"This is Zhang Rui!" Zhu Yan announced, "It's unmistakable. The other one is Liang Sheng!" He turned the corpse over with his feet. The corpse's face was pale, and its blood-red eyes were wide open, staring at the gloomy sky.
"Both of them are people under General Zhao." Lu Sheng said.
This means that the Sixth Prince really went north! Liu Mo thought to himself. Should we continue heading north and cross the swamp?
Zhang Rui's right arm was cut off at the wrist, leaving only a mass of bloody flesh at the end.
His right palm was missing. As for his left palm, although it was still connected to his arm, it was rotten.
"Damn Zhou Dynasty bastard!" Zhu Zhen muttered.
Liu Mo didn't say anything, he just turned over and jumped off the horse, handing the reins to the attendant.
It was an unusually warm morning, but Liu Mo could see that there were beads of sweat on Zhu Min's forehead.
Liu Mo's mount was very cramped. He rolled his eyes and pulled on the reins, trying to get away from the dead man.
The attendant led it away for a few steps, trying hard not to let it break free and run away. Ma'er didn't like the feeling of this place, and then again, Liu Mo didn't like it either.
"General Sun," Liu Mo asked, "you sent out six scout troops. This is one of them. Where are the others? Did you detect anything?"
"My lord, not yet!" Sun Kan replied.
Liu Mo was obviously very dissatisfied with this answer.
"We were sent out yesterday, but today, we only found two dead people? What are your men doing?"
"Sir, this is the territory of the Zhou Dynasty!" Sun Kan pointed out, "I can't let my men go too far!"
"That's right!" Liu Mo sighed, "Then forget it." He waved his hand impatiently. "Tell me how long they have been dead and how they died?"
What Liu Mo wanted to know was whether the two people got separated and were killed when they encountered a Zhou Dynasty patrol, or whether they died of serious injuries and were abandoned on the roadside.
This is very important information, allowing Liu Mo to take precautions early.
Sun Kan knelt down next to the corpse, grabbed the scalp and picked up the head. The strands of hair fell from his fingers, as crispy as straw. He sighed and turned his face over.
There was a deep wound on the neck on the other side of the body, like a big mouth, filled with dried blood. There are only a few tendons connecting the head and neck. "He was killed with an axe."
"ax?"
"That's right," Zhu Min murmured, "Master Liu, he is the ax used by ordinary people to chop firewood!"
"This..." Liu Mo frowned, "Were they not killed by the Zhou Dynasty army? But they were killed by the Zhou Dynasty people after they got lost! Abandoned on the roadside?"
So here comes the question, why don’t the people report it to the government when they encounter Daxia soldiers?
Liu Mo felt his breakfast churning in his stomach, but he forced himself to purse his lips and look at the second corpse.
Zhu Min said that Liang Sheng was a tall and ugly man during his lifetime, and his body was also big and ugly after his death.
His body was rotting away. The wounds covered the whole body like a rash, from the lower body to the chest to the throat, and were decorated with dried and cracked blood flowers. His eyes were still open, his white eyes staring straight into the sky.
"Sir, these two people look like they were killed by the people of Zhou Dynasty!" Zhu Min announced.
"I understand!" Liu Mo said, "How are the pursuers behind?"
"Like annoying flies, endless!" Sun Kan replied, "They pursue with light cavalry, but always keep a certain distance. Whenever our rear troops want to drive away, they retreat. Once we move forward, they He pursued them again.
Not only that, they launched suicide attacks at night just to hold us back! "
Liu Mo frowned when he heard this, "Yang Yizhi is gathering a large army. He wants to annihilate us all!"
"Sir, what should we do now?" Zhu Min asked.
Liu Mo closed his eyes tightly and thought for a long time.
"Continue going north, the Sixth Prince's army is in the north!" he announced.
All the way north, the land becomes more and more desolate.
After walking for about two days, they came to a red wasteland.
Forage is hard to find here and drinking water is even less. It is a dry and desolate land of low hills and wind-scarred, barren plains.
They crossed a riverbed that was as dry as bones. The horses relied on brown and tough grass that grew densely under rocks and at the bottom of dead trees.
Liu Mo sent scouts forward to investigate, but they found neither rivers nor sweet springs, only shallow, stagnant, bitter pools exposed to the scorching sun. The deeper you go into the wilderness, the smaller the pools you find become smaller and smaller, and the distance between pools becomes longer and longer.
The water ran out quickly and they had to move on without a water source.
The land became more and more desolate, the fodder became increasingly scarce, and the horses fell one after another.
At this time, the soldiers following Liu Mo began to whisper in private.
"Where exactly is our governor taking us?"
"The Sixth Prince is really in the north?"
Liu Mo couldn't explain, he could only withstand the pressure and continue heading north with his troops.
The good news was, the next day, they found a pool.
But the water in the pool was unclean and filled with the smell of sulfur. However, their water bags were empty and they had no choice.
Liu Mo ordered people to fill bottles with water and boil it before drinking. It didn't make the stink any less, but water was water, and they were thirsty.
He looked up at the distant horizon, but the red wasteland was still endless. At this time, Liu Mo began to doubt himself!
It wasn't until early the next morning that they came to a cracked red earth plain and were about to set up camp. The scouts rode on horseback and reported back. "Master Liu! There is a city ahead!" they shouted, "It's only an hour's ride away!"
"Take me to see it quickly!" Liu Mo said.
When the city finally appeared in front of him, the white walls shone behind the curtain of air, so beautiful that Liu Mo thought it might just be a mirage.
"What is this place?" he asked subconsciously.
No one can answer his question. This is the territory of the Zhou Dynasty, a place where Daxia soldiers have never set foot.
The white wall in the distance symbolizes rest and safety. They can heal and reorganize, so Liu Mo immediately ordered to go investigate. "Be sure to find out if there is an enemy ambush!"
"As you command!"
Sun Kan's reconnaissance force quickly returned.
"Master Liu, that is a dead city. The gates are broken and there is no enemy ambush!"
"Then go in and rest the troops!"
Liu Mo grabbed the horse's belly and ran through the broken arches of the ancient city first, running along the silent streets. Sun Kan and Zhu Min followed closely, and the other Daxia soldiers also slowly followed.
I don’t know how long this city has been abandoned, but from a distance, the pure white city wall looks stunningly beautiful, but when you come in, you find that it is in ruins.
The narrow alleys in the city are complicated, and the buildings are stacked against each other. Their fronts have no windows and are featureless. When you look at them, they look pale. Everything is white, as if the inhabitants have no idea of color.
They walked through the sun-baked ruins of collapsed houses, with faded burn marks everywhere.
Liu Mo found the ruins of a long-destroyed palace and was about to camp there. The palace square was blown by wind and sand, and weeds grew among the road stones.
At this moment, a rapid sound of horse hooves was suddenly heard.
The scout came to report, "Master Liu, there's something going on!"
"Didn't you check it out?" Liu Mo really wanted to curse, "Be on guard, be ready to fight at any time!"
