Across the Water Margin: Officials of Ximen

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Ximen Qing waved his hand and said to Qiao Yun: "Brother Yun, you follow me to the north of the Kingdom of Jin, and then expedition to the Kingdom of Liao. After returning to the Song Dynasty, you went around non-stop to inquire about the news of the Song Jiang bandit army. The pommel horse is tired and needs to rest For some time, stay in Yanggu County to accompany your wife Yujiaozhi. You and Brother Xiaoyi will hand over, and after the Lantern Festival, I will take him north to Dengzhou and lead an army to crusade against Song Jiang."

"Grand officials, the villain is not tired! Let the villain go with you!" Brother Qiao Yun said to Ximen Qing with his chest up.

"No, I've made up my mind. Let Lu Xiaoyi go with me this time. You stay in Yanggu County and take care of the intelligence network for me." Ximen Qing said.

"The villain understands. Senior official, is there anything that needs special attention in the near future?" Brother Qiao Yun asked.

"Brother Yun, you should send more people to monitor the movements of Chao Gai and his bandits on Taihang Mountain. Then let Brother Duan Jingzhu in Cangzhou pay attention to the information about Yanjing in Liao Kingdom. Everything else is as usual." Ximen Qing told Brother Qiao Yun .

Brother Qiao Yun took Ximen Qing's words to heart, got up and left.

Ximen Qing got up and walked to the courtyard, looked at the courtyard where the four of them lived, pondered for a moment, then made up his mind and walked towards Yue Fei's courtyard.

Yue Fei, Wang Gui and the other four learned a lot of new martial arts from Luan Tingyu, Wang Jin, Jiao Ting and Ximen Qing. They spent every day in the yard grinding their muscles and practicing martial arts, and they never slack off.Everyone in Ximen Fort met and praised Yue Fei and the four of them.

Ximen Qing came to the courtyard where the four of them lived, and saw Yue Fei, Wang Gui, and Zhang Xian practicing duel in the courtyard with sticks in their hands, while Xu Qing was watching the battle with two stone locks.

But seeing that Yue Fei used one against two, dancing the stick in his hand like a windmill, his front and back were heavily defended, no matter how Wang Gui and Zhang Xian rushed to attack, the two sticks would not touch his lapel.

"Okay! The three nephews are good at playing with guns and clubs! They are really heroes from ancient times, hahaha~" Ximen Qing laughed and walked into the yard.

Seeing Ximen Qing coming, the three of Yue Fei danced a flower stick each, stopped fighting and surrounded Ximen Qing.Xu Qing also threw the stone lock on the ground, and rushed up in two or three steps.

The four of them cupped their hands and sang a promise to Ximen Qing, then surrounded Ximen Qing and asked him if he wanted to take the four of them out to see something again today.

Ximen Qing smiled and asked Yue Fei and the others: "After the Shangyuan Festival, I'm going to Dengzhou to wipe out pirates. Would you like to go with me?"

When the four of Yue Fei heard this, they clenched their fists with excitement, clamoring to follow Ximen Qing and fight against the pirates.

Yue Fei and the others were impulsive and wanted to go to the Taihang Mountains to fight the robbers with their own abilities, so Yue He and Yao Daweng handed them over to Ximen Qing to return to Yanggu County for discipline.Unexpectedly, within a few days of coming to Ximen Fort in Yanggu County, they would have the opportunity to follow Ximen Qing to fight against some pirates, so Yue Fei and the others were overjoyed.

Ximen Qing saw Yue Fei's four people excitedly, and said to them: "This time to destroy the pirates, it is different from fighting against the Mou Shan bandits last time. The pirates are hiding in the sea! The four of you, you probably haven't seen them yet." Let's cross the sea. The sea is unpredictable and there are often stormy waves. If you are not good at water, you can't follow me. Yue Fei, Wang Gui, Zhang Xian, Xu Qing, can the four of you know how to swim?"

"Know water! Know water! I grew up soaking in the Tangyin River when I was young, and everyone is very good at water." Yue Fei and the others patted their chests and said.

"The sea is no better than the Tangyin River next to your Yuejiazhuang. Yue Fei, you don't need to practice martial arts for the next few days. From now on, you will follow Jiao Ting to the edge of Jishui in Dong'e County. They are all practicing water skills in the river. After the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, you will return to Yanggu County together and enjoy the lanterns with me in the city." Ximen Qing said to Yue Fei and the others.

The four of Yue Fei listened, and responded in unison: "Uncle Ximen, I will understand."

Ximen Qing pointed out a few more words to the four of them, and then led them to find Jiao Ting, who then asked Jiao Ting to take them to the nearest Jishui River to practice water skills.

Outside Ximen Fort, seeing Jiao Ting, Yue Fei and a group of more than a dozen people leaving, Ximen Qing thought about the upcoming naval battle again in his mind.

This time, it will be the first time that Ximen Qing will take his own artillery fleet to actual combat.He knew that Ling Zhen still had some ready-made cannons in Taohuazhuang, which could be used this time as well.

Ling Zhen, Xu Wen and other brothers must have figured out the artillery combat method at sea these days, and trained some warship artillerymen.Ximenqing decided to let Lu Xiaoyi rush to Dengzhou first, and told Ling Zhen and Xu Wen to sail the naval warship to Qingzhou, and then assembled ten artillery pieces, prepared enough ammunition and other naval warfare weapons, and waited for him to go north.

After making up his mind, Ximen Qing went back to the castle, found Lu Xiaoyi, and taught him how to do it face-to-face. After handing over to Brother Qiao Yun, he quickly went north to Dengzhou to prepare for the attack on the pirates of Sea Snake Island.

After Lu Xiaoyi left, Ximenqing sipped tea, closed his eyes and thought about his fleet in Dengzhou, suddenly a flash of light flashed in his heart, he patted the table and said, "How could I forget it?"

Ximen Qing returned to the study, ordered the servants beside him to grind the ink, pulled out a piece of rice paper, and drew a pattern on the paper with a pen.

After drawing the picture, Ximen Qing picked up a pen to mark on the paper, then put down the pen, dried the black marks on the rice paper, left the study with the drawing, and walked straight into the courtyard where Pan Jinlian lived.

Lady, the officials are here!

Chapter 673 There will be times when the wind and the waves cleave

On a new moon night in early spring and February, the sea breeze outside Dengzhou City still carried the chill that had not yet receded, blowing towards a fleet that was sailing quietly to the east.

At the forefront of the fleet, on a large ship with many sails, a group of people standing at the prow were full of enthusiasm, and they didn't care about the chilly sea breeze.

Yue Fei, Wang Gui, Zhang Xian, and Xu Qing stood behind Ximen Qing with sabers in their arms, looking excitedly at the sea and starry sky ahead.

"After arriving at Chengshanjiao tonight, our army will find a bay to drop anchor and garrison, and wait for dawn before heading to Sea Snake Island." Ximen Qing said to the navy general beside him, "Big Sword" Xu Wen.

"Brother, don't worry, my younger brother has already arranged a proper hiding place, and he has already figured out the sea area around Sea Snake Island. This time our army is mobilized, and we will be able to wipe out all the pirates on the island in one battle, and avenge my brothers who died. "Xu Wen said firmly.

Xu Wen was ambushed and attacked by pirates from Sea Snake Island in Yi'anze, north of Gaomi County, Mizhou. After being rescued by Ximen Qing, Xu Wen has been waiting for a chance of revenge.

Ximenqing asked Xu Wen to recruit troops, build warships, and drill the navy day and night, and Xu Wen has been obediently forbearing until now.Because Xu Wen believed that Brother Ximenqing promised to avenge him one day, so he would keep his word and keep his promise.

Especially after personally following Ximen Qing to wipe out the Liangshanbo bandits with tens of thousands of people, Xu Wen admired Ximen Qing's ability and power even more, and made up his mind to be Ximen Qing's pawn.

Immediately afterwards, Brother Ximenqing once again opened Xu Wen's horizons.After Ling Zhen sank several Koryo pirates' pirate ships on his warship with artillery, a weapon he had never seen before, Xu Wen was glad that he had met the Ming Lord.He knew in his heart that big brother Ximen Qing could do what ordinary people couldn't, and he would definitely lead his brothers to prosper all over the world and make great achievements.It can be said that the future is boundless for him to follow Brother Ximenqing.

Xu Wenwen was born as a salt owl by the sea, and he has gathered many brave and meticulous seaside people under his command, and he is also very familiar with the coastal geography of Mizhou, Laizhou, and Dengzhou.

After receiving a report from Lu Xiaoyi that Brother Ximenqing was going to launch a decisive battle against his enemy, the pirates of Sea Snake Island, Xu Wen immediately dispatched many secret agents to monitor Sea Snake Island and the surrounding islands, and at the same time planned the sea marching route. Just waiting for brother Ximen Qing's arrival.

Xu Wen looked forward to it day and night, and Ximen Qing finally brought four brothers Jiao Ting, Shi Jin, Zhu Wu, and Huangfu Duan and the [-] Yanzhou infantry trained by Shi Jin to Ximenzhuang outside Dengzhou City at the end of the first lunar month.

Brother Jiao Ting is brother Ximen Qing's bodyguard chief, leading a hundred guards to protect brother Ximen Qing, his arrival is self-evident.

Brother Ximen Qing brought the two brothers Shi Jin and Zhu Wu and the elite [-] infantry under their command to join the battle.

The [-] infantry troops selected all those who knew how to swim. Ximenqing asked Shi Jin and Zhu Wu to take them into battle in order to allow the infantry to attack Shanghai Snake Island for the final search after the naval battle.In this battle, Ximenqing is not going to let a pirate who slipped through the net go.

After Ximenqing's instructions, Xu Wen, Shi Jin, and Zhu Wu all understood that this time there was also the intention of training soldiers.Brother Ximenqing called this "joint land and sea operations".

Brother Ximenqing means that this method of warfare is to use naval warships to quickly transport the infantry to various ports and tidal flats along the coast, so that the infantry can attack targets on land in a mysterious manner.

Although they still don't understand the deep meaning of Brother Ximen Qing's training of this kind of tactics, Xu Wen, Shi Jin, and Zhu Wu know that there must be nothing wrong with Brother Ximen Qing asking him to do it.

The fleet of the naval fleet this time is not small, with more than 30 sailing warships and more than 3000 transoceanic merchant ships.More than 100 sailors trained by Xu Wen, Wang Dingliu, and Song Wan came out in full force, and more than [-] guards from Ximen Qing and [-] infantry troops from Shi Jin went out together.

"Let the brothers steer the boat carefully, and don't hit the rocks by mistake at night." Ximen Qing told Xu Wen.

This time with so many sailors to attack, in order not to attract the attention of everyone in Dengzhou Penglai Port and the merchant ships at sea, Ximen Qing chose to go to sea at night and sail across the sea off Penglai Port.

There are no merchant ships at sea at night, so it is not easy to reveal their whereabouts.As for the Ping Navy of the Dengzhou Navy, Ximenqing has already arranged for Hu Yanqing, the commander of the Ping Navy, and no naval ships will go out to patrol the sea.

"Brother, don't worry, my brothers and I will not go wrong if we close our eyes. The waterway we chose is far away from the shore, and there are no reefs along the way." Xu Wen replied to Ximen Qing.

"Brother Xu Wen, I believe in you. Order the brothers, those who don't sail the boat, rest early, recharge your batteries tonight, and fight the enemy bravely tomorrow." After Ximen Qing finished speaking to Xu Wen, he also brought Jiao Ting, Yue Fei and others left the bow deck and returned to the cabin.

More than 50 sea boats cut through the waves and disappeared into the night in the east.

……

In the early morning, Haisnake Island is still shrouded in a layer of milk-like mist, showing a corner of the water village.

The pirates on Sea Snake Island already got up early as usual, cleaned up their warships and weapons, and prepared for a new day of robbery and killing.

There were also some pirates who were hungover and fell asleep holding the wine jar.

There were also some pirates who were still in the mood, broke into several wooden houses on the shore early in the morning, and pressed several women snatched from the fishing village on hay mats.