The yellow sand is thousands of miles, and this is no longer the border of the Southern Ming Empire, although several surrounding countries have been wiped out by the Southern Ming army, but the Southern Ming army has no extra troops to send people to guard.

Therefore, on this road to the depths of the desert, horse thieves and bandits are rampant and extremely rampant.

Most of these bandits were displaced and deceased, and they roamed around the desert, plundering caravans, passers-by, even the army, they dared to touch it.

Previously, the military team of the Southern Ming Empire escorting grain and grass was attacked by horse thieves many times, which gave the front-line army a headache.

A group of outlaws who were cornered could do anything, and the Nanming army had nothing to do about it, so they couldn't leave the battle on the front line and bring people to the rear to suppress the bandits.

From the moment Xue Jian's army stepped into the desert, it had already been targeted by several groups of horse thieves and bandits, but this group of thieves saw that they were too numerous and did not dare to sneak attack and plunder.

"General, we have found a group of bandits dozens of miles away, and they have been following us, apparently with bad intentions. ”

A spy hurried over, stopped in front of Xue Jian's carriage, dismounted and said.

Xue Jian waved his hand, not caring at all.

"Give a warning to them not to come close. ”

The spy nodded yes, and immediately mounted his horse and turned back.

The army continued to advance slowly, reaching the ruins of a small city destroyed by the war just before dark.

The army camped in the ruins of the town and set up camp tents.

Xue Jian stepped out of the carriage and looked at the ruins and many collapsed houses in front of him.

As you can imagine, this should have been a small town on the edge of the desert with people coming and going.

It may not be prosperous, and there are not many people living there, but every day there are caravans of caravans to the desert, stopping here to replenish supplies.

But now this small city has been destroyed in the war, and all the people in the city have died and fled, leaving only the devastated relics of the war.

Princess Qinglian stood beside Xue Jian and said with sadness in her eyes.

"Was this destroyed by war?"

Xue Jian nodded.

To be honest, he has not seen the war with his own eyes, but it is conceivable that the real front line must be a hundred times more tragic than here.

Princess Qinglian asked with puzzlement in her eyes.

"Why did the Witch King start this war, this is obviously not our Nanming's territory anymore. ”

Xue Jian said with a light sigh.

"He's for one thing, one very important thing. ”

From the mouth of the flowing wind, he knew that the Witch King was looking for a remnant of the Nine Dragons Monument left in the Quicksand Country.

For the sake of the Nine Dragons Monument, the Witch King will not care how many people die, how many countries are destroyed, and how many people are displaced.

If it were Xue Jian, although he also wanted the Nine Dragons Remnant Monument, he would never take it at the cost of the lives of so many innocent people.

Princess Qinglian snorted lightly and scolded coquettishly.

"The Witch King is so bad, how can he invade other countries and kill so many people for the sake of one thing. ”

Xue Jian sneered, maybe in the eyes of the Witch King, ordinary people were not worthy of being treated as human beings by him at all.

It was getting dark, and the tents in the ruins were quickly erected, and bonfires were lit around them, illuminating the whole town.

It was pitch black outside the city, and there was no moon or stars tonight, except for a patrol of spies, wandering outside, flickering with a little fire.

The night was getting deeper, and in the second half of the night, a group of people in the distance quietly touched the vicinity of the small city.

A dozen men dismounted with quivers on their backs, and almost at the same time fired arrows, knocking off the sentries who were patrolling outside in the night.

The sentries carried torches like live targets in the night.

They didn't even make a sound, and they died in the desert for no apparent reason.

This group of men and horses of unknown origin slowly approached, and stopped less than fifty meters away from the small city, and a group of people fired arrows in unison.

The sharp arrows suddenly shot out in the dark night, making it impossible to react at all, and in an instant, more than a dozen soldiers guarding the city gate were killed by arrows.

Only then did someone discover that the enemy had touched the front of the camp gate, and someone immediately blew the horn.

A whining horn sounded, and everyone who was resting immediately woke up.

But it was too late, and the dark night sky was lit up by many fireballs, and one by one the burning oil jars were thrown into the barracks.

In the desert, it was extremely dry, and all the tents were on fire, and soon half of the camp was in a raging fire.

Some people were still asleep and were burned with fire oil, turned into a burning man, rolling and struggling on the ground, and the miserable wails and chaotic shouts made the whole camp chaotic and extremely chaotic.

Although these 50,000 people are all elite soldiers selected from all over the world, in the final analysis, most of these people are recruits who have never been on the battlefield.

Xue Jian immediately woke up from his cultivation, and he quickly woke up Princess Qinglian, who was sleeping soundly in the tent, and pulled her out of the big tent.

Princess Qinglian was still sleepy-eyed and looked dazed, but she was illuminated by the firelight around her, and when she heard those tragic wails, she suddenly woke up.

"What happened, how did it happen?"

Soon, the two protectors of the Golden Snake and the Golden Toad ran over and said with anxious expressions.

"The general is not good, there is a sneak attack from the enemy outside. ”

Xue Jian asked with a calm face.

"Can you see who it is, and how many people are there?"

The golden snake shook his head and said.

"The group hid behind the dunes, just shooting arrows and throwing canisters of fire oil into the barracks, and they didn't rush up, so we don't know who they are or how many people they are. ”

Xue Jian immediately ordered.

"The two of you, each leading a thousand troops, rushed over from the left and right, and let the baggage and materials be closely guarded, so that there must be no loss. ”

The golden snake and the golden toad hugged their fists and said yes, and hurriedly ran to count the people.

Xue Jian calmly walked towards the place where the fire was the biggest in front of him, and Princess Qinglian followed behind.

There were burning tents all around, and when Xue saw that someone was engulfed in flames, he immediately rushed forward, grabbed the man's shoulder, and threw it into the sand.

The desert is dry and flammable, and it is very easy to extinguish a fire, just bury your body in the sand and the flames can be extinguished quickly.

He walked all the way over, and when he saw the people who were burning with fire, he hurried to throw them into the sand and bury them.

Princess Qinglian followed behind, and when she saw those miserable scenes, she couldn't bear it.

She suddenly closed her eyes, and a powerful spiritual power gushed out and spread, and the raging sea of fire around her, after touching her spiritual power, was like being watered by a big water, and it was instantly extinguished.

Xue Jian looked back in surprise, although he didn't expect Princess Qinglian to extinguish the fire as soon as she made a move, she didn't feel strange.

Just then, a hall master ran over and reported.

"General, the people who attacked us were a group of horse thieves, they killed a patrol sentry, and they also shot the guards at the gate, and ran away after setting fire, and the two protectors of the Golden Serpent and the Golden Toad were chasing them. ”