Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 31 Yangtze River Pirates
On the river, cargo ships are sailing down the river.
Even though many of the noble families in Jiangdong and Huainan are engaged in water transport business, the current scale is truly astonishing!
However, outsiders do not know that these merchant ships are not carrying goods, but soldiers and horses that have experienced many battles...
Bai Tu only recently found out why the cavalry in this world does not need pack horses or servants. It turns out that here, the cavalry itself requires two to three times the manpower of normal soldiers to be trained.
It is also necessary to mix in the manpower collected from horse herders, so that in addition to fighting, these cavalrymen are also proficient in motorcycle repair... no, it is war horse maintenance.
The "war horses" of the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry require two to three times the horsepower of a basic war horse, at least one of which must be collected from superior military horses, and the rest can be the horsepower of mules, horses, and lowly horses.
This "synthesized" warhorse, which looks like a black-tech motorcycle, has the function of "shifting gears". When carrying loads and marching, it usually shifts to a low gear, which does not affect the horsepower of the high gear when charging into battle!
With the assistance of the Chen family, Lu Bu led a thousand of the most elite Bingzhou cavalry to Jiangdong.
Chen Gong and Kong Rong also traveled with them. The dangerous time had passed. They had all passed Huainan and reached the Yangtze River, and they were just waiting to reach their destination.
In the cabin of the leading ship, Bai Tu and Lu Bu were drinking and eating crabs. At the same time, Lu Bu was complaining that the crabs were not very fat at this time...
Even so, Lu Bu still drank a little too much. Bai Tu really wanted to remind him that this would easily lead to gout.
"Don't think that Guan Yu killed Hua Xiong in just two moves... At Hulao Pass, he and Zhang Fei joined forces and couldn't do anything to me... Hiccup... Liu Bei? Haha, if you didn't tell me, I wouldn't have felt that there were three people besieging me... But if I had to talk about thrilling moments, it was still the year in Bingzhou. That winter was so cold, the Qiang and Hu were starving, and six of the ten greatest warriors..."
Lu Bu chattered on and on, telling Bai Tu about his heroic deeds. Bai Tu nodded and listened until Lu Bu fell asleep with a snore.
But at this moment, a fleet of boats with ramming horns was seen on the river in the distance, crossing the river with the intention of stopping Bai Tu and his party!
The Chen family steward who was in charge of this "business" came over and said, "General Bai, General Lu, we have encountered pirates! It seems... they are the biggest pirates on the Yangtze River, the Jinfan Pirates!"
"Why don't go and negotiate?" Bai Tu looked at the manager speechlessly.
Bai Tu didn't believe that the Chen family's caravan had no experience dealing with Yangtze River pirates...
The manager felt embarrassed when he heard this, but also felt a little relieved.
He was not afraid of encountering the Jinfan bandits, but he was worried that Bai Tu and Lu Bu were too proud - after all, one was a governor of a state and the other was a famous general of the time. It was hard to guarantee that they would not be unwilling to make peace with the Jinfan bandits out of self-respect.
However, Bai Tu did not have so many thoughts. It was only after he got on the ship that he realized that the trained soldiers would also suffer from seasickness due to the problem of manpower supply!
The Wolf Riders, whose troops come from Bingzhou, are now full of negative buffs. If they really stumble on the river, wouldn’t Bai Tu be heartbroken?
Bai Tu was also somewhat relieved. Fortunately, Lu Bu fell asleep. Otherwise, Lu Bu, who had just been bragging for a long time under the influence of alcohol, would probably have picked up a knife and rushed forward...
These pirates dared to approach such a large fleet after seeing it. I’m afraid they are not easy to deal with.
"Jinfan thief?" Bai Tu muttered after the steward left, apparently feeling that the name sounded familiar.
When I got out of the warehouse and took a look on the deck, I saw that the masts and sails of the pirates' ship were all hung with gorgeous Shu brocade. Many of the plain sails had patterns drawn with dye, like abstract paintings...
How gorgeous and rich... so flashy!
Sails hung with Sichuan brocade and painted with dyes? Do pirates have to show off their wealth these days?
From the Chen family's side, a small boat was seen approaching the pirate fleet, seemingly to negotiate.
Bai Tu was still urging himself to "hurry up", worried that Lu Bu would wake up soon and this matter would become unacceptable!
However, at this moment, a two-meter-tall thief leader, who was dressed in a scarlet mecha, flew up from the most gorgeous ship...
Bai Tu's eyesight has improved a lot recently. I don't know if it's due to his mental strength. Just looking at the facial features of this thief, he is handsome, but his overall temperament is demonic - not a feminine "demon", but an evil "demon"!
He holds a short spear in his right hand and a flying claw hook in his left hand, both of which are connected by an iron chain, and he also carries a long-bladed single-edged sword on his back.
The most notable feature is that, for some unknown purpose, there are many bells hanging on this mecha, which jingle as it moves, making it look very...sexy!
Bai Tu understood at this time, and thought that this person... was the Jinfan thief Gan Ning, who later became a famous general of the Eastern Wu and a fierce minister of Jiangbiao. Sun Quan even compared him to "Zhang Liao of the Eastern Wu" - at that time, Sun Quan had just been in Xiaoyaojin, and was beaten by Zhang Liao so badly that he almost lost his life!
But now Gan Ning's main occupation is still a pirate. As soon as he made a move, he hooked the boat with his flying claws, and then the engine on his calf started to spray. He glided quickly on the water, circled around the boat for most of the circle, and turned the boat over.
The bandits watched the Chen family members fall into the water in a panic and laughed. Fortunately, these people were also good at swimming, and the interception location chosen by the other party was also a place with slow currents, so they could still swim back.
Bai Tu frowned as he watched - is this the nature of Jinfan thieves? Not even paying the toll?
Could it be... that he was sent by someone to target himself and the Bingzhou Wolf Riders?
Gan Ning was seen flying fancy on the river again, deliberately showing off. He flew two circles close to the river surface before coming to the main ship where Bai Tu was. He even flew to a height of more than ten meters to look down from above - according to Bai Tu's common sense, this was already a height that only top-level generals could fly to!
"Hey! Boy from the Chen family, don't think that I don't know that your water transport business has been making a lot and losing a lot... Oh, you've come here specially for a big one this time? Hahaha, then I'll gladly accept it! Still according to the old rules, leave all the things to me, and I'll leave you a few small boats to get out!" Gan Ning said arrogantly.
Bai Tu was somewhat impressed by his vision. Although he was still just a pirate, Gan Ning already had a good view of the overall situation - he could see that the Chen family was about to be blocked by Yuan Shu!
In addition, the scale of the Chen family's caravan was so large that Gan Ning concluded that this was the last time the Chen family transported grain...
If that's the case, then why charge for protection? Anyway, this is the last sale, so of course we have to grab everything!
However, this last business trip was not for goods, but for people. It was not Gan Ning's fault that he had not thought of this...
Bai Tu was already wondering if he had enough time to wake up Lu Bu and capture Gan Ning right away while he was waiting in front of him.
But at this moment, another voice came from the side...
"In broad daylight, there are such shameless people! They have hands and feet, but they are robbing... Moreover, the merchant has already agreed to pay the tribute, but they still want to take advantage of the situation to rob?"
A young man in white armor jumped up from a passenger ship nearby and reached a similar height as Gan Ning. Moreover... Bai Tu did not recognize this man!
The Chen family's steward explained, "He was a passenger who paid the boat fare and crossed the river together, but we didn't know he was so powerful before."
The canal transport caravans would sometimes take some passengers on board for a fee, which was also considered as a way of stabilizing the cargo.
Bai Tu was also a little confused when looking at this "passenger" - where did you come from? You set out with the fleet and stood up to the robbers... Is this plot not outdated yet?
"Shameless? Tsk tsk, a vulgar person like you naturally doesn't understand the beauty of plundering..." Gan Ning said with disdain, and as he spoke he made a special pose, bending his back backwards and looking at the other person with his chin.
"Taishi Ci of Donglai is here! This is the name of the bandits!" said the general in white armor as he raised his spear and pointed it at Gan Ning.
