Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

"The Liangshan navy has three hundred men, but most of them are not good at naval warfare. Only those who can swim and row are included. They are not proficient in naval warfare. On weekdays, they only listen to the signal arrows and ferry people across the marsh. Further up are the first and second passes. There is a small path in the back mountain that leads directly to the second pass. Only the people on the mountain know about it."

When Li Hanxiao asked Lin Chong about this path before, Lin Chong had not told Li Hanxiao. This was not because Lin Chong intentionally concealed it, but because Lin Chong had not been on the mountain for long and could not know all the hidden places yet.

However, Zhu Gui was an old man, so he knew very well that revealing this path at this time was a way for him to pledge his loyalty and show his sincerity.

Zhu Gui revealed the true strength of the Liangshan navy. The three Ruan brothers burst into laughter and exclaimed in unison, "Is this what you call a navy? Brother Li, the three of us brothers can wipe them out!"

Li Hanxiao originally thought that even if Wang Lun was incompetent, he would at least have to work on his navy to protect the 800-li Liangshan Marsh. Who knew that Wang Lun was really useless? Since that was the case, he no longer needed to be cautious. He ordered the three Ruan brothers to take several dozen men and small boats across the lake under the cover of night, split into two groups, and launch a surprise attack on the two water fortresses. Maybe they could even capture the entire Liangshan navy alive while they were asleep.

After capturing the marshland and controlling the surrounding lake waters and ships, Wang Lun and his men had no way to escape.

According to Wen Huanzhang's plan, Li Hanxiao could then split his forces into two groups. Lin Chong and Si Xingfang would lead a small force to shout insults at the first pass to lure the enemy's attention, while Li Hanxiao would lead his hounds and a few elite troops, along with a small cannon that Ling Zhen had hastily made on the way, to take the small path that Zhu Gui had just mentioned and head straight for the second pass. Afterward, they would bombard the Hall of Gathering the Loot and Cut off the Liangshan troops into several groups.

At that time, they could take down the Liangshan army in one fell swoop, and also preserve their manpower to the maximum extent. After all, the original henchmen on Liangshan were also manpower, and Li Hanxiao did not want to kill too many of them, so that they could be kept and used in the future.

That night, Li Hanxiao divided his forces into two groups. One group was led by him and "Living Yama" Ruan Xiaoqi, while the other group was led by "Standing Tai Sui" Ruan Xiaoer and "Short-lived Erlang" Ruan Xiaowu. They took advantage of the darkness to cross the lake and launch surprise attacks on Yazui Beach Village and Jinshatan Water Village. After succeeding, they would lead the main force across the lake.

According to Zhu Gui, the "Dry Land Crocodile," at this time, the henchmen in the two water fortresses should be asleep, so taking them should not be a problem.

Li Hanxiao and Ruan Xiaoqi led ten small boats to retrieve the Golden Sand Beach Water Village. The two stood at the bow of the boat. There was fog on the lake at night, and in order to avoid being discovered, they deliberately did not bring torches.

As the lights of the Golden Beach Water Village became clearer, the visibility also increased.

"Brother, there are people over there!"

Ruan Xiaoqi had been looking at things on the water for many years, so his eyesight was extremely good. Therefore, he saw a little lackey leaning against the railing at the dock of the water village, nodding his head incessantly like a chicken pecking at rice.

On such a vast expanse of water, there's only one irresponsible sentry on duty. His vigilance is so poor; Wang Lun deserves to die!

"Look at me!"

Li Hanxiao picked up the golden bow and silver bullet, aimed at the henchman, and with just one silver bullet, shot him in the head.

Because the sound of the water was quite loud by the lake, the sound of the body falling did not wake up the other people in the water village.

With the only sentry killed, Ruan Xiaoqi ordered everyone to paddle forward, and they quickly reached the shore as if they were in a dragon boat race. Dozens of strong henchmen followed and jumped off the boat, heading straight for the Golden Beach Water Village.

The henchmen in the Golden Beach Water Village were almost all asleep when they were captured alive with knives to their throats, not even having put on their pants.

"As a defensive barrier for Liangshan Marsh, the 800-li water fortress served as a conduit for communication and transportation, and was also the first line of defense. However, Wang Lun was so careless in his defenses, no, he was practically undefended. Wang Lun, oh Wang Lun, Heaven has forsaken you!"

Upon seeing this scene, Wen Huanzhang couldn't help but curse Wang Lun a couple of times.

As expected, Ruan Xiaoer and Ruan Xiaowu also quickly succeeded in their attack at Yazuitan Xiaozhai. However, some people on their side were awakened, and they had no choice but to kill two people to deter the others. There were no casualties on their side.

After gaining control of the water fortress, Wen Huanzhang hurriedly ordered his men to transport troops to the edge of the marshland, while simultaneously summoning "Dryland Crocodile" Zhu Gui to persuade the naval forces to surrender.

The army of Liangshan Marsh could hardly be called an army; it was disorganized, undisciplined, and unlike the imperial army.

However, to be fair, the imperial army wasn't exactly in much better shape during that era either...

However, the Liangshan army was still at the level of vagrants and bandits, lacking any firm beliefs or professional military training. When they saw that even their old leader, "Dry Land Crocodile" Zhu Gui, had surrendered, they followed suit and surrendered en masse.

Li Hanxiao left two hundred men to take over the water stronghold, while he split his forces into two groups. He sent men up the mountain to attack Liangshan Marsh, while he led his men along a side road.

"Haha, my precious little one can finally show off his skills!"

Ling Zhen carried a rather large box, rubbing his hands together as if he was very much looking forward to it.

Ever since meeting Li Hanxiao, he wanted to be with Li Hanxiao 24 hours a day, because Li Hanxiao's wonderful ideas about various firearms were simply intoxicating.

Following the ideas given by Li Hanxiao, he also tried to make two small cannons at Niutou Mountain. His box contained two newly made Tiger Crouching Cannons.

These two small cannons are different from the cannons he has developed before. They were developed based on the "Tiger Crouching Cannon" from the Ming Dynasty provided by Li Hanxiao.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon is a type of long-range firearm in ancient China. Originally used by Qi Jiguang's army, the cannon was positioned in a fixed posture, resembling a crouching tiger, to facilitate firing, hence the name "Tiger Crouching Cannon".

Compared to regular cannons, the Tiger Crouching Cannon was not very powerful. It was an early type of mortar and was primarily designed for indirect fire. However, its advantage lay in its suitability for combat terrains such as mountains, forests, and paddy fields, where artillery mobility was limited.

Although this lightweight artillery had a thin barrel and a short range of only about 500 meters, its slender barrel made it more suitable for mountain warfare, highly mobile, capable of firing at high angles, and widely deployed to grassroots units. Compared to other European mortars of the same period, it was more advanced and easier to mass-produce.