Transmigration: Space-Aided Rise to Power and Prosperity-Chapter 315 - 151 River Bandits

Gu Chengyu spoke while pondering. Those people charging up like this, it’s impossible. It’s likely there’s a mole on this ship. It’s also possible that someone had slipped in earlier. After all, they weren’t the only ship on the river before; wasn’t there another passenger boat that was very close to them yesterday?

Swimming over in the water and then boarding the ship unnoticed. Hiding in any random corner, no one would know.

"How do I know if what you’re saying is true or not?" The ship captain glanced at Gu Chengyu’s attire, which indeed looked scholarly. Yet, he still couldn’t believe there were any river bandits.

Gu Chengyu was also angry, "Do you think I’ve nothing better to do than to play a joke on you? I have no such leisure. Asking you to prepare doesn’t even cost any Silver, and if it’s true, everyone on this ship will die. I want to live too!"

The ship captain saw Gu Chengyu’s expression didn’t seem fake, so he started to believe a bit.

"Are they far away? I’ll have the crew speed up; can we escape them?"

"Their boat is smaller than ours, very fast, we definitely can’t outrun them. Now, on the river, we can’t dock even if we want to."

"Then I’ll go call for people." He was preparing to find the first mate to discuss strategies.

Gu Chengyu feared he would alert the mole, which would be disastrous. "Wait!"

The ship captain had already run a few steps away, stopped by Gu Chengyu’s shout, "What? Don’t tell me you’re joking."

Gu Chengyu didn’t care for the ship captain’s grim face, "If you go around the ship announcing, what if there are companions of the river bandits? Go find some skilled people quietly, while that boat hasn’t gotten close, have them prepare bows and arrows. Right, do you have any oil-soaked hemp? You should have fire arrows, right?"

Gu Chengyu planned to attack from afar first, shoot fire arrows over to ignite the other boat, forcing them to abandon their ship. By then, they would surely swim over to their ship, so have skilled men wait by the ship’s edge to cut down anyone trying to climb up.

The ship captain was also a well-seasoned man, not unfamiliar with such situations. In his youth, he had also encountered river bandits while sailing, and the ship naturally had fire arrows prepared.

"Yes! You wait here, I’ll go find people." Saying this, the ship captain hurriedly ran to the cabin.

Gu Chengyu looked over again, seeing that the other ship’s speed was increasing. Suddenly, all the lights on that boat went out. Damn, could those river bandits be trying to sneak closer, then swim from the water to board?

Gu Chengyu hurried back to the room to wake up Sun Xian and Ming Mo. No, the whole ship needed to be awakened; everyone had to join forces to resist the river bandits. Initially, he didn’t want to wake the ship’s passengers since most were unarmed, some were even elderly, weak, women, and children. Besides screaming, they might be of no help and could even be a hindrance.

Yet after thinking it over, he felt it wouldn’t work. Not calling them might cause more chaos later.

Gu Chengyu dashed into the room, woke up Ming Mo and Ming Yan, told them about the river bandits, and had them wake the ship’s passengers quietly to avoid alerting the bandits. As for the mole, he couldn’t deal with it now; it was an urgent situation and catching the mole wasn’t possible.

He went into the room to take out two daggers from the storage; these daggers were very sharp and were meant for Sun Xian and Ye Zhiqiu for self-defense.

Ming Mo and Ming Yan had short swords, always carried in their bundles wherever they went. Hence, Gu Chengyu didn’t need to provide weapons for them.

He took a longsword for himself from the box. He always carried a longsword when going out, just in case. With Ming Mo and the others around, he couldn’t keep it in the storage, as it wouldn’t make sense to take it out of thin air.

"Brother Sun, open the door quick!" Sun Xian and Ye Zhiqiu were staying together, saving him the trouble of looking for them separately.

"Chengyu? You’re still up?" Sun Xian, groggy-eyed, looked at the door and saw that Gu Chengyu was still up and holding his regularly polished longsword.

"Brother Sun, wake up Brother Ye; there are river bandits coming. Don’t ask now, just go alert the ship’s passengers, and remember! Tell them not to make a racket. Find a place to stay put, I’ll join shortly. Keep these two daggers for self-defense."

By now, Ming Mo and others were already waking the passengers, knocking on every door. Some were fast asleep, while others were still awake, causing quite a commotion. Most had doubts about the situation and didn’t believe it.

"River bandits? Are you sure you’re not joking? I’ve been doing business on this river for years and have never seen river bandits. Don’t try to scare us! Where are the steward and the captain? Why aren’t they coming out? And who are you?"

A merchant clearly didn’t believe it. Having traveled on the boats from Jingyuan Prefecture for years, he knew they would usually bribe bandits; such incidents were unthinkable.

The situation was urgent, and Gu Chengyu didn’t bother arguing, "You don’t have to believe, but please don’t make noise. Now, except for the elderly, weak, and women, those who believe me, come to my side. I need to count heads to prepare for resistance. The others, stay in your rooms and don’t come out, no matter what you hear."

The ship was so big that relying only on a few ship hands and sailors wouldn’t suffice; more manpower was needed to guard the sides.

Gu Chengyu said this and went straight to the deck. He had no time to wait for them to hesitate; by now, the captain had gathered the people. Gu Chengyu took a quick glance, finding only around twenty to thirty people, including sailors.

Sailors were strong and knew some martial arts. Gu Chengyu originally planned to prepare for both options: resist while docking. This way, everyone could get ashore, and it’s easier to fight on land than on water. River bandits all swam well, which would be disadvantageous for Gu Chengyu and his crew on the water.

There was a steward for trivial matters on the ship since the captain needed to steer and didn’t handle minor affairs.

"Sir! We’ve all gathered. May I ask, how close are the river bandits? Should we notify the passengers?" Actually, the steward was still dubious, for the moon was bright tonight, though there was some fog on the river, they had already looked around and didn’t see any boats or firelights.

Some passengers who believed Gu Chengyu had come out from their rooms. Seeing the captain and crew on the deck, they began to believe Gu Chengyu’s words, but they were few, about ten or so.

"Their boat is already approaching, discussing it now is pointless. Everyone take out the bows and arrows, wrap them in oiled cloth. Later, I’ll shoot the first lit arrow; once their ship catches fire, shoot in that direction at the sight of flames."