Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

It is night, the moon is dark and the wind is high.

Li San, a member of the Red Lotus Sect, was patrolling the passage in the mountainside with a torch, observing the situation outside through the arrow holes every seven or eight steps from time to time.

Directly opposite the arrow hole, the plank road looked more and more dilapidated under the moonlight, and the attack that caused heavy losses to the officers and soldiers of the imperial court and the Wulin League a few days ago was still vivid in my mind.

At that time, the leader Wei Wuji spent countless manpower to carve out such a passage, one person tall and two widths, in the hard rock. It was only through utter loyalty and brainless worship that he persisted. Now it seems that the leader is really wise to the extreme. This passage in the rock is stronger than any fortress. Through the arrow holes in the passage, you can shoot crossbow arrows to the opposite side. In any corner, while the arrow holes in the shape of a trumpet, which are large outside and small inside, not only ensure the line of sight, but also make it almost impossible for the people on the opposite side to hit the Red Lotus Sect members hidden in the mountain road.

With such an impenetrable line of defense guarding the plank road opposite, it would be extremely difficult for non-members of my sect to pass through.

Looking at the light crossbows placed against the wall beside the arrow holes, and boxes of crossbow arrows neatly stacked, Li San thought proudly, maybe those lackeys of the imperial court passed Qianzong Forest and Baihua Gorge by luck, but they must Can't get past this line of defense.

He yawned, endured the drowsiness and continued to patrol, and it would be dawn in two hours, and they successfully dragged on for another night, the young master said, the longer the delay, the more exhausting the lackeys of the court would be. As long as it can be dragged on, the victory will definitely belong to the Red Lotus Sect.

Suddenly, Li San seemed to hear some strange noises. He pricked up his ears nervously, and put his face on an arrow hole to see what happened. Although his vision would be somewhat obstructed, it was enough for him to see clearly the plank road opposite. The situation above - there is nothing there.

Li San listened carefully for a while, only the sound of the roaring water from the mountain stream below the cliff, the ubiquitous crickets and frogs, and the occasional cry of night owls, just like every night before.He gradually relaxed, thinking that maybe a squirrel or a monkey climbed up the cliff.

Just when he was thinking this way, he suddenly heard a whistling, and then a mass of black things flew in from the arrow hole he had just looked out for, and it slammed into his face, making his nose and mouth full of smears. , I can't even open my eyes.

Li San couldn't even catch his breath. He frantically wiped his face with his sleeve and found that it was just a thick lump of mud. He quickly grabbed the bamboo whistle hanging around his neck to sound the signal for help, but another A cloud of mud whizzed towards him, and his head and face and the blowhole of the whistle were completely covered with mud.

Just when Li San was confused by this sudden situation, whistles calling for help came from several other sentries intermittently, and more than a dozen arrow holes in this section of the passage were continuously smashed by such a mass of mud at the same time. Some windows were too small to be smashed, so they squeezed the mud into them in lumps, and after a while, all the arrow holes were covered with mud.

A few days ago, when Zhang Chi looked at those deadly arrow holes and thought hard, Lu Zhiqian's sentence "unless the arrow holes on the opposite side are blocked" suddenly inspired him. , but those arrow holes are too small but also a fatal weakness. They can't stick their heads out and can't see the situation under their noses. It is not a problem to find some people in the arena and tough guys in the army who are skilled enough to climb up.

What about after climbing up?It is of course impossible to kill the person inside through the arrow hole that is as small as a fist, and it is too passive. Zhang Chi remembered that he had seen the soil in a nearby wetland that was suitable for firing pottery. Although it is not high-quality pottery clay, the things they burned were not intended to be used for good purposes, so Zhang Chi, who knows everything, led the soldiers to burn hundreds of pottery clay pots with the earth method. The jars are filled with the kind of clay that can be used to burn pottery, so that people who are not afraid of dirt and are good at mountain climbing climb up to the cliff with clay pots on their backs, and stuff the clay into the arrow holes to kill them.

This is Zhang Chi's first plan - to block the arrow holes.

***

Wei Fantian is meditating in the inner city of Yinyue Palace to adjust his breath. His power has recovered almost [-]%. In order to restore the full state as soon as possible to resist the invading enemy, he often spends sleepless nights lately to force poison.

"Young Master! It's not good!" A congregation suddenly ran over yelling, and startled Wei Fantian, who hadn't relaxed for a moment. He almost lost his true energy and turned into a madman. What!"

"They're attacking!"

"What's so strange about this, let the people in the passage fire their crossbow arrows with all their strength, just to block them."

"But, but..."

"Don't hesitate, what happened?"

So the congregation hesitantly explained the situation to him, Wei Fantian frowned after hearing this.

To actually think of covering the arrow holes in the passage with mud, this kind of nonsense is nothing like what Lu Zhiqian, who is known for his rigorous military management, can do.

He didn't dare to take it lightly, and immediately stood up and ordered: "Immediately call everyone to defend the plank road, and find another group of people to bring shovels, and dig up the places he blocked as soon as possible!"

The people of the Red Lotus Sect acted quickly.

The plank road was nearly a mile long, and now the elite soldiers ready to go from the imperial court were standing on the plank road two by one, waiting for the people on the opposite cliff to block the arrow holes before continuing to move forward.

The work of plugging the arrow holes is still being carried out step by step, but the Red Lotus Sect can't do anything about it -- some people want to pierce the blocked arrow holes, but there is too much soil stuffed in from the arrow holes Now, there was so much semi-muddy mud that people didn't even have a place to stand, and the section at the end of the passage was almost completely filled with mud.Some people want to release poisonous bees to interfere with their actions, but the poisonous bees are blind at night and refuse to leave the nest at all.There are also people who want to let the masters of the sect go out to intercept, but there are also masters in the Wulin League. If they really fight head-to-head, the Red Lotus Cult will lose the wind, not to mention the soldiers on the plank road. Ready, whichever master dares to show up, they will definitely support with all their arrows. Compared with a few days ago, the situation has been completely reversed.

"Leave them alone, let the congregants who can't fight dig up the soil as soon as possible, and everyone else will follow me to defend the plank road." Wei Fantian ordered one by one, and sent a group of people with the best martial arts to defend the plank road above. A few rockfall points, so as not to be taken away by the masters of the Wulin League. Once the imperial army overwhelms them, pushing down the rocks can cause great damage and morale damage to them, and breaking the plank road can greatly delay the pace of the imperial officers and soldiers. The traps all over the plank road can also stop them for a long time, and other people carry hidden bows and crossbows, spread out in a fan shape, and lie in ambush at the end of the plank road, waiting for those court lackeys to pay a huge price After finally passing the plank road, they will be greeted by dense arrow rain and crazy blood slaves at the end.

As long as the timing is right, it is even possible to wipe out the opponent.

After arranging everything, Wei Fantian went to defend the rockfall point with the masters of the sect. This is the most important stronghold, and it will definitely be the place where the masters of the Wulin League will fight for.

After all the members of the Red Lotus Sect were in place, the work of the imperial officers and soldiers to block the arrow holes with soil was carried out at a distance of more than ten feet. The quick reaction snapped back, and then the officers and soldiers had no choice but to fight steadily, advancing step by step for the camp.

***

"I see, it's there." Zhang Chi, wearing the iron wolf army armor, stood at the front of the imperial army and pointed to Lu Zhigan a protrusion on the opposite mountain wall.

Although this mountain wall is as vertical as a city wall, and some places even hang upside down, it is not a real city wall after all, and some uneven places are inevitable. Some protrusions that may be used have already been chiseled by the Red Lotus Sect. The only thing left is that the bulge is bigger, and a few dense weeds have grown. It seems that even if a person stands on it, it will not fall off.

So Lu Zhigan gave an order, and the people carrying clay pots with mud backed up, and another team of people crawled over carrying firewood that had been dried in advance and soaked in oil, and set it up in a way that was not easy to fall off. On that protruding mountain wall.

Lu Zhiqian personally drew a bow and shot a rocket over there, and the fire suddenly ignited. After a while, the entire mountain wall, together with the weeds and vines that had grown on it, burned into a dazzling sea of ​​flames, and there was still strength from time to time. People from the big rivers and lakes threw the fire oil tanks prepared in advance from the opposite plank road, making the fire on the mountain wall that was already burning fiercely even more fierce.

"What are they going to do?!" Wei Fantian looked at the fire in the distance and asked in surprise.

The secret agent of the Red Lotus Sect replied: "According to reports from the congregation who went to dig the soil, they used clay to block the arrow holes. After being burned, it was as hard as a stone, and it was impossible to dig it out with ordinary tools."

"Is it just to harden the soil so that we can't dig it?" Wei Fantian said, "It must not be that simple! Let's find out!"

"Yes!"

***

On the plank road, Lu Zhiqian squinted his eyes hurt by the smoke, looked at the big fire opposite, turned his head and asked Zhang Chi beside him: "Is the stone burning red?"

Zhang Chi nodded: "It's red."

"Okay, pour water!" Lu Zhiqian gave another order, and a group of people with good internal strength raised the cans of cold mountain springs they had just received, and threw them at the red-hot mountain rocks, and the crockpots shattered When it cracked, cold spring water splashed on the stones, and some soldiers carried water dragons made of bamboo tubes, and continuously shot cold water towards the opposite cliff.

The whole mountain wall squeaked like a red-hot iron being immersed in cold water, and the steam rose for a while. When the fire was almost extinguished, there was an obvious cracking sound, and several cracks were cracked on the rocks. Tiny gaps.

Lu Zhiqian's brows were twisted into knots: "Pour it again!"

A few more buckets of water went up, and the gap seemed to be more, but the largest one was less than a finger wide.

"Uh...it's not as expected..." Zhang Chi scratched his head and smiled awkwardly.

Lu Zhiqian shook his head in disappointment: "It was just a nonsense idea, and I didn't hold out too much hope, that's all, it doesn't work, so I'll think of another way."

Many of the martial arts masters who followed closely beside the officers and soldiers of the imperial court did not know Lu Zhiqian's complete plan until this time.

"Amitabha, it's too early to give up now." Master Huiming from Shaolin Temple suddenly stood up, "Let me have a try."

As he said that, he flew up, summoned twelve points of his skill, let out a loud shout, and slammed his palm on the cracked mountain wall with all his strength.

The inner strength of Shaolin Temple has always been known for its fierceness. The back of the mountain wall was already hollow, and many small gaps were cracked under the alternation of cold and heat. When it was hit by this palm that could split mountains and rocks, it suddenly shattered, revealing a A big hole with a square meter.

"Success!" Zhang Chi exclaimed in surprise.

"Follow me!" Qin Wuqi didn't even wait until the smoke and dust cleared, he pulled out the Dragon Sword, took the lead across the mountain wall, and rushed in through the gap.

Several members of the Red Lotus Sect were about to come over with shovels and pickaxes to dig out the arrow holes, but they were stunned by this sudden change. How could they be the opponents of the owner of Jinghong Villa? A group led by Qin Wuqi A batch of martial arts masters went all the way in without hindrance like stabbing tofu with bamboo chopsticks, and they didn't even encounter any decent resistance.

Other people with weaker martial arts helped at the breach, and built a cable bridge between the plank road and the breach, so that the elite soldiers of the Iron Wolf Cavalry could completely bypass the traps and falling rocks on the plank road , directly enter the hidden moon palace from the passage.