When did those Golden Sword monks arrive at the military camp? Anyway, Zhang Qian and Gan Lin had no idea before, and they never expected that Zhuanzhuhai would act together with the most mysterious and legendary monk force in the dynasty.
Zhang Qian had two battalions with a total of 2,000 men. Among them were one thousand spearmen, five hundred heavy troops, three hundred sword and shield bearers, and two hundred crossbowmen. Gan Lin's men are similar to Zhang Qian's, the only difference is that the sword, shield and crossbowmen are slightly different.
There were a total of twenty-five Golden Sword monks who came to cooperate with Zhang Qian's troops. They were divided into five teams and were scattered among the two battalions' marching array. The team leader was a monk in the Yuan Dan Realm, his surname was Lin, his name was Lin Yeping, a taciturn man. Basically, people will not say a word to Zhang Qian.
When entering the Bamboo Sea before dawn, everyone tied up the cuffs and collars of their clothes with ropes, and put on boots with straps on their feet. The straps were also tied tightly with ropes to ensure that no insects would crawl in. The remaining exposed skin was covered with a thick layer of dark green ointment.
The smell of the ointment was very bad. Although it was not nauseating or eye-catching, it still had an unpleasant rancid smell, like a rotten four- or five-day-old egg.
The ordinary soldiers were very self-conscious, and they swore a thick layer of ointment while cursing. It smelled a bit, but it saved their lives.
Those who have cultivated skills must also apply it, because relying on the Qi mask to isolate mosquitoes is also a waste. In the sea of thousands of miles of bamboo, every ounce of Qi is likely to save your life. If you can save it, save it. Secondly, it is said that many mosquitoes in the Bamboo Sea have some characteristics of ferocious beasts. If the Zhenqi mask is not strong enough, it will not be able to stop them. There is not much difference between monks with low cultivation level and ordinary people in the Bamboo Sea.
Zhang Qian's cultivation level is also in the middle of the God Gathering Realm, which is not low, but he doesn't care whether the ointment smells bad or not, and just puts it on. However, the accompanying Golden Sword monks did not use this smelly ointment. But this is not because the Golden Sword monks boast that they can deal with the mosquitoes in the bamboo sea, but because they have other ointments, which are colorless and odorless, and are said to be more effective than the ones used by Zhang Qian and others.
No one said anything about this difference in treatment. As for the Golden Sword monks, it was normal for them to be a little different. Besides, they might have to rely on each other for survival in the bamboo forest in the future.
After entering the bamboo forest, Zhang Qian consciously slowed down and waited for the rain behind them. This was what they had agreed upon before.
"You can't slow down. You must reach the first resting point within the scheduled time and speed up!" After only an hour, Lin Yeping noticed Zhang Qian's little thoughts, immediately found Zhang Qian and stopped him with cold words.
"Mr. Lin, the resting point on the map is not far from our current location. I have discussed with Gan Lin's troops at the back to wait for them. Then it will be safer to keep watch in front and back, right?" Zhang Qian never thought of hiding it. The other party, now that they are coordinating together, they are people on the same boat, and basic trust is still necessary.
"No." Lin Yeping still shook his head. Seeing that Zhang Qian wanted to explain, he interrupted: "The Bamboo Sea is not as official as the outside. Can you go as slow as you want and go as fast as you want? How far is it from here to the resting point and the distance between the two The interval between camp departures is fixed. If you slow down now and wait for the people behind you, the difficult areas in front of you will be delayed a lot of time, causing you to be unable to reach the rest point at the scheduled time.
If you miss the resting point in the bamboo sea, what do you think will happen? "
what happens? Zhang Qian wanted to ask, but when he saw that Lin Yeping's face was covered with frost, he could only suppress his curiosity. Then he used Qianli Note to send a message to Ganlin who was behind him, and the previously agreed-upon watch before and after came to nothing.
Think about it too. If they could keep watch on each other, the two groups of people entering the Bamboo Sea would not be so far apart. Zhang Qian could only secretly say that he had taken it too seriously before.
Under Lin Yeping's urging, Zhang Qian had to speed up his march to catch up with the previous progress. Half an hour later, the outpost at the front sent back news of the situation. Zhang Qian immediately went out to check.
Just one mile away from the front of the brigade, in a small clearing less than four feet to the right of the route marked on the map, there were three corpses lying across. The corpses were dressed in the same Jingjiu border army uniforms as Zhang Qian's troops.
"Is this... someone from the front team?"
Although the corpse was in a miserable condition, as if it had been poisoned, there was no corpse smell at all. It had obviously been dead for less than two days, and it should be the three soldiers from the two battalions in front of Zhang Qian's command.
"Don't get close to the corpse. Watch your step! If you see it, it's the Iron Vine orchid written on the booklet for you." Lin Yeping also followed and directly warned the soldiers who were about to approach the corpse to be careful.
The corpse was poisoned and looked miserable, but there were no obvious external injuries. If you look carefully, you can see that the soles of the three people's shoes are stepping on some small vines that are like withered grass. These vines are growing on the fallen leaves on the ground. They have fine thorns, which are an inch long and as hard as iron needles. If you step on them accidentally, It is easy to puncture the sole. And these iron needles are highly poisonous and can kill ordinary people within a few breaths, and the death will be like this.
As soon as Lin Yeping opened his mouth, several soldiers around him who had thought about turning over the body immediately broke out in cold sweat. The nearest section of the iron vine needle orchid was less than two feet away from their feet.
"This kind of poison not only kills people, but also poisons the corpses, so that the living animals poisoned by these things can only slowly rot in place and become nutrients for the iron vine needle orchid, instead of being dragged away by the beasts in the forest. .
This is why routes are marked with red lines on maps and signposted at the roadside. This place is dangerous, and if you are not careful, you will die on the spot, so be careful. "
Zhang Qian nodded and said to the adjutant next to him: "There is no need to deal with these corpses. Put up a wooden sign to remind people behind to be careful of the iron vine and needle orchid under their feet. The rest of the people continue to move forward."
Compared to the people in front, Zhang Qian would not leave these corpses to drag down Gan Lin's troops behind him, so he set up a wooden sign to alert them and prevent those behind him from accidentally making the same mistake.
Continuing forward, the fallen leaves on the road are getting thicker and thicker. It feels like stepping on a layer of carpet, which is soft but makes people feel uneasy. Because God knows if something will suddenly come out from under these fallen leaves and sting you.
When the third one was stung by an insect that suddenly crawled out from under the fallen leaves and died quickly, someone began to put some bark or wood chips on his feet, and then stepped on them with the weapon in his hand.
It is difficult to prevent these poisonous insects hiding in fallen leaves, at least not with repellent ointments on your body.
Now Zhang Qian finally realized why Lin Yeping didn't allow him to slow down his marching speed before. Now I was forced to slow down. If I had walked slowly before, I would have definitely missed the resting point including the marching speed on this section of the road. Zhang Qian couldn't help but feel angry if he spent the night in this kind of environment.
