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Chapter 30 Careful Preparation
In this snowy day, it is really a few joys and a few sorrows.

Li Ba and the others ate delicious food, drank fine wines, and embraced the beautiful dancers.However, the tribesmen in Huzhai had to go hunting deep in the mountains against the sharp north wind like a knife and the snowflakes all over the sky because all the dried meat was burned.

Teams of tribesmen wore thick animal skin jackets, carried big bows and broad swords, and walked to the depths of Damian Mountain under the eyes of their wives, children, and old people...

Going into the mountains to hunt in this season, even with a team led by a few astral warriors, is still full of dangers.

In the cold winter, the monsters in the mountains, without food sources, will attack any living thing in the mountains in groups, including humans.

Every member of the hunting team knows this well, but in order to let the elderly, wives and children have meat to eat, and to survive this cold winter safely, they will go on without hesitation no matter how dangerous the road ahead is!

When the hunting team left Huzhai and was about to enter the mountain, several teams came towards Huzhai.

Some of these teams have dozens of people plus a dozen or so carriages, some have a hundred or so people plus thirty or forty carriages, and some have only a dozen or so people and a carriage...

The carriages were all covered with black animal fur leather, and what was inside were dried meat waiting to be eaten.

The horses walked with difficulty on the knee-high snow, and the wheels pressed through the thick snow, leaving deep ruts.

These people are all clansmen from other small villages attached to Huzhai. They received a message from Huzhai and sent food to Huzhai one after another.

However, these meals are just a drop in the bucket for the huge Huzhai.

Li Kang, who was wearing a cloak, stood on the tall stone wall of Huzhai. The little white fox stared at his round black eyes and stood on his shoulder.

The whistling north wind made his cloak flutter. He looked at the convoy slowly approaching the Huzhai under the cliff, and at the clansmen riding horses away from the Huzhai and heading towards the mountain. A complex color.

"Li Ba and his son, the third prince of Qin, and the state of Qin, the current situation in Huzhai is all caused by you. I, Li Kang, will definitely make you regret it!" His eyebrows formed a deep "Chuan" , turned around and looked in the direction of Qin, and said secretly in his heart.

Not long after, Li Kang went down the stone wall and found the bald guard Li Tian and a large number of strong men, carrying stone hammers, black iron wood and other things as thick as a person, and headed towards the northwest corner of Huzhai.

Arriving at the foot of Xiaoshi Mountain in the northwest corner, he opened the entrance to the secret passage according to the method taught by Grandfather.

Then, a group of people walked towards the entrance of the cave, filed in, and soon all of them entered the secret passage.

Li Kang was walking while holding a torch, and found that the size of the secret passage was not uniform, but became wider as he went inward. After walking for half an hour, he reckoned that he had reached the center of the secret passage.

The secret path here is more than ten feet wide and several feet high, already existing like a hall.

Li Kang also discovered that the secret path here has a certain slope.

"Everyone, let's set up traps here!" He turned and said to the people behind him holding torches.

The clansmen put down the objects they were carrying one after another, and began to arrange according to Li Kang's instructions...

Soon, there was a beating sound of "ding ding dong dong" in the secret passage.

……

When time is busy, it always passes very fast, and four days have passed in a blink of an eye.

In the evening of this day, at the foot of Xiaoshi Mountain in the northwest corner of Huzhai, two large rocks slowly moved towards the two sides, making a "Kaka" sound.

The snow on it kept falling.

The rocks moved away and a secret passage appeared, and Li Kang, bald Jingwei and others walked out of the secret passage.

Li Kang's body was covered by the cloak, only the pair of star-like eyes were exposed outside, and there was a hint of a smile in them.

"After four consecutive days of busy work, the trap is finally set up. The next thing to do is to ambush people in the secret passage, and wait for Li Ba and others to take the bait!" He said to himself.

After four days of continuous toil, these people were already extremely exhausted. After leaving the secret path, they all walked to their own courtyards, preparing to go back and have a good rest.

Li Kang and the bald Jingwei stepped on the thick snow, making a "squeak" sound, and walked towards Grandpa's courtyard.

"Master Shaozhai, you said that now that the traps are set up, when will Li Ba and others come back?"

"It should be soon. In the next few days, they will definitely send a message to Li Li again. Then we can confirm the exact time of their arrival!"

……

While talking, the two walked towards the courtyard of the elders.

Not long after, they walked to the front of the elders' courtyard, and they came to the old fish tree that had lost all its leaves and only had bare taupe branches pointing to the gray sky.

"Woooo~~~"

"Woo~~~ Father, wake up..."

"Woo~~~ My son, daddy, you should open your eyes and take a look at our mother..."

……

The miserable cries of women and children drifted into the ears of Li Kang and the bald Jingwei along with the knife-like north wind.

Li Kang's heart skipped a beat, with a bad premonition, he and the bald Jingwei exchanged glances, and the two quickly walked away in the direction of the crying sound.

At the entrance of the east gate, which is hundreds of feet away from the elders' courtyard, there is an open area tens of feet in size.

At this moment, a group of people formed a circle here, and five lifeless big men were lying on the snowy ground inside. Their faces were pale, their bodies were covered with long wounds, and their gray-brown animal skins Clothes were stained with dried blood.

Beside these big men, there are women, old people, and children. They are lying on the already cold big men, slapping, calling, and crying...

"Father, open your eyes and look at us... If you leave, how will our mothers live... Woohoo!" The woman stretched out her red and swollen hands and grabbed the man's blood-stained animal fur coat, struggling Shaking, his eyes filled with tears.

She knew that when the man left, the pillars of the family would collapse, and so would her sky, and her heart ached like a knife!

Beside the woman is a skinny old man with white hair and one arm missing. He is squatting in front of another man, stroking the man's gray and cold face with a hand like wood, a pair of gray eyes There were tears in the old brown eyes, and he choked with sobs, "My son, why did you leave daddy behind so cruelly, and left alone!"

After a few breaths, the old man saw that the big man didn't respond at all, so he grabbed the walking stick by his side, slapped the man hard, and cursed loudly: "You unfilial son, wake up, you are so cruel. I'm going to kill you, Father... Father... Father... I'll kill you... Woohoo!"

The old man hit and cursed, and in the old eyes, drops of muddy old tears kept dripping, dripping on the man's gray and cold face.

Beside the old man, there was another pair of mother and son. The woman hugged the man's cold body, she didn't say a word, but she kept crying and weeping in a low voice.

"Father, wake up quickly. As long as you wake up, Xiaohu won't eat meat from now on, and you don't have to go hunting anymore... Woohoo!" The child next to her, his face was red from the cold, stretched out his blanket The cold cracked little hands grabbed the man's clothes and shook them, crying and calling came from the mouth missing two front teeth.

How much the child hopes that Dad can wake up, as long as Dad can wake up, he would rather not eat meat: he actually likes to eat meat!

……

The crowd around looked at this scene, worrying endlessly.

Several big men and women who were also covered in scars stepped forward to help the miserable crying women, old people and children.

Li Kang and the bald Jingwei also rushed here at this time, and the bald Jingwei grabbed one of the bruised men, and asked with a serious face, "What's going on?"

The man's face was full of grief and he said: "This time when we went hunting in the mountains, we encountered two blood demons from the initial level of demon soldiers. The captain and four other astral warrior brothers fought their lives and injured these two blood demons. We just escaped back from the demon. But... but the five of them died of serious injuries!"

After the man finished speaking, he lowered his head and shed tears.

Hearing this, Li Kang stretched out his hand and patted the man on the shoulder: "It's not your fault, it's Li Ba and his son who burned down our warehouse and forced us to go hunting when the mountains were covered by heavy snow!"

"Yes! All of this was forced by Li Ba and his son and the people of Qin, we must take revenge!" Hearing this, the man raised his head and his eyes were full of hatred.

Regarding the fact that Li Ba and his son colluded with the Qin people to burn the warehouse in Huzhai, the entire Huzhai clan knew about it, including the elderly and children.

These news were all learned from Li Li a few days ago.After this Li Li was captured by Li Chunshan, he kept silent about everything at first, but finally, under severe torture, he still confessed everything.

The matter of burning the granary in Huzhai was indeed done by Li Ba, his son and the Qin people. As for the matter of asking Li Li to come out to expose the identity of the fake elder, it was also Li Ba's account.

"Kill the Qin people, kill Li Ba and his son!"

"Kill the Qin people, kill Li Ba and his son!"

"Kill the Qin people, kill Li Ba and his son!"

……

The clansmen present immediately became excited, and even the eyes of the crying child who was lying on the ground with two front teeth missing were full of hatred.

Li Kang saw the reactions of the people in his eyes. When he saw the hatred in the eyes of the child, there was a complex look in the eyes: This is a child, who should be carefree!
"Elder!"

"Elder!"

"Elder!"

At this moment, the clansmen all bowed to the white-haired old man who was walking towards him from outside the east gate.

This old man was Li Chunshan who had just borrowed food from General Zhenbei. He looked at the people in front of him and the five lifeless men on the ground with a serious look on his face.

"What's the matter?" he asked in a low voice.

The bald Jingwei Li Tian asked the man who explained to him just now to report the whole story to the elder in detail.

After Li Chunshan learned the whole story, he stepped forward and asked the clansmen to carry the man's body to the Li family ancestral hall, and to appease the family members' emotions...

When all this was done, it was completely dark.

Li Kang and Grandpa returned to the courtyard, their hearts were a little heavy.

"Grandpa, how is the matter of going out to borrow food this time?" Li Kang asked, looking into Grandpa's eyes.

"Everything is going well. General Zhenbei asked me to send someone to transport food in ten days. The food is enough for our Huzhai for three months."

"That's good, but this winter lasts for more than three months, and the food sent by the small village attached to Huzhai is only enough for us for half a month, and we are still two months short of rations... But, hunting in the mountains There are many dangers, and five people have died the first time!" Li Kang said in a heavy tone.

Grandpa fell into silence when he heard the words.

After a long time, he sighed deeply: "In order for the people in Huzhai to survive this winter, I have to make some sacrifices!"

"Elder, elder, there are carrier pigeons!" At this moment, the voice of bald Jingwei Li Tian came from outside the door.

Li Kang opened the door, and Li Tian, ​​the bald Jingwei, entered the room with a pitch-black carrier pigeon in his arms, and handed the carrier pigeon to the elder.

Li Chunshan took the small black tube from the pigeon's leg and poured out a note from it.

Grandfather read the content on the note, looked at Li Kang's eyes full of solemnity and said: "The day after tomorrow, Li Qingsong and the Qin people will enter Huzhai through the secret road!"

"I, Yi, Ding, Want, Zai, Le, Li, Qing, Song!!!" Li Kang's eyes were full of hatred, he gritted his teeth and said every word.

(End of this chapter)