A group of well-equipped soldiers are escorting the Shenwu Army's military pay for the past two years.
The Shenwu Army is one of the six armies of the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Among the emperor's six armies, the Yulin Army is the emperor's personal army and is responsible for guarding the capital and even the entire Gyeonggi region.
The Changlin Army is the prince's personal army, with the smallest number. It only maintains a strength of 3,000 people, and is directly commanded by the prince. It was established by Taizu. Its purpose is to enable all princes to know military affairs, so that there will be no emperor of a certain generation because of his incompetence. The result of knowing military skills and leading a personal expedition was that the entire army was wiped out and he himself was captured.
The Tiance Army was the northern border army of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It was mainly responsible for the war against Daqian and the mobile defense of the northern border.
The Shence Army was the army in the Western Region of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It mainly suppressed the countries in the Western Regions, ensured the smooth flow of trade routes in the Western Regions of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and ensured the submission of the Western Regions countries.
The Longwu Army was the main force in the northeastern territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It mainly guarded against King Zhao's unusual movements and also attacked Jiannu.
Finally, there is the Shenwu Army.
This is the largest army among the six armies of the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It is responsible for defending against enemy attacks on the eastern coast, attacking restless countries in the south, and chieftains who want to cause chaos.
The soldiers of the Sixth Army are usually personally escorted by their own personnel.
In addition to making the soldiers feel at ease, it can also greatly increase the fighting spirit of the escorts. You know, it is all their money! Isn't robbing the military pay just robbing their hard-earned money?!
The escorting sergeant will burst into full combat power at this time!
"General Cheng, why did the imperial court choose a rainy day like this to transport money? This road is too difficult!"
The adjutant in charge of the escort couldn't help but complain.
The Jiangnan area is mostly hilly, and the official roads are not easy to repair in the first place. When it rains, the roads immediately become muddy.
"We have to work harder, but the brothers in the south are waiting for this batch of money!"
General Cheng comforted his complaining subordinates.
"But we don't need to travel all night!"
"It's raining heavily in these barren mountains. If something unexpected happens if we don't stay in place, and according to the original plan, we have to rush to Songyang County, but the trip is delayed because of the muddy road! We'd better take advantage of the opportunity. The sky has not completely darkened yet, so we need to walk a little longer and try to get to Songyang County to rest and order the troops to speed up!"
The current Shenwu Army is very embarrassed. It is still some way away from Songyang County. The problem is that it is really difficult to carry out in the rain. Even if you want to find a place to take temporary shelter from the rain, there is no such place along the way that can accommodate three people of the Shenwu Army. Thousands of horses.
"Sir, it's bad! One of the wheels in the rear team is stuck in the mud!"
When General Cheng heard this, his head hurt. This was the fifth time today!
Just now, each cart was loaded with eight silver boxes. The carts were so heavy that the carts would fall into the road after only a few steps.
The Shenwu Army responsible for escorting has been changing, and there have been few cases of escorting pay during the rainy season before. Therefore, the leading generals of the Shenwu Army did not know what would happen during the escort, so they were completely unprepared.
In desperation, the silver box could only be partially removed from the vehicle and placed on the cavalry's horses to ensure that only four silver boxes were loaded in one vehicle.
As a result, the weight of the vehicle is greatly reduced, and the vehicle is not as easy to get stuck in the mud as before.
"one two three!"
"one two three!"
With the efforts of more than ten soldiers, the vehicle stuck in the mud was pushed out.
"Hurry up and check the condition of the vehicle and see if the cash box is fixed?!"
"yes!"
After a busy period, the team returned to normal again.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, but the Shenwu Army's strict military discipline allowed them to maintain an orderly queue even in the heavy rain.
After walking another ten miles, we came to a river.
Due to the continuous rainfall, the river water swelled obviously, and a stone bridge spanned the river.
I don’t know if it’s because the temperature dropped at night, but there was heavy fog filling the river!
This made General Cheng, who had been leading troops all year round, feel that something was wrong!
"Scouts cross the river to check!!"
The scout who followed the army saluted and said, "I'll take your orders!"
Two scouts marched out to unload the army, reached the other side from the stone bridge, and soon lost their trace in the heavy fog!
After about a moment, two scouts rushed out of the fog.
"Sir! Everything is safe ahead!"
General Cheng has been in the army for many years, and he always felt that this fog came out of nowhere, but the scouts reported that nothing happened, which made General Cheng put his hanging heart at ease!
Just when General Cheng was about to give the order to cross the river, suddenly there was a sound of clashing armors from the other side of the river, followed by the neighing of war horses!
"Tap! Tread! Tread"
Then the sound of uniform steps sounded from the other side of the river.
"The entire army is on alert!"
The elite of the Shenwu Army who had fought many battles performed their duties at the moment General Cheng gave the order, gripped the swords, guns, and crossbows in their hands, and looked warily in the direction of the stone bridge.
The sound of the army's march was getting louder and louder, and it seemed to be on the other side of the stone bridge!
"I am the guerrilla general of the Shenwu Army, Cheng Lixue. I don't know which guard's brother is across from me. I would like to ask the leading general to come and answer!"
"answer……"
Among the hills, Cheng Lixue's voice continued to echo, but the sound of marching on the other side remained the same, but no one answered.
This made Cheng Lixue's doubts deepen. It was impossible for an organized army from another country to appear in Yuezhou.
At most they were small groups of Japanese pirates, but there would never be such an orderly march.
The deputy general on the side couldn't help but shudder in this strange atmosphere, and then said to Cheng Lixue.
"General, could this be a ghost!?"
Cheng Lixue glared at the deputy general, "What nonsense are you talking about?! It's broad daylight and the world is bright, where are the ghosts from!?"
The lieutenant general looked helplessly at the moon covered by dark clouds and the rain that was getting heavier and heavier. Okay, you are the commander-in-chief and whatever you say is what you say!
Just when Cheng Lixue was about to continue asking questions, a voice came from the other side of the river, confirming what the deputy general had just said.
"The Yin soldiers pass through the corridors, all ghosts avoid them, and the strangers retreat!"
The voice was deep and loud, as if coming from hell. Cheng Lixue, who was at the front of the team, saw an extremely strange scene in the mist.
A man with a human body and an ox's head, and a man with a human body and a horse's face, each holding a war flag, passed by on the other side of the river.
Cheng Lixue could even see the two battle flags clearly.
On one side is the Chinese military flag, which is full of bloodstains and damage, with only a big word "白" written in seal script.
The other side is an ordinary battle flag, also in seal script, with "Qin" written on it.
"What a monster! How dare you act so arrogantly in front of me!"
Cheng Lixue shouted sharply, but she showed a little lack of confidence.
Although Cheng Lixue was a master of Yuan Hua Realm, it was unclear whether the opponent was a human or a ghost, which made Cheng Lixue not nervous.
The other party didn't seem to hear Cheng Lixue's question and just shouted to himself.
"The Yin soldiers pass through the corridors, all ghosts avoid them, and the strangers retreat!"
Now the scene looks even weirder!
Just when Cheng Lixue was about to give the order to shoot arrows to test, a voice came from the mist.
"We meet by chance, borrow money for a while, and pay it back later!"
After saying that, there seemed to be a figure in the mist, bowing to Cheng Lixue from afar!
"The entire army is on alert!"
The word "borrowing wages" obviously touched Cheng Lixue's most sensitive nerve.
But after the other party finished speaking, there was no movement at all, and they just marched on their own. Until a quarter of an hour later, there was no movement at all on the other side!
"Select three people from each team to check the salary seals, and the rest of the soldiers will continue to be on guard!"
The pouring rain and the dark sky tightened the heartstrings of all the soldiers.
All silver boxes have seals, and in order to prevent rain from getting the seals wet, a layer of leather is specially covered on them, but I don’t care about that much at this time, so I need to check them carefully.
After tea time, the entire army has been inspected!
"Sir, all the seals are intact! There is nothing abnormal!"
Cheng Lixue frowned, had she really encountered something in the netherworld?!
"You guys wait here while I explore the reality from the other side!!"
"My lord!? No! How can a human disturb the souls of the dead!?"
Cheng Lixue smiled disdainfully, "What kind of dead souls are there? There are eighty souls under my sword, if not a hundred. If there were any souls, they would have come to me long ago!"
Obviously one cannot show timidity in front of his subordinates. Cheng Lixue patted his horse across the bridge and reached the other side, but found nothing unusual.
Even on the other side of the river, there are only four rows of horse hoof prints. Judging from the color of the hoofs, they are exactly the color of the Shenwu Army. They should have been left by the two scouts who just visited.
Apart from this, there are no obvious traces on the other side of the river, let alone traces of a large number of soldiers passing by!
Cheng Lixue shuddered when she thought of the cow and horse she had just seen in the mist. Could it be that she really hit a ghost?
After confirming that there was indeed no one around, Cheng Lixue stepped back.
"There is nothing unusual on the other side, the army continues to move forward!"
Cheng Lixue's answer caused a slight commotion in the army. In this era, there is still a market for feudal superstition. Many people heard the march just now, but now Cheng Lixue says there is nothing abnormal. This is too unscientific!
Fortunately, the Shenwu Army has strict military discipline and orders like a mountain. Although I have doubts, I still follow the advance!
A figure rode up to Cheng Lixue's side, "How is General Cheng?! What is going on!"
This person is none other than Qinglong, the commander of Jinyi Weidong Town Fusi.
In order to prevent the gangsters from taking advantage of this batch of salary money, the commander of Jinyi Weidong Town Fusi Qinglong personally transformed himself into the army and hid in the army, escorting the salary money openly and covertly with the three thousand troops.
Cheng Lixue told Qinglong what he had just seen and heard.
Even masters of the Dongxuan Realm will find it difficult when encountering such weird things.
"I've confirmed that there is no ambush on the other side. Let's speed up and leave this strange place as soon as possible!"
Qinglong heard this and nodded in agreement.
"You can lead the army to move forward later, and I'll go investigate nearby."
"good!"
In this strange atmosphere, the three thousand liberation army marched through the night in the rain and arrived at Songyang County.
After entering the city, Cheng Lixue let out a long breath. The atmosphere just now was so weird that even he, a person who usually did not believe in gods and Buddhas, felt creepy.
"General Cheng, how long will you rest here?"
The person who received Cheng Lixue was the Songyang County Magistrate. Someone of his level would definitely not know the escort route. However, since Cheng Lixue had documents from the Ministry of War and the Yuezhou Governor's Office, the Songyang County Magistrate would naturally try his best to cooperate.
"Such rain will have a great impact on the march and may disturb your county for the whole night!"
If people respect me one foot, I respect others one foot.
Seeing that Cheng Lixue was so polite, the Songyang County Magistrate was naturally very polite, "General Cheng, you are so polite. You have worked tirelessly to defend the country and guard the border. Of course we will fully cooperate with you! At this moment, the city defense camp in Songyang County can still accommodate the army to rest, so why not
General Cheng led his troops to station there!"
"good!"
Cheng Lixue, led by the Songyang County Lieutenant on the side, arrived at the place where the Songyang City Defense Army was stationed.
Songyang County is a small county. There are only about 200 people in the city defense army. They are all recruited from the people in Songyang County. On weekdays, they only manage public security and guard against bandits.
Although there are not many people, the military camp is still spacious.
There is still a large open space for the Shenwu Army to set up camp!
"General Cheng! The county magistrate has arranged a post for the general and several captains. Why don't you, General Cheng, follow your subordinates to rest?"
Cheng Lixue waved her hand, "I don't need to trouble the county magistrate and county captain! I always eat and live with the soldiers under my command, so there is no need for a pavilion and post office! But if possible, I still need to trouble the county magistrate to send some hot soup and towels."
"
Although there are raincoats, the raincoats cannot completely withstand such a heavy rain. If you are not careful, the soldiers in the army will be easily infected with wind and cold.
"Don't worry, General Cheng! The county magistrate has already made arrangements!"
After making arrangements, Cheng Lixue ordered the silver box to be unloaded and sent to the camp, where it would be guarded by the remaining two Yuan Hua realm masters accompanying the army.
"careful!"
"Slower!"
Finally arriving at the county town, the soldiers who were originally nervous because of the Yin soldiers passing through the aisle breathed a sigh of relief and began to unload the silver boxes.
One of the soldiers suddenly felt weak and a little hot. His hands suddenly lost strength. As soon as he let go, the silver box fell to the ground.
"Xiao Wu! Xiao Wu!"
The surrounding soldiers saw Pao Ze falling to the ground and surrounded him one after another.
The silver box that had fallen to the ground also fell to the ground. The original seal was softened by the rain, and the box was blown open by such a shock.
But what fell out of it made everyone freeze in place.
Cheng Lixue noticed this and immediately stepped forward, but all she saw was that the silver box originally filled with silver ingots was filled with bricks.
"How can this be?!"
Cheng Lixue reacted immediately, "Everyone, stay where you are and don't move! Each team stands in line, tears off the seals, and checks the contents of the boxes!"
The deputy general on the side immediately stepped forward to stop him and said, "General, you must not do this! Once this seal is sealed, it can only be transported to the Shenwu Army camp and opened by the Grand Governor himself. If the seal is opened privately here, what will happen?
But beheading is a serious crime!"
Cheng Lixue held the bricks that fell out of the silver box, "These are the hard-earned money of the brothers. Now that something like this has happened, how can you pretend not to know? You must check it immediately. If there is an error, report it immediately."
The court!"
Then Cheng Lixue took out the sword from his waist and said, "Everyone listen to my order. The team leader will tear off the seal and check the cash box! I, Cheng Lixue, will bear the responsibility for this crime alone!"
"Boom!"
As all the seals were torn and the silver box was opened, the sword in Cheng Lixue's hand fell to the ground, causing a splash of water.
