Chapter 152: Bandit Leader (3)

Looking up at the sky, he hadn't returned before the army set off. He was probably still standing there. After all, letting a person with mysophobia roll in rotten, foul-smelling mud was more painful than killing him. Today was truly satisfying!

Walking along in a pleasant mood, Gu Yun suddenly felt something was wrong. She stopped at the stream and stared blankly at the direction of the water flow, not knowing what she was thinking.

Han Shu turned his head and saw her standing still, asking, "What are you looking at?"

Gu Yun frowned and replied stutteringly, "The water flow is much smaller today."

Looking up, there were indeed only a few sparse small streams flowing down from upstream. Han Shu guessed, "Maybe it hasn't rained for a few days. It will rain heavily in two days, and the water will rise. We are walking along the ditch; it doesn't matter if the water is big or small."

Shaking her head, Gu Yun sighed in a low voice, "That's not the problem." This period was just the rainy season. Even if it didn't rain, it was impossible for there to be so little water in the rainforest. Why did the water suddenly get smaller? Could it be—

Su Ren also noticed that they had stopped at the stream and walked behind Gu Yun, just happening to hear their conversation. Su Ren's heart lifted, and he said urgently, "You're worried that the rebels intercepted the stream to overcome fire with water!"

Gu Yun nodded slowly. The rebels' camp was upstream. They were very likely to have discovered Su Ling's fire attack plan and intercepted the water to store it. When they opened the sluice, not only would the sulfur and fire oil be washed away, but the five thousand elite troops who lit the fire would likely be drowned by the released water.

Han Shu's tiger eyes widened, and he said urgently, "Then aren't the General and the soldiers in great danger? I'll go over immediately to inform the General."

Gu Yun pressed her hand on Han Shu's broad shoulder to stop him from rushing over, saying calmly, "You continue to the place where the gold is hidden. I'll go find Su Ling." Although she wished she would never see Su Ling again, she knew the urgency of the situation. Now was absolutely not the time to be willful. The gold was the main purpose of this operation. Han Shu wasn't familiar with the rainforest terrain, and it wouldn't be easy for him to find Su Ling if he suddenly changed his route.

Su Ren looked at Gu Yun and nodded, "That's best!"

Gu Yun left Su Ren's team and ran toward the east. She nervously looked up at the sky from time to time. The sky covered by layers of leaves was still azure, without a trace of thick smoke, which meant they hadn't lit the fire yet. Quickening her pace, an hour later, Gu Yun smelled the faint scent of sulfur and fire oil, and her heart was overjoyed. She hadn't gone in the wrong direction and was still in time!

The further she went, the stronger the smell of sulfur became. Before long, Gu Yun saw a wall of people arranged in a line in the distance, each pushing or carrying small carts filled with sulfur or fire oil, scattering these fuels everywhere on the ground and trees. The heavy smell made it hard to breathe. At this moment, Leng Xiao in the distance discovered her and hurriedly greeted her, "Boss?"

Covering her nose, Gu Yun asked, "Where is Su Ling?"

"East highland." Squinting to look, the so-called highland was a hill five miles away, with a much higher geographical position than here, indeed a favorable place to avoid floods. Gu Yun continued to ask, "Where is Yu Shijun?"

"Ahead, I'll go call him." Without asking what she was doing, Leng Xiao had already automatically helped her find someone. Gu Yun smiled faintly. A few months ago, they were still playing wits with her, and now they could cooperate seamlessly.

After less than half a stick of incense, Yu Shijun and Leng Xiao walked over side by side. Seeing Gu Yun, he couldn't hide his surprise. Yu Shijun asked, "Ma... Miss Qing, why are you here?"

Gu Yun explained, "I suspect the enemy intercepted the upstream water. As soon as you light the fire, they will immediately release the water. At that time, not only will the fire attack method be useless, but the water flow will also wash away many soldiers, disrupting the formation and the morale of the army."

Yu Shijun was shocked. Looking at the soldiers busy deploying around, if the rebels really used water attack, not only would they have worked in vain, but this surprise attack would definitely fail! "Then what should we do now? Without a military order, I can't withdraw the troops!" Even if he trusted Qing Mo immensely, the army had its own rules!

Gu Yun shook her head, calmly and concisely arranging, "No need to withdraw. I'll go find Su Ling now to explain the situation here. From the five thousand elite troops, draw one thousand, and transport 70% of the fire oil and sulfur from here to the east highland where Su Ling is. The others continue to light the fire, but don't scatter it on the ground anymore. Climb up the trees and scatter the sulfur on the tree crowns. Be careful when lighting the fire. After the fire is lit, retreat three miles away immediately. Let the soldiers climb up the thickest trees to hide, and wait for the water to pass before coming down to conduct the second wave of attack!"

"Yes!" Yu Shijun immediately deployed manpower. Gu Yun instructed Leng Xiao to be responsible for transporting the fuel, and then ran toward the direction of Su Ling.

At the highest point of the highland, a small general stood there, his sharp eyes closely watching the movement around. From afar, seeing a team of horses heading toward this side, he immediately raised his vigilance. After careful observation, he ran to Su Ling's side and reported, "Report General, more than a thousand men in the vanguard elite troops are heading toward this side."

Putting down the water system map in his hand, Su Ling raised his head, his eyebrows already tightly wrinkled, and his voice was terrifyingly low, "Who is leading?" Yu Shijun actually didn't follow the original deployment! He wasn't a person who dared to disobey military orders casually. Had some sudden change occurred?

"It is—" After hesitating for a while, under Su Ling's glare, he could only say loudly, "It is the Madam."

Qing Mo? Su Ling felt a slight shock in his heart. She was in a group with Su Ren, and suddenly came to find him, and even brought back the elite troops. Su Ling had already vaguely guessed that something had indeed changed.

Soon, Gu Yun arrived at the highland first. Su Ling greeted her and asked, "What happened?"

Gu Yun's still worried heart slowly let go. She had originally thought that since she brought back his elite troops, after what happened last night, he would definitely think she was deliberately making trouble for him or taking revenge. Seeing her, he definitely wouldn't have any good words. Unexpectedly, his face was calm, his tone was still cold, but he was inquiring about the facts, which left Gu Yun with no use for the words she had prepared to fight back, and she secretly admired his calmness and composure.

Compared to the gunpowder-filled morning, Gu Yun's tone had softened a lot, "The water flow in the southern branch stream has decreased significantly. I suspect the rebels intercepted the upstream water to fight the fire attack with water. Once the fire stones and sulfur are soaked by water, they will be completely useless, and the soil washed by the water will be even softer. At that time, a strong attack will be very disadvantageous for you."

She said "you"? Su Ling didn't know why, but he felt very uncomfortable hearing it. When she said "we" before, he wasn't uncomfortable either. He didn't understand what he wanted to do! Collecting his mind, Su Ling decided not to think about her problems anymore. He had thought about it all night last night and hadn't come to any conclusion.

Not far behind the highland, there was also a stream, and the sound of the flowing water was exactly the same as usual. The two looked at the flowing water behind them and fell into deep thought simultaneously, and they had a few more expectations for the rebel leader. He actually thought of water attack, which showed that he had been paying close attention to the movements of Su Ling and Lou Muhai. And the interception was also intercepting other tributaries, so as not to let them see any strangeness.

Dealing with such a person, you never know what move he will make next. He was indeed a tricky and satisfying opponent.

The fire stones brought by Leng Xiao and the thousands of soldiers were also pushed onto the highland. Taking a look, Su Ling already knew Gu Yun's plan. "You want to lure them to release the water and then attack again?"

"Hmm." Gu Yun didn't explain much, just nodded casually.

"General, the fire is lit."

Following the report of the small general, everyone looked up. Not far away, thick smoke was rising, and black smoke was rolling. Gu Yun instructed them to burn the tree crowns. The fire spread quickly, looking from afar like black and red dragons lined up, raging in the air.

Not seeing Yu Shijun and the other soldiers return, Su Ling said urgently, "Where are Yu Shijun and the others?"

Gu Yun looked at the fire-filled rainforest silently, with no intention of answering. Leng Xiao also stood indifferently behind Gu Yun. Luo Yan, who understood Gu Yun's arrangements, could only step forward to explain to their great General, "General, don't worry. According to Miss Qing's arrangements, they should be climbing the trees at this time and won't be troubled by the water flow."

Su Ling's hawk-like eyes narrowed, coldly glaring at Gu Yun's indifferent face, feeling frustrated in his heart, but he couldn't do anything to her. After all, she had helped him a great deal!

After waiting for a long while, the fire slowly burned toward the north with the wind. Although it was slow, the momentum was getting bigger and bigger. Gu Yun secretly guessed, could it be that she had guessed wrong?

In a trance, a huge collapse sound came from the north, so loud that Gu Yun felt the ground under her feet shake!

Immediately afterward, a huge sound of rushing water came to her ears, and a giant wave more than ten feet high roared from upstream. She saw the tall tree crowns in the distance shaking violently, and many trees as thick as waists were uprooted and washed down with the giant wave. The rushing momentum of the water flow made everyone standing on the highland break into a cold sweat. Compared with the impact of such a large water flow, the fire that had just been lit seemed weak and powerless, and it had been submerged in an instant.

After a quarter of an hour, the rushing water flow gradually slowed down. Even though the water flow had slowed down, the water depth was still more than a foot high. Just as they were waiting for the water to recede to conduct the second wave of attack, countless small black dots suddenly appeared in the water flow, rushing down.

"What is that?" Gu Yun squinted to look. It was almost close before she saw clearly that it was people floating in the water!

"Report!" The small general's voice also sounded a bit urgent, "General, many rebels are following the water flow and will soon rush out of our army's encirclement!"

There were more than three thousand rebels following the water. Su Ling slowly raised his hand and said coldly, "Release arrows."

"Yes." As his hand was lowered again, arrows were shot at the rebels who had no ability to resist in the water for the time being. It was a pity that the water flow was very wide, and the arrows couldn't reach the rebels in the distance, so they could only watch them drift away.

"Luo Yan, lead three thousand soldiers to intercept in the lower section of the water flow and capture all the escaping rebels."

"Yes."

"Leng Xiao, you arrange for the remaining soldiers to burn the mountains again after the water recedes."

"Yes."

Su Ling arranged in an orderly manner. Gu Yun was happy to be idle, her eyes wandering around. Suddenly, a verdant green figure appeared in the bright water flow. The green color was extremely eye-catching, making it impossible to misidentify.

Gu Yun hurriedly looked at the verdant green, her cold eyes couldn't help but narrow slightly. It was indeed her!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 153 =====