Chapter 32: The rout

"Are you crazy? Have you forgotten the chaos you caused outside? Running into those soldiers is no joke."

Paine stopped Scarlett, who was confused by caring. She looked not calm at all, like a crazy woman.

"Then what should we do? We can't just do nothing here."

Scarlett Hao paced back and forth in the room anxiously, which even made Paine feel upset.

"Just stop wandering. There's really nothing you can do now. Just stay here and wait for Petey to inform us. She won't take action in advance, right?"

While the two were talking, they heard a boom and the sound of cannon coming from a distance, and Scarlett Hao's face suddenly turned pale.

"Did the northern army use heavy artillery?"

Paine asked doubtfully. He felt that the sound of the cannon was really far away from them. Could it be that the wolf was running further and further away?

"No, the direction is wrong."

Scarlett Hao said dejectedly, "The sound of cannons was in the direction of the city gate... It should be the southern army attacking the city."

Scarlett Hao heard it right. In this scorching hot dog day, the Atlanta people's wish came true. The Southern army finally launched a fierce attack on the Yankees from outside the city.

After a dense burst of artillery fire, the frightened Atlantans in the city knew that this was the return of the southern army. The roar of cannon and the crackle of rifles grew closer, and smoke rose like low hanging white clouds over the city.

When the army was fighting, no one was stupid enough to poke their head out to check the situation, because bullets and cannons did not blink, but after spending a few frightening hours, Petey's men finally arrived near evening Paine and the others were hiding in the safe house, and brought very bad news.

"What? Petey's been arrested?"

Scarlett Hao clenched her fists tightly.

Marinelle, the black woman who came to deliver the message, was startled by Scarlett Hao's exaggerated reaction.

"Yes, a few Yankee soldiers broke in and took Miss Pitty away. They behaved very rudely. Dr. Meade failed to stop them. Instead, they beat her until she fainted. But fortunately, there was no Miss Pitty came back by herself after a while, and she asked me to come find you and go back quickly."

Paine and Scarlett looked at each other. It seemed that the situation was not particularly bad. Whether the Yankees let Petey go or Petey found a way to come back on his own, it was good news that he was safe and sound now. So they quickly followed the black woman Marinali on the road. The most important thing now was to find Petey and understand the current situation.

Because of the fighting, the smell of burning things was filled everywhere in the city, and the ground was covered with a layer of dust. There are also some wounded soldiers from the north pouring into the city. Some of these wounded soldiers are scattered back in groups or alone. The slightly injured are supporting the seriously injured and limping away. Their faces are covered with gunpowder smoke and dust. and sweat stained like black men, their wounds unbandaged, the blood beginning to coagulate, and flies already swarming around them.

These wounded soldiers didn't care at all about the intentions of Paine and his party. They said a few words like "monster" and "God" while retreating aimlessly, which made people feel that they were mentally finished.

One after another they staggered to the gates of some houses, and then lay down on the grass, calling loudly for water and food.

"Are they crazy?"

Scarlett Hao's expression became ugly.