The situation in the vicinity has been ascertained. Cheng Yuanzhi is being held back by Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei in Fan Yang, and it is difficult for him to return for support. Deng Mao is in Shangquyang, and this expedition is to attack him. The soldiers' families are extremely safe in Changshan Pass, not to mention that these more than 2,000 people are not weak and old, but militiamen holding thousands of newly captured weapons. When Liu Zhuang led the troops on the march, Zhao Yun, who had eaten and drunk his fill and rested, also looked at the White Horse Camp like a curious baby. At first glance, this army looked like the elite of Bingzhou. Among the 1,300 people, there were 900 cavalry, 400 of which were terrible heavy cavalry. All the Han troops were equipped with strange double stirrups and high-bridge saddles, equipment that Zhao Yun had never seen before. Even among the remaining 400 infantrymen, 200 of them wore armor. The total number of cavalrymen is nine hundred, the number of armored soldiers is as high as six hundred, and nearly half of them are wearing armor. What kind of elite configuration is this? It's no wonder that Zhao Yun was surprised. In order to strengthen his rule, Emperor Guangwu of Han made a decision that went against his ancestors: he abolished the county-state military system, a system similar to conscripted soldiers and reserve troops. As a result, the quality and quantity of local troops in the Han Dynasty continued to decline rapidly. It's okay in border areas like Youzhou and Bingzhou where wars need to be fought, but in a comfortable rear area like Jizhou, it has been a long time since we have seen elite Han troops. Moreover, these officers were completely different from the Jizhou officers he had met. These Jizhou officers were all from wealthy and powerful families. Each one was more arrogant and confident than the other. The Jizhou Army they hastily formed was also hard to describe. The officers looked down on these civilian-born soldiers, and were afraid that there were traitors to the Yellow Turban Army among the people. The common people were jealous of the officers' luxurious life and disliked the harsh military laws, which made both sides dislike each other. This also led to the Jizhou army being repeatedly defeated by the Yellow Turbans at the beginning of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. On the other hand, in the White Horse Camp, no one has the airs of an officer. From Liu Zhuang, the Sima of other departments, to ordinary people, everyone knows each other very well and is as close as brothers. I have seen this kind of close relationship in the Yellow Turban Army. The officers and soldiers are all from the same village and are brothers who grew up naked. No matter what they do, they are not held accountable. However, the consequence is lax discipline and military discipline, which is completely the opposite and extreme of the Han army in Jizhou.
But Liu Zhuang's White Horse Camp was different. Although the soldiers and generals were as close as those of the Yellow Turban Army, there were written laws engraved on bamboo slips in the barracks. Everyone, including Liu Zhuang, had to follow these rules. Anyone who broke the rules would be punished. Although the soldiers regarded him as a family member, they still respected him and dared not violate any rules. He was like the patriarch of a big family, making the White Horse Camp have the intimacy and kindness of the Yellow Turban Army and the strict laws of the Han Army. "Is the atmosphere in Bingzhou's army so harmonious? You are completely different from the Han army I have seen?" Zhao Yun was curious about the atmosphere in the White Horse Camp, so she approached Zhang Liao, the only person she knew, and asked about the marching White Horse soldiers. "Nonsense, all crows are black. The Bingzhou Army is the same as your Jizhou Army. When Lu Jun was in the Bingzhou Army, he worked diligently for nine years but could not get promoted. He finally made a great contribution, and the captain said that if he wanted to be promoted, he had to call him dad." An old Beidi general spoke before Zhang Liao and sneered at Zhao Yun's naivety. "So many officers resigned en masse. As soon as we arrived at the White Horse Battalion, we were all promoted and made a fortune. The three military officers now are all brothers who were suppressed and unable to be promoted at that time." "Ah? You are not government soldiers? You are also volunteer soldiers?" Zhao Yun was even more surprised. I said that when I first met this group of people, they didn't look like government troops at all. "Yes, Sima Biebu and we were all refugees who were forced into a desperate situation in Dingxiang and Mayi. He found a way out for us, and every choice he made was right. We were probably the first group of volunteers to be converted to regular soldiers in the Han Dynasty. Oh, by the way, did you know? When he left his hometown, Biebu Sima made a wish to the heavens. If the heavens protected him, then the 100 copper coins he threw into the sky would all have the reverse side. Guess what, the 100 copper coins really all had the reverse side! 100 coins! Anyway, just follow Biebu Sima! We are all protected by the heavens! We are not afraid of Huang Tian! " A sergeant who had raised an army at Baima Pavilion took over the conversation. Zhao Yun was more and more surprised. How could a refugee become a Sima of another tribe? And bring all his brothers into Jizhou? She became more and more curious about the story behind it. She talked with the white horse soldiers for a long time. After learning about Liu Zhuang's rise from a low-level refugee to a group of civilians, merchants, and foreigners, she was filled with admiration. Isn't it also my dream to help the weak and fight against the strong in troubled times and make achievements? "Oh, by the way, your spear technique is very unique, where did you learn it?" After packing his bags, Zhang Liao also asked curiously. "Oh, when I was a child, I met an old gentleman with an immortal look. Seeing that I had a unique bone structure, he accepted me as his last disciple and taught me the ability of the War Blade, as well as the subsequent career plan. He said that there are nine schools of martial arts in the world, referred to as the Nine Swords. I learned the second of the Nine Swords from my master: the ancient martial arts fighting methods of Steel Soul and White Crow. Among them, the ancient martial arts White Crow was modified by my master and improved into the more powerful Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix." When mentioning his master and martial arts, Zhao Yun raised his chin proudly and said with pride. "Your name is Zhang Liao, right? Do you want to learn? Call me Master and I will teach you." "Tsk! Wait until you beat me before you say that."
Zhang Liao pouted in dissatisfaction. "I just never saw your tactics before, so I was at a disadvantage in the early stages. But I turned the situation around later! I didn't lose!" "What do you mean you didn't lose? I just rushed out from the enemy forces in Shangquyang and have been traveling for several days in a row. I'm not in good shape. If I were in good shape, would you be able to survive the early stages? Would you have time to see through my tactics?" Zhao Yun was also very unconvinced. The two girls were unwilling to admit defeat. After stumbling over each other for a while, they each snorted in defiance and turned their heads away. The 1,300 men left Changshan Pass in a mighty manner and marched towards Shangquyang. A part of the more than 2,000 civilians were also selected to be responsible for rhyming the food and delivering the military rations of Bingzhou from Changshan Pass to the front line to maintain the army's food supply. Changshan Pass is less than 80 kilometers away from Shangquyang. In just three days, the Baimaying arrived at the gates of the city. As the deputy commander of Youzhou, Deng Mao naturally had his merits. Although he defeated the Jizhou army, he did not become arrogant and remained very cautious. While besieging Shangquyang and preparing to carve a path to the great sage Zhang Jue, he also deployed a large number of scouts around. The White Horse Camp's 1,300-man team was too powerful to hide, and was discovered by Yellow Turban scouts ten miles away. Liu Zhuang had no choice but to give up the surprise attack and advance steadily. Deng Mao was also very surprised when faced with this group of enemies that suddenly appeared behind him. He didn't know where they came from. The Thunder Warrior thought quickly and came to the conclusion: there are still a thousand remnants of the Han army in the city. If this group of people found out that the reinforcements had arrived and rushed out of the city gate, it would be very uncomfortable to be sandwiched and attacked from both sides. It would be better to take the initiative to kill them while they are still some distance away from here! Therefore, Deng Mao placed more than a thousand militiamen at each of the four gates of Shangquyang to block the news. He himself led three thousand main forces of the Yellow Turbans and four thousand militiamen to launch a mighty counterattack towards Liuzhuang. More than seven thousand people were like a yellow wave, surging and rolling on the land of Jizhou. Yellow flags covered the sky and stretched into a long yellow dragon under the sky.
The author says: Author's words: PS: The new book will be on the daily guide soon. To thank all the readers for their support, I will start to update three times a day! The monthly tickets you voted during this period will not be wasted. After this period of updates, I will continue to update according to the number of monthly tickets! Chapter 61: A pile of loose sand Liu Zhuang was also quite surprised when faced with the Yellow Turbans who abandoned their camp and attacked directly. Fortunately, the scouts of the White Horse Camp were better than those of the Yellow Turbans. At this moment, several cavalrymen had reached the vicinity of Xiaquyang. The moment Deng Mao sent out his troops, he was discovered by these cavalrymen, who quickly passed the information to Liu Zhuang. Just in case, Liu Zhuang rode Tuoba Yun and attacked personally, using his double pupils to confirm the situation. The enemy was extremely numerous, estimated by the flags, with about 7,000 to 8,000 people, but the number of cavalry was very small, with only some Yellow Turban generals able to ride horses, and they were in a mess. The military discipline could not be said to be strictly enforced, but it could be said to be a mess. The number of people was too exaggerated, and there was no end in sight. "Why don't we retreat first? We have more cavalry and are more mobile than the enemy. Their numbers are too scary. Let's avoid them first and wait for an opportunity to attack at night." Guo Huai said worriedly. "No, keep going." Liu Zhuang pondered for two minutes, trying his best to recall everything he had learned and seen, and a plan emerged in his mind. The two armies with the yellow eagle flag and the red dragon flag continued to approach. The soldiers of the White Horse Camp were sweating in their palms. They were too close. Now everyone could see the dust rising in the sky and the earth shaking slightly, heralding the arrival of a large army. "Everyone! Throw away all your baggage, food, coins, and other things, except for your weapons and armor! I will give you a replacement for whatever you throw away! All troops, retreat in an orderly manner! I will personally cover the rear!" Liu Zhuang gave the order immediately, which shocked the entire army. Fortunately, the previous training had formed a conditioned reflex for these soldiers to obey military orders. They threw their baggage, carriages, and coins on the ground and began to retreat to the north. However, the White Horse Camp was obviously not well trained. Apart from the 200 Xianbei soldiers and 500 Han cavalry veterans, the remaining 600 people were in a state of turmoil during the retreat. The soldiers did not know what Liu Zhuang was thinking. There were six or seven times more enemies chasing them from behind. Now the military order required me to retreat home... For a time, fear spread in the army like a plague. People wanted to leave the astonishingly large Yellow Turban army as quickly as possible and withdraw to Changshan Pass. They ran faster than each other. The well-trained retreat even turned into a rout. Liu Zhuang was forced to send Song Xian to lead a group of veterans to block the rear of the army. He repeatedly emphasized that we are not retreating, but just luring the enemy. Only then did he barely rely on his great prestige among the refugees to temporarily stop the riots. The chaos in the White Horse Camp helped Liu Zhuang to a certain extent. Deng Mao was confused when he saw the enemy retreating. He didn't know whether Liu Zhuang was afraid of him or was playing some tricks. The chaos in the White Horse Camp made him believe that the Han army was probably frightened by his extremely exaggerated troop numbers and was really being defeated, so he boldly waved his flag and ordered 7,000 men to chase and kill them immediately! Deng Mao confidently led his troops in pursuit. More than 7,000 men crossed the ridges of the early spring fields and the sparse woods, and soon arrived at the place where the White Horse Camp began to retreat. Then... he found that the 4,000 militiamen no longer listened to him. Looking at the food and copper coins scattered all over the ground from the White Horse Camp, they cheered and rushed forward to plunder the spoils. Seeing the 4,000 militiamen scrambling for supplies, the 3,000 main force of the Yellow Turbans became jealous. Soldiers from a village took the lead in joining the looting, and the rest of the people, holding the ideas of "the law does not hold everyone responsible" and "we are all fellow villagers", also began to frantically snatch the supplies on the ground!
"What are you doing? The enemy is very close to us! Come back! Come back!" Deng Mao was stunned as he looked at the disorganized army. These 3,000 people were said to be the main force of the Yellow Turbans, but they were just peasants who had received extra training for a period of time. They were disciplined, but not numerous. "Deputy Commander, look, the enemy has been scared away by us, right? We have already achieved our goal of victory, and now we just need to clean up the battlefield, right?" "Yes, yes, deputy commander, stop chasing! There are so many horses on the other side, how can our two legs outrun four horse hooves? Let them go, stop chasing, let us clean up the battlefield first! Hey, hey, hey, I was the first one to see that cow! Mine! Mine!" "Wow, why is there a set of tea-making cauldrons here? This thing is worth a lot of money!" Looking at the chaotic Yellow Turban Army, Deng Mao felt disheartened and tried his best to stop these people from doing anything stupid. "What if the enemy comes back? You are courting death! One song, two songs, you 1,000 people will be responsible for cleaning up the battlefield and collecting the spoils. The rest of you will come back and assemble immediately! Keep chasing the enemy!" "Ah? Why are the people from the first and second troupes picking up the spoils? Some of them have ulterior motives." One of Deng Mao's fellow villagers, relying on their childhood friendship, grumbled in dissatisfaction. "That's right! Why shouldn't we be the ones to clean up the battlefield?" Some other people also started to complain and grumble with the attitude that the law does not hold everyone responsible, which made Deng Mao very upset. I'm just a captain who is dissatisfied with the current situation of the Youzhou Army. I was forced to join the Yellow Turbans and help the Great Sage to train soldiers. I have never learned how to manage and command an army of tens of thousands, or how to deal with such things. Deng Mao was completely stunned when he suddenly encountered such a situation where the whole army was out of control. It was almost like asking a head teacher who only took charge of one class to gather all 7,000 students who were running around and partying in a short period of time during the most chaotic and noisy break. This kind of thing cannot be accomplished without huge prestige, deeply rooted military discipline, and a large number of reliable middle and lower-level managers. Just when he was trying his best to solve the problem of the whole army scrambling for the spoils, he suddenly felt that something was wrong. The sound of horse hooves from the north seemed to be no longer going away, but getting closer? Deng Mao felt a chill in his heart and raised his head in disbelief, only to find that Liu Zhuang, who was far away, had stopped retreating after seeing his chaotic appearance. He led 900 Han cavalrymen, waving horse lances, long spears, and long bows, and rushed towards him like a black wave! Seeing such a horrible scene, Deng Mao's heart skipped a beat, and cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes! He quickly drew his sword and roared to order the entire army to fight! "Damn it! Stop grabbing there! This is a trap! Get ready to fight!!!" Chapter 62: Bingzhou Cavalry Deng Mao rushed to fight, but it was too late. When these farmers saw the nine hundred cavalrymen coming, their first reaction was not to gather to fight, but to run around screaming. At this moment, these seven thousand people did not look like an army, but rather like a bustling market. Only a few hundred of his own elite troops who were closest to him could maintain the military formation in such a huge chaos. "Support the Han Dynasty! Kill the traitors!" Liu Zhuang rode on Tuoba Yun, wielding a long spear and rushed to the front of the battlefield. Behind him, nine hundred war horses marched in unison, their hooves flying, dust covering the sun, and the mighty Bingzhou Iron Cavalry, like a black torrent, moving with the force of rolling over mountains and overturning seas! The entire earth was trembling slightly under their hooves. "Support the Han Dynasty! Kill the traitors!!!" The soldiers roared like thunder. The war horses, which were or meters tall at the shoulder, neighed, galloped, and roared as they charged forward. Their wide nostrils spewed out thick white mist, and their bright eyes flashed with fiery fighting spirit. The White Horse Cavalry adopted the tactics commonly used in Bingzhou: the heavy cavalry in the front used horse lances to clear the way, the heavy cavalry on both sides slashed with long spears, and the light cavalry in the middle and at the end provided cover with arrows. Before the two sides engaged in battle, the light cavalry began shooting feather arrows on the bumpy backs of their horses. The sky full of arrows was like a dark cloud pressing down on the sky, densely flying towards the enemy positions, making a creepy and piercing scream; then it turned into a downpour, dripping down on the heads of the enemy, shooting them to pieces and leaving blood splattered. The originally chaotic situation became even more chaotic! At this moment, the heavy cavalry at the head also roared and charged into the enemy group. Countless Yellow Turbans were pierced by long spears, countless soldiers were knocked away by war horses, and countless militiamen were crushed by horses' hooves! The halberd cavalry responsible for covering on both sides waved their halberds, slashing left and right, killing the Yellow Turban army and making them fall to the ground. The whole army, with an unstoppable momentum, smashed the Yellow Turbans' chaotic formation head-on! The combat effectiveness of the Bingzhou Iron Cavalry was already high, and now with the support of stirrups and Gaoqiao saddles, their charging ability has skyrocketed to a new level. Charging against the infantry, who had no formation due to fighting for spoils, was as easy as taking something out of a bag. After discovering that the front army was broken by a round of cavalry charge, the Yellow Turbans who were not affected by the cavalry began to flee in all directions.
If you look down from the sky, the entire Yellow Turban Army is like the Yellow River that has burst its banks, with densely packed soldiers running all over the ground in a chaotic mess. "Don't run! Anyone who retreats will die!" Some Yellow Turban officers tried to reverse the situation, but if their fellow villagers really ran away from them, they themselves could not bear to do it. They believed that if they retreated, they would die. How could others care about them? After smashing the enemy's formation, the nine hundred cavalrymen dispersed in the crowd and launched an assault towards the positions of the large yellow flags. They pierced the enemy generals with long spears, chopped them into pieces with long halberds, and made the large yellow flags fall to the dust. It was like a scalpel, accurately eliminating the command system of the Yellow Turban Army. In a corner of the battlefield, Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun attacked together. The two girls turned into purple thunder and silver flashes, and directly broke through the thin blockade of the Yellow Turban Army. They launched precise decapitation operations against the Thunder Warriors and commanders one by one. Often, the Yellow Turban Army had not yet reacted to what was happening before their heads were cut off by the two girls. The Yellow Turban Army, which had lost its leader, became even more chaotic. More than 7,000 militiamen were chased around like rabbits by 900 cavalrymen, and their formation was scattered in a mess. At this moment, the battlefield was in chaos. The deafening sound of horse hooves, bloodthirsty roars, and miserable wails intertwined into a melody of death. The corpses of the Yellow Turbans piled up like mountains and blood flowed like rivers. Most of them were trampled to death while fleeing. At this moment, the only ones who remained standing in the chaos were the 300 armored soldiers of Deng Mao's headquarters. In the midst of thousands of troops, Song Xian immediately led his cavalry to attack. Before the charge, he imitated the Hu cavalry and used three rounds of arrow rain to destroy and disrupt the enemy's formation, and then launched a charge. However, he underestimated the strength of Deng Mao's personal soldiers. The fact that these hundreds of people could still unite under Deng Mao's command among the thousands of defeated troops said it all. The rain of arrows could hardly cause fatal injuries to these Yellow Turban soldiers. At most, they could penetrate their arms and thighs and weaken their combat capabilities. Deng Mao roared angrily and ordered his personal soldiers to immediately assemble into a dense spear formation to resist the cavalry charge. At the same time, he ordered fifty Jizhou halberd soldiers to fire a round of arrows with crossbows, which also caused casualties to Song Xian's own cavalry and weakened their charge capability. Countless spears and horse lances were like a dense forest, piercing into the chests of the enemies on both sides, leaving corpses all over the ground and blood and flesh flying everywhere. At this moment, Wei Xu also rushed over. Seeing that the first charge failed, the two generals immediately ordered the cavalry to retreat in an orderly manner like the waves of the receding tide, leaving enough space for running, and then launched a second tsunami-like frenzy charge against the enemy! After completing the charge, they immediately retreated without staying. The two hundred cavalry were divided into four echelons, taking turns to charge the enemy formation, not giving the enemy any breathing time. Seeing that his own side suffered heavy casualties, Deng Mao took a five-meter battle spear and took several Thunder Warriors to the battlefield himself. Song Xian and Wei Xu raised their spears and stabbed, trying to grab Deng Mao's head and gain the first credit. But this deputy commander of Youzhou was indeed powerful. He was not afraid of fighting two men at the same time. The spears collided, sparks flew, and the sound of clanging was loud. He even had enough strength to suddenly pull out a thunder crossbow from his waist. After pulling the trigger, this thing shot out a beam of golden thunder, which directly pierced Song Xian's right shoulder and knocked him off his horse! Wei Xu wanted to rescue Song Xian, but Deng Mao did not give him the chance. He put away his crossbow and waved his spear with both hands. He blocked the long spear with one spear and cut off the front hoof of Wei Xu's horse with another spear, causing the two generals to fall off their horses. The soldiers of both sides fought desperately to rescue the two generals. If Deng Mao had not dared to leave his final formation, the two of them would probably have died here. "Are you two sick? You're going straight for something like this? This thing is obviously the rebellious Jizhou Army. It's not on the same level as those militias." At this moment, Lu Bu also noticed that there was a yellow flag standing in the sea of chaotic troops, so he came over to check it out in person. After discovering the problem, Lu Bu skillfully mobilized his troops and found the largest turbulent current nearby. Like herding sheep, he drove more than 600 Yellow Turban militiamen, whose hearts were already filled with fear, to retreat in the direction of Deng Mao. "Fuck you?!" Deng Mao noticed Lu Bu's actions, but was powerless to do anything. He could only watch as a chaotic crowd of six hundred people rushed towards his formation, which now only had more than two hundred soldiers left. Faced with more than 600 comrades, these Yellow Turban soldiers didn't know what to do. They couldn't possibly shoot crossbows at their fellow villagers, and it wasn't a good idea to continue maintaining the spear formation and let the fellow villagers hit the tips of their spears. Oh my god, isn't that my neighbor? For a moment, everyone hesitated and put away their weapons, allowing this wave of people to crash into them and break up their formation. Deng Mao's voice was almost hoarse at this moment, and he asked these defeated soldiers to turn around immediately and face the outside world with him, but the effect was very poor. These militiamen had been scared out of their wits, and no one listened to him at all. Seeing that the six hundred people had disrupted Deng Mao's army, Lu Bu once again blew the charge horn, calling on all the nearby white horse cavalry to charge, crushing and trampling the six hundred refugees and two hundred armored soldiers together. Deng Mao was still shouting and fighting fiercely in despair. As the deputy commander of Youzhou, he was an eighth-level thunder warrior after drinking nineteen bowls of talisman water. Facing Lu Bu who was wearing ordinary equipment, he could barely put up a fight. But Lu Bu did not rush over alone. Several cavalrymen also wanted to take the credit for being the deputy commander of Youzhou, so they rushed over and hooked Deng Mao's legs with the small branches on their halberds, tripping him to the ground. Before he could get up, he was pierced through the body by three or four long spears and nailed to the ground. Chapter 63: Zhao Yun Joins the Alliance In this battle, the 900 cavalrymen of the White Horse Camp directly defeated Deng Mao's 7,000-strong army. Their own casualties were no more than 50, while the Yellow Turban Army suffered nearly 2,000 deaths. Most of them died from trampling on each other during the rout, and after being completely defeated, they were chased and killed by the 900 cavalrymen and died for military merit. Another 1,000 chose to surrender, and the remaining 4,000 scattered like monkeys after a fallen tree, and were defeated in all directions. The news of Deng Mao's army's defeat was spread to the camp in Shangquyang by the defeated soldiers. The 5,000 militiamen who stayed here to continue the siege were directly killed. 7,000 people were defeated, and the deputy commander was gone. What else could we, 5,000 people, fight for? At this moment, Liu Zhuang left 400 infantrymen to clean up the battlefield and continued the pursuit with 900 cavalrymen. The White Horse Camp was not like the Yellow Turbans, who were worried that their allies would embezzle the rewards. Not only did they have a good relationship, but there were also clear regulations in the army that any soldier who dared to embezzle supplies while cleaning the battlefield, once discovered, would not only have all the embezzled money recovered, but would also be whipped.
In this way, the Jiutun cavalry marched to the city of Shangquyang in a mighty force, giving the defeated Yellow Turbans no chance to regroup and completely crushing the Yellow Turbans' last fighting will. Five thousand people collectively abandoned their baggage and food, and fled in all directions like monkeys scattering when a tree falls, leaving all the baggage they could not take away to Liu Zhuang. The people in the White Horse Camp were so happy that they were going crazy. They had finally made a fortune. More than ten thousand soldiers’ baggage and food were captured by just a thousand of them! Liu Zhuang did not relax his vigilance. He left 100 cavalrymen here to provide support, and divided the remaining 800 cavalrymen into four teams, led by himself, Lu Bu, Hou Cheng, and Zhang Liao. They chased in four directions for a while, completely defeated these fleeing soldiers, and drove them out for dozens of kilometers, letting them trample on each other while fleeing. They only gave up after suffering heavy casualties. Lu Bu even performed beyond his normal level. Although he was relatively simple, he was indeed a genius in commanding cavalry. With 200 cavalrymen, he forced thousands of defeated soldiers in the East Camp to the banks of the Longshui River, forcing them to either jump into the river to commit suicide or raise their hands in surrender. In the end, he happily returned to Xiaquyang with 200 cavalrymen and 600 prisoners, leaving behind a river of blood blocked by drowned corpses.