The outline of Baihua Mountain is undulating on the skyline, and the undispersed fog at the foot of the mountain is like a gray-white shroud, pressing heavily on the edge of the swamp.
In the mud pool of rotten grass and mud, turbid puddles were scattered, and the water surface was filled with a dark blue light.
Occasionally, bubbles rush out of the mud, making a muffled sound, as if some kind of ominous beast was dormant underground.
On the edge of the swamp, crooked dead trees point to the sky with their teeth and claws, and dilapidated vines hanging on the branches, shaking in the wind, like the arms of a dying man.
General Zhendong rode on his horse, looking at the place of death in front of him, and subconsciously rubbed the lotus pattern embroidered on the belt with his fingertips.
This is the armor skin that Amei and Li Mu are stitched together. The Shujin mixed tanned rhizome skin is soaked in a century-old tung tree sap. It is not only light and breathable, but also difficult to penetrate by knife and arrow.
It's just that the cost is extremely expensive, so there is no need to mention the raw materials.
It also needs to use secret techniques that some witches in the South China know, plus the latest textile technology of the Dahan.
"General, is this the ghost place we walked through?"
Although he was mentally prepared, Zhao Guang saw this place with his own eyes for the first time, which was far more impactful than in various legends.
Half of the carcasses that were not known to be humans or animals emerged deep in the mud. The faint smell of rotten smell poured into the nose, making people feel a little uncomfortable.
General Zhendong did not answer Zhao Guang's words, and his eyes fell on others.
An old Xianbei man walked up with a trembling trembling. He was wrapped in a robe sewn with wolf skin. The copper bells on his waist jingled with steps, and the beast teeth hanging between his neck were shining with a sallow light.
I saw him crawling in front of General Zhendong’s horse, speaking very stiffly in Chinese, but his tone was extremely respectful:
"Grandman, there is the Baihua Mountain Moor in front of it. This is a world that can eat people. As long as you enter, even if you fly in the sky, you can't escape the eyes of the evil ghosts hidden inside. No living creature can come out alive."
"Oh?" General Zhendong sneered with disdain, "Then have you come out alive?"
The old Hu man stretched out his hand and saw that his fingers were like dry vines. The broken grass chips leaked between his fingers were actually poisonous weeds unique to the swamp.
He rolled up his robe and exposed his arms. There were several dark brown scars on his arms. The largest scar was three fingers wide, deep in the flesh, almost sinking half of his forearm.
"This land can eat people, but it has eaten people's land." The old man finally raised his head, his turbid eyes only dared to look at the tip of the small scabbard, "and he would be afraid of people."
He turned around and pointed in a certain direction, "The way to live is thirty steps south, the stone ridge that was rushed out from the underground river."
The charcoal ash line representing the stone ridge extends to somewhere and suddenly breaks.
"There is a piece of thunderstorm pine wood. If you want to pass through the swamp, you must first obtain the thunderstorm wood. The thunderstorm wood is blessed by heavenly thunder, and the thunderstorm wood is used to worship the White Birch Mountain God. With the permission of the mountain god, the evil ghosts will not harm it."
When Zhao Guang heard this, he frowned: "How different is this from evil sacrifices and lewd sacrifices..."
Sacrifices without the permission of the government are all evil sacrifices and lewd sacrifices, which have always been prohibited by the Han Dynasty for four hundred years.
Once discovered, the mildest ones were imprisoned, and the severe ones were beheaded.
Especially after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, this aspect has become more and more strict.
So when Zhao Guang heard that he wanted to worship Baihua Mountain privately here, he subconsciously resisted.
On the contrary, the head coach, the general, looked as usual:
"The "Huainanzi·Lanming Xun" says: The axe of Thunder God, cracking wood into a talisman. When I was in Jingzhou in the early years, the folk customs of Jingchu were often taken on May 5, and lightning strikes woodcut human figures, hanging the house to avoid soldiers.
.”
After a pause, he said:
"The Prime Minister's wife had practiced the "Lu Ban Jing" before, and she also mentioned to me that lightning strikes wood can be used to build ancestral halls and suppress evil spirits."
"It can be seen from this that the use of lightning strikes on wood is indeed capable of avoiding ghosts and suppressing evil spirits." She looked at the old Hu and asked, "Are you Zhu Wu from the Ulaoran tribe?"
"Yes. Our tribe is a small race, and it is not as good as the Tuoba clan. It can only grazle in the worst pastures. One year, someone grazed on the edge of the swamp, which caused evil ghosts and brought evil diseases to the tribe. It was taken at night by being
The evil ghosts eat their souls and go crazy."
"The villain had no choice but to bring cattle and sheep to worship here, asking for forgiveness from the evil ghosts. Finally, he discovered this piece of thunder-striking pine wood, which cured the tribe members."
"Very good." General Zhendong nodded with satisfaction, threw a small flag in front of the horse, and "swish", penetrated straight into the ground, shaking in front of the old Hu people:
"I don't care what you use. As long as you can take us through here, the Uloran tribe will get the most plump grassland. I can guarantee that your tribe will have no worries about food and clothing."
"But if," General Zhendong's tone became extremely cold, "I find that you dare to lie half a word, and I will take away the eyes of all living creatures in the Uloran tribe."
"Don't doubt what I said, because although I have never seen an evil ghost, I have seen a ghost king. The ghost king is much more terrifying than an evil ghost."
His eyes fell on the Hu guides of several other tribes behind the old Hu people, "The same goes for you."
Whether they understood or not, these people crawled down again.
When the old Zhuwu finished worshiping on the grassland, General Zhendong ordered:
"The whole army was sent to remove armor and lightweight equipment, explore the way with a long pole, and a team of ten people connected with each other with ropes!"
Her voice was cold, and her eyes swept over the eight thousand soldiers behind her, "Remember, step on the footprints of the predecessors, and don't step in the wrong way!"
After avoiding the eyes and ears of Wei, the eight thousand Han soldiers quietly slid into this land of death like a long snake.
"The places in front of them that look like meadows are actually death traps set by evil spirits."
After stepping into the swamp, the old Hu suddenly pointed to the northeast and said.
General Zhendong looked at the clouds in the direction he pointed, but saw a faint pale look in the water plants, and knew that it was an unknown white bone.
I felt a stern right now.
If he had no guide, he rashly stepped into this swamp of death. Even if all the eight thousand elite soldiers were filled in, he would probably not be able to get out.
From this point of view, it is worth it to spend three months inquiring about the guide.
Of course, now she also hopes that the worship of the old Zhuwu will be useful so that the soldiers can walk out of this swamp smoothly.
It was probably because of the fulfillment of my wish in my heart, and I entered the swamp carefully. After walking for a long time, except for the two horses that were trapped in the quagmire and unable to pull them out, everything else was fine.
The losses of the two horses were much less than that of General Zhendong who imagined.
During the break, Zhao Guang walked over with a relaxed look on his face, no longer as heavy as he had when he first entered the swamp:
"It seems that this swamp is not as powerful as the legendary one. As long as someone leads the way, it should be easy to pass through."
General Zhendong did not speak, but the old Zhu Wu next to him showed horror:
"Sir, you must not say that. We are only at the periphery of the swamp. Going further inside, we can truly go deeper into the swamp, and there is the place where evil spirits occupy."
As if he had verified his words, after a brief rest, he set off again. Before he could walk far, the stagnant water in the swamp rippled, and something seemed to be rolling in the water.
General Zhendong narrowed his eyes and suddenly asked:
"Did you see the direction of the fallen water plants? Undercurrents to the southeast, is this a living swamp?"
The water grass bushes on the front right, which at first glance, which at first appears to be no different from other places, folded to the southeast at a strange angle, as if they were pressed into the mud by an invisible hand.
The old Zhu Wu shook his head:
"This villain doesn't know. We won't come here unless we have to. When we come in, we only want to go back safely and never dare to leave."
Even though someone led the way, the march was still extremely slow.
The soldiers stepped on the mud barefoot and struggled to pull out their deep calves every step they took.
The rotten grass leaves stick to the legs of the pants, and the fishy smell hits the nose.
The more you go inside, the more fishy smell becomes, making people feel dizzy.
I don’t know how long I left, but a scream suddenly came from the left rear of the team.
Somehow, a young soldier deviated from the road he stepped on, and fell into a dark pool, and the mud instantly reached his chest.
He waved his arms wildly, but accelerated the sinking speed. When the black paste over his chin, the "Save Me" he finally shouted turned into a series of desperate bubbles.
Then the right wing screamed again one after another - three soldiers and a pack horse fell at the same time. The pack horse struggled to raise its front hooves, but instead threw the food bag on its back into the mud. The moment the dry food fell, dense floating in the depths of the swamp
The lees rushed towards the living creature like a black tide.
"Lighten the turret! Splash the turret oil!"
The flames ignited hard in the humid air, and the smell of fishy burnt spread, but more lees emerged from the mud and climbed up the soldiers' calves.
An old man suddenly swung his knife to cut off his left leg covered by leeches, and blood splashed in the swamp water, and hissed: "Let's go! Don't worry about me!"
The leech was attracted by the smell of blood, and the swamp water rolled.
However, the old man's other ankle was quickly entangled by the leeches. Before he could shout it out for a second time, his whole body was swallowed up by the swamp.
"Let's go! Go quickly! The injured are in the middle, and the baggage horses that are trapped in the quagmire are not needed. Go quickly!"
As the smell of blood spread, more and more lees appeared under their feet, and commotion continued.
Fortunately, these are carefully selected elites, and coupled with the unique grassroots organizational capabilities of the Han army in this era, there is no panic-like chaos.
Even so, there were still screams and screams from time to time.
Although a small team was formed before departure, somehow, people always walked around and left the team without realizing it, and then fell into an undercurrent without seeing the bones.
"wrong!"
General Zhendong, who felt his head was so dizzy and uncomfortable that he had become slow to react, drew out his long sword "clang" and put it on the neck of Old Zhu Wu. The sharp sword edge pressed a trace of blood:
"There is something wrong with this swamp, the fog, the miasma!"
No mistakes, one song, one post, one content, one reading!
If she hadn't been to Nanzhong, she wouldn't have reacted like this, but fortunately, not only had she been to, but also a ghost king.
The evil spirits of the Ghost King must avoid the evil spirits in the South.
The Ghost King once saved her biological brother from the evil ghost in Nanzhong.
General Zhendong personally took medicine.
"Sir, they may have been entangled by evil spirits, so they walked into the swamp..."
Old Zhu Wu didn’t know if he didn’t understand what miasma is or didn’t hear it clearly.
But he knew that if he said a wrong word at this time, the entire tribe would bury the Han soldiers who disappeared into the pond.
He quickly spoke this Chinese with the clearest accent in his life:
"After another half an hour, there will be a large area of hard land for the army to rest."
To be honest, he didn't expect that this would happen.
It is estimated that there are too many people coming in this time, and so many people and horses fell into the pond, so the situation becomes so serious.
"You go ahead and lead the way! Let's go!"
General Zhendong took back his long sword with a stern voice:
"Let everyone stop and speed up, and there will be camping places ahead."
When the last soldier climbed onto the hard land that Lao Zhu Wu said was already set in the setting sun.
It was about night, and it was a hard land, and the miasma was far less intense than it was during the day, which made everyone feel relieved.
The losses were counted, and nearly 400 people were damaged by eight thousand spirit riders. The survivors were covered with mud, and the wounds were covered with leech limbs.
Deep in the swamp, the last ripples returned to calm, and only the spears stuck in the swamp stood in the twilight, like speechless tombstones.
"Cleaning the wound, don't get infected. Those who are seriously injured should report it quickly!"
The casualties were unexpectedly large, and they were not encountered by enemies.
Although the miasma is not heavy, it will make people slow to react and even confused when they are unconscious. This is why people keep going in the wrong direction and falling into the dark pool.
In addition, the poisonous insects were raging, and the soldiers would rather fight with the Wei army with real swords and guns than be entangled with these ubiquitous things.
So the morale is a little depressed.
Even Zhao Guang, the most heartless, lost his previous optimism at this time.
He cleaned the black mud on his legs in a hurry, and confirmed that there were no missing lees and other poisonous insects. Then he sat down and took out the dry food and chewed it silently.
"Clang, when~"
In a slightly dull atmosphere, someone sang loudly:
The severe wind blows the frost and the seaweed witheres, the tendons are dry and the essence is strong and the barbarians are arrogant.
There are 300,000 soldiers from the Han family, and the general also commands Huo Piaoyao.
The meteor's white feathers are inserted between the waist, and the sword flower and autumn lotus are shining out of the box.
The sky-soldiers shone on the snow under the old capital, and the enemy arrows shot like sand to shoot golden armor.
The clouds, dragons, winds and tigers are all handed back, and Taibai enters the moon and the enemy can be destroyed.
The enemy can be destroyed, the head of the enemy is destroyed, and the intestines of the enemy are plagued with blood.
Hanging the captives in the sky, buried beside the Changling Mausoleum.
Hu Wuren, Han Daochang!
...
"Han Daochang" was written by Feng Dasima in Liangzhou and was arranged by General Zhendong himself. It is magnificent and murderous intent. It is deeply loved by the soldiers. It is the most widely circulated poem in the army.
Inspiring poetry can always touch people's hearts, and solo people will soon follow and gently. As more and more people join, in the twilight, the high-pitched singing soars into the sky.
Seeing that the morale of the soldiers was gradually returning, General Zhendong breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the way he came, which was completely swallowed up by the night.
But the facts did not end there. The soldiers who had been tired for a day were gradually falling asleep when someone suddenly screamed in horror at night.
"What's up?"
General Zhendong, who was sleeping in his clothes, sat up and grabbed the sword beside him:
"Yingxiao!?"
Even if the soldiers who can follow him are not veterans of a hundred battles, they are definitely elite, and the possibility of bombing the camp is extremely low.
But if such screams at night really cause a group of roars, the explosion of the camp will inevitably be inevitable.
"Sir, this is scared by the evil ghost..."
The old Zhu Wu seemed to have expected this and took the initiative to meet General Zhendong.
General Zhendong didn't say anything, looked up at the outside world because she heard it, and there was more than one place where she screamed.
This situation is extremely rare for elite soldiers.
It is sufficient to illustrate the severity of the situation.
After leading the troops for many years, General Zhendong had rich experience. He guessed that this was probably related to the miasma.
This place is still a swamp. Even if the miasma is not as thick as in the daytime, it is the time when the mind is most easily disturbed after sleeping at night.
Coupled with the daytime incident, the soldiers were shocked in their dreams, which was not impossible.
General Zhendong's eyes fell on the old Zhu Wu, extremely sharp:
"What's your solution?"
Ying Xiao naturally had a way to solve it, but on the first night of entering the swamp, this situation would only get worse and worse.
If it is as expected, then this time, it is meaningless to cross Baihua Mountain.
Even if they can forcefully reach their destination, the soldiers may lose their morale.
However, it seems that Lao Zhu Wu had obviously expected this situation, otherwise he would not have waited for him here in advance.