The stream gurgled and meandered eastward.
Although this small river is not big, the water flow is a little fast, and it just keeps flowing. The rapids can't help but splashing, and the rocks in the center of the river make a "squeaking" sound.
There are woods on both sides of the river. The trees are dense and the grass is thick, and the scenery is unique.
At a corner of the river beach, there are many river stones and sand piled up, but they are all washed by the river water from upstream. Because this river beach is a low-lying place where the river turns, the river flows very slowly, so many women from nearby villages like to come here to wash their clothes.
At this time, there was no woman washing clothes by the river, but there were two people lying there, half of their bodies submerged in the water, and they both fell to the ground. They had obviously been unconscious for a long time.
By chance, a woman just came to the river and saw two people lying there. She thought they were two dead people, so she screamed in fright, threw her basin and ran back.
Perhaps it was the woman's scream that woke up one of the men carrying a bearded knife. He only struggled slowly, but it turned out that he was not dead. The man managed to hold himself up with Hu Dao, but saw someone lying next to him, so he dragged his heavy body over and pushed the man awake with all his strength.
The man was indeed not dead. He woke up after being pushed a few times by the man holding the knife. This man also held a weapon in his hand, which was also a broadsword, but it was not a Hu Dao, but an authentic machete, which was longer, larger, and heavier than the Hu Dao.
"Master, where are we?" the man carrying the machete asked, but his words were gibberish.
"I don't know either." The man with the sword replied.
These two people were Suolekang and Hegao who had been chased by Wang Jinghao before and jumped into the river to escape in desperation. Solokang's original secret plan had now resulted in this. Except for him and Hegao, all the barbarian warriors he had led were hunted down by officers and soldiers. When Solekang thought of this, he was heartbroken and regretful.
Sheng Lingren had told him before that he must not act rashly. Originally, he had no intention of messing around, but by chance, he met Zhu Zhizhi who was alone. Because he was concerned about Zahler's safety, he wanted to rob Zhu Zhizhi in exchange for it, but the secret was not kept secret, and he was secretly discovered by Gu Song, a snake-shaped sword who came to seek revenge. Since then, he has been completely defeated and almost lost all his men. If he and Hegao hadn't run so fast and had Zalle desperately covering them, they wouldn't have even had a chance to jump into the river.
Both of them are barbarians from the north, so they are not good at water. If the river was not very wide and the water was not deep at all, they would have drowned.
"Where are the others?" Hegao asked again.
When he asked this, he actually already knew the result, because they basically escaped together. If there is something he doesn't know, then Master also doesn't know it. The reason why he still asked this question was because he wanted to leave a trace of fantasy for himself.
But his fantasy was soon shattered by his master: "They are all gone, only the two of us are better." Solekang replied.
He Gao knew the answer was this, because when they jumped into the river, there were no companions following them. Even if these people survived, they had all been captured.
At the moment, the two of them are alone, and it's when their eyesight goes dark that they don't know what to do next.
At this time, the sound of officers and soldiers searching came from the upper reaches of the river, obviously coming towards the two of them.
"Don't talk so much, get out of here quickly." Solokang said, and He Gao briefly searched for his lost items. The most important thing was to find the flint he had brought with him.
A man in the world can live without anything else, except flint. Especially on a cold night like this. Both of them originally had flints with them, but only Solecon found his own, and he had no idea where he had thrown it.
"Forget it, stop looking, hurry up and leave!" Seeing the voices upstream getting closer, Solekang immediately urged.
The two of them didn't dare to stay, so they tried to escape from the river beach by flying. They had just left not long ago when a woman from upstream led officers and soldiers to search for her. Then she pointed at the river beach from a distance and said, "It's right there!"
The officers and soldiers came over to take a look, but there was no one there. The woman couldn't help but wonder: "What's going on? I was here just now! My lord, I really didn't lie to you."
"I didn't say you lied to me, they must have escaped." An officer said, and then led his men to search around.
The woman couldn't help but be a little confused when she saw this, and thought she had seen a ghost, but she didn't think too much and just let her wash her clothes.
When Suolekang woke up on the first day of the new year, he was still very tired, but when he saw the officers and soldiers chasing him, he immediately became energetic and ran away with all his strength. He ran for more than ten miles in one breath and saw that he could no longer hear anything. The voices of officers and soldiers stopped to take a breath.
Although both of them could speak Chinese, their tone did not have an authentic Han accent. They knew that the officers and soldiers would intensify their search at night, so they did not dare to look for an inn on the road, and instead fled deep into the valley.
Finally, when it was getting dark, they found a beautiful valley. Not only did they have a place to stay, but they could also catch fish to satisfy their hunger. It was an ideal place.
In the valley, two sides are sandwiched by cliffs. On the other side, there is a waterfall that falls straight to the sky. There is another clear pool below. There is a clean place under the cliff that is protected from wind and rain. The stone wall inside is just right for resting.
The two of them saw that this place was indeed a good place. Not only was it beautiful, but it was also a place where they could stay temporarily, so they planned to spend the night here.
The two rested for a while, then Hegao went to find dry firewood to light a fire, while Suolekang went to catch fish in the creek. He Gao had just finished lighting the fire, and Suolekang's fish had also been caught, but they were two carp weighing more than a pound. Sollecon immediately disembowelled the carp, removed the internal organs, and then roasted it on the fire.
Although the two escaped death, there was no trace of joy. On the contrary, both of them were filled with sadness.
When Suolekang came out, he brought a total of forty-five barbarian warriors, but after a few battles, only two of them, master and apprentice, were left. Even his other good apprentice Zaler died tragically at the hands of officers and soldiers. Thinking of this, Solekang gritted his teeth, feeling hateful and angry in his heart. If he hadn't been secretive and too impulsive, he wouldn't have ended up in this situation.
At this moment, both Solekang and Hegao couldn't help but shed tears, and they both sang the war hymn of their hometown.
The man sheds tears easily because he has not reached the sad point.
No matter how tough a man is, he still has a tender side. It's just that when everyone is their own master, they often can only see the fierce side of the other person, and they also ignore many other beautiful things.
The devil is also kind when he is happy.
Even the devil must have his happy moments, and he also has his kind and lovely side.
Solekang was not a ruthless and cruel person, but because of his race, perhaps he never had a good impression of the Han people. Beyond the border, his tribe kept fighting with the Han people, but in fact there was no right and wrong between them. The Hu people often broke into Han territory to plunder, but Han officers and soldiers also liked to raid the Hu tribes, plunder their cattle and sheep, rape and resell their wives and daughters. In the border areas, many wealthy Han gentry families have many female Hu slaves, and they all come from this way. The officers and soldiers first robbed and harvested the goods, and then resold them to rich or needy people.
Therefore, in these racial conflicts, there is no right or wrong at all, or the war itself has always been the biggest mistake. No one has any reason to blame others. Only fighting can solve everything.
However, war is not the best way to resolve conflicts after all, but peaceful methods rarely get support from anyone. Therefore, when war comes, another thing will inevitably arise, and that is hatred.
To resolve the war, we must first eliminate hatred, and this deep-rooted racial hatred cannot be resolved in a day or two or a few words.
Suolekang lost many companions, so he killed Shen Yue in anger and seriously injured Han Xiang. However, this did not eliminate the hatred in his heart, but it only made him more sad.
Some people, as soon as they are born, can only live for war. Maybe they don't want to do this at all, but they have no choice. Because all they have seen since childhood is war.
Solekang grew up among the Hu tribes. Not only did they have to be wary of sneak attacks by the Han, but they also had constant internal conflicts. The tribes often fought with each other and never showed any mercy. Every time a war breaks out, many relatives and friends are likely to be lost. Solekang's parents both died in wars between tribes. Therefore, he has always been a war machine. In his war, he has always been a beast, and no one can make him change his gender.
However, in life, he is a tough-blooded and tender man. He cares about every companion around him, which often puts him in great inner torment. If there is a war, you will definitely lose your comrades, and every loss is a kind of suffering. Just like today's battle, he lost eighteen comrades at once. In addition to the previous assassination of the emperor and the sneak attack by Han Xiang, a total of forty-three warriors who were traveling with him were lost. This was something he would never have imagined when he was leaving. His original plan was to bring them all back to the tribe safely.
Thinking this way, Solekang couldn't help but feel sad, so he sang the war song of his tribe.
The song was generous and tragic, but it did not lose its iron-blooded tenderness. It only spread slowly into the distance, as if it was about to reach his hometown, and then reported to his family that he was safe.
However, more of his companions could not find peace at all and could only bury their bodies in foreign lands.
"Master, what should we do next?" He Gao asked after the singing.
"Go back!" Solekang looked at the sky and said two words very firmly.
