On the third day of the late June of the 35th year of the Chinese calendar, a Xiacheng army of more than 100 people arrived by boat to a place in the hinterland of Dongyi. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The leader was Ji Bai, a total of one hundred and thirty-three people, but not all black-clothed guards, but a newly formed hundred-man team that mixed every part of the Xia Cheng system.

Thirty black-clad guards, eighty strong spearmen among the workshop workers, twenty students of the military class. In addition to Ji Bai, there is also his brother, who used to be very high on the hanging list, and a former Dongyi who worked as a guide and was naturalized in the Great River tribes a few years ago.

It's a strange combination, but it's the leader's order, and it's obviously intentional, and there's no need to object to it. At least in Ji Bai's opinion, this group of strong spearmen can be called a good army, very obedient and brave.

More than 100 people walked vigilantly in the woods, cautious at every step.

Having hidden the boats by the river in the morning, they have been walking for a long time. What time is it? How far are they from where they're going? No one knew, not even those who had struggled in the wilderness for a long time, that the tall trees blocked the sunlight and made it difficult to judge.

Occasionally, one or two brightly feathered waterfowl flew through the jungle, and it seemed that there was a pond nearby. As they walked through the thorns, some curious little birds would stand on the sharp spear tips and chirp, and it could be seen that they were not very afraid of people, and did not know how terrible this hairless monster was.

In front of you is a willow pond, and if you listen carefully, you can hear the tinkling of the stream in the distance.

"It won't be wrong to cross this willow, rest by the stream, and walk along the creek for a while."

Ji Bai gave an order, and more than 100 people bent down to walk through this water willow pond that may not have been visited for tens of thousands of years, and really saw a small river with a clear water flow that was not wide.

One of them took out the dry food belt, grabbed a handful of rice fried with peas and wheat flour, mixed it with water and kneaded it into a semi-round ball, and grinned: "Do you think this looks like the bun we ate before leaving?" ”

He closed his eyes and swallowed a few times, but found that after all, it was still not as soft as the white-floured bun Xuanteng, and it was very salty and not sweet.

A group of people looked at the man and laughed, and they couldn't help but think of the white soft bun. The koji and dough of the malt liquor will make the dough fluffy and sweet, but it will have a sour taste, and the addition of some white salt-like things snatched from the grassland will make the sourness disappear, and it will make the cake softer and more bubbly.

The miraculous bread was called a bun by the chieftain, and they had been eaten seven or eight days earlier in the place where the summer city had rented and where a simple camp had been built, and then they were sent to the hinterland of Dongyi.

After eating that steamed bun, the place that did not belong to Xia Cheng at all was called "steamed bun" by the people of Xia Cheng, and they didn't care about what it was originally called, and it was troublesome to remember, so they simply called it such a strange name.

The soldiers imagined the taste of steamed bread, and then from steamed bread to women, and there was less estrangement between them, and finally after a workshop worker kneaded a ball of fried noodles into some of the first organs they were familiar with since birth, the two groups of soldiers, who should have been somewhat separated, had their first incomparable laughter.

Ji Bai and Mo looked back at the soldiers, and smiled, and the two of them sat on the stone, talking about what they were going to do this time.

"I saw a cloud of smoke in the morning, it should be not far away, and it was a small village. It doesn't take a long walk along the creek to see it. I never got lost when I was on the run, and I never ran to a crowded place, you have to believe my feelings. ”

Ji Bai nodded and said, "I believe it." We're going to make a bigger move this time. Now that there are three or four thousand people gathered in the place of Manna, we need to make some moves here quickly before Ji Xia can do things. It's a pity that these Dongyi people don't have horses and no boats. ”

Speaking of this, both Mo and Ji Bai laughed. After the troops of the Xia Cheng system were transferred to the place of the man, all the people above the hundred-man team were gathered and told them the general strategic concept of the battle.

At the meeting, Ji Bai, who proposed the concept of this operation, was very praised, and the praise even made him feel that when he flew, he fell from the high clouds and fell so hard that it attracted a lot of good-natured laughter.

Because after praising him, Jian Chen asked: "Attack the place where the enemy must be rescued, and force the enemy to come back." It's a great idea, it's just ...... How can we let the Dongyi people know that their hearts have been attacked by us? They don't have horses or boats, and if our army goes and relies on the two legs of the Dongyi people to report the news, and when Qiongxi knows about it and comes back to help, I'm afraid we will have been waiting there for a long time. One more day of delay, the longer our army will be outside, and the more tired it will be. ”

"So, the idea is right, but how to realize the idea needs to be carefully considered, and it can't be decided with a pat on the head."

Because of this, Ji Bai and the others were sent to the hinterland of Dongyi near the Great River Tribes the next day.

They have to do two things: arrest and release.

Chen Jian's order to them was to attack and burn several villages before the first day of the seventh month, and to attack with great fanfare, using gunpowder and other things, and the bigger the movement, the better.

But don't kill people, you must leave a few messengers, and try to let them spread the news of the burning and killing of the people of Xia Cheng in the hinterland to the ears of the army of the Firmament, and it would be best if they could harass a city at night.

Every step of the whole plan was strictly planned, and when Ji Bai and the others set off, another group of people and a group of people from the Construction Division had already taken a boat to the east to build a simple camp and wharf in a deserted place in the hinterland of Dongyi, and the people of the Transportation Department had already begun to transfer grain and ordnance to that side.

All the Dongyi people captured by Ji Bai and others were also sent there to build trenches and simple wooden walls as slaves to save time for operation.

Time cannot be delayed, according to the military regulations issued last month, delaying the deadline will kill the head, but it doesn't matter what kind of knighthood you are, let alone what meritorious deeds you have made.

The soldier is not guilty, the guilty is the leader of the army, Mo and Ji Bai are very aware of the strictness of the regulations, but it doesn't seem to be difficult, this morning the naturalized Dongyi guide told them that there is a small city of Dongyi seventy or eighty miles away, and then they saw a green smoke in the woods by the river, it is obvious that it is a Dongyi settlement, and judging from the thickness and density of the smoke, the number of people is not too much, this is an excellent opportunity.

After a short break, a cuckoo call could be heard in the jungle not far away, but it was a little high-pitched and there was a long pause.

It was the former investigators who were looking for traces of this side, and the soldiers learned a few other bird calls, and the "cuckoo" on the opposite side stopped, and soon a few black-clad guards came to the stream.

"There is indeed a settlement of Dongyi people, which is not big, only two or three hundred people."

Ji Bai judged for a moment, nodded and said, "Then let's start here." ”

The order was given, the soldiers got up and arranged their weapons, the archers felt the silk thread and bent the longbow, and the captain checked to make sure that the team was ready to fight, and walked up the stream under the leadership of the black-clothed guards.

The terrain here is very flat, not like the mountainous area of the Grass River, and the leaves on the ground are thick and covered with thick moss, and felt boots creak when walking on them.

The half-grown children of the military class took out their flutes and waved the black and white bears of Xia Cheng and the banners of the "dragons" shaped like a great river representing the various tribes of the great river, this time with great fanfare.

Crossing the jungle, Ji Bai and Mo crawled into a jungle and observed the Dongyi village in the distance, with a hint of curiosity in their eyes.

This was the first time they had seen the villages of Dongyi, and the first impression they had was that they were different from the Great River Tribes.

They also planted millet, hemp, vegetables and gourds, and they were divided into men and women, and they were also singing and working.

It's just that they don't have the same bun as the Great River Tribes, and their house is like a semi-circular bowl buckled to the ground, round and without edges.

The guide said that this kind of house is called a dome, similar to a stretched bow, and the word Yi originally means a person who is good at shooting, and it is reflected everywhere here.

This kind of house also symbolizes the belief and primitive worldview of Dongyi: the sky is buckled to the ground like a big bowl.

Near the village grow some strange plants that look like they are in sections and have long and slender leaves. Many of the houses have many poles of this plant stacked nearby, which are very straight and look very elastic, and it is not known whether they grew naturally or were transplanted from warmer places.

Many people are working on the land outside the village, using stone tools, and the way of cultivation is more advanced than scattering seeds in the sky.

The village was peaceful, and the barking of dogs and a strange oooh bark could be heard in the distance, and the people of Xiacheng knew the barking of dogs, but they could not guess what that high-pitched and seemingly joyful oow sound was.

Not far from the creek was a pile of rubble, where several women were pestling something with wood.

Although it is far away, this kind of very living thing is very familiar to the people of Xiacheng, and a few people who have only heard of the Dongyi people but have never seen them smiled: "That's poppy rice." Except for the house and the bun, the Dongyi people are no different from us. ”

The woman sang some soft songs, which she couldn't hear or understand, but she could hear some grievances. After all, they are all human beings, and after all, they all have joys, sorrows, and sorrows, so I can hear from this song that these women seem to be missing their own men.

This should have been a very tender moment, but the people of Xiacheng who heard those tunes were a little annoyed.

If it is a thought, it must not be at home. But where are you when you're not at home? Maybe it's in the army of the dome. And the army of the Dome is wreaking havoc in the lands of the Great Rivers.

Windy City is actually far away from Yucheng, but these people understand that those who speak the same language and wear the same bun as themselves after the city is broken will be captured as slaves. And many of them have been slaves, so naturally there is hatred.

The Great River Tribes may have been a vague and distant concept for these people, but after seeing those strange houses and hearing those strange sounds, this vague concept became clear.

Because they are different, the concept of ethnicity is not a completely fictitious and vague thing. People who have not seen the outside world will not understand this concept.

Although even now the concept is still vague and half-understood, at least there is a little thought: they are very similar to us, but they are different. (To be continued.) )