After Xu Ruyu and Mei Yingxue separated, they followed the stream in the direction of Fuzhou.

The stream was turbulent, the tide was turbulent, the stream kept overflowing the embankment, pouring into the slope forests on both sides, mixed with the corpses of dead branches and rotting leaves, insects and beasts, pouring back, the stream became muddy, like a sudden flash flood. Yunxi was sandwiched between the valleys of two mountains and two peaks, and the families who used to live by the stream moved to other places because of the slave hunting team, so as not to be harmed.

The night is falling, and the insects in the forest are chirping. Xu Ruyu put aside the pursuing slave hunting team, and when he walked out of Wuling Mountain, it was already the third midnight.

There is an abandoned ferry port in Yunxi out of Wuling Mountain, the bluestone steps under the ancient banyan tree stretch straight into the water, and the head of the rotten canoe is high on the bluestone platform, leaving a black shadow with blurred edges on the silver-plated flowing water. There is a town market at the other end of the ferry, but now it has become a fox grave and rabbit hole, the original residents have long left their hometowns, and the houses left behind are very dilapidated.

The Qingjiang cavalry camp returned to the Lishui River valley and drew up several routes, one of which was to pass through this town called Yunwu. Xu Ruyu planned to wait here for a while, and if he couldn't join up with Yu Yan and Ziyang Yalan, he would return to the Lishui River Valley alone.

Xu Ruyu brought a bundle of thatch and spread it on the ground, and looked at the scarred roof with pillows in his hands, unable to sleep for a long time. The men and horses who infiltrated Wuling Mountain on Puji Island could drive into Fuzhou and attack Yueqing from behind as long as they were rectified. Now there are more than 10,000 people in Fuzhou, and Gongliang Youqin has no time to take care of these villages guarding the dangerous place when he first enters Fuzhou, but as long as the Puji bandits capture the Wubao group between Yueqing and Jinhua and resume the land transportation between Fuzhou and Wenling, the Puji bandits will have the spare strength to clear the dissident forces in Fuzhou, and the villages in Fuzhou will face the disaster of overturning the nest.

How long did it take to capture the dock fort group between Jinhua and Yueqing? When the Great Dong River and Yunxi enter the mid-autumn time, the water volume plummets, which is not conducive to navigation, and if the land passage between Fuzhou and Wenling has not been opened by then, then the Puji bandits who enter the territory of Fuzhou will be cut off from food and grass. Xu Ruyu thought to himself: Four months, within four months, the Qingyan Army must enter Fuzhou to fight, otherwise the displaced people in Fuzhou will face annihilation.

Thinking of this, Xu Ruyu couldn't help but have a headache. Rong Yanmen suddenly appeared, giving him a bad premonition. Shaozhai, Jizhai, and Yunqiaozhai are afraid that they are no longer in the hands of Xiangfanhui. Losing access to Fuzhou, even if a force is sent into Fuzhou, it will be a lone battle. After the abnormality appeared in the eastern mountain of Wuling, Xu Ruyu strengthened the defense of Shengyun Village, in addition to stationing 500 soldiers of the first forward of the light armor infantry battalion, the Baiyi clan also stationed 600 soldiers near the left, Xu Ruyu was not afraid of what would go wrong in Shengyun Village.

Rong Yanmen has a lot of influence on the Qingjiang bandits, and he should do something to them when he goes back this time, and he can't let them drag himself at a critical moment.

Xu Ruyu expelled the chaotic thoughts from his mind and let his mind enter the realm of thoughtlessness. Wake up and open your eyes to a gorgeous morning light.

There were people approaching in the distance, although they were cautious, but Xu Ruyu's keen senses still caught their movements in the bottom of their hearts.

"Huzi, if you are unfortunate enough to encounter a thief, it is not that I am ruthless, you must kill yourself by chewing your tongue, and don't catch them alive." A deliberately low voice could not escape the fear that penetrated deep into the bone marrow. Xu Ruyu secretly thought: Even if you encounter the Puji bandits, your first reaction should be to run for your life, how can you escape without the slightest struggle.

"Got it, Daddy, you've said this five or six times along the way, and you said it four times yesterday." The slightly childish voice revealed a hint of impatience.

"Daddy is afraid that you won't be able to attract the punishment of the thief if you are captured, and tell the hiding place of the fleeing villagers, which is hundreds of lives."

There are hundreds of fleeing villagers hiding in this vicinity, could it be that the Puji bandits have made a move against the people in Fuzhou? The nearest village is on Ma'anshan, more than 20 miles away on the east bank of Yunxi, and Ma'anzhai accommodates more than 4,000 displaced people, with more than 600 villagers. At the beginning of April, Xu Ruyu presented a batch of fine ordnance to Ma'anzhai to strengthen the defense of the cottage. Although Ma'anshan is small, but the terrain is complex, even if 2,000 elite soldiers are dispatched, they may not be able to attack Ma'anzhai, Gongliang Youqin should not be unable to hold his breath at this time.

Yes... Xu Ruyu suddenly saved these villagers from fleeing from Taishan, and the four villages in Taishan finally came out of Louzi.

Xu Ruyu turned over and sat up, crossed the door through the window, and sneaked behind the father and son in an instant.

The father and son were barefoot and wore short-sleeved gowns, which were torn in several places, their skin was dark, and there were several blood scars on their bodies. The father's cheekbones were raised high, and his thick hands grasped two freshly made fish baskets made of green bamboo strips, but the son's eyes were shining, and he was agile to observe whether there was anything abnormal around.

Xu Ruyu thought that they might have gone to Yunxi to fish to feed the refugees, so he walked behind them to the edge of Yunxi. Yunxi is still muddy, how can there be any trace of fish and shrimp. The father and son stood in the shallow water of Yunxi, looking at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Daddy, why is this stream so muddy, I can't even touch the shadow of the fish, it seems that Uncle Eleven can't get any better, I hope Xiaodong and they can have a harvest."

"Alas, although there are a lot of wild fruits in the mountains now, it is possible to meet the slave hunting team at any time, only six of the ten groups of people who went up the mountain yesterday returned, forget it, let's go and call them in Mingshan, Yunxi can't catch fish today, see if there is any other way to think." Having said this, my father stared blankly at the murky stream.

Xu Ruyu felt that a group of people were walking downstream along the stream in the upper reaches of Yunxi, so he stood up from behind the tree and crossed in front of the two of them. The father and son were taken aback and sat down in the stream.

Xu Ruyu saw that the two of them stuck out their tongues and wanted to bite, so they hurriedly restrained the father and son. The father stared at Xu Ruyu with grief and indignation, and the muscles on his face were distorted. The son's face was ecstatic and difficult to control, but he was restrained by Xu Ruyu and couldn't speak.

Xu Ruyu chuckled: "Do you recognize me?" Seeing that he tried his best to press his head down, he wanted to answer, stretched out his hand to untie his prohibition, and said, "It's good that you recognize me, but you are from Jizhai?" ”

"I've met you with Xiaodong, we are from Jizhai, General Qingfeng, you let my father go."

Xu Ruyu saw that his father's face softened, stretched out his hand to untie his prohibition, and said, "I just heard from you in the back that you were going to bite your tongue and kill yourself when you encountered the enemy, so I took action to restrain you." I'm Xu Ruyu, let's go to the town, and you tell me what happened in Jizhai. ”

Xu Ruyu led them back to the house where they rested at night, and asked his father to tell him what had happened.

"My name is Luo Gang, and this is my son Luo Xiaohu. Four days ago, when the sky was just dawning, we were still asleep, and suddenly we heard someone shouting that the village was going to water, and we saw that there were fires everywhere in the village, and they all said that a group of people broke into the village from the north cliff and set fire to kill people everywhere, and then the front cottage door was broken, and countless thieves broke in to kill people, and the village was already in chaos, and the soldiers who protected the village could not resist at all, and the sky was not yet bright, so we were all arrested. I heard that the people who guarded the village were disemboweled. I thought that they would not kill the ordinary villagers, so they escorted them to this side, and no one dared to escape along the way, but later they joined the people who were arrested in Shaozhai and came out of Taishan, there were about three or four thousand people, and everyone tied ropes together. Unexpectedly, it didn't take half a day to get off the mountain, and when we walked to the Huangnipo, the thieves who escorted us started to kill us from behind. Fortunately, Gu Mingshan from Shaozhai was the first to break free from the rope and snatched a thief's knife to untie the rope for us. When the thieves came to kill him, the bound men used their bodies to block knives and guns for him. The one who untied the rope gave it to the others, and it was not until everyone untied the rope that they scattered and fled for their lives, but more than 2,000 people died in less than an hour, woo... Woo...... "Luo Gang squatted there and cried bitterly.

Xu Ruyu's mood was extremely heavy, and the Puji bandits did not want to divide their forces to guard the prisoners, and even civilians without destructive power had to be wantonly slaughtered. Xu Ruyu angrily plunged his knife into the hard ground, turned around and was silent. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse: "How many people have you gathered now?" ”

"About 500 people, all of them are staying in Huangnipo now. Gu Mingshan said that only the thieves there would not go to search again. ”

Xu Ruyu thought to himself: In the end, it may be that only these 500 people can escape the massacre of the Puji bandits, and he felt a pain in his heart, and said in a low voice: "Lead me over, there will not be much time to hide there, and the Puji bandits will recollect it after a while." ”

Luo Gang was shocked, and now he realized that it was the men and horses of Puji Island who attacked Jizhai and Shaozhai, and listening to Xu Ruyu's tone, the chances of those displaced people who had escaped to Wuling Mountain and Fuzhou were extremely slim.

Luo Gang's father and son led Xu Ruyu to the place where everyone was hiding, and it was there that two days ago, 500 Puji bandits slaughtered 2,000 unarmed people.

The weather was hot, and there was a strong smell of corpses coming from a long distance. Gu Mingshan did not organize the burial of the corpses, just hoping that the strong smell of corpses would drive away the slave hunters who were searching.

Xu Ruyu knew that if he didn't evacuate from here, there was a possibility of a plague outbreak at any time.

Gu Mingshan was a thin middle-aged man, with bright eyes, a withered face firm and calm, and a strong sadness in his eyes when he saw Xu Ruyu. Xu Ruyu once met with him, he was Shao Zhai Shao Jintang, Shao Xingkong's teacher, when Xu Ruyu first arrived in Xuancheng, Gu Mingshan suggested that Shao Jintang join the Qingyan Army, and later Shao Jintang joined the Xiangfan Society, Gu Mingshan did not serve in the Xiangfan Army, and lived in Shaozhai.

Gu Mingshan knelt and wept: "Shaozhai is the key to Fuzhou and Lishui, and the soldiers are fighting for it, Jintang does not listen to the general's advice, leaving only 300 old and weak soldiers, who were attacked by 800 thieves and broken, and pity the 2,000 villagers, which should be a disaster." ”

"What's the use of talking about that now? Now you send two people to Yunwu Town to sneak around, the Qingjiang cavalry camp may pass there at night, and if they help, you can also find some people from the mountains to come back. The others should be moved here immediately, and two people should be left here, so that after we are gone for two days, they will be responsible for burning the corpses, so as not to breed the plague. ”

"I'll stay and burn the corpse, one person is enough." Luo Gang said.

"If you have any wishes, as long as I can do it, I will definitely fulfill it for you." Xu Ruyu looked at Luo Gang's resolute face, he obviously understood that he would leave the corpse to burn and die for a lifetime.

"I'm just a little worried about Xiaohu, but I don't have any other wishes." Luo Gang gently rubbed Luo Xiaohu's face and wiped away the tears that had slipped down him.

"Xiaohu will follow me in the future, after you burn the corpse, remember to walk in the direction of Saddle Village, and avoid the enemy's surname."

Puji Island will never allow the news of their massacre of civilians to leak out, otherwise every time they attack a Fuzhou village in the future, it will be a difficult and cruel battle. Prisoners of the islanders and massacres provoke varying degrees of confrontation, as everyone knows. This area is likely to be crowded with a large number of Puji bandits, searching for the villagers who escaped in the Huangnipo massacre.

Xu Ru's mind suddenly moved, and he didn't have time to greet Gu Mingshan, took out his long knife, and swept towards the pile of corpses.

A person stands alone on a boulder, and the white clothes are better than the snow. Xu Ruyu put the knife back into the sheath and slowly walked to her side. There were more than 2,000 corpses lying under the stones, most of them with their hands tied behind them with rope scissors, and the horror on their faces that began to decompose was still so obvious. The corpse fluid flowed everywhere, and the stench filled the mountain floor.

"How many days?" Mei Yingxue asked.

"The day before yesterday. Do you already know about Puji's attack on the four villages of Taishan? ”

Mei Yingxue nodded, covering her face with both hands, tears welling up in her eyes, still staring at the more than 2,000 corpses. Xu Ruyu blocked in front of her, sighed, and said: "There are still 130,000 displaced people in Fuzhou, Gongliang Youqin captured Yueqing in one fell swoop, and their situation is better, and they may be recruited by Gongliang Youqin." If the Puji army and the Yuejun family fought in Yueqing, the Fuzhou village would be regarded as an unstable factor by Gongliang Youqin, and the massacre would be inevitable at that time. ”

"You can't help it?"

Xu Ruyu shook his head painfully and said: "Shaozhai and Jizhai are the key points of Fuzhou and Lishui, and the terrain of the cottage is extremely dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. In the case of a frontal assault, four or five times as many troops are needed, not counting casualties. Among the two villages, there are no less than 1,000 Puji elites, who has the strength to attack the two villages in Qingjiang? ”

"Is it possible to bypass Taishan?"

"Bypassing Taishan, it is necessary for the Qingyan Army to cross the forces of Xiangfan Hui and clear the Liukou in Qingjiang and Chongyi, if so, it is better to wait until winter, attack the village with fire, and open up the passage for the Qingyan Army to enter Fuzhou, but can the people in Fuzhou last so long? With the ability of Gongliang Youqin and Rong Yanmen, how can they not guard against my fire attack. ”

Mei Yingxue knew that Xu Ruyu had already carefully conceived various plans, her face was pale, without a trace of blood, and she asked dejectedly: "So you can only watch the people of Fuzhou sit and wait to die?" ”

"Not necessarily, the times are changing, although it is extremely unfavorable now, maybe when there will be favorable variables, I will send people into Fuzhou to wait for the situation. The key now is to move the more than 500 civilians here to safety. ”

Mei Yingxue said that she was separated from Xu Ruyu before, and saw that the weather in the mountains was gradually getting better, and she was interested in playing in the mountains. Yesterday, when I crossed Wulong Creek, I saw the corpses of more than a dozen civilians, so I went all the way to Huangnipo. Puji also massacred civilians when he attacked Donghai County, but Mei Yingxue was trapped in Yongyang City and did not see the cruel scene of the massacre.

Two thousand corpses with their hands tied behind her lay in front of her eyes, her heart was in turmoil, and her mind was lost, so that Xu Ruyu was aware of her location.

Mei Yingxue and Luo Xiaohu waited in Yunwuhuang Town in the evening of the same day to wait for the Qingjiang cavalry camp passing by here and the Yi hundred-person team led by Ziyang Yalan. When a group of soldiers from the Qingjiang Cavalry Battalion infiltrated Yunwu Desert Town, Mei Yingxue, who was a first-class cultivator, felt great pressure, and knew that if he faced such a team, the most appropriate way was to flee.

Mei Yingxue had always been standing beside Xu Ruyu in white men's clothes when she was in Yongyang, and when Wei Yan saw that she brought Xu Ruyu's warrant, he ordered the elites lurking around to lift their guard, and let Mei Yingxue and Luo Xiaohu lead the way to meet Xu Ruyu.

Wei Yan did not have a military position, but Qingliu, Fenglin and others voluntarily obeyed his leadership, and Ziyang Yalan had no objections.

Along the way, Mei Yingxue's qi only noticed that forty or fifty people were faintly following around the left, and the other one hundred and seventy or eighty people had been lurking in the shadows. It wasn't until they joined Xu Ruyu that they appeared in turn to greet Xu Ruyu, and then sneaked into the shadows, leaving only two groups of people to escort 500 civilians to the north.

Xu Ruyu organized the Yiren 100-man team into the Qingjiang cavalry camp, "Yalan, the road to Taishan in the west and Wuling in the south has been blocked by Puji bandits, and we can only march north. Now I will temporarily integrate the 100-man team you led into the Qingjiang cavalry camp, do you have any opinions? ”

"When Yalan led the troops, the leader of Ziyang once instructed Yalan to listen to General Qingfeng's dispatch in everything." Ziyang Yalan's voice was crisp and bright, and her delicate face under the soft helmet had a manly perseverance.

Xu Ruyu's face has been gloomy recently, and now he showed a rare smile, and said: "Wei Yan temporarily leads the commander of the Qingjiang Cavalry Battalion, and Ziyang Yalan leads the deputy commander of the Qingjiang Cavalry Battalion, I hope you will work together." After that, his expression was solemn, he looked at the five hundred civilians crowded behind him, and said without worry: "The eight-hundred-man slave hunting team composed of a thousand-person team of Puji bandits and the Fuzhou Liukou is forty miles behind us, in addition, Fuzhou Jiuzhai can also integrate two to three thousand-person teams to threaten our flanks, and the Liukou in Chongyi may also join forces to intercept us in Fuzhou, and the situation is not optimistic." ”

It is not difficult to defeat any of these thousand-strong troops with the combat power of the Qingjiang cavalry battalion and then escape from it, but due to the existence of 500 civilians, the Qingjiang cavalry battalion is not only difficult to smoothly hide and hide, but the tactics that can be used are also severely restricted, and the slightest surprise will cause irreparable heavy damage. No wonder recently, Xu Ruyu frowned deeply.

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