Wei Xiao walked up to Liu He, helped the man he had been watching, but had never understood, from the ground, and said softly: "Boss, they must have heard it, it's not too early, we should also go." ”

Liu He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and his expression became resolute.

He turned around and strode away, turned over his horse, and embarked on the journey with the brigade of the southern expedition.

Liu He didn't look back again, nor did he think about whether those gang leaders did what they did just now out of sincerity, but later he heard from the big mouse that he saw with his own eyes that day that those gang leaders stood in front of the tombstone, from early morning to sunset, and then went silently.

That cemetery later became the burial place of the fallen soldiers in Shu, and every year during Qingming, countless people will come to worship.

The vast majority of them don't actually have relatives buried here, but they are still year after year, never stopping, just to pay tribute to those heroic souls who sacrificed their lives for the land of Shu.

The danger of southern Xinjiang does not lie in the rugged mountain roads or the turbulent rivers.

What really made all the Yizhou soldiers feel uncomfortable was the unpredictable weather in southern Xinjiang.

Just now it was still sunny, and the heat made people unable to lift their spirits, and in a blink of an eye, the clouds were thick, and it rained heavily, the rain fell, and the temperature turned sharply, hitting the body, and it was even more cold.

The 10,000 high-spirited troops, ready to quell the rebellion in one fell swoop, had not yet fully entered the hinterland of southern Xinjiang, and had only just crossed the border when they were half ill.

Not long ago, the southern expeditionary troops, who had just experienced a baptism of rainstorm, were struggling to move forward in the muddy mountain road.

It was originally a mud pond with a deep foot and a shallow foot, plus he had to carry half of the sick number, so you can imagine Liu He's bad mood at this time.

What made him even more aggrieved was that in this land they had never set foot in, there was no map to talk about, and even the guide did not find one.

I didn't expect the people of southern Xinjiang to be so united, no one was willing to be a guide for these Yizhou troops, Liu He was invited at first, and then it became a catch, but a few were arrested, whether it was coercion or temptation, no one was willing to agree.

This made Liu He have to admire the backbone of the people in southern Xinjiang, and at the same time, he also began to worry about his trip to the south.

The folk customs are not only strong, but also united, so that the people of southern Xinjiang who can fight and refuse to admit defeat, how can it be so easy to make them bow down and be subordinate?

After walking on the ground in southern Xinjiang for three days, under the reminder of Pang Tong and Zhong Lixun, Liu He realized that something was wrong.

Although they marched slowly, they also walked more than 100 miles in three days, and from the beginning of entering southern Xinjiang, Liu He ordered a big fanfare, in order to attract the attention of all departments in southern Xinjiang, but for such a long time, let alone an enemy army, not even a shadow of a soldier in southern Xinjiang was seen.

Looking at those subordinates who fell ill for some reason, Liu He suddenly realized that he might have unknowingly fallen into the trap of the other party.

Liu He immediately ordered to camp nearby, and summoned the brothers of the Tianji Camp and several extremely experienced gang leaders to come and discuss.

Don't look at the marching formation, these Jianghu people are not good at it, but when it comes to the sinister rivers and lakes, they are much clearer than those who are soldiers under Liu He.

Several gang leaders just glanced at each other, and then put forward the same point of view in unison.

Someone poisoned the water.

Liu He remembered that in order to facilitate the collection of water, they always walked along a small river all the way.

He immediately led the others to the small river near the camp, and sure enough, as the gang leaders said, the troops were in the lower reaches of the river, all the way upstream, and it was likely that someone had poisoned them upstream.

Liu He immediately ordered that from now on, no one was allowed to drink the water from the river.

If you don't eat, you can hold on for several days, but if you don't drink water, you can't stand it.

Sometimes the victory or defeat of a battle often depends on the competition between the two sides for the water source, if the local water source is scarce, then the side that occupies the water source can almost be said to be invincible.

The current southern expeditionary troops are equivalent to being cut off from the water source, but fortunately, it is rainy in southern Xinjiang, so Liu He ordered to use utensils to catch more rainwater and save it for emergencies.

The problem of water source has finally been solved, but there is a more important problem, and there is still no clue.

The other party is obviously hiding, avoiding without fighting, and if it continues like this, the entire army will be dragged down by the other party sooner or later.

Anyway, this is also other people's territory, and you have no way to play hide and seek with you in your own back garden.

One of the biggest problems in front of Liu He is how to find out the main force of the opponent and force the opponent to face it head-on.

He carefully recalled the passages in the book, and the book only said that Zhuge was wise and martial, and with a slight hook of his little finger, he captured Meng Shu, the king of the south, seven times.

And what is written in the book seems to be that as soon as Zhuge Liang stepped into the land of southern Xinjiang, the king of southern Xinjiang who lacked heart and eyes took the initiative to send it to the door, which is like himself now, like a headless fly, crashing on other people's territory.

It stands to reason that if you want to provoke the other party, there are only a few methods, which are nothing more than burning, killing and looting.

Don't say that Liu He can't do this kind of unconscionable thing at all, even if he wants to do it, there is no place for him to burn it and let him kill it, he has been gone for three days, and he has not seen a decent village.

As the saying goes, just as you are about to fall asleep, someone will come and deliver a pillow.

Just when Liu He was at a loss, the scout suddenly came to report that a few miles ahead, he found a small village.

Liu He was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately went to the camp.

Pang Tong and Zhong Lixun hurriedly reminded that if it was just to find out the news, there was no need to be so excited, and seeing more than 10,000 Central Plains people suddenly appear around the village, it would also frighten those people in southern Xinjiang, maybe before they entered the village, those villagers had already run away.

Finally found such a village, Liu He didn't want to scare people away anymore.

He immediately changed his mind, and only took the brothers of the Tianji Battalion, changed into civilian clothes, and went to investigate.

In addition to the twelve horsemen of Tianji, Liu He now has two more people around him, Fajie and Guo Qing, so this trip, there are a total of fifteen people.

Liu He was a little worried, fifteen people were a bit too much, after all, this is southern Xinjiang, and the scout also said that it was just a small village in front, maybe there were only a few dozen residents.

After thinking about it for a long time, Liu He finally decided to let everyone else stay, and only took Fa Jie, Guo Qing, and Zhong Lixun with them.