Chapter 549: First Battle with Bandit Du
Chapter 549: First Battle with Bandit Du
Du Fuwei is not very old, only in his twenties, nearly 1.9 meters tall, with broad shoulders and dark skin. He has mastered advanced martial arts since he was a child and has a fierce personality, but he is also extremely shrewd and ambitious.
He initially followed Meng Rang to be a bandit in Langya County, but Langya County was mainly mountainous and did not have much money, so it was difficult to develop and grow. Du Fuwei suggested going to Xia Pi County and Donghai County to develop, but Meng Rang refused, and the two had a conflict of ideas.
According to common practice, since the two sides have different ideas, Du Fuwei would just lead his men south. However, Du Fuwei has always believed in the winner takes all. He joined forces with Fu Gongyou to launch a mutiny and seize all of Meng Rang's troops.
Fortunately, Du Fuwei did not kill Meng Rang, but drove him away. Meng Rang was forced to leave Langya County with a dozen of his men and go to Dong County to join the Wagang Army.
Du Fuwei then led more than 2,000 people south to Donghai County, where he successfully launched a surprise attack on Donghai Island and occupied it. He used Donghai Island as his base and took root in Donghai County.
Du Fuwei has developed rapidly in the past two years, especially after he seized the taxes of Xia Pi County the year before last. His military strength jumped to 20,000 people. The government did not dare to provoke him, and Donghai County and Xia Pi County became his sphere of influence.
Just as Qiu Hailiang said, Du Fuwei was fearless. When Du Fuwei heard that the princess's two large ships with a capacity of ten thousand liters were heading south, he immediately realized that there must be countless gold, silver and treasures in the ships.
People die for money and birds die for food. Du Fuwei personally led 10,000 people and more than 500 small boats to ambush at Hongze Pu. Du Fuwei was very cunning. He was the opposite of Li Zitong. Li Zitong attacked on the shore, while Du Fuwei attacked in the Huai River. In this way, the 500 cavalry guards on the shore could not protect the large ships, so the eldest prince's guards were only left with more than 200 warriors.
The guards of more than 200 people were not worth mentioning at all. In Du Fuwei's view, they were fat sheep. Now he just needed to wait patiently for the arrival of the fat sheep.
At noon, Du Fuwei and several generals were resting on a small island. He saw that several generals were unhappy and sighed. He was really dissatisfied and said, "Now is the time to make money, why are you still putting on a sour face?"
A general said with a bitter face: "General, the opponent is the eldest princess! Once the fight starts, the swords will be blind. If she gets hurt, won't the court eat us alive?"
"You bunch of idiots, how could I not know the identity of the princess? I am only seeking wealth. When the time comes, we will lock the princess in the cabin, loot all the gold and silk, and then leave. The five hundred cavalrymen on the shore will take care of her. What are you worried about?"
After a pause, Du Fuwei continued, "She must have brought a lot of palace maids with her. When the time comes, the palace maids can be distributed to everyone as wives. The eldest princess's safety will be under my personal control. There will be no trouble. Everyone, cheer up!"
When they heard that they could get palace maids as their wives, the generals who were originally frowning suddenly became energetic again, and they all smiled and looked forward to that moment to come.
At this moment, a small boat carrying a message came speeding over, and the spy nervously reported: "General, the Sui army warships have blocked the exit of Hongzepu, and hundreds of warships are rushing in!"
Du Fuwei was horrified. Where did hundreds of warships come from? He ordered urgently: "Order all troops to board the ships. The soldiers are coming!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
Alarms sounded everywhere in Hongze Lake, and hundreds of warships appeared on the wide water surface. This was thanks to Qiu Hailiang's intelligence. His cousin Qiu Xiaoshan left him a message that they were coming in hundreds of small boats to attack the princess' fleet.
Qiu Hailiang was very familiar with the Huai River. If hundreds of small boats came to attack, they must be hiding in Hongze River.
The warships were all chariot ships, powered by pedal paddles, and they shot gunpowder arrows at the endless reeds. It was autumn at that time, and the reeds were generally withered, and they burned rapidly when ignited by the fire.
The Sui army's warships set fires everywhere, thick smoke billowed over the lake, and flames raged. Hundreds of hectares of reed marshes were engulfed in flames.
Du Fuwei's men were burned so hard that they cried and screamed. Even if they rushed out of the reed marsh, they were knocked over by the tall battlefield. The Sui soldiers shot and killed the bandits who fell into the water. Du Fuwei originally planned to use the reed marsh to fight the Sui army, but he didn't expect the other side to set it on fire. Du Fuwei was so scared that his soul was gone from the fire that he rowed desperately to the shore.
Du Fuwei managed to escape to shore, but he was still in shock. He was very angry and asked, "What's going on? Didn't they say there were only two large ships with a capacity of 10,000 shi? How come there are more than 300 warships all at once?"
One of his generals said, "It is estimated that Li Zitong deliberately leaked our interception secret. When the King of Jin learned about it, he would definitely send warships and cavalry to protect them. We happened to not be there when the Sui army's warships went north, so we were unaware of it."
"This bastard, he is more likely to cause trouble than to do good!" Du Fuwei cursed Li Zitong.
The fire burned for an hour, and Du Fuwei only gathered more than 2,000 remaining soldiers. He burst into tears and had to flee in panic towards Donghai County with more than 2,000 people.
This time Du Fuwei shot himself in the foot. He provoked someone he shouldn't have provoked. Before they could even see the shadow of the princess's ship, they were killed or injured in a fire. More than 10,000 people were burned to death, including nearly 7,000 people. The remaining soldiers either fled to the shore or were very good at swimming and hid in the water to escape.
The fire burned until dusk, and the endless reed marsh was burned to ashes. All that was left was a dark and desolate scene.
Warships and cavalry escorted Yang Lihua's ship and continued to sail south. Three days later, the fleet crossed the Yangtze River and slowly arrived at the Jingkou County wharf.
Jingkou at this time has changed a lot compared to three years ago. Originally there was only one small dock, but now there are eight large docks, twenty miles long, with nearly a thousand large warehouses, and five large shipbuilding factories, extending from Jingkou to Jiangning County.
In comparison, the Jiangdu wharf is obviously deserted, and the Shanyang County wharf is even emptier.
What merchants want is safety. When thieves were rampant in Jianghuai, merchants would naturally choose a safe place, which was Jingkou. Therefore, nearly a thousand large warehouses were built in Jingkou, but almost 80% of them were full.
Yang Lihua changed to a dozen pleasure boats and came to the Prince of Jin's Mansion. The Prince of Jin's Mansion was located outside the east city of Jingkou County. It was an exact replica of the Jiangdu Palace. After the emperor agreed that the Jiangdu Palace could be converted into the Prince of Jin's Mansion, Xiao Xia moved the entire Jiangdu Palace to Jingkou County.
Xiao Xia chose a hot spring location to rebuild the palace. The palace covers an area of 500 acres, with a lake inside, a protective river outside, and a special dock.
Cui Yu, along with her sisters and children, was already at the door to welcome the eldest princess.
Xiao Xia now has five children, three boys and two daughters. The eldest is the eldest son Yang Chu, who is five years old this year. The second son is Yang Ren, born to Xiao Qing, who is four years old this year. The youngest is also a son, Yang Yi, who just turned two years old and is the son born to Lu Xie Ting last year.
The two daughters were born to Princess Cui Yu and Zhang Qiao. The eldest daughter was named Yang Junjun and the second daughter was named Yang Qianer. The two daughters were only one month apart and were both three years old.
The five children knelt down together and kowtowed to their grandmother. Their little mouths were very sweet and they all vied with each other to call her "Grandma", which made people's hearts melt.
Looking at the group of lively and lovely children, Yang Lihua picked up one and then another, smiling so hard that her mouth couldn't close. She said to Xiao Xia, "I want to reward them well, and you are not allowed to stop me!"
Yang Lihua waved her hand and treated her grandchildren equally, giving each child 5,000 taels of gold as a gift from grandmother to grandchildren.
(End of this chapter)