Chapter 47: The Water Fortress's Bloody Battle

  The night always presents a desolate and pure blackness, with the gentle breeze blowing, and facing it is a humid breath, the dark moon and strong wind indicate that this night is not ordinary.

  Zhao Yin led the Imperial Guard closely behind Chang Ruolin, Zhao Yin's eyes were filled with crimson, and there was a hint of emptiness, filled with indifference. Chang Ruolin walked while carefully sneaking glances at Zhao Yin, who sensed something and turned his head to gaze coldly at Chang Ruolin, causing him to shudder all over and hastily look forward to lead the way for everyone.

  Zhao Jian had already decided to launch a strong attack. Firstly, Wu Caiyun's safety was worrying him, and secondly, more than half of the water bandits had been sent to hell by Zhao Jian in his sleep. Although Zhao Jian was enraged, he hadn't completely lost his rationality, and he wouldn't risk the lives of his soldiers.

  Zhao Kan and others soon arrived at the central part of Shui Village, where the houses were much more luxurious and larger. Many houses had marble pillars, and the wood on the ground was newer and showed no signs of decay, clearly having been replaced frequently. Although the surrounding area of Chao Bai River was rich in wood resources, it was not a small project for the water bandits to transport so much wood to Shui Village with their small boats and replace the wood that had become soft after being soaked in water.

  There were many torches here, illuminating the surroundings as bright as daylight. Zhao Yi ordered the Imperial Guards to hide in the shadows and let Chang Ruoyun go ahead to scout out the situation.

  Chang Ruolin had just walked past, a door opened, Chen Liangshan yawned, wearing a yellow short shirt on his upper body, and stumbled out of a house. Chang Ruolin's gaze followed the back of Chang Ruolin, seeing that although the room was dimly lit, it was full of spring colors, and he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

  Chen Liang's face sank as he said in a low voice: "You don't go to take responsibility for the watch, but instead run here, are you tired of living?"

  Chang Ruo's expression changed, and he quickly withdrew his gaze, bowed his head, and clasped his fists: "This humble one knows his mistake. The situation is this: my subordinates on the shore intercepted several people crossing the river. They are wealthy merchants from afar, and among them, the young ladies and maidservants are exceptionally beautiful."

  As soon as Chang Ruo said that there were beautiful women on the bandit's road, Chen Liangshan, this lustful ghost, immediately lit up his eyes and urged: "What are we waiting for? Bring them over quickly!"

  Chang Ruo sighed, knelt down and tearfully said: "Unfortunately, all the things were taken away by those original wing army bastards, and they also killed five of my men. Master, you must do justice for your brothers."

  Chen Liangshan suddenly flew into a rage and bellowed: "This bunch of guys is getting more and more lawless, go gather the brothers and let them know who's in charge here."

  Chang Ru's heart was filled with joy, and he couldn't help but forget to brush off the dust on his legs. He immediately stood up and prepared to leave.

  "Wait!" Chen Liangshan thought carefully for a moment, feeling that Chang Ruoxin's words were problematic. Chang Ruoxin's heart tightened instantly and she stopped in her tracks, but did not turn around.

  "Get out and loot, why didn't you report to me? Are you not putting me in your eyes? And those retired soldiers had an agreement with me long ago. Even if they were looting their own people's things, they would never kill anyone. Even if they accidentally killed one or two, it's impossible to kill five at once. This can only prove that you are lying. What do you want to do?" Chen Liangshan's tone became increasingly icy after he finished speaking.

  Chang Ruo Lin suddenly turned around and threw a dagger with all his might towards Chen Liang Shan's face. Chen Liang Shan was shocked, his body slid to the side, barely dodging the dagger's attack, but it scratched the skin on Chen Liang Shan's shoulder. Chang Ruo Lin saw that he missed and immediately drew his sword and charged towards Chen Liang Shan.

  Chen Liang was furious in his heart, and he wasn't inferior in terms of physical strength. He wouldn't have put those two in his eyes at all, but just now in the room, he was already exhausted, and his clothes were extremely loose, making it very inconvenient to move. Adding that he had no weapons, for a while, he fell into a disadvantage. Chen Liang escaped while shouting loudly, desperately calling for help.

  Before long, more than a dozen disheveled river bandits with bleary eyes arrived carrying knives and guns. These river bandits were closer to the center of the water stronghold and had come over upon hearing Chen Liang's voice.

  Chang Ruoxin's heart was extremely anxious, and the speed of his pursuit quickened. Chen Liangshan, who was dodging and hiding, felt utterly humiliated in his heart. Today's face had been lost to the point where he couldn't show it at home. Letting his subordinates see him in such a predicament, he vowed that once he caught Chang Ruoxin, he would make him regret being born into this world.

  Zhao Yan coldly ordered the imperial guards beside him: "Bring me that person wearing a yellow short robe alive, no one is allowed to kill them."

  Zhao Kan led the charge towards the more than ten water bandits who were approaching, and the imperial guards behind him, fearing that Zhao Kan was in danger, hastily followed. Several of them quickly ran to the front and blocked Zhao Kan from behind. The imperial guards easily dodged the water bandits' steel knives and with a powerful slash, stabbed their short blades into the chests of the oncoming water bandits. Blood burst forth, and one of the water bandits suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and fell to the ground. The imperial guard picked up the knife from the fallen water bandit and quickly moved forward, slashing it into another water bandit's body. Because the knife was too dull, it didn't cut all the way through, but instead became lodged in the water bandit's body. The imperial guard followed up with a kick, stomping on the water bandit's head, causing blood to burst forth and staining the surrounding area red.

  How could these water bandits be the opponents of the invincible Tiger and Wolf Troops, they were quickly killed off one by one, Zhao Yun didn't even have a chance to make a move, more than ten water bandits fell into the pool of blood.

  At this time, there were constantly a few scattered water bandits coming to find the miserable cries, but they came and quickly died under Changshengjun's skilled cooperation.

  In fact, this is also the reason why the water bandits lack training. If they had gathered more people to come, it would have brought some trouble to the Imperial Army soldiers. The tactic of using a large number of people is still very frightening. However, at this time, the water bandits came scattered and were defeated one by one. So far, the Imperial Army has not suffered any casualties, while the water bandits have suffered heavy losses, with more than 50 people lying on the ground in no time. Looking at the fierce Imperial Army soldiers, some of the water bandits watched from a distance, not daring to come forward. The soldiers of the Imperial Army would not let them watch the excitement, and they charged forward with their weapons.

  At that moment, the pirates were frightened and scattered, and when caught by the Imperial Guard, they would be killed with one knife without hesitation. More pirates fell to the ground.

  Chen Liangshan was furious, this group of subordinates were really useless, he had already been cut by Chang Ruoxi twice on his body, although not fatal, but the continuous bleeding made his movements slower and slower, this way he would die in Chang Ruoxi's hands sooner or later.

  Suddenly a robust man with a tiger's back and bear's waist rushed onto the battlefield, wielding a giant axe. With one swing of his axe, he cut in half a still-unreacted imperial guard. The remaining pirates were instantly invigorated, letting out strange cries as they charged forward. This robust man was none other than the same strongman who had chopped up the imperial guards and fed them to the dogs not long ago. He licked the blood splattered on his face with his tongue, a look of intoxication on his face.

  Chen Liang was overjoyed in his heart. This man had drifted down from the river and was rescued by Chen Liang on a whim. Unexpectedly, this man was incredibly strong and ruthless, helping Chen Liang to get rid of many troubles. The surrounding large households all had guards, which Chen Liang had been eyeing for a long time. After this man arrived, he led a group of water bandits, killing their way through, leaving Chen Liang ecstatic. This sturdy man rushed over, and Chen Liang finally felt at ease. His desire to survive made his movements much more agile.

  The robust man led the pirates with high morale to kill their way up. The robust man swung his giant axe, chopping towards the imperial guard in front of him. The warrior's eyes widened, and he let out a loud shout as he used the steel knife he had snatched to block the giant axe. The giant axe broke the steel knife and chopped into the imperial guard's body, splitting it in two with one swing. The imperial guard's mouth was filled with blood as he forcefully threw the broken half of the steel knife at the robust man. Although the robust man was tall and large, he was relatively agile and dodged the imperial guard's broken blade. He swung his axe again, chopping into the imperial guard's head.

  Zhao Kang had just killed a water bandit beside him, and saw the robust man chopping down two imperial guards with his axe. Zhao Kang's eyes narrowed, he took off the hand grenade from his body, pulled out the fuse and threw it at the robust man. The robust man was still savoring the thrill of killing someone, when suddenly a round ball-shaped object flew towards him. He subconsciously caught it in his hand, just as he was about to examine it carefully, there was a loud explosion, flames shot up into the sky, and the hand grenade instantly blew the robust man to smithereens.

  More than a dozen nearby stations' water thieves instantly pounced on the ground, several more distant water thieves fell to the ground, covering their ears with their hands and moaning incessantly, blood oozing out from between their fingers, clearly having had their eardrums shattered. The dust scattered completely, revealing a large pit in the ground as river water surged up from within, washing over the wooden planks.

  Everyone was stunned on the spot, and the explosion just now had too great an impact on them.

  "Oh no, the gods have descended to punish us, run!" someone shouted, and the remaining pirates scattered in all directions. Zhao Ze picked up his crossbow and shot at the few pirates who were escaping the farthest, and soon seven or eight of them fell to the ground. The Imperial Guards continued to chase after the pirates who were fleeing ahead, cutting them down one by one.

  Just as Chang Ruoxin was about to kill Chen Liangshan, who was in a daze, two steel knives blocked the weapon that Chang Ruoxin was chopping down with. Chang Ruoxin turned his head back in anger and saw that it was two imperial guards holding knives to block his weapon, staring at him coldly with their eyes. One of the guards said in a cold voice, "The prince has an order, spare his life."

  Chang Ruo Lin was helpless, and with a humph, he withdrew his steel knife. Just then, Chen Liang Shan suddenly picked up the weapon on the ground and fiercely stabbed it into Chang Ruo Lin's chest. Chang Ruo Lin opened his eyes wide in anger, and softly fell to the ground. He had committed countless evils throughout his life, and ultimately met with retribution, dying an unjust death.

  The imperial guards around him were furious and cut off Chen Liangshan's arm with a sword, because Zhao Kuangyi had not ordered the execution of Chang Ruolin, but he died in front of him, which was somewhat dereliction of duty. Chen Liangshan hugged his severed arm and rolled on the ground, screaming in agony.

  At this point, the battle was a one-sided affair. The pirates, with their hearts and gallbladders shattered, no longer had the courage to resist. Seeing the Imperial Army soldiers was like seeing fierce ghosts in the mountains; they were afraid that they would not be able to run fast enough, let alone think about resisting. When the dust settled, people began to clean up after the battle. This surprise attack on the pirate lair was still being talked about with relish many years later.