After walking all the way for two days, I found that there were more and more refugees fleeing westward on the road, some driving carriages, some carrying burdens, and some pushing wheelbarrows.

Xia Xue and his party also joined the fleeing crowd and walked slowly, the ruins of the burned houses slowly appeared on the road, and some corpses were lying on the side of the road, there were adult corpses, there were children's corpses, there were men's corpses, there were women's corpses, and some female corpses were still naked, it can be imagined that they had suffered insults before they died. And the farther west, the more corpses, the more tragic the scene, many of the corpses were mutilated and their arms were broken, and some wild dogs were even biting the corpses. Seeing these miserable scenes, Xia Xue deeply felt the cruelty of the troubled times, and suddenly felt a deep disgust for this troubled times in her heart.

Everywhere is the devastated scene of the war, and occasionally you can meet a few local villagers who are still alive, all of them are in rags, their faces have become deformed, and their eyes are red, swollen and erosive.

Two villagers with sores on their faces were tearing raw meat from a wild dog. In their eyes staring at the passing refugees, there was something terrible and animalistic, and the two villagers with sores on their faces glared at Xia Xue and his party viciously, immediately turned their bodies and continued to tear and eat raw meat, just like wild beasts.

Some villagers described them as withered, skinny, frightened and panicked, and hid when they saw someone.

The next day, it began to rain coldly, and Xia Xue and his party passed through a village that had become a ruin. Since yesterday, there have been no intact villages on the way west, there are ruins everywhere, dead people everywhere.

This time I walked through the village, and I could experience the cruelty and bloodshed of the troubled times up close.

Icy droplets of water converge into streams, reflecting the ruined villages.

Dead people, dead people all over the ground, lying all over the ruins, the blood oozing from the bodies of the dead made the village road blood-red, shocking, and the strong smell of blood in the air, although diluted by the rain, was still disgusting.

Grandma, aunt, and Mrs. Gao all sat in the carriage with pale faces, closing their eyes and not daring to look outside, and Ouyang Qian also frowned and didn't dare to look directly at those dead people.

A few black-covered eagles rested in the pile of corpses, shaking their heads and tearing at the bloody flesh with their sharp teeth, the blood splattered and bloodied.

A few wild dogs lowered their heads and tore at the arms and thighs of the exposed dead man, excitedly devouring the flesh. Sharp teeth creaked into the flesh, blood and saliva stained the jaws, and then dripped to the ground, the glittering teeth stained with blood and minced flesh.

At this moment, Xia Xue was stunned, stunned by this kind of cruel scene that she had only seen in nightmares.

At this moment, she only felt that the blood in her body had congealed, as if a large, invisible hand had grabbed her throat, making her breathless and almost suffocating.

Xia Xue had a cold breath rising from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, her stomach churned, and she almost vomited, she hurriedly closed her eyes and didn't dare to look at it again.

It's bloody! It's cruel! In troubled times, even docile animals have become man-eating beasts. The world is truly terrifying!

Xia Xue's scalp was numb and creepy.

After another day of walking in the corpse-strewn, ruined, and ruined villages, suddenly there was a commotion in the ranks of refugees ahead, and a stormy sound of horses' hooves was heard rapidly, and a cavalry of more than 2,000 men galloped from a distance, and the ground felt trembling.

Xia Xue was still the first time in her life to see so many ancient cavalry, and her heart was tight, so many menacing cavalry, she and Brother Wuji were estimated to be difficult to deal with, what should I do? He looked at Brother Wuji, his cousin Gao Cheng, and Brother and Sister Ouyang, all of whom looked nervous and clutched their weapons tightly in their hands.

The cavalry was getting closer and closer, and Xia Xue saw that the leading general turned out to be a woman in red makeup, with a long sword at her waist and a red tassel spear in her hand, with a beautiful face and a heroic posture, followed by more than 20 female guards who were also holding red tassel guns and wearing red makeup, and there was a big flag with the word "Cao" written in the ranks. Parallel to the woman in red was a burly, bearded, black-faced man holding a long-handled broadsword.

The black-faced man saw the refugee team and shouted, "Stop! ”

The refugees stood in a panic one by one, and some of them ran away in fright, only to see a few soldiers rushing out of the cavalry team and riding horses to catch up with the refugees who were running around. Several of the children in the refugees cried in fright, and the children's mothers quickly covered their children's mouths and looked in horror at the soldiers carrying blood-dripping steel knives. Xia Xue's hands couldn't help but clench into fists.

"Stop!" The leading female general snorted. "You all come back to me, who let you kill people indiscriminately, these are ordinary people who have fled, they are not officers and soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, what's the use of killing them!"

A few soldiers who had killed just now obediently returned to the cavalry ranks, and the woman in red turned her horse's head and ordered loudly: "Set off to the east, target the county seat of Bohai County!" ”

More than 2,000 cavalry turned murderously to the east and roared away.

Xia Xue's forehead was sweating a little nervously, and now she finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the expressions of Brother Wuji, she really escaped death. If it weren't for the woman in red, these tyrannical cavalrymen would have slaughtered these unarmed refugees, including Xia Xue and her family. Although a few of them have weapons and good martial arts, they are outnumbered after all. Now Xia Xue is strongly aware that if she wants to survive and protect her family in troubled times, she must have her own army, and the number of people cannot be too small, but this goal can only be seen in a dream for Xia Xue at present, and she can only think about it.

"Who could this woman in red be? Looking at the flag, the surname should be Cao, and he is dressed in red, holding a red tassel gun, it can't be Dou Jiande's legendary wife, the Red Lady. I heard that Dou Jiande's wife, the red lady, is surnamed Cao. The black-faced man next to her can't be Dou Jiande, since it's Dou Jiande, as the boss, the banner should be 'Dou', and the black-faced man seems to be a subordinate of the woman in red, it shouldn't be Dou Jiande. Xia Xue muttered in her heart, but it seems that the atmosphere in the Sui and Tang dynasties was open and martial, and it didn't seem to be uncommon for women to lead troops to fight. I remember learning in history that in the Sui and Tang dynasties, Princess Pingyang, Li Shimin's sister and the wife of the concubine Chai Shao, was a heroine who led the troops to fight, as well as the old lady Huo who was good at riding and archery and was nicknamed "Mr. Huo", and the Lingnan Lady "Mrs. Xian" were all brave and resourceful heroines who commanded the army.

A few people looked at each other, continued to advance towards Jinyang, and appropriately accelerated the speed of march, in this era of war and chaos, who knows where a terrible army will emerge, it seems that only by arriving in Jinyang quickly will it be safe.

The group walked for about 20 days, and finally arrived at the Taihang Mountains, which is the junction line between the land of Yanzhao and the Sanjin, and entered the Sanjin after crossing the Taihang Mountains. At this time, it was learned from the refugees who came from behind that the army of Dou Jiande led by the Red Lady had broken through the county seat of Bohai County, and Jiang Jin and his son Jiang Hao also died in the chaos after the city was broken.

Xia Xue also heard that Jiang Hao had gone to look for her after they quietly left Bohai County, her face was full of anxiety and urgency, she didn't know what was going on, but unfortunately she had already left at that time. Xia Xue was even more complicated after hearing this, and she couldn't say anything in her heart, but it further confirmed the cruel reality that only the strong can survive in troubled times.