In previous years, it was September, and the south should still be hot at this time, but for some reason, the weather this year seemed very abnormal. It was just in September, and the weather began to get colder, especially the continuous rain these days, which added a little chill to the air.

In the dark night, the drizzle kept falling, making the whole earth wet.

There is a large forest in an unknown wilderness near Huaian Prefecture. Because this forest is close to the swamp and touched by poisonous insects and beasts, it is rare to come on weekdays. However, in the past two days, a large number of people suddenly came to this place where the people of Huaian Prefecture are filled with poor mountains and rivers, and they actually stayed here.

In the dark night, piles of bonfires were lit, and the fires dispelled the darkness and brought warmth.

Under a big tree that could be held together for seven or eight people, a bonfire was burning. Because it rained for several days, and the firewood was cut and had not been dried yet, the fire was not very hot, and thick smoke kept coming out, which made people around him cough constantly.

Li Zicheng, who had been running away for more than half a month, leaned under the big tree and closed his eyes to rest. Today, Li Zicheng no longer had the momentum of his former spirit.

The original color of the old felt hat, which was originally white, was no longer visible. It was covered with a half-old green cloth sheepskin robe on the iron armor, and it was full of mud. There was still a long knife, a cowhide arrow pouch and more than a dozen arrows hanging around the waist. The original vermilion lacquer and gold-painted vaguely could be seen in the cowhide arrow pouch.

To say that this vermilion lacquer is amazing, Comrade Zhu, founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, issued an order. Except for the emperor, no one in the Ming Dynasty was allowed to lacquer gold, and those who violated the plaque were executed. This plaque was worn by Li Zicheng since he became a bandit several years ago. This shows that Li Zicheng had long had a rebellious ambition in his heart.

Sitting opposite Li Zicheng was Liu Zongmin. This powerful general who had always been bloodthirsty and lustful now has no pride of the past. He sat aside like a defeated public board, and his clothes were also torn, which shows how embarrassed he has been these days.

Sitting next to Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin was Li Laiheng. Li Zicheng's hardcore confidant was much worse than Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin. Although these two looked quite embarrassed, their complexion was at least normal. However, Li Laiheng not only looked gray, but his left hand was also hung on his chest by a strip of cloth, and the strips with his arms tied were all dyed red.

"Ahem...Ahem...Ahem..."

A gust of wind blew, slamming around Li Laiheng, causing him to cough.

Hearing that Li Laiheng was coughing so hard, Li Zicheng asked with concern: "Brother Laiheng, are you okay? Why don't I ask Dr. Liu to come and take a look for you?"

Li Laiheng waved his hand while coughing, "Cough cough... cough cough... no... no need to win the king. Doctor Liu has been busy for a day, so let him rest. If even Doctor Liu is exhausted, no one will see us again.

Besides, Dr. Liu has no medicine in his hand now, and it is hard for a good cook to cook without rice. Even if Dr. Liu comes, he can't do anything."

"Hey……"

Liu Zongmin clapped his hands and said angrily: "The Jiangning Army, who is so ecstatic, keeps chasing us like a ghost. We haven't had a good rest these days. If we don't find a place to replenish our food and supplies, we will be exhausted if we continue like this."

"yes."

A trace of sadness appeared on Li Zicheng's face. It had been more than half a month, and the Jiangning troops were biting them tightly like gangrene attached to the bones.

The number of people around Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin and Li Laiheng has also decreased from the initial five or six thousand to less than one thousand now. This shows how powerful the people they lost in the past half month.

Li Laiheng's arm was injured by Jiangning Army's muskets in a battle a few days ago. Due to lack of medical treatment and medicine, his arm is now swollen like a carrot. The doctor said that if this continues, his arm will probably not be able to be saved.

Of course, although they are used to being defeated repeatedly, they feel distressed, but this is not the thing that worries them the most.

Past experience tells them that there are too many people who can’t afford to eat these days. As long as they are given a period of time and take over one or two county towns, they will have as many people as possible. What worries them the most is that there is not much left in the food they carry, which is the most deadly thing.

I originally thought that there was no food, and they could still send people to the forest or the mountains to hunt like before. Although it was not as good as before, they could always fill their stomachs. But these days they realized that the difference between Jiangnan and the places they passed by in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other places they had passed by in the past was too big.

The north is mostly plains and hills, and even in the wild, it can be hunted to some wild animals to satisfy their hunger, but it is different in the south of the Yangtze River.

Although Jiangnan is known to be rich in the world, there are still many wildernesses that are not yet crowded. There are swamps and lakes everywhere, with poisonous snakes, crocodiles and many unknown poisons. It is no exaggeration to describe it as a crisis. If a person enters it, he may die if he is bitten by a poisonous insect.

Although the Jiangning Army chased each other very tightly and killed many people, most of the reductions were caused by poisonous snakes, unknown poisonous insects, beasts and swamps.

In such an environment, it would be great to survive if you can only go out but not in. In addition, people eat horses and chew, the food is only enough for the team to eat for two days, which also makes Li Zicheng's head turn white.

Looking at Li Laiheng's pale face, Liu Zongmin could no longer hold it in his voice and lowered his voice: "King King of Chuang, brothers Laiheng... Why don't we take our brothers out for a vote? I've calculated that our place is less than a hundred miles away from Taoyuan County. We will arrive the day after tomorrow after marching overnight. As long as we can take Taoyuan County, our rebel army can breathe a sigh of relief."

"no!"

Li Laiheng said anxiously: "Now the Jiangning Army is chasing so tightly, especially those who don't stop at night, and their noses are more agile than dogs. Once they find their whereabouts, it will be difficult for us to escape with our current situation."

"What are you running away? Once you take Taoyuan County, you can find a place to stay. As long as we can give us twenty days to one month, I will be confident that I will be able to pull out another team of 10,000 or 20,000 people. At that time, are we afraid that those people will not be collected at night?"

Li Laiheng retorted: "But if the large group of Jiangning Army is attracted, can those mobs resist them? We had 70,000 to 80,000 troops a month ago, where are we now?"

Hearing this, Liu Zongmin drooped his head and said nothing.

"Bang……"
Chapter completed!