However, even so, after searching from the bottom of the dead wood forest all the way up, searching most of the hillside woodland, and finding thousands of charred corpses, this identifying thing was not found on any of the corpses.
"Strange? Could it be that...it's not here?" Ma Bin said in surprise.
"Could it be...that it was burned down?" A soldier smacked his lips.
"Fart! What did you say? There is still ashes left in a burnt piece of grass, let alone a human being? General Xiaolin is tall and strong, how can he leave nothing behind?" Ma Bin reprimanded angrily.
The soldier apologized profusely, but he also said something hurriedly, saying that there would be ashes even if it was burned to ashes, and it was impossible to burn it away.
"I think Xiaohu is not dead at all. I have this premonition. And it's getting stronger and stronger." Lu Wu said softly.
Everyone looked at her blankly and said to themselves: We understand your mood, and we hope you are right. But in this situation, it is probably impossible to survive. You just hope in your heart that Lin Hu can survive.
"Continue to search, there is still a large area that has not been searched." The little princess said softly.
Everyone nodded silently and had no choice but to continue this terrifying and suffocating search. The search route was from the west hillside to the east, and now they continued to search east. Not long after, Ma Bin suddenly discovered a strange sight.
"Huh? Why is the place in front of us so empty? There isn't even a tree?" Ma Bin said in surprise, pointing to the hillside in front of him.
Everyone followed Ma Bin's gaze and discovered something strange. Although the surrounding woods were reduced to ashes after being burned by the fire, the ones burned to ashes were only small trees. Although the thick trees were burnt, they were still intact.
The scorched tree trunks are still standing upright. The whole forest has become very sparse, but you can still know that this is a forest. Those scorched tree trunks are also scattered on the hillside, everywhere. However, in the direction of Ma Bin's finger, it is obvious that
You can see that there are some differences. There are only dozens of scattered dead trees standing in the ashes on the large hillside. Some of these dozens of trees were burned to only their trunks, but there are also a dozen or so that are still half-burnt.
The semi-green tree trunks. The area looked extremely empty compared with the surrounding large pieces of dead trees. The yellow-green color on the tree crown also made everyone stand out and eye-catching among the charred darkness around them.
"Oh, Mr. Ma, that place was originally a clearing in the forest. The trees we felled were harvested in the forest. Except for those big trees that couldn't be moved, we had to cut down a large area of trees. Then they were piled up.
That clearing. General Xiaolin said that by doing this, outsiders would not be able to tell that the woods had been logged, and the Jurchen patrols would not notice anything unusual." Colonel Wang Huai explained quickly.
Ma Bin nodded and said, "That's it. That clearing was cut down by Lin Hu and others. The big trees that were too thick were inconvenient to carry, so they didn't cut them down. They cut down other trees and piled them up as official materials."
They were used for firewood on the road, so there were only a few dozen big trees left in that area.
"Some of those big trees were not burned. Why?" Qianqian suddenly asked.
Everyone had long felt that something was wrong. When Qianqian asked such a question, their eyes suddenly widened and they felt unbelievable.
The green of the tree crowns in the ashes looked too unreal, which was what they found incredible. There was no reason why they could survive the fire.
"I know, I know." Gao Muqing suddenly shouted, his voice trembling.
"Those big trees are in the middle of the open space, and the surrounding fires cannot burn them. The fallen leaves and long grass on the ground caught fire, but the fire was not strong enough to completely burn the big trees. Remember the fire prevention belts outside our village
In order to ensure the safety of the cottage, my husband ordered that the trees around the cottage be cut down to create an open space and be paved with earth and gravel. The purpose was to isolate the fire if the woods caught fire. Do you remember? Isn't this the same principle? " Gao Muqing
shouted hurriedly.
Everyone woke up and nodded repeatedly. The truth is indeed the same. Fire breaks are a way to cut down trees to prevent the spread of fire. And this hillside open space was formed after Lin Hu and his men cut down all the small trees.
A piece of open space in the middle of the open space happens to be a fire break zone. So those trees can survive because when the surrounding fire is fierce, the big trees in the middle of the open space are actually not spread by the surrounding fire. The fallen leaves on the ground
Fires caused by weeds and weeds cannot burn large trees.
"Doesn't that mean...if...if...Xiaohu and the others escape to the middle of this open space, it's possible...maybe they're still alive?" Fang Huanqiu thought of this possibility quickly and spoke out.
"Yes, yes, that's what I mean. It's possible. Why isn't it possible?" Gao Muqing gasped nervously. The reason why she shouted excitedly was because she thought of this possibility.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they woke up as if they had been enlightened.
"It's entirely possible, it's entirely possible."
"Let's go and look for him there quickly. Let's go quickly."
The girls shouted excitedly.
Ma Bin was also very excited and hurriedly called out to the soldiers searching nearby to run up the east slope. There were many charred corpses along the way, and it was immediately obvious that they were the corpses of Luoyan Army soldiers, because there were scattered around the corpses.
They were all armed with greedy wolf swords. Judging from the lying posture of the corpses, they were all facing the open space ahead. This makes people come to the conclusion that these soldiers were running towards the open space at the last moment.
Soon, everyone arrived at the open space. The ground was covered with a thin layer of ash, which was the ashes of fallen leaves and grass after being burned. There were several corpses lying on the edge. After checking, they confirmed
They were the corpses of Luoyan Army soldiers. Although their clothes and hair had been burned off, it was obvious that they were not burned as badly as the corpses in the forest, which were burnt like charcoal. Wang Huai even recognized the faces of several of them.
"That's Zhang Debiao, one of Lieutenant Li's men. This brother is Zeng Erniu. This is Ma Laosan. It's a few of them. Hey! These guys are all burned to death here. It's really sad.
." Wang Huai cried after inspecting the corpse.
The feeling of being recognized is more uncomfortable than the feeling of being burnt to coke. It is better to be burnt to coke without knowing who is who, but the feeling after recognition is even worse. I heard that there are no Lin Hu, the girls and Ma Bin inside.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Although
However, what the Luoyan Army emphasizes is that everyone is brothers and sisters, equal and unified. But that is just a slogan. After all, there is a difference between closeness and distance. Although everyone feels sad, they care more about Lin Hu's life and death.
Everyone searched all the way to the middle and found a few big trees in the middle. They were disappointed. The big trees that were still alive in the middle had obviously been ravaged by fire, and the ground was covered with ashes of vegetation. Although the big trees were alive,
But there was no one down there. It was not what everyone expected, but Lin Hu appeared here alive.
The girls were extremely disappointed, and Lu Wu started to cry again. Ma Bin was also dejected. Once there is hope, disappointment becomes even more painful. At first, with the thought that Lin Hu would die here, he felt not so disappointed except for sadness.
When I thought that Lin Hu might be alive, I felt even more uncomfortable now. Thinking about it, Lin Hu had been killed, and his body should be lying in a place where no one had searched, and it had become a charred mess.
At this moment, soldiers suddenly shouted loudly from the bottom of the southeast slope.
"Master Ma, General Gao, come and take a look, there seems to be something fishy here."
Ma Bin and others were stunned and hurriedly ran away. At the edge of the slope, close to the edge of the open space, there was a small cliff. It was not visible at all from above. When they went around, they discovered that the side of a huge rock was exposed.
When it comes out, it is more than ten feet high. This kind of small cliff is actually not uncommon, but it is usually hidden among the trees and grass and is not noticed by people. At this time, the surrounding trees have been cut down, the grass and trees have been burned, and they are directly exposed.
What is even more surprising is that there is actually a small depression under the cliff. Inside the depression is a large, almost dry, silt pool about ten feet square. The exposed tree roots and grass roots next to the quagmire do not look like charcoal, but
It has a dry and yellow color. It doesn't look like it has been burned, but it looks like it has been roasted and browned.
"Oh, yes, this is a small pool of water. When we were cutting down trees, a brother fell from the side of the mountain and we realized that this was a small pool of water." Wang Huai shouted.
Ma Bin opened his eyes and looked towards the place where tree roots were entangled with grass stems under the huge rock. There was a groove in the cliff, which was dark and blurry, but he could vaguely see a group of black things inside.
"There's something inside. Quick, look what it is? Move it out." Ma Bin shouted.
Wang Huai also noticed something strange, and shouted to several brothers to step on the mud that was deep to their calves and come to the bottom of the cliff. He pulled apart the gathered tree roots and grass stems, and reached out to pull out the dark stuff inside. Everyone's
Amid the exclamations, a dark man covered in mud was exposed to everyone's gaze.
"Yes...it's Lieutenant Li Dapeng. He's still alive and not dead yet." Wang Huai shouted in surprise. He could see the dark man's face clearly, although the face was burnt and bloody.
"See if there is anyone else inside?" Ma Bin said loudly.
Wang Huai lay down in the mud and crawled in, and then everyone heard his surprised shout: "General Xiaolin is here. Thank God. It's him. He has a gold box on his chest."
The girls wept with joy, and with eyes blurred by tears, they watched Wang Huai and others pull out another man whose whole body was black and covered in mud.
