allonlinenovel Chapter 301: March to Humu Pass
Chapter 301: March to Humu Pass
Chu Xiaomu followed the army southward. Zuo Heng did not order the men to gallop, but they just walked at a brisk pace, and it seemed that they were not in a hurry.
A square-faced soldier in front suddenly turned around and asked Chu Xiaomu, "Brother Chu, did you bring back a few light red ponies with a strip of white hair on their backs when you returned to the camp?"
Chu Xiaomu nodded and said, "Yes, there are nine horses in total. Some people say that these horses are called dragon-spotted horses, and they are rare and good horses."
The square-faced soldier said disdainfully, "What dragon spots and pig spots? I tell you, those things are not horses at all!"
Chu Xiaomu was puzzled and asked, "If they are not horses, then what are they?"
The square-faced sergeant deliberately did not answer, and said mysteriously: "This morning, a strange thing happened in our stable. Guess what happened?"
"What's weird?"
"Those nine little creatures actually teamed up to bite the leading horse in our stable until it was covered in blood! A horseman who tried to catch them was bitten as well."
"No way? They are so small."
"Hey, you still don't believe it, right?" The square-faced sergeant pulled over another slightly fat sergeant next to him and said, "Wang Saner, tell him if I said anything nonsense?!"
Chu Xiaomu smiled and said, "It's not that I don't believe it, I just find it strange. They are so small and their teeth haven't even grown yet, how could they bite the head horse so hard that it was covered in blood?"
Wang Saner stared with his big round eyes and said, "It's true. Those nine things are not horses, but monsters. How can there be such a ferocious horse at only a few months old? And... and..."
The square-faced sergeant punched him and said, "And what? Tell me now?"
Wang Saner looked exaggerated, deliberately lowered his voice, and said: "I heard from the horse officer that they all have fangs in their mouths!"
Chu Xiaomu thought, the beast spirit Xiangli said that they were extremely rare dragon zebras, and they happened to be born by chance, so they were of course different from ordinary horses. You don't know them, but you say they are not horses but monsters, which is really ridiculous. He also thought that no matter how he explained, they would definitely not believe it, so he asked: "What happened later, they didn't hurt other horses?"
The square-faced soldier said, "It's bad enough to hurt the first horse, but you still want them to hurt other horses? We went to great lengths to catch them, even calling in the left battalion. I sprained my back and it hurts now!"
When Chu Xiaomu heard that the dragon zebras were captured, he asked anxiously, "What did you do with them?"
The square-faced soldier said, "Who knows? They were all captured by the horse officer. Such a ferocious monster was probably cooked and eaten."
Chu Xiaomu was shocked and pulled the reins involuntarily. The horse under his crotch immediately neighed and stood up. Everyone didn't know what had happened to him suddenly, and they all looked at him curiously.
Chu Xiaomu said anxiously: "They are really dragon zebras, you must not eat them!"
The square-faced soldier said, "It doesn't matter if it's a dragon or pig, if it bites people, it's no good. It's useless to worry now, maybe it's already eaten by the horse officers and soldiers."
A sergeant captain shouted at Chu Xiaomu and others: "What are you making so much noise for? Do you want to be beaten with a stick? Hurry up!"
Chu Xiaomu had no choice but to pat the horse and continue on his way, feeling unhappy.
It was almost the hour of Xu, the sun had already set, and the sky was gradually getting dark. Suddenly, half of the sky on the right side lit up, alternating between red and blue, which was very strange.
Looking up at the sky, they saw three huge stars, two red and one blue, blooming in the air. This was exactly what Huang Jieshi had mentioned as the starburst. Everyone had never seen such a strange sight before, and they were all stunned.
Chu Xiaomu thought, what the astronomical expert Huang Jieshi said was indeed correct. A starburst really occurred after dark today. As one of the three great men in the four countries, this man must have some real skills. So what he said to Jinglan and me was probably not false, but where is that "unseen peak"? Does anyone here know?
Wang Saner, who was standing in front of Chu Xiaomu, said, "This red and blue thing is called 'Starburst'. I heard from my grandfather that he had the good fortune to see it once when he was young. He said that anyone who has seen 'Starburst' will soon have good luck..."
Another soldier beside him laughed and said, "I seem to remember that your grandfather was a slave in Baijun City. He fled to Bicheng and gave birth to your father. You said that seeing the Starburst would bring good luck, so how did he become a slave?"
Wang Saner's face immediately turned red, and he said, "My...my grandfather escaped to Bicheng, and he no longer had to be a slave. He also gave birth to my father. Isn't this great luck?"
The square-faced soldier said, "That's great now. More than 480 people in our Nan Dui camp have seen the 'starburst' in the sky. Maybe half of the people in Bicheng have also seen it. So many people will be lucky, so who will be unlucky?" After saying that, he burst into laughter.
Wang Saner had nothing to say.
The soldier next to him sighed and said, "This kind of thing is illusory after all. Perhaps only a strange man like Huang Jieshi, who understands the magic of astronomy and geomancy, can see the truth behind it."
……
Chu Xiaomu found what they said interesting, so he listened to them talking along the way, occasionally interjecting a few words, which reduced a lot of boredom and hardship during the journey.
After three days of marching, hundreds of soldiers from Nan Dui Camp finally arrived at the site of the former Nan Ding Camp. Looking at the dilapidated camp gate, wooden walls, military tents and other objects, and thinking of the laughter and noise here more than a month ago, and the strong men and horses and the swords and spears like a forest, everyone felt pity. Some soldiers even sobbed softly.
The camp officer Zuo Heng said loudly: "These are all caused by the Claw Tribe of the Sha Kingdom. We must remember this great humiliation and will never return to the city until we have avenged this great humiliation!"
The soldiers shouted loudly: "We will never return to the city unless we avenge this!"
After another day of marching, several hundred people gradually arrived at Humu Pass. The originally gentle hills began to rise and fall in all kinds of strange shapes, and there were more and more trees of various heights and shorts with branches and twigs. The Bicheng official road, which was more than ten feet wide, gradually narrowed, and in the end it was only three or four feet wide, only wide enough for a single horse to move forward. The road surface became more rugged and uneven, and the marching speed became slower.
The mountain became more and more dangerous, with rocks on both sides, forming a series of crisscrossing valleys. In the valleys, there were clouds and mist, and ancient trees grew in clusters. The white mist rolled constantly between the rocks like the waves of the Kun River, and from time to time it rushed over the soldiers, as cold as the north wind in deep winter. Although everyone was sweating, the cold air blew on their bodies, and the hot sweat turned cold.
After climbing over a mountain, the view in front of us became extremely wide. Looking ahead, there was a huge stone archway hanging on the opposite cliff, like a crouching tiger or a lying leopard. It was the most dangerous Humu Pass in Cangmu Country.