A group of people gathered on the side of the desolate road, with yellow faces and thin skin, and their clothes were disheveled. Occasionally, when they raised their heads, they looked greedily at the pedestrians by the roadside. The people who fled all the way hurriedly walked by, and they couldn't avoid these refugees who were in a worse situation. They wished to hide like a plague.
Among the troop that fled south, there were also a few wealthy families, with servants and guards, driving two or three carriages, slowly advancing in the crowd. In one of the carriages, a young girl lifted the curtain and saw the homeless people on the side of the road. She couldn't bear it and said, "Mamma, these people seem to be starving to death."
The nanny next to her quickly persuaded: "Oh, miss, don't let them see you! If these refugees are staring at us, we won't be able to return to Jiangnan even if we have ten lives."
The girl didn't seem to understand the meaning of the nurse's words, but soon, she understood the reason.
Suddenly, there was a quarrel among the refugees, causing a commotion. The girl couldn't help but look at it again. She saw a group of scrawny people snatch a less-than-year-old baby. The baby was not as big as a cat, but the belly was strange It was swollen, and it was obvious that he was seriously ill and had not lived long. The baby's mother could only watch helplessly as her companions scrambled for her child, her fingers on the ground covered in mud and blood.
"What are they doing?"
The girl was stunned. The nurse quickly pulled her back and persuaded: "Miss, how can you manage so many years of eating people. You don't think about it, there is no farming in the northwest, and there is no food. You say, what do they eat to live like this? Long?"
The girl was stunned when she heard the words. At this time, in her eyes, the pale face of the refugees was no longer pitiful and pathetic, but rather like a hungry beast, which made her feel terrified. Seeing this, the nanny hurriedly closed the curtain to block the malicious gazes from outside the car.
The carriage continued to move forward, and the refugees and the refugees also drew a clear line. Beyond the boundaries, the dehumanized beasts occasionally swept the crowd with fiery gazes, as if looking for worthy prey.
Soon, they found their target.
It was a group of three or five passers-by, including an old man with white hair, a young girl who had not reached the age of a hairpin, and a unconscious patient lying on a donkey cart. The only healthy man among them was injured. The refugees quietly glanced at each other and followed quietly, until these people gradually separated from the southbound army, they stretched out their dry hands and wanted to grab the girl first.
They think beautifully, the girl's meat is the most tender, whoever grabs it first will win!
"what!"
However, the person who stretched out his hand quickly wailed, and a severed limb fell to the ground.
The man who was at the end drew his sword and slashed one person, and said viciously, "Who will come again?!"
The refugees were frightened and did not dare to act rashly, but they still surrounded them like hyenas smelling blood, staring at these people with green eyes.
And the man with the sword is already at the end of the road, but he still supports himself to protect this group of old and weak. The girl beside him supported the old man, looked at him, and shouted anxiously, "Senior brother!"
The man raised his head, revealing a familiar face - Xiao Yingran. It turned out that this group of people was actually the long-lost Bai Mei Ke and others.
"Qingqing, you go first with Master and Zang Shaoxia. Keep up with the team and find a kind person to take you for a ride." Xiao Yingran held on to the long sword, holding back the blood from his throat, said.
Bai Qinghuang said anxiously, "What about you, Senior Brother!"
"Leave me alone! You're not leaving!"
While talking, another refugee rushed up, Xiao Yingran slashed and injured a few more people, but the situation was over, and others had already seen that he was at the end of the shot.
Having said that, shouldn't Xiao Yingran be looking for Xiao's secret treasure, why is it here? Why did Bai Mei Ke and Zang Feng get seriously injured and the other unconscious? Before these unsolved mysteries are yet to be solved, the hungry beasts formed by the refugees will devour them.
Seeing that more and more people came around and lost the chance to escape, Xiao Yingran couldn't help but feel grief and indignation. Are they destined to be buried here? Thinking of this, Xiao Yingran finally couldn't help it and vomited out a mouthful of painstaking effort.
Chance!
One of the refugees closest to him had his eyes glazed, and he roared and rushed up. The mouth full of yellow teeth couldn't wait to take a bite of meat from Xiao Yingran. Xiao Yingran gritted his teeth and was about to fight to the death.
Suddenly, a cold light flashed, like thunder, and pinned the refugee to the ground. The refugee who was pierced by the arrow looked at his chest in confusion, and was about to reach out to touch—
shhhhh! Another three arrows of light quickly stabbed the people on the ground into a sieve, killing his last breath.
Xiao Yingran raised his head in astonishment, and saw arrows like rain, hitting the sky.
Soon there was a burst of howls and howls of ghosts and wolves in the refugee group, and they all fled for their lives in panic.
Immediately afterwards, several people saw the people who had fled south in front of them leaving and returning, the carriage circling hurriedly on the stone road, only to hear people crying: "Xiqiang people, Xiqiang people are here to kill! "
In the distance, a group of Western Qiang soldiers with weapons gradually appeared. Their swords were still stained with blood, and they seemed to have been waiting on the road for a long time. Among the crowd, those ornately decorated carriages were their primary target. For a time, wealth became a deadly poison. The girl who was sitting in the carriage earlier held on to the frame of the carriage in panic and watched the bandit-like soldiers from the Xiqiang rush over with a roar. And her wet nurse lost her life long ago.
"Save me, save me!" the girl shouted desperately.
Xiao Yingran clenched the long sword tightly and was helpless. Now, just racking his brains to keep his master and sister has exhausted his mind, and he has no time to care about others. Just when he was about to watch the innocent and weak being killed by the minions of the Xiqiang people—
Whoosh! A long white-feathered arrow came from the sky, pierced the throat of the Xiqiang soldier who was rushing towards the girl with a grim face, and took his life exactly.
The centurion of Xiqiang, who was directing his subordinates to burn, kill, and loot, changed his face and looked at the northwest sky, as if seeing some ominous sign.
Xiao Yingran was also stunned, he looked at his feet.
The earth is shaking.
It was as if a giant stepped on this desolate land step by step, making a trembling sound.
The gravel on the ground was slightly undulating, and the leaves were shaking. Suddenly, with a dull rumbling sound, a group of heavily armed cavalry rushed out from the sparse forest! They were dressed in black armor, with white feathers on their heads, and with long spears in their hands, they were majestic.
"Kill!" the knights shouted, and eight or nine horses galloped down.
The one rushing in front was a black horse. The knight on the black horse did not hold a long spear, but charged at the front of the array with a long sword in his hand. I saw him rise into the sky, a sword pierced the chest of the Xi Qiang centurion who was caught off guard, and in the surprised eyes of the other party before he died, he retracted the blood-stained sword. Then he gave an order, and the cavalry rushed towards the Xiqiang people, fighting with unparalleled vigor, and quickly scattered the rushing camp of the Xiqiang soldiers, killing them one by one.
The leading knight turned his horse's head and said with murderous intent, "Not a single one!"
"Yes!"
The cavalry scattered away, chasing and killing the fleeing Xiqiang soldiers.
The people were still in panic, but the knight came slowly on his horse and stopped in front of the people who were still in shock. The refugees looked at him with more fear than gratitude in their eyes.
"Thank you for saving your life!"
In the crowd, a middle-aged man dressed in wealth knelt down, kept kowtowing, and said with a trembling voice: "The lord saved the little girl, the villain has nothing to return, only some small money to thank the lord." People go to the carriage to fetch things.
In the eyes of the refugees, there is not much difference between Xiqiang and Central Plains soldiers, but one is unreasonable to kill for money, and the other can use money to buy life. They have seen a lot of Daqi soldiers who have suffered defeats on the frontline over the years, and in the blink of an eye, they have plundered the people under the banner of bandits in the rear!
The knight stopped him.
"Where are you going?"
The middle-aged man looked at him and said hesitantly: "There are frequent wars in the northwest, and the villain wants to go south, seeking a chance of life."
"You can't go to the south." The dark horse knight said, "The elites of the Prince of Xiqiang are ambushing on the official road to Jiangnan, and you are just going to die."
The middle-aged man asked in surprise: "How can this happen?" The Xiqiang people went deep into the hinterland, didn't they seek their own death
The knight said indifferently: "The battle of the whole country, let's fight here. The big prince is just sinking the boat." He reminded, "If you want to find a way to survive, you can go to the Black City in three days."
"Heicheng, but that is the territory of the Xiqiang people."
"After three days, it won't be."
The knight dropped these words and was about to leave, but stopped again and asked something.
After a disappointing answer, he took the reins and left silently. At this time, when the refugees saw that the knight and his subordinates were not so vicious, they couldn't help but dared to ask, "Who is that lord just now, and what does he mean?"
A soldier said: "Don't you know? This is the town general who was personally appointed by His Royal Highness! This time I came to the border to recover the lost land and drive out the thieves!"
The people were startled and wanted to know the origin of the town general, but they saw that the general pulled the reins again and walked towards the end of the line.
Xiao Yingran held the long sword and looked at the approaching person vigilantly, but saw the dark horse knight parked a foot away from them, reached out and took off his helmet.
His long black hair was tied behind his head, and some scattered pieces fluttered in the wind, wanton arrogance, but the knight's eyes like ink had already looked over, only to hear him whisper: "Why are you here? "
With a bang, Xiao Yingran's sword fell to the ground. However, Bai Qinghuang had already exclaimed in surprise: "Commander Qin!"
It turned out that the town general was Qin Shan.