Under the sky

Chapter 204 Desperate
Ji Shaoguang finally walked out of the cabin. When Shen Weichen heard that his master was willing to compromise, he thought that he had figured out that there was no hope of turning around and was willing to help. He couldn't help but be overjoyed and held his master's hand on the deck.For more than ten days, Xie Gubai announced to the public that Ji Shaoguang was ill and resting in the cabin. The disciples could not see the leader, so there were inevitably some whispers. Miao Ziyi was worried about the morale of the army, and was about to ask Xie Gubai to find a way, but Ji Shaoguang finally gave in.

News was cut off along the way, and Shen Weichen didn't know what the situation was like in Bazhong, let alone the situation in Hengshan that Gu Qingshang was worried about.As the boat got closer to the mouth of the Sancha River, even Zhu Menshang told fewer jokes.

"The fleet will be discovered as soon as it leaves the mouth of the Sancha River. Even if the Xiangyang Gang flag is used, it will still arouse suspicion." Xie Gubai pointed to the map, "According to Boss Zheng, there is a Shanshui Gate here with about four to five hundred people." With disciples stationed there, it’s difficult to avoid the spy.”

"Should we fight?" Miao Ziyi asked, "Or should we repeat our old tricks and deceive them?"

"It's useless to lie. This place is only a hundred miles away from Jinzhou. It takes more than an hour to get there quickly. Unlike Tianchiling, which is an isolated place and difficult to send messages, they will send a message to Jinzhou no matter what to strengthen their vigilance."

"Does that mean we need to fight?" Miao Ziyi asked, "It's not difficult to fight."

"No fight." Xie Gubai shook his head, "Getting on and off the ship, a little longer delay will allow Jinzhou to be more prepared."

"Go around and they'll stab you from behind when you play Jinzhou. It's quite troublesome."

"All changed to the Qingcheng flag. Zheng Bao said that there are only a few hundred troops stationed here, and the hinterland here is not big, so it is difficult to accumulate heavy troops. Seeing our huge momentum, they did not dare to fight, so they must retreat and send the news to Jinzhou." Gu Bai said, "If we burn their ship, they won't be able to attack us from behind. Let's rush to Jinzhou and take advantage of their lack of preparation to attack us in one fell swoop."

"Shall we disembark in Jinzhou?" Ji Shaoguang asked, "It is more than five hundred miles away from Hanzhong. We can arrive there in ten days. If we hurry up, we can arrive two days earlier."

Urgent documents can be exchanged for horses at the post station, so it is not a problem to travel 130 miles a day. A spy can travel nearly [-] miles a day if he has a good horse or a spare horse. Travel about sixty to seventy miles.If you march with light armor and rush for three days, you can travel [-] miles in one day. If you attack quickly with light cavalry, you can gallop three hundred miles day and night. You need to bring more horses, and it cannot be long. If the cavalry rushes for three days, the soldiers will be exhausted and the horses will die.Of course, it would definitely be faster to press the soldiers, but the soldiers are too tired and will not be able to fight even if they arrive on the battlefield.

"We don't have enough horses. If Shaanxi produces good horses, the land battle will not be a good one." Xie Gubai said, "It is best to go north again."

"Ship battles are more dangerous than land battles." Ji Shaoguang said, "There is no way to move around on the river, and it is not easy to ambush. Once the battle is over, it will be gone."

Zheng Baodao: "After passing Yinghu Lake, the river becomes narrow and it is difficult for the three five-tooth warships to move. However, it is the flood season and it has rained heavily in the past few days. It is OK for the small boats to get up."

"After taking Jinzhou, send spies to check Yinghu Lake. If there is a fleet, we will disembark from Jinzhou and go straight to Hanzhong, ambush the pursuers halfway." Xie Gubai said, "If there is no fleet, we will pretend to leave. Overland, wait for the news to come back. The other party thought that we were going straight to Hanzhong, so we abandoned the Wuya warship and took a small boat to take the waterway. By the time they turned back in vain, we had almost arrived at Shiquan. Shiquan is more than [-] miles away from Hanzhong, and we can attack in three days. , we can also go to Hanzhong along the water route, or we can divide our troops into two routes, one by water and one by land, one way to lure the enemy, and the other the main attack to attack Hanzhong."

"Yinghu Lake has a curved path and mountains, which makes it difficult to explore." Zheng Baodao said, "We need to go deeper. I am familiar with the nearby waterways. Let me go and investigate."

The current plan has been decided, three warships are the main force, one is for Xie Gubai and Zhu Menshang to command, one for Shen Weichen, Gu Qingshang and Xia Lijun is to be assisted and commanded by Miao Ziyi, and one is for Ji Shaoguang to lead.

The closer he got to Jinzhou, the more nervous Shen Weichen became.Not only Shen Weichen, but also Gu Qingshang was worried.Although the two of them had participated in Peng Xiaobei's robbery of Yan Xuting in Tianshui, it was a war between horse bandits and bodyguard disciples. At that time, they had no time to think deeply. They only rushed into the battle with the energy to save people. Although it was dangerous, it was nothing more. A fight of hundreds of people.

But now that I have so much free time, I am actually very nervous. At stake is the future of thousands of people and even the two sects of Qingcheng and Hengshan.

Seeing that Xia Lijun was motionless, Shen Weichen asked, "Sister Xia, aren't you nervous?"

Xia Lijun puffed up his chest and said, "I have nothing to fear when I am with the eldest lady, and I will die a worthy death for the eldest lady."

"People like her are also very good. If you have a thought in your heart, you will never regret it." Shen Weichen thought and looked at Gu Qingshang. Gu Qingshang wanted to go with her. The two nodded and understood, and walked to Xia Lijun at the same time. before.Shen Weichen stretched out his hand and said: "I will not die easily. You should also take care and be careful."

Gu Qingshang also stretched out his hand, put it on Shen Weichen's hand, and said: "Let's kill the enemy together and come back together."

Xia Lijun glanced at her but didn't reach out. He just said: "I will protect the eldest lady."

Seeing her stern expression, Gu Qingshang was immediately discouraged: "You're ignoring me?"

Xia Lijun looked at Gu Qingshang and said seriously: "If you are in danger, I will save you, but I will still give priority to the eldest lady."

Gu Qingshang smiled and said, "That's fine."

After leaving the mouth of Sancha River, Xie Gubai left three ships to attack the garrison at Sanchakou. Sure enough, seeing the huge force of Qingcheng's army, the garrison abandoned their ships and fled. Qingcheng burned all the ships at the dock and followed suit.

The ship speeds towards Jinzhou. Shen Weichen and Gu Qingshang put on gold silk leather armor, pulled up their hair and tied it tightly. Gu Qingshang wore a sword, and Shen Weichen had an Emei thorn inserted into his waist and a Tang sword tied around his back. They carried the gift from their father on their backs. The first time I went out I brought a moon-shooting bow with a barrel of arrows in each bow.

Gu Qingshang said with a smile: "My sister has so many weapons, but she still needs two axes." Shen Weichen knew that she was thinking of the past on the Han River last year, so he just smiled and boarded the bow of the ship with Gu Qingshang, Xia Lijun, and Miao Ziyi.

This fashion was at Mao hour, the sky was dark, and the boats were heaving and swaying. Except for the light of the stars and moonlight and the torches, it was dark, with only the sound of water and the shouting sound of oars.

Suddenly, light was seen further away, at one o'clock, two o'clock, more than ten o'clock, dozens of o'clock, and it gradually became brighter.

Is it an enemy ship?
In a blink of an eye, the light reached hundreds of points, and the dawn began to appear in the east. Hundreds of firelights dimly crossed the entire river.Are there so many enemy ships?Shen Weichen was frightened, and suddenly felt his palms getting cold. Gu Qingshang was holding her hand, and his palms were covered with sweat.

Xia Lijun stared straight ahead. She had the lowest martial arts skills, but was the calmest. Perhaps because in her heart, Shen Weichen was more important than defeating this battle, so her job was very simple.

Hundreds of ships. Unexpectedly, there were one hundred twenty or thirty ships strewn across the river. Although there was no such huge thing as the Five-Tooth Warship, there were still dozens of large ships, dozens of medium-sized ships, and seventy or eighty small boats. There were more ships than our own, rushing towards the Qingcheng fleet.

Miao Ziyi was shocked: "So many?"

Gu Qingshang asked Miao Ziyi: "What should we do now?"

Miao Ziyi said: "Logically, you should shoot the opponent down first."

Gu Qingshang said: "Then let's shoot the arrow."

Shen Weichen said: "Hold on, Mr. Xie hasn't given the order yet."

Miao Ziyi said anxiously: "We are also the main ship. We cannot just listen to Mr. Xie's orders. We also have to make our own decisions."

Shen Weichen said: "Wait a while."

On another five-tooth warship, Zhu Menshang scolded his mother: "Fuck! Fuck you!" He then asked Xie Gubai, "What should I do now?"

Xie Gubai looked from a distance, pondered for a moment, and heard the horn sounding on Ji Shaoguang's ship, ordering arrows to be fired.

Xie Gubai ordered: "Don't shoot arrows, order an assault."

Zhu Menshang was surprised: "Assault? Didn't you shoot the arrow first?"

Xie Gubai said: "This is a bluff. They have ships but no soldiers. They want to consume our bows and arrows. If we force them in, we will know which ship has soldiers and which ship has no soldiers."

Zhu Menshang asked: "How do you know?"

Xie Gubai said: "Too many. If there are really so many boat disciples, we can fight at Yinghu Lake. There are many shelters there and the hinterland is so big that we can be trapped. Why fight on the river?"

Zhu Menshang said: "Maybe the other idiot didn't expect this."

Xie Gubai said: "If you are really such a fool, it won't be too late to wait for them to shoot arrows and then fight back."

When Ji Shaoguang heard the order, he couldn't help but stamp his feet. Mr. Xie was really talking about war on paper. Why did he give the order to charge at this moment?There is no cover from the rain of arrows, so why not use it as an arrow target?However, the main ship had to listen to the orders and had to order the charge.

The order was sounded, and the ships in front charged upstream. The fleets on both sides were approaching, and arrows rained down. The disciples in front held shields to block them, but they were sparsely scattered.Ji Shaoguang was stunned for a moment, and then he suddenly realized: "Is the empty ship a bluff?" But that's not right. He is also a person who is accustomed to traveling by water. The draft of an empty ship is definitely different from that of a fully loaded ship. Look at the draft of these ships, shouldn't they be empty ships? Nor will he give orders to release arrows easily.

"They piled sandbags in the boat. This is an expert deceiving an expert." Xie Gubai said, "They plan to use the boat to block the waterway. They must rush over first to disrupt the formation."

Sure enough, when the two armies handed over, dozens of ships in front saw the enemy rushing towards them. The people on board cut off the sail ropes and jumped over to escape. The ships lost their rudders and were blocked on the river. The first wave of Qingcheng's charging fleet was approaching and passed through. While the blockade was unimpeded, the second wave of fleets had some difficulties.

At this time, the sky was not bright yet, so it was difficult to see clearly. Only the sound of killing could be heard, and the first wave of fleets had already caught up with the enemy.Xie Gubai ordered to prepare for stone throwing. Zhu Menshang said: "It's not fully dawn yet. I don't know which boats have people on them and which ones have no people. Where to hit?" Xie Gubai said: "Shoot the boats in the middle. The river is narrow. , the ship is crossing the river blocking the road, the small boat can get by, but the big ship can't. He wants to stop us, cut us in half, and consume our strength bit by bit."

There were three catapults on the Wuya warships, and one on the large warships. Xie Gubering arrived immediately and smashed the ships in the middle of the river that were supposed to block the river into pieces of wood, and immediately opened a way. Although the first wave was blocked, the third wave has sailed smoothly.

At this time, the sky was getting bright and the vision was gradually clearing. Xie Gubai said: "Set the arrows and pick the ships with the arrows to fight back."

The 88 ships rushed upstream according to Xie Gubai's command, with loud killing sounds and arrows raining down.Several waves of fleets came to support them, and sure enough, although there were many enemy ships, many of the ships were only equipped with helmsmen and a few rowing disciples, not even archers. Seeing the enemy approaching, they immediately abandoned the ship and fled. The Huashan disciples originally planned to abandon the ship. They blocked the Qingcheng fleet across the river, and then fought in batches. Unexpectedly, they were discovered, and a large number of Qingcheng disciples rushed up. These people were outnumbered, either dead or injured, or jumped into the water to escape. After another half an hour, the mast of the enemy ship was already there. Broken.

Seeing that there was no obstruction on the river, Xie Gubai ordered to retaliate by throwing rocks at the ships that were still shooting arrows. Not long after, three more enemy ships sank.

Suddenly, there was a "plop" sound, and a huge column of water splashed up next to Xie Gubai's main boat, covering Xie Gubai's body.It was the opponent's catapult. Although the opponent did not have a five-toothed warship, there were dozens of large ships equipped with catapults.

Xie Gubai's body became cold, he trembled, and said: "It's not polite to come but not to go." He ordered a counterattack.

Zhu Menshang saw that Xie Gubai was soaked and said hurriedly: "Go and change into dry clothes quickly. Don't catch a cold."

Xie Gubai smiled bitterly: "Can I separate now?"

While he was talking, the warship had already passed the wreckage of the broken ship. Three or four ships approached the Five-Tooth warship, but they were all sunk by the warship's shooting pole.More than ten small boats were approaching, and Zhu Menshang asked strangely: "What are you doing, picking on us?"

With a "swish" sound, a sharp arrow barely missed Xie Gubai's side. Zhu Menshang was so frightened that he hurriedly ducked down and shouted: "Hide! Hide! If I get hurt again, I won't be able to save him." you!"

Xie Gubai frowned: "Is they targeting me?"

Sure enough, not long after the battle ahead, the opponent's ship broke through the encirclement along the current and rushed towards Xie Gubai's warship.

Zhu Menshang said: "Are you really coming for us?"

Xie Gubai said: "Order the ships to disperse!"

Zhu Menshang said in surprise: "Isn't this giving way to them?"

Xie Gubai ignored him and ordered the ships to disperse. Suddenly, the middle road opened wide. Dozens of small boats and seven or eight large ships rushed down the river and rushed towards Xie Gubai's ship.

"They knew they couldn't beat them, so they wanted to drag one of our three big boats down the river to be buried with them." Xie Gubai said, "We were picked up."

As he spoke, the warship was surrounded by more than a dozen enemy ships, large and small. The warship could not hit it with its pole, and it was even harder for the catapult to get close. Immediately, hooks and planks were grabbed one after another, and many Huashan disciples had climbed onto the ship to fight with them. Qingcheng disciples fight.Zhu Menshang said anxiously: "You know this, but you still let them come here?!"

Xie Gubai gave another order to gather the ships and surround the enemy team, saying: "Now you can know which ships have enemies on them and which ones have no enemies without checking."

In a water battle on a river, although going with the current is faster, going against the wind and current is actually the most advantageous. Because of the going with the wind and the current, although the advance is extremely fast, there is no retreat. If you make a slight mistake, you will fall into the enemy's formation. It will be difficult to turn back. The opponent's ships will be trapped in the moment. central.

Even so, Xie Gubai used his own ship as bait and was surrounded. The situation now became that the Qingcheng ships surrounded the Huashan ships, and the Huashan ships surrounded Xie Gubai's warships. The Qingcheng ships were rescued urgently, and the Huashan ships Attack more urgently.

Xie Gubai saw arrows raining down around him and hurriedly lowered his head.Zhu Menshang said: "Go inside to avoid the arrows! Not to mention getting hit by the arrows, falling into the water will kill you half of your life!"

Xie Gubai nodded and suddenly couldn't help coughing.Zhu Menshang said: "Go and change into dry clothes, it's none of your business!" He didn't care whether Xie Gubai answered or not, and pulled him towards the cabin.

Suddenly, a man jumped out and slashed with a knife. Zhu Menshang was so frightened that he pushed Xie Gubai to the edge of the observation deck, making a loud noise.It turned out that a Huashan disciple broke out with his strong martial arts skills and climbed up the ship. The others either did not pay attention, were unable to stop him, or had no time to care, so he broke into the bow of the ship.

The disciple's sword failed and he turned around to chop Xie Gubai. The disciples guarding Xie Gubai behind him quickly rushed to grab him and were killed by him one by one.Zhu Menshang took out a three-foot needle to save him. With his martial arts skills, he had to deal with such a master who could break out of the encirclement. He just narrowly avoided the first blow and was kicked against the side of the ship. He screamed in pain.The Huashan disciple went to look for Xie Gubai again. Xie Gubai rolled away on the ground. Just as the disciple was about to strike, a cold light flew through his chest. Without stopping, he took him a few steps away and left the boat. Fell upstairs.

Xie Gubai knew without looking that it was Shen Weichen's Sheyue.

Zhu Menshang pulled Xie Gubai and said, "Damn it, you're going to die if you don't hide!" and dragged him into the cabin.

On the other side, the five-toothed ship where Shen Weichen was was approaching. The disciples on the ship either held bows and arrows or held shooting poles to sink the ships surrounding Huashan one by one.Before noon, the fighting was over.There were many boats floating on the river. Xie Gubai ordered his people to collect them, saying they were useful.

"Jinzhou has been won." Xie Gubai said, "Now we are waiting for news from Boss Zheng." After saying that, he couldn't help but cough a few times.

Zhu Menshang frowned: "Let me take your pulse."

Miao Ziyi said: "Go to the river temple to pay homage. I hope Yan Feixi will not deploy heavy troops on the river, otherwise something will happen."

"It's not easy to take Bazhong." Xie Gubai gasped, "Even if they really take Bazhong, they have to go through Guang'an to get to Qingcheng. Yan Feixi is likely to have all his troops in Qingcheng. It will be difficult to get back to Qingcheng." Ten thousand troops are on the Han River, not to mention there are soldiers stationed in Hanzhong. I am taking a risk, but it is not reckless."

"Okay, I know you are powerful, just take it easy and don't get out of breath." Zhu Menshang scolded.

Seeing Xie Gubai's pale face, Shen Weichen said, "Mr. Xie, rest first and wait for news from Boss Zheng."

Zheng Bao led two speedboats into Yinghu Lake to investigate, but he was overjoyed when he saw no ships.Although he had a heroic character, he was still cautious when he participated in the first battle. Yinghu Lake was winding and sheltered by mountains. He went to Liushui Town and confirmed that there were no enemy ships before returning to Jinzhou.

"I have confirmed that there are no boats and no ambush." ​​Zheng Baoxi said, "The river behind Yinghu Lake is narrow, and there is no place to place a large number of boats until Hanzhong. It seems that Huashan really does not have heavy troops stationed on the Han River."

"Maybe all the heavy troops are in Hanzhong." Ji Shaoguang said, "It's just as dangerous."

"At least it's a chance." Xie Gubai said, "The news should have spread, and Huashan will soon send people to stop it. It will take time to mobilize troops. Let's pretend to take the land route to lure them, and then go to Yingzhou to Shiquan, where we will decide whether We need to make a three-day attack to catch them off guard, or lure the Hanzhong navy out by water, or use land as a bait and attack by water."

Only now did Ji Shaoguang, Miao Ziyi and others believe that this adventurous advance had a real chance of winning.

The situation in the battle to conquer Hanzhong seemed to be increasingly optimistic, but Xie Gubai... what Zhu Menshang was most worried about still happened.

Xie Gubai was too weak now. He caught a cold and his cough became more severe.Zhu Menshang reminded him that if he coughed too violently, he would lose his breath, faint, or even suffocate to death, but Zhu Menshang also knew that it was useless to persuade Gubai.

Shen Weichen came to see it, so did Gu Qingshang, and even Ji Shaoguang came.There was no room for delay at the moment, so Xie Gubai sent 500 people, mostly boatmen and workers, and a few disciples to lead the army. They walked towards the main road under the banner of Qingcheng, and the rest got on the boat.Xie Gubai took back the empty ships of the Jinzhou garrison, which not only made up for the lost ships, but also had 22 more ships than when they arrived, and 110 ships headed for Yinghu Lake.

"Recuperate more on the way to Hanzhong." When setting off, Zhu Menshang said to Gu Qingshang, "As long as you don't get shaken again and don't be tired, you should be better when you arrive at Shiquan. You go back to your ship, and Zheng Huan will take over on my ship. Lao Xie is in command, he is familiar with the Han River and will not go wrong."

The fleet sailed into Yinghu Lake. As soon as they rounded the bend, Zhu Menshang was doing acupuncture on Xie Gubai. When he heard shouts outside, Xie Gubai frowned and said, "What happened?"

Zhu Menshang ran up to the roof deck and looked from a distance. Behind the bend of the river on the right, the War Wolf Flag of Huashan Mountain was fluttering in the wind.

At least a hundred ships, no, more!Perhaps two hundred Huashan warships entered Yinghu Lake from the other end at the same time!

On the battlefield where it shouldn't be, I encountered the enemy who shouldn't be there!
On the Huashan warship, a man with a tattoo on his cheek stood at the bow of the ship, his eyes widened in surprise.

He didn't come for rescue, nor did he come to stop the Qingcheng fleet.Xie Gubai's information was correct. They all thought that the Qingcheng fleet had been driven out of Wudang long ago, so there were no heavy troops stationed on the Han River. The ships were used to transport grain and carry disciples to the rice warehouse road.They didn't expect that Qingcheng would really dare to risk going deep alone from Tianchi Ridge through three passes and come to Jinzhou as if he was going to die.

Damn it, he didn't even hear about the attack on Jinzhou on the ship.His arrival here was completely unexpected, it was just a random coincidence.

Fang Jingjiu didn't think much, and pushed the leader next to him - the eldest brother of the leader Yan, who was originally stationed in Hanzhong, but due to various coincidences came to Yingzhou with the fleet, Yan Jiuling also looked shocked.

The two fleets are gradually approaching, and the war is about to burn on the water.

(End of this chapter)