One night passed, and the rain kept falling, making the body rotten.
Xu Mu had no intention of setting off. Marching during the day would be too risky of exposure. Only Zhou Zun and Zhou Luo were asked to take some people with them to patrol the vicinity and gather information.
"My boss, Old Wu can't survive it!"
Xu Mu's chest tightened, and he followed Feng Qiu's voice to a slightly drier place deep in the forest.
An old soldier with gray hair on his temples was lying on the driver's seat, his face was stained with dust, and his twitching lips were already black and blue.
He clenched his fists as if trying to stand up.
Feng Qiu, who was over seven feet tall, was lying beside the carriage, in pain and speechless.
"General, general! Kill Di, kill Di!"
With this sentence, it was as if he had exhausted all his strength. The old soldier bulged his eyes, looked up at the dark sky, and could no longer move.
"My boss, he was wounded by an old knife when he fought with the Marquis, and now he was hit by a knife again."
Xu Mu rubbed his eyes and turned around silently.
In front of him, even if the sky is clear and the sun is bright, there is still a dark world.
In the autumn season, there is no harvest, no bumper crops, and no joyful farmers dancing around the tall barns.
Nothing at all.
Only the Xiaosha at the border is reflected by the wind and rain, which makes people's faces hurt.
"My boss, I'm going to kill Di Gou!"
In the forest, nearly three thousand figures stood up in a hurry, and the sound of sharpening knives stung people's eardrums.
"Of course I will lead you to kill." Xu Mu turned his head and suppressed the anger in his chest, "But when I and three thousand people entered the hinterland of Beidi, we did not intend to kill recklessly."
"Don't forget, we are a strange army."
"Get some rest and march tonight."
As the commander of three thousand people, Xu Mu had to consider not only the owl leader Di Gou, but also survival and helping to stabilize Hezhou City. After all, this is the last portal of the Epoch.
"My boss."
At this time, Zhou Zun rushed back from afar, with a rare look of joy on his face.
"My boss, there is news from Hezhou City that the Beidi people's offensive has stopped!"
"The Beidi people are temporarily suspending their attack on the city?"
Xu Mu's face was calm, and there was no big surprise. He led his men to intercept and kill the grain road. His original plan was to make the Beidi people's front line tight and they had to stop attacking the city.
Fifty cartloads of grain and grass, as well as dozens of cartloads of weapons, robes, armor, and rock-breaking arrow pots. The most important thing is the cart of collapsing flint.
For an army of hundreds of thousands of Di people, it is not too important if it is placed in the first two months. But as the baggage and food supplies gathered became less and less, now it was actually a bit fatal.
Xu Mu frowned even more.
Hezhou is temporarily safe, but the two thousand people staying in the hinterland of the Di people will be increasingly in danger. Maybe the princes of the Di people have begun to send out troops to encircle and suppress them.
"Go deeper into the forest and shrink another two miles." Xu Mu said in a calm voice, "When night falls, march immediately to find a deserted town to take shelter."
…
On top of Hezhou City, Zhao Qingyun could not hide the ecstasy on his face as he looked at the ebbing tide of the Di army.
"Congratulations to General Po Di for your unparalleled achievements!"
The assistant general of the third battalion of Xifu was called Liu Zhu. He only dared to hide under the city gate during the battle. When he heard that the Beidi people had postponed their attack on the city, he immediately ran to the top of the city and repeatedly handed over to Zhao Qingyun.
"If we win a few more big victories, it's hard to say that General Po Di will be granted the title of Marquis."
"Po Di Po Di, General Zhao deserves this name."
Zhao Qingyun laughed loudly, he vowed not to retreat, not because of the so-called killing of prisoners, but because of military merit. Only by accumulating great military merit can he have the opportunity to go further.
Amidst the laughter, no one remembered the 100,000 veteran households.
Lian Yong took off the horn helmet on his head, walked down the city gate with some disappointment, and sat down with difficulty. One hundred thousand veteran households, less than three days after entering Hezhou, nearly 20,000 were killed or injured. How tragic.
"General, the people from Xiaofeng Camp have deducted military rations again today." An old guard came over and sighed.
Lian Yong was silent for a long time, then waved his hand with difficulty, signaling the guards to retreat. Then, he took a breath, stood up, and walked lonely to his tent.
For example, they are the descendants of officials and criminals. A few decades ago, they would have been called "dog husbands". Of course, if this round of reinforcements successfully defeats Beidi, Ji Min's identity will be restored.
"Repair the city gate!"
One by one, the captains of the Xiaofeng Camp suddenly regained their temper. They took out their long whips and whipped the thousands of trembling civilians who were covered in blood. They quickly repaired the city wall in the light rain.
It wasn't until dusk that the only meal of the day was served.
More than a dozen wooden barrels, emitting a pungent smell like rancid food, parked in the open space below the city gate with a smile under the cart of a group of soldiers.
"Night food! No need to be too slow!"
Whoosh.
Countless peasants and common people suddenly became red-eyed. They each held firewood sticks and sharp stones, roaring and rushing toward the barrel.
Some people who were trampled to death had their eyes bulging and refused to close, staring in the direction of the barrel.
"This is pig food!"
Countless soldiers laughed loudly, thinking that the bloody looting in front of them was like a monkey show.
A woman with a long bow on her back, her hair disheveled, kept waving the firewood stick in her hand, broke out of the bloody path, and scooped the thick bowl into the barrel.
I scooped out a big bowl of black soup and rancid food.
There was a man who was approaching and wanted to grab it, but she lifted up the stick and coldly broke his arm.
"Give it to me!" Someone rushed over again.
With an expressionless face, she picked up the stick again and broke the visitor's head. Then she stabilized the thick bowl and walked silently to the hut far away from the city gate.
"Xiniang is back."
"Mother, my brother is hungry and fainted."
There were more than ten people lying in the hut, both men and women. Each of them had a long bow slung tightly on their body.
Xiniang knelt down and fed the thin boy who was lying down first, then took out the thick bowls one by one and poured them down among them.
"Xiniang, if I hadn't been the one waiting for the injury——"
"Uncle Tong, don't say anything. I'm going to grab another bowl."
The middle-aged man named Tong Bo stood up, his voice as hoarse as a broken drum.
"If not... ahem, I will go into the inner city to find my employer, and my employer will definitely take me in."
Xiniang paused, her eyes turning red inexplicably.
She didn't want to, but how could they get there on the 2,000-mile border road with no horses, no cars, and not even dry food.
"My boss said that we should never forget that we were once from Xujiazhuang. How could we ever dare to forget?"
There were dozens of civilians who came to snatch their things, but they were able to defeat them with only a dozen or so people.
Among them, many people were injured.
Xi Niang wiped her eyes, grabbed the firewood stick, held the thick bowl in her hand, and hurried towards the barrel.
The people are still robbing, and the soldiers are still laughing.
Xi Niang held the stick and looked up at the dark sky, then raised the stick in her hand and trembled and threw it forward.
Only those who are alive are qualified to continue living.
