He was afraid that he had long wanted to purge the army of spies, but he had never found a suitable opportunity.
Just happened to catch a spy today, and then he finally had a plausible excuse.
Then, the cleaning begins!
Tuhai probably never took the list provided by the spy seriously.
Those who have been purged outside the account should all be suspected in Tu Hai's mind...
Hong Chengchou sighed in his heart. Sure enough, he was still old.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to understand such a little thing!
Tu Hai saw the lonely look on Hong Chengchou's face and said.
"Master Hong, please go and rest!"
"Don't worry, no matter how hard we search for spies in the army, we won't be able to find anyone from Mr. Hong's side."
"Look back, I'll ask someone to send Mr. Hong two pieces of old wild ginseng. Mr. Hong needs to take a good rest. The Qing Dynasty still needs Mr. Hong."
Hong Chengchou bowed slightly and then spoke.
"I would like to thank you, Lord Governor!"
After that, Hong Chengchou withdrew from the big account.
Tuhai squinted his eyes and asked the soldiers beside him.
"Is everything arranged properly?"
The soldier bowed slightly and spoke.
"Don't worry, sir, everything has been arranged!"
"If those water thieves dare to attack tonight, they will never come back!"
Tuhai nodded slightly, then waved his hand to signal his soldiers to retreat.
…
It was getting darker and darker, and there was silence in the Qing army camp.
In order to prevent chaos in the army, Tuhai issued a curfew order after dark.
All soldiers went into the military tents to rest, and no one was allowed to go out or make noise.
Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed!
Even if someone wants to relieve themselves at night, they must report to the police and get a badge.
The only ones who can move around freely in the military camp are Tu Hai's personal supervision team.
The silent Qing army camp was located along a long stretch of the canal.
In the canal, there are a large number of canals parked densely.
The soldiers of the Qing army were not so kind as to set up tents for the canal workers. The water workers basically used the sky as their quilts and the ground as their beds, sleeping in the open space along the canal.
If you have some connections, you can sleep on the boat.
Fortunately, it's summer now. Although the humidity is a bit heavier when sleeping on the river bank, it's not unbearable.
Each canal was lit with torches and used as beacons.
Looking down from the sky, the canal looks like the Milky Way above nine heavens against the backdrop of bright stars.
The stars shine brightly!
Wow!
There was a slight sound of paddling, and the wood pulp was slid.
Small boats appeared silently from the darkness and headed towards the Qing army transport fleet on the canal.
Brother Li Si stood on the bow of the ship wearing a black night suit, looking in the direction of the Qing fleet, with a solemn expression on his face.
Wang Qunshan was also standing next to him, but he looked excited.
Brother Li waved his hand, and several shirtless men dived from the boat into the water with daggers in their mouths.
Playing the role of a water ghost, he was ready to touch the Qing army's overt and hidden sentries.
The rest of the group continued paddling forward.
Due to the quick hands and powerful movements of those water ghosts, they cleared the obstacles on the way forward for the large army.
They easily touched the edge of the Qing army's fleet!
A group of people began to move towards the Qing army's canal without any plan, climbed on board, entered the cabin, touched off the guards, and then returned with the canal along the original route...
The movements are done in one go, quite smooth!
However, at this moment, with a hiss, an arrow flew into the sky and exploded.
The bright light produced by the explosion of fireworks is very conspicuous!
In an instant, a large number of torches were lit, and the Qing army's camp became bright.
Groups of Eight Banners cavalry rushed out of the camp and rode towards the canal bank.
The cavalry roared past, bows and arrows bent.
The cavalry on horseback let out strange screams!
Bang bang bang!
The sound of bowstrings trembling one after another continued.
Arrows were as dense as raindrops, shooting towards the water bandits in the middle of the canal.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The sound of arrows piercing flesh continued to sound, and people kept being hit by arrows and letting out hysterical screams.
For now, these Eight Banners cavalry who have never been on the battlefield and have fought hard battles may not be very bloody, but their cavalry and shooting skills are not bad.
The arrows are quite accurate!
Their training has not gone to waste!
In just a moment, brother Li Si and Wang Qunshan's brothers suffered heavy losses.
They launched a counterattack, but with little effect.
The water bandits lack long-range attack weapons. Although they also have bows and arrows, most of them are hunting bows used by hunters.
Regardless of accuracy, range, or power, it was inferior to the war bows used by the Eight Banners of the Qing Army.
The water bandits fired sparse arrows to fight back, but they had no effect at all.
Either the shot simply missed, or it was blocked by the armor of the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing army.
The water bandits were basically being beaten unilaterally!
During this process, people were constantly hit by arrows and fell into the canal, their bodies rising and falling under the impact of the waves.
The blood spread out and dyed the river water red.
Although it's not that conspicuous in the dark night.
At this moment, the Qing cavalry, which was running and firing along the canal, suddenly used rockets.
Arrows with flaming arrows were fired at the several canal boats that had been robbed by the water bandits.
The cabins of those canal ships contained a large amount of flammable materials.
Such as cloth, oil, gunpowder...etc.!
With a bang, a cannon boat was set on fire.
The flames soared into the sky, and the explosive flames instantly illuminated most of the canal.
Many water bandits, their bodies burning with flames, screamed and jumped from the boat into the canal.
"withdraw!"
"Quickly retreat!"
Brother Li Si held up his shield to protect his vitals.
His face was quite ugly. He knew that he and others had fallen into a trap and been ambushed.
He shouted loudly and wanted to lead people to evacuate.
The Qing army’s arrows kept raining!
The arrows were nailed to the shield and the side of the ship, making a loud sound.
The fleet of water bandits began to escape along the canal, but the Qing cavalry along the canal pursued them closely.
The speed of war horses is much faster than the speed of ships!
They can't get rid of the pursuers at all!
Seeing people around him dying tragically after being hit by arrows, Fourth Brother Li's heart ached.
These are all old brothers who have been with him for many years!
Some water bandits thought that rowing was too slow, so they simply plunged into the water and prepared to swim away.
However, the Qing army’s arrow rain continues!
Arrows shot into the water one after another, leaving very obvious traces.
From time to time, when someone came up to the surface to take a breath, they were shot by arrows and died tragically on the spot.
The cavalry of the Qing army galloped back and forth, chasing and killing the fleeing water bandits.
The neighing of war horses, the trembling of bowstrings, and the screams of people... the sound lasted all night long!
It was not until daybreak that the Qing army's horses ran out of energy, so Tuhai gave the order to withdraw the troops.
…
The sky turned white as the sun rose and the moon set.
The earth is bright!
Hong Chengchou was helped to the embankment of the Grand Canal and looked in the direction of the river.
As far as the eye could see, the river was filled with dead bodies.
The traces of large swaths of blood smeared in the water were very eye-catching.
The fish in the canal compete with each other to eat the carcasses...
In addition, there are several burned wreckage floating on the water.
Tu Hai squinted his eyes, glanced at Hong Chengchou beside him, and said.
"Master Hong, how did you rest last night?"
Hong Chengchou said with a smile.
"not bad!"
"It is best to fall asleep listening to the screams of thieves and bandits."