Spring goes to autumn, and gradually enters winter.

The field was yellow.

The dead leaves of the trees have fallen, and many of them are bare and desolate.

Occasionally, a few sparrows chirped noisily in the sky.

Other than that, there wasn't much movement.

On the tenth day of the hunting and plundering group, the high mood of the crowd was already low.

Whoever is blown by the cold wind in the wild for days is not happy.

Surviving in the wild is far more troublesome than they initially thought.

There is no shortage of wilderness survival training, but by this time it is already winter, there are no berries, and wild beasts are rare.

The land is desolate, and it's not easy to find some food.

"Eat steamed cakes or voles, choose one of the two, everyone chooses for themselves."

In a wasteland, the people picked up some dead branches and leaves, and a fire was kindled.

The fire was grilled with the recently painstaking catch, six voles.

Everyone looked at the vole, and the struggle in their eyes was extremely obvious.

The steamed cake was a dry food brought from the Bingzhou Military Region, and it was as hard as a stone at this time.

But it's normal food.

But voles are warm, and their stomachs are very reluctant to make requests for hot food, but their brains have a natural resistance to voles as food.

At this point, only the choice of the mouth remains.

Whether to chew a vole with your eyes closed, or choose to nibble steamed cakes.

Not everyone has Li Hongru's dogtooth, easily biting the steamed cake that is as hard as a stone.

"I choose voles."

"Steamed cakes."

"Voles."

……

Dry food is used for emergency use, and can be stored for as long as it can, and when there is a choice, steamed cakes are generally kept for storage.

Everyone made their own choices with contradictory faces, either eating voles or nibbling on steamed cakes.

"Not to mention finding the whereabouts of the plundering group, we need to find some good food."

Ouyang Hongtao, the senior brother of the Nanyang Martial Arts Hall, opened his mouth, he is good at heavy soldiers, his strength is up to a thousand jun, and his body needs the most.

A vole was chewed by him again and again, and Ouyang Hongtao felt that he was still very hungry.

If he starves like this for a few more days, he will probably not be able to use even the mace in his hand.

"The plundering group must have a lot of food," Zhu Junyi said, "As long as we kill them, we can eat their food." ”

"The question is where are they?"

rushed again and again, and arrived at the information location prompted by Xu Maogong.

I searched for a plundering group for almost a week, but at this time I found nothing.

The crowd went straight from high morale to the point of demoralization.

If you can't find the plundering group in the future, wait for the steamed cakes to be exhausted, and everyone may have to eat the soil.

No matter how sensitive Song Yuanlong's sense of smell was, it was impossible to find enough food in the wild for nine people to eat.

"Uncle said that if we can't afford to eat outside, we can go to this area."

Qin Huairen took out a drawing.

This is a sketch of the state topographies, and in addition to indicating where the marauding regiments may appear, there are also some places where they can be helped.

At this point, he took the place where he got the food.

This is a habitat for wild cranes.

Most birds fly south in autumn and winter, but there are some surprises.

If the area is warm enough and there is some food to survive the winter, some groups will choose to stay.

The drawings show a lake, and because of the hot water from the underfloor heating, the lake area is obviously mild in winter.

There are small fish and shrimp in the lake, which is enough for wild cranes to survive.

"It's much better to eat birds than voles," Pei Nie said.

He chewed off the vole's tail with a disgusted expression, and his eyes gradually turned green, like a hungry wolf who had not devoured food for a long time.

"Wild cranes lay eggs, and we can go and eat them."

"Wonderful!"

"Only when we are well fed can we have the strength to work."

Compared to looking for the plundering group, everyone had slowly changed their minds at this time.

Li Hongru munched on the steamed cakes sullenly, and the steamed cakes that were as hard as stones were directly bitten into slag by him.

On the side, Li Wuji was boredly holding a grass stalk.

He is not as delicate as a young man, let alone gnawing voles, even eating toads, centipedes, poisonous snakes, etc.

After many years of experience in the rivers and lakes, he has become accustomed to these daily routines.

Of course, if you have a good life and still come to suffer, that's another story.

Since Chang'an came to Bingzhou, his life has not been so smooth.

"Brothers, let's go!"

Qin Huairen stepped on the horse and ran ahead, and Li Wuji acted as the tail of the crane.

In front of him, it was Li Hongru who was holding his thighs with an unhappy face.

Li Hongru didn't care much about food and could endure loneliness, but after ten days of riding a horse in a row, the fragility of the literati was suddenly manifested.

Of course, Li Hongru was a very strong literati.

Ordinary literati follow this pile of stunned young people for three days, and they are almost wasted.

"When we get to that Wild Crane Lake, we will definitely be able to rest and recuperate, and you won't be so uncomfortable," Li Wuji communicated.

"You're right!"

Li Hongru felt that it was necessary to fight for the happiness of men, and there were no protective tools on the inner thighs and the front end, which was the rhythm of grinding the lower body.

That's how the men sat on their horses, and rubbed against each other.

This kind of pain is like a woman who once wrapped her little feet and used the deformation of her body to complete this price.

There are many cases such as those who are good at riding and becoming lap legs, but they are only covered by clothes, and it is generally difficult to see the truth.

Of course, poking the mount is another story.

For ordinary warriors, the strength of the body is a little more fragile than that of mounts.

Following the penultimate in the team, Li Hongru continued to adjust his meridians to make himself more comfortable when running with his mount.

At this time, he still has the distracting thoughts of 'he is strong by him, and the breeze blows on the hills', so that his body is always adapting.

As evening approached, the sky was getting more and more gloomy.

But the crowd finally arrived at the land of a lake.

Like a pale blue pearl, the pale and desolate earth has a touch of life.

The trees by the lake still have some yellow and white leaves, and the grass has a half-green color.

The sound of cranes chirping was heard, which made everyone happy to find their way.

I searched four or five times in a row, and this time I finally found the right place.

"Finally normal meat to eat!"

A group of warriors burst into tears.

After eating voles for several days in a row, many martial arts practitioners felt that their mouths were so weak that they didn't want to speak, and there was a kind of energyless aura all over their bodies.

No matter how much you train in Chang'an and Bingzhou, and how you participate in all kinds of important cases, at least you can eat well and have a place to rest.

Now I can't eat well, I can't dress well, and I can't sleep well.

Everyone endured the biggest test since the martial arts training.

But if he returns to the state in such a gray way, everyone's faces can't be hung up.

In the end, we had to make temporary adjustments to bring everyone's energy back to normal.

"This is obviously a high-risk area for the plundering group, why are they so difficult to find, is it that we are so unlucky."

Stepping into the lake area, the crowd rode slowly.

Qin Huairen also asked Li Hongru some words at this time.

"The plundering group is not easy to find" Li Hongru replied weakly: "Before you, there were many people looking for the plundering group, but the Jianghu Division has never had information about victory and triumph. ”

"If the plundering regiment was easy to find, the Metropolitan Governor would have led the army to quell the scourge a long time ago!"

Li Wuji added, which made Qin Huairen nod again and again, and finally accepted the situation.

Li Hongru rolled his eyes slightly.

Xu Maogong's drawings are low-risk areas of the Bingzhou Plunder Regiment, and there have been almost no looting incidents.

There are only a few dilapidated towns in this area, and it is difficult to have much value for robbery.

The chances of them encountering a marauder are almost nil.

Qin Huairen and the others wanted to meet with the plundering group.

At this time, Qin Huairen was convinced, and Li Hongru observed this land of lakes.

As hot water gushed out from some areas of the underground, clouds of mist floated on the surface of the lake, and occasionally several columns of mist rose up, like dragons coming out of the water.

The temperature in the state is extremely low during this season, and the nights can drop below freezing.

But with the replenishment and transpiration of geothermal water, there is a hint of warmth coming from the lake.

Looks like we'll be able to have a good night's sleep tonight.

Everyone moved forward, Pei Nie was exploring the way ahead, and Zhu Junyi took a bow and kept listening to the place where the crane chirping came.

After traveling nearly a kilometer, the bowstring in his hand loosened, and the arrow suddenly cut through the mist.

A loud crane chirping in the distance suddenly stopped.

"If you come from afar, if you are hungry, take some eggs from my cranes, don't kill my cranes again!"

Zhu Junyi had just jumped off his horse and wanted to pick up the wild crane, so he also took his arrow back.

I saw that the mist in front of me had dispersed, and a Taoist carrying a wild crane with gray feathers came on foot from a distance.

The crane's skull has been pierced by a sharp arrow.

This is a one-hit killing archery, and you can't save it even if you want to.

"You said that these cranes are yours, but you are the master of this place?" Qin Huairen wondered.

He looked at the Taoist in front of him, the other party was quite old, his hair was already gray, but his face was ruddy, and he looked like a childish crane.

The other party was wearing a white robe, a simple bun on his head, a crane feather whisk in his hand, and a pair of straw sandals on the soles of his feet.

This is probably an ascetic Taoist.

The Tang Dynasty measured the country, most of which were taken from the population settlements, and there were many places with good land.

And the wilderness and other places are beyond their reach.

These places belong to who develops and who uses.

The map shows the location of Wild Crane Lake, where it can be replenished, but it does not mention that it is occupied.

"Yes, I've lived here for nearly twenty years, barely half of the master."

Taoists are quite talkative.

As long as there are eggs to eat, no one wants to kill more.

"I pick up eggs every day, and I have hundreds of them stored at home, so if you don't mind, you can go to my place and get some eggs!"

The contradiction was resolved, and the Taoist suddenly became happy.

Everyone thanked each other.

There are ready-made eggs, which are far more real than they go in the dark to find a bird's nest.

At this time, everyone's bodies were already exhausted.

Immediately kept up with the pace of the Taoist.

"I don't know if the Taoist chief is your surname, where is the teacher?" Qin Huairen inquired.

"Xiaodao hugs Puzi, just a wild wanderer, who once apprenticed to Zhenwu Palace, but people don't look down on me."

The Taoist smiled bitterly and introduced himself.

Zhenwu Palace is a Taoist holy land, and the difficulty of entering the holy land is not much different from entering Taixue.

Those who learned the Tao went one after another, and many people also came back with disgraced faces.

If you can't screen it, it's like hugging Puzi, and it's possible to find a place to clean up and repair when you're disheartened.

Everyone followed the Taoist, and after walking a thousand steps, they suddenly saw a wooden house.

The chalet is not too big, but the location is excellent.

There are many green trees nearby, and it seems to be located in the middle of the lake.

It's a very warm place, and dozens of gray-haired cranes are crawling outside the fence walls of the wooden houses.

"Everyone, please, if it's a baked egg, just burn some firewood, and if it's eaten raw, just break it and drink it."

The Taoist hugged Puzi and opened the fence door, and raised his hand to invite everyone in.

Qin Huairen nodded, and immediately stepped in, followed by everyone.

Li Hongru stepped in, and compared to the clear air outside, there was a trace of foul smell in this courtyard.

He wrinkled his nose slightly, and saw that Song Yuanlong, who had the most sensitive nose, couldn't help it, and there was a retching sound in his throat.

"Picking up eggs all year round, many times, these cranes often come to me to lay eggs, the taste is indeed a bit heavy," Taoist Hug Puzi explained: "Get used to the taste and it's fine." ”

"Let's take some eggs and bake them outside."

Qin Huairen also couldn't bear the smell and said a word.

"There are eggs on the other side of the firewood room, you can take them at will."

The Taoist's opening made the crowd rejoice.

He pointed to a small room with firewood, and in that room there were several large wooden boxes, all of which were four or five centimeters long.

Li Hongru saw the bird's egg, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He sniffed the stench, his forehead squirming slightly.

In an instant, the scene in front of me changed to a different look.

The wooden house has been turned into a giant bird's nest.

Underneath the nest, the corpses of some snakes hung out, emitting bursts of fishy stench.

Even the trees around it were made up of huge snake corpses that had been erected one by one.

Underneath the bird's nest, there is no shortage of various bones.

As a gust of wind blew, several withered skulls tumbled in the wind.

When Li Hongru converged his heavenly eyes, he saw a few messy thatches on the ground blown by the wind, rolled several times, and lay on the ground again.

A chill suddenly welled up in his heart.