning.
The Water Transport Department is actually a new department established by Xiao Jingchuan in the late period of his administration, which is responsible for port maintenance and water transport-related matters.
They had been given a signal to go ahead before setting off, but when they arrived, no officials were seen, which made everyone feel that something was wrong.
"Go and check!" Zhuang Ren said slowly, and the patrols quickly dispersed.
Song Changming's eyes fell on the ships at the pier, and soon he noticed that there was no official ship in sight.
Suddenly he noticed two hurried figures. After seeing their official uniforms, he turned around and left, as if they were about to sail away.
"Summon the dragon." Song Changming indicated with his eyes.
Liang Zhaolong beside him immediately understood, crossed his legs and rode towards the pier.
When the two men saw Liang Zhaolong coming straight towards them, they almost didn't hesitate and immediately drew their swords with a fierce look on their faces.
Liang Zhaolong didn't waste any time, he turned over and dismounted, and slashed out with his long sword.
Now Liang Zhaolong has long been a warrior in the third level of body refining, and his strength is not weak.
Although the opponent was also a martial artist, he was only at the first level of body training. He was easily subdued by Liang Zhaolong and returned to Song Changming with his neck in hand.
"Are they from the Dinghaihai Gang?" Song Changming asked.
Both of them were silent at first, looking stern.
But after a little torture, he simply let go.
As expected, these two people were the two members of the Dinghaihai Gang who stayed at the dock.
Not the core members of the gang, just two people responsible for keeping track.
After seeing the arrival of Song Changming and others, he planned to go back to report, but he failed to calm down and walked in a hurry, and Song Changming was keenly aware of the clues.
"Where are the officials in charge of water transportation here?" Zhuang Ren asked.
The two of them were forced by Zhuang Ren's aura, and they stumbled and said: "They are all sinking into the river."
As soon as these words came out, Zhuang Ren's face instantly showed a hint of embarrassment.
"What a coward!" Zhuang Ren scolded.
This director-general, who had only been in office for a few months, finally realized how tough the folk customs of these places far away from the imperial power were.
Local officials killed at will, without the king's laws, and were extremely rampant.
This is simply unimaginable in the imperial capital.
Song Changming had already guessed it when he came, so he wasn't too surprised by the result.
If the Dinghaiwei Gang was not fierce, Xiao Jingchuan would not have spent a lot of effort and dispatched the army to drive away the Dinghaiwei Gang.
Just when Song Changming was about to continue asking for the location of the Dinghaihai Gang's stronghold, a patrol in the distance suddenly released signal smoke.
"Go!" Zhuang Ren ordered in a deep voice.
The group of people clapped their horses and rode away, passing through the fishing market by the port and arriving at the signal smoke.
Only a few patrolmen were seen fighting with a group of people wearing uniform headscarves.
"It's the Dinghai Gang!" Zheng Qiushan recognized the scarf at once and said loudly.
"Kill!" After hearing this, Zhuang Ren gave the order directly.
The sixteen personal guards behind him jumped directly from their horses and charged into the crowd like tigers descending a mountain, causing a wave of chaos.
Each personal guard has extremely strong immediate combat capabilities and cooperates with each other. Even Song Changming must treat them with caution when meeting them.
After that, the patrol chief also started to charge into the formation with his patrol team. In an instant, the group of Dinghaihai gang was defeated, and no one escaped.
Among them, there was a leader of the Dinghai Gang who was very powerful and was still resisting. Even the combined efforts of several of the general director's bodyguards could not take him down.
Song Changming didn't want to waste time. With a lunge, the dragon-patterned knife dragged across the ground and slashed from bottom to top.
The leader hurriedly used his sword to parry, but the terrifying force sent him and his sword flying into the air.
Song Changming took advantage of the situation and turned over with his arms, and smashed him into the ground again with the back of the knife!
For a moment, the leader's mind went blank. He was beaten to the point of shutdown by Song Changming and suffered a cardiac arrest.
His face turned red for a moment, and blood spurted out from his mouth.
After a moment, I took a breath and felt that there was no pain in my body. I lay on the ground without even the strength to struggle.
"Drag him away and subject him to strict scrutiny." Song Changming put away his knife and said calmly. The two patrolmen immediately took the seriously injured leader down.
Interrogation and torture were the job of patrol guards, and there were many tricks. Song Changming was not afraid that the other party would not let go.
"This place was once the stronghold of the Dinghai Gang. It was taken away twice by the previous Governor Xiao. Now it seems that it has been reoccupied by them again." Zheng Qiushan pointed to a row of docks not far away and said.
The reason why he was chosen among the patrol chiefs to take him with him was because he had dealt with the Dinghai Gang many times and knew them quite well.
In this dock, Song Changming spotted several large merchant ships for official transport at a glance.
Of course, these official merchant ships were actually owned by the Dingshui Gang in the past, but later they were all requisitioned by Xiao Jingchuan, slightly changed in appearance, and became official ships.
But now, it has apparently been snatched back by the Dinghaihai Gang.
These ships are only part of the fleet, and the other official ships may have been taken away by the Dingshui Gang.
"I'm afraid this matter is a bit tricky." Song Changming said to Zhuang Ren.
"The Dinghaihai Gang will not give up here easily. The opponent has a large number of people, and they can also mobilize coastal gangs from other counties. Governor Xiao originally sent out the army to suppress this group of water gangs."
Song Changming was worried that the news of their arrival would spread, and water pirates would soon be waiting all over the mountains and plains.
Reality is not about playing games. No matter how strong a martial arts master is, he is afraid of the endless sea of people. Even if he can kill people with his unparalleled power, his physical strength will always be exhausted.
In addition, there are not no masters in the Dinghaihai Gang.
Zhuang Ren nodded. Although he looked down on these trouble-making gangs, he still sent people back to the county to inform the county governor of the situation here.
In fact, Xiao Jingchuan took away almost all the troops in the county. The new county governor had only been in office for a few months. Although he had been actively recruiting and training soldiers, these recruits still needed to invest more time in order to develop combat effectiveness.
Zhuang Ren knew that although the troops brought by the new governor from the imperial capital were elite, they were not many in number.
This elite force is also the base of the new county guard and cannot be easily mobilized.
The Dinghai Gang probably knew that the armed forces under the new governor were weak, so they dared to be so unscrupulous. The government officials stationed here said that if the river sinks, the river will sink.
After a while, the patrol had basically explored the port here.
All government personnel have disappeared.
According to local fishermen, there have been more than one conflict between members of the Dinghaihai Gang and port officials.
Just a few days ago, the fishermen suddenly discovered that all the officials disappeared overnight, even the police officers who were responsible for daily inspections were missing.
Instead, Dinghaihai Bangbangzhong came to the port.
They fishermen are no strangers to the Dinghai Gang. After all, the Jianghu forces that have dominated the sea area for many years are famous.
It is no exaggeration to say that in the past, the words Dinghaihai Gang were more intimidating than the county government in the port area here.
The Dinghai Gang is the ruler of the sea and river areas, and no one dares to challenge them!
So they were not surprised at all when the Dinghaihai Gang came back with a sweep.
After all, they are indeed strong enough and have been the king here for a long time.
The information that Song Changming and others obtained from the mouths of these fishermen further solidified the crimes of the Dingshui Gang.
At dusk, an official ship sailed slowly from the river and approached the dock.
Those who got off the official ship were, as expected, another group of Dingshui Gang members.
At this time, they will come to change shifts.
"Why is no one greeting us today?" After entering the dock, several gang members stretched themselves and wondered.
"Something is wrong. This place seems to be too quiet." One of the gang members following behind frowned and said cautiously.
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of crossbow arrows were suddenly fired from several ships docked in the dock and from hidden corners around.
"not good!"
By the time the gang members reacted, twenty or thirty people had already been shot to the ground by crossbow arrows.
Immediately afterwards, another round of volley continued to kill, forcing the gang members to return to the ship.
At this time, a group of patrolmen shot out from the left and right sides, cutting off their retreat.
"It's from the government!"
By the time the gang members were shocked, it was already too late, and soon the dozens of Dingshui Gang members who had disembarked from the boat were all lying on the ground.
Incidentally, a lost official ship was seized.
And this move soon caused trouble.
That night, everyone stayed in the dock to rest and wait for the next order from the county guard.
And early the next morning, there was an additional fleet on the river.
There are seven ships in total, all of which are hulls unique to the Dinghai Gang, rather than official ships that were taken away.
The ship came to a stop near the dock, and a large number of Dinghaiwei gang members came down. They all looked fierce and numbered at least more than 500 people!
The first few among them have extraordinary appearances from a distance.
As soon as one of them raised his hand, the gang behind him rushed into the dock like hungry wolves and surrounded him.
"Have the people from the government left?" Seeing that there was no one in the dock, the leader glanced at it and said calmly.
The tip of the other leader's nose moved, as if he smelled the bloody smell remaining here, and said with a slight regret: "It's such a pity, I thought I would have the opportunity to kill on this trip.
Especially killing these guys wearing official attire, it’s really fun.”
(End of chapter)