The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 326 He's waiting for reinforcements

Li Cheng had just suffered a defeat and was somewhat dazed by the firearms. When he heard that the opponent was the Northern Song army, he had no interest in saving his life. Zhao Qi was not familiar with him; he only called him "brother" but did not treat him as a real brother.
But Li Cheng didn't refuse outright. Instead, he put on a serious face and said, "I understand. Go back and tell Brother Zhao Qi that I also suffered a defeat. After I rest and regroup, I will go to his aid immediately."

The bandits were overjoyed, expressed their gratitude profusely, and then returned to Hongze Lake.

As soon as he left, Li Cheng's face darkened, and he waved his hand, ordering, "Let's go, go around Hongze Lake, head north, and we'll go to the State of Qi."

Meanwhile, the bandit returned happily to his bandit den in Hongze Lake and reported to Zhao Qi, the "Dragon King of the Lake": "Brother, I have done my mission well. I have found Brother Li Cheng, and he has readily agreed to lead his troops to come to our aid."

Zhao Qi was overjoyed: "Tell the brothers to hold on. If we can hold on for another day or two, Li Cheng's army will come to our rescue."

With such a powerful backer, the bandits of Hongze Lake were emboldened and did not flee. Instead, they stayed in their water fortress in the lake, waiting for reinforcements.

Since they had powerful backers, they didn't need to risk their lives themselves, and they let the Northern Song navy's reconnaissance operations go unchecked.

As a result, the map of Hongze Lake's waterways in Li Bao's hands became more and more detailed and clearer.

Two days later, Li Bao held a very detailed waterway map in his hand. The map not only marked every waterway, but also clearly indicated the width and depth of each waterway.

Zhou Dudu's eyes lit up, and she woke up: "Wow, the map is so detailed now?"

Li Bao turned his head and said happily, "Ah, General Zhou, you seem to have had an epileptic seizure these past two days. You were giving nonsensical replies no matter what I said. Now that I finally see you have returned to normal, I am very happy."

He almost burst into tears when he said the last sentence.

Do you know how I've been these past few days?
I asked you about the key to naval warfare, and you replied, "Plan carefully before you act; do not act rashly."

I asked you whether we should send troops out to wipe out a bandit stronghold, and you replied, "Strategy is like a chessboard; victory or defeat depends entirely on strategy."

I was so scared when I heard that!
Li Bao held Yue Wenxuan's hand, speechless and choked with tears. "Now I can finally hear you speak normally. I'm so moved."

Yue Wenxuan didn't have time to shake hands with a man, so he quickly shook off Li Bao's hand and carefully examined the map.

“The bandits have all retreated back to their main stronghold…” Li Bao quickly came over to explain: “Look, here… this circle represents the bandits’ main stronghold… They’ve retreated back to their main stronghold for a day or two and haven’t bothered us at all. It seems they’re waiting for something.”

Yue Wenxuan: "What do you think they're waiting for?"

Li Bao: "It's like waiting for reinforcements."

Yue Wenxuan smiled: "Waiting for Li Cheng."

Li Bao was unaware of the battle situation in other areas, so he exclaimed "Huh?" and quickly asked about the situation on the other two routes.

Yue Wenxuan then gave a detailed account of the battle between Chuzhou, the grain transport team, and Li Cheng.

After hearing this, Li Bao was completely dumbfounded: Zhou Dudu is with me every day, how did he know about the other two routes? This is too strange!

However, now is not the time to question this. Li Bao's expression turned serious: "After Li Cheng's army of 100,000 was defeated by our grain transport team, I'm afraid he only has 50,000 to 60,000 left. If all of them come to Zhao Qi's water fortress, then our small force will probably find it difficult to break through the fortress."

Yue Wenxuan shook his head: "They won't come! Li Cheng has too many troops, tens of thousands. Even attacking a small county town wouldn't guarantee his soldiers enough to eat. If they come to a place like Hongze Lake, how will such a large force feed itself? Shallow waters can't hold big fish; he can't come." Li Bao thought about it carefully and realized he was right…

Yue Wenxuan: "Zhao Qi has been holding the water fortress and waiting for reinforcements. He has been tricked by Li Cheng. We don't need to hesitate anymore. Now that the waterway has been explored, we don't need to worry about ambushes anymore. Let's attack the fortress. General Li, you will be in full command of this battle. You have been learning from me for quite some time and should be able to command a naval battle independently."

Li Bao perked up: "Hehe, then I won't stand on ceremony. If I make any mistakes, General Zhou must point them out."

He glanced at the map a few more times and, already confident, waved his hand and ordered: "General Taishi, you attack through this waterway. General Gan, you lead your men through this waterway... Zhou Dudu and I will lead the main force through this largest waterway... We will attack the water fortress from three directions and strive to wipe out Zhao Qi and his gang in one fell swoop."
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At this moment, Zhao Qi was still craning his neck in the water fortress, waiting for Li Cheng's reinforcements.

It's really strange. Li Cheng is clearly not far from here, so how come two days have passed and there's still no sign of reinforcements?
"Report! The Northern Song navy has launched a three-pronged attack on our water fortress!" A bandit rushed in, shouting, "Several important waterways have been captured by their men."

Zhao Qi: "Holy crap! Where's Li Cheng? Where's Li Cheng's army?"

"We haven't seen him yet!" the bandit said. "Brother, Li Cheng definitely isn't coming."

Zhao Qi: "Damn it, this son of a bitch has no sense of brotherhood whatsoever."

Now he knows he's been betrayed.

As the Northern Song army drew ever closer, Zhao Qi knew that this dilapidated water fortress was no match for them. He led a group of trusted men and ran toward the edge of the fortress. Just as they reached the edge, they saw the Northern Song fleet sailing toward the fortress.

Zhao Qi: "You can break into my village, but you can't capture me, Zhao Qi."

After saying that, he jumped into the water right in front of the Northern Song navy. With a splash, a small wave rose up, and Zhao Qi disappeared instantly.

"That guy's trying to escape by diving underwater!" Li Bao's subordinate in the Northern Song army shouted. "That guy's known as the Dragon King of the Lake, he's probably an excellent swimmer. How are we going to catch him if he jumps into the water?"

Just as they shouted this, Gan Ning and Gan Xingba jumped into the water with a splash, creating only a small splash on the surface. Their splash was even more beautiful than Zhao Qi's. They deducted the highest score of 10 points and the lowest score of 10 points. Gan Ning's final score was 10 points.

Zhao Qi used both his hands and feet to swim desperately underwater...

He was confident that as long as he swam, no one could do anything to him.

But as I swam, I felt something was still, and the water behind me seemed to be moving.

Turning his head, he saw a general from the Northern Song Dynasty swimming rapidly towards him, even faster than Zhao Qi.

"Holy crap? People from Shandong are such good swimmers?"

This is truly beyond our comprehension.

Zhao Qi gritted his teeth, took out a small knife, and stabbed at the source of the water.

But then Song general flipped his hand and grabbed Zhao Qi's wrist. With his other hand, he reached out and grabbed Zhao Qi's neck, shoving him down... Zhao Qi had no strength to use against his opponent. Like a mudfish being held down, he struggled in vain. In no time, he swallowed a bellyful of water, and everything went black. He knew nothing more.

(End of this chapter)