Water Margin people

Persian Gulf.

The northern part of the Mesopotamian Valley.

Zhang Qing was heading north with more than a hundred cavalrymen dressed up as bearded men.

"Sure enough, the water flow is much less!"

Zhang Qing blocked a large area of ​​dry and cracked riverbed and the shallow water flow in the river. It was already the flood season, and it was impossible for such a big river to have only so little water.

Along the way, Zhang Qing discovered that the tributaries on the eastern plateau had abundant water sources.

All this indicated that the enemy had indeed blocked the flow of water and was preparing to create a major flood.

"General, there are a group of shepherds herding sheep ahead!"

A soldier came back to report.

"Go around it!"

Zhang Qing nodded and gave the order.

"General, the road ahead is narrow and we can't get around it!"

The soldier said helplessly that they had been moving forward in secret all the way.

"Then charge ahead, we are beards!"

Zhang Qing pointed to the beard on his chin, which was glued on. They were now horse bandits roaming on the plateau.

Everyone laughed and shouted. They had killed too many horse bandits in the desert, so it would be easy to catch them if they pretended.

More than a hundred people shouted and rushed forward. When the herdsmen who were grazing saw the horse bandits coming, they ran around in panic, not even caring about their sheep.

Seeing that everyone had run away, Zhang Qing didn't want to care and led his men directly into the flock of sheep.

The lambs were frightened and ran away bleating, covering the entire grassland.

"These should be enough for them to search for two or three days."

Zhang Qing led his men north quickly, leaving the place in ruins.

Zhang Qing was not interested in these lambs. What he wanted was to make the sheep run around. It would take at least two or three days for the herdsmen to look for them and gather them together again, and this time was enough for them to reach the northern plateau.

Zhang Qing led his men on a journey for another day, and they could already see high mountains in the north.

“There’s a lot of snow on the mountain!”

Zhang Qing looked at the vast expanse of white on the distant mountains. It was summer now, and there was so much snow. How could there be a shortage of water?

"General, there's someone over there!"

A soldier pointed to a mountain in the distance where a number of people were cutting down trees.

“The mountains are all bald!”

Zhang Qing looked at the mountain range through a telescope. The mountain was bare except for some thick wooden stakes.

"Let's go, let's go upstream and take a look!"

Zhang Qing and his men continued to move northward in secret.

The further north he went, the more Zhang Qing frowned. The trees in the north had been cut down on a large scale, and Zhang Qing was a little surprised at the large number.

After walking for a long time, Zhang Qing finally saw the dam built by the enemy. It was built entirely of wood, and there were many gaps on the dam from which water was spraying out.

"So many dams! That's really cruel!"

Zhang Qing observed carefully and found that there was more than one river and the enemy had actually cut off all of them.

"These are the captured civilians."

Zhang Qing looked at the civilians who were reinforcing the dam. There were men, women, old and young. They should be the civilians from the disappeared villages and towns.

"Fortunately, I came to take a look. Otherwise, how could I believe that the enemy could have carried out such a large project?"

Zhang Qing looked at the dams and originally wanted to ask his soldiers to go there, but later he became worried and led his troops there himself.

"General, what should we do?"

The soldiers looked at Zhang Qing and asked, since they have discovered the enemy's conspiracy, they must do something.

"There's nothing we can do. You can see that the flood is here! There's nothing we can do!"

Zhang Qing pointed at the dams and said that flood water had already accumulated. If the water was released now, the dams would burst and a flood would occur.

If left alone or if reinforcement continues, it will lead to even bigger floods.

"Draw these pictures. This is evidence!"

"Send a telegram to the camp and tell them the situation."

Zhang Qing looked at the two soldiers and said.

"Yes!"

The soldiers got the order and started working immediately. One of them took out a drawing board and a pen and started drawing. He joined the army after graduating from school and was good at painting, especially sketching, in school.

Another person took out a telegraph machine and started sending messages.

"General, the enemy!"

The observing soldier immediately raised the alarm.

Zhang Qing took the telescope and began to observe. As expected, he discovered the enemy army, but at this time the army was on the west side of the river.

"It's Saladin!"

Zhang Qing's eyes were cold as he saw Saladin's flag.

Saladin was unaware of this. He took his men to the vicinity of the dam and began to observe the conditions of each dam.

"How many days can you hold on?"

Saladin asked, looking at a steward.

"The weather has been too hot these days, and the ice and snow have melted, causing huge water flows. Although we have stepped up efforts to reinforce and raise the dam, it won't last for two days. Yesterday, a dam was in danger and almost collapsed!"

The manager said that it was not easy to cut off so much water and they were almost out of control.

"Then release the water in two days!"

Saladin spoke.

"Two days? Then we have to evacuate the slaves downstream!"

The steward spoke.

“Why evacuate?”

Saladin looked coldly at the slaves who were cutting down trees in the distance. There must be heavy casualties from this flood. It was a terrible disaster, but Saladin decided to conceal everything. He was unwilling to bear such a stigma.

So Saladin has decided to execute everyone involved, and the instrument of execution is this flood.

"The flood was caused by you, so let you go with the flood!"

Saladin thought to himself.

"This this……"

The steward suddenly realized that something was wrong. Saladin was going to kill him to silence him. He subconsciously wanted to run away, but Saladin's guards came up and chopped the man to the ground.

"Throw him into the water!"

Saladin waved his hand.

The guards carried the body and threw it into the reservoir.

"Control everyone!"

Saladin gave orders to the guards again.

Zhang Qing saw everything clearly through the telescope.

"How cruel!"

Zhang Qing was also frightened by what he saw, and he guessed what Saladin was going to do.

"Killing someone to silence them? Should I just go with the flow?"

Zhang Qing thought about it. He was originally planning to leave, but now he felt like he could do something.

"General?"

The soldiers looked at Zhang Qing.

"How about killing Saladin and the others as well?"

Zhang Qing looked at the soldiers and asked.

"Of course I did. Kill them!"

The soldiers were all excited.

"It's a bit risky. If the enemy wants to kill people to silence them, we can kill them as well! We just need to send someone to lure them out! Then we can destroy the dam first!"

Zhang Qing took out a grenade from his arms. He would need it to destroy the dam.

"General, let's do it!"

The soldiers were not afraid at all, but were extremely excited.

"Then let's first observe the weak spot of the dam and see where we can detonate it more safely!"

Zhang Qing pointed at the dams and said that although there were grenades and explosives, the dams were so large that it was not easy to blow them up easily.

"General, it should be possible to blow up the leaking areas."

A soldier pointed at the leaks in the dam and said. (End of this chapter)