Chapter 418: The Sandstorm is Coming
After a night of traveling, everyone's nerves collapsed, those loud deserts, the constant infested snakes, insects, rats and ants, and the quiet night as if death, all made everyone just want to bury their heads and find a place to sleep, and not go on.
When the place guided by the old mulberry appeared in front of the people, even if it was very strange to have such a sand city, but because the scout who went out from He Mulan came back to say that it was normal, everyone still flocked to this sand city with joy.
The five thousand tiger army took the lead in driving into it, and searched the entire sandy area, there is really no danger, there is no danger here, except for sand is sand, sand dunes and rocks form a natural defense, but apart from this, there is not even a cave to dodge, and naturally there will be no ambush.
The tired people immediately set up camp as quickly as possible, and they could only sleep soundly for a while before the sun had risen completely, and when the sun rose into the sky, the tents were so hot that they could not get a good night's sleep.
The unlucky ones who were decided by lottery began to patrol and set up defenses, and the others got into the tent and slept with their clothes on. Even the mentally strong Hemulan and Na Luohun and others couldn't withstand a night of galloping in the desert, and they all fell asleep one by one under the fatigue of sleepiness.
The soldiers on patrol of the Tiger Army are also similar to this, drowsiness is contagious, many people fall asleep against the wall or something in the middle of the patrol, and some suddenly fall asleep while walking.
While everyone had let their guard down and rested, there were still a few people who didn't fall asleep.
"Leaving now?" Frustrated Bodhi's eyes widened, "How the hell are you going to go?" The guards my father sent to me are waiting outside the door! "
It was his personal maid who spoke to Fuqu Bodhi, but no one knew that this weak-looking maid was one of his mother's most trusted subordinates, and her martial arts were even stronger than Meng Yulong's.
"Why do you think we're camping here?" The palace maid smiled incomprehensibly and stomped her foot.
As she stomped her feet, there was a sound of swaying, and the blanket on the ground was suddenly lifted, revealing a very narrow cave.
"This, this, this, this ......"
Bodhi's eyes are about to fall off.
"How can there be a hole?"
"This is the lair of the sandwind thieves, so naturally there is a way to escape." The palace maid didn't control and explained to him more, "Lao Sang Tou is our man, and he has received the queen's great favor and wants to take you out. You go down this tunnel, climb all the way to the other end, and someone over there will pick you up."
"What about you?"
Frustrated Bodhi looked at the tunnel uneasily, and always felt as if it could swallow people.
"How do you get out?"
"We have our own way to get out, you go first!"
Seeing that he was still rubbing, the palace maid picked up the frustrated Bodhi who was still asking questions, and stuffed it directly into the hole.
The cave is so small that it can only be crawled, and it has a strange fishy smell. As soon as Bodhi was stuffed into the hole, unless he climbed forward, he could only go backwards, and there was no third way to go.
He originally wanted to ask a few more questions, but he heard the palace maid over there hurriedly say to the entrance of the cave: "The prince climbs to that side as fast as possible, this cave can only be maintained for half a day, this is sand, and the cave dug out of the sand will soon collapse. The old mulberry man dug this hole before midnight and fixed it with water, but as soon as the sun came out, the water would be dried up, and when the hole collapsed, you would be buried alive in it! "
Hearing that this result was so terrible, where did Fuqu Bodhi dare to hesitate, and hurriedly crawled forward. Strange to say, this place is narrow and soft, but it really doesn't fall into the sand, and it's not stuffy at all, except that it's a little too dark and scary, and it doesn't cause real damage.
The people around him know his character, sometimes he is a little indecisive, and if he doesn't do things to the extreme, he won't act immediately. This is the case with this bunker, once he knows that the pit could collapse at any moment, the instinct to survive will force him to pick himself up and go to his goal as quickly as possible.
He hadn't been climbing for long, only about a quarter of an hour, and there was already light on the other side of the cave. Before he could reach the entrance of the tunnel, a long rope had been dropped from the tunnel. Fuqu Bodhi grabbed the rope and shook it, and someone immediately lifted the rope at the mouth of the tunnel that went straight down and pulled him up.
There was still a tent outside the tunnel, and there was a big rock outside, which formed a strange angle, and no one could see what was growing inside.
These people were really prepared, and used a big stone to block the soft sand mouth, which looked like an ordinary stone on the sand, who would have thought that there was a tunnel under this stone?
On the other side of the tunnel were the old mulberry head and the Tie Wei Ying, a few familiar faces to him, but his most relied on cousin Meng Yulong was not among them.
"What about Cousin Jade Dragon? Why a few of you?"
Frustrated Bodhi looked around uneasily.
"General Hua asked General Meng to be on duty to keep the camp safe today, so he and General Na Luohun are patrolling around, and they can't leave, so let's just let a few of us send you out." Several of the Tiewei Battalion's henchmen are members of the Meng family, "The queen has already arranged a place for you to rest, and we will send you out of this place first."
"Are you leaving?"
Fuqu Bodhi's face was covered with wet sand, and he patted it vigorously, "There is no patrol outside?"
"My tent is on the periphery, you follow them as soon as possible, and if you don't leave, you won't be able to leave." The old mulberry head looked at Fuqu Bodhi with an expression that could be regarded as loving.
"A sandstorm is coming."
". [,! What?"
"Every once in a while, there will be a sandstorm here, and then the sky and earth will be dark, and it is normal to have fewer people. Go first, and the sand will bury the traces of your departure, and they will not catch up with you."
The old mulberry head patted Fuqu Bodhi on the shoulder.
"Let's go, we've been busy for a month to pick you up!"
Fuqu Bodhi was taken aback by the cautious expression of the old mulberry head, nodded quickly, covered his cloak, bent down and followed a few iron guards out of the tent here.
The camp is closer to the center, the more tightly guarded, Princess Xingping and He Mulan and others live in the center of the rock and sand, surrounded by rock walls, the most shaded, so the patrol is elite, and the number of people is also large.
But when it came to Lu Shuihu's side, almost all of them were their own family members who dealt with things casually, many of them slept crookedly, Lu Shuihu was poor, and there was nothing to be afraid of losing, or the periphery of the camp, Fuqu Bodhi followed a few henchmen of the Iron Guard Battalion all the way out of the camp, and no one noticed that they had left.
"Where to go now?"
Frustrated Bodhi looked behind him in fear.
"Will there really be a sandstorm?"
"There will be."
A child of the Meng family nodded and carried him on his shoulder.
"So we're going to run, and the farther we go, the better."
"The camel is still a little farther away, Shizi, I can only offend!"
Before the words fell, these guards immediately rushed to their feet!
A group of people who slept soundly were awakened by the scorching sun.
As the old mulberry head said, the daytime during this time is surprisingly hot, and there is no breath. Although He Mulan and the others camped in the shade, they were still irritable because they were too stuffy, and they couldn't sleep peacefully.
He Mulan was a person who didn't lie in bed, and he couldn't sleep, so he simply got up, took the dirty water he scrubbed last night and wiped his neck and armpits, which were already soaked with sweat, and then picked up the water bladder and swallowed a little.
In the desert, you can't quench your thirst by gulping down a lot of water, you have to take a small sip until your tongue and throat are moistened, and then swallow it, so that a few sips will reduce your thirst a lot.
He Mulan walked out of the tent, and now not far away, Master Compassion and Mangu also rubbed their eyes and got out of the tent. The Master of Compassion is not young, and during this time, he relied on willpower to support, plus heat stroke along the way, poisoning and various situations frequently, he took care of the injured all night, and his energy was inevitably low.
Seeing that he and Mangu got up together and didn't sleep for a while, Hemulan looked at it strangely.
"General......
Chen Jie, who was patrolling outside, was overjoyed when he saw He Mulan getting up, "You are up, then I will change shifts, let Mangu follow you, I will squint for a while."
He couldn't open his eyes anymore.
"Okay, then you can go."
He Mullan nodded casually.
At this time, Mangu and Compassion had already arrived in front of Hemulan, Mangu and Chen Jie patted each other's backs, and then changed positions, and Chen Jie walked towards his tent.
The Master of Compassion said hello to Mullan.
"Why doesn't the master sleep more?"
He Mullan kindly asked him.
"I'm getting old, and suddenly I don't sleep at night and sleep during the day, and I can't change it for a while. By the way, didn't you hear any strange noises? I tossed and turned for a long time before I fell asleep, but it seemed that I heard the sound of something crawling, and it woke me up."
He lived in the same tent as Mangu, so it was natural to look at Mangu.
"I also heard the sound of a serpent, and I thought it was a snake, and I got up."
The old man looked at the flat sand in bewilderment.
"But when I got up, I couldn't find anything."
"What is the ...... of Soso"
As soon as He Mulan was halfway through his words, his face suddenly froze.
Because she heard the strange noise, too.
Almost subconsciously, He Mulan immediately ordered the barbarian to blow the horn on his waist.
"Wake everyone up! Go and invite the old mulberry head to come! "
Her screams were almost hysterical.
"That's not right!"
The barbarian began to blow the horn, and the sound of the horn first woke up the herald in the core, and then the horn sounded one after another.
He Mulan didn't have time to take care of any of this, and the closest to her was the camp of Fuqu Bodhi and Princess Xingping, and she ran towards the camp of them almost without looking back.
"Oh my God! Look at those rats! "
"Scorpions! O scorpion! "
"Snakes! Snake! "
Countless people screamed, rats, look at rats!
Snakes, look at snakes!
Then everyone saw that in the distance, something gray-brown, tumbling and tumbling, was rushing towards the front like a tide.
Such a huge group of animals rushed towards the rocky sandy land, even the army was scared to death here, not to mention the restless horses and camels.
Whoever was between the horse and the camel was either awakened by the sound of the trumpet, or by the movement of the camel and the horse, one by one stood up with a panicked face, and reflexively went to the place of Humouran.
They did not know what had been born, but they knew that there were people they wanted to protect in the place where the Lord would be, and that there were the most camels, water, and food in the army!
As long as they get to Mulan's side, the Lord will naturally shelter them!.
[,! As soon as Yuan Fang and Zheng Zong woke up, they ran to the main camp barefoot, while He Mulan was running to the camp of Fuqu Bodhi.
Even Princess Xingping sensed that something was wrong, and ran out of the camp fully dressed, but Fuqu Bodhi did not come out!
The guards and tiger soldiers who guarded him didn't come out of the tent as soon as they entered the tent!
Just when everyone was in a mess, the old mulberry head suddenly screamed like a broken gong. These people who are begging for a living in the desert know how to make the shortest strain, and the guides shout with the old mulberry:
"The storm is coming! Let the camels and horses fall down and form a circle, and the people hide in the middle! There is no camel looking for a rock wall! Duck under the rock wall! "
As they shouted, they desperately demanded that the slaves who were leading the camels should immediately let the camels come down. The slaves were not fools, and immediately drove the camels in a circle, and in them was a large herd of horses, which were already rocking their heads from side to side as if they were crazy, and could not lie down quietly.
The manu who took care of Da Hong and Yue Ying watched in despair as the two horses broke free from the reins in his hands and ran in the direction of Hemulan without his life, and he could only be dragged by the horses to slide on the ground for a long time before he suddenly lost the reins in his hands.
Then, lying on the ground, he saw a strange sight that he had never seen in his life.
I don't know how many rats, insects and all kinds of unknown animals were stacked into a big ball, rolling forward and rushing forward, and an incredible cry came out of his throat, but the cry had not yet come out of his mouth, and was immediately covered by the cry of the strong wind!
Where did this gust of wind come from? Is it from the sand dunes in the distance? Or was it born out of thin air? Why is there no sign at all?
Why are those rats running here?
The strange thing rolled so fast that it was still far away at first, probably because it was pushed by the air currents before the wind came, and it rushed into the camp at once.
Everyone was instantly frightened by so many rats, scorpions and snakes, and as soon as they opened their mouths, they were blown away immediately followed by these snakes, insects, rats and ants!
Because the wind was too strong, it didn't look like the wind at all, but like a kind of overwhelming wave, and the waves of sand and wind were overwhelmingly pressing forward.
The rats in front were directly swept into the air, with a piercing scream, originally a large mass wrapped and able to resist one or two, but after rushing into the air, there was no hope of life, so that the screams of these rats were so fierce that people's hairs stood on end, and the rats that slid in mid-air did not look like rats at all, but like bats in flight.
Because of the strange scenes one after another, except for the most sophisticated and calm slaves, most of them didn't even have a chance to let the camels lie down, so they were blown by the wind and crashed into the mountain wall around them!
The camels and people were swept up one after another, and the violent wind carried the sand, so that all the people could not see the qiē around them clearly, and they did not know where their fire companions were.
They can only find a place where they can block the oncoming wind and sand, and grab what they can to keep themselves from being overturned.
However, the sandstorm came so violently that there were so many screams that they were blown into the sky like rats, and then no movement was heard.
It was the shadiest and safest place, but it suddenly became a place of death!
By the time the storm rolled up, she had already rushed to the camp of Fuqu Bodhi. Fuqu Bodhi was the prince who was more important to Wei than Princess Xingping, and she had promised Queen Meng that she would take good care of him, so she almost immediately put Fuqu Bodhi's safety first.
But when she rushed into the camp, she saw a panicked group of people asking another, even more panicked palace maid, who looked like she was about to faint, and shook her head desperately:
"His Royal Highness got up early, saying that he went out to breathe, and he hasn't come back yet!"
"How is it possible, we've been guarding outside, are you kidding me?"
At this moment, a sudden change occurred, and the entire tent was overturned, and for the first time, He Mulan showed such a frightened expression, and watched the people who were still arguing in front of him fly like this!
"Hee-hee-hee!"
"Puff!"
The neighing of the two horses was close at hand, and He Mulan suddenly came to his senses, lowered his head and galloped desperately in the direction of the other side!
Yue Ying's instantaneous ability was swung to the extreme, and he arrived in front of He Mulan first, and He Mulan didn't care about whether it was reliable or not, so he quickly turned over and rushed desperately in the direction where the camel was.
The wind and sand made the visibility reach its lowest, and He Mulan rode Yue Ying, followed by Dahong, and he did not know how many strange things he stepped on, before he rushed into a circle of camels and horses.
The camels meekly crawled on the ground, shielding the horses and people inside from the strong wind outside, and the people in the circle held the legs of the camels and horses under the guidance of the old mulberry head, some pulled the camel's tail, and some held the camel's head, just like the group of animals that had just gathered together, forming a whole.
"The princess didn't come back!"
A scream actually drowned out the howling wind and burrowed into everyone's ears.
"Oh my God! What about the son! How did you lose the world! "
With two screams, all sorts of jumbled cries rang out, most of them calling the names of friends and acquaintances.
Violent wind and sand poured into their throats, and many of the envoys of Wei and Beiliang were not. [,! The generals, whose bodies were not enough to support their movements, flew out one after another.
"Help! Help me! "
A faint cry for help reached the ears of He Mulan, who was lying under Dahong's body.
The voice calling for help was like Zheng Zong.
He Mulan gritted his teeth, wrapped his arms around Dahong's neck, and stretched his head out from behind the horses and camels, only to see that near a camel not far away, Zheng Zong was struggling to pull the camel's tail with one hand, and with the other hand was dragging a woman who kept screaming.
In the whole team, who else can dress so gorgeously but that princess!
The wind came too fast, Zheng Zong may not have had time to run into the camel pen at all, maybe he saw the princess who was blown outside, in short, not far from this circle, Zheng Zong and Princess Xingping were struggling, and they were about to be blown out!
"Holy!"
He Mulan scolded God fiercely, and was about to stand up and go out to save people, but he heard Chen Jie screaming hysterically behind him.
"Don't go! General don't go! If you go, you will die together! "
At this time, He Mulan suddenly realized that it was not that no one saw them, but that the wind was too strong, and no one dared to go out, so in the end they could only be unable to see them.
But can she really be blind to them?
He Mulan gritted his teeth, drew the red snake whip from his waist, stood up with his head bowed, and squeezed through the gap of a camel as if facing the whole mountain.
Many of the soldiers who passed by along the way desperately opened their mouths to stop her movements, and some even shook their heads in tears.
Chen Jie continued to shout loudly behind him:
"Think of the rats! Think of those scorpions! Don't go! Please don't go!! "
The storm does not come silently, this kind of plague does not come immediately, the rats and other animals must have noticed this trace a long time ago, like an undercurrent, they know that they cannot resist this storm, so they are grouped together, and the idea is to escape in the same direction.
If they are still running around, they will all be blown away, but because they are in a mess, after the outside is blown away, the strongest, those wrapped in the center, have a good chance of escaping.
It was precisely because they realized why the animal was doing this that the guides and the old mulberry began to gather the horses and camels in a circle.
This is an easy thing to do, because the camels of this mission are carrying a dowry, and they are all in one place. The same goes for horses, which are tethered to horses for the convenience of feeding forage and beans.
Before the catastrophe came, even the animals knew that it was better to sacrifice some of them, to save some of them, than to sacrifice them all, and they even just curled up together by instinct.
But the wind came too fast, and all that could be done at this time was to protect yourself, no one wanted to be the rat that was sacrificed outside, and the people you care about were not willing to be the rat outside!
Even the most noble princess, in the face of such natural disasters, is no different from an ant.
"Help!"
"Mmmmmm
Xingping's screams were blocked by a large cloud of sand, and he could only choke out a muffled snort.
Zheng Zong couldn't hold on anymore, he wasn't a hero with a lot of body after all, when the wind and sand rolled up, he just wanted to grab something and fix it, and just grabbed the tail of the white camel next to him. And that camel happened to be Princess Xingping's mount, so it was naturally caught by Princess Xingping.
Outsiders looked like he had heroically grabbed Princess Xingping, but only the two of them knew that it was actually Princess Xingping who grabbed his wrist with her tenacious willpower and pinched it hard, almost to the point of pinching his bones in.
The sharp pain in his arm and the numbness of blood loss made his head dizzy, and he even thought about simply letting it go and letting this vicious woman die with him......
That's what he thinks, and that's what he does.
Zheng Zong really couldn't hold on, so he let go.
"Oh my God!"
"General!"
"Fuck !!"
He Mulan, who had already desperately approached the vicinity of the white camel and had already whipped up the camel's hooves, never thought that Zheng Zong would suddenly let go, she was originally crawling against the resistance of the rock on the ground, but now she just wanted to reach out to catch Zheng Zong, but was smashed by the oncoming Zheng Zong and Princess Xingping!
Before everyone could react, the three of them collided with each other and turned into a ball, and before they even shouted, they were gone.
It was like a flame brushing through the paper, and the tongue of fire rolled up, and all of a sudden, what was still there turned to ashes, and it was no longer visible.
Are they dead or alive?
Only God knows.