It seems that God is helping Liang Shidu, or maybe God wants to make Li Shan's trip more difficult. On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, there was a heavy snowstorm in Yuanzhou. The howling wind rolled up the snow on the ground, and it seemed that the whole Heaven and earth are trembling.
The hand holding the gun barrel had no feeling, but Li Shan could not and did not dare to let go.
When we set out early this morning, the heavy snow had stopped. Unexpectedly, it was a break before the violence. Near noon, the overwhelming snow and the strong wind that made people unable to stand fell at the same time. Zhang Zhongjian had to let his soldiers use their spears. Only by holding each other's hands can the marching troops not be scattered.
Although Li Shan had stayed in Daizhou for more than a year and led his troops to battle in heavy snow, he had never seen or even imagined such a heavy snowstorm. There were faint figures of people ten steps away. Can't see clearly.
The wind was so strong that at the beginning, Zhang Zhongjian tried to hang a flag on the front army to guide the direction. However, before he could hold on for a quarter of an hour, the flag, which had been ravaged by the strong wind for a short time, was actually blown to pieces. Looking at the cracked The flag was blown into the air by the strong wind, and Li Shan was stunned.
He never expected that after waiting for two months, he finally chose to send troops on what was probably the harshest day in winter this year. Li Shan thought to himself, did he waste all his luck in his life when he shot down the Khan flag last year? ?
The white peaks and valleys are quiet and empty. It seems that this is a death place that even birds and beasts must avoid. Hundreds of people are winding like long snakes to the northwest. In such a cold weather, all kinds of snakes are wanted. Hibernation.
Most people are already numb, and their consciousness has even begun to become a little blurry. They have no normal response to everything in the outside world. They only hold the gun barrel in their hands, move their legs mechanically, and follow the person in front. behind.
"Mr. Lang!" Hou Hongtao shouted at the top of his lungs: "Take a sip of wine!"
Li Shan, who had a stiff face, was too lazy to speak, and it took a lot of effort to speak. He only gave instructions with his eyes. Hou Hongtao hesitated for a while, pulled out the stopper, and put the mouth of the gourd to Qu Silang's mouth, who took a small sip. Just stopped.
Yesterday and today, Qu Silang had been feeding him wine, and Li Shan had not forgotten it.
With such a heavy snowstorm, the marching speed is getting slower and slower. Although Li Shan is cold and even stiff, his brain has not been frozen yet, and he is getting more and more anxious. The previously selected foothold is based on the normal marching speed. It is certain that if we cannot speed up, we will probably not be able to arrive before nightfall. The empty land will become a huge cemetery, and the white snow will bury everyone.
But speeding up... is no longer possible. The wind and snow are getting heavier and heavier, and it is becoming more and more difficult for the scouts to find the way. But without the scouts to find the way, it is impossible for the entire army to speed up even if they want to.
Just two-quarters of an hour ago, Fan Shiyi came to report that the two scouts who were exploring the way forward were missing, lost in the endless wind and snow.
Zhang Zhongjian rushed back in person, found a leeward place, and discussed with Li Shan, Duan Decao, Fan Shiyi, Huangfuzhong and others that it was impossible to reach the scheduled foothold today and must choose another foothold.
"Map!" Li Shan yelled, and Fan Shiyi spread the map on the snow. Several people squatted down and formed a circle to block the wind and snow.
"Here...here?" Li Shan's finger moved on the map.
"Probably here." Huangfuzhong moved his finger to the west, "There is no foothold on the east bank of the Rushui River, but there is a village on the west bank."
Liu Heier said without hesitation: "The Rushui River is already frozen. Cross the river and wash the village!"
"Approximately how many people live in the village?"
"The village is not small." Fan Shiyi gritted his teeth and said, "It may not be possible to catch them all."
"It's such a heavy snowstorm, and you'll die if you run out!" Huangfuzhong's face was blown open, and he said loudly: "Your Highness, we can only wash the village."
Fan Shiyi, Zhang Zhongjian, and Qu Silang all stared at Li Shan, while Liu Heier and Huangfuzhong were a little surprised. With such a simple choice, why should they hesitate?
However, the first three people knew very well that their husband's attitude towards enemies was completely different from that towards the people. Li Shan sneered. He was not a saint. He had already reached this point. How could he still consider benevolence and righteousness? ?
Maybe some people in this era will, but an adult who has been immersed in modern society has always been accustomed to starting from the perspective of his own interests... Speaking of which, Li Shan's so-called Huairen reputation is not all created by him. .
"The scouts will investigate first. There is no need to go to war. Don't kill people if there is no need." Li Shan ordered simply and neatly, "If you kill someone and leave tomorrow, the villagers may not complain...remember there is a town nearby?"
Huangfu Zhong moved his finger to the north, "There is a town twenty miles away, and Liang Jun should be stationed there."
"Then we still have to cross the Rushui River again tomorrow?"
"Yes, we can go east and then go fifty miles north. After crossing the Rushui River, we can reach the next destination."
Li Shan wiped the snow from his eyebrows and said, "Lock the north side first. Don't let the villagers slip out. Let's do it."
It went very smoothly. Li Shan was surprised by the success. An hour later, he stood at the entrance of the village and watched Duan Decao mercilessly brandishing a long sheathed knife, smashing a young man's head to a bloody point. Not far away, , dozens of soldiers pressed more than a hundred villagers into a large house, and more soldiers broke into the houses... Not killing people was the ultimate, this method could at least save their lives.
As for robbing property and raping women...the former means nothing to these Tang soldiers, but as for the latter, they also need to have that energy.
This village is not much smaller than the original Sun Moon Lake, with about a hundred households, and about four to five hundred men, women, and children. Zhang Zhongjian packed all the people into a dozen or so slightly larger houses for easy supervision. Since he couldn't kill them, he couldn't. Get out into the wild and let them freeze to death.
"Be careful." Li Shan whispered.
"Don't worry, Liu Hei'er can still hold on, he and I will guard it first." Hou Hongtao was quite able to resist in Liangzhou a few years ago.
"Try not to kill people, but if the villagers cause trouble, don't be lenient."
"Don't worry, Mr. Lang, go and rest quickly."
Things had been tidied up over there. Qu Silang and Zhou Erlang took Li Shan into a room. The warmth caused by the charcoal pot made Li Shan immediately let out a long sigh of relief.
Qu Silang came over with a quilt in his arms, and Zhou Zhoulang took off Li Shan's wet cotton armor, and then wrapped Li Shan tightly in the quilt.
While trembling, Li Shan asked: "Others..."
"Mr. Lang, don't worry, Zhang Sanlang will make arrangements." Zhou Erlang squatted down and took off Li Shan's boots.
Although it was an ordinary farmhouse, it was well-equipped. Two guards were working in the kitchen and quickly brought out several bowls of hot soup.
"What a suffering. When we get back to Zhuangzi, let's have a good meal and sleep for three days and three nights..." Li Shan said with a wry smile.
"Mr. Lang..." Fan Shiyi opened the door and came in.
"Drink some hot soup first."
"Yes." Fan Shiyi took a few sips and then said, "I just counted them and there are forty-two missing."
Li Shan lowered his head. He did not expect that the difficulty would be far beyond his expectation.
Forty-two people were reduced. Some people died of hypothermia, some were even frozen to death, and some people may have become separated due to heavy wind and snow, such as the two missing scouts, but they left There is no difference between being separated and dead.
Li Shan didn't say anything to encourage morale. In fact, everyone knew that they could only keep going.
(End of chapter)
