Taishici squatted in front of Chen Bai's headless corpse, covered his mouth with his hands, and an indescribable sadness surged in his heart.

He fell into Zulang's plan and stayed in the mountain village for a night. He waited for dawn before attacking, but he could not find Zulang's shadow. He delayed most of the day and confirmed that Zulang was not around. He realized that he might have been fooled. He immediately led the team to withdraw from the mountain village and chased Chen Bai, Wan Bing and others. He was afraid of being in a daze, so he dared not walk too fast, and did not dare to march at night, which delayed a full day.

Chen Bai, Wan Bing was dead, and even his head was gone. The valley was full of corpses. Some were concentrated, but most of them were still scattered, including Tongguan Mountain, Fuhu Mountain, and Shimen Mountain. It can be imagined that there had been an extremely chaotic battle here, and the three most powerful bandits participated, and there were heavy casualties - the ones lying here were all young and strong, and the most elite part of the bandits.

Taishi Ci didn't know how Zulang did it, but he felt that he was under great pressure. Zulang was not Sun Ce's old subordinate. He had only a short time to join Sun Ce, but his performance was surprising. Such a person would serve Sun Ce wholeheartedly, so what kind of strength does Sun Ce have? Liu Yao thought Sun Ce was similar to Yuan Tan. Now it seems that this is definitely a misunderstanding, and a fatal misunderstanding.

Before Sun Ce took action, the bandits near Yangxian were beaten to pieces by Zulang. Can Xu Gong still be Sun Ce's opponent? He expressed his concern. Once Wujun is controlled by Sun Ce, Liu Yao may be attacked from both sides.

"General, what should we do?" Xu Yan walked over and looked pale. Taishi Ci stood up and looked around. Seeing that his subordinates were not very good, his eyes were a little flustered, and several people didn't even dare to look directly at him.

"First bury the body, then chase Zulang to avenge the two generals. Xu Yan, find a few brothers who know Yan Baihu, Zou, and Wu Tong, and ask them to ask for help. Then arrange a few smart brothers to go to Fuhu Village and Shimen Village to take a look, reminding them to be careful not to be poisoned by Zulang."

"Here." Xu Yan responded and turned to make arrangements.

Taishici found a place, used stones as a few, wrote a letter, and sent someone to give it to Liu Yao.

——

On the mountain hundreds of steps apart, Zulang sat on a huge rock, stuffing dry food into his mouth while looking at Taishi Ci in the distance. Taishi Ci only had more than a thousand people and looked very tired, but he was very vigilant, with two hundred people around him always keeping alert. Although some of the others were digging pits and some were lifting bodies, no one put down his weapons, and even his shields were carried on his body, and his bows and crossbows were stringed, so he could enter the battle at any time.

"Abai, look, Taishici is much better than those bandits."

Zu Xiang stood beside Zulang and curled his lips disdainfully. "No matter how strong he is, he is not our opponent. Captain, let's continue to kill him. Just kill him and you can come out of the mountain."

"Go out of the mountain?" Zulang looked back at Zu Xiang. "Do you have any friends in Yangxian City?"

"No."

"If you don't have a good relationship, why are you in a hurry to come out? Don't worry, I haven't made enough credit yet."

"These three strongest bandits were all crippled. What else can they do except Taishici himself?"

Zulang raised his hand and interrupted Zu Xiang. "Do you think we can kill Taishi Ci now?"

Zu Xiang smacked his lips and didn't say anything. They have worked hard these two days, and they are hiking again, and everyone is tired. In contrast, Taishici has a better rest, and Taishici is brave. It is not difficult to defeat Taishici's team. It is not easy to capture Taishici himself alive, and maybe a few masters will be lost.

"Don't worry, set up a trap and wait for Taishici to come to me."

"Will he come?"

"If he doesn't come, he will leave in shame. Who will take him seriously?" Zulang laughed twice. "I'll drag him to the cat with him for a few days, and wait for General Sun to seize his way out before we deal with him."

Zu Xiang smacked his lips again. "When General Sun takes action, even if he catches Taishici, this credit has nothing to do with us."

"Silly, as long as I can catch Taishici, I will be rewarded." Zulang stood up and patted his butt. "Let's go, find a place to rest and accumulate energy."

——

Sun Ce stood in front of the case and watched Gan Ning explain the situation of the thieves in Taihu Lake. There are many islands in Taihu Lake, known as 72 islands, and lake thieves of all sizes are not small. Some people knew each other and surrendered voluntarily, while some people refused to bow their heads easily and wanted to talk about conditions with Sun Ce. Sun Ce handed this matter to Gan Ning, who collected some information from the surrendered lake thieves, drew it into a situation chart of Taihu Lake, and presented it to Sun Ce.

Whenever you go there, you will first collect relevant geographical information. This is a principle that all the generals under Sun Ce are consciously abide by, especially for those who want to stand alone. Gan Ning comes from behind because of his advantage in water warfare, so he attaches great importance to this and takes it personally. He meets almost every surrendered lake pirate, understands the situation, and conducts evidence from multiple sources to avoid being misled.

There will always be gains when efforts are made. Sun Ce is very satisfied with Gan Ning's performance. Guo Jia and Shen You's impression of Gan Ning has improved greatly. Even Yang Xiu, who has always been not very interested in military affairs, expressed his rare recognition after reading the Taihu situation map drawn by Gan Ning. He felt that it was wise for Sun Ce to hand over this task to Gan Ning. He had said a lot of jokes before.

"Xingba, can you shine the Taihu Lake for half a year?"

Gan Ning was happy. He worked so hard for so long, just waiting for Sun Ce's words. In the battle of Niuzhu, he showed his courage, but courage alone was not enough. Sun Ce had high requirements for the generals who were independent. He not only had to be able to fight, but also be able to think and have a sense of the overall situation. These days, he worked tirelessly to prepare to let Sun Ce see that he had this ability.

During this preparation process, he did make obvious progress, and even he felt that he benefited a lot. If it was a month south, Sun Ce would definitely agree immediately, but now he has an in-depth understanding of the thieves in Taihu Lake. He knows that half a year is too tight, and it is easy to agree rashly. If he can't keep it, he will be embarrassed. Not only will he lose his face, but Sun Ce's face.

"General, water war is not a big problem for me, but I am not very familiar with the water conditions of Taihu Lake. When spring comes, the rain will increase, the water surface around Taihu Lake will increase, and the land area may turn into a swamp, and the places where ships were originally unable to be connected may be connected, and the situation will be more complicated than what we know now. I am not sure about flattening Taihu Lake in half a year. If it is said that it is the strongest group of lake thieves, it should be fine."

Sun Ce smiled and looked at Guo Jia and others. Just as he was about to speak, Zhou Tai walked in quickly and delivered a document to Guo Jia. Guo Jia took it apart and raised his eyebrows. "Gan Xingba, you have to hold on to it, otherwise you will be compared by Zulang." While speaking, he handed the document to Sun Ce.

Gan Ning pondered for a moment, forced himself to impulse in his heart, and smiled and said, "The mountains and rivers are different, so we cannot generalize them. Guo Jijiu's words would rather not agree with them."
Chapter completed!