"Brothers, this is a fat sheep, let's slaughter it for the New Year, go!"
"We are Uncle Wang Mazi's team. We value money over our lives. Leave your things behind and we'll let you live."
"Stop the boat immediately, you hear me, stop the boat immediately. Otherwise, when we get on board, you'll kill us all."
More than twenty small boats were rapidly approaching the river bank. The speed of the small boats and speedboats was much faster than their big ship.
In addition, they came from upstream and went downstream, so it didn't take long before they were less than twenty feet away.
Zhao Jun could even see that the man in the lead had a face full of fat and pockmarks, and exuded a bandit-like air.
I think this person is the bandit leader Wang Mazi mentioned by those pirates.
“Is the problem of river banditry serious?”
Zhao Jun saw that the well-trained guards had come out of the cabin with rifles in their hands, so he didn't care and asked everyone casually.
Yang Gao said, "It's not just the big rivers. Wherever there are rivers and lakes across the country, there will be pirates."
"oh?"
Zhao Jun frowned and asked, "Are there any in the whole country?"
"Yes."
Yang Gao said, "Many of these pirates are local fishermen or even ferry captains. When they are ferrying passengers, if they find that the passengers are carrying a lot of valuables, they may kill and steal the goods."
Zhao Jun's brows furrowed even deeper.
Yang Gao continued, "For example, when I was the magistrate of Jiangzhou, there were pirates on the Yangtze River who killed a merchant and sank his boat into the river. Later, the real culprit was caught. It turned out to be a local ferryman who saw the merchant's heavy baggage and was tempted by the money."
"yes."
Su Huan also said, "I once took a boat from the Yangtze River to Bianliang to take the imperial examination. I encountered pirates several times along the way. If I hadn't had no extra money and hadn't paid it to save my life, I would have been drowned at the bottom of the river."
Hearing their words, Zhao Jun sighed, "If we want to truly achieve peace and prosperity, we have a long and arduous journey ahead."
As he was speaking, Jiang Dalang came over and asked, "Dean, what should we do?"
"These river bandits have been entrenched here, and who knows how many people they've harmed. Wait until they get close before you attack them. Don't let any of them escape. It would be best if you can capture them alive."
Zhao Jun said calmly, "We'll have to interrogate them to see if there are any who have slipped through the net, or if there are still people in the base. We must not let anyone go, and we must wipe out this cancer."
"yes."
Jiang Dalang agreed and immediately went over to command the troops. According to Zhao Jun's instructions, he waited until they got close to the boat before attacking.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
After a while, gunshots were heard.
Then came all kinds of screams.
“Ahhhh!”
"What's this?"
"Run."
"Jump into the river."
The pirates were caught off guard by the sudden musket fire and most of them were killed or injured in an instant.
Jiang Dalang then said, "Come on, those who are good swimmers, come with me onto their boats and catch them alive. Those who are not good swimmers, stay away. Do you understand?"
"yes."
Immediately, many Southern Imperial Guards soldiers who were good at swimming followed Jiang Dalang down the deck and jumped onto the enemy ship to capture people.
Jiang Dalang was born as a coolie at the docks. He often floated along the banks of the Bian River and played in the water when he had nothing to do. He might not be a very good swimmer, but he was very flexible on the boat.
In a short while, he captured several pirates, tied one up tightly, and with the help of the rest of the soldiers, brought them all to the deck.
Seeing that many bandits had been arrested, Yang Cha said, "Dean, Daozhi just said that many of the bandits are ferry bosses. Could the fact that we carried so much luggage be related to them?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the captain, sailors and others on the ship.
Zhao Jun traveled with many carriages and horses. In addition to some daily necessities, many of them were soldiers' weapons, wrapped in cloth, making it difficult for outsiders to see what they were, making it easy for him to disguise himself as a businessman.
If this matter is really related to the captain of the ship, it is very likely that when they saw Zhao Jun and others with so many carriages and luggage, they might have had evil intentions to collude with the bandits.
They might even be bandits.
But Zhao Jun was not so arbitrary. He just smiled and said, "Don't make any assumptions or arrest anyone until you have a clear understanding of the situation."
"What if it's related to them?"
Yang Cha asked again.
"What you said is not without reason. It's just that the Song Dynasty must govern by law, and arbitrarily arresting people is definitely wrong. However, this matter does require their cooperation in the investigation."
Zhao Jun thought for a moment and said, "How about this? After we get off the boat, we can contact the local authorities and the Imperial City Bureau and have them come over to take the person away first. The bandits will be captured, and the captain and his men can take them for investigation. Once they are sure there is nothing wrong, they will release the person."
"yes."
Yang Cha responded.
The matter was over quickly, and as the captain was fighting and trembling, the boat approached the ferry.
But the crowd did not get off the boat, but sent people to Ji County to look for someone.
Su Huan asked, "Prefect, this is Ji County. There are hundreds of pirates there. The local officials failed to control them effectively, and they have offended the Prefect. Should we hold them accountable?"
“I’m not really looking for accountability.”
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "Unless the investigation proves that the pirates are colluding with them, they can't be blamed."
"The prefect is still too kind."
Su Huan sighed deeply.
In fact, they also knew that it was difficult to blame the local officials for things like water pirates.
Because as Yang Gao said, the pirates and bandits in many places are local fishermen and villagers. They fish and farm during the day, and become bandits at night, coming and going without a trace.
Even if the government wanted to wipe out the bandits, it would be difficult to find evidence. The bandits were hiding in local villages, and it would be difficult to convict them without direct evidence.
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