The rain is still falling, like an opening in the sky, leaking all the water of the Tianhe, endlessly making people feel depressed.

Another fire was raised, but a rudimentary stove made of broken bricks on which some simple cooking could be done.

A little blood began to appear on the faces of the people who were roasting the fire, and the moisture from the drying clothes and the smoke from the fire intertwined, filling the room with a choking, but bearable, smell.

Yin Xiaoyan finally woke up with fever, and after drinking the ginger soup, his face was full of weakness, and he insisted on guarding the stove for us, obviously he had made up his mind, and he didn't want to be a useless idler who could be left behind at any time.

The third pot has been boiled, this time it is no longer a soup for heating or a medicinal tea to dispel the cold, but a stiff dry cake bought on the road and cut into strips, and salted fish, plum vegetables, and an extra piece of boiled soup with oil, and half a bowl of each person is empty.

Since we may have to wait for the rain to stop all day, we have a lot of time to do some miscellaneous things and preparations.

For example, the small firewood that comes out is baked into some portable charcoal, and some utensils are also dried and heated, and then repackaged and packaged for next use.

Several weapons and knives of different sizes were also re-polished and tested, and then plastered with soot and smoked by fire, which was regarded as a thin layer of oxide, so that before this layer of blue smoke film was worn off, even if it was wet by rain, it was not so easy to corrode.

Since I had relatively ample time to rest, I squatted to the side with my head in my hands and began to dictate my diary.

It is nothing more than some judgments and inferences on local production and life, economic conditions, and some new precautions according to the scenery on the road.

Or simply me, the extra sparks of thought and memory fragments that arise by accident, are recorded in a shorthand with a few keywords.

The sound of horses' hooves piercing through the rain curtain, with the sound of dense trampling, made Han Liangchen, who was sitting on a beam in a higher position, like a sculpture, suddenly moved, put a horn bow on the cart, and in a blink of an eye, he pulled it out of the sheath, buckled the string and gently pulled it out of his hand with a buzzing sound.

Then five long arrows, loaded with fine iron clusters, were stuck diagonally into the baffle beside them. Bo Fu picked up two spears and a hand row, stood beside him, and used the right as a cover, this was like a signal, except for Yin Xiaoyan, who was watching the fire, everyone else put down their things and got busy.

Except for the observation holes deliberately set aside, they all picked up the materials prepared in advance and blocked them. Holding his head and squatting with a well-wounded hand crossbow, leaning towards me, this kind of reflexive cooperation and preliminary tacit understanding is a certain lesson we have cultivated in our short journey.

For example, a village where we were staying overnight, took a fancy to our cattle and saluted, and tried to temporarily transfer to a strong man, and we found out that we were at the end of the house, and first attacked the house for the strong, and slashed and killed several leaders in a burst of indiscriminate chopping, and dispersed a group of villagers with hoes and grass rakes, and rushed out, and found a pile of discarded items in the forest, which were different from old and new, obviously belonging to foreign travelers.

At least before the formation of sufficient force for self-protection and deterrence, ordinary people who are honest and harmless may also become the most cruel thugs because of environmental persecution, and the long chaotic times are enough to bring the catalytic role of the evil wheel of human nature to the extreme.

The geographical victory, the narrow places such as the Hashizu Sekito, if you are not careful, are likely to become the Shura field of the soulless land, just because the people nearby live and seek a way to survive.

Even the Hangjiahu Plain we are passing through is one of the four major rice cities in the south of the Yangtze River. Hunger and precarious despair continue to plague most of the locals we meet.

Particular emphasis was placed on avoiding the supposedly hospitable Wubao, a village run by local magnates, who were also vulnerable outsiders, potential greatest threats and killers in their respective spheres of influence.

There is no foundation, after the hospitality is found out the details, just find a place to kill people and goods, and those who have roots and origins are not necessarily completely secure, as long as they start quickly and accurately, the destruction of the corpse is thorough, and the news is cut off in this troubled era, and it is not so easy to trace.

Not to mention the reputation of rampant water thieves in the Taihu Lake area. But fortunately, we have at least one Han Liangchen, who is often on the road and has a lot of experience in traveling, who can lead us to avoid most risks and encounters, and by the way, adjust this group of people.

Although except for Bo Fu, the other five people are not qualified followers or armed personnel, but seeing that they can accompany each other and rush out of Jiangning, Han Liangchen still tries his best to guide and train them, at least not to panic because of unexpected situations, all kinds of hindrances, maybe a little self-protection and mutual emboldening, as a momentum.

Among them, the best thing about the table is that Cui Tuzi, after overcoming the original bloodletting and dismemberment technique of killing pigs and sheep, and turning it into a psychological barrier to look at fellow humans, throwing meat hooks with one hand, slaughtering and bloodletting with the other, and picking on the ability to knife the joints, making him temporarily the one with the highest force value among the five temporary followers.

It's just that it's easier to fall into the bloody and child-friendly scenes and the hysteria of temporarily ignoring the pain and injury, which is, in the words of Bo Fu, the sequelae of slashing people as pigs.

Then there is the porter Qian Shuining, as the porter head, he often leads a group of hard-borns, in order to grab a job and fight with other forces on the dock, whether it is wielding an iron-tipped flat pole or a baotou iron rod, he can be tiger-like, and ordinary people can't get close for half a day.

Then there is the horse groom Yan Jiu'er, it is said that he is a family born with the blood of Hu'er in the north, not only will take care of the horses and livestock, but also riding skills are also very good, even if there is no saddle, he can ride a bareback horse for a long distance without falling, so he was selected by Han Liangchen as a partner, and took turns with Bo Fu to go out to explore the way or something.

Although his appearance can only be regarded as decent, the way he picks up a weapon makes me always feel like I am still unfinished, or not doing my best.

There are two people left, a patient and a cook, then there is no such high demand, although Zhang Daniu became a cook, he was also born in the early years of starvation in the family, so there is a paranoid pursuit and fetish for the types and means of collecting ingredients, claiming that except for people, there is nothing that cannot be cooked.

Although Yin Xiaoyan, the apprentice of the butcher, has no strengths, he is the only one among the five people who can read through the text and interpret the characters. This is also the reason why I tried my best to pull him along, under the conditions of ancient times, being able to read is still the right of a few, and the greatest way to enter the upper class.

As for Bo Fu, because of Yicong's experience, his skills are very miscellaneous, he can pick up any weapon, and his experience and ability to survive in the wild are also good, he belongs to the kind of character who can make do with everything.

In his words, he even participated in the strong landing battle of a certain naval army as an auxiliary force, and even if he was thrown in the water, he could flutter a few times.

Propping up the simple monoculars and slowly adjusting to the appropriate focal length, I didn't see anything except the faint mountain gate and the vast rain curtain.

"Maybe it's just a passerby,"

As if as I thought, as the sound of the horse's stomping gradually thinned out, it seemed to be far away, and the others relaxed their expressions somewhat.

Suddenly, there was an almost inaudible screeching sound that stirred me up.

"You hear ......"

I was greeted by a few blank faces.

"Well, maybe it's just an illusion......"

Then there was another shrill shout, this time which seemed to be closer, so that everyone else heard it, and their faces changed.

Only Han Liangchen and Bo Fu were still silent, but the hand holding the horned bow had already been placed in front of him, and it looked like he could fly out at any time.

Then there were a few more screams, which we could all clearly hear, clearly belonging to some kind of wounded screams and roars.

The rain seemed to follow our cry, and became a little lighter, and through the thinning mist, we could finally see the graceful figures below.

I could see more clearly in the monocular road, there were some people chasing and slashing each other, at least hundreds

It was the smaller side that fought and walked, most of them were dressed in armor and lotus leaf felt hats, and there were old and weak women and children mixed in, but they still maintained the last bit of order.

The side with a large number of people has a lot of weapons and no specific signs, but it seems that the attack and kill sequence is uniform, fierce and well-trained, and there are even archers to cooperate, and there is a deep way of coordination.

Although it seemed to be weakened by the rain, he still shot arrows at the old and weak people several times, forcing those who were wearing armor to come forward to block, and then messed up the array, and were cut down by the opponent's eyes.

If they beat themselves up, it doesn't matter how many people die, there are few similar things in this troubled world, but obviously God doesn't fulfill people's wishes.

Obviously, both sides of the battle saw the only building and the higher ground shelter here, and then they fought and retreated in unison, and leaned over.

Although in the process, a few more corpses were left behind, soaked in the rain, and even if they didn't die, they couldn't live.

arrived, I couldn't help but scold, it was really a disaster from heaven, it was easy to gather such a small force around Lao Tzu, and there was a challenge to come to the door.

"Someone touched me from the side......"

Bo Fu, who climbed on the top of the beam and went out to watch, suddenly opened his voice

Then I saw a figure with a crossbow on his back, leaning over from another place. A small group of people followed, apparently behind the mound, and led him straight up the stone steps, apparently taking a fancy to our high position.

Obviously, it was just the rain and fog that made them ignore the faint gray smoke inside, I glanced at Han Liangchen, nodded slightly, and couldn't stay out of it anymore......

As soon as I heard a bang, the person who came was shot on the door by an arrow, as if he had hit an invisible wall of qi head-on, his head and neck leaned back violently, and the five bodies rolled on the stone steps, and then slowly slid down, dragging out a blood line, and was quickly diluted and disappeared by the rain.

The rest of the people suddenly shrank and retreated behind the remaining mound of earth in the torii

This accident made both sides who were fighting hard pause.

"There is an ambush ......"

"Our response is coming......"

The different cries of one after another are like a catalyst for some kind of division between the two sides.

There was a brief outburst of the lesser ones, and after taking the opportunity to cut down several people with a counterattack, they retreated between the mountain gate and the archway with their companions, and jumped the chickens and dogs that were hiding in them, and rolled down the steps and earthen platforms, and finally had a broken cover.

Take advantage of this gap and follow the agreed countermeasures. Han Liangchen took a breath and suddenly shouted loudly.

"The soldiers and horses of the right wing of the Tiande Army are stationed in the place of Ye, and the rats dare to disturb ......"

"No ...... forgiveness"

Everyone shouted in unison, and the vibrating dust fell as if it had broken through the rain curtain, and then it was swallowed up by more mist.

However, the other party was also completely silent, and then the people outside the mountain gate slowly picked up the bodies of the injured people and their companions and retreated into the rain.

"Just quit like that......"

Cui Tuzi muttered in a low voice.

"Not yet,"

I shook my head

"It's just that the situation is unclear, so let's withdraw from the whole team for the time being......"

"The other party is prepared, and he won't let go so lightly because of a name that is difficult to verify"

I still haven't said it, if there is a slightly wiser one, they will soon judge that we are not many talents, only this arrow before and after, and we will not kill the general, condescendingly take advantage of the situation to cover up and kill for a while,

"Someone's coming......"

Looking at the dozen or so figures that staggered from the stone steps again, most of them were the injured who were supporting each other, or the old and weak, and the blood on their bodies was washed by the rain and flowed all over the stone steps.

A few others stood at the foot of the steps, covering them from the back, and let the rain pour down their bodies, although they were tired and staggering, but they did not move.

"Do ...... hands"

In the urging of others, Han Liangchen did not speak, but the corner of his eye drifted towards me......

I sighed, did I still have to make this decision. This is the mentality of those who are relied on and relied on, and bear the corresponding responsibilities and pressures.

"It's okay to let them come, it's just how to justify themselves......

"There's nothing wrong with putting on a show......"

I turned my head and looked at Han Liangchen

"It's just that for now, I need to unite their forces for the time being, but I need enough dominance......"

"I just want to wronged you......"

"But it doesn't hurt to ......"

He smiled.

"Okay, then let's make up our respective identities first......"

The other party also walked to the platform under the stairs a dozen steps away, stopped, and shouted loudly

"Governor Rao's relatives and relatives were in trouble during their visit, thank you for your help......"

"If you want to thank you, can you ......talk about it?"

Look, it's not an official eunuch's family, and even the refuge is so high-sounding, full of reason.