In the dense camphor forest, the branches and leaves are prosperous, the climate is humid, and thin mist hangs above the treetops.
Dozens of soldiers from the Ming Dynasty surveyed the surrounding area and confirmed that there was no danger, and then rested in place.
Zhu Gaojie sat next to Wu Ju, tearing the hard buckwheat pancake into small pieces and swallowing it with gusto. Shadow Attendant Ah Qi stood beside him, holding the handle of the knife at his waist, closing his eyes lightly.
To be honest, this kind of rough military ration does not taste delicious, but if you can have a bite to eat on the battlefield, you should be satisfied.
He is now a new recruit in the vanguard battalion of the Ming Dynasty's Southern Expeditionary Army. He led his commander Lu Chaoyang to explore the enemy's situation at the forefront of the battlefield.
Not long ago, he was the pampered Prince Qi in Jinling City, but now he has to endure the harassment of insects and ants and move cautiously step by step in the deep mountains and old forests.
In fact, Zhu Gaojie didn't have to do this. The old man asked him to accompany the army, not to be a leading soldier. With Zhang Fu's ability, it was not difficult to put down the Jiaozhi rebellion. Zhu Gaojie only had to rest in the commander's camp and do military exploits.
But if that's the case, Zhu Gaojie's visit to Jiaozhi will be in vain.
The real purpose of Zhu Gaojie's trip was to gradually take over the military power in the southwest from Zhang Fu. A useless prince who landed in the air could not convince the generals.
…
Only by running away now and conveying the information back can more of his companions find a way to survive.
If A Qi hadn't keenly discovered the half of the footprints, it would have been difficult for them to trace the enemy scouts.
A Qi didn't say anything and pointed to the weeds under the camphor tree with his finger.
…
But after seeing the half of the footprints, Lu Chaoyang looked solemn. He bent down and studied it carefully. He even picked up the remaining dried grass roots on the footprints and put them in his mouth to taste.
Everyone heard the sound and came over. Some people laughed and said: "Recruit, you are scared to see these half-footprints. These should be left by our army's scouts. Why are you panicking?"
"promise!"
"Take these two down and see if we can find out anything." Lu Chaoyang said calmly.
"Look at this kid, he's so stupid." The flag officer sitting next to Lu Chaoyang shook his head.
Underneath his shy smile, Zhu Gaojie was thinking: Damn, he has been acting in the capital for too long, and now he laughs like an idiot whenever he sees people.
But Zhu Gaojie didn't think so much, it was not something he should worry about.
A Qi's face was as calm as water, as if everything had nothing to do with him.
After a while, the person in charge of the interrogation came over and said to Lu Chaoyang: "Sir, I asked them all. Even before they were sentenced, the person told them all in one go."
"No way!" Lu Chaoyang said keenly, "The climate in Jiaozhi is humid, and traces like this will disappear in no more than a day, and the outline of this half-footprint is obvious, and it should not take more than three hours. Go look for it quickly, they
It shouldn’t be far from us!”
The role of a scout on the battlefield is to detect the military situation. His companion was shot in the thigh by an arrow, which is no different from death, because he will definitely not be able to escape.
In the quiet forest, only the chirping of insects was heard, and two scouts wearing straw sandals were walking forward cautiously.
However, the scout who was trying to escape suddenly stopped, knelt on the ground, and loudly said in the local dialect: "I surrender!"
The man was stunned: "No way..."
Zhu Gaojie walked over, pulled away the weeds, and found half a footprint remaining in the mud under the grass leaves.
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 slight black marks from skin friction. Only Chen Jun's people would wear such straw sandals woven with local vegetation. These are left by the enemy."
The footprints down!”
Noticing that there were eyes on him, Zhu Gaojie smiled shyly at his colleagues, showing no harm to humans or animals.
Suddenly, the crossbow arrow flew out from under the cover of branches and leaves, and nailed a scout's thigh.
"But if there are really traces left by the enemy, wouldn't we be seeking death by looking for them?"
"You're not even as good as a new soldier!" Lu Chaoyang glared at the person who just spoke, "I'm a little bit confused now, how did a fool like you survive on the battlefield!" The man was a little confused by the scolding: "What do you mean by this, sir?"
In the surrounding woods, dozens of soldiers from the Ming Dynasty walked out.
As a Shadow Attendant, Aqi is the top hunter. He is proficient in various killing techniques, as well as tracking, anti-tracking, disguise and other skills. To throw him to the battlefield to work hard is to be overqualified.
"Mr. Lu, you think this young master is not a fool, even though he can't live a comfortable life in the capital, and traveled thousands of miles to the southwest to risk his life with us, right?" On the other side, someone looked at Zhu Gaojie and said in confusion, "
It’s been a long time since I’ve lived, and this is the first time I’ve seen someone with a servant on the battlefield.”
Lu Chaoyang glanced at him: "An enemy army with more than a hundred people will not clean the traces so carefully, because it will greatly slow down the marching speed. I speculate that the half of the footprints left behind are probably left by the enemy scouts, Chen
The army's scouts usually operate in groups of two to five. If dozens of us can't take down three or four of them, how dare you still survive?"
Zhu Gaojie was most afraid of trouble. He packaged himself in an exquisite shell, making people think that Zhu Gaojie was a good and harmless person as soon as they saw him.
Lu Chaoyang took a sip of water from the pigskin bag and said, "What do you care about others? Just take care of yourself."
too young.
Another scout saw his companion hit by an arrow and ran away without thinking.
Feeling someone poking him, Zhu Gaojie looked at Shadow Attendant Aqi in confusion: "What's wrong?"
His expression changed slightly, and he waved to Commander Lu Chaoyang: "Sir! I've discovered something!"
This did save Zhu Gaojie a lot of trouble, but the disadvantage was that after acting for a long time, he got too deep into the role and couldn't change it.
Zhu Gaojie stretched out and gave a thumbs up to Shadow Attendant Aqi.
…
Although age is not a criterion for judging a person, this kid really doesn't look like someone who can kill.
Zhu Gaojiu casually pulled off the grass root and held it in his mouth. He looked at the blue sky and white clouds, thinking that he might as well bury it here for peace of mind.
It is better for one person to die than for ten thousand people to die.
To be honest, Lu Chaoyang is not optimistic about Zhu Gaojie, whose pseudonym is "Zhu Silang".
It has to be said that the commander's combat experience is top-notch. He can guess the enemy's situation from only half a footprint. But this also makes Zhu Gaojie a little strange. The Pioneer Camp is the fastest place to get promoted. After all, the Pioneer Camp's
Everyone is risking their lives to gain merit, and a capable and courageous veteran like Lu Chaoyang should not just be a commander, but at the very least a garrison general.
Lu Chaoyang nodded slightly and asked, "What did you ask?"
He was not surprised. It was not uncommon for weaklings like the scout he just captured.
Not everyone is Wen Tianxiang. After being captured and imprisoned for three years, he still refused to surrender in the face of coercion and inducement.
It’s only a few taels of silver a month, and the pension may not be distributed to the family after death. Why should it be an iron-clad corpse?