Nanming Engineer

Chapter 23 Hongze Lake

The commanders present were all too familiar with the smell of blood. They were veterans who had been on the battlefield and fighters with red eyes.

The commander who asked the question rushed forward, and threw off the bamboo hat covering the sentry's head, and suddenly a bloody and ferocious face was revealed. There was a deep gash on the soldier's neck, and the wound had solidified. People are already dead.

Everyone gasped, took a step back involuntarily, and looked at each other with pale faces.

It's a big deal!

The commander who pushed down the sentinel became incoherent, shaking his hands, and stammered at the crowd: "No, it's not me! It's not me! I just pushed him, I didn't do it!"

No one paid attention to him, and everyone was thinking about one thing: what happened in the Qing army barracks?

Several experienced and steady commanders looked at each other, and ran up in unison, rushing into the gate. There was no sound in the entire camp, and they rushed into the tent closest to the gate as if there was no one in it.

The tent was not big, and it was clear at a glance. It was a mess inside, and several corpses lying on the ground could be seen standing at the door. The ground was covered with blood, and the stench of vomit mixed with the pungent bloody smell almost knocked the few people who broke in. Smoked a somersault.

The conductors were all daring people, and they retreated after only one glance.

"Spread out, look at every tent." The person who withdrew said with a trembling voice.

A dozen commanders immediately dispersed and started running in the tents, shuttling between the tents.

The entire barracks was empty, there was no one alive, and there were corpses lying on the ground everywhere. All the dead were seriously injured, either their necks were wiped, or there was a hole the size of a bowl on their chest.

After a while, the commanders gathered at the gate again, all of them were pale, and some of them were timid, and they couldn't even walk steadily.

"The corpse is hard. It should have been several hours since he died. He was probably killed last night." Some people deduced that a soldier who had killed someone had an accurate judgment on such things.

"Could it be a horse thief?" Someone asked.

"Impossible. You saw it last night. The horse thief snatched the carriage and left. He never came here." Someone objected immediately.

"I saw that the supply battalion and Li Tingyu's team in the middle of the camp disappeared. Could it be that they did it?" The one who said this was a commander who had entered the center of the camp just now.

"Huh?" As soon as these words came out, the pale faces of the commanders began to turn blue. This was terrible. Like them, Li Tingyu was Liu Liangzuo's old army. The surrendered army had just surrendered. The Qing army always regarded them as As one, now that the Qing soldiers were killed, even Zuo Ling Tuhai was beheaded, and Li Tingyu disappeared again, this matter couldn't be more clear, Li Tingyu turned his back!
But what should they do?They didn't dare to rebel, what would the Qing soldiers think?Will you vent your anger on them?Thinking of this, everyone's calves began to tremble, and their necks felt chilly.

Just as more than a dozen commanders were standing on the hillside tremblingly, helpless in a daze, there was another thunderous sound of horseshoes outside the valley. It sounded like a large group of cavalry was rushing in.

The hillside is condescending, and you can see Taniguchi at a glance. It is noon now, and the sightline is very good. Everyone can see it at a glance without much effort. There are more than 100 cavalrymen rushing into the Taniguchi. Iron helmets, chain mail inside, cotton armor outside, cowhide riding boots on the feet, long knives and longbows on their waists, horses stepping on official roads, raising loess all over the sky.

The commanders felt nervous. Before they could go down the hillside, the group of cavalry rushed up with their horses and whips in full swing.

The leading knight was tall, with a pair of sharp eyes under the iron helmet, and his chain mail was dazzling under the sunlight. He was sitting on the horse, making him daunting, and the sharp-eyed one blurted out: " It's Sir Sule!"

In front of Sulele's horse gate, he saw a group of soldiers gathered at the gate, cowering and poking their heads at his party, but there was no life in the barracks. He was puzzled, and immediately shouted sharply on the horse: "The gate is heavy, you are here!" Gather, don't you know military law?"

All the commanders looked at each other, but they didn't dare to make a sound, but quietly stepped aside, revealing the dead sentinel lying at the gate.

Seeing the hard dead body, Suler's mind was like a thunderbolt, causing his body to stagger on his horse. Then he immediately unsheathed his sword like lightning and shouted loudly: "Send down the soldiers to rebel! Take them all down." !"

The well-trained cavalry following him on the horseback slope, heard Su Le's shout, immediately unsheathed their knives, snapped their arrows, and flew their horses' hooves. Trapped in the middle, the tip of the knife was shining coldly, pointing condescendingly at their heads.

These commanders are the ones whose legs are weak when they see the Qing soldiers. When they saw this battle, they became terrified, knelt down first, trembling, and shouted together: "My lord, my lord, it's not me waiting, we just came up just now!" , people are not killed by us!"

Su Le snorted coldly and said, "No? I'll see Master Zuo Ling later, let's explain to him."

The conductors looked at each other with lowered heads and pale faces, trembling even more.The leading veteran commander took a few steps boldly, squeezed the corners of his eyes, and shed a few tears, then moved his dantian, opened his mouth wide, let out a "wow" sound of painful tears, raised his head and cried, "Lord Su Le!" , Lord Zuo Ling, Lord Zuo Ling and the entire battalion of banner soldiers were all killed!"

This sound was astonishing as earth-shattering, and the Eight Banners soldiers were all astonished. They couldn't stop looking around the camp. Su Le's face changed a few times. He didn't care that the Ming soldiers who he regarded as pigs and dogs were kneeling on the ground. Leaping, turning over and jumping off the horse, grabbing his clothes with both hands, like a pair of steel clamps, tightly pinching his throat, roaring: "What did you say?!"

Commander Lao Cheng was strangled to the point of suffocation, and could hardly catch his breath. In desperation, he couldn't help but rolled his eyes and yelled wildly: "Dead! Everyone in the camp is dead, and Tuhai Zuoling is also dead. All dead!"

As if being struck by lightning, Su Le stood up abruptly, threw the old commander who was about to pass out after being strangled by him, and shouted at the cavalry who were still in a circle: "Why are you still standing there? Go in and have a look! "

The cavalrymen woke up like a dream, dismounted one after another, and rushed into the camp.

On the other side, Li Tingyu and Wang Huan arrived at Hongze Lake at dawn.

The time coincided with the rising of the sun, and the golden rays reflected on the thousands of miles of blue waves, and the scenery was infinite. There was a layer of milk-colored mist looming over the water, and the sun shone, drifting away without a trace.The water on the lake is clear, the breeze is blowing, the sound of the water is surging, the fish are jumping and the waves are rolling, and there are fishermen who get up early and go boating on the water. The reflection of the boats in the water is exactly the same as the lake scenery. It is refreshing.

Wang Huan and the others couldn't help but stare dumbfounded. They couldn't help but stop at the shore and enjoy such a beautiful view.

"It is indeed Hongze Lake, which is three thousand miles away. The beauty of this beautiful day is really not covered!" Li Tingyu praised it.

Wang Huan was also moved with emotion, and blurted out: "Bianzhou Feiyue took advantage of the empty space, and the lake was slanted to red at sunset, crossing the shallow sand at night to frighten the birds, and walking on the willow banks at dawn to see snowflakes."

The eyes of Li Tingyu and the group of big soldiers and young monks standing beside the two of them lit up. Even though they didn't understand poetry, they could still tell that this was a poem praising the beauty of the lake. The unspeakable artistic conception scratched everyone's itches, so they cheered in unison.

Li Tingyu raised his thumb and laughed loudly: "You are indeed my counselor. You can compose poems and recite lyrics in an instant. Your literary talent is so good, and this poem is also well done. You literati are so good, and you are all pretending in your head." article."

Everyone praised again, and they all followed Li Tingyu's example and raised their thumbs.

Old Wang Huan blushed and sweated furiously. This was a poem written by Marshal Chen Yi when he passed Hongze Lake. He was as thick-skinned as a city wall, and he was also a little embarrassed.Moreover, this poem was written about the evening scene of the sunset. The sun has not fully risen at this time, and it is too wrong to read it. People with real literary talents will feel that there is a problem when they hear it.

Wang Huan quickly gave a pretentious smile and changed the subject: "Master Li, this scene is a beautiful scene, but it is not a good time."

Li Tingyu patted his head and suddenly said: "That's right, I was so focused on looking at the scenery that I almost forgot the business."

He set up a canopy with his hands and looked towards the lake. After looking at it for a while, he seemed to see something. He grinned at the corner of his mouth, pointed to the lake and said, "Tell Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here, look, it's right there."

In the direction pointed by the big hand, a string of black dots is slowly appearing at the intersection of water and sky on the lake. Because the distance is too far, if Li Tingyu's eyesight is different from ordinary people, and he can look far away, he would not have found such a dot in the direction of the rising sun. String of black dots.

Li Tingyu turned around and yelled, calling out his subordinates who were hiding in the reeds on the bank, and swiftly lit the reeds that had been cut and piled together, and suddenly a puff of black smoke rose from the ground, straight into the sky like wolf smoke, and the smoke column was thick And straight, you can see it from a long distance.

The black spot on the lake also seems to have discovered the black smoke here, and began to move towards here, slowly approaching, and after a bag of smoke, the black spot began to gradually become larger, gradually discernible to the human eye, and the outline became more and more blurred. The clearer it is, the appearance of the ship emerges.

Li Tingyu and Wang Huan stood on the shore, staring closely at the ships in the distance, from small black spots to bigger and bigger, after another quarter of an hour, the fleet approached the shore not far away .

"It's a water grain ship." Li Tingyu said in a deep voice, "I've seen this kind of ship on the canal, it's not wrong."

Wang Huan nodded. He also saw the appearance of the ship clearly. It was a square-headed flat-bottomed ship with a fat hull, a deep draft, and the largest load-carrying capacity among inland river ships. It was an important means of transportation in the Ming Dynasty: a water ship. .

"It seems that Ma Quan has succeeded." Wang Huan said.

On the bow of the first ship, a strong man in official uniform stood with his head held high, looking anxiously at the shore. Beside him, stood an official in Qing court robes.

(End of this chapter)