Xiao Yu shook his head, his brows kept frowning.
He asked: "What did you see?"
Dongfang Lao in the darkness did not answer, but the heavy breathing made Xiao Yu feel the ups and downs of his thoughts at the moment.
I was used to his glib and rogue side, but I didn't expect him to be so deep.
Xiao Yu couldn't see his appearance clearly. Just looking at his calm back, he always felt that he seemed to be burdened with many unknown things, weighing him down like a weather-beaten old man.
After a while, Dongfang Lao seemed to wake up from a dream. He nodded, his voice seemed so desolate and faint.
"Outside the granary in the center of Wubao, someone saw that they had set up a big pot in the square. It was so big that seven or eight people couldn't hold it. I don't know how it was made. There were dry firewood and firewood burning under the pot. The bones... I don't know what was stewed in the pot, but later I found out that they... they were eating people..."
"eat human?"
Xiao Yu frowned. He felt a little dizzy, and an indescribable feeling of nausea came to his heart. He couldn't help but take two steps back, held the broken wall with one hand, and retched loudly.
Dongfang Lao was suddenly startled when he saw this, retracted his thoughts, and hurriedly leaned in front of Xiao Yu and gently patted his back.
The sound of retching continued in the night sky for a long time.
After he vomited everything in his stomach, Xiao Yu waved his hand, and Dongfang Lao helped him sit down on a big stone under the broken wall to rest.
Xiao Yu wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and said:
"General Dongfang, keep talking! About cannibalism..."
Dongfang Lao was a little frightened and was about to kneel down as soon as his knees became weak: "Little Prince, I don't dare to say anything anymore. How can such disgusting words taint the ears of Little Prince?"
Xiao Yu smiled reluctantly. He felt a little weak, but he still helped Mr. Dongfang: "Get up and speak. Don't kneel down. Besides, you have already said this, how can you not continue?"
"The young prince has a kind heart, but the general is really frightened."
"Stop talking politely, I don't like to hear it either. It was me who started this topic. I don't blame you. I think that sister and brother Gou'er must have some connection with Nawubao!"
Dongfang Lao nodded, his expression was not relaxed. I wonder if the young prince could see his expression at this time in the dark, it would definitely not look good.
He pondered for a moment, and the dusty memories in his mind came flooding back like waves in the sea.
…
That day.
The continuous rain had just passed, and the warm sun only showed up for half the afternoon.
Another large black cloud quietly approached the land from the north. The cumulus clouds became thicker and thicker. Gray lightning flashes appeared and disappeared between the clouds, and thunder roared across the sky and earth.
The war in Wubao was raging, and the shouts of killing were loud.
But on a high ground to the east of Wubao, it was quiet. Hundreds of people were sitting here listlessly. A few dead trees that had long been stripped of their bark stood alone among this group of naked people. among the crowd.
Mr. Dongfang was squatting on the trunk of a crooked-neck tree, chewing dead branches in his mouth, and looking at Wubao in the distance.
The shouts of killing there seemed to have gradually changed a little. Dongfang Lao frowned, and he saw a faint light of fire inside Wubao.
It was obvious that Wubao could not withstand the continuous attacks of the refugees this time, and was on the verge of collapse.
At this time, a reckless man's vulgar voice came from under the tree.
"That...Brother Dongfang!"
Old Dongfang spat out what was in his mouth and slowly lowered his head to look under the tree.
He saw a dark, sturdy man as tall as a small tower looking up at him.
His expression was not friendly, and his triangular eyes with more whites held an annoying ferocity and cunning.
"Brother Dongfang, our stomachs are almost starving, and we only have a little strength left. If we continue to wait here, I'm afraid that by then we won't even have the strength to rush to the base of the city wall."
This dark-skinned man is called Wu Gang, and he is the leader of another refugee armed force that he recruited into his team on the south bank of the Bian River.
Rather than saying they are refugees, they are more like bandits, the kind who burn, kill, loot and do all kinds of evil.
At that time, Wugang led a group of his own men to attack the food supplies of the Dongfang Lao Nangui team. They burned the food that could not be moved and killed several people.
At that time, Dongfang Lao happened to have just returned from robbing a manor with Jingzhuang. When encountering such blind beasts, Dongfang Lao was not polite to them.
He took the slightly successful refugee army he had trained and fought with the ferocious wave of bandits in Wugang on the river bank.
Four to five hundred tough bandits were killed until only one or two hundred were left. Old Dongfang's men only suffered twenty or thirty casualties.
After really defeating this gang of bandits, Dongfang Lao originally wanted to surround and annihilate the gang of villains who did all kinds of evil.
Unexpectedly, when Wugang and his gang of bandits saw that the situation was not good, they bowed down and directly expressed their surrender and asked to join the bandit.
Dongfang Lao thought about it again and again, seeing that each of these bandits were strong men, eager to fight bravely, and would listen to whoever had a strong fist. He could still control such people.
If they were taken back and handed over to the Prince of Jiangxia, and given time to train, then they would be risking their lives even if they went into battle, so they accepted it.
However, since these people entered the Nangui team, they have not changed their gangster spirit and have no duty. They often bully the old, young, women and children in the team. Dongfang always wants to control them, but can't do it at all.
So he set rules for them. He could not bully his own family members, and he would ignore them when he met people outside his own team.
It is precisely because of this rule that the conflicts within the refugee team can be slightly alleviated, and the external combat effectiveness has also been greatly improved.
But this group of unruly bandits has become a persistent problem that Dongfang Lao and several other refugee leaders cannot get rid of.
This time they heard that they were going to attack Wubao, and these people, who could not get rid of their gangster spirit, actively joined the "sneak attack force".
"Brother Dongfang, can you send me a message?"
Wugang shouted with a ruthless face, and the brothers gathered around him also laughed arrogantly.
Dongfang Lao joined the army in his early years and was under the command of Prince Xiao Ziqian of Jiangxia. Naturally, he also knew some methods of using troops.
He glanced at the group of people under the tree and said calmly: "Wait a minute, if we go now, we will lose a lot of brothers."
Wu Gang was a little anxious, but he was afraid of Dongfang Lao. Although he was dissatisfied, he did not dare to make any mistakes, so he leaned on his spear and kept spinning under the tree.
After about two more incense sticks, the sky became darker and darker, and thunder rolled in the distance.
Looking at Wubao in the distance, thick smoke floated from the sky above Wubao into the distance. Under the night, there were sparks of fire everywhere, and the sounds of fighting seemed to be mixed with the cries of women and children.
Seeing this scene, Wu Gang strode to the foot of the tree again, pointed at Wubao in the distance and said loudly:
"Mr. Dongfang, the boss can do it now!"
Dongfang Lao squinted his eyes and said calmly: "We will talk after a while."
Wu Gang was really anxious. He asked, "Mr. Dongfang, what are you waiting for?"
"What are you waiting for? Of course it's to save a few brothers from dying."
"Are you afraid of dying in a war? Mr. Dongfang, I have always respected you as a good man, but I didn't want you to be so timid. If you don't dare, just say so and hide in your mother's crotch. I will take my brothers and fight on my own!"
"Brother Wu, don't be reckless!"
But Wugang didn't listen at all. He just said hello, and hundreds of brothers got up one after another and followed him down the slope.
Old Dongfang spat on the ground, cursed a few words with a sinister look on his face, and then jumped down from the tree.
Most of the old brothers who had followed him out of Qingzhou were still there, and everyone gathered around him.
"Brother, what should I do? They charged first." someone asked.
"Brother Dongfang, actually I can't hold it in anymore. If I don't go, I'm afraid I won't get anything in the end."
Dongfang Lao raised his head and glanced at the huge black dock in the distance, and then glanced at the brothers in front of him.
Finally, he gritted his teeth and pulled out the Huanshou knife.
"Let's go, let's go too!"
The brothers under his command were all shouting, eager to give it a try.
Dongfang Lao took the lead and walked at the front, followed by the remaining few hundred people, rushing towards the east gate of Wubao like a tide.
To be honest, the east gate is not easy to fight. The city wall is intact. A tributary of Suishui River flows outside the city wall on the east side of Wubao. The river is not wide and the current is not fast.
Dongfang Lao went to explore the depth of the water in advance, and the deepest point only reached the collarbone.
Perhaps because it is a natural moat, the previous refugee teams did not have any idea of going here, and chose the west gate and the north gate of the vast plains.
When Dongfang Lao went to survey the terrain before, he found that the walls of the west and north gates of Wubao, which had been attacked by refugee armed forces, were in dilapidated condition. Although they repaired them quickly, there were still many cracks on the crumbling walls that were difficult to repair. This was also The reason why Wubao is heavily defended is that the relatively intact east gate is relatively weakly defended.
But the refugee army will not think about this. This time, their main attack direction is still the west and north gates.
And Dongfang Lao is ready to use Qi.
He had people prepare a lot of ropes and flying tiger claws in advance. Since the height of the Wubao city wall was only two feet, Dongfang Lao was confident that he could climb to the top of the city with his own skills. It would not be difficult to help other brothers climb the city.
That was what Mr. Dongfang planned at that time.
Unexpectedly, he and his men had just rushed halfway when they saw the Wugang group in front of them, who had almost rushed to the moat, suddenly stopped.
Then the north gate suddenly opened wide, and the suspension bridge began to slowly lower.
Dongfang Lao frowned and slowed down a lot.
His first impression was that the group of people had been seen by the Wubao soldiers guarding the east gate. They thought they were outnumbered and wanted to go out to fight in the field.
But the sound of killings in the city was loud. No matter how idle the guards at the east gate were, they couldn't ignore the street fighting in the castle and come out to fight in the field with a group of people like them who were not fed or clothed?
Just as I was thinking of this, I saw the Wugang group starting to retreat.
Just as Mr. Dongfang was about to curse, he saw a group of ordinary people rushing out of the city gate. They supported the elderly and the young and ran towards them like bison in formation.
Obviously, the Wugang gang retreated because they were frightened by the flow of people pouring out of the city gate.
Later, they wanted to form a formation like a fish scale formation, but the formation failed and was broken up in one or two blows.
I saw a brother in front of me who was knocked to the ground and trampled on continuously. It was really miserable.
Dongfang Laogang was stunned. He couldn't figure out the situation for a while. People kept passing by him, bumping into him or bumping into the brothers beside him.
Soon they were knocked unconscious and seemed unable to resist. No one seemed to care about their group of bandits who were preparing to attack Wubao.
Finally he reached out and caught someone, an old man.
"Old man, what happened in Wubao?"
The old man looked at him in surprise, looking at his appearance and clothes, with a look of disdain in his eyes.
"Bah, thief, how can you earn this old life at will?"
After that, the old man pushed him down and ran away again.
Dongfang Lao struggled in the ground for a long time, and he was almost trampled to death.
Fortunately, one of his brothers saw him and helped him up.
"Brother, what's going on? Something's wrong, let's run away!"
Dongfang Lao grabbed him.
"Where are we going? My family is still hungry. Let's get some food back home."
But before the man had time to respond, he was dragged back by the flow of people.
Dongfang Lao took a deep breath and looked ahead. Dozens of his companions were gathered on the edge of the moat. He also saw the small tower-like Wugang returning to the bottom of the city wall and seemed to be gathering people.
At this time, the number of people escaping from the city gate began to decrease, and the flow of people became much sparser, leaving only some old, weak, sick and disabled people who were not very agile in their legs and feet.
Mr. Dongfang regained his composure, thinking about his fellow villagers who were still starving, so he cut through the crowd and gathered dozens of brothers to rush towards Wubao.
After passing the dark city gate, there is an urn city inside.
Here the fire is blazing into the sky and the battle is still fiercely going on.
It was obvious that there were few soldiers in Wubao. They were divided into small areas by a large number of refugee troops, making the final resistance.
The resistance in the small area of Wengcheng near the east gate was the strongest. More than a hundred Wubao soldiers, led by an old man with white hair and armor, were fighting against the refugee army.
They could have escaped, but by staying there they were probably buying time for the people of Wubao to escape.
Old Dongfang glanced at the old man directing the battle. His face was covered in bloodstains and his white beard was stained with blood. His fearlessness made people admire him. He should be the Wubao Master Liu!
In this troubled world where the jungle is strong and the strong are preying on each other, what does morality and dignity mean to survive?
Dongfang Lao did not watch the brave dock owner's final struggle against the refugee army, but led his men straight into the inner city of the dock.
Food is the purpose of their trip.
There were nearly a thousand of them when they arrived. After letting the fleeing people rush in, there were only a few dozen left around Dongfang Lao. I am afraid that those who were either trampled and injured or were carried away by the fleeing people, or there was no team to go their own way.
Lack of organization is a major characteristic of refugees.
Dongfang Lao had no choice. After entering Wubao, he divided dozens of people into five teams, agreed on a gathering place, and then went separately to find food.
Dongfang Lao and a few brothers shuttled among the low shanty buildings. They were regarded by the refugee army as one of their own, and some even greeted them.
Dongfang Laobao has an exquisite face, and he skillfully deals with people and situations without revealing any flaws.
His smile came and went quickly, and his ears were filled with all kinds of sounds of rape and robbery.
He saw the woman being dragged into the shack by the refugees, followed by the crying children, and then the screams of the woman and the child were heard.
The captured men knelt down one by one at the street entrance and were beheaded one by one in the street.
Two refugees even fought over a beautiful girl who looked like a maid, and eventually chopped the girl's head into two pieces, each of them half, while laughing.
…
There are all kinds of scenes like this that touch a person's spiritual limits.
Dongfang Lao believed that he had a military background and had never seen any cruel and bloody scenes on the battlefield.
But here he felt like he was in a living hell.
There was no one in the alley, and Dongfang Lao felt that the soles of his feet were slippery and sticky. When he lowered his head, he was greeted by a pungent smell of blood, which made him sick.
It turned out that the ground of the entire street was soaked with blood.
Although Old Dongfang's face remained calm, a chill ran down his back and he felt unnatural when walking.
"Brother, I...I don't want to be here anymore, I want to go home." A brother behind him almost cried.
"You are like this. How can you work for the prince of Jiangxia in the future? You still want to be a general and beat your sex!" Old Dongfang pretended to be calm. "It's too late. Find the granary quickly."
These people finally walked out of the alley through a pool of blood, and a dazzling fire appeared at the intersection in front of them.
A group of returning refugees bumped into them in the street, and both sides were shocked.
Dongfang Lao noticed that the refugee soldiers were dressed in inappropriate silk and satin. Some even wore women's clothes, which looked strange, and their hands were full of gold, silver and jade.
They saw Dongfang Lao and his entourage empty-handed, and the leader on the other side pointed behind them with his chin.
"Don't rob us. There are some over there. If you don't hurry up, let Han Jiaolong and the others take it away. This Liu family is really rich. She wipes her buttocks with white silk when she poops. We don't even have linen clothes." No, our eyes have been opened."
Dongfang Lao was surprised and delighted. He nodded in agreement, with a greasy and ruffian look on his face.
"That's it, that's it. I won't go when Han Jiaolong is gone. I didn't make it easier for him to fight last time. We are hungry now. Where...hehe...where can we find some food."
"You want to eat, right?" The other party suddenly sniffed, "Isn't the meat cooking over there? Let's go eat meat!"
Dongfang Lao smelled it, and a meaty aroma that he had never smelled came to him, making him swallow his saliva.
That scent was something he could never forget, but every time he thought about it, he felt chills and guilt behind him.
