Zheng Zhibao's ten ships were under the banner of the Dadewang caravan for two reasons. One is to disguise as a caravan to attract water bandits to take the bait. The other is the system regulations of the Ming Dynasty. The Ministry of War must be ordered by the Ministry of War to travel privately. Generals must not bring more than a certain number of servants. The higher the grade, the more people they can bring out. For example, if Xu Hongji, Duke of Wei, would not violate the regulations if he brought five or six hundred people. Even if he had commanders and generals traveled, he could only bring about 200 people. Zheng Zhibao and others were just small generals, guerrillas, etc., so naturally they could not bring too many people. Although the five people only brought 250 people, they carried warships and artillery, which was a bit overwhelming.

In fact, it is not legal to use the banner of caravans and a caravan guards have artillery. But at this time of the Ming Dynasty, who can still care about so many things? Some powerful people who built villages and protected themselves had firearms in their hands, but no one cared about them.

Since the government cannot eliminate the water bandits, it is also a contribution to the caravan guards coming out to suppress the bandits. At present, Li Guodong's Dadewang business is supported by Sun Chengzong, and he also gave Wang Chengen a gift through Wang Kun. Now he has something to do with Fushe and Donglin Party, and the backstage is also considered tough.

If the fleet wants to sail directly into Hongze Lake from the canal, it needs to detour through Siyang and then enter Hongze Lake from the upper reaches. Li Guodong is not very familiar with the terrain of the Lianghuai River in this era. He only knows that the Yellow River in this era entered the sea from Dangshan, Xuzhou, Suqian, and Huaiyin, and other river changes in the Lianghuai region are not familiar with the changes.

For hundreds of years, the Yellow River has been diverted, rivers have accumulated, lakes have shrunk, lakes have been born, rivers have disappeared, etc. The terrain of the two Huaihe Rivers has been completely different from that of later generations.

Li Guodong didn't know how to go, so he could only use a stupid method: the fleet went straight to the downstream of Gaojiayan, and then asked someone to inform Wang Quan.

"The officers and soldiers who helped us eliminate the water bandits are here! Brothers, all go downstream to carry the boat up!" Wang Quan immediately issued an order in his Toutu city.

In addition to leaving more than 500 young and strong guards in the village, the other young and strong women came out. Don’t underestimate those women. Women from rural areas are originally working women. Before, they were unable to eat enough, and since they came to the Tawau Village, they could eat enough every day. These women have recovered their physical strength, and each of them is a healthy woman who can carry a hundred kilograms of load and walk like flying.

More than two thousand people came to the bottom of the Gaojiayan embankment and prepared to carry the boat over.

"Okay, everyone is working! Carry the boat up." Wang Quan asked everyone to work.

The ship was pulled ashore by people, but after the ship left the water, it became extremely heavy. In fact, although these ships were small, each ship had one hundred materials, which were the calculation units of the official ship. It was converted into civil materials, which was four hundred materials ships. According to the calculation method of later generations, it was a ship of more than fifty-ton class.

A boat worth more than fifty tons is naturally a small boat, but it weighs more than 80,000 pounds, and even 300 people cannot lift it. What's more, the bottom of the boat is smooth and there is no place to lift it. No matter how many people come in, they will not be able to use any strength.

"Our boss, this ship is too heavy, and it is probably difficult for twice as many people to carry it up, but there is a way to be a humble position." Zhang Shiwen proposed a solution.

The young and strong women cut down the wood, spread the logs on the ground, then pulled the boat ashore, and then placed the boat on the logs. Everyone pulled it forward and backward, and finally pulled the boat through Gaojiayan and into Hongze Lake.

Back at the Toutu City Village, Li Guodong found that he had left for nearly half a year. The city village had new changes. There were more houses built inside. Facing the outer periphery of the city wall by the lake, several four-story buildings higher than Tucheng were built. Standing on the fourth floor, you can overlook Hongze Lake outside the city.

There are many more houses in the city, and the original thatched shops are basically gone. Instead, they are replaced by brick and wood houses, which look neat and beautiful. The only drawback is that because they cannot go out of the city to farm, all the farmland is planted in the city, occupying a lot of precious places in vain and wasting good land outside.

As long as the water bandits can be eliminated, the people in the city can go out to farm with confidence and develop the wasteland outside.

When she saw this city, Liu Rushi, who was originally full of worries about her future life, felt much better. When she walked into the city, she found that there was a clean bathroom with no smell at all. There was also a special bathhouse. She was curious about everything here. After all, most of the people used toilets at home and poured the toilet every morning, which was dirty and smelly. There was no need to consider these issues when changing clothes here. The clean bathroom walls were snow-white, so it was better to rinse it with water after waking up. This condition was much more comfortable than when she was in the yard and even Zhou Daodeng's home. The only thing that was displeased in her heart was that the two little maids brought by Zheng Family Jun always looked disliked her.

When they arrived in the village of Tawau, Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Zhifeng and others, who were originally dressed as merchants, changed into military uniforms and looked majestic.

"Those bandits call themselves the heroes of Liangshan! Bah! They are thieves! What other heroes are they!"

"Even if the hero of Liangshan is a thief."

"Those thieves said it nicely. Why do you do things for heaven? You are not the one who steals our people?"

"What's the matter? The boss was originally an official general."

The villagers watched the navy warships and talked a lot.

"That's great! The boss has invited officers and soldiers. Those thieves from heaven will make us feel at ease every day!" said an excited farmer who stared at the fertile land outside every day.

"General Li's siege is really well built!" Zheng Zhibao praised.

"This is all my credit for Brother Wang." Li Guodong pulled Wang Quan over and introduced to Zheng Zhibao.

Zheng Zhibao bowed to Wang Quanyi: "So you are the boss of Dadewang! It turns out that you are young and promising. You can build such a big business. You have a semicolon in Jiangnan. It's not simple!"

"The Zheng family army has won the prize!" Wang Quan hurriedly clasped his fists and returned the gift. In fact, it was not the initial capital of Dadewang that was earned by Wang Quan himself, but was robbed by Li Guodong. No matter how much business it was, it was not as fast as the robbery came.

"General Zheng, the water bandits are elusive. We have not even found their nests. How can we suppress them?" Li Guodong asked worriedly.

Shi Daxuan pointed to a large lake outside and said, "The river network and lakes here are crisscrossing. Since this Hongze Lake is formed by the silt of the Yellow River, there must be other waterways that can enter the lower reaches of the river, otherwise how can the water bandits come and go freely?"

Zheng Zhibao asked, "Do you two, can there be local fishermen in your village?"

"Yes!" Li Guodong and Wang Quan replied in unison.

"Since there are local fishermen, they must know how to walk the water. We will first lead the snake out of the cave, catch a few prisoners, ask questions from them, and then destroy their nests." Shi Daxuan said with a smile.

——
Chapter completed!