C38 (2/2)
There was a trace of worry on Xiu'er's face as she asked softly, ”Could it be that the old general isn't afraid ~ ~ ~”
Shi Donglai laughed loudly. ”Don't worry! After staying in Five Lotus Mountain for so many years, the thing he wanted to do the most was to kill all of these bastards! After thirty years, do you know how many Demonic Beast we have killed? And how many Border Army brothers had died at the hands of the Demonic Beast? I can't count it, I can't count it. ” Shi Donglai's voice became deeper and deeper, then stopped. His tiger eyes stared at the map, as though he was about to burn a hole in it. The surrounding officers were also silent. No one interjected as they watched him quietly.
After a while, Shi Donglai raised his head again and looked around. He then said in a loud voice, ”Since the Phoenix City Pass defense battle, and when the Demonic Beast arrayed themselves in a formation and went down the mountain, the Demonic Beast in the mountain are obviously harder to deal with than before. He said it was a feint this time, but every department had to work hard to advance, and did not seek to kill many Demonic Beast, nor ask for any victories. At the very least, they had to reassess the strength of the Demonic Beast, so as to let everyone know! If we can die while serving as soldiers and eating rations, we aren't afraid of dying! But not stupid! Stupid! Die for your foolishness! ”
”As per the lord's order!” The twenty-odd men roared in unison, causing the roof of the tent to shake a few times!
Three days later, the Wulian Border Army departments set off one after another. They would follow the detailed plans they had drawn up before and begin to split up to attack together, their target being the hilly areas three hundred and fifty kilometers away. If the military map was placed before their eyes, it would not be hard to find that Wulian Border Army had sent out a total of eight great armies. They actually sent most of their troops out just for this feint.
and Qu Feizhi, on the other hand, would lead the Phoenix City Pass Apprentice Knight s to follow behind Shi Donglai's army, and they would follow him all the way until there was a distance of between two hundred and fifty kilometers between them. Then, they would leave the battlefield during the most intense time of the battle, dive into the deepest part of the Wulian Mountain Range, and head straight towards the Moqiu State. But the thing that was slightly different from before was that Xiu'er could no longer be called Lady Xiu’er, but Lord Xiu. Because she was appointed by Shi Donglai as the twentieth battalion of Wulian Border Army, although it was an external battalion, her military rank was indeed Red Feather Battalion Commander. Shi Donglai had the final say in this Five Lotus Mountain. If he did not accept this order, he would not be able to pass through here!
Regarding this appointment, Chen Chu did not care, nor did Qu Feizhi care about it. On the other hand, the Xiu'er was so awkward about it, going from Lady Xiu’er to Lord Xiu. Especially since she did not even know her surname, there was an indescribable feeling. Shi Donglai had a good talk with her these few days. He had intentionally or unintentionally wanted to acknowledge her as his daughter, but Xiu'er had rejected him.
She said that her word ”beautiful” came from her adoptive parents, who had never read a single book for a living as fish, but that one word at least proved their gratitude to her for raising him. She also wanted to know the whereabouts of her biological parents. Hence, she could not agree to the matter of her foster father for the time being.
Although Shi Donglai was a little disappointed, he was a straightforward guy, so he revealed the matter with a laugh. However, after this matter, Xiu'er would no longer be able to reject the position given to him by the twentieth battalion. Furthermore, with this title, it was actually equivalent to them participating in this mission with Wulian Border Army. It would be of great benefit to their future generations.
After following Wulian Border Army for a few days as they marched on the mountain, Chen Chu and Qu Feizhi were extremely shocked by their way of marching. Eat on the mountain. Eat on the mountain. In the eyes of the mountain people, Five Lotus Mountain was not only a mountain, but also the source of all life. It was a mother, even a god. The most direct manifestation of this reverence was the march.
When Wulian Border Army marched through the mountains, other than cutting down the necessary plants, it basically would not casually chop down the trees. The route was winding and winding, following the terrain of the mountain. The mountain roads were rugged and the ground was rocky. There were shrubs half a meter tall and many branches high in the air. No matter which part of the upper, middle, and lower regions of the mountain path one could take care of, one would suffer somewhat. Almost every single Apprentice Knight in the Red Camp had experienced the pain of being pierced by a rock or slapped in the face by a tree branch before.
But Wulian Border Army would not.
Through the years of marching in the mountains, every single soldier of Wulian Border Army had developed a skill that could only be seen by others, but never learned. They seemed to have an instinct to avoid sharp stones, thorny shrubs, and flying branches. There was one time when Qu Feizhi saw a soldier riding a horse through the forest and flying past him unharmed. He had not ridden for a few days and felt extremely itchy in his heart, but now that he saw someone riding a horse in front of him, he could no longer control himself. He said that he wanted to learn how to ride in the forest, but the moment he got on the horse, his face changed and he whipped the horse on the butt. He wanted to learn how to run. As a result, not to mention galloping, Qu Feizhi almost died from the swatting of the tree branches just by running half a li away. A branch that was as thick as a wrist struck heavily on his nose. The dignified Lord Qu let out a blood-curdling screech, and fell down from his horse. After that, he covered his face with a white cloth for three whole days. Only after three days did he dare to see someone again. However, he had already stopped mentioning the matter of how the horses were being galloped in the forest.
Other than marching, the daily hunting could also see the reverence the Wulian Border Army's soldiers had for them. In the evening, when they set up camp, there would be soldiers hunting in the nearby forest. However, they would not kill wantonly. They would only hunt according to the standard of eating. And after they had hunted down their prey, the first thing they would do was to kill them with a single slash. They would not torture them or torture them to death. In addition, they also had an unwritten rule regarding hunting animals, which was, ”Don't kill the pregnant ones, don't kill the young, don't kill all of them.” Even if he picked fruits, he would only pick the fruit according to the principle of ”if you pick the fruit, you will leave behind the seed; if you save the three fruits, you will leave only one third of the fruit in the book”. After picking the fruit, the soldiers would leave marks on the tree trunk or nearby rocks, so that the comrades behind them wouldn't have to pick the fruit over and over again.
In Shi Donglai's words, it meant, ”One grass and one tree isn't easy to grow. One insect and one bird are both living beings. Today, killing a wild boar and killing a pheasant was not for the sake of everyone having a meal. This was the same logic as eating fish. It was a cycle. No one could say a word. But you can't kill him, you can't be greedy. If you kill everything in the mountain, then there's nothing in the mountain. If there's nothing in the mountain, how can you support yourself? You kill recklessly, I kill recklessly, and we kill to the end. If we kill all the stuff, then we can only kill each other. If you kill me, you win, and then you eat me. And then? How do you live? ”After all, isn't this playing yourself to death?”
His words caused Chen Chu and Qu Feizhi to nod their heads repeatedly in agreement. Who would have thought that an old soldier who had stayed in the mountains for half his life and did not know a bunch of big words would have such admirable opinions? However, Xiu'er said at the side that this was not something that could be learned in any school, nor was it something that any teacher could teach, because this was life. Her adoptive parents fished in the river for a living because of their reverence for the river and their gratitude for the fish. Without a net or a hook, this was a fisherman's greatest reverence for the river that gave him food.
But when Shi Donglai asked about Xiu'er's matters when he was young, Xiu'er did not know what to say. She said that she had contracted a strange illness when she was young, and had been unconscious for a long time. At this point, the little girl's eyes were filled with tears. She said that her own parents might have thrown her into the river because of this strange illness.
Seeing her like this, they didn't have any further questions and could only console her for a bit before changing the topic.
About ten days after the departure, the vanguard troops reported that they had ”engaged the Demonic Beast in battle!”