In the dense camphor forest, the foliage is flourishing, the climate is humid, and a thin mist hangs over the treetops.

After dozens of soldiers from Daming surveyed the surroundings and confirmed that there was no danger, they rested in place.

Zhu Gaoxian sat next to the black horse, tore the hard buckwheat cake into small pieces and swallowed it, eating it with relish. The Shadow Servant stood beside him, his hand on the hilt of the knife at his waist, and his eyes closed.

To be honest, this coarse military ration doesn't taste delicious, but if you can have a bite to eat on the battlefield, you should be content.

He is now a recruit in the pioneer battalion of the Southern Ming Expeditionary Army, and he took the commander Lu Chaoyang to the front line of the battlefield to explore the enemy's situation.

Not long ago, he was still the pampered Prince Qi in Jinling City, but now he has to endure the harassment of insects and ants, and move forward cautiously step by step in the deep mountains and old forests.

In fact, Zhu Gaoxian doesn't have to be like this, the old man is letting him follow the army and not letting him be a big soldier, it is not difficult to quell the Jiaozhi rebellion with Zhang Fu's ability, Zhu Gaoxian only needs to rest in the handsome camp and mix military skills.

But if that's the case, Zhu Gaoxian's visit to Jiaozhi this time will be in vain.

The real purpose of Zhu Gaoxian's trip is to gradually take over the military power in the southwest from Zhang Fu's hands, and an airborne waste prince cannot convince the generals.

……

"Master Lu, you said that this eldest young master has a nourishing life in the capital, but he has traveled thousands of miles to the southwest to play with us, I'm afraid he is not a fool, right?" On the other side, someone looked at Zhu Gaoxian and said in wonder, "I've really seen you for a long time, and it's the first time I've seen a servant on the battlefield." ”

Lu Chaoyang took a sip of the water in the pigskin bag and said, "You don't care what others do, just take care of yourself." ”

To be honest, Lu Chaoyang is not optimistic about Zhu Gaoxian, who is known as "Zhu Shilang".

Too young.

Although age is not a criterion for judging a person, this kid really doesn't look like a murderer.

Noticing that there were eyes staring at him, Zhu Gaoxian smiled shyly at his comrades, harmless to humans and animals.

"Look at this kid, stupid." The little flag officer sitting next to Lu Chaoyang shook his head.

……

Under the shy smile, Zhu Gaoxian thought to himself: Damn, I've been acting in the capital for too long, and now I laugh like a fool when I see someone.

Zhu Gaoxian is most afraid of trouble, he packages a delicate shell for himself, so that people feel that Zhu Gaoxian is a harmless good person when they see him.

This did save Zhu Gaoxian a lot of trouble, but the disadvantage is that after acting for a long time, some of them are too deep in the play and can't change it back.

Zhu Gaoxian casually ripped off the grass roots and put them in his mouth, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, thinking that he would bury them here in the future, and try to be clean.

Feeling that someone was poking him, Zhu Gaoxian looked at the shadow servant Ah Qi suspiciously: "What's wrong?" ”

Ah Qi did not speak, but pointed to the weeds under the camphor tree on the side.

Zhu Gaoxian walked over, picked up the weeds, and found that on the mud under the blades of grass, there were half footprints left.

His complexion changed slightly, and he beckoned to Si Lu Chaoyang: "My lord! There is a discovery! ”

Everyone came over when they heard the sound, and someone laughed and said: "Recruit, look at this half of the footprints that scared you, this should be left by our army scouts, what are you panicking about?" ”

But Lu Chaoyang's face was solemn after seeing this half of the footprints, he bent down to study it carefully, and even twisted the remaining dry grass roots on the footprints and put them in his mouth to taste them.

"You're not even a recruit!" Lu Chaoyang glared at the person who spoke just now, "I'm a little puzzled now, how did a fool like you survive on the battlefield!" ”

The man was scolded a little: "What do you mean by this, my lord?" ”

Lu Chaoyang pointed to the half of the footprints under the weeds and said: "The remaining grass roots on this half of the footprints have a slight blackening mark of skin friction, only Chen Jun's people would wear such straw sandals woven with local vegetation, these are the footprints left by the enemy!" ”

The man was stunned: "No......"

"No!" Lu Chaoyang said keenly, "The climate of Jiaozhi is humid, and traces like this will disappear in no more than a day, and the outline of this half of the footprints is obvious, it should not be more than three hours, go and find them, they should not be far from us!" ”

"But if it's really the traces left by the enemy, isn't it killing ourselves to go to them?"

Lu Chaoyang glanced at him: "The enemy army of more than 100 people will not clean the traces so meticulously, because it will greatly slow down the march." I speculate that the footprints left behind should most likely be left by enemy scouts, Chen Jun's scouts are usually two to five people, if we can't take down three or four of them, then they still have a face to live? ”

I have to say that the combat experience of this general is at a top-notch level, and he can infer the enemy's situation from only half a footprint. But this also made Zhu Gaoxian a little strange, the pioneer battalion is the fastest place to be promoted, after all, the people in the pioneer battalion are all taking their lives to make meritorious contributions, and a capable and courageous veteran like Lu Chaoyang should not be just a general, at least he must be a garrison general.

But Zhu Gaoxian didn't think about it that much, this is not something he should worry about.

……

In the silence of the woods, only the soft chirping of insects called, and two scouts in straw sandals were cautiously moving forward.

Suddenly, the bolts of the crossbow shot out from the hidden foliage and landed on the thigh of a scout.

The other scout saw his companion hit by an arrow, and without even thinking about it, he ran away.

The role of the scout on the battlefield is to probe the military situation, and his companion is shot in the thigh, which is no different from death, because there must be no escape.

And now he is running away and conveying the information back to bring more companions a way to live.

It is better for one person to die than ten thousand.

However, the scout, who tried to escape, suddenly stopped, fell to his knees, and said loudly in the local dialect: "I surrender!" ”

In the surrounding woods, dozens of Ming soldiers walked out.

"Take these two down and see if you can ask for anything." Lu Chaoyang said calmly.

"No!"

Zhu Gaoxian stretched his waist and gave a thumbs up to the shadow servant Ah Qi.

If it weren't for Ah Qi's keen discovery of those footprints, it would have been difficult for them to track down the traces of the enemy scouts.

Ah Qi's face was as calm as water, as if everything had nothing to do with him.

As a shadow servant, Ah Qi is the top hunter, he is proficient in various killing techniques, as well as tracking, anti-tracking, camouflage and other skills, throwing him on the battlefield to die, it is really a bit overkill.

After a while, the person in charge of the interrogation came over and said to Lu Chaoyang: "My lord, I have asked all the questions, and before I even get the sentence, the person has said everything in one go." ”

Lu Chaoyang bowed slightly, and asked, "What did you ask?" ”

He wasn't surprised, soft bones like the scout he had just caught weren't uncommon.

Not all of them are Wen Tianxiang, who was imprisoned for three years after being captured, and still swore to die in the face of coercion and temptation.

It's only a few taels of silver a month, and the pension may not be able to reach the family after death, so why be an iron-clad corpse?