Chapter 364 Chapter 8: The Battle of Counterattack

Xu Ziling, Chen Liang and Liang Juzhong followed the Seventh Young Master Bu Ting and Tian Sandang to the seventh deck of the boat. The number of ships increased from six to nine, and the three new ones were presided over by Buting. They arrived just after they arrived.This shipping has a lot to do with the ups and downs of Xingchanglong. With Xu Ziling's joining, Tian Sandang made up his mind to gather all the cargo ships together and transport the accumulated salt cargo to Chang'an at one go. If the whole army is exhausted, Xing Changlong will be severely hit. Puting his eyes on the lights in the county town, he said in a deep voice, "Although I have invited senior brother, the negotiation with Jingzhaolian has finally broken down. Yang Wengan publicly declared that our fleet will never enter the customs safely."

Xu Ziling's heart was shocked, and he realized that it was Jingzhaolian, the largest gang in Guanzhong, who supported Guangshengxing. No wonder he didn't take Guanzhong Sword Sect seriously.Behind this matter should be the struggle between Li Jiancheng's Prince Clan and Li Shimin's Qin Clan, which continued to expand at different levels.And Xingchanglong was clearly at a disadvantage. Tian Sandang said: "It's so strange! If you want to do something, you only have this experience tonight, but it is reported that there is nothing wrong with the county. What is Jingzhaolian planning?"

Buting nodded in agreement, because the fleet will pass through the customs tomorrow. After entering the customs, Jingzhaolian will not dare to openly attack the fleet approved by the Tang Dynasty to supply salt goods, otherwise the Qin Palace will definitely Even the crown prince Li Jiancheng couldn't protect Yang Wenqian if he intervened in the investigation. Chen Liangdao: "Li Xiong, the second leader of Jingzhaolian, is good at water warfare. Will he intercept us in the river?" Tian Sandang said in a deep voice: "We hope they do this, because we are well prepared, and the river is wide, even if we fight hard, we will never lose much."

Xu Ziling agreed in his heart, he had a good understanding of water warfare, Xingchanglong's boats not only had good performance, they were fully fire-resistant, they also had complete offensive and defensive equipment, and the most important thing was that the boats were operated by experienced veterans.It is also because of this that Xingchanglong's strength has attracted Li Jiancheng's taboo. Buting said decisively: "The enemy will definitely not let go of this opportunity tonight. We must prepare for a tough battle." Suddenly Xu Ziling's heart moved, and he looked at Liang Juzhong, who was as silent as he was, and the cold smile that escaped from the corner of the latter's mouth happened to pass away, and he replied expressionless.

Tian Sandang suddenly asked: "What's the opinion of Mr. Liang and Mr. Mo?" Liang Juzhong said in a deep voice: "Seventh Young Master and Master Tian, ​​please don't worry, if anyone dares to violate the fleet, my brothers and I will teach them not to come or go." Buting said: "We must not be too trusting. Dare to ask Mr. Mo what he thinks?" Xu Ziling said lightly: "If we are completely passive like now, tonight will be the end of annihilation." Everyone was stunned. Liang Juzhong said in a mocking tone: "Brother Mo, don't scare people and shake people's hearts before you have grasped the whole situation."

Buting turned around and said to Xu Ziling, "Why did Teacher Mo make such a judgment?" Xu Ziling said calmly: "Assuming that I am Yang Wenqian of Jingzhaolian, I will attack the fleet with all my strength from both land and water tonight, and collect all the results of killing people and robbing ships in one fell swoop. Of course, this is far better than the unavoidable outcome of pure water warfare Everyone hurts." Tian Sandang said movedly: "Brother Mo is indeed insightful, but I don't know how to be reactive and active?" Xu Ziling smiled and said: "First of all, we must catch the traitor first, so that the enemy loses the advantage of cooperating with the outside."

Bu Ting and Tian Sandang were stunned, while Liang Juzhong showed a look of uneasiness. Chen Liang gasped and said, "Brother Mo, why do you say that there are spies of the enemy among us?" Xu Ziling calmly analyzed: "It's all because of human nature. Jingzhaolian is the largest gang in Guanzhong, and it has the support of the Prince's Department behind it. Guangshengxing is as wealthy and powerful as our Xingchanglong. The combination of the three aspects , the background is enough to be intimidating and alluring, coupled with the high reputation of people, it is a miracle that the shameless and ungrateful people will not be able to be coerced and tempted, and they will not have any disagreements."

Liang Juzhong couldn't hold back his anger at last, and said angrily, "Don't tell me you have ulterior motives. At this moment of life and death, you still want to destroy our unity?" Xu Ziling laughed in his heart, compared to his opponents such as Yang Xuyan and Houhou, this Liang Juzhong is really far behind.He smiled leisurely and said: "If this is called ulterior motives, then why did Brother Liang instruct Hu Hai to touch my background just now, aren't you afraid of destroying the unity?" The eyes of the other three fell on Liang Juzhong. Liang Juzhong's expression changed, "I'm not a spy."

Chen Liang has always been dissatisfied with Liang Juzhong's domineering style, he smiled and said: "Brother Mo didn't accuse you of being a spy, but just asked why you wanted to touch him!" Liang Juzhong took a guilty step back and said sharply, "Chen Liang, do you want to sit in my seat, that's why you joined the newcomers to slander me?" When the local looked towards Xu Ziling again, Xu Ziling's eyes flashed with lightning, and he immediately took another step back and moved closer to the boat rail near the shore. Buting said: "Teacher Liang, don't get angry. If you have a clear conscience, why don't you answer such a simple question?"

Liang Juzhong said fiercely: "Even the Seventh Young Master doesn't believe me now, what's the point of staying here, Liang Juzhong? From this moment on, I will break with Xing Changlong." When he said the last sentence, he stood up. Tian Sandang shouted: "Stop him!" Only then did Buting draw his sword out of its scabbard, Xu Ziling rushed forward with lightning, and the one who arrived first left the boat, catching up with Liang Juzhong who was jumping up. The two hit fast in the air. Liang Juzhong wasn't weak either, he blocked Xu Ziling's punch with three fingers before he pointed Xu Ziling's toe at the key point on his flank.

Xu Ziling grabbed his belt, jumped back to the sailor from the shore, threw it on the deck and said: "If we can extract the names of other party members and the enemy's plan from him, we will win a big victory tonight." The sound of the gong sounded, the lights were suddenly extinguished, and the nine sails turned their rudders and galloped at the same time, not going west against the current, but going eastward with the current.With this sudden and strange move, the enemies on the four warships lurking on the shore and upstream were panicked and didn't know what to do. Under torture to extract a confession, Liang Juzhong not only confessed three accomplices including Hu Hai, but also revealed the plan of Jingzhaolian and Guangshengxing to jointly attack.Based on this, Xu Ziling planned a counterattack. Chen Liang shouted: "Catching!" Xu Ziling still had a calm demeanor, calmly watching the four enemy ships approaching from behind, and the others all showed nervous expressions.Just by looking at the speed of the enemy ship, you can tell that the opponent is not carrying cargo, and the ship is light and fast, so it can catch up quickly. Buting said: "The one outside on the left should be the boat of Li Xiong, the deputy leader of Jingzhaolian. He is the most ostentatious person. No matter whether he takes a car or a boat, he must hang a huge flag with his turtle logo." Xu Ziling said calmly: "It's time!" Tian Santang issued an order, and the nine sailing ships were divided into three groups, two groups of two ships approached the river bank, and the remaining five ships sailed downstream in the same formation. The opponent's warship immediately blew its horn, and the enemy was seen running around on the ship, and it was a mess. Xu Ziling wanted to change himself, but he didn't know how to deal with this sudden change.When it comes to the art of war, Li Xiong shouldn't have chased him at all, his fault was that he underestimated Xing Changlong's enemy, and even thought that there was still a good way to respond, so he fell into the current passive situation. However, the enemy ships couldn't even turn around and retreat at this time. The large number of troops from the Jingzhaolian and Guangshengxing coalition forces who attacked by land had been thrown far away. Blown by the turbulent water current and the winter north wind, they fell into a tight siege in an instant, and the high speed of the ship became the reason for their defeat. The sound of gongs on Xingchanglong's ship sounded again, and the four ships on both sides of the bank fired rockets at the same time, and threw them at the sides of the two enemy ships located outside. The five ships that were moving forward also attacked at the same time, shooting arrows and throwing stones from the stern, launching a merciless counterattack against the enemy. For the four ships commanded by Li Xiong himself, the launch angles of the catapults were all aimed at attacking the targets in front of them, so they had the ability to fight back against the attacks launched by the side ships for a while, and at the same time, Xing Changlong concentrated the strength of the two ships to attack one The boats went up and down one after the other, causing him to fall into a situation where he was beaten. The rockets and rocks fell on the enemy ship like a torrential rain. The hull was immediately riddled with holes, wood chips splashed, and fire was everywhere, completely paralyzing the ability to fight back. Buting said happily: "Chase!" With the drums of war in the sky, the four boats of Xingchanglong sailed obliquely from the shore. At this time, they had become behind the enemy's taxi from the downstream, biting the stern of the enemy's ship and attacking, while the enemy was trapped in the front and back of the enemy. bad situation. The rocket was the first to show its power, especially the two warships sailing from the north bank took advantage of the wind, before the enemy's arrows approached, the rocket drew a series of shameful yellow light, and threw them on the enemy ship.In an instant, the four enemy ships were all engulfed in raging fire, without the slightest ability to fight back.As Xu Ziling expected, Xingchanglong won a complete victory. Compared with Xu Ziling's courage, intelligence, and even combat experience, Li Xiong is of course far behind, and Xu Ziling was led by the nose from the beginning to the end. Seeing the enemies jumping into the water to survive, Xing Changlong's morale was even higher, and his arrows changed to chase and kill the enemies swimming and sinking in the river. The blood made the river reddened by the fire even more blood red. The five ships in front all turned around and joined the ranks of pursuit. Although they suffered damage, they were all insignificant. Standing on the bow of the boat, Xu Ziling wondered to himself what consequences would he bring to himself by helping Xingchanglong defeat Jingzhaolian and Guangshengxing's allied forces so sharply? early morning. Kou Zhong, led by the old lady's personal maid Bao'er, came to Mr. Sha's cabin to give him a second treatment. Apart from the old lady and Bao'er, only Sha Zhijing was in the room. The noble lady handed over a rectangular copper box decorated with simple textures, and said: "These are all kinds of moxibustion needles that Mr. asked for." Kou Zhong took the copper box and sat down on the chair specially arranged for him beside the couch, seeing the old man regaining his energy, listless and dying, he was secretly startled. The old lady said worriedly: "When I got up this morning, the master's spirit has deteriorated a lot. What's the reason?" Under Sha Zhijing's beautiful eyes, how dare he talk about his illness, and said: "Old lady, don't worry, my one-finger meditation can only cure the symptoms, not the root cause. But my golden needle method will definitely eradicate the old man." ailment. Just one request." The old lady said: "Doctor Mo, please tell us that no matter how much the reward is, we will pay exactly what it is." Kou Zhong secretly thought that if he can't find Yang Gong's treasure in the future, he can change his career to be a miracle doctor who helps the world, because he will be better than opening a restaurant. Much more lucrative. Responding: "Ma'am, I misunderstood! I just want to stay in the room alone, because my golden needle method must not make any mistakes, so I don't want anyone to interfere with my concentration. Hey! Fifth Miss should understand the most, right? " The old lady nodded to show her understanding, she dragged the reluctant Sha Zhijing, and Bao'er went in and waited outside the curtain. Kou Zhongshu breathed a sigh of relief, and opened the copper box on his lap. Nine moxibustion needles were lined up in a row. Based on his martial arts practice, he quickly judged that if he uses golden needles to release zhenqi and matches them with different depths, different effects will be produced.I was secretly happy in my heart, with my own holy spirit of healing and the addition of these nine magic needles, it would surely be like a tiger with wings added, and my confidence would double immediately. After a whole night of hard thinking last night, he had already drawn up a treatment strategy for the old man, and immediately started to carry out it, busy without end. For Kou Zhong, an hour is just a snap of the fingers.But for the old lady and Sha Zhijing, it was as long as years, so when Kou Zhong called them to enter, the two of them couldn't wait to rush in. I saw Kou Zhong proudly standing beside the couch, not only did Mr. Sha on the bed look better, but he also fell asleep sweetly, snoring uncontrollably.As long as he is not blind, he can see that he has improved a lot. The old lady was really grateful, and Sha Zhijing was so surprised that her beautiful eyes widened and she was overjoyed. Kou Zhong handed the copper box back to the beauty, and said with a smile, "Next time I need it, I'll borrow it from Fifth Miss!" After speaking, he lifted the curtain and came out, the voice came back and said: "I want to go back to my room and have a good sleep, wake me up at dinner time!" The fleet traveled westward along the river and headed straight for Guanzhong. The victorious atmosphere enveloped the entire fleet. Although it was a sleepless night, everyone was excited and talked about the battle situation last night. Bu Ting invited Xu Ziling, a great hero, into the room, first said some words of gratitude, and then turned to the main topic: "In the battle last night, both Jingzhaolian and Guangshengxing suffered heavy losses. They can't recover their vitality in a short period of time, and come to embarrass us again." Xu Ziling said: "But this will definitely arouse Yang Wenqian's jealousy. For the sake of Jingzhaolian's face, he will definitely fight back." Bu Ting snorted coldly and said, "It's not that easy for him to move me. He Jingzhaolian is not easy to mess with. Could it be that my Guanzhong Sword Sect is of the easy-to-Yuan type? He was born and died with King Qin, and has a deep relationship. When it comes to outside the pass, who doesn't look at the face of King Qin, who is Li Jiancheng? I'm not afraid of him." Then he said happily: "What's more, we have Brother Mo joining us, so we are not afraid of confronting Guangshengxing head-on. I discussed with my third brother-in-law just now and decided to give Brother Mo fifty taels of gold first, and after that, the monthly salary is five taels of silver and gold, and the settlement will be settled at the end of the year." Fashion can share dividends, if Brother Mo is still not satisfied, please feel free to say the conditions, we will never mind." Of course Xu Ziling didn't dare to refuse, so as not to reveal the truth that he was not seeking money, he pretended to be grateful and thanked him repeatedly. Buting said: "Liang Juzhong has gone, and Brother Mo will take the position of chief martial artist." Xu Ziling said sincerely: "This matter is absolutely impossible. In terms of seniority and prestige, brother Chen Liang should make up for it. Don't be afraid to help him with his affairs with all his heart. The seventh young master is clearly aware of it." Bu Ting was stunned and said: "It's rare that Brother Mo is so humble and takes credit without being arrogant. What you said is not unreasonable, let's just follow your words for now!" Xu Ziling thought about it, and said: "If my guess is right, the struggle between us and Jingzhaolian has moved from outside the pass to the middle of the pass, which also represents an open and covert struggle between the Qin Palace and the prince's family. If the seventh young master has no objection, I will I would like to stay in Guanzhong to take care of our prosperous business and deal with the enemy." Buting said with emotion: "Brother Mo really sees it clearly. My third brother-in-law and I have the same worries. Fortunately, we are in the wholesale business. As long as we can keep the Chang'an head office and a few large warehouses, everything can go on as usual. My third brother-in-law and I will also stay in Chang'an for a period of time, Brother Mo will not be able to stay with us if he wants to." Xu Ziling breathed a sigh of relief, this concealed identity is not only important, but also can secretly help Li Shimin, who is finally a friend, what more can he ask for. The river was surging outside the window, but his mind had already flown to Chang'an City.