"Quack ......"

A few crows swept through the air, making hoarse and unpleasant calls.

They screamed as they flew not far away.

In that direction, however, there was a dead village. From the direction of the village, puffs of black smoke could be seen rising into the air, even with the crackling sound of burning wood from time to time.

A figure emerged from a dense mountain forest.

The figure was wearing a short gray military uniform, a cowhide armed belt around his waist, a bullet box, two revolvers inserted on both sides of the belt, a carbine with a slightly shorter barrel in his hand, and a large-brimmed hat with a black tiger cockade on his head, all of which fully explained his identity as a soldier of the Qin Army's New Army.

The new soldier looked around for a moment with a pair of vigilant eyes, and beckoned behind him after making sure that his surroundings were safe, and then several more figures with the same equipment quietly emerged from the woods.

They were several scouts of the reconnaissance brigade directly under the New First Army, who were sent by their superiors to reconnoiter the enemy's situation.

"Squad leader, there is a situation ahead." The scout who appeared first looked at the still smoking village in the distance and said in a deep voice.

In fact, there is no need to say it, and several other people have noticed anomalies in the distance.

The squad leader who led the team picked up the telescope hanging on his chest, and after observing it for a while, he waved his hand and said in a low voice: "Let's go, go and see." ”

Several people formed a vigilant formation, holding the carbine in their hands and moving in the direction of the village.

As they approached the village, they began to smell a faint smell of blood.

As they got closer to the village, the smell of blood grew.

Several people glanced at each other, and they all saw solemnity and worry in each other's eyes.

The most basic qualities of being a scout are calmness and sufficient vigilance.

The smell of blood was getting stronger and stronger, and several people were on alert, and they alternated forwards, covering each other and moving towards the village.

Finally, they came to the edge of the village. But everything in front of them made them stunned.

This is a village that has just been sacked.

The village is not large, with only a few dozen families, but almost all the houses have been reduced to rubble, some are still burning, and some are only charred black. From time to time, black pillars of smoke floated towards the sky, like ghosts wandering in this Shura field.

A flock of crows croaked, flying around the village in search of food, and from time to time they made hoarse and unpleasant calls.

Their food is the corpses that are scattered all over the village in various forms at the moment.

These corpses were old and young, male and female, and died in different ways and in different forms.

And even more to the scouts, the eyes of the eyes were many dead women, naked and in disarray. Even many people are still staring wide even though they are dead, and there is still a strong unwillingness and humiliation in their eyes.

A scrawny yellow dog suddenly sprang out of a burning rubble and whimpered and trotted down the village path. From time to time, I lowered my head and sniffed, not knowing whether I was looking for the whereabouts of my master or the direction of my home.

After confirming that there was no longer any threat in the village, several scouts quickly searched the entire village.

When they met again, everyone's face was full of solemnity and anger.

Especially a few young recruits, their eyes were already red, and some even had tears in their eyes, but they gritted their teeth and endured it.

From the squad leader level and above in the New First Army, officers at all levels were veterans of the Qin Army's fortress bases.

And all the recruits are basically the children of ordinary people who have been recruited.

These recruits have never experienced real combat since they joined the army.

They reacted so dramatically to the tragedy that the village said had befallen them.

As for the veteran squad leader who has already experienced a bloody battle and is not strange, his expression is much calmer.

His gaze swept over each soldier with composure, and he said in a deep voice, "You'll see more of this kind of thing in the future." Put away all your anger and sympathy for the time being, and tell me what you see. Don't forget that our mission is to come out to scout. After figuring out the identity and whereabouts of the murderer, the time to avenge these people is not far off. ”

Driven by the veteran squad leader, several people quickly adjusted out of their emotions just now and reported the situation they had seen one by one.

After the veteran squad leader summed up, several major clues were summarized:

First, all of these villagers were killed by cold weapons.

Moreover, judging from the shape of the wounded corpse, the style of the weapon that caused the wound varied.

Moreover, among the corpses of the villagers, a few corpses with obviously different clothing characteristics were also found. After analysis, it is very likely that the bandits who ransacked the village were left behind after encountering the resistance of the villagers.

Second, in terms of the proportion of corpses left in the villages, the proportion of corpses of young women is the smallest.

Apparently, it is highly likely that these young women were taken by bandits.

And judging by the stiffness of the corpse and the situation at the scene, the bandits who ransacked the village did not go far, no more than half a day.

After summarizing these clues, the veteran squad leader thought for a while and immediately made the next deployment.

"Roc, you go back immediately and report to the captain what happened here. The others followed me, this group of bandits was very arrogant, so they must have left many traces along the way. If we follow these traces, we will definitely find their nests. I'll leave marks along the way, Roc, and follow my marks when you come up with the main force. ”

The soldier named Dapeng was the scout who had just appeared, nodded, looked back at the messy village, and immediately quickly returned along the same road, and reported to the army.

The veteran squad leader took the rest of the scouts and followed the trails left by the bandits.

At this time, on a mountain road 30 miles away from the village, there was a group of bandits in mixed clothes, armed with various cold weapons such as broadswords, spears, and even maces.

Only a handful of them rode horses, and most of them were on foot.

In the middle of the line, staggering a group of women with their hands tied and their mouths gagged.

The bandits surrounded the young women in the middle, and from time to time they went up to touch them, and their mouths were full of dirty words, which from time to time drew bursts of laughter from the other accomplices.

Those young women were full of shame and sadness, but because their hands were tied and their mouths were blocked, they could only cry helplessly, and they tried in vain to avoid the salty hands of these bandits.

At the forefront of the bandits was a one-eyed dragon man riding a yellow horse.

He was wearing a nondescript tattered scale armor, but he didn't wear a helmet. With a bow and arrows on his back and a scimitar hanging from his waist, he looked like a four-faceted person, with a fierce and arrogant look on his face.

"Boss, we have gained a lot from this vote. This time, the little girls alone grabbed more than 20 of them. When the time comes, the grandson of King Guo Yan will never dare to show off his power in front of you, the boss, in the future. ”

A man with a meaty face and a horse rode next to the one-eyed dragon and smiled flatteringly.

"What kind of thing is King Guo Yan? Our Lao Tzu is a man from the Dashun Army. When he followed King Chuang, he defeated the officials and soldiers. Now that we are bandits, we must also be the hegemons among bandits. Wait, it won't be long. Lao Tzu has to serve King Guo Yan to his mother. ”

The one-eyed dragon was full of smugness, and he said unashamedly

"That's it! Boss, you were a fierce general under the command of King Chuang back then, and dealing with a little King Guo Yan, it wasn't a matter of being caught. Brethren follow you, it is definitely burning incense. When the time comes, after King Guo Yan is destroyed by us, the first person to carry the handle on the green forest road in Beizhili is none other than you, the boss. ”

The guy with a meaty face said with a sensual flattery.