Nothing was said all night.

Before dawn the next day, groups of heavily armed cavalry drove out of the Beida camp, facing the flying snow in the sky and heading westward, head-to-head in the direction of Shaanzhou.

Ma Jianying led the broken military camp to walk in front lightly, Zhao Fan led the guard battalion and 5,000 recruits to walk in the middle army, and Zhao Wei led the Shenci battalion to walk in the back with supplies.

Although Luoyang is only two days away from Shaanzhou, due to the weather, the distance may increase, and the corresponding materials still need to be brought, especially grain and grass.

Before the expedition, Zhao Fan had already completed the grain collection work while moving the people around Luoyang to the city.

Of course, Zhao Fan was purchased at the market price for a fee, rather than forcibly expropriated, which couldn't help but make the people of Luoyang feel Zhao Fan several notches higher again.

There are soldiers in the army who are familiar with the route, so in terms of routes, they basically choose some relatively hidden and safe routes.

Although the original suburb of Luoyang was still a relatively wealthy place in the Tang Dynasty, it had already become dilapidated after years of war and repeated plundering by the Qin Zongquan army.

Therefore, Zhao Fan marched all the way, although he found a lot of villages, he rarely encountered living people, and some were just white bones.

The prosperous Guanzhong area has become today's dead city, which makes everyone sigh at the cruelty of war.

Several reconnaissance cavalry were at the forefront of the team, and after passing the Luoyang Pass, they dispersed into many squads, responsible for the route correction of the entire team, as well as the exploration and reconnaissance work along the road.

With more than 10,000 cavalry marching, it is impossible to completely hide people's eyes and ears, but if he can avoid trouble as much as possible, Zhao Fan still doesn't want to cause more trouble.

Starting from Luoyang, the closer you get to the direction of Shaanzhou, the more desolate it becomes, and after nearly 100 kilometers of marching, you only encounter a few small villages with smoke from cooking.

Although it is related to the marching route chosen by Zhao Fan, it also proves from the side the damage caused by the war to the Chinese people.

"Lord Wang, General Ma has a village in front, and the situation is a little abnormal..."

Just as Zhao Fan was riding on the horse in all kinds of boredom, a herald in front of him rode a horse and ran to Zhao Fan's side and said.

"Anomalous? What kind of anomaly? Zhao Fan asked curiously.

"This... General Ma said that the prince went to see it, and he would know. The herald hesitated.

"Let's go, General Xu, let's go over and have a look." Zhao Fan hesitated for a moment and said to Xu Yong beside him.

"Yes, Lord Wang!" Xu Yong nodded, and followed with a bunch of elite guards.

After a while, everyone rushed to the front of the team, and at this time, Ma Jianying was waiting for Zhao Fan on a small hill.

"General Ma, what's unusual?" Zhao Fan drove forward and asked Ma Jianying.

"Lord Wang, look at this village under the mountain." Ma Jianying nodded at Zhao Fan and pointed to a village not far below.

"It's normal that the smoke is curling, but this smoke seems to be a little bigger, what is the abnormality that the general said?" Zhao Fan looked at the swaying cooking smoke in the village, and couldn't help but think of the time when he and Joey lived in the mountains, wasn't this how they lived?

"That's right, the prince is really insightful." Ma Jianying saluted Zhao Fan and said in a deep voice, "It's just that the last general doesn't know how to explain it, so it's better for the prince to go and see it in person." ”

"Alright then, I'll go over and have a look." Zhao Fan nodded, followed Ma Jianying's side on horseback, and walked in the direction of the village.

The closer he got to the small village, the more Zhao Fan felt that something was wrong, because between the cooking smoke, there was still a little firelight, and things seemed to be different from what he imagined.

There was a hint of uneasiness in the air, and with the howling of the northwest wind, Zhao Fan even smelled a smell of blood.

"Everyone speed up, goal, small village ahead!" Zhao Fan frowned, his expression became ugly, and he raised the long sword in his hand and shouted loudly.

"Hurry up, hurry!"

Hundreds of cavalry suddenly accelerated in the wind and snow, and for a time the sound of hooves was like thunder, stirring up snowflakes to fly in all directions.

As the speed increased, the small village became bigger and bigger in everyone's field of vision, and soon it was at the gate of the village.

And the first reaction of the small village is that it is quiet, unusually quiet, quiet and a little eerie, except for the crackling of the burning houses, there is no other sound.

There were no cries for help, no screams.

"Lord Wang, we're late." Ma Jianying twitched his face and said in a deep voice.

"Quick, let's disperse and search to see if there are any living mouths!" Zhao Fan's brows were wrinkled together, and he said coldly.

The weather was cold, but Zhao Fan's tone was even colder.

"Yes, Lord Wang!" Ma Jianying and Xu Yong responded.

"A few of you, go over there, a few of you go to the end of the village, and the rest of the people will come with me, General Xu, you stay here to protect the prince!" Ma Jianying raised the weapon in his hand and shouted loudly.

"Alright, I don't need to be protected, let's go in and have a look." Zhao Fan waved his hand, signaling Xu Yong to leave himself alone, and immediately dismounted and walked into the village.

Xu Yong was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly led someone to follow.

……

The village was full of signs of fighting, and there was blood all over the ground, but it was strange that after walking so far, no corpses were found, but some unknown bones were piled up on the side of the road.

"Lord Wang, there is a situation ahead..."

After a while, Ma Jianying walked quickly to Zhao Fan's side and said in a deep voice.

"Let's go, go over and have a look!" Zhao Fan nodded, without the slightest pause, and walked in the direction that Ma Jianying pointed out, and soon walked outside a courtyard.

"Lord Wang, look over there..."

Ma Jianying pointed to the corner of the courtyard, Zhao Fan looked in the direction, and saw that in a corner of the courtyard, there were several cauldrons, the flames at the bottom of the pot had already been extinguished, and there were a pile of unknown white bones next to it, some of which still had a trace of red meat on them.

"General Ma, what is this?" Zhao Fan turned his head. Asked a little puzzled.

"Lord Wang, that... That's a human bone..."Ma Jianying pointed to the corner and said a little unbearably.

Although he Ma Jianying was also a member of the Great Qi Army, but he was born in poverty, he knew the difficulties of ordinary people, and he never felt sorry for any ordinary people, let alone did such a thing of losing his conscience, every time he went out to fight, he brought military rations by himself, and perhaps when the military rations were insufficient, he would also go to the villages to plunder, but ......

This is also one of the reasons why Zhao Fan was able to accept his surrender, although he Ma Jianying was not a good person, he decided not to talk about madness.

Zhao Fan had a gloomy face, carefully observed the pile of white bones, and sure enough, he found some traces of human bones in it.

So that's how it was...

No wonder I didn't even see a living person all the way, but there were white bones scattered in many places on the side of the road, no wonder...

Hateful, hateful!

Zhao Fan clenched his fists tightly, his hands were full of green tendons, and his nails were inserting blood from his palms, but he still didn't notice it.

Ma Jianying and Xu Yong stood behind Zhao Fan. I only felt that the temperature in the air had dropped suddenly, looking at Zhao Fan's cold expression, I wanted to say something, but I didn't dare to say it.

"Lord Wang, general, there are still two living mouths here!"

……