The grass skimming boats were in front, and the rest of the boats and boats were on the left and right, and the river was blazing with fire for miles, but closer to the rear, the bright light was dotted with smoke-shrouded water, and it was all a fleet of thieves in hot pursuit.

Guang Wenlu rushed to the cabin in three or two steps and said, "Lord, I have saved Brother Luo!" ”

"Brother Luo?" Zhao Dangshi was puzzled, and then reacted, "Coach Luo?" Where is he? ”

Guang Wenlu knew that he was a little speechless when he was excited, and hurriedly changed his words: "Yes, it's Coach Luo...... "Xun Ji said, "A wheel on the left wing of Shicai picked up Luo Da from the water...... Coach Luo, he floated along the river with driftwood in his arms, escaped the search and killing of the thieves, although he was hit by two arrows, he was not in the critical situation, his life was worry-free, and he was already bandaged in the cabin. ”

Zhao Dangshi was relieved and slightly relieved, and then asked, "Is the thief's boat hooked?" ”

Guang Wenlu replied: "The thieves have eaten the main force of our battalion, and the fighting spirit is blazing, and the pursuit is very urgent!" Then he said, "Three miles ahead is the grass that connects Makou Lake and the river!" ”

Zhao Dangshi gritted his teeth and said: "If you don't enter the tiger's den and get the tiger, at the cost of hundreds of lives of my Zhao Yingerlang, this time I will definitely wipe out all this thief fleet!" ”

Makou Lake is located a few miles east of Makou Town, and is connected to the river. The lake is not deep, most of the mud shoals, the warships with a slightly deeper draft can not enter and exit, because the river and the lake are facing each other, the big river goes around a bay here, separated by a line, opposite to the shallow lake water, the river water is extremely deep, and the artemisia grass is all over the place, which is very conducive to the ambush of water warfare.

When Zhao Dangshi went out to battle as the vanguard of the decoy enemy, he had already made an agreement with Huang Degong and Lin Baoguo to fight a war of annihilation here. At present, although due to Zhao Dangshi's poor command of the water battle, he suffered heavy losses in the process of luring the enemy, fortunately, the final tactical goal was achieved, and the thief fleet that had tasted the sweetness continued to advance, and there was a great momentum that would not stop until Zhao Dangshi's fleet was completely annihilated.

Approaching the mouth of Makou Lake, the surrounding river water suddenly became turbulent, and Guang Wenlu urgently ordered the soldiers to steer and paddle hard to keep the direction right. Zhao Dangshi, who was sitting in a relatively stable grass-skimming boat, still needed to hold on to the railing so as not to stagger, but his chest and abdomen were still a little dizzy, which showed what kind of hardship the officers and men of the other small boats were in.

"Steady!" Outside the cabin, Guang Wenlu and other officers shouted, Zhao Dangshi got up with a knife, and reached outside the cabin with difficulty, when a sharp wave hit, and the grass skimmed the ship's hull and almost capsized. Through the falling waves like a curtain of rain, hundreds of feet away, the lights of the thieves' ships flickered endlessly.

"Thief fucking Huang Degong, what about people!" Zhao Dangshi looked at it with his sword, and in the wind and waves, the only thing that could be seen in the four fields was the grass swinger swaying quietly in the wind, but he didn't see the agreed friendly army.

Retreat here, there is no way back. Guang Wenlu raised his sword and shouted, and the military order was handed down, starting from the grass skimming boat, with the whistle gong and drums sounding in unison, the remaining 200 sailors of the Zhao camp began to turn the bow of the ship and put on a posture to meet the battle.

"Lord, what should I do?" The expected friendly army did not show up, and Guang Wenlu's first thought was to put it on people, seeing that the Manjiang 'thieves were gradually approaching, the young man couldn't help but panic.

"Turn the ship around and get ready for battle!" It's better to rely on others than on yourself, the matter has come to this point, Zhao Dangshi has no time to feel sorry for himself or blame others. If the plan to ambush and annihilate the thieves fails, he can only fight and retreat, retreat to the port of Makou Town again, and evacuate by land, "The big ship is in front, the small boat is behind, follow the town to kill the thief!" ”

Guang Wenlu was originally in a state of turmoil, but when he heard the words "kill thieves with this town", he regained his courage. He also shouted: "Brothers, grab the knife and protect the red book, the lord is going to take us to kill the thief!" ”

A reminder, the officers and soldiers of the Zhao battalion around them seem to be empowered, they were originally holding a breath of anger and depression because of the damage to the robe, and at this time they remembered the encouragement and teachings in the red book, and turned their eyes to look, a tall and resolute figure was standing proudly on the bow of the ship, raising a knife to meet the thief fleet, even if they couldn't see the face clearly, they also knew that this was their lord. Somehow, the blood rushed to the top, the mood was agitated, and they shouted in unison: "May the lord kill the thief!" ”

The first two shots of the Franc cannon in the bow of the grass skimming ship hit the fleet of thieves and robbers, splashing a huge splash. Four larger wheels rushed out of the waves, and more than a dozen smaller yachts followed, all fearlessly moving forward. Only a few dozen feet away from the brightly lit bandit fleet, the officers and men of the Zhao battalion all came out of the shed, solemn and firm, and everyone was ready for a bloody battle.

"My lord, please come in!" With the help of the soldiers, Guang Wenlu put on the second layer of iron armor, and one person and two armor are his standard equipment, but until the last resort of life and death, he is generally not so fully armed.

Zhao Dangshi didn't answer, there was a chaotic sound dozens of feet ahead, he thought that the front army had begun to take overboard, and when he looked at it from afar, he was surprised to see that several behemoths appeared on the river surface that was originally full of small boats.

The large ship that suddenly appeared seemed to be coming from behind the thieves, and its size was far larger than the sand boat that Zhao Dangshi had ridden before, and it was considered a bird ship with its three-masted and five-sail characteristics. These bird boats were mixed with some slightly smaller boats, and they clashed wantonly together, and the thieves and boats in front of them were scattered.

At this time, the grass around Zhao Dangshi seemed to have come out of nowhere, and he sailed out of countless Cangshan ships more quickly, and quickly interspersed into the sequence of Zhao Ying's fleet. Cangshan boat, commonly known as "Cangshan Iron", is also a small boat, equipped with an oar, the wind is smooth, the sail is smooth, the wind is swinging, light and dexterous. The Cangshan ship, the bird boat, and the Zimu boat are all standard warships of the Wuchang Prefecture official army and navy, which are much better than the various miscellaneous warships assigned to Zhao Dangshi. As soon as these kinds of ships appeared, Zhao Dangshi understood after the initial suspicion that the situation had turned around tonight.

"Brother Zhao has been waiting for a long time!" A Cangshan boat approached the grass skimming boat, and the general on board shouted hello.

Zhao Dangshi raised the torch and looked closely, but the person who came was not Huang Degong, so he said: "Brother Huang came at the right time!" ”

Huang Degong was agile, jumped on the grass skimming boat, and said: "Not long ago, a thief wanted to steal my Makou Town military camp, and Huang temporarily withdrew to drive it away, so it was delayed. And pointed, "Lao Lin is on the bird boat opposite." Thieves are in the middle of the road, and there is a dead end! ”

Looking around the vast river, the bandit fleet, which was already scattered on the river, was now shattered in formation under the impact of the big ships of the official army, and its advance and retreat were lost. The officers and men on the big ships were condescending and constantly projected plough darts, double whisker darts, single dart guns, and iron arrows, together with bird guns, poison darts, pyrotechnic paper darts, umbrella barrels, and nine dragon boxes, and other firearms to strike in turn. And those Cangshan boats that broke the waves and charged formed several formations to run through the thief fleet, and took the initiative to get close to the side of the hand-to-hand combat. The officers and men on board the ship, armed with iron sickles, penny guns, fishing hooks, and dovetail cards, first hooked the thief ship so that it could not escape, and then hooked and broke the rope of the thief ship or directly hooked and killed the thief. Some Cangshan ships went around to the side and attacked them with artillery such as Baizi Gun and Franc Machine, and continued to eat away at the lone thief ships with local numerical superiority.

Zhao Dangshi observed for a while and understood Huang Degong's combat ideas. That is, let Lin Baoguo lead a large ship and a huge ship across the river, break up the thief formation, suppress the thief's momentum, cut off the thief's retreat, and then send the Cangshan ship to cover and kill, and completely annihilate the thief fleet in close combat. Now it seems that the opportunity is quite good, and the bandit fleet that is bent on pursuing has completely lost the ability to resist, and Huang Degong's good battle is not in vain.

"The thieves are frightened, and I am willing to capture the head of the thief for the lord, and be ashamed of the children in my camp!" Guang Wenlu, who was fully clothed, immediately asked for battle, and his sharp eyes found the ship of Niu Youyong, the master of the thieves in the chaotic thief fleet.

Huang Degong said with a smile: "This brother looks extraordinary, and looks at him and Huang's subordinates, who catches the thief first." ”

Zhao Dangshi nodded and said to Guang Wenlu: "Whether you can hold the thief ditch or not, be careful." ”

Guang Wenlu was in armor, unable to salute fully, and loudly promised to leave. After a while, I saw a yacht put down from the grass skimming boat, carrying Guang Wenlu and Zhao Ying's warriors at a high speed.

At the same time, Niu Youyong, the master of the thieves, was looking for a chance to escape from the seven or eight warlike net shuttle boats on the left and right. However, after the river estuary, the river channel suddenly narrowed, and several large ships of the official army happened to block the place to the full, impermeable to the wind. Not to mention the net shuttle boat, I am afraid that even water rats will be difficult to swim through.

Niu Youyong knew that the defeat was decided, he was angry and anxious, and all he was thinking about at the moment was how to escape, he looked around, slashed on the deck, and shouted: "Go to the lake for Lao Tzu!" "The initiative on the river cannot be taken back, even if it is lucky enough to squeeze through the gap between the official and military ships, there is a chance that it will have to catch up in the future. Therefore, he changed his mind and wanted to rush from the mouth of the river into the shallow Makou Lake with all his might, so that the draft alone could block most of the official and military warships for him, and then abandon the ship and go ashore and escape by land.

"Master Niu, look there!" Niu Youyong was still directing the left and right net shuttle boats to line up in a small formation to cover, and some cronies urgently called for instructions.

"His grandmother's, what's it?"

"There is an official and military yacht that is approaching our ship with only three hulls!" The cronies are scattered.

"What?" Niu Youyong glanced at it, and saw that a boat was flying from the countless chaotic ships that were moving or capsizing, and it seemed to break the waves and move quickly. An officer at the bow of the ship was holding a sharp knife, and the armor was layered and wrapped like an iron can, which was awe-inspiring.

Niu Youyong was afraid of being entangled, and shouted: "Zhang Fan hurry up, don't catch him!" He had no intention of fighting, and he didn't care about whether the formation of the shuttle boat was set up. At the sound of the order, the sails of the net shuttle boat he was on were all opened, and the sail thief adjusted the direction of the sails in a panic, and the oarsmen began to work desperately.

Guang Wenlu looked coldly at the churning sails, his mind was empty now, and all that came to mind was the figure of the hundreds of soldiers of the Zhao Battalion who were buried at the bottom of the river and the unconscious appearance of the eldest brother Luo Wei.

"Don't want to go...... he gritted his steel teeth, stretched out his bow and arrows, his eyes were as sharp as lightning, and he shot a broad-bladed arrow with the wind. This is his housekeeping skill, and at this critical juncture, the anger in his heart does not make him impetuous, but calms him with unprecedented calm.

Niu Youyong's afterglow kept paying attention to Guang Wenlu, and when he saw him make a move, he hurriedly lowered his head to dodge, but he didn't expect that the target of the broad-bladed arrow was not him, but the straightened sail rope on the mast. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he couldn't have imagined that anyone in this world could stand on the undulating bow of a ship in such a dim and noisy environment, and shoot an arrow through the strings nearly three hull away.

The broken sail mast fell weakly, Niu Youyong raised his hand to lift the corner of the canvas, and another net shuttle boat had already approached and tried to pick him up. But Guang Wenlu was determined to win, and without hesitation, he raised his hand and shot three arrows in a row, and the arrows were not missing, shooting the three thieves in the front row of the net shuttle boat into the river.

Niu Youyong was shocked when he saw this, for fear that he would be shot to death, so he turned around and ran to the cabin, and just before arriving at the hatch, Guang Wenlu's yacht had already hit the side of the net shuttle ship. Although the yacht is smaller than the net shuttle boat, it can be extremely fierce, the two boats collide, the net shuttle boat hull tilts violently, and Niu Youyong involuntarily stumbles to the side.

Guang Wenlu carried double layers of heavy armor, struggled to climb the net shuttle boat, chopped over the famous thief with one sword, and killed him to the middle of the deck. The five Zhao Ying warriors he brought with him were also pretentious and boarded the ship one after another. These warriors, all dressed in heavy armor and armed with double-edged heavy axes, opened and united as one, and the thieves of the net shuttle boat could not resist at all, and many of them panicked and scattered and dived.

Niu Youyong was heavily armoured, he didn't dare to jump into the water, standing by the side of the boat anxiously beckoning for help, Guang Wenlu walked over quickly, and every step he took caused the bow of the boat to shake. Niu Youyong was undecidable to stand, bent over and bent his knees, there was nothing to do but swing the knife desperately, Guang Wenlu took an arrow to the head, shot through his right arm holding the knife at a close distance, and took advantage of his weapon to take off his hand, pounced and overwhelmed him.

Adding a double armor to someone has a weight of 200 catties to suppress, Niu Youyong only feels that his chest is tight, and he will be suffocated, where can he resist. Guang Wenlu twisted him and called a warrior to come up and help tie Niu Youyong to a strong one. Niu Youyong still did not give up, and shouted vigorously: "Let me go, tell you all the locations of the thousand taels of gold and silver hidden in my camp!" ”

Guang Wenlu looked at him and said, "Is a thousand taels of gold and silver worth my brother's life?" "Anyway, no matter how much Ren Niu Youyong begs for mercy and temptation, he will ignore it.

The battle continued until the second half of the night, when the water was floating and the dead bodies of the shipwrecks were everywhere. Zhao Dangshi, Huang Degong and Lin Baoguo met, and Lin Baoguo said: "After the investigation, none of the thieves and thieves in the war have escaped the net, and they are either killed or captured in the dark cabin." ”

Huang Degong kicked Niu Youyong, who was sitting there with five flowers tied up, and said, "There is also this buried thing." ”

Niu Youyong whimpered a few times, but he didn't dare to speak, and he was very depressed. Zhao Dangshi asked him, "Your thief fleet tonight?" "Not counting the ones you sent out to attack Zhengang." ”

"Back to the adult, just the ......fleet of villains," Niu Youyong replied.

Zhao Dangshi saw that his eyes were dodging, and he felt that there were some clues, squatted down and grabbed his head with a blue nose and swollen face, and said: "You'd better be honest, if you still hide it, I'll give you a meal of bandao noodles here tonight!" ”

Huang Degong didn't say a word, he took Niu Youyong's hand, cut off his little finger with a dagger, looked at Niu Youyong and couldn't stop howling, and said fiercely: "Do you want to say it?" If I ask one more question, I will cut off your fingers more, and until I finish cutting, how many more words can you get? As he spoke, he squeezed Niu Youyong's severed finger again.

Niu Youyong suddenly felt pain, and said in a cold sweat: "The villain said, the villain said...... In addition to the villain's fleet, the battalion sent He Dazhang to attack Qizhou! As he spoke, he exclaimed.

"Qizhou?" Huang Degong put down his hand and looked at Zhao Dangshi and Lin Baoguo.

Zhao Dangshi said: "There are 1,300 people in my battalion in Qizhou, so there is no big problem. For today's plan, I will first return to Zhengang to report the battle situation of Song Junmen. "Glancing at Niu Youyong, "The thieves use both land and water, this may be a good opportunity to completely exterminate the two thieves!" ”