In July of the second year of Chongzhen, Lin Chunhong purchased land in Bailizhou and negotiated with many land owners. These land owners were distributed in various parts of Jingzhou Prefecture and had fierce bargaining with Lin Chunhong. Lin Chunhong claimed that a large amount of silver had been shipped to Bailizhou, and the highest price was only one tael of silver per acre. This disappointed the land owner and refused to sell it. He also spread the "evil deeds" of Lin Chunhong taking the opportunity to lower the price, and claimed that the silver would be great in Bailizhou? If you make some money, you will be arrogant and will sooner or later you will be retribution.

In August of the second year of Chongzhen, in view of the rampant bandits in the Jiang Dynasty and the serious fleeing of Bailizhou people, the Bailizhou Inspection Department was established, which belonged to Zhijiang County to strictly investigate the passing bandits. Lin Dewen's son Lin Chunhong took office as Bailizhou inspector. After Lin Chunhong took office, he built a large-scale timber warehouse and dock in Bailizhou, and ignored the matter of recruiting archers.

This incident had long been heard by Zhang Zhao and others. On the second day of the October 2nd, there was no moon and no five fingers were seen. Zhang Zhao carefully selected more than 200 Jiang bandits and went upstream to Bailizhou.

"Brothers, do you know how much it sold after the last timber was transported to Wuchang?" The Jiang bandits stared at Zhao Hehai with enthusiastic eyes. Zhao Hehai stretched out four fingers and said word by word: "Four thousand taels of silver!"

The Jiang bandits whistled one after another, Zhao Hehai pressed them with his hands, signaling Jiang bandits to be quiet, and continued, "Then the missed Lin transported all the silver to Bailizhou. The night before yesterday, my brother Juyu and I went to see it secretly. There were five boxes of silver, all of which he planned to buy land. Nainai. After doing this, everyone would not have to worry about it for the rest of their lives."

Jiang Fei opened his eyes wide and looked forward to a bright future infinitely, and the oars in his hands were even more vigorous.

"Let your brothers be quiet and you will almost arrive at Liuxiang. Be careful to alarm Lin Xiaosan." Zhang Zhao saw Zhao Hehai boosting morale and did not interfere. Now he was about to arrive at his destination and said to Zhao Hehai.

Zhao Hehai murmured in a low voice: "You said that Lin Xiaosan has only been rich in wealth in two years. What's going on? This kid is stupid. He will not be able to call a archer after being inspectors, otherwise we wouldn't have any idea about him."

"Are you still afraid of archers with more than 200 brothers? Those archers are good at collecting taxes. If we are talking about war, we are still good at it. I guess he doesn't think we dare to go ashore." Zhang Zhao said.

After Zhang Zhao finished speaking, he looked at the dark river in the distance and continued, "After doing this, we were also thinking about finding a place to settle it. It would not be a long-term solution to continue like this. At that time, the eight brothers were only three left."

"Where is that guy Yang Yiren?"

"I have thought about it too. When we rob others, we must be on guard. If we are put on one, we are blind and we cannot blame others." Zhang Zhao sighed indefinitely.

"But Yang Yiren is a corrupt official!" Li Mengshen was resentful of the corrupt officials. If it weren't for the boss to withhold military pay, they would not have fallen into the Jiang bandits.

"There is no greedy person in this world, and we can't kill them all. How many differences are there for killing one more or less?"

Zhang Zhao's words made Li Mengshen and Zhao Hehai silent, that's right, who would do something like Jiang bandits that shamed their ancestors?

Zhao Hehai looked at the south bank of the Yangtze River and judged how far it was from the vague shore. When he saw a series of lights, he pointed to the lights and said, "It's coming soon."

Zhang Zhao narrowed his eyes and looked at the lights and ordered: "After you will do your job as planned, third brother, please be careful about the location of the landing, don't make any mistakes. After getting the landing, you can get the money and leave. Don't stay too much, don't kill too much. It's all hard, just to find a way out."

Zhao Hehai nodded and said, "What should I do with Xiaosan Lin?"

Zhang Zhao patted Zhao Hehai on the shoulder and said, "It is said that the boy is good at using big swords, has some courage, and can make money. If he can catch him alive, he will catch him alive. If he can't catch him alive, he will kill him."

Suddenly the ship paused suddenly and had arrived at the shore. Zhang Zhao waved his hand and ordered, "Brothers, let's do it." After that, he landed first with Zhao Hehai, leaving more than 20 brothers Li Mengshen to guard the ship.

The bandits jumped from the boat to the shore, and the team rushed towards the lights.

The lights are the warehouse, with a row of houses built, and people often inspect them. Especially for the wood warehouse, fire prevention is the focus, and inspections are mainly aimed at fire hazards. Since Lin Chunhong took office as the inspection, he has lived here every day, and outsiders don’t know what he does.

There was still a mile away from the warehouse, and the bandits accelerated their pace. They all knew that Zhao Hehai had found that there were no combatants except the workers. As well, tens of thousands of taels of silver were waiting for them to get it, and anyone could not help but be excited. But just as they were rushing faster and faster, a large area of ​​torches suddenly lit up from the warehouse. When he looked closely, there were about 300 people who were fully armed and staring at them. Standing in front of the formation with a big knife, Lin Chunhong was suddenly the one who was standing in front of the formation.

The bandits were shocked, stopped and looked at Zhang Zhao and Zhao Hehai with suspicious eyes.

Zhang Zhao was also shocked. It seemed that he was ambushed today. Fortunately, Zhang Zhaoduo suffered storms and suppressed his heart, which was beating violently. He was about to order his retreat. Lin Chunhong shouted: "Zhang Zhao, don't run away, otherwise we will rush over here, and your brothers will definitely suffer heavy casualties."

Jiang Bi couldn't help but be furious and cursed: "Damn, who is going to run away? You have the will to rush over!" But their scolding was like a fist hitting cotton, and Lin Chunhong's people didn't say a word and stared at them quietly.

This pressure made the Jiang bandit's scolding gradually calm down. Zhang Zhao thought that it might not be good today. Once the brothers retreated and could not get on the ship in time, most of them would die. However, after rushing over, the other three hundred people were not soft persimmons. Even if they could win, there were probably not many brothers left. Zhang Zhao took the idea and immediately ordered: "Team 1, Team 2 followed me to intercept, and the others followed Zhao Hehai!"

"Brother..."

"Don't say much, hurry up, we can't leave if we are late!" Zhang Zhao said extremely firmly. Seeing Zhao and Hai hesitate, he smiled and said, "They can't do anything to me. This place is close to the riverside. Can you believe my water quality?"

Zhao Hehai was relieved and turned around and fled with most of his brothers. As soon as the Jiang bandit moved, Lin Chunhong waved his sword to rush the army, and soon became entangled with the team of broken rear led by Zhang Zhao. For a moment, the sound of swords and guns were mixed with screams. Zhao Hehai looked back at the flesh-and-blood Shura Field, endured the grief, and continued to retreat with his brothers.

Seeing Zhang Zhao holding a spear, watching Lin Chunhong rushing towards him with a big knife, he came straight up. His idea was very simple: to capture the king first. Lin Chunhong also had this idea, so the two of them quickly handed over. Zhang Zhao held the gun tightly and shook the gun head into a gun flower, which was dazzling. He didn't know where the gun head was. Lin Chunhong ignored it and only slashed towards Zhang Zhao with a big knife. Zhang Zhao quickly put the gun on the surface of the knife. With a little force, Lin Chunhong's big knife was led to the crook. Lin Chunhong used force to let the big knife slash down the gun barrel.

Seeing that Zhang Zhao's arm was not safe, and Zhang Zhao turned the gun around the big knife, and the big knife left the gun and the blade was down. Zhang Zhao was overjoyed when he saw it, and stabbed Lin Chunhong in the chest. Unexpectedly, Li Zuguang suddenly rubbed his body forward and blocked the spear with a shield. Lin Chunhong smashed Zhang Zhao's back with the back. Zhang Zhao couldn't catch the gun, but Lin Chunhong hit him right away. A mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth, and could no longer support him, and rushed to the ground. Li Guangzu and another strong man rubbed his body, captured Zhang Zhao alive, and put the knife on Zhang Zhao's neck, causing the Jiang bandits to surrender.

Zhao Hehai was running wildly with his brothers. Suddenly, he saw Zhang Zhao being captured, and rushed forward with a roar. Seeing this, the other Jiang bandits turned around and rushed towards him. Zhang Zhao was anxious and scolded: "Don't you go quickly!"

Zhao Hehai ignored him and was about to join the battle with Park Dao. Zhang Zhao was so angry that he shouted: "Zhao Hehai! If you are my brother, leave quickly, otherwise I won't let you go as a ghost!" At this time, Zhang Zhao's face was covered with blood, as if he was a ghost. Zhao Hehai was sad and angry, and he was still hesitating.

Lin Chunhong laughed: "I can't leave!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a noise suddenly came from the riverside, mixed with screams. It turned out that Zhou Wang led the shipwork team to seize the opportunity and was attacking the Jiang bandits who were staying on the ship.

"Zhang Zhao, your retreat has been cut off now, so why don't you surrender?"

Seeing that the retreat was broken, Zhao Hehai calmed down, so that the Jiang bandits stopped fighting with each other, and said to Lin Chunhong: "Tell me, what do you need to let my elder brother go?"

Lin Chunhong smiled and replied, "I just need your elder brother. Of course, it's better to be able to bring you brothers!"

Zhao Hehai thought Lin Chunhong wanted to take credit for them, and scolded loudly: "Dog official, I want to get promoted and make money with our brothers' blood, no way! Even if I only have one breath, I will fight you to death!"

Zhang Zhao understood Lin Chunhong's words. Besides, Lin Chunhong could have killed him just now, but he showed mercy and must have had some plans. He said to Lin Chunhong: "You rely on you for whatever you need me, but you have to let my brothers go!"

"Yes, this is fine, but except for you, Zhao Hehai and Li Mengshen must stay!" Lin Chunhong learned from Zhang Daohan that the three brothers were originally naval troops, so he wanted to summon them to his command.

Zhao Hehai was so sad that he didn't know whether Li Mengshen was alive or not. Seeing Lin Chunhong being so bullied, he shouted sternly: "We brothers have been licking blood on the edge of the knife for many years, and they have been killed like numb. We have only been owed to death. At worst, we can kill the enemy."

As he was talking, he saw Zhou Wang bringing more than 100 people to escort Li Mengshen from behind. Li Mengshen limped, obviously his leg was injured. Seeing this, Zhao Hehai threw down Park Dao and shouted: "Forget it, my eldest brother and second brother were captured, and I will not live alone. Brothers, let's go, the three of us stay."

Seeing that the bandits in the river were still hesitating, Zhou Wang shouted: "If you want to leave, put down your weapons and squat with your head in your arms!"

There was only a bang, and a Jiang bandit's Pu sword fell to the ground. When the Jiang bandit saw someone taking the lead, they threw away their weapons and squatted down with their heads. Zhou Wang walked to Lin Chunhong, leaned into his ears, and whispered: "You have to let Zhao Hehai go, otherwise the Jiang bandit will be dispersed and will not be easy to conquer!"

Lin Chunhong woke up and immediately said, "Zhao Hehai, take the other brothers away, your elder brother and second brother live here for the time being. I will drink with them and get close to each other!" Zhang Zhao was next to Lin Chunhong, and after hearing Zhou Wang's words, he felt relieved. After thinking for a moment, he said to Zhao Hehai: "Third brother, take the brothers away, prepare the silver and prepare to redeem me and the second brother!" Zhang Zhao's words were considered good-hearted. He knew that Zhao Hehai was unwilling to leave the two and seeking to live alone, so he had to pretend that Lin Chunhong was asking for silver.

Zhao Hehai was unable to do so, so he had to leave with the remaining brothers in a sad and trepidation, and Lin Chunhong did not stop them.

Lin Chunhong and others took Zhang Zhao and Li Mengshen back to the warehouse, leaving only the core personnel such as Zhou Wang, and began to interrogate Zhang Zhao and Li Mengshen.

Lin Chunhong sat upright on the chair, staring at Zhang Zhao without saying anything, making Zhang Zhao inexplicable. Zhang Zhao couldn't help but say, "I'm caught today and can't escape Lingchi. What else can I do to interrogate?"

Lin Chunhong smiled slightly, took out a piece of paper from the desk, and recited: "On the third day of the September 1st year of Chongzhen, Yu Fanghai, the chief of the Ministry of War, and three others were killed; on the fifteenth day of the first year of Chongzhen, Feng Yidao, the regent of the Jingmen Prefecture of Huguang, and eight others were killed..."

Lin Chunhong continued to recite one by one, and at the end, he added: "It turns out that Ling Chi will be sentenced to death."

Zhang Zhao gritted his teeth and said, "I just regret not killing Yang Yiren."

"Why bother Yang Yiren, the dog and the ears of the dog, why bother with him? Killing is useless, and it is harmless if you don't kill."

"Why do you say so much? You sent me to Jingzhou Prefecture. I guess you can be promoted. I think about it. What official position will you be promoted to? I'm buying it now from the ninth rank, and I guess you have to be promoted to the ninth rank. Well, it's not bad. You can be the lord of a county or Dianshi!" Zhang Zhao's words were mocking, which made Zhou Wang and others angry. Zhou Shiliang stepped forward and kicked Zhang Zhao's knees with his feet, saying, "You're told you to talk nonsense, kneel down!" Zhang Zhao stood unsteadily, and hit the ground on one knee, continuing, "After you are promoted, you can attack Wu Gan, and then be killed by Wu Gan!"

This sentence finally touched Lin Chunhong's pain point. His chest kept rising and falling. He couldn't help but pull out the Park knife and pointed at Zhang Zhao and roared: "Do you think Wu Gan can live for a few more days? I will kill you now and tear Wu Gan to pieces tomorrow!" After that, he slashed at Zhang Zhao. Seeing this, Zhou Wang immediately stopped Lin Chunhong and said: "Zhang Zhao wants you to kill him now, don't be impulsive!"

After hearing this, Lin Chunhong finally suppressed his anger and said lightly: "Insulting his ancestors is like a shrew cursing in the streets. A man should be disdainful to do it!"

When Zhang Zhao saw Lin Chunhong's anger for a moment, he secretly admired it and said, "I'm dead anyway, I just have a question. You are making money every day when doing business, so why should you be a sesame official who is inferior to the patrol?"

"Whether I do the inspection or not is not your business. I will show you a way out now. As long as you are willing to do things with me, I will protect you and your brother from death."

"What do you need me to do with you?"

"The Yangtze River waterway is not stable, and you know my losses. So I just want you to help me maintain the safety of the waterway."

Li Mengshen's leg was injured and was now on the ground. When he heard Lin Chunhong let them go, he said, "I wonder how Boss Lin protects our brother from death?"

"You have killed too many officials, so it is unlikely to recruit you. You can change your name and surname and get a name in Zhijiang. I can do this."

Zhang Zhao was full of thoughts. He had long wanted to find a safe place to spend his whole life. Following Lin Chunhong might be able to satisfy this wish. But he still distrusts Lin Chunhong and cannot believe that he can protect himself. So he said, "My brothers understand Boss Lin's sincerity, otherwise Boss Lin wouldn't talk nonsense to us. But I'm still a little unsure that Boss Lin can protect us."

Lin Chunhong said generously: "This is easy to deal with. You can continue to be your water bandits. As long as you don't intercept my goods, you can do whatever you want. But I remind you, although Jingzhou Prefecture has no choice but to do anything to you now, your case is very clear. Once the court makes a ruthless move, you will not be able to escape. Besides, which water bandit has made a name for itself throughout the ages? Yang Yao made such a big fuss in Dongting Lake, but wasn't he wiped out by Grandpa Yue? I can let you go now, and it's not too late to come to me after you figure it out!"

These words surprised Zhang Zhao and Li Mengshen and asked, "Did you really let us go?"

"Of course. You have to continue to be water bandits, I don't care, but if you intercept my goods, don't blame me for being rude. Don't look at you now that I can't help you on the water. Just look at the wood outside. How many ships can I build? The refugees now have a lot of tricks. Can you deal with me?"

Zhang Zhao still couldn't make up his mind to follow Lin Chunhong. Of course, he knew that being a water bandit would definitely end up with a different body and head, but is following Lin Chunhong a good choice?

Seeing that Zhang Zhao was hesitant, Lin Chunhong ordered: "Let's loosen up for you, have a good wine to treat, let them go."

Zhang Zhao was not polite either. After eating wine and meat, he left with Li Mengshen. He wanted to see if he had a future with Lin Chunhong.

Zhou Wang and others were a little skeptical about Lin Chunhong's handling of Zhang Zhao, and even suggested that Zhang Zhao's ambition was beneficial to the present moment, and would be a disaster in the future. Lin Chunhong disagreed with this view, believing that as long as Zhang Zhao came back, he would definitely be sincere, otherwise he could now be a false conspiracy. After dealing with Zhang Zhao's affairs, Lin Chunhong seized the time to talk about the purchase with the landlord of Bailizhou, and raised the price per mu to three taels of silver. Most of the landlords signed a contract readily. At this point, nearly 40,000 mu of arable land in Bailizhou fell under Lin Chunhong. Due to the serious escape of farmers, many of the land was left without a farming, so they had to abandon it there.
Chapter completed!