Yang Zhen and his party took a flat-bottomed sand boat that was most suitable for inland navigation and quickly sailed from the mouth of the Xiangshui River into the main river. Both sides of the river were covered with reeds undulating in the wind.

Under the cover of reeds, there are small rivers, water bubbles, and swamps.

It was quiet on both sides of the river, with no sound except the sound of wind and water.

In this way, everyone followed the swell and paddled along the river for three or four miles. The reeds on both sides of the river gradually disappeared, and open fields began to appear on the shore.

As the ship continued to move forward, stretches of open fields were left behind, and rugged mountains began to appear in everyone's sight.

Yang Zhen lowered his voice and asked the guide in the pirate gang where those undulating mountains were. The guide also lowered his voice deliberately and replied:

"The highest mountain in the north is called Wang'er Mountain! The highest mountain in the distance to the south is called Shipeng Mountain! I heard that when this was still the territory of the imperial court, there were sea-viewing towers and lookout posts on it, and people were specially sent to look out for Gaizhou.

The situation in the bay! But now, it’s all gone!

"Today, the Manta people have only one checkpoint outside Xiongyue City, which is located at Shiqiaozi in front of the Xiangshui River! Anyone coming from the south or north between Fuzhou and Gaizhou can just walk on this old post road.

As long as you want to cross the Xiangshui River, no matter what you do, you must go through this checkpoint!"

Yang Zhen heard what the guide said and felt that this was useful news, so he immediately asked: "Where is that Shiqiaozi?! How far is it from the mouth of the river?!"

"The Shiqiaozi we are talking about is actually a pier next to the stone bridge on the Xiangshui River outside the south gate of Xiongyue City! Right now, it is just a few large tile-roofed houses!

"I heard that there used to be some tea shops, wine shops, and restaurants at Qiaotou. Shiqiaozi was also a prosperous place in this area! Unfortunately, they are all gone now. Only two Tatars from a group of Tianzhu soldiers are left.

There, I spent the whole day checking the prices of pedestrians' goods and setting up cards in various ways to collect money!

"Of course! It's hard to say whether this group of two Tatars are there now! When we followed Mr. Hu ashore last time, we went to the Shiqiaozi area, but the group was missing from those tile-roofed houses.

Traces of two Tartars!

"At that time, our boss said nonsense that that old bastard Shang Kexi might have been transferred by the Tatars to Western Liaoning to serve as cannon fodder! I just don't know if he is back now! If he is back, Shi Qiaozi might be able to help us tonight

We can’t go! Oh, by the way, Shiqiaozi is not far away from us anymore!”

The guide Hu Dabao left behind was indeed very familiar with the terrain in this area. He explained everything that Yang Zhen asked but did not ask.

The group of people were talking in a low voice while paddling hard. After paddling forward for a while, Yang Zhen saw from a distance a large figure standing on the plain on the north bank of the Xiangshui River.

Visible cluster of black buildings.

Before Yang Zhen could ask, he heard the guide whisper: "Master General! Dear officers, we are almost here! The city to the north is Xiongyue City! The gate facing the Xiangshui River Stone Bridge is called Suide Gate.

!There is a tower above Suide Gate, and there are many Tatar white flag soldiers stationed inside!"

While they were talking, the flat-bottomed sand boat that everyone was riding in turned around a small bay and bypassed a thicket of reeds by the river. A lantern hanging in mid-air in the distance suddenly appeared in everyone's sight, startling everyone.

.

Yang Zhen, Zhang Chen, Lu Pinqi and others were originally a little excited because they saw Xiong Yuecheng at night. They held their hands on the side of the boat and straightened their bodies, wanting to see what Xiong Yuecheng's Suide Gate looked like, but suddenly they saw this

When a lantern suddenly came into view, they were startled and hurriedly took shelter in the cabin.

At this time, everyone heard the guide whisper again: "Oh no! Someone is guarding Shiqiaozi now! The two Tatars from the Tianzhu Army are back!"

When Yang Zhen heard what he said, he quickly stopped the boat in a low voice, directed everyone, and rowed the boat to the bank of Xiangshui River to hide.

When the hull of the ship was hidden under the reeds, Yang Zhen whispered: "Is the place where the lantern is located the same place as Shiqiaozi?!"

"Exactly! It's night now, we are so far apart, we can't see the stone bridge, we can only see lanterns! If you officials want to take a closer look, why not abandon the ship and go ashore!

"It's not that far away from there anyway! The sound of our rowing oars makes the noise even louder. Why don't we abandon the boat and go ashore and walk to get there!"

After Yang Zhen heard this, he made a prompt decision and left the boatmen and rowers waiting on the boat. The rest of the people, including himself, Zhang Chen, Lu Pinqi, Li Lu and others, all carefully groped ashore.

We set foot on the old land of the Ming Dynasty that has fallen into the hands of the Tatars for many years.

This place is far away from the mouth of the Xiangshui River. It is considered to be the middle and lower reaches of the Xiangshui River. The sound and thrust from the swells at the mouth of the river have long since dissipated.

The river surface in this section has begun to shrink and is no longer as wide as the area near the river mouth. On moonless nights, the river water appears calm and deep.

Yang Zhen followed the guide and led the people who were observing the terrain to hurriedly get out of the reeds and climb up to the south bank of the Xiangshui River. Then he ducked down and used the cover of dry bushes, dry grass and dry reeds on the river bank to gradually climb up.

Go towards Shiqiaozi.

Everyone walked along the edge of the river bank for about a while. The guide in front suddenly bent down on a mound on the river bank, turned back and whispered to Yang Zhen:

"Chief Commander! Fellow officers! Look forward! Shi Qiaozi is here!"

Yang Zhen used his hands and feet to climb up the side of the mound, exposed his head, and looked in the direction of the guide's finger. Under the starlight, he could vaguely see a stone arch bridge spanning the Xiangshui River not far away.

The slope of this stone arch bridge was not that big, and there seemed to be no guardrails on the bridge. But when he looked more closely, he found that the stone arch bridge was not small in scale. It was actually a five-hole stone arch bridge.

Underneath the northern end of the stone arch bridge, facing the south gate of Xiongyue City, although it is also overgrown with weeds, there is a platform that is obviously artificially repaired and raised above the river bank. At first glance, it is where the former Shiqiaozi Pier was.

Looking further to the south bank, under the night sky, not far from the southern end of the stone bridge, there is a dark building, which is exactly what the guide said was a large tile-roofed house.

Among them, a tile-roofed house near the bridge seemed to be lit with lights, illuminating the window paper dimly.

It turned out that the lantern I saw in the distance was hung on a long pole at the south end of the stone arch bridge, but there was no one on the bridge under the long pole.

"Sir! Do you want to go over there and capture a few people alive? As long as you capture them alive, I will have a way to make them open their mouths! By then, we will have a clear picture of the situation in this area!"

Lu Pinqi, Zhang Chen, Li Lu and others followed closely behind Yang Zhen and were also sent to the side of the small mound. They also saw what Yang Zhen saw.

While Lu Pinqi and Li Lu were still observing, Zhang Chen first said this to Yang Zhen.

Hearing this, Lu Pinqi and Li Lu quickly turned around, looked at Zhang Chen, and then locked their eyes on Yang Zhen's face.

Yang Zhen saw the hesitation on their faces, pondered for a moment, and then said: "We have achieved our purpose of sentry tonight! Let's not alarm the snake! It is not difficult to take down these people, but the consequences are not what I like.

See you!

"If there is a big movement, the Tatars in Xiongyue City are not far from here. You will know it immediately! Even if there is no movement at all, if the two Tatars at Shiqiaozi checkpoint are missing, Xiongyue City and Shipeng will be there tomorrow morning.

Whether it’s Xu Guan Fort at the foot of the mountain, you definitely know it all!

"Once this happens, if we land a surprise attack again, we will lose the opportunity to catch them unawares! If we want to retain this opportunity to catch them unawares, we must not touch them for the time being!"

The truth Yang Zhen said was very simple. Zhang Chen naturally didn't say anything after hearing it. Lu Pinqi and Li Lu also knew that what Yang Zhen said was a serious truth.

The few people didn't say anything anymore. They lay down on the small mound near Shiqiao's ovary. After observing south and north for a long time, they slowly retreated.

Suide Gate, the south gate of Xiongyue City, is not far from the Ertazi camp in Shiqiaozi, but only a mile or two away, separated by the Xiangshui River.

Moreover, there were Tatar flag guards with white flags stationed above the city gate. This situation made Yang Zhen and others think about it again and again, and finally did not dare to cross the river by boat and approach the city gate to take a look.

However, Yang Zhen and others have already figured out the general situation of Xiongyue City. It is just a small castle built with rammed earth and bricks on the flat ground on the north bank of Xiangshui River.

Although there is Wang'er Mountain to the north, Xiongyue Town is not on the mountain where Wang'er Mountain is located, so it has no mountain to rely on.

There is a Xiangshui River in the south, which can be used as a moat, because the enemy attacking the city cannot place many troops, but it is still a long way from the Xiangshui River, and this distance is enough for Yang Zhen's few troops to control.

It's open.

Of course, Yang Zhen would not be so stupid and would not attack Xiongyue City. At least, he would never choose to attack a fortress without being sure of victory.

Let's say that this group of people left the mound and followed the original path, hunched over, and returned to the sand boat parked in the reeds on the river bank. They rowed the boat softly, along the current, toward the Xiangshui River.

The river mouth area is quickly driven away.
Chapter completed!