Meanwhile, in a small fishing village not far from Weizhou City.
Lin Yan'an, with her hair disheveled and dressed in a woman's coarse linen dress, was pushed by the bandits behind her and stumbled, falling directly onto the boat, her face full of terror.
The next second, she started sobbing along with the other girls, her eyes filled with fear, which stunned Liu'er.
Who is the real woman? This guy's acting is way too convincing.
The two were squeezed into the corner, surrounded by the soft sobs of the girls.
Lin Yan'an gave Liu'er a wink, and his hands, which were originally tied behind his back with rope, deftly took out a small packet of medicine powder from Liu'er's sleeve.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one around him was paying attention, he fell overboard.
He was only somewhat smug, his eyes seeming to say as he stared at Liu'er, "How about it? Isn't my helper pretty good?"
Liu'er glared at him, carefully watching the surrounding ships.
About a dozen small boats floated on the sea, each carrying seven or eight bandits, some holding girls hostage, others piling up stolen grain.
Fortunately, their ship was located in the inner part of the area, and several other ships only had small lanterns lit. Otherwise, given Lin Yan'an's actions, he would have been seen by the people on the other ships.
The small boat sailed along the sea, unnoticed by anyone. The fish were particularly excited, swimming and chasing each other wildly.
Several pirates at the bow of the boat chatted and lamented.
"I don't know what the boss was thinking, but we should just attack Weizhou City directly. Those city guards are no match for us."
Look, those city guards have been bullied like bastards by our brothers these past few days, they don't even have a chance to fight back.
Needless to say, many of those good-for-nothings ran away in fear when they saw us coming, and those who didn't have time to escape all died under our blades.
"Having lived on that island for so long, I've long wanted to try living in Weizhou City. I've heard the girls there are even more beautiful than those in the village," a young bandit said with a smile.
"You're always talking about girls, get out of here."
"Exactly, don't think we don't know what you're thinking. Aren't you afraid your body can't handle it, you skinny monkey?"
The group chatted and laughed.
The middle-aged man standing to the side said, "Hey, don't underestimate those city guards."
These soldiers who came to the small fishing village were only a small part of the city. There were nearly 50,000 soldiers guarding Weizhou City. How could we possibly be a match for them?
"If we really charge in, and the city guards fight us to the death, it won't be worth it."
"We still have..."
Before he could finish speaking, the bandit next to him slapped the young man called Skinny Monkey, his eyes filled with warning.
Seeing this, the skinny monkey quickly changed the subject.
"The other cities have all quieted down lately. No one even stopped us from going to the fishing village to rob women. It seems that the city's garrison has been almost exhausted and they dare not attack us anymore. It's really great!"
"Of course! Those useless city guards are no match for us. We robbed a lot of things back today, and the boss will definitely be happy."
I just don't know how much longer we'll have to fight for it.
"That's a point of view. Of course, we'll have to wait until those people from Xiliang successfully break through Weizhou City before we can move in without lifting a finger. Wouldn't that be much more comfortable?"
Furthermore, with us suppressing Weizhou City on this side of the waterway, the Xiliang people can better suppress Weizhou from the outside.
I think it won't be long before Weizhou City falls, and they might even surrender on their own initiative.
"There are so many people inside who need to eat. Now that the city is under lockdown, and there's no large-scale food transport into the city, I wonder how long they can hold out."
While they were talking animatedly, the pirates on the other ships were equally excited about taking over Weizhou in the future. However, no one noticed that not long after they left...
Several large ships were launched into the water off the coast of the small fishing village.
Lu Cijian stood on the deck, listening to the joy of those around him, but his eyes showed little emotion.
"These Miss Liu and Lord Lin are really amazing. What did they use to actually get so many fish to guide us?"
It seems we can truly wipe out those river bandits today.
Zhao Zuoling stared at the schools of fish gathering on the sea surface with astonishment in his eyes.
An unusually deep line appeared on the originally calm sea surface; if one did not look closely, one would think that one's eyes were playing tricks on them.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a school of fish gathering together on the surface of the sea, forming that unusually deep path.
The road meandered and twisted in the middle of the sea, which was the same on all sides, making it impossible to discern any pattern.
Zhao Zuoling exclaimed in amazement, "No wonder no one has been able to find the lair of those water bandits for so long. With a route like this, who could remember it if they didn't travel on the sea all the time?"
Not to mention, fog often rolls in at sea, and when thick fog rolls in, forget about finding those pirates.
They went to great lengths to find the bandits' hideout, but they didn't even spot the bandits.
Those people are extremely fast; even if they are alone, they are not easily caught by them. They will simply jump into the sea and disappear.
On the contrary, the garrison troops of several cities suffered heavy losses during that bandit suppression campaign.
In the end, the plan to suppress the bandits had to be abandoned.
Looking back now, even if they had continued to suppress the bandits, they might not have been able to find the bandits' lair, and they might have lost even more troops for nothing.
Lu Cijian stared at the winding route without saying a word.
Although the message from Moge yesterday only mentioned that the river bandits were related to Xie Yang, the exact number was unknown.
However, he felt that there must be a large number of those river bandits, otherwise they would not have been able to restrain several cities near Weizhou.
This battle is probably more difficult than he thought.
But so be it. At least we can completely wipe out the river bandits, ruin Xie Yang's plan, and solve Weizhou's current predicament. Nothing else matters.
I reckon the Southern Guard Army will arrive tomorrow, and with the nearly 30,000 garrison troops in the city, we have a good chance of defeating those Xiliang people.
With their supplies depleted, the Xiliang people naturally wouldn't linger in Weizhou any longer, and the arrival of the Southern Guard would essentially seal the victory.
He just hoped that Mianmian would be alright tonight.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Zhao Zuoling just smiled and said, "Lord Lu is worried about Princess Ning'an, isn't he?"
"Rest assured, my lord, His Highness said that even if they fail to burn the grain supplies tonight, the city guards will fight to the death to protect the princess's safety and will ensure nothing happens to her."
Although the princess was very capable in last night's battle, she only had three hundred soldiers with her, so it would be quite difficult for her to successfully burn the grain supplies.
The prince had told the three hundred men early on that they must protect the princess's safety.
Lu Cijian frowned upon hearing this, glanced at him indifferently, and then said, "She will succeed."
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