Gu Yanxi understood that without the sail, and the oars and oars were broken, the boat would be useless.
"What do you think, Chief?"
"General Sun's soldiers are truly extraordinary."
Sun Qi said calmly, "It's just hard training day after day. The soldiers guarding the pass will be soaked in water until they are skinned. They don't have any other thoughts. As long as they can fill their stomachs, they will not be satisfied even if they don't have the strength to swim. If the capital is in arrears with food again, I hope you can say a few good words. If you can't even fill your stomach with your life, why risk your life for it?"
Gu Yanxi felt her face burning. In the past few months, her uncle had found excuses to delay the food supply to the soldiers guarding the pass, forcing General Sun to find ways to raise food on his own. This was the first time in Daqing's nearly two hundred years of history that this had happened.
He turned around and bowed solemnly, unable to utter any words to excuse himself.
Sun Qi finally vented some of the anger he had been holding back for a while. He lifted the person up and took the initiative to change the subject. "A few days ago, I received crispy noodles and meat jerky sent by His Highness the Sixth Prince. The letter only said that the eldest lady was providing support, but it didn't say what kind of support it was. Can you help me clear up my confusion, sir?"
"Azhi lent Xiaoliu some manpower and also gave him unlimited financial support. I'm afraid all the money she saved in the past two years has gone into this."
Sun Qi was not surprised by this answer. Although he had never dealt with her face to face, he had some idea of the girl's personality. She was strong towards the outside but too soft towards the inside. This was her biggest weakness, and he took advantage of it.
He understood the emperor's thoughts. To put it bluntly, the emperor now seemed to have red eye disease and could not bear to see other people with money. Hua Zhi was known as the God of Wealth, and her businesses were all profitable. If the emperor didn't stare at her purse, whose would he stare at? He was already considering his face and his status by not asking for money.
Moreover, Hua Zhi is too protective of the Sixth Prince. She is wholeheartedly paving the way for him. As long as she knows that doing so will benefit the Sixth Prince, she will definitely do it. This is naturally a good thing, but emotionally speaking, they all owe her too much.
At this time, the sails of the two boats on the water were broken, and the people under the water also popped their heads out and made gestures of success. At this time, several slightly larger boats sailed out with people standing on them. Some of the people on the boats were holding thick bamboo poles, and some were holding ropes with sharp rakes hanging on the ropes. Gu Yanxi saw them separate and surround the two boats, throwing the rakes to the stern, and the people holding bamboo poles pushed the bamboo poles to the stern, and then everyone worked together, and the boat moved in one direction.
Gu Yanxi raised the corners of his lips. He knew what they were going to do. Once the ship formed inertia, it would circle in place. If they speeded up, he didn't know how long those people on the ship who had never shown up could hold on.
"Sir." Yu Mu got ashore. His walking posture was still a little strange. After days of running, there was no good meat on the inside of his thighs.
"How is it going?"
Yu Mu bowed to Sun Qi and replied, "Fortunately, Wang Hai and his men caught up. One ship stopped halfway and then stopped moving. I arranged for someone to keep an eye on it. Another ship left along the tributary halfway. I found that ship extremely suspicious, so I asked Wang Hai to catch up with everyone he brought with him."
Gu Yanxi looked at the two boats on the water that were already spinning in circles, "Is there anything more suspicious than these two?"
"That's what I think."
Maybe it was because he had just lost twenty-seven subordinates, but Gu Yanxi's first reaction was to count the number of people Wang Hai brought with him. There should be about twenty people. Even if that ship really belonged to the Chaoli tribe, they could still give it a try. However, they still couldn't delay here any longer.
"General Sun, please send someone to take us to the ship."
Sun Qi signaled the young general beside him to escort them over, but did not offer to go with them. He was the main general, responsible for the safety of the pass, and had no right to disregard life and death.
"Pass the order down, the second battalion stops, the archers prepare, and everyone else fully cooperates with the Seventh Division."
"yes."
The small boat brought more than 20 people from the Qishusi to the side of the big ship. At this time, the soldiers guarding the pass began to push in the opposite direction, and the boat stopped in just a moment.
Holding a long whip in his hand, Gu Yanxi swung and pulled the whip to use the force to fly onto the boat. The others immediately followed and formed a defensive formation as soon as they landed.
"Looking for someone."
After giving the order, Gu Yanxi ran straight to the bow of the ship. The only person on the ship who needed to be at the helm was someone else.
The hatch was closed tightly. Gu Yanxi drew out his sword and stabbed it in, then slashed it downwards. Then he took a step back and hit the hatch with force using his whip, shattering it into pieces.
At the same time, a flying knife flew out and headed straight for Gu Yanxi's face, followed by a second one.
Gu Yanxi shot them down one by one, and several thoughts flashed through his mind. From the information he had obtained, the Chaoli people were not used to using flexible flying knives, this was not right!
The long whip penetrated through the hatch like a spirit snake without any hindrance. Gu Yanxi took this opportunity to go in, and then swung the long whip again. Each time he swung the whip, he went several steps forward, forcing the opponent to no longer hide and had to reveal himself.
wrong!
Not a Chaoli!
Gu Yanxi recognized them at a glance, and knocked out the three people who rushed over with a swipe of his whip. He glanced around and left quickly.
There were already many people lying on the sampan. Yu Mu saw his master approaching with a guilty look on his face, "Master, you are not from the Chaoli tribe."
"The Chaoli tribe must be guilty. If they were innocent, they wouldn't start fighting without saying a word. Let's go to another ship."
The other one wasn't either! Judging from the way these people were dressed and behaved, Gu Yanxi could be sure that the two ships were together!
Yu Mufei ran over and whispered in his ear: "Master, the cabin is full of food!"
The amount of food that would allow a ship to draw such a deep draft...
There were piles of rice in the cabin. Gu Yanxi opened a bag and found it was flour. She walked to the other side and opened another bag. It was rice, and it was unhusked rice. Such rice could withstand storage...
"Yu Mu, you stay and interrogate them. These people may be related to the Chaoli tribe."
"yes."
At this time Sun Qi also came in. His eyes lit up when he saw the white flour. General Sun, who was almost sick from lack of food, wanted to drag it back as his first reaction!
"General Sun, I need some elite soldiers who are good at swimming and fast boats."
Without saying anything, Sun Qi immediately ordered his personal soldiers to make arrangements, "Is it the one that went through the tributary?"
"Nine times out of ten."
"But the tributary is about thirty miles away from here?"
Yu Mu estimated it in his mind and nodded, "Yes."
Sun Qi had a clue in his mind. "That tributary flows into another bay. There is no need to chase it from the back. It is better to block it from the front. I will go with you."
"That's great." Gu Yanxi smiled, patted a bag of rice and said, "I came here to recover the silver, and I will only take back the silver."
Sun Qi understood and bowed in thanks.
PS: I updated late on the first day of the new year. I was outside the whole day and only touched the computer at night.