Chapter 13 Wind and Cloud in Lake Yang

After subduing the surrounding five gangs of water bandits, Zhou Jing temporarily slowed his pace of expansion to observe the changing situation and, by the way, reorganize the newly joined troops.

"Now that we've taken Xiaofeng Lake, Taimen Lake, Guanyai Lake, Qingpo Marsh, and Duqiu Pool, biting off a piece of meat from Fan Zong, he will definitely not let it go. I estimate he'll make a move soon."

In the main hall of the stronghold, Zhou Jing was discussing matters with the leaders.

"Second Brother's plan is a calculated move, expanding rapidly and only encroaching on Fan Zong's territory, forcing him to fight. If he doesn't respond, his prestige will be greatly damaged and he'll find it difficult to command."

Guo Hai nodded in agreement.

Duan Yunfeng pondered, "Even if Fan Zong sends troops to attack us, he will have to divide his forces to guard against the other two rivals, to avoid being taken advantage of in the rear. Therefore, he definitely won't dare to send out his entire army... Brother Sheng Rong, how many men do you think Fan Zong will send to attack?"

Sheng Rong thought for a moment and replied, "We only have eight thousand men, of which at most four to five thousand can be mustered for battle. Based on my understanding of Fan Zong, he will probably dispatch more than half of his water generals, plus some of his own troops, about eighteen thousand to twenty-five thousand men in total, several times our strength."

The other water bandit leaders also nodded in agreement.

These leaders were also well-known in the Green Forest, and their status under Fan Zong was higher than Sheng Rong's. However, as newcomers, they currently don't have as much say as Sheng Rong here with Zhou Jing.

"That's quite a lot of men," Duan Yunfeng frowned.

Fang Zhen snorted, "Back then, the three of us only brought two hundred men and we were able to level Tiger Head Mountain with ten thousand men. What's a few times more troops?"

"We naturally admire Brother Chen Feng's feats of single-handedly conquering two mountains, but naval warfare is different from land warfare, and the situation is more complex," one of the water bandit leaders shook his head.

Sheng Rong also advised,

"I know you brothers are skilled in martial arts, but don't underestimate Fan Zong. In naval warfare, the number of men is secondary, the most important thing is warships. Fan Zong's navy is quite powerful, with several types of warships, zouge (light assault boats), chechuan (wheeled boats), paijian (ramming ships), etc., advancing and retreating in an organized manner. We only have small boats, and if we want to engage the enemy, we can only board their ships, which puts us at a great disadvantage."

Zhou Jing hummed in agreement and said,

"Therefore, we must choose a battlefield with complex and narrow waterways to prevent the enemy from forming a battle formation, suitable for light boats to maneuver through. This is the only way to weaken Fan Zong's advantage..."

Just as everyone was discussing, a messenger rushed in and shouted,

"Report! Leaders, Fan Zong has already sent troops to attack us!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Zhou Jing.

Zhou Jing raised an eyebrow and smiled, "I thought this guy could hold his breath and wait a few more days, but I didn't expect him to be so eager... Since he wants to fight me, then send a messenger to deliver a challenge, and arrange for a battle at Qingpo Marsh."

Of the five territories, Qingpo Marsh was the most treacherous. It was the place that everyone agreed was the most suitable as a battlefield after discussion, deciding to abandon the other four territories and combine their forces here.

Zhou Jing wasn't afraid that Fan Zong wouldn't accept the challenge. Territories are dead, but people are alive. Fan Zong could put his challenge aside and take the opportunity to retake the territories, but taking some broken strongholds wouldn't be of much use. Unless he defeats this group of people head-on, the threat won't be eliminated.

After giving the order, Zhou Jing looked at the leaders and said in a deep voice,

"We must take down Fan Zong in this battle and capture the many naval commanders under his command. Whether we can gain a foothold in Huyang depends on this battle."

"Understood."

The crowd responded loudly.

...

With the forceful insertion of Chen Feng, this river dragon from elsewhere, the originally deadlocked situation in Huyang became turbulent in an instant.

"Golden Scale King" Fan Zong summoned the remaining seventeen water generals, brought eight of them, plus some of his own stronghold troops, a total of twenty-two thousand men, claiming to be an army of thirty thousand, and set out on a mighty expedition.

The remaining troops guarded the territory, guarding against the other two rivals.

Fan Zong received Zhou Jing's challenge and was also fearless. He marched steadily all the way to Qingpo Marsh.

Qingpo Marsh had a treacherous environment, with reeds as dense as a maze. The further in, the denser it became, and there were shallow beaches everywhere, making it difficult for ships to navigate through it, and it was easy to run aground if one was not careful.

In the heart of the lake was a low-lying island, like a steep slope, which was the location of the stronghold, surrounded by layers of reeds. If one was not familiar with the waterways here, it was impossible to get to the island.

At this moment, Fan Zong's troops had set up camp on the distant shore, with many warships lined up along the coast, located on a slightly flat lake surface on the periphery of Qingpo Marsh, facing the treacherous Qingpo Marsh from afar.

Warships stood in rows, high and low, with a sea of people and banners waving, creating a magnificent scene.

Fan Zong stood on the bow of a multistoried warship in the center of the formation, frowning as he surveyed the environment, then turned his head to ask a man dressed as a scholar beside him:

"I wonder what the military advisor thinks?"

This man dressed as a scholar was Fan Zong's military advisor, named Du Ying, who had studied some methods of arranging troops.

Du Ying stroked his beard and said,

"Stronghold Master, Qingpo Marsh is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Chen Feng has few men and is weak, so he naturally wants to rely on the terrain to defeat us. I see a faint killing aura in the lake, but the enemy is nowhere to be seen. They are probably ambushing in the reeds, not hiding their intentions. They are just seeing if we dare to go in."

Fan Zong's eyes rolled, "Knowing the opponent's plan, why not surround them without attacking, guard the exit, cut off their supplies, and trap them to death?"

Du Ying thought for a moment and said,

"This plan may not be appropriate. Stronghold Master, don't forget that Chen Feng's martial arts are amazing and he is good at raiding camps. We can't judge him by common sense. If we keep trapping them without attacking, it will give Chen Feng a chance to use his abilities. Delay will only lead to changes. In my opinion, it is better to make a quick decision."

Facing the extraordinary Chen Feng, he couldn't use conventional thinking to make a judgment. If they didn't take the initiative to attack, he was afraid that Chen Feng would give them a "night raid on the enemy camp". If they took the initiative to attack, they would be knowingly walking into the enemy's ambush.

Fan Zong calculated in his mind and decided to adopt this plan, asking:

"Then I wonder what strategies the military advisor has to defeat the enemy?"

Du Ying pondered for a while and said, "Now that our army is strong, we don't need strange schemes, we should use the orthodox to defeat the unorthodox. Maintain the encirclement formation, advance steadily, don't go too deep, let the outer zouge scout everywhere, release water ghosts to probe for reefs, and intercept the enemy's water ghosts from harassing us. At the same time, try to cut down and burn the reeds that block the way, break the terrain advantage, so that our fleet can drive straight in, so that the enemy's ambushes have nowhere to hide, forcing them to fight head-on, using our strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses... By the way, we must also prevent Chen Feng from relying on his martial arts to kill generals and seize flags, otherwise all previous efforts will be in vain."

"Well, that makes sense."

Fan Zong's expression relaxed, feeling that this steady and solid move was quite to his liking.

Just then, a dozen small boats turned out of Qingpo Marsh, and Zhou Jing stood on one of the boats, heading towards Fan Zong's massive fleet.

Halfway there, the dozen or so small boats stopped, facing Fan Zong and others from afar.

Zhou Jing glanced around and locked his gaze on the yellow-clad man on the bow of the multistoried warship, recognizing him as Fan Zong by his characteristics, and shouted loudly:

"Is that Golden Scale King, Chief Fan?"

"It is."

Fan Zong responded, sizing up Zhou Jing, then angrily said:

"Hmph, so you are the Devil of Chaos, Chen Feng? I have indeed heard of your great name! I respect you as a hero and originally wanted to make friends with you, but you took my territory for no reason. Did you think I was easy to bully?"

"Haha, Chief Fan, don't misunderstand, I'm not targeting you." Zhou Jing stood with his arms crossed and laughed loudly, "I have long heard that the Three Dragons of Huyang are not ordinary people, but they are nothing more than that. Although your military might is strong today, in my eyes, you are all just chickens and dogs. I think you might as well surrender to me directly, and you can save yourself some pain."

These words were no different from saying that everyone present was trash.

Hearing this, the many leaders under Fan Zong were immediately enraged and shouted abuse.

Fan Zong was also furious and shouted, "Chen Feng! Don't be arrogant! You dare to look down on the heroes of Huyang, today I will let you know my power!"

"Oh? Then I wonder which hero of Huyang dares to come up and take a spear from me?"

Zhou Jing hooked his foot and kicked the wrought iron dragon spear into the air, caught it casually, and turned it around his wrist. The eighty-jin iron spear was like a light wooden stick in his hand.

As soon as he finished speaking, the scolding in Fan Zong's formation instantly died down, and no one responded.

Are you kidding me? Did you think we haven't heard your story? Only someone who wants to die would duel with you!

Fan Zong was not ashamed at all and snorted, "Chen Feng, now that our army is strong, we have no interest in fighting generals with you."

At this moment, a small boat next to Zhou Jing suddenly sailed forward.

Duan Yunfeng stood on the boat and deliberately provoked,

"Heroes of Huyang, with such little courage, how can you have the name of heroes? There is no need for my brother to take action, I, Duan Yunfeng, am enough to deal with you rats."

Hearing this, the leaders in Fan Zong's formation cursed and clamored again, asking to fight.

Duan Yunfeng's name was not well-known in the Green Forest, and the heroes of Huyang did not recognize him.

If it were Chen Feng or Guo Hai, that would be one thing, but who are you, Duan, some unknown nobody, to belittle us?

Seeing the excitement of the crowd and that Chen Feng was not going out, Fan Zong thought for a while, turned his head, and pointed to a leader, saying, "Brother Ling, I'll trouble you to take down this person and show the might of our army."

As long as it wasn't a duel with Chen Feng, he didn't mind letting his subordinates take the field, especially since Duan Yunfeng was still an unknown nobody.

When the Green Forest fought, when the two armies faced each other, dueling generals was a common occurrence. In naval warfare, the two sides would each send a small boat to board in the center, and the masters on both sides would fight each other with the boat as the ground.

"Leave it to me."

The leader surnamed Ling nodded steadily, then boarded a small boat and went straight to Duan Yunfeng.

Fan Zong's stronghold had more than a dozen leaders, of which there were two great masters. This person was one of them, named Ling Tong, who used two short spears connected by a chain in the middle, with the Green Forest nickname "Land Sweeping Wind", and his martial arts were very extraordinary.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, in the center of the two armies, the small boats boarded, and the fighting broke out.

Duan Yunfeng held two swords in his hands, ruthless and tricky. Ling Tong held two spears, swift and fast. Both were flexible and quick offensive styles.

For a time, sword lights and spear shadows filled the field, and the two figures moved back and forth on the narrow boat, fighting evenly matched.

After forty or fifty moves, Ling Tong gradually couldn't hold on. Realizing that he was no match, he quickly launched a few fierce attacks to force Duan Yunfeng away, and decisively jumped into the river to run away.

However, Duan Yunfeng was quick-witted and quick-handed. Just as Ling Tong fell into the water, he immediately stabbed a sword straight down into the water.

The next moment, a touch of blood rose on the lake surface.

With a splash of water, Ling Tong struggled to float up and was grabbed by Duan Yunfeng, dragged back onto the boat, and then kicked unconscious.

"Ah yo, Brother Ling! That hurts me!"

Seeing that his master was captured, Fan Zong cried out in panic.

Duan Yunfeng sheathed his sword and shouted, "With this little skill, you dare to show off? Overestimating yourself!"

In Fan Zong's formation, there was silence.

Many leaders and lackeys were shocked. The other side could just send out an unknown nobody and capture one of their top masters?

How many powerful people were there under Chen Feng?

Seeing this, Du Ying immediately advised:

"Stronghold Master, Leader Ling has lost a battle, and the morale of the soldiers is low. We can't duel generals anymore. Let's just attack and push forward directly."

"Okay, beat the drums, advance!"

Fan Zong gritted his teeth and ordered loudly.

Soon, a burst of war drums rumbled, and Fan Zong's navy advanced in force.

Seeing this, Duan Yunfeng quickly drove his small boat back to Zhou Jing.

"Fortunately, I didn't disgrace my mission."

He nodded in greeting.

It had been planned before the war to use his lack of fame to specially go out to duel generals to demoralize the opponent.

"Brother did a good job."

Zhou Jing praised, then looked at the approaching navy, his eyes locked on the flagship warship under heavy protection.

"Act according to the plan, let the brothers use the waterways to harass and retreat while fighting, luring the enemy deep. When we reach the designated location, it will be time for me to show my power."

After speaking, their dozen or so small boats immediately retreated and disappeared into the reeds.

7017k