Chapter 685 Counterattack

In Shule City, snowflakes began to fall again.

Li Dalang and a dozen or so soldiers braved the cold wind and entered the city. None of them wore standard uniforms, only civilian clothes, and they entered the city as civilians.

As soon as Wang Dadan entered the room, he stomped his foot and said, "The weather here is really unpredictable."

It's already March, and it's still snowing.

If this were in Jiangnan (southern China), the grass along the roadside would be green by now.

After exchanging a few words with Uncle Zhao, the lame gatekeeper of the outpost, Li Dalang took the kettle from Uncle Zhao's hand and carried it into the house.

Gao Haiping followed Li Dalang, carrying a stack of ceramic bowls, and went into the house. After closing the door, Li Dalang poured a bowl of hot water for each person.

"Let's all have a bowl of hot water to warm ourselves up first. It'll get even colder at night, so we'll have to endure this for a while."

Turning his head, Li Dalang took out a purse from his pocket and tossed it to Gao Haiping, saying, "Go outside and buy some dry food for us to eat on the road."

"Squad leader, how can we use your money? Didn't the higher-ups already give us money?"

Wang Dadan sat on the table, blowing on a ceramic bowl to drink. Upon hearing Gao Haiping's words, he was quick-witted and immediately blew on the scalding hot water while looking at the bowl, seemingly answering Gao Haiping's question, but actually explaining it to the other soldiers in the room.

"Sigh, the little money from above is just enough to keep us from starving."

We can eat and drink less on the road, but the horses that Uncle Zhao feeds in the backyard are much more precious than ours, so they need to eat and drink too.

Most of that money will be spent on the horse; what will people eat then?

The money the team leader gave us is just to get you more rations so we can have enough to eat on the road.

The first batch of special forces soldiers had already been killed in the previous raid on the Western Turkic royal camp. Among those who were lucky enough to survive, including Li Dalang, Wang Dadan, and Gao Haiping, there were only a dozen or so people.

But it must be said that the special forces, this new branch of the military, has truly proven itself.

The Tang Dynasty's swift victory in the war against the Western Turks was due not only to the availability of gunpowder, but also to the decisive role played by special forces who were able to severely injure the Turkic Khan inside the royal tent.

Therefore, this branch of the military was preserved, and later outstanding soldiers were selected from the army to supplement the special forces.

This time, Li Dalang led a team to Shule City to carry out a mission. More than half of the dozen or so people were meeting each other for the first time, and it was the first time they were working together. However, there were two or three people who had worked together once or twice before.

Only Wang Dadan and Gao Haiping had been with Li Dalang since the very beginning of the special forces' formation.

Therefore, at this moment, Gao Haiping and Wang Dadan's back-and-forth singing can be considered as supporting Li Dalang.

How could Li Dalang not know the meaning behind Wang Dadan and Gao Haiping's stunt?

I just wanted to make sure he got his money's worth, and to make the person working on the mission for the first time take it more seriously.

Li Dalang smiled, waved to Gao Haiping, and told him to leave.

After Gao Haiping left, Li Dalang sat down and said to the dozen or so people sitting in small groups in the room, "Dalang is speaking well of me, so please don't feel pressured."

Wang Dadan glared at Li Dalang, about to speak, but Li Dalang quickly stopped him with a look. Wang Dadan then pouted and sat down again.

"The money the higher-ups gave us is actually enough, and even with the cost of the horses on the road, it's more than enough."

Not to mention, this is official business, and we can stay at inns along the way without spending any money.

As for why I paid for it?

Firstly, it was indeed to ensure we had enough to eat on the road. This time, we were following the caravan that we started tracking from Shule, and we were supposed to go to Chang'an and then head south from Chang'an.

The journey is long, and no one knows what might happen. If we eat well, we'll have the strength to escape if we encounter danger.

Secondly, since I am your team leader, it is my duty to be responsible for the brothers.

I'm contributing this money voluntarily, so please don't feel pressured.

"If we do well in our future missions, I'll have something to report to my superiors."

Li Dalang's words made him seem even more sincere, and the others who were sincere bowed to him, to which Li Dalang naturally returned the bow.

After nightfall, Gao Haiping returned with large and small bags.

"Squad leader, I went out for a walk and saw that the manager next to that merchant was also out making purchases. It seems that he plans to leave the city before dawn."

"Let the brothers have a good meal and then get some sleep."

Sure enough, before dawn, when lanterns were still needed to light the way, long queues formed on the road out of the city for many people who were in a hurry to leave.

Li Dalang and his companions were disguised as small-time fur traders, and they were now about a hundred paces away from the group of merchants who were keeping watch on them.

The people in the border town started to move, and the Bad Guys and Du Qinghui's men in Jiangnan East Road also started to move.

Among the hundreds of ships at a dock, amidst the twinkling lights tonight, five people sat around a small fire on a table on one of the ships closest to the shore.

"The higher-ups want us to capture as many alive as possible, because only the living are useful; the dead can't speak."

"No problem, with this bag, we can catch as many as we want, even if we want to."

A man with a scar on his face took out a paper package from the side and threw it on the table. He pointed at the package and said that.

The man codenamed Thirty-Four from the Bad Guys picked up the object, opened it, glanced at it, smelled it, his expression changed, and he exchanged a glance with his companion beside him.

"Hey, it's not poison, why are you giving me that look?"

Scarface was holding sleeping pills; they won't kill anyone.

Thirty-four and Thirty-five from the Bad Guys exchanged another glance. Thirty-four rolled his eyes speechlessly, thinking to himself, "What kind of people are they?"

Are these soldiers under General Du's command?

They look like river pirates to me!

Actually, Thirty-Four was right. Scarface and the other three were indeed from the water bandit background.

However, since they had been scattered by Du Qinghui's troops earlier and then incorporated into his army, they were now soldiers.

Even though he was a soldier, he had only been in the army for less than two years, and the smell of a bandit on him had not completely disappeared yet.

After midnight, most of the lights in the docks went out, with only a few scattered lights still on.

Under the cover of darkness, Scarface and Duanzhisan, who had lost three fingers on his left hand, carefully abandoned their sampan and jumped into the water not far from the large ship moored in the deep water bay.

Thirty-four and thirty-five couldn't swim, so they had to wait there.

Half an hour later, Thirty-Four saw someone waving a small flag on the bow of a large ship in the distance. He and Thirty-Five then quickly rowed towards the ship.

It took a lot of effort for Thirty-Four and Thirty-Five to finally get onto the deck.