January twenty-three.
The moonlit night is slightly cool.
Compared to the ice-covered imperial city, Tan Bin only felt a little cooler late at night. After lighting the fire, he couldn't sit too close as it would be too hot.
The south is nice, it's better all year round. Many people who have never been to the north probably don't even know what frostbite is. If we were in the north at this time, people could easily freeze to death in the wild.
Three days ago, Tan Bin and his two companions unexpectedly killed three killers of the slave team, tied up the old rat who was chirping and claiming to be a living map, and then rushed to the southeast.
It was easy to get rid of the slave caravans. After all, it is not a regular military force, and the personnel are recruited temporarily and signed life and death certificates. How many people will not be missing each time they come out? As long as they are sure that there is no major danger around, the caravan will not wander around in large numbers just to find a few missing scout posts.
After pulling away, Tan Bin and others officially entered the mission state.
"Boss, we should be able to reach Wuhu tomorrow. Should we go around or take a look?" The map is an old version of the army-level topographic map stored in Xuanqing Guard, and the general direction on it is correct. In the past two days, I have used the new maps brought by the old mouse to fill in the gaps, so it is basically very comprehensive.
Wuhu is a large lake with a radius of dozens of miles, and it is also an important supply point for slave caravans. There are people stationed there all year round, including people from various slave chambers of commerce.
Tan Bin turned his head and looked at the map handed over by his companion. He was still holding the meatloaf on a wooden stick and roasting it by the fire, hoping to soften it. This is their ration. They were previously stored in a small storage bag, and the access could be activated by relying on the pan-spiritual stone. The storage bag has been hidden inside Tan Bin's underwear.
He stretched out his hand, pulled out a piece of cake, threw it into his mouth, and then called his companions to eat. He turned to look at the old mouse who was still tied up by the fire: "Old mouse, how many people are there in Wuhu now?"
While talking, Tan Bin took out the kettle, fed the old mouse a piece of soft roasted meat pie, and then gave it a sip of water.
The old rat, who had been hungry all day, regained his energy after being fed a few big mouthfuls of food and drink, and replied: "Generally, there are about fifty people stationed there in Wuhu, who are mainly responsible for guarding the baggage. If you include the manpower from other chambers of commerce, there are At least three hundred people.”
Three hundred people?
"Three hundred people are not many. Have they not been robbed by barbarians?"
"It used to be there, but it has disappeared in recent years. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few people staying there. A few years ago, there were thousands of people in Wuhu all year round."
"Why haven't the barbarians tried to attack Wuhu in recent years? Aren't they very short of food? Or are the barbarians so intimidated that they can't even deal with a few hundred people?"
The old mouse shook his head: "I don't know about this. Anyway, I haven't encountered any barbarian attacks on Wuhu since I ate this bowl of rice." After a pause, the old mouse begged: "Brother Liu, please let me go. Okay? I've given you the map, but where do you want to go? Why do you have to tie me up? I swear not to reveal your whereabouts, okay?"
Tan Bin smiled and said: "The mouth of a dead person is the tightest. Do you want to try it?"
"This...Brother Liu, what are you going to do?!" The old mouse was extremely depressed. After the initial panic, he really couldn't figure out what Tan Bin and the other three were going to do. It doesn't look like trying to make money. But what's the point of coming to this place where birds don't shit if they don't want to make money?
"Have you ever heard a sentence?" After Tan Bin finished feeding the old mouse, he began to tear the meat cakes and stuff them into his mouth, and sat next to the old mouse.
"What words?"
“The more you know, the quicker you die.”
"..." The old mouse stopped talking. He did not doubt the ruthlessness of the other party. It was just like what was said in that sentence, it is better to know less. Only then will it be possible to live. If he knew too much, a "little leak" could cost him his life.
Tan Bin smiled and stopped talking to the old mouse.
Suddenly there was silence around the campfire.
Early the next morning, we set off again, but instead of heading to Wuhu, we took a slight detour and continued to the southeast, towards Baekdu Gorge.
...
January 29? Tan Bin once again saw the barbarian tribe. And there were more people than he had seen along the way.
"Are they...migrating?"
Tan Bin and a companion were lying on a hill, using a magic weapon to detect a group of people in the distance.
It is conservatively estimated that the crowd in the distance is no less than five thousand, and there are some livestock, carriages and horses inside. Many people are carrying large and small bags on their backs. It does look like they are relocating their entire family.
But Tan Bin soon discovered something strange through the scout ball: "No. This is not migration, did you see? There is not just one ethnic group among these people, but several barbarian tribes mixed together. Hmm? There are cat tribe, monkey tribe, The Sheep Clan...the wolf cavalry outside don't just look like they're on guard? They look like they're watching.
Is this population robbery? "
It wasn't until the group of barbarians walked away that Tan Bin and his two men put away their magical weapons.
Not migration but raiding.
I feel sorry for the slave caravan. They are still looking for prey for half a stick of incense. Who knows that the barbarians here are plundering their own people? It is estimated that it will not be long before the slave caravan can even drink soup.
"The direction seems to be heading towards Baekdu Gorge. Boss? Shall we follow?"
"Follow up!"
Tan Bin made a quick decision and chose to follow this group of barbarians from a distance.
I came here to investigate the situation of the barbarians. It might be more efficient to follow them than to bump into them like headless chickens.
It's just a pain for the old mouse. In order to prevent the old mouse from making any sound, he even had his mouth blocked.
The others were all covered in smell-masking ointments, even the horses. These are the common tricks of the Slave Chamber of Commerce that Old Mouse taught them before. Otherwise, the smell of the whole body? Humans can't smell it from a distance, but the noses of barbarians can't smell it.
The three of them were divided into two teams, front and rear. The front team used probing balls to monitor the movements of the barbarian troops in front from a long distance. The rear team was hung from a distance and was responsible for holding down the formation and taking care of the tied old rat.
I didn't dare to get angry again at night, so I could only chew cold pancakes.
"Boss? I have an idea."
"explain."
"The wolves are obviously the leaders of the barbarians in front. I saw today that they will have a group of rangers roaming outside. Can we set up a trap and catch one or two wolves to use as tongues?"
When Tan Bin heard this, he thought it was better not to say anything? This can indeed achieve the purpose of investigation most directly. But compared to the possible benefits? The risks are also extremely high.
"Those wolf riders I saw in the daytime are just stronger, not like monks. And we still have a lot of talismans and magic plates in our hands, so there is still a chance. Boss, let's give it a try!"
Tan Bin went back and forth to weigh the pros and cons. In the end, he could not resist the temptation of directly obtaining a large amount of information and agreed to the suggestion. But you have to think carefully about the method.
