Chapter 914 The pitch-black night, the action under the torrential rain.
While the Li family was overjoyed at the letter from Li Dalang, thousands of miles away in the south, on an unnamed river, a warship that clearly resembled a sea hawk was moored.
Two people stood on the deck at the bow of the ship.
Without any lights on the boat, Wang Dadan glanced at the riverbank ahead before turning back to Li Dalang, who had a thin scar about the length of an adult's little finger on the corner of his right eye, and whispered, "Boss, when do we make our move?"
Upon hearing this, Li Dalang swallowed hard. Looking at the calm river surface, he said expressionlessly, "At midnight, Old Zhou said that the sky will definitely be full of dark clouds tonight, and it will be a day with a torrential downpour."
"Then we'll call the brothers to act."
Upon hearing this, Wang Dadan calculated the time in his mind; it would be midnight in about half an hour.
The two stood together at the bow of the boat, enjoying the wind. It was late at night, and they waited quietly for their chance.
Suddenly, Li Dalang spoke up: "After this is over, we can go back to the Tang Dynasty."
"Yes, we can finally go back."
Wang Dadan chuckled twice. "Boss, my mother said in her last letter that she's arranged a marriage for me, and she's just waiting for me to make some contributions so she can go home with me."
Withdrawing his gaze from the river, Li Dalang looked down in surprise at Wang Dadan, who was scratching his head and grinning foolishly. He punched Wang Dadan lightly and said, "Well, Wang Dadan, you've really gotten bold! I've never heard you mention such good news before!"
"Hehe, boss, Haiping told me not to say it."
Haiping said, "Boss, even if you're married, you're no different from us unmarried guys. You still lead us to work in this wretched place every day."
Haiping said, "It's better to talk about this after we can go back."
Li Dalang was somewhat stunned. He really hadn't expected Gao Haiping to give Wang Dadan such instructions. He couldn't help but think of Jiang Shengnan, who was far away in Chang'an, the Li Family Medical Hall, and the city where he had grown up.
Although Wang Dadan wasn't very good at speaking, he was still good at reading people's expressions. He looked at Li Dalang, who was stunned after hearing his words, and couldn't help but feel a little guilty for talking too much.
We should listen to Gao Haiping and wait until they actually return to the Tang Dynasty together before telling Li Dalang about this.
"Boss, it's my fault. I don't know how to talk. I shouldn't have brought this up."
Wang Dadan lightly slapped his mouth with his hand before saying this.
"Come on," Li Dalang said, raising his hand to grab Wang Dadan's hand. "I'm not that petty."
However, "If my wife sees my face now that I'm injured, I don't know how heartbroken she will be," Li Dalang thought of Jiang Shengnan, and he raised his hand to touch the scar at the corner of his eye.
When I return home in the future, and my mother and grandmother see me like this, they'll surely be unable to stop their tears.
When Wang Dadan saw Li Dalang touching the scar, he couldn't help but recall everything they had gone through to catch the archbishop, the mastermind behind the opium case. That time, they had truly escaped death.
That time, it was thanks to Gao Haiping taking a knife for him; otherwise, the grass on his grave would be a foot high by now.
It was on that occasion that Gao Haiping almost died; he escaped only because he and Li Dalang carried him back and forth on their backs.
That time, the three of them hid in the mountains for seven or eight days, and only survived thanks to the medicine that Li San Niang had prepared for them in Li Da Lang's treasure pouch.
It was on that occasion that they used the intelligence they had obtained to lead the charge alongside Shi Le'an's main force to wipe out Black Hand's lair, capture the Archbishop, and achieve great merit!
The three of them were each promoted three ranks, and Li Dalang was directly promoted to the fifth rank of Dingyuan Left General!
On that same occasion, Gao Haiping broke his leg and had to stay at the base to recover, which is why he couldn't join their operation this time.
"Boss, Haiping said, what's the big deal if this man has a few scars?"
We soldiers aren't those pampered civil officials; these scars are our marks of service!
Upon hearing Wang Dadan's words, Li Dalang couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"As expected, how bold! After following Haiping for so long, you've even managed to come up with such literary phrases to comfort people."
The saying "A scholar should be viewed with new eyes after three days' absence" is indeed true.
As the two talked, time passed by in a leisurely manner.
Li Dalang looked up at the sky again and saw that the bright moon had hidden behind the dark clouds. He turned to Wang Dadan and said, "Dadan, go and wake the brothers up. Get ready, it's time for us to move out."
The sky was as dark as ink, and the night wind blew stronger than before; the weather was truly about to change.
In no time, the deck was filled with people. Li Dalang touched the hilt of the sword at his waist and said a few words to the brothers in front of him: "Brothers, tonight we'll cut off their retreat. If we do a good job, we can return to the Tang Dynasty!"
Seventh Brother and Fifteenth Brother will lead the charge, and I will follow boldly at the rear. Let's move out!
At Li Dalang's command, the seventh and fifteenth brothers in the crowd stepped forward first. They nimbly went to the side of the boat, grabbed the thick ropes, and jumped down.
Seven or eight sampans had already been placed beside the sea falcon, and Lao Qi and Lao Shiwu took one of the sampans and rowed towards the riverbank.
With Lao Qi and Shiwu setting an example, everyone followed Li Dalang's instructions and began to act.
As Li Dalang and his companions set foot on the land, the moored sea falcon ship also left the river bend and headed out onto the river channel.
Just as Li Dalang was instructing his men to hide their sampans, raindrops began to fall from the sky.
In just a few breaths, the drizzle turned into a downpour, soaking Li Dalang and his companions from head to toe in no time.
Under the cover of darkness and with the carefully timed wind and torrential rain, Li Dalang and his men moved forward in formation to take down the last hideout left behind by the mastermind.
Time passed slowly, the sounds of wind and rain mingled with the roars of people, and the earthy smell of grass was thick with the stench of blood.
In a war between nations, human life is both the least valuable and the most valuable thing.
As the night passed, the rain stopped and the sun rose, washing everything clean. The air was filled with the fragrance of grass and trees, and the nauseating, sticky smell of human blood was no longer there.
Spitting out the blood and saliva in his mouth, Wang Dadan raised his knife and delivered a final blow to the chest of the corpse on the ground.
"Finally, it's all over."
With these words in mind, Li Dalang nodded to the soldiers behind him. The soldiers took out signal batons from their chests and fired them into the sky. With a loud bang, the sky was filled with red smoke.
Seventh Brother and Fifteenth Brother each dragged two people over. "Boss, these four are white people."
The seventh brother pointed at one of them and said to Li Dalang, "His jaw has been removed, his hands are tied, his Achilles tendons have been severed, and all his belongings have been taken. Fifteen is holding them."
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