My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 661: Signs of Plague
It was about to dawn, and Nongma City, which had been restless all night, showed no sign of calming down. The two legions of Holy Light and Thunder stationed outside the city had each sent a team of soldiers into the city two hours ago, and then rushed to the western plains to help put out the fire.

The sky was dim and the military camps on both sides of the eastern wall of Nongma were quiet. The soldiers were not sleepy at all, as they had all heard more or less about what had happened in the western plains.

In addition, the recent lack of movement from the Seris army made them feel uneasy, so they simply gathered around the campfire and talked.

In the distant air, there was a bang sound coming towards this side through the night.

The archer on duty on the arrow tower subconsciously looked out at the sky and vaguely saw something flying towards him from the direction opposite to Nongma City.

"what?"

The soldiers on the arrow tower murmured in confusion, and then they saw the vague black shadow passing through the sky and flying towards the city wall.

Enemy attack?

As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, several black shadows flew towards him quickly in his field of vision. The soldiers instinctively squatted to avoid them. The flying black shadows brushed the top of the arrow tower and flew directly into the camp.

Immediately, a foul odor of decay smelt in the mouth and nose.

Before he could come to his senses, there was a sudden commotion in the camp, and he saw several soldiers who were roasting by the fire before running away from the fire, covering their mouths and noses.

Following closely in other places, many soldiers came out, covering their mouths and noses.

Holy Light Knight Percival rushed over upon hearing the news. He was not wearing armor at this time. When he asked the soldiers who escaped nearby what happened, he also walked to the place where the incident happened.

A foul odor instantly hit my nose, and my stomach suddenly churned.

He looked at the collapsed tent. The soldiers inside had already run out, and what was pressing on the tent was a swollen, blackened corpse that was oozing a thick, sticky fluid.

The body was swollen and festering, the hair was soaked with body fluids, the face was swollen as if it was inflated, the tongue was sticking out to the lips, the whites of the eyes were almost bulging out, and there were dense maggots crawling in and out of the mouth, nose, eye sockets, and ears, and small bags could be seen wriggling under the swollen flesh.

From their underwear, it could be seen that these were the royal cavalry who had ridden out of the city to attack the Seres siege tower.

"Drag the body away!"

Percival tried his best to suppress the huge feeling of nausea. He had no idea what the people of Ceres meant by throwing these corpses at them with catapults, but all he could think of was that they might want to humiliate them.

"Damn the Celis!"

He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into his palm, then called the soldier on duty to come over and ask him about it. Upon learning that such corpses were also thrown into the city, Percival frowned, and a sense of uneasiness gradually arose in his heart.

But he couldn't tell where the uneasy feeling came from.

"Send someone to ask the Thunder Legion about the situation and see if they have also encountered this incident."

At the rightmost corner of the city wall, in the camp where the Thunder Legion was stationed, Bedivere looked gloomily at the three rotten corpses that were dragged to the ground and placed a few steps away from him.

The stench of corpses filled the empty camp, making people feel suffocated. Many soldiers could not stand the disgusting and nauseating smell of decay, so they ran to the corners of the camp, leaned over the fence and vomited.

They were accustomed to the smell of blood, but this stench of decay was different. Especially when seeing the scene of decay and swelling, it was totally unbearable for a normal person.

"What do the Seres want?"

Bedivere suppressed his nausea and waved his hand to give the same order as Percival, sending people to inquire the Holy Light Army on the other side.

Just as the scouts on both sides were running in the darkness of the early morning, cold water stains fell from the night sky.

The running cavalrymen subconsciously touched their hair and the back of their necks, raised their heads and looked at the night sky, and more than a dozen black shadows flew over their heads, and then landed on the city wall dozens of feet away, which immediately caused a burst of exclamations and shouts over there.

Torches in the hands of the running soldiers illuminated the surroundings of the city walls.

The soldiers who gathered around looked at the bodies being thrown and smashed, and looked at each other in bewilderment. From other sections of the city, bodies kept flying in from time to time, coming into close contact with the soldiers who were screaming in panic; some of them flew directly over this section of the city wall, flew into the city, landed on the roof of a house, or smashed on the side of the street or in the alley...

The moment the corpse fell heavily to the ground, dark red liquid mixed with blood and grease formed a jet and splashed everywhere.

Civilians who heard the noise or soldiers who came over for patrols retched when they saw this scene.

These once majestic and powerful cavalry guards have now turned into horrible rotting corpses, which is too horrible to look at.

"Take these bodies to the city immediately and find an open area to bury them."

After investigating what happened, the general guarding the city gave orders to deal with the bodies and sent someone to report to the palace immediately.

He ordered his cavalry to gallop through the streets lit up by countless lights, through the streets filled with civilians and soldiers, and rushed towards the palace, but he missed it.

The emperor was not in the palace.

At this time, Arthur and a group of important ministers were on the western city wall, paying attention to the fire-fighting. For now, the most important thing was to put out the fire and protect the wheat fields outside the city.

"My king, Galahad has been away with two legions for a long time, and no news has been sent back along the way."

The wise knight Gawain looked at the emperor who had been standing still for a long time and reminded him softly.

On the other side, King Arthur did not rush to answer. He looked at the fire in the west and the soldiers and civilians coming and going to put out the fire.

It took him a while to speak.

"Galahad has made progress. His father, Lancelot, was injured while defending the city. In order to prevent Lancelot from thinking that I have given up on him, it is necessary to let him know that his son continues to be valued. At the same time, I also want him to understand that my grace towards them has not diminished."

King Arthur let out a long sigh, "A cavalry unit that can cross the mountains and ridges won't have many people. Galahad is leading two legions, so 17,000 men should be enough."

"My king, are you not worried?"

Arthur raised his face slightly, his expression solemn: "I choose to believe him!"

Outside the city, there was a spreading sea of ​​fire, noisy voices, and running figures. A scout rode his horse through the interweaving crowds, like a small boat going upstream.

While they were talking here, the scout who came on horseback dismounted at the city gate, then quickly climbed up the city wall and brought in the news he had obtained outside the city.

Before daybreak, the bad news was laid before King Arthur.

Gaharad was defeated and was retreating eastwards.

King Arthur's solemn words just now instantly turned into a slap in the face, hitting him hard.

He was stunned for a moment, and Gawain and Merlin also stood there in a daze, unable to react for a while.

Merlin, leaning on his cane, took a step forward and questioned the scout.

"With 17,000 men, how could he be defeated by a small number of cavalry?"

The old man didn't dare to question why Gaharad had lost the battle since he had made progress, so he could only ask the scout who reported it.

The latter was only gathering information and had no idea of ​​the specific situation on the battlefield.

"Don't make it hard on him."

Arthur interrupted Merlin and waved his hand at the scout: "You retreat."

After the scout saluted and left, the legion commanders who followed him on the city wall began to talk about Galahad's defeat.

"I heard that the Seres have 2,000 cavalrymen."

"After crossing mountains and running for several days, they are so exhausted that it is impossible to defeat the 17,000 soldiers of Knight Haragad." "It may be caused by other factors."

It can be seen that the nerves of these legion commanders have been in a state of tension. The harvested grain was burned. On the eastern battlefield, the Seris people had a strong force but remained motionless. Everyone was feeling very nervous.

Just as you and I were speculating on how Galahad was defeated, scouts from the western plains came running back in the distance.

Brought news that Galahad would soon return to the city.

Everyone on the wall was silent, looking at King Arthur outside, standing there motionless. After a moment of silence, he whispered, "When he comes back, let him come up to the wall to see me."

For a moment, the surroundings were unusually quiet.

Everyone knew that the tall emperor was on the verge of exploding.

Soon, the embarrassed Galahad led the remaining 4,000 people back to the city of Nongmasi. More than 4,000 people were the defeated soldiers he gathered during the escape, and those who were not found were estimated to have been killed by the butchers of the Ceres.

As soon as he entered the city gate, there were soldiers waiting for him. Knowing that King Arthur was on the city wall waiting to see him, Galahad shuddered.

At this time, he didn't have the face to see the emperor.

He swayed his body, and walked up the stone steps step by step amid the metallic sound of heavy armor rubbing against each other. He saw a dozen legion commanders standing there. In the sight of this group of people, Haragad walked to the back of a figure standing behind the parapet in front of him, and half-knelt to perform the knight's salute.

Haragad lowered his head: "Greetings, my king."

"Tell me how you were defeated by the Seris."

Haragad's face was heavy. After hesitating for a moment, he began to talk about his encounter with the enemy and how he counterattacked. When he was about to surround and kill the Seris cavalry general, suddenly another group of Seris came to reinforce from the west.

"Gaharad, you should learn from your father. He is a fair and just man who never puts the blame on others..."

Arthur slowly turned around and looked at the figure half-kneeling on the ground. Just as he was about to continue speaking, a knight from the city came to the foot of the city and hurried upstairs to report that the Seris people had thrown corpses into the city not long ago.

"Corpse?"

Arthur's expression was serious and he was silent for a while. "The Seris are just trying to humiliate us. Don't fall for their scheme!"

This had been speculated before.

Now that the other party threw the body over, Arthur's guess was confirmed. He casually said, "Bury the body," and sent the knight away.

Arthur's conversation was interrupted and he lost the desire to continue.

After waking up Gaharad, they returned to the palace together.

……

The sky gradually brightened, and the morning sun peeking through the clouds shone on the clouds passing by the sky, with a color like warm jade.

In the eastern plains, the Western Expedition Army camp, which stretched for dozens of miles, was still handling various matters in an orderly manner.

As early as the sun rose, the Mongolian light cavalry rushed out of the camp early, just like in the previous few days, to search and plunder food everywhere.

After the Qin and Tang armies joined forces, the food supply was temporarily relieved, but it was still not enough.

After all, no one knew how long this war would last. In order to be absolutely sure, Su Chen gave Subutai another order, which was to send Mongolian light cavalry to attack everywhere every day and search for all edible food that could be looted.

Shortly after the Mongolian cavalry left, Su Chen stretched his muscles in the central army tent, had breakfast, and walked out of the tent.

The sun shines on my face, and I can hear the busy footsteps in the military camp. In the distance, there are towering siege towers, and craftsmen are climbing up them, banging with wooden hammers.

Several teams of soldiers shouting slogans ran in an orderly manner in the sunlight ahead; on the parade ground, rows and rows of shirtless soldiers followed the officers on the high platform, waving spears, or swords and shields.

Su Chen walked past a row of straw men, and the soldiers drawing the bows stopped and bowed to him.

"Keep practicing!"

Su Chen smiled at them, and under the protection of Dian Wei and Xu Chu, he returned to the ancestral coffin carriage, lit a stick of incense in front of the ancestors on the altar, and bowed three times.

After talking to the emperor for a while, a guard came to report: "Your Majesty, the general is waiting in the commander's tent."

"Your Majesties, I will go there first and talk to you when I come back!"

Su Chen waved to Cao Cao, Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang and other emperors, then lifted the curtain and walked out. This time Jia Xu came over, probably to talk about throwing the corpse into the barbarian city yesterday.

As soon as he entered the general's tent, he saw the old fox talking to Han Xin.

When the two saw Su Chen coming in, they stood up and bowed to greet him.

"Greetings to Your Majesty."

"Sit down and talk." Su Chen walked to the first seat with a smile. Han Xin on the other side also tactfully gave up his seat to let the emperor sit down.

After the three of them sat down, Su Chen asked Jia Xu why he came.

"I have come to see Your Majesty to report what happened last night. More than 2,000 rotten corpses have all been thrown into the Barbarian City."

Jia Xu had a peaceful face and his eyes were slightly narrowed, so it was hard to tell that his plan was sinister and vicious.

"…In addition, the 1,200 Sakpruit civilian captives were shot and killed at 4 a.m. today, and their bodies were burned and buried in the tunnel."

"No one among us took off their veils during the process, right?"

Su Chen poured warm water, "If there is, deal with it immediately. If you can't bear to kill it, exile it to another place."

"Your Majesty, do not need to worry about my work."

As the sky grew brighter, the October temperature gradually rose, and the fire in the western wilderness of Nongma was finally extinguished. Not many wheat fields were saved, barely enough to feed the army for a few days.

But most of the civilians inside and outside Nongmali had nothing to eat.

However, just when everyone was worried, some people in the city began to develop symptoms of fever, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness.

Hot weather is a time when people are prone to illness, so it is normal to have some headaches and fever.

Civilians who caught a cold would survive it if they could, but those who couldn't would mostly wait to die at home and then be thrown into a pit and buried.

After all, everyone gets sick, and not many people take it seriously.

But in the next few days, first civilians who fell ill and then soldiers in the army began to show such symptoms.

By the time Arthur and Merlin noticed this change, the number of people showing symptoms had reached tens of thousands, and the speed of spread was staggering.

Far away in the eastern plains, Jia Xu stood outside the tent, looking at Nongma City in the west. He stood in the sun for a long time, his eyes calm and steady, feeling the warmth of the sun above.

He seemed to have figured something out in his mind.

"It should have already started. Tell His Majesty to retreat a hundred miles."

As the sky light changed, hot winds and waves carrying an untouchable terror began to brew and quietly spread behind the towering city walls.

(End of this chapter)