Yun Zheng opened his mouth to spit out the astringent water in his mouth, shook off the poncho on his body and asked Yesu, who was sitting on the back of the elephant together: "Master, there is not a single cloud in the sky, why is it still raining in the forest?" ”

Pointing to the towering trees, he said, "This rain is not the world's, but these trees are spitting out excess water in their bodies, and the hotter the weather, the more they vomit." ”

The monkey pulled off an inch-long worm from his head and said, "It's not just raining, it's also bugging!" ”

Yesu smiled and took the worm in the monkey's hand and stuffed it into his mouth with a smile and ate it extremely sweet, Yun Zheng knew that the Jiaozhi people had the habit of eating bugs, so they could still keep calm, the monkey pointed at Yesu in horror, and his stomach churned.

"Walking into the jungle, the jungle is the master, we are the guests, we will eat whatever the host gives, the Buddha is compassionate, will not spare his kindness, even if it is a poor mountain and remote land, it will be widely spread." After eating the insects, the wild man sat cross-legged on the elephant's head, and there really were some high-ranking monks.

Yun Zheng stood on the back of the elephant and looked forward, one hundred and ten elephants waved their noses to open the way, and from time to time they barked, and the sound of heavy footsteps came out far away, so that snakes, insects and beasts avoided it. Standing on the back of the elephant, the armor soldier brandished a long knife to cut off the vines on both sides of the road one by one, Liang Ji stood at the front, holding a strong crossbow, constantly patrolling the surrounding movements, as a pioneer team, he did not dare to have the slightest carelessness.

In the jungle on both sides of the road, naked Khmer people leaped like flies on both sides, and ape-like vines swing between the trees, each carrying a bucket of blow arrows on their backs, and it is said that each arrow is coated with snake venom, which has the effect of sealing the throat with blood. This thing is not only a tool for them to fight, but also a guy for them to hunt and eat, in the jungle with dense branches, it is impossible to guard.

Behind the elephant array were countless pack horses and mules, and the cavalry sat on their horses with dust whisks in their hands. Constantly helping the horses drive away the dense blood-sucking insects in the jungle, although these pack horses and mules are covered with gauze clothes, as long as they stop, the yarn clothes will crawl with all kinds of strange insects.

Zhou Tong personally escorted the rear. He was also responsible for leaving conspicuous markings so that the caravan would not get lost on the return journey, and although there were Khmer guides to do so, Zhou Tong remained suspicious of ethnic groups other than the Song people.

Cui Da took the eleven shopkeepers of the big merchants in Shuzhong, and followed closely behind the army, and this time the men and shopkeepers who came out with them were the most shrewd and capable people in each family, and at the same time, they also brought a large number of guards.

Walking in the mud of the jungle, none of these pampered shopkeepers complained bitterly, and they would rather die of exhaustion when they saw that their huge investment was about to be reaped. is also unwilling to give up this bloody feast of merchants.

Instead of riding a horse, six Khmer men carry a light gauze tent, in which he sits leisurely and looks around with interest to admire the wonders of the rainforest.

Trida is not a soldier. So he can sit in a gauze tent, it's nothing, as long as the Khmer people are paid enough, and it is not a problem to carry a man through the jungle. And Trida is exactly the one who can afford to pay the price.

There is also a broken army behind the Shangjia team, that is, Lang Tan's subordinates, when he just walked through Cui Da's gauze tent after handing over his errand with Peng Jiu, he gritted his teeth and said: "Lao Tzu crawls in the muddy water with two feet. You can fucking lie down in a gauze tent and sleep, is there any reason for that? I think you've sent a maid to serve you. ”

Cui Da took a bunch of bananas from the gauze tent and threw it to Lang Tan and said: "This is Lao Tzu's ability, if you have the ability, you can come up, a good uncle doesn't do it, you have to be Qiu Ba, you deserve to be tired." ”

"Hahahaha. Lao Cui, you should be sour. Lang Tan grabbed a banana and threw it to the brothers behind, peeled a banana and took a big bite of it, and continued: "You were dragged back by your mother. You still don't want you. ”

Cui Da put away his smile and said, "Old man, do you think we can make this trip to Shenglong Mansion?" The big commercial houses in Shuzhong have made a heavy bet, if this time it is not successful, the business in Shuzhong will be hit hard, and there is no three or five years to slow down. ”

Lang Tan said with a smile: "I heard Master Yesu say that the most valuable thing in Thang Long Mansion is the Shenmu Palace, and the entire palace is made of fine red sandalwood, if you have the ability to tear down that palace and bring it back, it is estimated that it will be enough for you to pay." ”

Cui Da nodded and opened his mouth to ask the flower shopkeeper who was riding a mule in front of him: "Lao Hua, how much is a chessboard made of rosewood zuò worth?" I heard that you gave King Han a face, and I was very impressed! ”

The lean flower shopkeeper rolled his eyes and said: "If you don't understand, don't talk about it, it's called a chess scale, how to negotiate the price of self-cultivation things, but if you have a red sandalwood chess scale at hand, I will give you a price of three hundred yuan." ”

Cui Da laughed and said: "You wait, I'll get you thousands of red sandalwood chessboards, and if you don't give me this price when the time comes, I'll be in a hurry with you." ”

The shopkeeper said: "Rosewood can be asked for, if you have the ability to get thousands of dollars of material, the old man will go bankrupt, I'm afraid you won't be able to get it." ”

Cui Da covered up this matter with a haha, after all, he hadn't seen the palace yet, and he couldn't do it.

Lang Tan took out a large handful of fried noodle leaves from Cui Da's gauze tent, and asked while eating, "Old Cui, how much did we spend on sending troops this time?" I think it may not be less than 100,000. ”

Cui Da smiled bitterly and said: "100,000 guan, you think 100,000 guan is too big, the army dispatch is actually a sea of gold and silver, not counting the various equipment, grain and grass we provide, just the army from Shu to Guangnan, it cost no less than 70,000 guan, if all are counted, it is almost 200,000 guan, so ah, the general knows that this time to enter Shenglong Mansion is difficult, in order not to let the merchants of Shuzhong go bankrupt, he still insists on going for a while, just to fill the hole." ”

Lang Tan said strangely: "No, isn't the wealth in Nongzhi's master enough to pay for our military expenses?" Even if the seizure of Hot Spring Pass is counted, I'm afraid there are a lot of seizures in Pennsylvania alone, right? Could it be that all of them have been greedy for ink by you, a black-hearted ghost. ”

Cui Da touched his chin and said: "Of course it's enough, but it's not too much, Nong Zhigao looted all poor people, there are not many valuables, the big families in Guangnan ran away with the soft before Nong Zhigao came, and it takes a lot of time to exchange those seizures for money, my brother, run with the army to do business, there is no tenfold profit, who will run with you." ”

Lang Tan angrily spewed a fruit core at Cui Da, and such a black-hearted ghost can't say, the brothers only made a few dollars by fighting to the death, and all the benefits were taken away by these people.

He had nothing to say to the black-hearted businessman, so he whistled and hurriedly walked towards the main formation with his subordinates. The army marches on a rolling basis, and only in this way can the army be on alert at all times.

The march in the dense forest was extremely difficult, especially the physical attrition was terrifying, and the army had only been walking for two hours before having to stop and find a dry open place to rest.

I thought that the jungle would be full of water, but when I came in, I found that it was not like this at all, there is indeed a lot of water here, but unfortunately there is very little water to drink.

One only has to look at the corpses of wild beasts that have fallen on the edge of the waterhole to know that the water here is poisonous, and it is considered a very dangerous place with overlapping mountains, forests like the sea, swamps in the woods, mountains and dense forests, jackals and beasts, and the spread of malaria. The mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, and miasma of the Savage Mountain are overwhelming, and every blow is a fatal wound.

The path that Wu Shengjun walked was not so much a road as a forest path, which was stepped on by elephants at the earliest time, and then it was constantly widened, which led to these roads.

Yun Zheng is very fortunate to have the help of Master Yesu and the Khmer people, without their help, it would be difficult for him to find a clean water source, without their help, I am afraid that he can only enter Jiaozhi with Li Rizun desperately, and things have developed to this point, it is no longer as simple as a simple combination of interests. Without the Khmers, the price they need to pay is too great, and now that they can bypass those Xiongguan and appear under the city of Thang Long, it should be the best choice.

It has only been less than six days since he entered Lin Mang, and the soldiers' feet have been swollen by blisters, and if they are not baked and dried quickly, it will not take long for these feet to rot.

Finally came across a large area for the army to camp, Yun Zheng ordered the whole army to rest, and after resting here for two days before continuing on the road.

"Master Yesu, call out the people who are exploring the way in the forest, they should also rest, as long as there are enough people left, our road is still long, and we can't afford to be damaged."

Yun Zheng has clearly known in the past few days that his army has only fallen ill with some people, and the situation is not strict, plus walking with elephants, although he will be attacked by mosquitoes, he has not yet encountered poisonous snakes and beasts.

And those Khmer people who are running on both sides of the road, the danger encountered is the highest, Yun Zheng saw a huge python lying on the side of the road with a bulging belly, unable to move, ordered someone to kill the python, and found that after breaking the stomach, there were actually three Khmer corpses in the stomach of the python that had not been digested......

"This is the sincerity of the Khmer people, general, we have almost nothing, the only thing we have is our own life, now, we dedicate our lives, ask the general to help the Khmer people come out of the world of ignorance and establish their own country, only in this way, our sacrifice will be meaningful."

Seeing that the corpses of his clansmen were incinerated on the pyre, Master Yesu looked at Yun Zheng with compassion and made his own request.

ps：

Chapter 1,