Chapter 31: About to Collide
After leaving Gaojiazhuang, the ox cart headed along the country road towards Xilangdangqu.

Inside the car, Black Bear flipped through some bamboo slips of official documents that Yuan Huan carried with him, and became increasingly disliked the bamboo slips as a medium and the official script.

Given his cultural attainments, it was not easy for him to recognize the official script, let alone the cursive script, which was developed from the official script and was used for official documents, as well as the tortuous seal script and bronze inscriptions.

After barely understanding the documents, Black Bear sighed: "The Suiyang Canal is of benefit to the present and will be of great benefit to future generations. People will only remember the Suiyang Canal, but no one will remember the corvée labor and soldiers who died of exhaustion?"

Yuan Huan looked at Black Bear with a bit of surprise, and then said, "When doing big things, how can you have everything done?"

"That makes sense. The dead won't cry out for justice, nor will they come out of the ground to rebel. The dead are gone, and the living are already struggling to take care of themselves, so what can they do for the dead?"

Black Bear tied up the bamboo slips and put them into the silk bag, and then tied up the bag. He said, "I thought you would ask the Gao family for help. Why did you give up?"

Yuan Huan looked at Black Bear with strange eyes again, and said unhappily: "If I ask for help and say that I was kidnapped by you and will be taken to Hebei, what will Gao do?"

"Do you mean that the Gao family will kill you and me to silence me? Or will they help me silence you?"

Black Bear thought about this problem seriously and believed that this was possible.

There was no more conversation along the way, and the ox cart arrived at a ferry along the Langdang Canal.

This is a small ferry with only seven or eight soldiers stationed there, and there is not even a defensive fortification.

It is estimated that after nightfall, the soldiers here would row boats to the water forts downstream or upstream to spend the night.

The driver was expecting to see few garrison soldiers, but he also saw three transport ships flying the Sun and Xu flags anchored near the shore, and black-sailed boats casting nets in the river to catch fish.

Thinking of the robber claiming to be Sun Qian from Jiangdong, the driver's face became even worse.

The car stopped and the military officer on duty came forward to greet them.

Traveling in a carriage covered with a green umbrella was a standard for officials with a salary of two thousand stones.

Yuan Huan got off the car and greeted the other party. Seeing that there were few soldiers stationed here, he just gave a routine greeting.

Black Bear also got off the carriage and heard Yuan Huan say to the garrison officers, "I will take a Jiangdong merchant ship to Junyi to pay a visit to Cao Gong, and then I will take a ship to Liang State. The carriage given in Xudu is no longer useful, so please ask someone to transport it back to Xudu."

After saying this, he ordered the servant driving the cart to take off the green umbrella cover from the ox cart, as he wanted to take it away.

The servant moved quickly and briskly, and seemed eager to get Yuan Huan and his party on board as soon as possible.

He just kept his head down and worked, not daring to look at the black bear.

Black Bear turned his head to look at Yuan Huan, and Yuan Huan smiled at him gently.

At this time, Xu Lin and Xuan Liang led five soldiers to row the black-sailed boat to the dock. Xu Lin stood at the bow of the boat and jumped up, then quickly stepped forward and knelt on one knee, saying, "Sir."

The driver who was carrying the luggage was horrified. Not only him, but the soldiers stationed at the dock were also alert and frightened, but they tried to remain calm.

There are at least 20 to 30 soldiers on the three large ships. This force is enough to give the county lieutenant a headache, let alone them.

At this crossing, only the military officer in charge wore a worn leather armor, and the others had no armor.

"This is the Prime Minister of Liang, Lord Yuan of Chen. Xuanliang, you will escort Lord Yuan to the ship first."

Black Bear told Xuan Liang, who had arrived a little later, and said to Yuan Huan, "Mr. Yuan, please come in."

Yuan Huan frowned and looked at the garrison officers. These officers had already begun to be wary of this group of Jiangdong soldiers. They surrounded them with spears and halberds in hand. They all stood behind the military officers, leaning on their spears and halberds, and showed no malice.

The servant who was driving the car was carrying the two bags to the black-sailed boat. When he came back, he saw nine garrison officers standing together. He shouted angrily, "These are the thieves! They want to kidnap Lord Yuan and flee to Hebei!"

As he shouted, he started to run away. When the military officers looked at Yuan Huan in surprise, the Taoist soldier Lu Bu drew his sword and rushed towards him.

Xu Lin and five other armored soldiers drew their swords and followed Lu Bu to charge forward. Xuan Liang drew his sword and pointed it at Yuan Huan's chest. He held the scabbard in his left hand and stretched out his arm to protect the black bear behind him.

The black bear's eyes fell on the back of the servant driving the car who had escaped seven or eight steps away, and he grabbed the card with his right hand and threw it out.

After completing the casting action, the man took half a step with each leg and collided with the armored Taoist soldier who suddenly appeared. They both retreated half a step, and then the Taoist soldier stabbed him in the chest with a knife, and the blade went out through his back.

Yuan Huan watched helplessly as the nine garrison soldiers were pushed away by the tall white-robed Lu Bu. More than half of these people, who had no time to cooperate, were killed by the armored soldiers in three breaths.

The rest turned around and tried to run, but before they could get five steps away, they were caught up and stabbed to death by the white-robed Lu Bu and Xu Lin.

The other soldiers wiped their ring-handled swords, picked up spears and halberds on the ground, and used their swords to kill the witnesses.

Black Bear stretched out his arms to Yuan Huan: "Mr. Yuan, please get on board."

Yuan Huan sighed. He had already given a hint to the military officer, but he didn't expect the coachman would do something bad.

Turning and walking towards the wupeng boat, he saw the garrison soldiers on the other side of the boat disembarking and fleeing into the distance.

Xuan Liang escorted Yuan Huan onto the ship. When the empty ship came again, Black Bear got on board. At this time, the armored soldiers who stayed behind had cooperated with the white-robed Lu Bu to cut off the head of the ox driving the car.

Two soldiers also went to search the thatched cottage near the ferry and took out half a bag of food from it.

The cattle that were about to be slaughtered, the worn-out leather armor of the military officers, the spears, halberds, and swords all had to be cleaned and loaded onto the ship.

The wupeng boats had to go back and forth several times before transporting all the miscellaneous items to the big ship.

Back on the slightly shaking deck, a sense of security came naturally.

"Set sail!"

"Full sail!"

"South wind and east wind!"

"Paddle! Paddle!"

People on the deck and in the cabin were shouting and issuing orders. Even before the sails were raised, the oars and stern oars began to shake.

Black Bear looked at the pier that was gradually moving away, and said to Yuan Huan beside him: "I don't want to kill anyone, but everything I do will result in death. It is hard to imagine how Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and others could sleep peacefully with their hands covered in blood."

Yuan Huan looked unhappy and asked, "Then can you sleep tonight?"

"I can't sleep. I rarely sleep at night."

When Black Bear saw Xuan Liang coming over after adjusting the angle of the sail, he said to Yuan Huan, "I will fall asleep when I am tired. Not only that, I will also have a hot pot of beef for dinner later. Are you interested, Mr. Yuan?"

Yuan Huan shook his head, and Black Bear instructed Xuan Liang: "Take Mr. Yuan to the cabin to rest, and I will bring a pot of hot tea later."

"Yes."

Xuan Liang led Yuan Huan into the sparrow room, walked down the wooden ladder into the cabin, and saw sailors on both sides paddling hard.

Going further in, Yuan Huan was led into the bottom cabin, where women, children and infants lived, and there was only a small lantern providing faint light.

The women sat around the lanterns sewing clothes. Almost all the common silks and linens carried by the fleet had been distributed and used, and turned into clothes in the hands of these women. The rest were luxurious goods that could be exchanged for more common silk fabrics.

Now the women are sewing trousers and shorts. There is no fixed pattern and the trousers are slightly larger.

When they sew, they will sew two more layers of scraps at the buttocks and knees to make it more wear-resistant.

Even their parents might not be as generous and tolerant as Qu Shuai.

Xuan Liang arranged for several half-grown children to keep an eye on Yuan Huan, and then returned to the deck.

"There are also soldiers stationed at Hejin on the other side of the river. They saw Yuan Huan's green umbrella."

As soon as he arrived, he heard Black Bear telling Xu Lin: "We are only a little over a hundred miles away from Cao Cao's camp. The horses on the shore can transmit information much faster than we can. Cao Cao will definitely send a fleet to intercept us. We must break through the blockade tonight. Otherwise, he will have time to drive in wooden stakes to block the river, and then it will be difficult."

Xu Lin restrained his expression and said, "Master Qu... Don't worry, we will fight to the death and carve out a bloody path!"

"We don't need you in the fight. We just want you to guard the ships tightly to prevent Cao's army from breaking into the cabins or cutting down the sails. Tell the ships that the soldiers don't need to row. Have a good meal of beef tonight to prepare enough strength for the fight."

"Yes!"

Xu Lin returned to the cabin to make preparations. Black Bear said to Xuan Liang, "Take two sets of white robes and armor, two ring-handled swords, and two iron halberds. I want to make Taoist weapons to defeat Cao's army."

"Yes!"

Xuan Liang agreed excitedly and left happily. It was a rare blessing to be able to watch Master Qu practice.

When the sky gradually darkened and the sunset was only half visible, the black bear used up all his white magic power to refine his robes, helmet, armor, and weapons.

Then select the card and choose the Taoist servant trained by Gao Shun and Yuan Shu.

Dress Yuan Shu in armor, equip him with a ring-handled sword, and spend two points of black mana to strengthen Yuan Shu into a second-level Taoist servant.

There are four points of black mana left. Use two points to strengthen Gao Shun into a second-level Taoist servant. After midnight, two points of black mana will be added. At that time, use four points of black mana to strengthen Gao Shun into a first-level leather armor Taoist soldier.

In the next round of enhancement, they will be equipped with iron armor, painted with gold paint, and enhanced into second-level golden armor Taoist soldiers.

After further strengthening, it will be equipped with a fully equipped Yin Gan horse and strengthened into a third-level iron cavalry soldier with horse and man equipment.

There is no idea of ​​ultimate strengthening now. Generally speaking, the potential of most corpses after refining stops at the level of Golden Armored Taoist Soldiers.

Only a very small number of them have the potential to be strengthened into Iron Cavalry Soldiers. In fact, more than a hundred Iron Cavalry Soldiers already have the power to destroy a country.

The next higher level ultimate enhancement depends on what kind of enemy you are dealing with, and then you can carry out targeted enhancement and name it according to the characteristics of the equipment.

After making all preparations for battle, Black Bear wore a sleeveless leather armor inside and a leather armor outside, a leather helmet on his head, and a patent leather mask on his face.

This mask is made by disassembling patent leather armor, with only the pupils exposed.

If he was killed by a stray arrow like this, he would just accept his fate.

Nowadays, we are no longer afraid of minor injuries or infections, but we are afraid of severe limb injuries or fatal injuries.

After a long time, at the Cao army camp in Junyi.

Cao Cao was resting with his eyes closed, and there were a pile of unprocessed military books on the desk in front of him.

He heard familiar footsteps, and when he opened his eyes, he saw military advisor Xun You approaching with a scroll of bamboo slips in his hand: "Mingsir, there is an urgent message from Wen Hui, the prefect of Yanling."

Handing over the bamboo slips, Xun You continued, "Wen Hui personally supervised the transportation of grain and fodder, and met Han Jinli, a soldier who was fleeing from Yu County. According to Han Jinli, the bandits had three large ships passing Yu County, killing all the officials on the left bank, and kidnapping Yuan Huan, the prime minister of Liang."

Out of trust in Xun You and because it was late at night and the light was dim, Cao Cao glanced at the writing on the bamboo slips without reading each word.

Anyway, the matter was very simple. Yuan Huan, the soon-to-be-appointed prime minister of Liang State, was kidnapped by thieves right under his nose.

"Three large ships? They appeared on the Langdang Canal?"

Cao Cao was puzzled and frowned as he pondered the possible price he would have to pay to rescue Yuan Huan.

This group of thieves are ruthless and they are not likely to be fooled easily. If you want to destroy the boat and rescue Yuan Huan, you must be prepared for a violent attack.

You can also use bluffing to execute all the thieves immediately after rescuing Yuan Huan.

The majesty of the law cannot be challenged. You can trick the other party into releasing someone, and thieves can naively believe in the results of negotiations, but the government cannot believe in the so-called negotiation results.

Otherwise, saving Yuan Huan would encourage more people to hijack officials.

Therefore, there is no cost to saving Yuan Huan. It all depends on whether you can deceive the bandits. If there is a cost, it would be the losses during the assault, and this minor loss is nothing.

Since the excavation of Suiyang Canal, the normal daily loss of lives of soldiers and corvée laborers has accumulated to a very considerable level.

It's impossible to attack and rescue Yuan Huan by force. Hundreds of people will die, right?
However, there is no professional navy at present, and the ships are mainly of transportation type, with no warships.

Cao Cao thought for a moment and asked, "Are there any soldiers nearby who are good at water warfare?"

Seeing this, Xun You replied: "There are two groups. One is General Zilian's army of more than a thousand Lujiang top soldiers, who are good at sailing and fighting on water. The other is the army of Liu Jun, the governor of Henei, who also has many Lujiang soldiers under his command."

Cao Hong and Henei County Magistrate Liu Xun had many Lujiang soldiers under their command. When Cao Hong was young, he served as the county magistrate of Qichun, Jiangxia, which was adjacent to Lujiang County. Cao Cao also had a good relationship with Yangzhou Governor Chen Wen, and they were both in Yuan Shao's camp.

After the disastrous defeat in Xingyang, Cao Cao went south to recruit soldiers. With the help of Chen Wen, Cao Cao recruited 5,000 Danyang soldiers, and Cao Hong recruited 2,000 Lujiang top armored soldiers.

However, after the Danyang soldiers followed Cao Cao to Longkang in the south of Pei State, they mutinied in the camp at night. Cao Cao killed more than a hundred people but was unable to stop them, and the Danyang soldiers were defeated.

Fortunately, the 2,000 Lujiang soldiers recruited by Cao Hong arrived safely, and then Cao Ren, who was in charge of the Yangtze and Huaihe River areas, also led more than a thousand troops to join, allowing Cao Cao to regain his foothold.

Liu Xun, the governor of Henei County, was simple. He was a native of Langya and was the governor of Lujiang County under Yuan Shu. After Yuan Shu's defeat, Liu Xun's influence between Jiang and Huai gradually increased, and he had tens of thousands of followers.

When Sun Ce was on a western expedition against Huang Zu, he advised Liu Xun to send troops to attack others. Liu Xun was fooled, and Sun Ce turned around and raided Liu Xun's lair. Liu Xun had no choice but to seek refuge with his old friend Cao Cao.

There was another Liu Xun, who was from a prominent family in Qiao County of Pei State and a relative of Cao Cao. When Yuan Shao was fighting against Dong Zhuo, he was appointed as the Tiger Teeth Commander. His army was completely defeated in the battle of Xingyang with Cao Cao and Bao Xin. Later, this Liu Xun was executed by Yuan Shao.

The two people who are good at naval warfare under Cao Cao are Cao Hong and Liu Xun. They have powerful troops and money, and are known as the local tyrants in the army.

After being reminded by Xun You, Cao Cao stood up, held a lamp and came to the hanging cowhide map to recall the garrisons of the two troops.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Zi Lian should not act rashly. Order him to block the mouth of Weishui River and prevent the bandits from going north or escaping into Weishui River. Transfer Liu Xun to sail in to suppress the bandits. If they can be persuaded to surrender, persuade them. If not, destroy them in one fell swoop."

"Yes."

Xun You understood that the most important thing was to prevent the thieves from kidnapping Yuan Huan and returning to Liang State via the Wei River.

Yuan Huan was the prime minister of Liang State appointed by the imperial court, and previously he was the commander of the southern part of Pei State.

This person returns to Liang State with the seal of the prime minister and is threatened by the thieves, which will lead to some bad things happening.

(End of this chapter)