The fastest and safest way to get from Ba to Chu is by water.
Therefore, Lord Shui of Chu asked Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu for some boats and planned to take them down the river.
Xiong Hu, Lord of Pingyu, did not reject Lord Shui of Chu, and allocated five transport ships from the fleet under Xiying Lord Xiong Tao to Lord Chu Shui.
Chu Shuijun took over these five ships on the riverside in the Jiangzhou area. Before setting off, he asked his subordinate Cang Qing and other witches to carefully inspect the ships. After confirming that there were no problems with the ships, he took them on board.
Taking Bawang Fei and his wife and children, they took a boat and sailed down the river.
Along the way, the fleet passed "Zhi", "Pingdu" and "Linjiang", the three riverside capitals of the Ba Kingdom. Looking at these cities that were once built by the people of the five surnames of the Ba people, they are now all
Bawang Fei, who was standing on the bow of the ship with the flag of Chu flying, was in a very complicated mood.
Although Zhang Qigong's words of "leading the wolf into the house" were quite ironic, Ba Chun had to admit that the reinforcements he "invited" occupied his country. This was indeed an indisputable fact.
"Why did King Ba sigh?"
Chu Shuijun came over with the witch Cang Qing and greeted Ba Yi.
In the two days since setting off from Jiangzhou, Chu Shuijun has been working hard to build a good relationship with Ba Jin, but unfortunately, Ba Jin will not forgive Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu, who has 'betrayed' their friendship, let alone Xiong Hu.
Chu Shuijun is the guy who instigated the Xiang clan.
In Ba Yi's view, Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu is not a good person, and Lord Chu Shui is even less good.
"I'm just lamenting that the country is broken." Ba Wangkai said casually.
Chu Shuijun smiled slightly and started chatting with Ba Jin. However, Ba Jin was absent-minded and stared at the river, secretly thinking about how Zhang Qigong and the Wei people would 'rob' him away. After all, as far as he knew, this section of the river was
All the ships coming and going in this area are Chu's ships, and it is impossible for Wei's fleet to appear in this area.
At this moment, "Chen Li", a subordinate of Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu, stepped onto the deck from the cabin and said to Lord Chu Shui: " Lord Chu Shui, the soldiers manning the ship are tired. Besides, it is getting late today. They
I hope to dock for a night’s rest and regain enough energy before embarking on the journey.”
"..."
Chu Shuijun took a deep look at Chen Li, frowned and said, "Can't you wait until you arrive in Xiying to rest?"
Chen Li shrugged and said: "The soldiers manning the ship are all generals under the command of Lord Xi Ying. The last general cannot command. Lord Chu Shui might as well come forward and talk to them in person."
After hearing this, Chu Shuijun sneered twice secretly.
It is true that Xiying Jun Xiong Tao only obeys the orders of Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu in name. In fact, the former is not a subordinate of the latter. However, as Xiong Hu's subordinate, Chen Li is not able to command Xiong Tao's subordinates.
A group of soldiers. It was obvious that Chen Li did this deliberately for a certain purpose.
After pondering for a moment, Chu Shuijun finally agreed.
"Want to rest in this place?"
Ba Wangqi, who was standing beside him, had a somewhat strange expression on his face.
As a Ba native, of course he knew where they were at the moment. It was a place called "Qu?" by the locals. It was located on the north bank of the river. It had dense mountains and forests, a humid climate, and was full of flying insects that sucked human blood. Therefore,
Even the Xiang clan that once occupied this place has few people living here.
Anchored in this area, hoping to rest for a night to recuperate?
Ba Wangcheng said that as long as you can sleep a wink this night, I will lose.
However, he had no intention of reminding Chu Shuijun and Chen Li.
Having said that, he felt strangely that the Chu general named Chen Li seemed to be full of malice towards Lord Chu Shui.
That night, Chu Shuijun's five ships anchored at the "Qu?" area.
When they landed, Chu Shuijun whispered to the witch Cang Qing: "Send someone to guard the ship. Chen Li may cut off the ship's ropes intentionally."
It has to be said that although Chu Shuijun performed poorly on the battlefield of "Countries Conquering Wei", it does not mean that he is short-sighted and resourceful. Just like now, he can see through Chen Li's intention at a glance and advance in advance.
Ask the witches to guard the ship.
After all, once the ship is destroyed by Chen Li and others, or the ship's rope is cut off and allowed to drift downward, then they will have to go to Xiying by land, which greatly increases the possibility of being ambushed - Chu Shuijun certainly will not
Give Xiong Hu a chance to kill him.
Qu?, it is indeed a moist and insect-ridden land. Although Chu Shuijun and others lit a bonfire, they were still harassed by flying insects that sucked human blood and were in agony.
On the contrary, Ba Wangqi asked the soldiers of the Ba family who were protecting him in advance to find a plant. In the impression of the Ba people, as long as the stem juice of this plant is applied to the skin, those annoying flying insects will be eliminated.
If there are other goals, they will stay far away.
Relying on this plant, Ba Wangcheng, his wife and children, and the dozen or so Ba warriors who defended him did not suffer too much from the infestation of flying insects. On the other hand, Chu Shuijun, Chen Li and those from the Chu Kingdom
The soldiers were bitten all over by those flying insects and itched so unbearably that they wanted to draw their swords and cut off the itchy parts.
"You deserve it!"
Holding his wife and children in his arms, Ba Wangkai sneered secretly.
Suddenly, he heard a few scoldings coming from the shore, and soon there was the sound of swords striking each other, followed by screams.
"Could he be Mr. Zhang's person?"
Ba Jin subconsciously looked towards the river.
Seeing this, Lord Chu Shui misunderstood and comforted Ba Yi, saying: "King Ba, don't worry."
After that, he glanced at Chen Li and said calmly: "They are just some stupid people who want to do some stupid things."
Chen Li said nothing.
After a while, the witch Cang Qing carried a head to where Chu Shuijun and others were. She threw the head on the ground and said to Chu Shuijun: "Your Majesty, General Chen Li has more than a dozen men.
The famous soldiers wanted to cut off the ship's ropes at night, causing us to lose the ship, but my sisters have killed them all."
"oh."
Chu Shuijun nodded calmly, then turned to look at Chen Li, and asked with a half-smile: "General Chen Li, what's going on?"
Chen Li said calmly: "I don't know, I don't know...it may be a conspiracy of the Wei people."
"ha?"
Even people with deep knowledge in the city like Chu Shuijun couldn't help but feel angry after hearing these words: "Those are your subordinates, General Chen Li!"
"Not necessarily." Chen Li opened his eyes and lied: "Soldiers from Pingyu and Shangshui have always communicated with each other in the past, or these soldiers have secretly defected to the Wei State and served the Wei State." After saying this, he turned around to look.
Xiang Qing, the witch, cupped her fists and said, "Thank you for catching these spies lurking in the dark for me."
Hearing such a shameless answer, even Chu Shuijun couldn't help but feel a little dumb. He couldn't help but sarcastically said: "General Chen Li is indeed Lord Pingyu's favorite general..."
In Chu Shuijun's view, a general like Chen Li should not be able to say such shameless words. It must have been taught by Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu.
Chen Li seemed to be smiling and saying nothing, but from time to time he glanced at the head on the ground, and there was sometimes a hint of anger and murderous intent in his eyes.
It turned out that those dozen soldiers were indeed ordered by Chen Li, but he did not expect that Chu Shuijun had already anticipated this move and had called Cang Qing's Gonggongmai witches in advance to take precautions secretly.
Listening to the conversation between Chu Shuijun and Chu general Chen Li, Ba Wangkai was also quite surprised.
Even he could see that those dozen Chu soldiers must have been ordered by Chen Li, but he didn't understand why Chen Li wanted them to lose their ships.
There was no talking all night, and the group of people continued on their way until dawn the next day.
Chu Shuijun thought he had defeated Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's conspiracy, but it turned out that he underestimated the latter's shamelessness.
While the ships were sailing, a large group of people suddenly emerged from the south bank of the river. They used Wei's repeated crossbows to shoot at the ships on the river, trying to sink all five ships of Chu Shuijun.
Although those people did not wear armor and did not have any flags to identify themselves, Chu Shuijun could still tell at a glance that these were the troops of his Chu Kingdom - and they were even very likely to belong directly to Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu.
army.
"General Chen Li, what does this mean?!"
Chu Shuijun angrily questioned Chen Li.
According to Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's previous instructions, Chen Li replied calmly: "It may be the Xiang clan, the remnants of the Zhao clan. The general heard a while ago that these remnants were attacking our fleet in this area...
"
However, even Ba Wangqi didn't believe what he said, let alone Chu Shuijun.
"Do you think I'm blind?"
Chu Shuijun pointed at the people who attacked them on the south bank of the river, and laughed angrily: "Wei's machine crossbow, only the Pingyu army in western Chu has this kind of weapon, and you actually said it's Ba people?!"
Chen Li pretended to be ignorant and said: "Maybe it was robbed by the Ba people... Junhou, this ship is about to sink and will eventually dock."
After that, he ignored Chu Shuijun and ordered all the ships to dock.
Chu Shuijun glanced at the ships, and then at the Wei machine crossbows on the other side of the river in the distance. He endured his anger and did not stop Chen Li. After all, he also understood that the ships under his feet were not the iron-wrapped Tiger-type crossbows of Wei.
The frail hull of the warship cannot stop Wei's powerful war weapon, the machine crossbow. If he insists on forcing a breakthrough, the result will be the destruction of the ship and the death of everyone.
After arriving at the shore, Chen Li deliberately said to Chu Shuijun: "If you can't trust the last general, why don't you and I part ways here, and the last general will escort King Ba to Xiying."
In fact, at this moment, Chu Shuijun was already very sure that Chen Li must have received secret instructions from Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu and tried to kill him on the way.
"Forcing me to abandon the ship and land ashore so that I can be ambushed on the shore? Okay! I'll see how you kill me!"
Chu Shuijun also had some murderous intention in his heart.
Of course he would not be separated from Chen Li here and let the latter take away Ba Wangkai and his party. Wouldn't it be convenient for Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu to send troops to ambush him?
Seeing the Chu soldiers under Chen Li from a distance, some of them had taken out the hand crossbows hanging on their waists. Chu Shuijun felt a chill in his heart, and had to swallow his words and change his words: "General, you are serious, maybe those people are indeed Ba people."
Bar."
Although he said so, Lord Chu Shui at this moment had murderous intentions towards Chen Li and the Chu soldiers under his command.
Although Chen Li has 300 soldiers under his command, Chu Shuijun also has about 200 witches from the same lineage. Although the number is slightly smaller, if there is a fight, Chen Li's side is not an opponent at all.
Within the time it takes to burn incense, he will be killed by those seemingly weak witches.
The only thing worth worrying about may be the crossbows of these Chu soldiers. As the general of the Pingyu Army, Chen Li's soldiers also have crossbows made by Wei. This is the biggest threat to Cang Qing and other witches.
Likewise, it is also the biggest threat to him, Lord Chu Shui.
"After entering the forest, kill them!"
Afterwards, Chu Shuijun privately ordered Cang Qing and other Gonggongmai witches to attack the Chu soldiers under Chen Li after entering the forest.
At this time, the Chu general Chen Li also ordered several hundred generals under his command to attack the witches of Gonggongmai after entering the mountains and forests.
To be honest, Chen Li didn't want to take action so quickly. After all, according to Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu's order, he had to wait until the Wei people from Zhang Qigong's side appeared before taking action against Chu Shuijun's side.
But there was no way, Chu Shuijun had already developed murderous intention towards them.
In the final analysis, it was because of an accident that night when the ship was anchored at "Qu?". If Chen Li's intention to destroy the ship had not been exposed by Lord Chu Shui that night, Lord Pingyu Xiong Hu could only use the second plan -
- That is, the fake Ba army used machine crossbows to sink Chu Shuijun's ship. Chen Li and Chu Shuijun would not have fallen out so quickly.
The so-called mountain forest refers to the mountain forest in the "Qi?" area. Since there are few people inhabiting it, it is full of mountain animals and annoying flying insects. But compared with these, I am afraid that people's hearts are the most poisonous.
No, when Ba Yi, Chu Shuijun, and Chen Li entered the mountain forest, due to the dense jungle and muddy roads, most of the people in the team were separated by the trees.
At this moment, the Chu soldiers under Chen Li and the witches under Chu Shuijun began to kill each other.
It has to be said that in such an environment with many obstacles, it is definitely a very stupid thing to fight with those agile Gonggongmai witches, even though the Chu soldiers under Chen Li have crossbows that can kill witches.
The best weapon, but due to the obstruction of those trees, it is difficult for the Chu soldiers to hit the target; on the other hand, those cold-faced witches can often take the life of a Chu soldier without any damage with just one or two swords.
This makes the fight between them a one-sided massacre.
Soon, all the subordinates of Chu general Chen Li were killed by Cang Qing's witches. Only Chen Li and a few dozen Chu soldiers were left. They were saved from death because they stayed with Ba Jin and Chu Shuijun.
.
Unfortunately, this was only temporary. During a break, Chu General Chen Li was shocked to see the witch Cang Qing next to Chu Shuijun, covered in blood, appearing in his sight. And behind her, gradually
More and more witches appeared, all covered in blood.
"It's done." Cang Qing said to Chu Shuijun.
"Is there any loss?" Chu Shuijun asked with a smile.
Cang Qing replied expressionlessly: "I don't know yet, but based on the skills of the sisters, they should be fine."
"That's good."
Chu Shuijun nodded, then turned to look at Chen Li, who had a dull face, and said with a half-smile, "What a pity, General Chen Li."
"The three hundred elite men under my command were all killed in such a short period of time? In fact, the other party was actually unscathed?"
Chen Li couldn't believe it.
Seeing the dull look on Chen Li's face, Chu Shuijun smiled contemptuously and said lightly: "Cang Qing, just follow General Chen Li."
The witch Cang Qing nodded expressionlessly, played a few sword flowers with the sharp sword in her hand, and slowly walked towards Chen Li.
Seeing this, Chen Li, who was standing against a tree with his arms folded, immediately stood up straight and pulled out the sharp sword from his waist. The dozen or so Chu soldiers around him also immediately protected him.
It's a pity that the witch Cang Qing doesn't take this level of resistance seriously.
However, just as she was about to take action, her expression suddenly changed. She suddenly turned around and swung her sword. There was a clang sound, and a flying arrow came from nowhere. She cut it off its original path and hit the target by mistake.
into the abdomen of a miko.
Poor that miko, she didn't react at all. She stared blankly at her bleeding abdomen, and then fell to the ground.
"who?!"
Under the surprised looks of Chu Shuijun, Chen Li, Ba Qi and others, Cang Qing angrily yelled.
After a period of calm, a figure walked out from behind the tree in the distance. It was none other than the leader of the Zhurongmai witches, Mi Rui.
She glanced in the direction of Chen Li and said in a reproachful tone: "Are you the leader of those Chu soldiers? Your subordinates are too weak, and they were killed by those bitches so easily."
After that, under the somewhat bewildered gaze of Chu General Chen Li, he turned to look at Chu Shuijun and Cang Qing, and said coldly: "Chu Shuijun, and you bitch, you are the one who is waiting to be crowned today."
time!"
As soon as he finished speaking, countless arrows shot out from the forest, and immediately, the Zhurongmai witches in red and white witch uniforms appeared one by one from behind the trees in the distance.
"Bitch girl!"
The witch Cang Qing, who had always been expressionless, showed a bit of anger when she saw Mi Rui, and scolded: "Who will win, we don't know yet!"
In the blink of an eye, the Zhurongmai witches in red and white shaman uniforms and the Gonggongmai witches in blue and white shaman uniforms were killed together. Only the light of swords and shadows could be seen. Even the Chu general Chen Li, who had always been proud of force, was killed.
, including the Ba warriors around Ba Yi, they couldn't help but secretly swallow their saliva after seeing these women fighting.
As the leader of both sides, the Great Witch, Cang Qing naturally faced Mi Rui.
"Are such a small number of people coming here to die?" Cang Qing sneered while slashing at Mi Rui with a sword.
When Mi Rui heard this, she also sneered: "Humph! Which of your eyes can see that we only have so many people?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a rotating flying ax thrown from the forest. The ax broke the arm of a Gonggongmai witch who tried to resist. The leader of the black crows, Ghost, laughed and led the black people under his command.
The crows came out and killed them.
"Ghost, give me..."
Seeing his reckless men rushing to the place with the most people, Yang Ji, the leader of the black crows, slowly walked out from behind the tree, shook his head helplessly, and immediately, he looked at a man who took the initiative to meet him with a strange look.
His Gonggongmai witch.
"Do you want to fight me? Okay."
Yang Yi smiled slightly, took out a dagger from behind his waist with both hands, and immediately raised it in front of him in a posture.
Seeing this, the miko stepped forward and slashed hard at Yang Ji's neck with the sharp sword in her hand. However, Yang Ji turned aside and threw out the dagger in her right hand.
In a hurry, the miko raised her sword to block her chest, and with a clang sound, the dagger was hit straight into the air.
At this time, Yang Jiqi stepped forward and struck the witch's chest with the dagger in his left hand.
"clang!"
Yang Ji's attack was still blocked by the miko.
But at this moment, a smile appeared on Yang Ji's face, and he deliberately raised his empty right hand in front of the miko.
"What?"
The miko seemed to realize something and subconsciously raised her head.
However, at this moment, he saw the smile on Yang Ji's face getting even bigger. He turned around in an instant, took out a third dagger from his waist, and stabbed the miko's ribs with his backhand, losing all of the blade.
"Plop——"
The miko fell to the ground, her eyes blank.
Looking at her eyes that were gradually losing their luster, Yang Yi shook his head and said lightly: "You miko's sword skills are very powerful, but when it comes to killing people, we, the Black Crows, have never been weaker than others."
After saying that, he glanced not far away because he noticed another Gonggongmai witch speeding toward him in the distance.
"This is simply..."
Seeing the chaotic fighting in front of him, even though he knew it was dangerous, Ba Wangkai could hardly help but shout out that it was wonderful.
In front of his eyes, he saw more than a hundred Zhu Rongmai witches and more than 200 Black Crows, and more than 200 Gonggongmai witches fighting in a group, each attacking the other's vital points, so that every sword flash, every blood burst
Now, one of the witches or black crows fell to the ground and died.
In contrast, the Nanyang Jie tribe warriors who were once regarded as a serious threat by the Ba people had a vague sense of being unable to integrate into the battle. They could only stand aside and shoot cold arrows, otherwise they would be immediately attacked by the witches of Gonggongmai as soon as they stepped forward.
Killed.
Seeing that the situation was getting more and more unfavorable for his side, Chu Shuijun immediately ordered several witches to kidnap Ba Jin, his wife and children, and tried to take them to escape from this place.
Seeing this, Chen Li also chased after him. He wanted to ensure that Ba Yi could not fall into the hands of the Wei people.
"Damn it!"
In desperation, the witch Cang Qing led the Gonggongmai witches to fight and retreat.
"Take, take back Ba Wang!"
Zhang Qigong, who finally arrived at the battlefield, held on to the tree with one hand and ordered breathlessly.
Of course, Xi Rui would not sit back and watch Chu Shuijun escape with the gang of Gonggongmai witches. She immediately led the Zhurongmai witches, the Black Crows, and the Jie clan warriors to pursue the former. The two sides staged a pursuit battle in Wushan.
One side fled, the other chased, and neither had time to rest. In the end, after a chase that lasted for more than a month, Chu Shuijun, Cang Qing and his party escaped from Wushan and entered the Yiling area.
Tens of miles east of Yiling is "Xi Ying". As long as they escape to Xi Ying, Chu Shuijun and his party can escape the pursuit of Mi Rui's group.
However, as they were fleeing along the road near the mountain, they suddenly saw a carriage parked on the road.
Immediately, a graceful and elegant woman wearing a brocade skirt slowly stepped out of the carriage. She looked calmly at Chu Shuijun, Cang Qing and others coming from a distance.
"Who are you……"
Seeing this woman, Chu Shuijun and Cang Qing immediately stopped and looked at the woman uncertainly.
"Why is she here?!"
After a while, the faces of Chu Shuijun and Cang Qing suddenly changed as they recognized each other.
At this time, the woman, no, it should be said to be the Queen Mi Jiang of the Wei Kingdom. She stood holding her hands, looking at Chu Shuijun and Cang Qing quietly and indifferently, and said lightly: "Chu Shuijun, I
, I’ve been waiting here for a long time.”
Following her words, groups of Wei soldiers marched neatly out from behind the hill. These Wei soldiers were seen holding the "Shangshui" flag high. In the blink of an eye, they occupied all the open space within Chu Shuijun's sight. They were densely packed.
It seems like there are thousands of them.
The general riding the horse at the head was Wu Ji, the chief general of the Shang Shui Army.
"It's such a pity that my husband-in-law doesn't allow me to do it myself..."
Mi Jiang slowly raised her hand and pointed towards her eyes.
In an instant, the thousands of Wei soldiers behind her raised their crossbows and aimed at Chu Shuijun and others.
"Fire the arrow."
She said calmly.
With a command, the endless arrows were like a torrential rain, raining down on Chu Shuijun, Cang Qing and the Gonggongmai witches.