At this time, it was late at night, the sky was dark, the night was sparse, and the four fields were dark.

It was when people were sleepy and horses were lacking, and the Taihu Lake bandits were on loose guard, which was the best time to attack.

The 3,000 elite naval officers and soldiers and tens of thousands of Jianghu disciples of various gangs in Wu County were woken up by the high-level leaders of the gangs, and they silently began to act, boarding the boat at the ferry in Xukou Town, and entering Taihu Lake to suppress the bandits.

In those years, most of the common people lacked food and suffered from night blindness, which made it impossible to see clearly in dim light. The food of the gang members was better, including eggs and liver, but only a small half of them had night blindness, and were dragged by those who could see clearly with long ropes.

Now, it's just time for the coalition forces to set off towards Taihu Lake.

The real time of war is set on the eve of dawn, the moment of dawn.

There were too many people, and there were not enough ships to transport troops.

Fortunately, the government of Gusu County had already sent people to urgently requisition five or six hundred fishing boats around Taihu Lake overnight, and requisitioned fifty large cargo ships from the merchants at the docks of Gusu City, as well as seven or eight large naval warships sent by the imperial court.

Each fishing boat can carry more than 10 people, a cargo ship can carry 100 people, and a large warship can carry up to 4 or 500 people.

Such a huge troop transport fleet can barely transport 3,000 elite soldiers of the navy army and tens of thousands of disciples of various gangs and rivers and lakes to enter Taihu Lake at one time.

Seven or eight large warships at the forefront formed a guard formation.

These ships were tall and sturdy, and the sailors were armed with bows and arrows, and they were condescendingly able to suppress the clippers of the Whale Gang with arrows, which was the most suitable for opening the way.

This was followed by fifty cargo ships and hundreds of small fishing boats, which were relatively heavy and slow, not suitable for water combat, and could only be used to transport personnel, allowing tens of thousands of Jianghu gang disciples to land on West Dongting Mountain and attack the helm of the Giant Whale Gang.

The helm of the Giant Whale Gang is on an island called "West Dongting Mountain" in the center of Qianli Taihu Lake.

Starting from the ferry port in Xukou Town, you have to walk at least more than 40 miles on the big lake, about one or two hours, to reach the island in the lake.

The surface of this Taihu Lake is not an endless water surface, but there are many lakes and reeds, like a boundless green gauze tent on the water.

Among the reeds, the channel is criss-crossed, like a huge water labyrinth.

If it's peaceful, the fishermen are fishing in the lake, and the sun rises and the sun sets, which is also extremely pleasant.

But once the water bandits gather in Taihu Lake, then this green gauze reed will become a nightmare.

Since ancient times, the plague of bandits in Taihu Lake has never been stopped.

This is also the most troublesome place for the imperial court to send troops to Taihu Lake to suppress bandits over the years.

The bandits traveled back and forth in the reeds in small clippers, advancing and retreating as if they were in a hurry, and their whereabouts were unpredictable.

If the officers and soldiers of the imperial court used large warships to enter the reeds to suppress bandits, they would often get lost, or even run aground in the reeds, and sigh at the bandits who fled quickly. The bandits just fled and did not engage them at all.

If the officers and men enter the city in small boats, they will not be able to take care of each other, and there will be few people, and it is easy for them to be besieged by bandits who are familiar with the terrain, and they will suffer heavy casualties.

Regardless of the size of the troops, suppressing bandits in Taihu Lake is a big problem.

So much so that when the officers and soldiers of Wu County heard that Taihu Lake was suppressing bandits, they often shook their heads and cowered.

And the people and fishermen from all over the Taihu Lake mentioned the Taihu Lake bandits, and they all changed color.

These bandits not only intercepted boats and plundered on Taihu Lake and various canals and waterways, but also went deep into various counties and townships to raid homes and rob houses, causing great harm.

The government records, county records, and family books around Taihu Lake all have records of water bandits, and all county governments have listed water bandits as a major disaster.

The Taihu Lake bandits have almost never been extinct, but they are large and small.

During the Taiping period, at most, a small group of dozens of water bandits flowed around, and it did not become a major disaster.

However, in the past few decades, the Giant Whale Gang has expanded very strongly, almost defeating and collecting all the large and small water bandits in Wu County, and even thousands of displaced people in various counties, gathering up to tens of thousands of water bandits, entrenched in the West Dongting Mountain in Taihu Lake.

Water bandits of this magnitude, that's incredible.

The Giant Whale Gang was entrenched in Taihu Lake, along the canals and various waterways, plundering merchants and goods, and even so strong that they dared to transfer official grain to the north from the imperial court, which had become the biggest source of trouble in Wu County.

It's not that the imperial court doesn't want to mobilize heavy troops to come and encircle and suppress this giant whale gang.

It's just that the Turks and Tibetans in the northwest have repeatedly invaded the frontier of the Western Regions, and the war is heavy, and the imperial court has gathered hundreds of thousands of main forces in hundreds of counties to garrison the border, and has fought with the Turkic and Tibetan armies for decades without winning or losing, and the stalemate has seriously consumed the national strength of the Tang Dynasty.

The battle in the northwest determines the fortunes of the country and the life and death of the nation.

In contrast, the troubles of the southern bandits are only a problem of the skin, and an internal worry.

The imperial court has always been a famous general, stationed in the northwest desert. In the vast land south of the Yangtze River, there have always been few garrisons, so that there are few generals, and only the counties are too guarded to lead the troops to guard the place, and there are no famous generals.

Every year, troops and materials are drawn from various counties to the north, and it is difficult for the local government to leave more troops to come to the south water township water bandits and thieves.

The banditry in Wu County is serious, but the other surrounding counties are not all peaceful.

The former Taishou of Wu County transferred the only thousands of elite soldiers in his county to Taihu Lake to encircle and suppress the Giant Whale Gang, but the result was that the soldiers were defeated and returned disastrously, and the county officials almost lost their confidence in suppressing the bandits.

This time, if it weren't for the new Lord Zhao Juzhen, the new Taishou of Wu County, who personally commanded the command, the four thousand elite soldiers from other counties came over, and the extremely prestigious leader of Wu County, Hanshan Zhenren, came forward in person.

The two big men have gathered the most powerful force of the local government and the gangs of all sizes in the rivers and lakes of Wu County, and I am afraid that no one dares to go to Taihu Lake alone to attack the Giant Whale Gang.

...

In addition to the personnel who stayed behind in the Medicine King Villa, the Medicine King Gang dispatched a full thousand elite disciples this time, all of whom were drawn from the third-rate realm and above the disciples of the four major branches.

Among them, many are second-rate masters, first-class masters, intermediate and senior deacons of each hall, and even pavilion keepers who have been practicing penance for ten years in the library pavilion, led by the head of each hall and the deputy hall master.

Li Jiao, Zhang Tieniu, Yang Caizhi, Qin Huihui and other four young disciples were on the same fishing boat. In addition to the blades they carried, they also carried several large cloth bags weighing hundreds of pounds of stones and placed them on the fishing boats.

Li Jiao is an inner disciple of the Alchemy Hall, and he is already cultivating in the dantian, and he is a second-rate mid-stage cultivator.

Zhang Tieniu and Qin Huihui entered the Sword Protection Hall, and Yang Caizhi entered the Internal Affairs Hall, and the three of them are still cultivating the lower dantian, and they are cultivating in the middle and late stages of the third rate.

There is a huge disparity in the status of the four people in the Medicine King Gang, and the gap is obvious.

However, they worship the same master, Li Kui, and the brothers and sisters are familiar with each other, so this night attack was arranged in the same boat to take care of each other.

Li Jiao's expression was indifferent, quite heroic, hunting in white shirts, standing on the bow of the fishing boat.

As early as a few years ago, she and her father and mother were attacked by the water bandit Ding 13 on the canal, experienced a battle of life and death, fought hard with the water bandits, and almost killed the whole family on the river.

In the past few years, she often had nightmares in the middle of the night, dreaming of bloody battles and the crazy cries of the water bandits, and woke up from the nightmare from time to time.

In order to have the opportunity to avenge this revenge in the future, she has no intention of caring for her children, and cultivates martial arts day and night.

It can be said that her psychological endurance and combat experience have surpassed most of the disciples of the same age in the Medicine King Gang.

Now that she is facing this bloody battle that is about to break out, she looks down on it.

Zhang Tieniu is quite burly and strong, holding a water oar with a pair of powerful palms, rowing the fishing boat hard.

"Bodhisattva, Immortal Venerable bless... Don't die!"

He was holding the oars, his expression was extremely nervous, his face was dull and pale, and he had a talisman tied to his wrist that his father Zhang butcher had asked for him from the Hanshan Taoist Temple for a tael of silver, and his mouth kept chattering, as if he was praying for the blessing of the immortal Buddha.

Zhang Tieniu has only joined the Medicine King Gang for five years, and he has only joined the Sword Guard Hall for three or four years.

Unexpectedly, this first time he participated in the battle of the rivers and lakes, he encountered a major battle in which tens of thousands of disciples of the rivers and lakes of Wujun County participated in the largest scale in the past hundred years.

After this battle, he didn't know if he would survive.

Yang Caizhi was also rowing, stretching his neck, looking east and west at the distant lake,

The surrounding silent lake, a black hole, is very scary. Like a man-devouring tiger opening its bloody mouth, it is like a giant whale gang of water bandits peeping, waiting for them to throw themselves into the urn.

The more Yang Caizhi wanted to be scared, he didn't dare to look at it.

However, they don't dare not look at it, what if the water bandits rush out of the darkness?

He had been looking around for a long time, and his neck was sore, but unfortunately he didn't see any unusual movement on the lake in the distance.

Yang Caizhi breathed a sigh of relief, estimating that he would only encounter water bandits in the depths of Taihu Lake, and said in a low voice to Zhang Tieniu, Qin Huihui and others: "You have a little longer eyesight, and you will fight with the Giant Whale Gang in a while, don't rush to the front, you will definitely become cannon fodder! That's all we have for our lives, don't be stupid to die!"

When Li Jiao heard Yang Caizhi's words, she couldn't help but glance back at Yang Caizhi and said, "Yang Caizhi, wait for the next fight, don't run away."

When you get on the boat, the master of the Sword Hall can say the rules, and those who escape from the battle will die! If you are caught by the senior brother of the Sword Hall, you will be beheaded when you go back. If you don't die in the hands of the water bandits, you will be ashamed to flee and die. ”

Yang Caizhi was said by Li Jiao, his face couldn't help but burn, and he muttered: "Senior Sister Li, don't look down on me so much, I'm also a hero who has been in the rivers and lakes for a few years, as for escaping!"

I mean, let's all be careful to make the 10,000-year-old ship, and wait and see how the battle is going to be good or bad, and know how to advance and retreat...... This is called a roundabout transfer, this is not an escape!

Yang Caizhi emphasized repeatedly, but he was a little unconfident and sat on the bow of the boat dejectedly.

That being said, on the battlefield, the transfer is not easy either. In case of dumplings made by the bandits, there is no way to go to heaven and earth, and it is still a dead end.

Whether he can survive this big war or not is not at all something he can say accurately in a sentence or two.

Over the years, he has tried his best to please Master Li Kui, so that he can become a disciple of the Internal Affairs Hall. As a result, less than a few years after entering the Internal Affairs Hall, he encountered such a big war.

Yang Caizhi was extremely depressed at this time, and suddenly envied Su Chen and Kong Xinqiao.

Su Chen and Kong Xinqiao were the first to be eliminated by the master, and both joined the Miscellaneous Service Hall.

Most of the disciples of the Miscellaneous Service Hall are too low in cultivation and martial arts, and according to the practice of the Medicine King Gang, the disciples of the Miscellaneous Service Hall are never called to participate in the battles of the rivers and lakes, they are only responsible for the supply of grain and grass.

Knowing that there was today's war, Yang Caizhi also wanted to fight for being a disciple of the Internal Affairs Hall without spending this great effort, and it was better to go to the Miscellaneous Service Hall to live a stable life.

Also, Senior Brother Wang Fugui was a disciple of the Sword Ruling Hall, but he did not come to participate in the war.

It is said that there is another major escort task, and he was sent by the hall master to call him, saying that Wang Xianling needs a first-class young master who knows medicine to protect him from being attacked by water bandits.

This is the best task that really makes Yang Caizhi envious!