Chapter 1193 Qiantang Night Battle
Li Ye's fleet had a total of 25 ships, almost all of which were passenger ships of 500 dan. Among them, his 200 personal soldiers occupied 20 ships. Li Ye had one ship himself, and the other four belonged to Shen Zhenzhu. She and Shen Li took one ship, more than 20 maids and servants took one ship, and there were two ships to transport her luggage.
Shen Zhenzhu was of course very rich. She had a special warehouse in the basement of Baoji Guifang in Chang'an, with the dowry given to her by her parents and the wealth left to her and her son by her husband.
Her luggage was all kinds of clothes, silks and jewelry. She had more than 20,000 taels of silver alone, filling more than 300 large boxes, which also followed her back to Chang'an this time.
Li Ye visited Shen's house in a private capacity this time. He had only a few personal soldiers, only 200 people, and the army was waiting in Hangzhou.
That evening, the fleet sailed into the Qiantang River. After entering the Qiantang River, it took another day and night to reach Hangzhou.
Li Ye was sitting in the cabin writing a letter. He needed to arrange some things before leaving for Quanzhou.
At this time, Deputy Commander Zhang Yun said nervously at the door of the cabin: "We found five ships of unknown origin following us!"
Li Ye frowned, "Why are they called unknown?"
"Our brothers found that there were young and strong men hiding in these ships, carrying weapons, and they were communicating with each other."
"How big are the ships, and how many people are there on the other side?" Li Ye asked again.
"They are all thousand-ton cargo ships, and it is estimated that there are about 70 to 80 people on the other side."
Li Ye took out a report from the box, which was a security report from the Zhejiang West Road. It mentioned that there was a group of pirates on the Qiantang River. The leader was Song Guangchun, who was a general of the former bandit Fang Qing. He was very fierce and daring. There were about 90 people. It mentioned their logo, a triangular black flag.
"Do they have flags on their ships?" Li Ye asked again.
"It seems that there is a triangular black flag on the leading ship."
Li Ye nodded, that's right, it was indeed Song Guangchun's pirates. These pirates had a keen sense of smell and could actually find me.
"Your Highness, it's getting dark. We are not afraid of two thousand people on land, but we have no advantage in the river."
Li Ye pondered for a moment and said, "Dock! Let the brothers get ready, use explosive arrows, shoot at all ranges, and leave no one alive!"
Shen Zhenzhu was eating dinner in the cabin with Shen Li. At this time, the boat suddenly shook. Li Ye pushed open the cabin door and said with a smile, "Two female donors, come ashore with me!"
Shen Zhenzhu found that Li Ye was wearing armor. She was startled and asked, "Your Highness, what happened?"
"A group of pirates are so bold that they want to attack us. Let's go ashore to deal with them!"
Shen Li was so scared that she covered her mouth and said, "Are they Song Guangchun's pirates?"
"Miss Li also knows?" Li Ye was a little curious.
Shen Li nodded, "I heard from my grandfather that these pirates are extremely vicious and will not even spare children. The Shen family recruited 200 warriors to protect the house because they are afraid that they will attack the Shen family."
"That's right. Today is the day of their demise. Come with me."
Shen Zhenzhu and Shen Li got up quickly and followed Li Ye to the shore. It turned out that the boat had already docked. The shore was full of weeds and it was not convenient to go ashore. Li Ye put one foot on the shore and one foot on the boat. Like a nail, he gently picked up Shen Zhenzhu and sent her ashore with one arm.
Li Ye smiled and handed his hand to Shen Li. Shen Li's face flushed, so she had to hug Li Ye's strong arms. Li Ye held her slender waist and used one arm to send her ashore.
Shen Li's heart was pounding. This was the first man who hugged her like this since she was sensible.
The rest of the maids and servants were also sent ashore by the soldiers. Two hundred soldiers went ashore one after another. They were divided into two groups, one group was on guard against the land, and the other group was staring at the river.
A dozen maids and servants squatted together, guarded by the soldiers on land.
"You two squat behind me!"
Li Ye handed them another porcelain bottle, "Apply it on your hands and face to prevent mosquitoes."
The two did not expect that His Highness the Regent was so careful that he even thought of preventing mosquitoes. They were really touched.
The two hurriedly applied the liquid in the porcelain bottle on their hands, legs and necks. The liquid exuded a strong aroma of mugwort.
Li Ye suddenly raised his right hand and whispered: "They are coming, keep quiet!"
All the soldiers quieted down. Shen Zhenzhu and Shen Li hid behind Li Ye's strong body and secretly looked at the river. They saw five thousand-stone ships approaching them. The people on the boats held torches, all of them had fierce faces, full of flesh, and held knives and spears. Their target was actually their own boat!
The two were terrified. It turned out that the pirates were targeting them.
Shen Zhenzhu and Shen Li could not help but lean towards Li Ye again, almost sticking to him. Li Ye was wearing armor, and his tall and strong body gave them a great sense of security.
Shen Zhenzhu suddenly had an indescribable feeling of confusion about the tall and strong man in front of her. Every move of this man made her intoxicated.
At this time, Li Ye turned back and smiled at them, "Cover your ears, the sound will be very shocking!"
The two hurriedly covered their ears obediently. Li Ye took off the Tianlang bow and pulled out two explosive arrows from the special fine steel quiver. The front end of the explosive arrow was wrapped with thick soft cloth. Li Ye gently pulled off the soft cloth, revealing the porcelain bottle on the arrow head. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
The pirates who came to attack were Song Guangchun and his men. They were all proficient in water. On the Qiantang River, they were kings and did not take anyone seriously.
They set their sights on the boat that Shen Zhenzhu and Shen Li were riding on. The boatman told his cousin Wu Sheng about the characteristics of the boat. The outer wall of the cabin was painted red. This was the boat exclusively for the women of the Shen family.
Song Guangchun also believed that all the wealth of the former crown princess was on the boat. He also heard that the crown princess was still relatively young, so Song Guangchun wanted to snatch her as his wife. The thought of having the crown princess as his wife made him excited.
As for Shen Li, he could use her to extort 500,000 strings of wealth from the Shen family. If they didn't give it, he would also treat her as his wife.
Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the red-walled boat, Song Guangchun became excited and turned back to order: "Both women are mine, no one is allowed to snatch them!"
Li Ye put two explosive arrows on the bowstring together, drew the bow like a full moon, and shouted, "Go to hell!"
The two explosive arrows shot out strongly and hit the first ship at the same time. Li Ye had a strong intuition that the bandit leader Song Guangchun was on the first ship.
"Boom! Boom!"
Two explosive arrows exploded at the same time, the bow was blown to pieces, and more than 20 pirates standing on the bow were blown up. Song Guangchun was the first to be hit, and was blown in half and fell into the water.
The explosive arrows shot by Li Ye were military orders. Thirty soldiers shot thirty explosive arrows at the same time, and a series of violent explosions sounded on the river.
Shen Zhenzhu and Shen Li had never seen such a shocking war scene. They were scared and pale. One on each side, they hugged Li Ye's arms tightly and leaned against him. Li Ye also felt the fear in their hearts. He simply stretched out his hand and hugged them both tightly under his ribs, protecting them with a strong aura.