"Long Xing, let's agree on a secret signal and start together!" I gave the order.
I summoned the official again and asked him how many days it would take to reach Zhengge. He said that he could reach the first and final port of call, Yuzhang, where Jiang Shuai was, within five days. I was a little surprised: Why would it take so long? He told me about the current situation. The whole way from here to Yuzhang is by water, and the lakes and other places along the way are all underwater. The 4,000-mile Yunmeng described in ancient books is now in front of us. Thinking that I had explained everything, I sent him away.
Then I came out with my clothes on and saw the Xianbei people talking and laughing loudly in their language, but I knew that the news had been passed on and I had to stay calm. I also looked for their flaws to see if there were any omissions.
First of all, they look very similar to our Yellow Turban Army, and they are a group of honest old farmers in the countryside. However, their movements are too skilled, like experienced old fishermen and farmers. Our Jingzhou Army has a navy only this year. The so-called navy is still the Yellow Turban Army in the north. They are not familiar with water battles, and it is impossible for them to be so skilled now. Secondly, the flags on the ship are messy and there is no order. In other states, I may believe it, but with the officials in our Jingzhou, no one can do such a random and rude thing without any taste or rules. Every ship is like this. And their accents, God knows where they are from. They are not from the north, nor from Jingzhou.
Long Xing came over and said, "Everyone will sing together soon, and then we will fight together." Before he finished, people on each boat started singing. As if they had a tacit understanding, everyone took out their weapons and clapped the beat, and danced at the same time. More than 20 boats sang together, and the scene was really grand. I know this rhythm, it's the song of Katuyan, but it's in Xianbei language. I wanted to sing along, but it seems impossible. Long Xing and Yan Rou had a brief discussion, and Yan Rou went to make other arrangements. I guess he asked Yan Rou to protect all those who were not participating in the battle. Yan Rou's personality is the best for doing this kind of thing. As for the others, those who couldn't sing also clapped the beat, and some simply danced. With the sound of weapons colliding, I felt the coming of the battle.
Obviously, the people who greeted us were a little overwhelmed, but they soon realized that we were just singing, and they enthusiastically ran over to them and invited them to dance. They soon started to laugh and watch the fun, and some people actually followed them and danced with them. Long Xing translated every sentence for me, and I followed the translation and beat the rhythm in my heart. I knew that after they finished expressing their exclamations, these more than 20 large ships would become a battlefield.
They started to sing the aria in their song. I paid attention to the situation of our ship. I couldn't take the weapon because I had to show my weakness, and it was difficult for my hedgehog to beat the rhythm. So, I didn't want to appear in a place that was in the way.
The official obviously noticed something was wrong, and hurried over to support me, asking questions. But his hand was on the sword, and under his wide sleeves, he could see a big hand with throbbing veins and a lot of vicissitudes of life. The matter was being brought to the table.
Long Xing said that he would just help me, but Jiang Shuai would be unhappy because it was his duty. But he also thought it was a good thing for me to get some fresh air outside. In fact, everyone understood it in their hearts, and we just spoke to each other politely with a tone that was neither yin nor yang.
Listening to the rhythm, I knew the final tribute had arrived. I had no time to think about anything else. I just looked at the hand that I was holding to help me. Thank you very much. I will definitely praise him well in front of Brother Jiang Zheng. He did not bow, but just thanked me politely for my support. I wanted to pull my sleeve away from his hand, but he pulled it very tightly. I knew that he had already grasped the sword in his left hand very tightly. His left hand was always on the sword, and his hand was holding the hilt. It seemed that he was still relatively alert, but he was not well prepared for this situation where he was discovered all at once. However, he still came up with a solution. He wanted to hold me hostage and restrain our hands and feet as soon as things went wrong. But I had no choice. Originally, he was thinking about how to prevent us from taking action first, but I wanted us to take action first. As a result, I didn't have any response measures or solutions this time, but the last sentence had already sounded, and I knew it by counting the sentences.
"It's a nice day today. Oh, may I ask what is Yingguan's name?" I wanted to distract him.
"My name is Su Fei. Although the sun is shining brightly, the wind is not strong either. My lord, please don't let the wind scare you." He said coldly.
When the last beat sounded, I suddenly had something to say: "It's okay, how about you and Jinfan come to Jingzhou together?"
He hesitated for a moment, and the other side finished singing. With a shout, everyone attacked at the same time. I didn't even think about what would happen over there, and directly used my body to hit his body, and at the same time used my hand to forcefully pull his left arm. With a cracking sound, I knew his arm was broken, and at this time I had already knocked him to the ground, and casually drew out his sword and pointed it at him.
"Give the order to lay down your weapons. I won't make things difficult for you."
His bones were very hard, and he didn't say a word, just panting on the ground, sweat oozing from his head, and blood flowed from the back of my neck, and there was a sharp pain in my back. This time the movement was too big, and the arrow wound must have broken.
It seems that the way to resolve the battle without bloodshed is not feasible.
The battle was carried out in various places on each boat, but our warriors who had been on the boat for nearly ten days seemed to be very accustomed to the bumps on the boat. The enemy was obviously a little hasty to fight, and they were so close that soon some of their men jumped into the river. I don't know what it feels like to be in the river at this time of year, but when I saw someone shooting with a bow, I quickly ordered people to stop it. Anyway, they couldn't hurt us, and they couldn't last long in the water. I didn't want to see a senseless massacre. But Long Xing was not around, he was still commanding others to hunt down the remaining enemy bandits. I felt a little uneasy because I saw him fighting so coldly on the battlefield. Although he was like this before, I didn't feel like fighting against these people who looked so close to our soldiers.
The battle didn't last long, as it should, as victory always seemed to come a little too easily lately.
Long Xing came over with a human head in his hand, and I quickly signaled him to throw the head away. He followed my instructions and came up alone. We had a brief conversation, and we didn't have many casualties, and the other side didn't have as many people as us.
"Is Doctor Hua here?" Long Xing noticed the new bloodstains on my clothes and shouted before he finished reporting. As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Rou had already led the divine doctor Hua Tuo up. Doctor Hua shook his head and looked at the tragic situation. Blood was still pouring into the water from the side. My way to make myself feel at ease was not to look, but when I saw the man on the deck in front of me, I felt goosebumps all over my body. The deformed arm made me feel extremely creepy, and I don't know why I felt humble.
"Help him straighten his bones first." I just said this, put away the sword and made room.
"Yan Rou, bring all the injured here, no matter where they are. Ask Dr. Hua to treat them."
I quickly turned my face towards the river, not wanting to see them washing the bloodstains they left behind.
"Are all the boatmen here?" This question suddenly occurred to me.
"They are all their people. Now they are either injured or dead. Controlling this ship... shouldn't be that difficult, right?" Long Xing also began to feel uneasy, but he still had a glimmer of hope.
As a result, after all the hassles and bumps, the boat still couldn't be moved to the right place. This was a large sailing ship, with only a few bamboo poles that couldn't even support the bottom. Besides the rudder, which many people had handled, there were no oars. This was a problem.
Seeing the brave soldiers trapped in the water, apart from using poles to stir the water and make the boat move in a formal way, there was no greater progress, which made me feel anxious and amused.
It seemed like the bleeding from my wound had slowly stopped on its own. The wound wasn't big to begin with, so I didn't think anything would be wrong.
Finally, a group of people started to tinker with the sail. However, I only saw the sail spinning around on the main mast, and there was no sign of anything better. I was a little upset. We can't stay stuck on the water like this, right? Wait for someone to come and cause trouble for us? This is really unsophisticated.
Long Xing was also anxious. He was usually very capable, but now he was like a hammer, standing there with nothing to do but worry. He immediately turned around and ran to the cabin. I had a bad feeling and followed him immediately.
There were many wounded soldiers in the cabin. Although I ordered them to be treated, the people who moved them in were still cautious. The soldiers on our side were placed next to the couches and stoves inside, while the soldiers on the other side were placed at the intersections and on the ground in a somewhat random manner. Hua Tuo was busy moving from one wounded soldier to another. His technique was simply a wonderful martial art. He would fix the bones in just a few strokes, or even fix them with a stick, or apply medicine to the wound, or clean the wound. He never stopped for a moment. He was seen shuttling among the wounded, and from time to time asked Yan Rou and others beside him to pass this and that. Long Xing was also speechless for a moment, not knowing how to start.
"Ship!" The people on the boat shouted, "There's a ship to the west."
I hurried out, leaving behind the whispers, anxiety and expectations.
"Don't panic, it could be one of ours." I quickly calmed everyone down. But I still asked everyone to be prepared to face the enemy. Because I think someone should come and attack us from both inside and outside together with the people on this ship. Because there seemed to be fewer people on this ship.
Everyone found a good position on the boat and prepared to hide when the enemy approached, and ready bows and arrows to meet the enemy. A few older people discussed and suggested tying all the boats into a circle. This was a good idea for us who could not move. Otherwise, being blown away by the wind, dispersed by others, or attacked from both sides would not be a good result. I agreed, and they immediately started shooting arrows and passing ropes. It seemed that bows and arrows had been used by them in various aspects of life, including seducing young girls, passing ropes and so on.
I went back to the cabin to comfort Hua Tuo, and then asked them to settle the people downstairs. I sighed. This shouldn't be the case for someone my age, but it seemed that I had become a wooden man without any emotion even though I was worried and restless all day long.
We just saw them at the edge of the water and sky. It will be some time before they arrive, and we don't know whether they are friends or foes. But since we can't run away, it would be a safer approach to be on guard against everyone who comes.
The captives were a little restless, but I still waited until all their wounds were treated before locking them up in the lower cabin. Hua Tuo understood my approach. He looked at my wounds again and told me not to move anymore. If they burst again, it would be troublesome when I got old, but I couldn't listen to his advice now. The fleet in the distance was even more of a headache for me to think of. Through the restlessness of these captives, I felt that those people were more likely to be enemies.
Gradually, the shape of the fleet came into view. I couldn't make out the words on its flag, but I could see the sail of the leading ship clearly because that was the only one with colorful sails.
"Jinfan Thief?" I asked myself, could this be the Jinfan Thief Gan Xingba who couldn't be defeated even by the combined efforts of Sister-in-law Shuishang and Mrs. Li Zhen
This is not good news, but in order not to shake the morale of the troops, I decided not to exaggerate and scare everyone.
I think I am numb. I can actually find jokes to amuse myself. At this time, to me now, it seems that nothing is paler than blood. Yes, pale blood.
Human life is so precious. Those who were alive and kicking on the boat half an hour ago are now floating peacefully on the water. Although they are enemies, I still feel sad for them. I asked people to use bamboo poles and ropes to pull up the bodies that drifted close, and cover them with their overly complicated flags. I hope that after this battle, they can have their own burial place and rest in peace. These foreigners have always carried out my orders very well. Even for the bodies that are a little far away, as long as their arrows can reach them, they can pull them up.
It was almost noon, and it looked like we might be fighting within an hour. But the words on their flag were still unclear.
Long Xing asked me to rest in the cabin. He assured me confidently that he could beat back these pirates. But I still insisted on staying here. I didn't put on my armor for a while because it hurt when the wound touched my clothes. I bent my waist and tried my best not to let my back touch my clothes. I thought of Zhang Jue. I will always remember how he was at that time, but it was not night now, and it seemed that I was too young. It seemed that these words were not appropriate. I had to do this later. I just smiled and asked Long Xing to arrange the family affairs.
He left. I looked at his young and strong back. This is my good brother. He is only seventeen years old, but he has suffered all the way with me. I promised him that his tribe would no longer have to endure the pain of migration and the sadness of separation, but I broke my promise. I have encountered various disasters along the way. Without this good brother, I would not have lived to this point. I can't push all these things to him. This matter still needs me to do. I think I should go see Huang Xin. After giving him a few instructions, I went down.
Before going down, I looked at the boat over there again. With a gust of strong northwest wind, the other side's flag was finally unfurled, and the word "Gan" appeared in front of my eyes. Although the midday sun was so bright, that big flag represented the darkness in my heart that could not be torn apart.
Brother Wen Zheng, even with tens of thousands of troops, couldn't wipe out the bandits, and now he wants me, a few hundred men, to deal with them.
However, Gan Xingba was able to fight three people at once without losing, so he was a hero. Thinking of this, I suddenly began to look forward to this upcoming dangerous fight.
Recently, I seem to take the war less and less seriously. When I think about it, some strange ideas come to my mind. For example, this time my idea is to defeat him and take him into my Jingzhou. I think I am a little too excited.
I went to the bottom cabin and saw the person I wanted to see. She was talking to her sister-in-law. Liu Wan noticed me first and went out with a smile to ask Song Qian to go see Tu Jinglie's wife. I told her that she was pregnant, although it was not obvious yet. She listened to me and walked away with a smile without even thanking me.
I walked in. The cabin was very low, which was very painful for a person like me.
"You are such a big person, please sit down. There is really no place for people like you to stay." She shook her head and said in her usual tone.
I sat down, holding onto the wall, thinking about how to start my conversation. The dim lights in the cabin suddenly flickered violently as I sat down, making the place even darker.
"It seems a bit stuffy and dark in here?" Why am I so tongue-tied? I suddenly felt a little angry.
"Yeah, so what? It's just right for a good sleep." This girl is really bold. She is so confident about doing such a sexy thing.
"I see Liu Wan doesn't seem worried at all. Do you know what's going on up there?" Huang Xin didn't need to do that, as she was a rather daring girl.
"You my brother's sister? Yes, she has faith in my brother."
"When did he become your brother again?"
"Not yours?" I seemed to have some impression, I seemed to have said this casually, she continued: "After I got out, I called him brother, he didn't accept it, and wanted to pretend to be my elder brother, seeing that he didn't have any words..." I subconsciously touched my chin which had been raised not long ago, fortunately there were some new seedlings breaking through the soil, and the grass under Longxing's chin seemed to have been eradicated. "Later, Liu Wan came out to smooth things over, asked about my age, and found out that I was two months older than her Longxing, and should call me sister, and that was how it was resolved." I was still secretly thankful in my heart that I was a month older than her, so I didn't have to worry about having a management superior.
"You are a little jealous of this couple, right?" I heard this, and felt the bad thoughts come back to my mind, but I felt a little uneasy.
"Yes." She was very frank, but she didn't look as gloomy as I thought of the worst case scenario. She just continued to think thoughtfully: "I didn't expect that my brother, who is so fierce and brave, is also a little henpecked. My sister Wan's order is thousands of imperial decrees. But seeing how much love they have for each other, although it is hidden in the march and migration, it is revealed to those who are interested. Why should I reject such a marriage from the bottom of my heart?"
"Is there anyone else in your family?" I felt that the above topic was a bit too heavy for her, so I decided to find something better, but I didn't think this one was very good. However, I felt that I had let the cat out of the bag and couldn't take it back.
"I have my parents above me, I am the eldest, I have a younger sister and a younger brother, they are of the same generation as me, my second sister is Huang Yi, my younger brother is Huang Tian. I don't know if Tian Tian has grown taller. And Yi is also of marriageable age." She seemed reluctant to talk more about her parents, but she was very concerned about her younger brothers and sisters, which made me feel sympathetic. Because I suddenly felt Wu Jun's concern again.
"Brother Xie, oh, Miss Huang...Brother, my brother-in-law is looking for you, and the other party is already within our range."
I stood up quickly, bowed slightly, and hurried out, hearing a word behind me. Nan followed me carefully as if he had made a mistake. It was fine at first, but because of him, I was so angry.
The enemy ships were very close, more than 20 in number, and they seemed to see that we had no intention of escaping, so they started to make a lot of noise and came to rob us openly. We could clearly hear their swearing, and knew that they were very close.
Po Liu Han Lie Ya drew his bow and shot an arrow, hitting the tiger head pattern on the bow of the leading ship. We cheered here and tried to suppress the noise over there. Lie Ya raised his hand and asked everyone to prepare, while Yan Rou asked someone to sneak in from underwater. However, I think at this time of year, if you come out of that place, you will probably lose half your life, but I don't think it's bad. And I'm lazy, so I didn't say anything. Nan, walking around, holding a fork, as if he wanted to find someone to fight quickly.
I didn't have his anxiety and impetuousness. I just relied on Tianlang to stand next to the big flag of the ship. The wind on the river was strong, especially in such an unsheltered place. My clothes and my big flag were fluttering, which forced me to tighten my collar with my other hand. The wind poured into my body through the collar, cold, but the wound felt much more comfortable. Not only did it let me know that the wound was not stuck to the clothes, but it also felt much cooler. When I saw our arrows flying towards them again, I felt a little relieved. I think under this powerful and extremely accurate rain of arrows, the door to our defeat has begun to close. The enemy's ships are not many, and the number of people is probably two or three times that of ours. With such strength, we have a great chance of winning. I don't know why I have been so confident recently. It should be that our recent victories have come too many and too easily. It seems that having a few times more people than us is just like having a few more people than us, and it seems that I don't take it seriously. Although you are the fierce and invincible Jinfan thief, I am the great man Ping An Fengyun Hou. Come on if you want to fight! I suddenly felt that my will to fight was so strong.
I suddenly felt very proud of myself, but the enemy had already reached a hundred feet away. At my height, I could clearly see the situation over there. In addition to the sails, they also stretched out many long oars from the side of the boat and rowed hard. The speed was quite good. There were not many people on the boat. Some of them also used large wooden boards to block arrows. Only one heroic figure with a yellow turban stood at the bow of the other side's boat, using a rattan shield to block our arrows. His clothes were very simple, like the image of a middle-aged farmer, and his face was not very clear. But at least there was no part of him that was out of place. I quickly gathered my mind and stopped thinking about those rogue jokes. I saw this hero standing in the rain of arrows coming with their boat. His beard was very energetic. If I looked like this, I would be very handsome. I quickly interrupted my wild thoughts again.
But the morale of the army was still shaken, because someone shouted again, "The ship is under the sun now." Maybe within two hours, this group of people will arrive. I hurriedly shouted, "The ship coming from that direction is my men. As long as we can hold on for an hour, we will be fine." This sentence calmed them down a little, but in fact I didn't have this confidence myself, because there were five or six bandit disasters in this area, and even if it was them, with such adverse winds, it would be good to wait for them tonight.
But at least I pretended to be confident. I also thought that maybe my sister had pacified Wujun and returned.
In order to avoid any more thoughts, I shouted to Nan to check if anyone had swum from the water, lest he would be swaying around here in boredom and anxiety and shake the morale of the troops.
He ran away excitedly. He was really happy recently, but I really didn't want him to be so happy. Although I was a little excited, I didn't want him to be so happy. The boy developed a brave and aggressive character. I always felt that this was not good. I didn't let Song Qian fight, although I knew I would let him fight one day.
I am so conflicted, so conflicted that my mind is confused, and I don't know what to do. The endless and reasonless fighting makes me tired, but when it comes, I am so excited. I know the cruelty of war and I hate it, but in the future, I am so eager for it to come. I feel like I am a complete fool.
Forget it, because there is still a distance of more than ten feet, and the close combat will begin in a moment. The enemy's losses are greater than I thought. After we started shooting, many of them hid in the cabin. Only then did they slowly come out with weapons and shields, ready to rush onto our ship once the battle started. I clenched the weapon in my hand tightly.
The middle-aged man suddenly shouted loudly, tore off his clothes, and in the biting north wind, with his upper body bare, he took a step forward when there was still a distance of about ten feet. Those brave foreign warriors panicked and actually took two steps back to give him a foothold.
Then someone rushed over, trying to drive him off the boat, Long Xing left his double-sided axe behind, picked up his sword and went forward to meet the enemy. The middle-aged man didn't even wait to gain a firm foothold, he used his left shield to block the crescent-shaped scimitar of the person in front of him, and pulled the rope at his waist with his right hand, and saw the meteor hammer fly straight to Long Xing's face!
Long Xing dodged quickly, but the man behind him was hit in the face, his face was torn, the scene was beyond description. Gan Xingba waved the rattan shield casually, and the foreigner holding the knife was also a strong man, and he staggered backwards.
The ships had collided, and with each huge tremor, people from the hatches rushed over with shields in hand. They were obviously encouraged by their leader and tried desperately to rush onto our ship.
I couldn't be idle any longer. There was another strong wind, and I tore off my clothes and let the wind blow.
I also shouted loudly, shocking everyone below, and jumped onto the opposite ship with my upper body naked. I swung the Heavenly Wolf and swept it horizontally. Those regular moves became completely useless in such a group fight. It was more practical to use these dozens of weapons to beat them fiercely. I suddenly knew what the yellow sticky stuff that splashed on me was, because the first pirate I killed had his head smashed by me.
I fought more and more bravely, and the blood on my head made my vision blurry. I could feel the blood in my mouth. Whoever came close to our boat would have to go into the water. Or go directly to Huangquan to meet Dong Xi.
I turned around and took a glance, and saw that Gan Xingba had been gradually forced to the boat where I was originally on, but no one could get close to him. He sometimes used his arms to wrap around us, and sometimes attacked us, making it impossible for us to get close to him for a while.
I had already started to get hurt, and I didn't know when a cut was made on my right arm. My back felt okay, and the people on the other ship, even those on the neighboring ship, were all surrounding me, but the large space on the ship gave me a clear range to swing the Heavenly Wolf. It made it difficult for these people to do anything. Someone once bravely tried to grab my Heavenly Wolf with his hands, but the gang leader who was full of thorns turned his heroic act into a tragedy. I poked his hands full of holes and he fell off the boat, and his head hit the side of the ship heavily when he fell.
I stayed awake even after drinking my own blood. My scalp and back felt numb and my arms ached. I was at a standstill with the pirates. It was not convenient for them to rush over, and I was not stupid enough to rush to the narrow passage on the side of the ship to fight. Suddenly, I heard someone shouting from behind, "That Gao guy!"
As soon as I turned around, I saw something flying towards my eyes. Without thinking, I quickly raised the Heavenly Wolf, and with a clang, I saw something flying upwards. Looking closely, I saw Gan Xingba pulling the hammer beside him to hit the dragon that was about to rush up. Then, the flying hammer in the air circled around his arm a little, and the hammer hit me again. He was almost doing two things at the same time. He used two magic weapons in his hands and used them at the same time without any hindrance. This was a hard time for me. I had to deal with the bandits behind me and be on guard against the hammers flying from above at any time.
But I couldn’t figure out who reminded me.
Now the commanders of both sides are on each other's ships, which is probably a rare situation in ancient and modern times.
Here in Yunmeng, where there is no shore in sight, there is us and a fleet under the midday sun. I don’t know who will be alive on this reappeared swamp when the sun sets.