The Dinghai Water Gang, which had been driven away by Xiao Jingchuan earlier, returned after Xiao Jingchuan fled, attempting to reclaim the port and monopolize mariti trade in Donglai Prefecture.
After learning about this, the newly appointed Governor naturally did not want to let the benefits fall back into the hands of the Jianghu gangs.
This led to today’s event, where the General Director was sent with people to handle the situation.
Soon, the team arrived at the port.
Looking around, they could see nurous docks.
Gathered around each dock were many people, and there were various large and small ships moored.
There were rchant ships for transport, as well as fishing boats.
Several fishing villages surrounded the port area.
The villagers largely lived off fishing, spending their entire lives near the port.
The arrival of this group imdiately stirred the many people inside and outside the docks.
"Where is the Supervisor from the Cao Yun Bureau? How co there isn’t even a junior official here?" Patrol Captain Zhengqiu Mountain swept his eyes around and asked with a frown.
In fact, the Cao Yun Bureau was a new departnt established by Xiao Jingchuan in the latter part of his tenure, specifically responsible for port maintenance and water transport-related matters.
They had already sent a signal before departure, yet no officials were in sight, making everyone feel sothing was amiss.
"Investigate!" Zhuang Ren said slowly, and the patrol guards quickly dispersed.
Song Changming’s gaze fell on the ships at the dock, quickly noticing that not a single official ship was present.
Suddenly, he noticed two hurried figures, who, upon seeing their official uniforms, imdiately turned away as if planning to leave by boat.
"Zhao Long," Song Changming signaled with his eyes.
Next to him, Liang Zhao Long understood imdiately, squeezing his legs to ride towards the dock.
The two people, seeing Liang Zhao Long rushing straight at them, almost without hesitation, imdiately drew their knives, their faces showing nace.
Liang Zhao Long wasted no words, directly dismounted, wielded his long knife, and chopped out.
By now, Liang Zhao Long had reached the Third Realm of Body Refining, with considerable strength.
Though the opponents were also martial artists, they only had the First Realm of Body Refining ability, easily subdued by Liang Zhao Long, who dragged them by their necks back to Song Changming.
"Are you from the Dinghai Water Gang?" Song Changming asked.
Both initially remained silent and stiff-faced.
But after a slight bit of torture, they quickly spoke.
As expected, these two were mbers left by the Dinghai Water Gang at the dock.
They were not core mbers of the gang, just two tasked with keeping watch.
After seeing Song Changming and the others arrive, they planned to report back but hurried too much, alerting Song Changming’s sharp senses.
"Where are the officials responsible for Cao Yun?" Zhuang Ren asked.
Intimidated by Zhuang Ren’s powerful presence, the two stamred, "They, they’ve been drowned..."
Upon hearing this, a few hints of fury imdiately appeared on Zhuang Ren’s face.
"Such audacity!" Zhuang Ren reprimanded.
Having only been in office for a few months, the General Director finally experienced the toughness of the folk customs far from the Imperial Authority.
Local officials are killed without hesitation, blatantly ignoring the law, utterly rampant.
This kind of behavior would be unimaginable in the Imperial Capital.
Song Changming, however, had already speculated as much upon arriving, not particularly surprised by the outco.
Had the Dinghai Water Gang not been formidable, Xiao Jingchuan wouldn’t have exhausted significant effort and dispatched troops to drive them away earlier.
Just as Song Changming was about to continue asking for the location of the Dinghai Water Gang’s hideout, a patrol guard released a signal smoke in the distance.
"Go!" Zhuang Ren ordered sternly.
The group mounted their horses and rode through the fishing market near the port, reaching the source of the signal smoke.
There they saw several patrol guards already fighting a group of people wearing matching headscarves.
"It’s the Dinghai Water Gang!" Zhengqiu Mountain recognized the headscarf at a glance and shouted.
"Kill!" Zhuang Ren ordered firmly.
Sixteen personal guards behind him jumped off their horses and charged into the crowd like tigers descending from mountains, wreaking havoc.
Each personal guard had extrely strong combat abilities, working in unison, even Song Changming approached cautiously.
Then, the Patrol Captain led the patrol guards to charge, quickly defeating the Dinghai Water Gang mbers, leaving none to escape.
Among them was a leader of the Dinghai Water Gang with considerable strength, still resisting stubbornly, even when several of the General Director’s personal guards joined forces, failing to take him down.
Not wanting to waste ti, Song Changming lunged forward, dragging the Dragon Pattern Saber along the ground, slashing from bottom to top.
The leader hastily wielded his knife to block but was sent flying into the air, with both man and knife, by terrifying power.
Song Changming swung his arm, flipping, and smashed him back into the ground with the blade’s back!
In an instant, the leader felt his mind blank, knocked out by Song Changming, heart stopping suddenly.
His face flushed red as he spewed mouthfuls of blood continuously.
Monts later, after catching his breath, he felt agonizing pain all over, lying on the ground completely unable to struggle.
"Take him away and interrogate him thoroughly," Song Changming sheathed his saber and said blandly.
Two Patrol Guards imdiately escorted the severely injured leader away.
Interrogation and torture were the specialties of the Patrol Guard, and they had plenty of thods. Song Changming wasn’t worried about them withholding information.
"This place used to be a stronghold of the Dinghai Water Gang, dismantled twice by the previous Governor Xiao. Now it seems they’ve reclaid it," Zhengqiu Mountain pointed at a row of shipyards in the distance and said.
The reason he was chosen among the Patrol Captains for this mission was his extensive dealings with the Dinghai Water Gang in the past and his understanding of them.
Inside this shipyard, Song Changming imdiately noticed a few large governnt rchant ships.
Of course, these so-called governnt rchant ships were originally the property of the Dinghai Water Gang. They were later requisitioned by Xiao Jingchuan and slightly altered to beco official vessels.
But now, it was clear they had been seized back by the Dinghai Water Gang.
These were just a part; the other governnt ships were probably taken away by the gang.
"This matter is likely to be tricky," Song Changming said to Zhuang Ren.
"The Dinghai Water Gang won’t easily give up this place. They have nurous mbers and can mobilize coastal gangs from other prefectures. Back then, Governor Xiao had to dispatch military forces to suppress the gang."
Song Changming feared that the news of their arrival would soon reach the Water Bandits, bringing an overwhelming number of them.
Reality is not like playing a ga; no matter how strong a martial artist is, endless swarms of people can be daunting. Even if they could unleash unbeatable attacks, there would be a ti when their stamina runs out.
Moreover, the Dinghai Water Gang did have skilled fighters among them.
Zhuang Ren nodded. Although he sowhat looked down on these troubleso Jianghu factions, out of caution, he still sent soone back to the County City to inform the Governor of the situation here.
In fact, Xiao Jingchuan had taken away almost all military forces from within the county. The new Governor had only been in office for a few months, and although there had been active recruitnt and training, these new soldiers would still require more ti to beco battle-ready.
Zhuang Ren was aware that the elite troops brought by the new Governor from the Imperial Capital were few in number.
This elite force was the backbone of the new Governor, not sothing that could be deployed lightly.
The Dinghai Water Gang might also be aware of the new Governor’s weak ard forces, thus acting so boldly, making the governnt officials stationed there disappear without a trace.
After so ti, the Patrol Guards had thoroughly investigated the port.
All governnt personnel were already missing.
According to the local fishern, there had been more than one conflict between the Dinghai Water Gang’s mbers and port officials in the past.
Just a few days ago, the fishern suddenly found that all the officials vanished overnight, including the officers who patrolled daily.
In their place were mbers of the Dinghai Water Gang who occupied the port.
The fishern were no strangers to the Dinghai Water Gang, as they had dominated the waters for many years and were quite notorious.
It’s no exaggeration to say that, in the past, the na Dinghai Water Gang was more intimidating than the County City’s governnt.
The Dinghai Water Gang was the ruler of the mariti and river regions, and no one dared to defy them!
So it was no surprise that they could sweep back in with such force.
After all, they were indeed powerful and had reigned in these parts for a long ti.
Song Changming and others further confird the Dinghai Water Gang’s cris from the information gathered from these fishern.
By dusk, an official ship slowly sailed from the river towards the shipyard.
As expected, it was another group of Dinghai Water Gang mbers disembarking from the official ship.
Every day around this ti, they would co for a shift change.
"Why isn’t anyone here to receive us today?" Several mbers of the gang stretched their arms as they entered the shipyard, puzzled.
"Sothing seems off; it’s too quiet here..." A mber following behind furrowed his brow and said cautiously.
Just as he spoke, several crossbow arrows suddenly shot out from the ships docked in the shipyard and the concealed nooks around them.
"Not good!"
By the ti they reacted, twenty to thirty of them had already been shot by the crossbow arrows.
Then another round of volleys continued to inflict damage, forcing these mbers to retreat back to the ship.
At that mont, a group of Patrol Guards erged from the left and right, cutting off their escape route.
"They’re governnt people!"
By the ti these gang mbers realized it, it was too late. The dozens of Dinghai Water Gang mbers who disembarked were soon lying on the ground.
They also seized back a missing official ship.
This action quickly attracted trouble.
That night, everyone stayed at the shipyard to rest, while also waiting for the next order from the Governor.
By early the next morning, a new fleet appeared on the river.
There were seven ships in total, with unique hulls belonging exclusively to the Dinghai Water Gang, not the seized official ships.
The fleet stopped near the shipyard, and a large group of Dinghai Water Gang mbers disembarked, all with fierce expressions, numbering at least over five hundred!
Among them, the few leading figures already appeared extraordinary from a distance.
One of them raised a hand, and the group behind surged forward like hungry wolves, surrounding the shipyard completely.
"The governnt people have already left?" The leader scanned the empty shipyard and said casually.
The nose of another leader twitched slightly, as if slling the lingering scent of blood. His expression showed slight regret as he said, "What a pity; I was hoping for a chance to go on a killing spree."
Especially killing those guys in official uniforms; it’s really satisfying..."
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