At the same time, Shen Lie, who had just woken up, suddenly sneezed in the yard.
Zhai Jinsheng stopped what he was saying.
Shen Lie turned around, his voice slightly nasal: "Continue."
"Master, are you sick?" Du Xuan asked worriedly.
"No problem." Shen Lie replied.
Zhai Jinsheng paused and continued to report.
There are still human traces within a radius of ten miles, and the scope of activities is very wide. It is not like a simple refugee team, but an organized civilian population.
On the northwest side of Niuling Mountain, there are still a lot of traces of burning, but they are not fresh. They have been burning for at least half a month, and about a hundred acres of forest have been destroyed.
Also, the weather in the south is very bad. Judging from the wind direction today, it may rain.
Shen Lie listened quietly, and suddenly, he sneezed again.
The same as before, it was still not loud, but it scared Du Xuan half to death: "Young Master!!"
"It's okay," Shen Lie frowned, "...you don't have to shout so loudly."
Du Xuan was heartbroken: "Master, your health is urgent."
"I see that the young master doesn't have a cough or runny nose. Could it be that someone is scolding the young master?" Dai Yu said.
"If swearing worked, wouldn't I be sneezing all the time?"
"Then he must be sick!" Du Xuan said.
Shen Lie didn't want to push anymore and looked at Zhai Jinsheng: "Who is going to Shuangpo Gorge to check?"
Zhai Jinsheng looked at him worriedly and said, "It's Lu Bao and Shi Yan. They have been gone for two hours."
"Where are you going to Jianchungang?"
"It's Chen Weimin. He brought three people there, and it's been two hours."
"Jianchungang is closer than Shuangpo Gorge. How long have they been there?"
"Um."
"I'll take someone to take a look." Shen Lie said, turning his head and about to tell Dai Yu to prepare the horse, when he heard the sound of rapid horse hooves coming from outside the village.
Shen Lie immediately stepped out and walked out. Dai Yu and the others hurriedly followed, as well as Ji Xiahe and Lin Zhonghu who heard the sound from the other side of the village road.
The person who came back was not Lu Bao or Chen Weimin, but a patrol guard.
When the guard saw Shen Lie, he quickly dismounted and said: "Master, the troops we met last night are stepping up their deployment and may launch an attack on Wuqu at night. In addition, six troops were encountered nearby heading towards the Guozhuang River Estuary. Among the refugees who left, there is another group of refugees coming towards us."
"how many people?"
"About three hundred!"
Du Xuan was surprised: "So many?"
"More than three hundred people are no longer called refugees, but bandits, right?" Ji Xiahe said.
"How many people are strong? Are there many men, many women, many old people, many young people?" Shen Lie asked.
“The old and the weak tend to be more numerous!”
"Young Master, we can't let them come here," Du Xuan said solemnly, "We can't be discovered by anyone."
"If you really come here, can you stop me?" Shen Lie asked.
"Can……"
"Is it possible that we move the land?" Ji Xiahe said.
Shen Lie glanced at him lightly.
Ji Xia and Wei paused, realizing they had made a mistake: "Bah, it's not like we can't defeat him, and we didn't do anything wrong, so why should we move!"
"Since we can get together, there must be someone in the crowd who can speak effectively. If these people are controlled, everything else will be easy to handle," Shen Lie said, looking at Zhai Jinsheng, "I will go to Jianchungang first, and I will leave this place to you. .”
"Yes!" Zhai Jinsheng responded.
Jianchungang was another choice for them to settle down, but in comparison, the terrain of Niuling Mountain was better.
Shen Lie took Dai Yu and six other men and set out. He had never been to this area before, but the map was complete and the mountain roads and rivers were marked in detail, so it was not difficult to identify the road.
Half an hour later, Shen Lie arrived at Jianchungang and did not see Chen Weimin or anyone else on the road.
And the traces they left along the way were only when they left, not when they returned.
Dai Yu was afraid that Shen Lie would be worried: "Master, the area between Niutouling and Jianchungang is vast and there are many mountain roads. Maybe we are on different roads, or they are lost on the other side of Jianchungang."
Shen Lie shook his head and said in a low voice: "Something happened to them."
Dai Yu was startled. He knew that Shen Lie would never say such uncertain things. He calmed down and asked, "How do you know, Master?"
"Chen Weimin is punctual." Shen Lie said.
Dai Yu understood. He looked at Shen Lie and was suddenly speechless.
After thinking for a moment, Shen Lie looked at the man next to Dai Yu and ordered him and another companion to go back first and inform them of the situation, while he and the others stayed to search for another hour.
Then Shen Lie drove his horse forward and went deep into the mountains of Jianchungang.
The night was gradually sinking, the land was vast and cold, Du Xuan and Zhai Jinshenghou were at the entrance of the dark village, having not seen anyone for a long time.
No one who went to Shuangpo Gorge came back, nor did anyone who went to Jianchungang, including Shen Lie.
It wasn't until the moon was in the middle of the sky that I finally heard the sound of horse hooves.
The sentry in front sent out a signal, and the village, which had no lights at all, suddenly became quieter. Du Xuan and Zhai Jinsheng were lying in ambush at the entrance of the village, and there were also about a dozen secret guards with sharp blades in their hands.
Shen Lie stopped his horse and looked at the outline of the village entrance in the dark night.
Dai Yu looked at him, with a look of frustration on his face, and said softly: "Master."
The spear on the young man's back was twenty inches higher than his shoulder, and the sharp silver tip reflected the moonlight, giving off an icy cold glow.
His eyes were deep and clear, looking at the village under the dim night, as if there were dark waves surging in them, or like an ancient well without waves.
Dai Yu didn't know what he was thinking. He had been accompanying Shen Lie since he was a child. Whenever Shen Lie fell into silence, Dai Yu would be at a loss.
Following his heavy gaze, Dai Yu looked at the village in front of him, and suddenly had a very uncomfortable feeling. They seemed to be back in Youhu County, Jiangzhou, as a lone and weak force.
Xiaonanshan is actually not small. Compared with Dananshan, which spreads for hundreds of miles, it is called small. In fact, Xiaonanshan is a boundless mountain and ancient forest.
They had been forced to climb the highest mountain range. Although they were escaping for their lives, Dai Yu could not forget the feeling of climbing to the top. The end of the sky was in sight. The mountains became shorter and the villages became smaller. At night, there is endless loneliness.
It's too big. Xiaonanshan is really too big.
For such a big small Nanshan, it is extremely despairing to be abandoned by your companions.
Especially relatives who consider themselves close relatives.
At that time, they were deceived by Guo Zi to go to Nanxing Pass and fell into Jin Hongkang's precise calculation. The elite cavalry attacked their weak defense. After retreating into Nanshan, hundreds of them were completely separated.
Dai Yu also got separated from Shen Lie, but fortunately, he was found by Shen Lie in less than two days.
The Guo family abandoned them, but Shen Lie did not. Shen Lie tried his best to find everyone, whether they were alive or dead, they wanted to see their bodies.
In fact, sometimes the body cannot be found and can only be identified through the fragments of clothing left by wild beasts.
In the uninhabited mountains and ancient forests, it is extremely difficult to find people. In addition to the harsh environment, they also have to avoid the pursuit of the soldiers and horses left by Jin Hongkang.
In those months, hunger, cold, and loneliness surrounded them all the time. Once people fell into despair, they would lose their minds in many things, stumble and crawl for survival, or lose their human conscience.
For example, cannibalism.
Of course Dai Yu wouldn't eat. He would rather starve to death and be used as food than open his mouth to touch those things, let alone his living companions.
But there will always be people who give in and bow to death.
Such as Zhang Meng, such as Feng Ze.
Dai Yu closed his eyes, put aside those cruel scenes, recovered from his thoughts, and looked at Shen Lie.
The secret guards following them now are all the people who came out of Xiaonan Mountain with them last year.
From last year to now, none of them wanted to go back to the Guo family and stayed with Shen Lie.
Shen Lie never abandoned them. Whether he was waiting for a month in Yongwucheng or traveling across the mountains to find Chen Weimin today, he never gave up on anyone.
However, sometimes you really can’t find it. Faced with the feeling of powerlessness in the vast and ignorant place, no one can resist it.
"Master," Dai Yu said, "go back."
"If Lu Bao and Shi Yan did not come back from Shuangpo Gorge, then what happened to Chen Weimin must be related to Zuilu." Shen Lie said calmly.
"Have the drunken deer men pursued them to Jianchungang?" Dai Yu was surprised.
"That depends on whether Lu Bao and Shi Yan have come back," Shen Lie looked at the village entrance in front of him and gently tugged on the reins, "Let's go."
