After the immortal disappeared

"How many casualties did we have?"

"Seven people were injured, one was quite serious, but he didn't die." The soldier said, "The bandits are a mob, but the stronghold is well built and difficult to fight." These bandits are very good at martial arts, and they have no Yuan power to use. When they encounter If you join their regular army, wouldn't that mean lying down and waiting for death?

Fu Xin sighed: "Isn't there still someone injured? There are villages everywhere, why not just occupy one? Having food and drink is better than this remote mountainous area."

It is always easier to attack good people than to attack bandits.

"It's more secluded here." Hong Chenglue walked out of the terraced house and answered the question smoothly, "We also have food and drink."

When he lived in Bailu Town, he knew that this bandit den was the largest within a hundred miles, with more than three hundred people. With so many mouths needing to eat every day, it is impossible to rely solely on going down the mountain to rob. There are rumors that these bandits will collude with merchants at the foot of the mountain and exchange the proceeds from plunder for food.

Even though Hong Chenglue led a surprise attack, it took four or five hours to defeat them. When they opened the warehouse later, they found that there was no shortage of food and various supplies, and everyone was overjoyed.

In fact, farmers know very well that when the harvest in the field is not good and you can't steal food from your neighbors, you might as well go to the field to find voles. There may be surprises in the mouse holes, and they can at least manage a few meals.

Apparently the "field mice" they killed this time were diligent and thrifty, and even saved money in lean years.

"Hong!" Fu Xin's eyes turned red as soon as he saw him. He rushed up and grabbed him by the collar, "What do you mean by leaving us in the mine to die?"

The guard behind him wanted to step forward and pull him away, but Hong Chenglue waved his hand.

"I asked everyone to evacuate, but you refused." Hong Cheng said calmly, "Isn't it my fault that the entire army was annihilated despite the military order?"

"You didn't go down the mountain to intercept the officers and soldiers at all, why is that!"

"We went down the mountain and found no trace of the officers and soldiers. We couldn't return empty-handed. We just went to carry out the general task assigned by Marshal Nian, which was to attack and burn grain and grass behind enemy lines. What's the problem?"

Fu Xin looked around and found that he was not so angry that he still found that the number of people was wrong: "Then you succeeded in burning? Huh? Did you use us as bait to kill the state officials and burn the food and grass?"

He shouted louder and louder, and finally it turned into a roar, and all the soldiers in the row house came out.

Hong Chenglue grabbed his wrist and turned it outward, then punched Fu Xin in the chest, knocking him back five steps and almost falling to the ground.

The guards behind Fu Xin rushed forward.

Hong Chenglue put his hands behind his hands and asked, "Where is General Baili? At the worst, you can always use the mine tunnel to evacuate from the back mountain, right?"

What he left for Baili Qing and others was not a dead end.

As long as he sees the opportunity quickly, Baili Qing still has a chance to escape.

Fu Xin was angry and remained silent, but his personal guards answered: "The officers and soldiers of Xiazhou went around the back mountain, blew up the exit of the mine tunnel, and sent out smoke. General Baili... was captured. We were lying in ambush on the top of the mountain and saw, The leading general Xiazhou killed everyone."

There was an uproar in the village, and even Hong Chenglue had a vein twitching on his forehead.

Did the officers and soldiers kill all the surrendered soldiers in Baili Qinghe's mine? So cruel.

However, considering that there is no better way to deal with the prisoners when marching to transport food, it is indeed easiest to kill them all.

He stared at Fu Xin: "Then how did you survive? Are you greedy for life and afraid of death?"

Fu Xin was furious, but the coldness in his eyes made his back stiffen. He pinched his neck and said, "Let's take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and fight our way out!"

"Abandoning the general and running away is punishable by death." Hong Chenglue's words made him feel cold in his heart.

"But we are short of manpower. I will give you a chance to make a difference." Hong Chenglue suddenly drew his sword, and Fu Xin felt a cold feeling on the back of his hand, followed by pain.

A piece of his little finger fell to the ground.

He yelled "Ah" and covered his left hand, which was bleeding.

After his shouting subsided, Hong Chenglue continued: "If you dare to cause trouble again, or make false remarks, or instigate conflicts, or are greedy for life and fear of death, you will lose your head."

Fu Xin lowered his head and stopped looking at him, but he gritted his back molars.

Hong Chenglue glanced at them, and everyone lowered their heads.

With Bailiqing dead, this army must obey Hong Chenglue's command. They had nowhere to go, Xiazhou was the enemy's rear area.

Hong Chenglue said again: "Take off your clothes."

Fu Xin looked up and said in disbelief: "What?"

"Take off your clothes and undergo inspection to avoid being under a tracking spell."

Being stared at by hundreds of pairs of eyes, Fu Xin's face turned red: "No, I, I..." Taking off his clothes in front of so many soldiers was even more uncomfortable than dying.

Deputy General Xu Yingxian hurriedly came up to smooth things over: "It's okay to take it to the townhouse for inspection! General, that's okay too."

Hong Cheng slightly nodded.

So several guards came forward and took Fu Xin to the hut next to him.

Hong Chenglue turned around and left, his face as dark as ice.

Wu Qing had been standing in the row house watching for a long time, and then he came out and asked him: "General Hong, what are your plans next?"

"Hide your capabilities and bide your time. He Chunhua's nearly 10,000 shi of food will definitely be transported to the front line. We have no way to intercept it. We can only wait for the next operation behind enemy lines."

"Send some men to visit three or four counties and towns in the central and northern parts of the country to get more information." Hong Chenglue had already made a plan, "Also, ask Nian Shuai for another 300 rangers."

The two entered the terraced house. Seeing that there was no one else here, Wu Qingcai whispered: "General Baili died and Fu Xin escaped. Isn't this an accident?"

"Of course not." Hong Cheng slightly snorted, "The Xiazhou people put them back specifically to cause trouble for me. Fu Xin has more than a dozen of them anyway. Our sneak attack on the Xinhuang military camp was unsuccessful and morale is low. This is not the time. Move him."

He also lowered his voice: "When does the superior want me to return to Bejia?"

"Shuangye Guoshi said that you can hold on as long as you can behind enemy lines. You should pay more attention to the situation on the Hanhe front line."

The situation on the Hanhe front line? In other words, when can he return to Bejia? It depends on his performance in Hanhe? Hong Chenglue pondered: "I have been away for too long. Which national teacher is leading our country now?"

"Currently, Imperial Master Mian Bing is in charge of the palm seal." The palm seal has the power to make decisions, and the four Imperial Masters have always taken turns holding the seal.

Hong Chenglue's pupils shrank slightly, but then returned to normal: "What a coincidence, it was her palm prints when I left." No wonder Master Shuangye doesn't have the confidence to speak now.

Wu Qing smiled and said, "Yes, yes." But in his mind, he had heard that there was a rift between General Hong and Imperial Master Mian Bing, and it seemed to be true.

The two discussed supplies again, and soon a personal guard came to report:

"Fu Xin's self-examination has been completed, and no tracking magical powers or objects were found."

"I know." Hong Chenglue waved him away. After knowing this search, Fu Xin hated him even more.

And many soldiers in this village criticized him. After all, Hong Chenglue was from Bejia, and these were Xunzhou rangers. "General Bejia doesn't take the lives of the people of Xunzhou seriously." Hong Chenglue heard this with his own ears during his inspection.

If it's not your own soldier, it won't be easy to use.

He asked Wu Qing again: "How is Ah Jin's place? Can she get used to it?"

Wu Qing smiled and said: "Don't worry, the village is very hidden. My wife has two attentive women to wash and eat, and there are people to chat with her. She is much more comfortable than you."

Hong Chenglue was still a little worried: "I was thinking, should I take her over?"

"It's best not." Wu Qing said truthfully, "We don't have a fixed place, and we don't know when we will move. It's too hard for a... weak woman to follow the tour." The main reason is that it is inconvenient.

Hong Chenglue took a breath and nodded, rationally knowing that this should be the case.

Wu Qing continued: "In the past few days, various towns and villages have been arresting bandits and spies, and strictly interrogating strangers and strangers. I heard that the jails in Haotian Township were full, and dozens of people were pushed out to beheaded. In public, there was a lot of noise and unprecedented tension.”

"Mr. Wu, you won't be implicated, right?"

"It's okay. My team has official credentials and they can't catch me. The more famine the years go, the more important businessmen like us are." Wu Qing sighed, "The township officials also spent great efforts to send people to travel to various mountain villages to dig in the ground. Sanchi wants to find the people of Xunzhou. General Hong is really far-sighted. If you just occupy a mountain village, you will have to retreat in embarrassment."

"This should be an order from a state official, and officials from all over the country have to follow it. I burned tens of thousands of stones of military rations for He Chunhua, and he went crazy."

Wu Qing smiled and said: "Yes, the reward for you will soon be posted all over the central and northern parts of Xiazhou."

Hong Chenglue was not worried about himself: "Is there a reward for Ah Jin?"

"I didn't see that."

After the discussion, the two went to do their own things.

￥￥￥￥￥

Benlei Village.

The spring water is rising and the stream is gurgling.

Two peasant women were washing clothes by the stream. They looked up at the sky and said, "Why does it look like it's going to rain? It was sunny just now!"

A large group of dark clouds came from nowhere and blocked half of the sky. The sun was shining brightly above their heads, but the sky to the east was dark.

"Hurry up and wash up. Come back as soon as you're done."

"It's spring, and it rains all the time. The sun finally comes out, and it's only been a few hours." The peasant woman complained, "The firewood is damp, and it's hard to light a fire, and it can choke people to death."

"Aunt Liu, I want to ask you something." Another peasant woman said, "Aren't you helping in the kitchen of Village Chief Chen's house? I heard that the village chief has several relatives here?"

"Ah, yes." Aunt Liu grabbed her clothes and beat them hard. "It seems that the female relatives of a wealthy family in the south got sick and were sent to the countryside to rest."

"How come I heard there are many people?"

"There are quite a few people. There are only three or four women. There are also a few men who seem to be guards...or are they guards? One is thin and the other is strong. They look at everyone as if they are glaring at them. Their faces are very fierce." Aunt Liu said, "These people are here to serve the female family members."

The peasant woman asked curiously: "What kind of disease do you have to be sent to the countryside instead of being treated in the city?" Who doesn't know that the conditions in the city are better, and even one or two doctors in the countryside are barefoot immortals. How can medical skills be compared with those in the big city?

"I don't understand either. I just know that the village chief gave away all the big houses for people to live in. The noble lady doesn't leave the house all day long, and almost no one has seen her."