August.
In the mountains, insects and birds chirp, and the vegetation is dense.
Mountain.
The dirt road that was trampled on the original animal trail leads directly to the top of the mountain.
This is an unknown mountain with few people visiting it.
But near a rockfall platform not far from the top of the mountain, hundreds of tents were densely pitched.
It was crowded.
They were holding sharpened wooden spears in their hands and stabbing in the air at the orders of the young men at the head.
There were not many young adults among these people, and not a single child.
The youngest among them all looked to be over forty years old, looking particularly old.
"It's time to serve food. Remember the rules and line up to get your food!"
Around the rock platform, several decent smokeless stoves were dug on the spot, and the iron pots set up on the stoves were bubbling with light green heat.
The smoke from the end of the stove is very thin and light, making it hard to see clearly.
"Hold your gun! Stand still!"
The instructor who was training this group of mostly elderly people shouted orders.
These people put their wooden spears on their right hands and stood still.
The young instructor looked at the scene in front of him and couldn't help but feel relieved. It had been more than two months, but he had managed to take care of these refugees.
"After disbanding, the wooden guns are placed in the gun racks, and we line up to receive the meal. Are you clear?"
"Yes! Instructor!"
Although the voice is a bit old, it is still strong and powerful.
The instructor nodded, stood still and gave the order to disband.
The team dispersed and placed the wooden guns in their hands on the gun rack in the corner of the rockfall platform. It was said to be a gun rack, but in fact it was a simple rack made of several logs.
Putting down their spears, these people rushed to the dining area and lined up. The training team was not large, but there were more than a thousand people, so they also had an organizational structure, consisting of corps commanders and chiefs.
Following the order to serve food, tents were opened one after another, and some old women who were resting came over and lined up to receive meals.
Bowls of food were distributed, and at the edge of the tents, an old man opened the tent curtains.
"Chief, we don't have enough food. There are not many wild vegetables and fruits left, as well as the bird's eggs and mushrooms that we picked these days."
The old man opened the tent door and reported to the young man inside who was feeding a pigeon.
Hearing the worry in the old man's tone, the young man chuckled.
"Don't worry, Guo Lao, we won't be short of food soon."
After feeding a small handful of millet, which was extremely precious in Guo Lao's eyes, to the homing pigeon, the young man stood up.
"Come on, let's go get something to eat too. We have some strenuous work to do in the afternoon."
The young man said lightly.
Guo Lao's face became a little surprised.
Strength work?
After I went down the mountain to do strenuous work last time, there was no shortage of food in the camp for more than a month.
"Eh."
"It's good if the leader has connections. If everyone follows you, it's not in vain."
Guo Lao felt happy from the bottom of his heart.
There was a disaster last year. The whole village could not afford to pay taxes and fled the famine and became refugees. They walked aimlessly along the way. I don't know how many people died.
Later, the leader in front of them appeared next to everyone with more than a dozen people, saying that he could give them a bite to eat.
There is food to eat, how can they, the refugees, not follow?
Originally, their group was not that big, because people died along the way, so there were no more than a hundred people. They just followed the leader and walked up and down the mountain.
Although his stomach was rarely full, no one had died at all. As the scattered refugees gathered along the way, the team grew larger and larger, reaching as many as one or two thousand people.
But the amazing thing is that although there are more and more people, there seems to be more and more food to eat. Everyone has the confidence to follow the leader.
Until two or three months ago, the leader took his group up to this mountain, saying that they could fill their stomachs without leaving. Then everyone stopped here, and it was two or three months ago. During this period, The dozen or so people around the leader began to drill the big guy.
He said that he was going to do a big thing in the future, and he would no longer have to suffer from hunger. After following the leader for so long, everyone was used to listening to the leader's words. Although they didn't know what the big thing was, they would no longer have to suffer from hunger. Everyone also obeyed the instructions.
The young leader and Guo Lao walked out of the tent and also received hot soup with green water from the dining area.
Although it doesn’t look good, it can still fill your stomach.
The young leader didn't show any pretense and drank all the hot soup in the bowl in a few mouthfuls.
After lunch, today's training is over.
There was not enough food, and the young leader did not dare to perform high-intensity exercises, which would kill people.
Fortunately, a letter was delivered from home today, and a boatload of food will be shipped in the afternoon, enough to feed the two thousand or two thousand people for two or three months.
It’s not too late to increase the training intensity by then.
The role of these people is to set fire to the rear of the Han army, not to actually fight.
Yes, this young leader is the secret agent who spun the web and is also a member of the Luocao plan.
After eating, the refugees returned to their tents in twos and threes to sleep.
Refugees are all like this. If they have something to eat, they will eat. If they don't have food, they will sleep. They can live one day at a time.
As for why they are alive, even they themselves don't know.
Fortunately, they followed the leader, and they finally had a goal for the future.
The refugees went to rest.
The spies who spun the web got together.
Twelve people, two teams.
They encountered it when they were retreating after receiving the order to close the net from the Weaving Nest.
After walking a few steps, they happened to meet Guo Lao's group of refugees. They simply didn't leave and stayed in Han to start the Luocao plan.
"Did your practice go well over there?"
Sitting on a rough rock, the young leader asked the instructor in charge of the drill.
The instructor nodded: "It's okay. I've already thought of something. Fighting may not be of much use, but robbing a food channel or something is still useful."
"That's enough. Our main task is not to fight in the first place. Besides, we still have plenty of time. Let's take our time.
By the way, we still need to recruit people. A batch of food, grass and ordnance will come back from home in the afternoon. I'm afraid there will be some evil people among these refugees. "
The young leader warned.
The instructor in charge of the drill showed a murderous look on his face: "Let's see who dares. Don't worry, there are two centurions that can be completely trusted. Plus the rest of us, even if there are a few people with evil intentions, they won't be able to cause any trouble." , just shoot them to death!"
"As long as you have an idea, gather the information and send it back to Zhichao. We will take people down the mountain later."
"Um."
Around the original stone, the twelve web spies began to summarize the information collected during this period, and then wrote it in code words commonly used by web spies (simplified mixed phonetic and pinyin). After condensing it later, they would use carrier pigeons to send the message back. .
(End of chapter)
