The boat sailed through the Tuhai River and entered Dongting Lake. Suddenly, there were more boats on the lake.
Large and small awning boats, fishing boats, and small sailboats covered the sky and sun, coming from the vast water, almost covering the lake.
Su Yun, Erniu and the others were standing on the bow of the boat, chattering.
Born and raised in the north, they have never seen thousands of sails covering the sky or the sky and the sun.
"Hey, why is that girl not wearing any clothes?"
Xiao Si'er's surprised voice sounded, and then there was the sound of footsteps, and it was Xiao Wu who ran into the cabin.
Su Lu asked Niba next to him: "What happened outside? Why is it so lively?"
Niba ran away and came back a moment later, his cheeks pale and his voice hoarse.
"Something happened, sir."
"On the lake are people fleeing from the Xuanfu government, dragging their families with them, numbering in the tens of thousands."
Su Lu was stunned for a moment, people fleeing?
The next moment, he realized that the battle line had advanced to the Yanzhou area of Beiyang. Not to mention the people in Xitunling and Beizheng, the people in Beiyang and Yanzhou alone must have been thinking about fleeing.
Su Lu put down the book in his hand, stood up and walked outside the cabin.
A small dark wooden boat was passing by the official ship, with a family of seven on board.
The head of the house is a dark and thin man, who is very skilled in maneuvering the boat. His eldest son, who is thirteen or fourteen years old, is helping him rock the oar. A thin woman in the cabin is holding a small baby in her arms, and next to her thigh is a suckling
Little girl pointing her finger.
The two old couples were listless and nestled on the side of the cabin, looking like they had no energy to move anymore.
The baby was crying loudly. The woman opened her clothes to feed the baby. The baby took two mouthfuls but did not get any milk and continued to cry loudly. The woman looked at the crying baby with helplessness written on her cheeks.
The old man resting against the side of the boat looked dull, his eyes full of helplessness and hesitation.
Su Lu glanced at Xiaosi next to him. Xiaosi muttered, reached out and took out a bag of pastries from the cloth bag on his side, gritted his teeth, and threw it away reluctantly.
"Click"
The pastry fell next to the woman, and the paper package cracked, revealing the pastry inside.
The woman picked one up, sniffed it, a look of surprise appeared on her cheeks, looked up, and immediately said a few words in a hoarse voice.
The old man, the old woman, the boatman, and the young man rowing the oar all raised their heads and looked at the official ship. The child holding the woman's thigh picked up a cake and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Thank you benefactor."
The old man bowed repeatedly to the official ship.
The man operating the boat looked moved, and he also bowed to the official boat.
The two ships passed by each other, and Su Lu got up and returned to the cabin. There would be many more scenes like this later.
The fleeing people came by boat from Beiyang. Depending on the speed of the small boat, it would take about ten days to get here. The food rations prepared by this family of seven would have been completely consumed.
Niba ran to the other side of the boat and shouted: "My master will definitely defeat the Thule army when he returns to Beiyang. Don't leave your hometown."
Until the ship sailed to Beiyang, Su Lu never left the cabin again. He sat in the cabin reading a book and thinking about new cards he could play.
Scout soldiers, short sword soldiers, sword and shield soldiers, and spear soldiers, these are the four types of soldier cards that Su Lu can produce.
Spear soldiers have the strongest attack, sword and shield soldiers have the strongest defense, and scouts are professional soldiers. Only short sword soldiers are the only ones. Su Lu has never been able to figure out where the most suitable scene for short sword soldiers is.
The camp suffered a disastrous defeat and morale was low. Facing the invading Thule army, the first task was to defend the city.
The walls of Beiyang City are not high and there is almost no moat. If you want to defend Beiyang, a city battle is almost impossible.
In a field battle on the plains, after a long period of defeat, the exhausted army faced the Tule cavalry with high morale. This battle was basically impossible to fight.
Su Lu calculated the bonus of the soldier cards and formation cards to the Guard City. If it was a level 3 soldier card, even if the army was defeated and exhausted for a long time, it would be no problem to deal with the Thule soldiers. Unfortunately, he only had four level 3 soldiers in his hand.
Card.
We still have to defend the city.
Just as Su Lu was thinking about it, the ship suddenly shook and it must have docked.
"Master Hou, we have arrived in Beiyang."
Su Ge's voice sounded outside the cabin, and Su Ge, wearing a lake green captain's robe, quickly walked in, his face full of excitement as he spoke.
"Master Marquis, we can rest in Beiyang tonight."
Su Lu stood up with the book and asked Su Ge as he walked out.
"I remember your hometown is Shangshan. Why do you feel like you are returning to your hometown when you return to Beiyang?"
Su Ge narrowed his eyes with a smile, his cheeks full of pride: "I have two hometowns. My grandma's hometown is Shangshan, and my grandpa's hometown is Beiyang. I grew up in Beiyang when I was a child, and later lived in Shangshan.
For many years, Shangshan has been my hometown."
The ship had docked, and the guards were moving boxes, cages, and cabinets, and a fishy smell hit their faces.
Su Lu stepped ashore on the wet lake water and ordered the guards on duty to help move things. It was already dark now. If it took longer, he would have to spend the night outside the city today.
"Brother, it's really you."
Among the people lining up to board the boat, a young man suddenly ran over and said excitedly.
Su Lu waved the guard who was blocking the way to let go, and asked Zhao San: "San'er, why, are you leaving Beiyang by boat?"
Zhao San called his daughter-in-law over who was queuing up, and said with a disappointed voice: "Brother, you don't know. Without you, the Tule people have been beaten to Beiyang City."
"My business is getting worse and worse. I asked Su Ping. Su Ping didn't pay attention, but Li Kun suggested that I leave. Fatty Zhao used his connections and helped me arrange a ship."
Su Yun spoke: "Third brother, you'd better go back. My brother is back, and Beiyang will definitely not be lost."
Zhao San was obviously moved. Under Su Lu's care, his stall in Zuihonglou became bigger and bigger, and now he even built a shed.
If there was any way, Zhao San wouldn't want to leave.
Zhao's third daughter-in-law looked at Su Lu hesitantly: "Brother, can you really fight off those vicious Tule people? I heard that almost all the men and horses in Fatty Zhao's camp were killed."
"Li Kun is a man who is good at calculating. He also ended up with only half a guard camp left. Su Ping was lucky and was punished to defend the city in Beiyang. However, after the siege battle in the past few days, Su Ping's
The men and horses also suffered a lot of losses."
Zhao San glared at his wife, as if he disliked her talking too much. He said hesitantly: "Brother, tell me, what should I do? If you let me go back, I will follow you back."
Su Lu waved his hand, "Take your things and follow me back to Beiyang."
Both sides of the dock were crowded with people bringing their families with them. Everyone had received news that there would be more and more wars in Beiyang. These were the people who had left their homes and fled.
There were cries of women and babies everywhere, and a child of four or five years old was holding his mother's lap and crying at the top of his lungs.
The boatman, whose hair was completely white, used all his strength to lift his little grandson, carefully put him into the boat, and then went to pick up his wife.
