69th Paper Horse Knife Gun Technique

  Wu Song had just boarded the ship when he saw a general in iron armor and steel helmet come forward, his hands clasped together in respect as he slightly bowed, the iron armor clanking, saying: "Sir, I have been ordered to build the Divine Might Cannons for several years now. Three hundred cannons have already been built, with twenty on each ship, placed on the second deck below. Another one hundred are being transported to the capital."

  Wu Song nodded slightly and said, "Four years of time, spending hundreds of millions of coins, just to create these three hundred divine martial cannons. If the cannon explodes, what should we do?"

  His surname is Ling, and his name is Zhen. He was originally a cannoneer in the Tokyo Imperial Guard, nicknamed Thunderbolt, Cannon Hand Ling, skilled at making large cannons, with cannonballs that could shoot as far as 14 or 15 miles away. When the Tianji Pavilion posted a recruitment notice, Ling Zhen came forward with a try-it-out attitude and was valued by Gong Yurou, who drew up a blueprint, allocated him manpower and funds, and ordered him to build the Divine Martial Cannon. Every year, the Tianji Pavilion spent 2 million guan, of which 1 million guan was given to Ling Zhen to manufacture large cannons.

  "Don't worry, sir, these thousand-odd cannon hands under me have been well-trained for a long time. If there's even one explosion, I'll take responsibility and come to see you with my head in hand!"

  Wu Song nodded slightly, and Ling Zhen retreated. Suddenly, a kingfisher flew in from the air and landed on Wu Song's shoulder, chirping incessantly. Wu Song smiled and said, "As I said, no one can understand what you're saying, so let's write instead." He ordered someone to bring over brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and personally ground the ink.

  The parrot stretched out a claw, grasped the brush, and hopped around on the paper, writing non-stop. In an instant, it had filled up a whole sheet of paper. Wu Song looked at it and handed it over to Gong Sunyan, who then passed it on to Yang Zongbao. Wu Song chuckled and said: "Chen Daozhi, Song Jiang and others are dividing their troops and rushing towards Mengyin, Yishui, Cangshan, but they don't know that I'm taking the Lou ship down the river, heading straight for Liangshan, to flatten his old nest first!"

  Gong Sun ordered people to bring over the sand table, watched for a moment, and said: "At this time, Chen Hui and others should have already known the trick, they must rescue Liangshan Po, why not set up an ambush near Zhu Family Village, on the one hand, the main force is still bombarding Liangshan, on the other hand, this road can also temporarily block Chen Hui and Song Jiang's support."

  Wu Song nodded and said, "Let's do it as Yanran said." He immediately ordered someone to summon Hua Sanniang and Zhu Biao, saying, "How many men and horses does the Zhu family village have?"

  Zhu Biao said: "There are three thousand villagers in Zhu's Village, and there are also two thousand villagers in Hui's Village, with all kinds of knives and guns."

  Wu Song said with pleasure: "Give you another thousand soldiers, six deputy generals and six vice-generals, six strategists, led by Yang Zongweng, the deputy chamber master, to set up an ambush in Zhujiawu Village. Be sure to block the Liangshan rebels for a moment. General Huyan Zhuo will lead 500 ring-shaped horse-drawn vehicles, ready to launch a surprise attack at any time, first kill the strategists and then kill Wu Jiang!"

  The three mothers and Zhu Biao hastily agreed, Wu Song again called Yan Xiao Yi, instructing: "Take Tie Niu to go, must make him kill a great general of Chen Hui's in front of the array!"

  Yan Xiao Yi laughed and said, "This is easy. If not, let others wear his clothes and hold a big axe to kill people. Anyway, he can't escape." Wu Song was extremely satisfied, and asked Lu Junyi, Lin Chong, Lu Da, Yang Jie and others to lead 1,000 elite soldiers ashore, taking Li Kui who didn't know the truth with them, and rushed straight to Zhu Family Village.

  On the Yangtze River, ten large ships set sail, with several hundred soldiers rowing, entering the Liangshan Waterway, and opening all the way to the depths of the waterway. All that can be seen is a vast expanse of water grass and lotus flowers. The big ship cannot move forward and can only stop in the deep water.

  The Liangshan water army saw the situation and drove a small boat forward, but before they reached one arrow's distance, their ships were shot down by the catapults, with countless deaths and injuries. Compared to Wu Song's massive fleet, the Liangshan water army was simply child's play.

  Wu Song stood on the top floor of the building boat, using his thousand-mile eyes to observe the peaks of Liangshan. Suddenly, he saw the large flag outside the assembly hall on the mountain top, which read "Exterminate Wu's bandits, support the society and replace heaven with justice". He couldn't help but let out a cold laugh, pointed with his big hand and said: "Blow that mountain flat for me!"

  Hong Tianlei waved the command flag in his hand and shouted: "Right side of the ship!" The ten Lou ships slowly turned their hulls, and only the rolling sound came from under the deck. A row of portholes opened, and inside, the artillerymen pushed out a row of powerful cannons, with black muzzles pointing directly at Liangshan Heroes' Hall!

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  Chen Xizhen led the army of 10,000 men to storm Cangshan County. When they arrived at the small county town, they saw that the city gate had already been raised high, and the city wall was lined with people, strong and robust, filled with powerful bows and crossbows, waiting for a fierce battle. Chen Xizhen took one look and changed color, saying: "We've fallen into a trap!"

  Xu He, the true man of the game, Xu Huai, the true man of the medicine, and Pu Tian Huan Xi, the true man who summoned Xun, watched carefully for a moment, and nodded repeatedly, saying: "The Zhong Wu thief has been calculated!"

  Marshal Deng Zongbi was puzzled and asked: "Why did Daozi and the three gentlemen say this?"

  Chen Xizhen gave a silent order, and the entire army turned their horses around to return to Liangshan Water Village. Suddenly, they heard a loud cannon shot, and the city gate of Cangzhou County swung open wide. The Song army's fierce warriors rushed out like tigers and wolves, but strangely, despite the massive force of thousands of soldiers, there was no sound or noise, not even a whisper could be heard.

  Chen Xizhen's face sank, and he suddenly drew a seal with both hands, recited the magic words, and blew out a mouthful of air. Suddenly, a strong wind rose, and a huge whirlpool formed in front of the city gate, engulfing countless Song soldiers and horses in its dark vortex!

  Xu drew a fire talisman with one hand and shouted, "Fire!" The blazing symbol flew into the strong wind, igniting it. The people and horses in the wind were burned to ashes in an instant, but they were just paper cutouts of people and horses!

  Xu sneered, "Even the paper horse knife and gun techniques of Nie Yinniang's school dare to show off in front of the Fang family!" Just as he was saying this, a loud laugh came from within the city, "No matter what, you have all fallen into our national teacher's plan!"

  Chen Daozi hastily looked up and saw a woman stepping on paper cranes, fluttering away to a distant place. Xu He and Xu Huai were about to cast a spell to blast the woman down, but Chen Xizhen said: "No need, Nie Yinniang's disciples, Kongkong'er's disciples, and Hongxian Niang's disciples are all skilled in assassination techniques. If they don't hit their target with one strike, they will flutter away to a distant place, and it's impossible to catch up!"

  Pu Tian was overjoyed, but the real person shook his head and said: "When a country is about to perish, there must be monsters. Now that the Great Song is in danger, all kinds of demons, ghosts, evil spirits, and heretics have emerged!"

  Chen Xizhen's face grew increasingly somber, saying: "Mengyin and Yishui will also be empty cities. Gong Sunsheng and Chai Jin may capture the city, but Liu Yongxian is very intelligent, not inferior to Wu Yong, and will definitely return with a large army, leading one route of naval forces down the Yellow River straight to Liangshan. The Pure Yang True Person Yan Shude leads one route advancing by land, taking the road from Zhujiagang to Liangshan Water Fortress. We must quickly meet up with Yan Zhenren!"

  Chen Xizhen led the army forward, and the soldiers were exhausted. He left the infantry with Gai Tianxi and took the cavalry, throwing away their heavy loads and rushing towards Zhu Family Village. When they arrived at Yizhou City, they saw Song Jiang attacking fiercely. Chen Xizhen hastily dismounted his horse and rushed to the central command tent, saying that he had fallen into an empty city trap: "I'm afraid that by now, the Wu bandits have already occupied Liangshan!"

  Song Jiang was initially shocked and lost his color, then burst out laughing and said: "The Taoist is right! Although the military thief is cunning and has many tricks up his sleeve, with Master Zhuang guarding Liangshan, he will surely be walking into a trap this time, and from now on, the world will be at peace!"

  Chen Xizhen furrowed his brow and said, "But it's hard to guarantee that Zhou Tong won't follow him." Song Jiang's expression changed at this. His two teachers, Cheng Yi and Cheng Yu, were scholarly men with a strong sense of justice, who had cultivated the Golden Elixir through their noble character. They were extremely skilled, but they had actually been surrounded by Zhou Tong along with Zhuangzi and Han Dang, and in the end, Cheng Yi was killed by Zhou Tong's single sword strike, while Zhuangzi and Han Dang were seriously injured along with Cheng Yu!

  Wu Yong said calmly on the side: "If Zhou Botong were here, our army of 100,000 with nearly eighty generals and eighteen scholars would still not be enough for him to kill!"

  Chen Xizhen coldly said: "Don't worry, Liu Yongxi and Liu Zhenren's magical powers are not weak compared to Luo Zhenren, and they can rival Zhou Tong. It's not suitable to attack Yanzhou again now, immediately return to Ma Liangshan, lest the old nest be seized by the bandits!"

  Song Jiang had no choice but to order a halt to the attack and retreat back to Liangshan overnight. By the time they reached halfway, it was already early morning of the second day, and all the cavalrymen were asleep on their horses, unable to proceed any further. Chen Xiying had also exhausted himself over the past day and night, and feeling somewhat fatigued, he ordered the troops to rest in place.

  Liu Huiniang's body was weak, and she had been exhausted to death for a long time. However, she struggled to get up and looked at the hoof prints on the road, suddenly closing her eyes. The skin between her forehead and eyebrows slowly cracked open, gradually opening wider to reveal a golden eye, which looked in the direction of Liangshan before closing again.

  Liu Hui Niang's face turned pale as she exclaimed: "It's terrible! Liu Zhennan has already led the army to rush to Liangshan!"

  Chen Xizhen exclaimed in surprise: "With Liu Zhiren here, Liangshan will surely not fall."

  Liu Huiniang shook her head and said, "They have also fallen into Wu Zhi's trap. Wu Zhi led the gunboats to attack Liangshan inside the water port, bombarding it with cannons, and then anchored the big ships in the middle of the water. If we rush over like this, Wu Zhi will fire a thousand cannons at once, and we will surely be on a road to death!"

  Chen Xizhen and Song Jiang both turned pale, swaying unsteadily, and shouted in unison: "Withdraw the troops to attack Yimeng!"

  "Impossible!" Liu Hui's daughter hastily said: "Occupying Yizhou, if we are surrounded by the Wu bandit's large army, that would be truly death! In my humble opinion as a woman, it would be better to go to Qingzhou and take Mount Qingyun. The terrain there is treacherous, even more advantageous than Liangshan, and since the water route is not connected, we need not fear the Wu bandit's naval forces!"

  Chen Xizhen and Song Jiang were at a loss, they could only listen to Liu Huiniang's words. On the one hand, they sent someone to inform Yan Shude and others, on the other hand, they led the army to attack Qingzhou. Liu Huiniang's body was weak, she forced herself to open the Buddhist door of heaven, hurting her vitality, drowsy, but in her heart, she kept thinking:

  "I've only heard that Wu Ze is a roughneck, completely ignorant of military strategy. How come he's now so well-versed in tactics? I just saw a woman carrying a small bundle standing beside him - could she be his military advisor?"

  ——————

  Three thousand words seeking votes. Also: Recommending a book by a certain Pig Brother, "The Supreme Martial Arts of the Heterogeneous Realm", book number: 1118418.