The homing birds fluttered their wings and landed on the branches, bowing their heads to comb their messy feathers.
Suddenly the ground shook slightly, it looked up sharply and looked around, and then it flew away.
At the end of the sky, the smoke was billowing, and a dozen or so fast horses were galloping along the official road in the vicinity.
The man on the horse, in his hat and slanted clothes, looked terrified, and just waved his whip, wishing he could be faster.
"boom."
This violent whipping angered the docile horses, and one of the riders let out a long roar, throwing the man on the horse's back to the ground.
The others didn't even look at their embarrassed companions, and continued to rush the horses forward.
The man who fell off his horse rolled twice on the spot, cursing in pain, but the horse ignored it and continued to run far away with the army.
Looking at the backs of his companions and horses, the wounded face twisted with anger.
His anger soon turned into fear, he struggled to stand up, and sat back heavily, his right calf bent abnormally.
The smoke and dust behind the official road became more and more dense, like a slowly advancing dark cloud, about to cover the entire sky.
"Help, someone here!"
The wounded shouted in despair. He was wearing a scout's clothes. He was going to go into the city to report the news, but now he was thinking about how to save his life.
There was a long winding trail of blood on the ground, and the abandoned scout used both hands to climb down the official road with difficulty, trying to climb into the woods beside the road.
At this moment, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulders, and before he could react, the whole person flew up like a cloud.
"you you… "
The scout was stunned for a while, before realizing that he had been rescued, and that the other party was highly skilled in martial arts.
He couldn't see what the person who rescued him looked like, the trees in front of him were rolling backwards, and he tried to speak, but when he opened his mouth, he was full of wind.
The wind whistled, and he even saw his companions who ran far away. Some people turned their heads to look at him in shock, and the tall city gate was close at hand, but there was no sign of opening. It was the same in the beginning. When the battle situation was critical, the scouts had to climb back along the ropes lowered by the wall, and the city gates would not be opened for them.
If you don't move quickly, you may be shot to death by the enemy's sharp arrows.
Now that his legs are broken, how can he climb up
Before thinking about it, the tall city wall covered with moss came into view, as if it was about to hit, the scout closed his eyes in fright.
"Your right leg is broken, hold back."
The scout opened his eyes in confusion, and then sat on the city wall. A person in front of him picked up a discarded short spear and folded it into two pieces for bone setting. The severe pain hit like a tide, and the scout screamed and passed out.
"Who are you?" the city wall soldier stammered.
Anyone who sees the rebel army approaching the city, and their scouts desperately fleeing back, suddenly joins a shadow that is too fast to see clearly. The sight will make you speechless.
They didn't even dare to approach.
"I am the doctor."
Mo Li said without raising his head, that the scout fell so hard that he couldn't wake up in a short period of time, and he didn't see how the man fell off the horse's back.
Although it's just a drop in, it's impossible to watch a person die in front of your eyes - you can't climb the city gate, let alone escape.
After quickly wrapping up, Mo Li slowly raised his head and looked at the guards who were facing him tremblingly.
- There were only over a hundred people in the entire city wall.
There were arrows and spears everywhere on the ground, as if they had been thrown away in a panic.
At this time, the rest of the scouts had just climbed up the city wall, and they were stunned when they saw the scene in front of them, and then someone roared and asked, "What's going on? People?!"
No one spoke.
Mo Li also didn't find anyone who looked like a military officer in the crowd. After a long while, an old soldier with a white beard came over and said harshly: "Everyone has run away, our Hua County used to be the Nanping Prefecture City, which is far from here. It's less than half a day away."
The Huaxian city wall is not too high, the city is not big, there are several artillery pieces on the city wall.
If the eight thousand soldiers defended the city with one heart, they might not be able to stop the army of the God-given King, but the magistrate did not intend to do so.
"There are not enough people. Since Nanping County has recruited a group of brothers, there are less than 3,000 left." The old soldier said dully.
Originally, the magistrate counted on the army of the King of Heaven to pass around the city. As they did before, they could save their lives as long as they couldn’t defend themselves. However, King of Heaven obviously didn’t want to work hard when they got to their destination, and went straight to Hua County. .
Mo Li turned around and looked into the city, where a lot of traffic was rushing towards the east gate—the city gate opposite to the city gate under his feet.
Regardless of the rich or the poor, they are desperately running away.
"Are they crazy? Once the army of the God-given King rushes around the city, they will surely die!" The scout lay on the city wall and said in shock.
Mo Li pursed his lips and said nothing.
In fact, if it is to save lives, the decision of Hua County officials is not stupid at all.
Before the bag of tuckahoe cake was robbed, Meng Qi told Mo carp like this—
"When you arrive in Nanping County, you don't have to go to the palace where King Jing is, -->>
Go first... Let me see, it should be Huaxian. "Meng Qi took advantage of the sand table of Fengxing Pavilion and looked at it for a while, and then solemnly said, "The King of Heaven has not encountered a hard battle along the way, even the one that defeated the 150,000 Jingzhou army is not counted, that is the Jingzhou army too underestimated the enemy, The leaders are all incompetent. Now he is about to encounter the first hard bone. Nanping County is not so easy to lay down, so he must find a place to rest for the night. No matter how bad it is, he has to find a place to park his food and grass, and if possible, he will need to replenish his soldiers, so he will not massacre the city. Killing all the people in the city will only make him more troublesome. "
It takes effort to hack and slash.
If the army is released in Huaxian with a sigh of anger, how can they gnaw on hard bones
Mo Li looked out of the city again, and the endless black army was still marching slowly.
The pace of tens of thousands of people, the rolling of horses' hooves and wheels... The tremors of the ground became more and more obvious.
"Strange, these dog thieves have slowed down?"
"Are we running too fast?"
The scouts took a sigh of relief, turned their heads to look again, and found that the advancement of the "dark cloud" was not as terrible as they had imagined.
Only the ink carp knew it wasn't.
- What Meng Qi said was right. For the sake of "morale", the king of heaven has always restrained the main force in the middle, so that they have no chance to kill.
Now, naturally, the army will not be allowed to go around the city to chase those people, including trying to prevent those people from seeing the people fleeing in Hua County, so the speed must be slowed down.
Those who escape will put pressure on Nanping County again, spreading panic wherever they go.
Mo Li closed his eyes, even if he knew it was useless, who wouldn't let the people escape
"... Dog officer!" A scout cursed, staring at the soldiers at the head of the city, "Why don't you run?"
The old soldier smacked his lips, looked at the crowd crowded out of the city, and showed a strange expression that didn't know whether to cry or laugh: "Someone has to stand here to drag the time, isn't there your family in there?"
"We... a bachelor, you don't have to kill someone else's family!" the scout shouted with his neck stuck.
"Let's go if you want." The old soldier was not annoyed, and said to himself, "If you want to go, hurry up, or it will be too late."
The scouts hesitated for a while, some left, and more remained.
"If you don't go, just pick up a weapon on the ground. Hurry up! It's going to be cleaned soon, at least you can't let it get in the way!"
While shouting, the old soldier looked at the ink carp secretly. He had been guarding the city for many years and knew that these high-ranking people in the rivers and lakes were not easy to mess with. He usually just pretended that he didn't see it, but now the situation is critical, and the other party has no intention of leaving. The old man couldn't help but get nervous.
In addition to him, there are many pairs of eyes quietly watching the ink carp. After all, it is the first time they have seen the same person who jumped up from the city wall a few feet high.
Mo Li lowered his eyes. In fact, according to Meng Qi's plan, Hua County had already surrendered without a fight when Mo Li came. What he wanted to enter was a city occupied by the God-given King, which was easy for him.
Under the command of the God-given King, who can "recover" the people the most, who is the one who "suppresses" the situation
Holy Lotus Altar.
The army will not enter the city, only the team escorting food and grass and the Holy Lotus Altar will be stationed in Huaxian. If you are lucky, it is very likely to "block" the Holy Lotus Altar Master Luo.
"Don't act rashly, the main thing is to find out how close the relationship between the king of heaven and the holy lotus altar is, who does the upper class of the rebel army listen to, and which subordinate does the king of heaven best trust the most? what location, etc."
At that time, Meng Qi was reluctant to let go of Mo Li's hand, and sighed, "We know too little about the King of Heaven. Only when we know ourselves and the enemy can we have a correct response. Ah Li, promise me, no matter what, wait. I'll do it again when I get back."
The memories gradually dissipated, turning into the feared but strong faces of the Huaxian city leaders, as well as the cries of hurriedly fleeing for their lives in the city.
They don't know the art of war, they don't have the courage to fight against one hundred, they don't know martial arts, and they are ordinary people who can't be more ordinary.
But it was the only thing Meng Qi didn't guess.
- Not to be loyal to King Jing, not to swear to death but not to flee, to defend a city that is destined to be unstoppable.
He died for the relatives behind him and for the life of the people in this city.
Mo Li shook hands unconsciously, just like Meng Qi was still holding his hand.
Then he opened his eyes and said to the soldiers who were watching him quietly: "I also have relatives in Hua County. They are a big family, four or five carriages, and they are in the crowd at the city gate. I just caught up with them. , I can't take so many of them away, and now I can only do my best to block the rebel army. If the city gate is not broken for a while, they will have an extra chance to survive."
Everyone's eyes lit up.
Especially Mo Li also added: "We can leave when everyone is gone."
There is still a chance to live! All the soldiers almost jumped up, looking at the slow pace of the God-given King's army, the fewer and fewer people in the city, their faces were full of sadness.
- They don't necessarily have to die!
The originally depressed and dull atmosphere was swept away, and some people even rushed to hand over weapons to the ink carp in high spirits.
"This bow is very useful. It belongs to our little commander. His family has money and he buys high-quality goods."
"That's right, and this spear, when he ran away, he disliked it and threw it away..."
"Get out of the way, no one is as good as my arrows, my grandfather is a blacksmith! I'm worried that the arrows are not accurate, I can't kill the leader of the dog thief, and I wasted a good arrow!"