Of the 30,000 truckloads of grain, less than 3,000 truckloads remained, and the other 20,000 truckloads of grain were all dropped in sacks filled with coarse sand.

Zhao Quan was so angry that he fainted on the spot.

The 40,000 soldiers were all red-eyed, and many men were so anxious that they even squatted on the ground and hugged their heads and cried.

They had never shed a single tear on the battlefield, but their eyes were crying at this time.

Because they know that this is life-saving food.

Even if it is sprinkled with a grain, they do not dare to turn a blind eye.

They will carefully pinch it with their rough fingers, put it to their mouth, blow off the dust on it, or put it back in the bag, or throw it in their mouth and eat it.

Only those who have really been hungry and afraid of hunger will understand the preciousness of food.

And they are just such a group of people.

They had a heavy responsibility on this trip, because the hungry people of Yancheng and Yannan were all waiting for them to transport the food back to save their lives, but they lost it.

Unfortunately, they don't know how or where the food was lost.

Each sack of grain is put into the sack by their own hands, and after it is filled, the mouth of the bag is tightened, and then the mouth of the bag is dyed with red paint, which is both a mark and a seal, for fear of being stolen and replaced.

However, it was the red paint seal that made them careless, and they only checked the red paint seal along the way, but did not check the grain in the sack.

For a moment, everyone felt helpless and hopeless.

Zhao Quan was rescued by the soldiers.

He forced the anger and anger in his heart, calmed himself down, and then called all the generals for an emergency meeting.

They quickly pinpointed the location of the food drop.

When the grain team passed through the Tuozhou boundary of Shaoshan City, it was hit by heavy fog on a section of the official road.

At that time, the fog was very large, the visibility was less than ten steps, and the coverage was active and wide, and because it was a sudden fog, it caused a lot of commotion to the grain team.

That section of the official road is next to a large lake called Wangyuan Lake.

It was about 8 o'clock in the morning, and it had just rained heavily the night before, and the mist was curling on the lake, and it was normal to float on the road.

In addition, there was no danger, the grain team passed through the fog area smoothly, and not a single car was lost, so Zhao Quan and a cadre of soldiers were just amazed as if they had seen a strange scene, and did not think about the dangerous place.

But now that the food is lost, when I think back to the fog, I can't help but feel weird.

And this is the only place where food can be lost along the way.

Because the soldiers regard food as more important than their own lives, when camping at night, even if Zhao Quan does not command, they will consciously patrol and guard, five steps, one sentry, ten steps and one post, which is more rigorous than gold, silver and jewelry.

Under such strict guard, if you want to drop more than 20,000 truckloads of grain unknowingly, even Da Luo Jinxian can hardly do it.

The most important piece of information is that there are water thieves on Wangyuan Lake.

When the grain team passed through Tuozhou, Guang Jingshuo, the envoy of Tuozhou Jiedu, told Zhao Quan that there were water thieves on Wangyuan Lake, and led 3,000 officers and soldiers to escort the grain team, but Zhao Quan politely refused.

Zhao Quan felt that there was no need, because the grain team itself was escorted by 10,000 cavalry, and the drivers of each car were also killed on the battlefield, a total of 40,000 brave soldiers, how could they be afraid of just water thieves.

Looking back now, Zhao Quan's intestines are full of regret.

felt that if it hadn't been for Tuoda and accepted Guang Jingshuo's escort, maybe with Guang Jingshuo's understanding of water thieves, he would have been able to avoid this disaster.

"General, this is a premeditated theft. A silver-armored lieutenant said with a gloomy expression.

"What do you say?" asked Zhao Quan.

"There are more than 27,000 truckloads of grain, and each cart is filled with 10 sacks, which is a total of more than 270,000 bags. If it hadn't been premeditated, how could there be such a sack for water thieves? Not to mention that the style of the sack is exactly the same as the one we use, even the hemp rope that ties the mouth and the red paint that seals it are the same. ”

"The last general dares to use the head guarantee of the item, it is definitely premeditated. The silver-armored captain gritted his steel teeth and said categorically.

Zhao Quan and all the generals nodded in agreement with solemn expressions when they heard this.

Another general frowned and said: "It took us about an hour before and after passing through the fog area, and we wanted to move more than 270,000 sacks of grain in one hour, and replace them with sacks filled with coarse sand, the scale of this group of water thieves is not small. ”

"The question is how did they do it? What a move to move more than 270,000 bags of grain, and our 40,000 soldiers were obviously all with their eyes open and driving the wagon, but not one of us noticed anything unusual during the whole process. It's weird. One of them frowned, puzzled.

"Poison, poison in the mist. ”

Zhao Quan said in a deep voice: "The fog is big, the line of sight is extremely limited, five steps away is a white expanse, although we have 40,000 people, but everyone is like blind eyes."

Water thieves only need to use the fog to poison us on a certain part of the road, such as some drugs that make people sleepy or distracted, we may only feel that we are stunned for a moment from poisoning to poisoning, because the surroundings have always been white, so even if we sleep, we will not feel that we have gone far.

But in fact, we have come a long way, and the water thieves have used this time to unknowingly change our food. ”

"Hearing the general say this, in retrospect, I did take a nap when I passed through the fog area, and almost fell off my horse. At that time, I only felt that I was squinting my eyes and nodding my head, and then patting my face to sober myself up, and I didn't take it to heart. One man said with an ugly face.

"If so, I seem to have lost my mind for a while. ”

"Me too. ”

......

Everyone's faces couldn't help but look ugly, obviously Zhao Quan's inference was right, they really fell victim to the poison of the water thieves in the process of passing through the fog area.

"General, the last general feels that this matter is not simple. ”

"Well prepared, well-planned, skillful, organized, disciplined, and powerful, not like — not like a water thief can do. ”

"If it's really a water thief, then this water thief is terrible. ”

"The last general suggested that someone should immediately send a letter back to Yancheng and report the details of the matter to the city lord. ”

A major said with a solemn expression, he suspected that the grain thief was someone else, but as soon as he was suspicious, he was so frightened that he stopped his thoughts.

Tuozhou territory, more powerful than water thieves, should only be the government.

Thinking of this, how dare he continue to speculate.

Zhao Quan nodded and said, "People have to be sent, but we also have to desperately find food." Isn't it just a gang of water thieves who have destroyed the dog's day? Order, the back team becomes the front team, turn around, and go back. ”

......

Wangyuan Lake, the big one is almost marginal.

The waterways extend in all directions, and they are all ways for water thieves to escape.

The Tuozhou government sends troops to clean up every year, but the water thieves are extremely slippery.

Now, every year after receiving the task of suppressing water thieves, they will symbolically drive a boat around Wangyuan Lake, and then go to live on various small islands in the lake for 10 days and half a month, and finally return home.

There are a total of eighteen water thieves on Wangyuan Lake.

Water thieves are both partners and competitors.

In the past half a month, the water thieves have been extremely abnormal, and they have all hid in the water village and never come out, as if there is a plague god outside the door, and they will be infected as soon as they leave the gate.

The caravan that made the passing was very unaccustomed, and they couldn't find anyone after paying the toll, and they were uneasy if they didn't pay it, for fear that the water thieves would settle accounts after the autumn.

The water thieves are quiet, but there are those who don't want to be quiet.

Zhao Quan came back with 40,000 soldiers.

He borrowed a ship from the Tuozhou government and prepared to clear the water thieves and regain the lost grain.

However, Zhao Quan was not careless, and asked the envoy of Tuozhou Jiedu to send a team of 3,000 sailors to conduct emergency training for 40,000 soldiers.

Fortunately, they are all soldiers from the south, there is a lot of water in the south, and there are not a few landlubbers, so they have a good foundation for training.

In addition, the soldiers were so anxious that their eyes were bloodshot, and they all practiced with their lives, and the five-day high-intensity training was quite effective.

However, compared with the formal naval army, the combat capability on the water is still much worse, but there is no way, you can't train for a year and a half and then look for food, if it really comes to that time, let alone food, I'm afraid you can't find a grain of.

Zhao Quan ordered the exhausted soldiers to rest for two days, and at the same time issued a warning to the Eighteen Road Water Thieves, ordering them to return the stolen grain, otherwise there would be no mercy!

The Eighteenth Route Water Thieves all shrugged off Zhao Quan's warning.

There are many islands on Wangyuan Lake, among which the eighteen largest islands are occupied by the eighteen water thieves, and they are built into a water village that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, as a nest of thieves.

A long time ago, there was no water village on Wangyuan Lake, because building a water village was equivalent to giving the government a fixed target for eradication, but the government has been inactive for more than ten years, and the water thieves are getting more and more emboldened, so they occupy the island and build a water village.

At the moment, it is convenient for Zhao Quan.

The disdain of the eighteenth road water thief, waiting for Zhao Quan's ruthless killing.

The thieves did not understand the importance of this grain in the hearts of the 40,000 soldiers, and it was a treasure that they had sacrificed their lives to take back.

In just one day, Zhao Quan led 40,000 soldiers to conquer two water villages one after another, exterminating more than 10,000 water thieves, but the losses were equally heavy, and more than 1,000 brave soldiers were lost.

Annihilating more than 10,000 people with more than 1,000 people seems to be a big victory, but it is not.

But you must know that these 40,000 soldiers are all just coming down from the battlefield to kill talents, and they are all brave and good at fighting, if they fight on the land they are good at, with the weak combat power of these water thieves, how can they dispatch 40,000 people, only need to dispatch 1,000 cavalry to easily destroy more than 10,000 people, and the battle damage must be minimal.

Therefore, more than 1,000 soldiers were lost, so that Zhao Quan was red-eyed, and the order was passed down not to accept surrender, not to be captured, and all of them were killed!

More than 5,000 sacks of grain were recovered in the two battles, as well as the food supplies, gold, silver and jewels accumulated by the two thieves.

It turns out that the grain is indeed robbed by water thieves.

Eighteen water thieves have sixteen left.

On the second day, three water villages were captured.

More than 20,000 water thieves were exterminated, and their own battle losses were 2,500.

More than 8,000 sacks of grain were recovered, as well as a large amount of supplies, gold, silver and jewelry.

There are still thirteen of the eighteen water thieves.

On the third day, five water villages were captured.

More than 50,000 water thieves were exterminated, and their own battle losses were 4,800.

More than 16,000 bags of grain were recovered, as well as a large amount of supplies, gold, silver and jewelry.

There are eight of the eighteen water thieves left.

Kill ten water thieves in three days, and leave not a single living mouth.

The remaining eight-way water thieves seemed to have just woken up from a big dream, and only then did they reflect the horror of Zhao Quan and his army.

The water thieves didn't know what the ambition of the trap was, but they knew that Zhao Quan and his army were here to kill them, the kind that would never die.

At the moment of the great enemy, the remaining eight water thieves suddenly colluded and formed an alliance.

On the fourth day, Zhao Quan and 30,000 soldiers were besieged on the lake by more than 100,000 water thieves.

The water thieves were not stupid, they did not cower in the stockade to defend it, but took the initiative to attack, chose to fight on the water they were good at, and prepared to fight Zhao Quan.

The pre-war negotiations broke up unhappily.

The water thief actually asked Zhao Quan to hand over the food and all the wealth that was cleared, so angry that Zhao Quan almost laughed.

Zhao Quan asked the water thieves to hand over the stolen grain, and the water thieves who consciously had the advantage were willing to agree.