The sky was overcast, and above the sea, dark clouds piled up, like rolling mountains.

Zhao Xingde was dressed in a black coat, standing on the black reef, and there was only a line of tide in the distance.

"I don't know how long it will take to wait like this?"

"We don't have anything else to do but wait." Luo Huan said in a low voice, "I can only wait." ”

"Phew! What a fucking bad luck! Zhang Jiancheng looked at the gloomy sky, and anger burst out of his chest.

If there really was a dragon king in the sky, he would rather pull out his sword, split the gloom in the sky with a single sword, and then fight this bastard for a hundred rounds. The Qingyuan battalion escorted Zhao Xingde to Leizhou. However, there was a sudden storm on the sea, and Zhao Xingde waited for five days and four nights, but he did not see a single warship of the South China Sea Naval Division. However, the military situation cannot wait. The thieves were unexpectedly swift, under the siege of 100,000 pirates, the Guangzhou regiment practiced hard support, if the South China Sea sailors did not arrive, I was afraid that not only could not completely annihilate the pirates, but buried millions of lives in Guangzhou. Zhang Jiancheng is the guard general of Xu Wenzhai and the head of the Duanzhou regiment, and the 100 people under his command are all Duanzhou soldiers. Duanzhou is only 200 miles away from Guangzhou, and everyone in the camp is anxious, wondering if their families have suffered.

The sky was getting dark, the night was as dark as lacquer, Xu Wenzhai watchtower lit a torch, and the faint light trembled in the sea breeze.

Zhao Xingde frowned, looking at the tide looming in the distance. At this time, it was already past the time for dinner in the camp, but Luo Huan, Zhang Jiancheng and others did not say anything, and everyone looked into the distance. The long silence and waiting had been more than four hours since the afternoon. Suddenly, he blinked, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle, piercing through the dark and dreary sky.

The silhouette of a black warship slowly appeared at the junction of the sky and the sea, followed by the second and third......

Zhao Xingde exhaled lightly, clenched his fists, and his palms were full of sweat.

At this time, several other generals also spotted the fleet in the distance and began to shout with joy.

Xu Wenzhai released a rocket into the sky, and the bright fireworks dragged a long trail, which was particularly obvious in the night sky.

The warships of the South China Sea Navy Division appeared one by one on the sea level in the distance, and Zhao Xingde was already able to visually identify each warship.

On the undulating seas, the ships sailed as smoothly as clocks, lowering their sails one after another as they approached the shore.

Before the flotilla had dropped anchor, two small boats were lowered, and the sailors rowed hard towards the shore. At the same time, tall warships adjusted their formations in the deep waters. There was no pause, no hesitation, the bow of the ship was unanimously to the north, and the fleet and the coastline turned from vertical to parallel, Zhao Xingde nodded with satisfaction, seeing that the boat was getting closer and closer, he turned around and walked towards the two escorting generals.

Luo Huan and Zhang Jiancheng were a little excited, the two of them knew Zhao Xingde's identity, and put down a stone in their hearts, and at the same time felt a little regretful, the South China Sea Sailor was about to go to the battlefield, and it was also the moment for the two to say goodbye to Zhao Xingde. Seeing Zhao Xingde getting closer and closer, the mood of the two suddenly became a little lost, Zhao Xingde seemed to see the thoughts of the two, and said with a smile: "The sea is rampant, the waves are not quiet, if there is a chance in the future, I am willing to kill the enemy side by side with the two!" He arched his hand and said in a deep voice, "Don't leave it at that!" ”

Zhang Jiancheng suppressed his excitement and said in a low voice: "Thank you Zhao Hou for encouragement!" ”

"The last general should fight to kill the enemy," Luo Huan also said in a low voice, "Congratulations to Mr. Zhao." ”

Zhao Xingde needs to hide his identity, so the second general just gives it away. At this time, the boat was already approaching, and the sailor jumped out of the boat in the shallow water and pushed the boat onto the beach, Zhao Xingde did not hesitate, turned around and walked towards the boat. The officer of the naval division trotted in front of Zhao Xingde, Zhao Xingde nodded to him, and together with the sailors, he pushed the boat back into the sea and sailed towards the fleet in the distance, all in silence, quiet on all sides, only the sound of the sea breeze and the tide of the sea echoed.

Soon after the boat docked on Zhao Xingde's ship, the warships of the various naval divisions set sail again without the slightest hesitation or pause.

The warship departed in a northeasterly direction, and in the gap between the black sea and the dark sky, the silhouettes of more than twenty huge ships became smaller and smaller, and gradually disappeared, as if swallowed by the dark sea. Luo Huan and Zhang Jiancheng watched the fleet of the South China Sea Navy Division leave, and after the fleet disappeared for a long time, Luo Huan let out a long breath and said in a deep voice: "I hope I can give the big cannibal a surprise." ”

…………

Thirty miles northwest of Guangzhou Zicheng, one of the eight major towns outside Guangzhou, Shimen Town.

Liuxi Xihualing, Shimen Mountain, Fenglin Ridge three mountain ranges from northeast to southwest across the river, cut out a gap of more than ten zhang in the surging Xiaobei River, the river channel here is narrow, the stones on both sides are like the door, it is the key point of the intersection of the north and the south, once the stone gate is passed, the river surface is complex and open. In the past, there were countless ships passing through Shimen, going straight down to Guangzhou, after the Haikou attacked Guangzhou in a big way, the defenders of Shimen Town had blocked the river with iron chains, and the river boats in the north no longer went south when they heard the news, so the river surface of the Xiaobei River appeared to be very empty.

A white-sailed flat-bottomed boat quietly sailed down the river more than ten miles away from Shimen Town.

Walking to a river, the two sides of the strange rocks are craggy, the woods are dense, and the branches and leaves hang down to the water. The flat-bottomed boat passed through the mixed branches and leaves, entered a river and rushed out of the backwater bay on the shore, this backwater bay is not large, can only accommodate two or three small boats to moor, but under the shelter of the reef and shore mountains, the boats on the main channel of the Xiaobei River are extremely difficult to see, it is a natural hiding place. The flat-ground boat seemed to be very familiar with the place, carefully avoiding the underwater reef and approaching the shore just right. At this time, three partridge calls were heard from the trees on the shore, and the people on the boat also replied three times. I saw the three of them bend down and get out of the woods and help the people on the boat tie the cables that had been thrown ashore. After the two sides met, they whispered for a while, and the faces of the people on the boat showed a look of disappointment, and after hesitating for a moment, they invited a middle-aged man in a green robe and explained to him in a low voice the recent situation in Guangzhou.

"Mr. Li, our brother said that Haikou is besieging Shimen Town on a large scale, and there are many checkpoints in the north of the town, and people from Guangzhou cannot get out, and people from outside cannot enter. Most of the Haikou are foreign faces, and the six relatives do not recognize him, and if Mr. Li must enter Guangzhou, my brother may not be able to guarantee the safety of Mr. Li. ”

"This place has gone deep inland," Li Rui frowned, "Is the Haikou so rampant?" ”

"The entire Guangnan and southeast bandits are besieging Guangzhou together," the military intelligence Sima Tan Lanxi shook his head and said, "They are really crazy, these pirates are each king and hegemon, this time there must be someone in charge of the matter, the target is Guangzhou, this time the pirates can be called a desperate gamble, which angered the Song court, I am afraid that they will have a hard time in the future, in the final analysis, these pirates are just a group of rabble." The momentum is surging, if it can't succeed and get huge profits, it will definitely disperse in a hurry, and even hinder each other to attack, even if the person who is planning in the middle has the hands and eyes of the sky, it is impossible to gather such a great force again. ”

Tan Lanxi was the old man of the Military Intelligence Department of Guandong Cao, and he received an order to set off from Luoyang and escort Bachelor Li to Guangzhou.

Although the military order did not say what kind of mission Master Li had, Tan Lanxi also guessed a thing or two.

Zhao Xingde was detained by the Guangzhou Zhizhou, delaying the day of the joint naval division, and the Anxi Military Division was preparing to launch an attack on the Roma Turks and Dashi in winter, and all kinds of preparations were ready to be delayed. And Li Rui is a bachelor's degree and was born in Kanto, and has old relations with Zhao Xingde, Deng Su, Chen Dong, Chen Gongju and others, so it is reasonable for him to be the envoy and go to Guangzhou on behalf of the Xia State to urge him to return to Zhao Xingde. Moreover, the envoy Xiao He was not idle in Ezhou, maybe Li Rui still had the oral messages and even handwritten letters of Chen Dong and Deng Su and others. Whether Zhao Xingde gets out of trouble safely is not only related to the battle situation at sea, but also affects the decisive battle between the Anxi Military Division and the Roma Turks. Therefore, although the Military Intelligence Department could not force Li Rui to do anything, if Li Rui was determined to enter Guangzhou through the blockade of the Haikou, no matter how much risk he took, Tan Lanxi would go all out to take him in.

Sure enough, Li Rui pondered for a moment and said resolutely: "The stakes are very high, you have to give it a try no matter what." ”

"Good!" Tan Lanxi nodded and said, "Mr. Li, wait a minute, I'll arrange everything." ”

He went to discuss with the secret stake of the Military Intelligence Department here, how to avoid the eyes and ears of the Haikou and sneak into the city of Guangzhou.

Li Rui stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the river, this place is densely forested, the branches and leaves cover the sky and the sun, although it is just past noon, the light is very dim, there is no summer afternoon heat, the scorching sun is projected through the branches and leaves to the bottom, and the fish and shrimp under the water swim back and forth. He knew that the matter of infiltrating Guangzhou was all arranged by the Military Intelligence Department, and he couldn't intervene, so he could only come and be safe, and he had nothing to do, and he also gave himself a hexagram. If this hexagram should be on oneself, it is still a bit far-fetched. But if it should be on Zhao Yuanzhi, it would be fine.

Li Rui thought about it for a long time, but she didn't have a clue, so she had to settle down and wait for the next move with peace of mind.

............

At the head of the sub-city of Guangzhou, Chen Gongju was covered with dust and stared at the almost unrecognizable outer wall of Hanhai City.

He, like the other officials, wore the clothes of an ordinary soldier. If the ships of the pirates saw that there were dignitaries and nobles at the head of the city, they would have fired artillery bombardment at this place. Although the gunners on both sides were not accurate, once they were hit by the shells, they were either killed or wounded, and the city tower was also smashed and collapsed in several places by the guns of the pirates. The artillery brought a great psychological shock to the defenders. If it weren't for the defenders' desperate defense of Haiti and Nanshi, perhaps the Haikou would have already carried their artillery ashore and collapsed a city wall. However, the fighting in the past few days has also caused heavy casualties to the defenders, and there are constant suggestions to shrink back and rely on the taller, stronger walls of the sub-city to defend against the pirates.