On the embankment outside the north gate of Jiangling City, there was a loud roar that lasted for several hours, and the long queue of people on the road along the river gradually disappeared. The officials who stood on the gate tower and watched, each secretly breathed a sigh of relief to finally see this plague god off.
Ever since this censor/arrest envoy from the capital arrived in Jiangling, he has set off a series of huge jails in the local area; dozens of officials have been captured and executed on the grounds of colluding with monsters and thieves. People, and hundreds of others were suspended pending trial because of suspicion and involvement.
The remaining officials were even more panic-stricken because of this; after all, the Yunmeng Thieves had existed for so many years, and the secret connections they had formed with the local area could not be erased overnight. As a result, they met most of the requirements with an eye-popping burst of energy and efficiency in a short period of time.
It was just to allow Jiang Tian and his group of outsiders to be dispatched as soon as possible. Next, they all show off their magical powers and try to save themselves: those who should distance themselves from the relationship, those who should cut off their wrists, those who should find foreign aid to intercede on their behalf, those who should ask to be transferred to other places, and even those who should take office to avoid disaster...
But some people took this opportunity to sneak out of the city that had been blocked for many days and came to the port city dock outside the embankment; they couldn't wait to spread a series of news. However, as the fishing boat sailed into the reed swamp, two sparrowhawks dedicated to sending messages took off one after another.
Several fast-rowing boats suddenly appeared around the fishing boat, carrying five or six navy soldiers with short armor and narrow sleeves. They almost hit the inconspicuous fishing boat with a roof like arrows; screams and whines, followed by a series of violent movements of someone diving into the water.
However, these two released sparrowhawks have already taken advantage of the wind to fly farther and farther; passing through the endless reeds and swamps, startling a number of wild ducks, cormorants and little egrets, and passing by the hidden river branches in the green fields. and waterways, eventually disappearing completely into the swaying green horizon of the wind.
At the same time, Jiang Tian, who was supposed to go out with the army but stood at the entrance of Hao Cave, also looked up as if he was aware of it, but he only saw endless waves. The water village in front of him has been simply repaired. On the simple trestle, there are more than a dozen navy ships of various sizes gathered in secret.
As for the amateur fifth battalion, which is directly under the reserve team, and the first battalion of armored soldiers, who are all fully equipped as the left leading guard, they are carrying all the equipment and equipment, and are silently boarding the ship one by one; until the last batch of supplies and equipment are also loaded on the warship. After that, Jiang Tiancai boarded the ship and ordered the army to march.
This is also the only intact ship that the Jinghu Navy, which has just suffered a disastrous defeat, can mobilize. Then, Jiang Tian eliminated those that were too large, slow or not flexible enough to turn, and then selected these medium-sized warships of 500 to 800 stone for assault modification.
Try to remove some equipment and accessories that have been proven to be unable to function and sustain operations in Yunmeng Daze, which has crisscrossed waterways and complex branches; and reduce the weight of the hull to the maximum extent. Large-mouth muskets and rotatable artillery positions were installed on the deck to strengthen the bottom of the ship.
These include five waterwheel ships, seven transport speedboats that use both sails and oars, and three small fighting ships that are suitable for narrow waterways and are like wooden houses covered with shields on the water; hunting with half-expanded sails, full oars and water wheel turning Amidst the rushing sound, the water village was left behind in the blink of an eye.
Of course, he dared to use Pang Xun to lead most of the troops in a frontal attack, and he decisively led his troops as a surprise force to go deep into Yunmengze. The reason and reliance; it still fell on Shi Liangdong who had just been captured. As the leader of Yunmengze's foreign affairs, he knew a lot.
For example, there are several wide waterways leading to the depths of Yunmeng Ze; another example is the area where changes are occurring deep in Yunmeng Ze. What's more, according to the situation he described, there are still people in Yunmeng Ze who are constantly creating and raising aliens, which makes it even more difficult to sit back and watch.
After all, after the battle of Xingyuan Mansion, Jiang Tian didn't want to do it again. What if, as time goes on, suddenly one day a large number of abnormally hungry and thirsty aliens emerge from the Yunmeng Daze where all living creatures have been eaten, causing huge human tragedy and catastrophic consequences to the surrounding areas.
Of course, after sailing all the way here, compared to the deep and vast night, the moonlight and frosty scene of silence. In the daytime, the area around Yunmengze seems much more lively and active. As the saying goes, it is another scene of water birds flying and singing, vast smoke and clear water.
And the journey along the way was almost uneventful. The large and small waterways hidden in the large swaying reeds occasionally encountered stretches of open water; strange-shaped sandbars and rocky beaches, small shady trees and horizontally floating gray trees. Withered and dry; densely growing aquatic plants in shallow water areas.
Everything is so primitive and lush; only the occasional glimpse of the stranded and decaying shipwrecks among the water plants on the river beach shows the traces of human habitation here. However, if the boat travels for a long time, it will create another illusion, as if it has not traveled very far.
Because those large swamps and reeds are familiar, the sandbars and rocky beaches seen again and again, and the river branches that are always branching out make people feel tired and tired of repetition. If there are not enough reference objects for guidance, it is easy for people to deviate from the route or lose their bearings.
Therefore, Jiang Tian, who was sitting on the top terrace of the largest car and boat, focused more of his consciousness on the depths of the distant reeds. In that direction, Man A, who had another perspective, was walking like flying under his control; from time to time, he quietly jumped over one water pool after another.
That's right, the Han-style Armored Man summoned by him personally this time can be active in broad daylight; unlike the Headless Horseman from another time and space, he is afraid of the sun during the day and other objects that can emit strong light. But the corresponding price is the loss of the ability to freeze and the blurring of the appearance.
It takes more energy and thoughts to maintain a relatively solid body. Despite this, Kaoren, under Jiang Tian's remote control, still played a vital role as a forward scout. Because it is not a living creature, it is almost unaffected by vision and terrain.
Therefore, it was easy to take the lead along the river bank and walk in front of the fleet. In a sudden disturbance, some waterfowl were swimming around and fishing, and they also raided and killed several groups of secret sentries and patrol boats hidden deep in the reeds; no one even noticed.
Until the next moment, large and small contiguous bright spots suddenly appeared in Person A's field of vision; they represented groups of living creatures swimming underwater. Immediately afterwards, Jiang Tian, who was sitting on the rooftop terrace with his eyes closed and concentrating, suddenly opened his eyes and said loudly: "Something is coming from the northwest corner, prepare to attack."
Immediately, the sergeant beside Jiang Tian blew a sharp whistle. In an instant, the soldiers who were waiting silently on the deck and in the lower cabin heard the sound and moved to hold their weapons against the side of the ship. At the same time, the swift soldiers standing on the hanging bucket began to convey semaphores to other surrounding ships.
Immediately afterwards, the three small pointed battleships that were leading the way quickly slowed down and formed an inverted formation in the wide water ahead to cover each other. Then a row of fleets completed their war preparations one after another; starting from the vehicle and boat where Jiang Tian was on, the numbers were reported in sequence:
"Thirty-seven degrees northwest corner, preset firing range of 350 steps, gun positions one to five, ready to... fire." As a burst of rapid words fell, several gun positions on the wooden turntable were preset on the deck. Thick black smoke and fire clouds shot out one after another, and then turned into thin tracks whizzing out.
There was a loud banging sound at the opening of a water channel hundreds of steps away, splashing several thick water columns one foot high one after another; it also brought up large areas of dirty mud and white fish and shrimp. The next moment, the impact point of one of the cannonballs turned into a bright red as the water rolled.
Immediately afterwards, a huge corpse that was smashed in half appeared with blood. And this was like some kind of signal and omen. In an instant, the water channel in the distance opened and surged like a boiling cauldron; the backs of many fleeting blue-grey scales were vaguely revealed.
In an instant, fireworks erupted in succession with cannon ball shells, shotgun shells from small cannons and large-mouth muskets, as well as old-fashioned bed crossbows and large wooden single crossbows; the crossbows and long-barreled fire muskets held by the soldiers fired fiercely on the water. Come on, there will be bursts of big and small water splashes, like rain.
Even though most of them were misplaced and shot into the air, only a small part hit those in the water; but they still caused quite a tragic killing effect. Especially the center of several ball bullets, which smashed the gray scales floating in the water into pieces of rotten flesh.
Followed by shotguns fired from small cannons with handles and turntables; iron pellets as big as pigeon eggs splashed into the water, blasting those looming entities full of holes and causing them to stall and roll out of the water. When the large-mouth gun set up on the side of the ship hit the target, there was an endless scream of scales and flesh flying.
The worst effects were undoubtedly the only old-fashioned bed crossbows and wooden single crossbows on the ship; almost most of them missed the target; only a short spear-like missile hit the gray-black scale crest of a creature in the water. , after penetrating half of it, he struggled out of the water dragging a stream of blood.
At this time, through the mist of smoke that diffused between the ships, it was possible to see clearly that this was a huge pig dragon. However, its body was a bit deformed and bloated, and its head and horns were cleft like knives; its scales were The burst is unusually thick, but the speed of swimming and diving has not slowed down much.
Even after encountering the attack from the ship, they all sank to the water to avoid it, and stirred up a large area of muddy water; immediately blocking the line of sight of subsequent attacks. Immediately afterwards, Jiang Tian also heard a whine coming from the shore, and something was rushing past in groups in the grass.
The bottoms of the several small fighting ships that bore the brunt of the attack heard violent impacts and continuous scratching and scratching sounds, and began to faintly shake from side to side.
