A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 19:47:54 on January 16, 2022 and 19:24:23 on January 17, 2022!
Thank you to the little angel who threw the landmine: Qingshan (1);
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: FatTuTu, DaSiMaHuoQuBing (30 bottles each); MingHuangYu (9 bottles); QianXiaDanShang (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 151 A Disciple of the Mo Family Descends from the Sky
The next day, Aza and the others got up to prepare dinner, only to find that their stove had collapsed. There were still three stove covers, one for cooking rice, one for boiling water, and the pot was leaking.
They could only eat dry rations to stave off hunger, and the group argued back and forth about who had sabotaged the temple and collapsed it.
Aza led a group of people up the mountain to hunt, intending to have a barbecue, but they stirred up a hornet's nest and ended up being carried down the mountain.
While the others went hunting, they caught neither rabbits nor pheasants, but instead attracted a hungry tiger that came down the mountain looking for food.
A group of people were almost attacked by a tiger, but fortunately, Aza scared the tiger away by spraying fire and black medicine.
Xie Lanzhi sat in the tree, observing the situation through the gaps in the leaves. She noticed that the group of people had [illegible] on them, so they were probably not ordinary illegal immigrants.
Aza never expected that they would be plagued by bad luck today.
The scout also reported that Xie Zhu had gone missing, possibly into the dense forest. With these two events combined, Aza couldn't help but suspect that the horse belonged to Xie Zhu.
But the forest was too vast; the Lord might not come to his hut, and might have gotten lost on the other side.
"Those who are injured should rest for a few days."
"Go find that fat sheep again in a few days."
One of the henchmen couldn't help but ask, "What about the horse, boss?"
"I always felt there was something strange about that horse. Could it be a horse spirit?"
The underlings remembered that they had all touched the horse yesterday, and then a series of minor accidents happened, resulting in collective bad luck. They're still having bad luck this morning. They haven't even had a hot meal yet.
Aza said, "What nonsense are you talking about? I think you're just making excuses because you haven't been training properly. If you trained every day, you wouldn't make such basic mistakes."
Xie Lanzhi was certain that these people were looking for her.
Meanwhile, the newly recruited soldiers in the outer dense forest entered the area near the crossroads in batches, with some getting lost as they went in.
As the local county magistrate, Li Fuyi was naturally terrified of this dense forest, seeing that the marshal had not been found and so many people had been lost.
He immediately ordered the newly recruited soldiers not to get too close and to wait for the laborers to come and cut down the trees. They would then use the trees as markers to make it easier to enter and exit.
The newly recruited soldiers dared not be careless and had no choice but to do this. They also occasionally used catapults to hurl some fruits and rations into the vicinity, hoping that the marshal could find them if he was nearby.
The marshal knew they were looking for her when he found the rations and saw the bag, and that they were nearby.
This method is very efficient, and the catapult can launch the projectiles far.
Indeed, some people were hit, and their heads were smashed open.
Aza found his men getting increasingly unlucky; the scouts he had just sent out were knocked unconscious by unidentified flying objects before they even left the dense forest.
Someone pulled the scout back and found a bag of dry rations, including dried pork.
"It seems the newly formed army is coming soon. Let's pack up and leave the dense forest for the State of Lu immediately!"
One of his men said, "Brother Aza, are you sure? What if the State Shaman also sends a message, and the spies can't find us?"
“Rather than be found by the new army, we’d better save ourselves,” Azar said.
Anshan retreated hastily, abandoning many Hun people. This group, also abandoned by Anshan, received considerable attention because they were disciples of the Mohist leader. Even though they were left behind, state shamans still took the initiative to contact them.
The Hu-Xiongnu state also attached great importance to the Mohist disciples who had wandered to foreign lands.
Aqina even sent experts into Huayin to try and rescue Aza. But before they arrived, the dense forest was exposed because Xie Lanzhi got lost.
However, it has already been exposed.
After finishing the leftover rice ball, Xie Lanzhi felt hungry again.
Aza and his companions hurriedly packed their belongings and left the dense forest.
Xie Lanzhi followed them all the way, but fortunately, Aza and the others were not martial arts experts and did not know that she was following them.
Aza led his people towards the border of Lu State. They walked for a whole day, wandering around, and were still trapped in the dense forest.
He stopped in his tracks. "Strange. I remember that I could get out by turning right. I'm usually familiar with this area. Why am I just going around in circles today?"
“Brother, I’ve heard that the dense forest is a place where people dread, and it seems to be true.” The Mo family disciples under his command said one after another.
"The compass is useless; it seems we've encountered a labyrinth."
"How could my brother make such a mistake?"
"If we had known, we wouldn't have moved. It would have taken the Jin army some time to get in, so why should we be in such a hurry?"
As a group of people complained, Azar rebuked them. He refused to believe they couldn't get out.
Xie Lanzhi followed behind them, thinking to herself that there were hardly any paths in this dense forest, and it was all about instinct. With her, the ambassador of bad luck, following along, it was no wonder they would have a hard time getting out.
They were lucky not to encounter any wild animals.
Xie Lanzhi used her bad luck to slow down Aza and the others.
By afternoon, Aza and the others were exhausted and began to eat dry rations. But the rations wouldn't last long.
Finally, Aza's legs went weak, and in despair, he threw tree branches around, following whichever branch the tip pointed to.
The pointed tip casts a long shadow through the setting sun, pointing behind it.
Aza and the others planned to walk a little further, then find a place to make a fire and rest, and continue the race the next day. After walking about a mile, the hundred people finally gave up on continuing the long run.
That night, Aza and the others pitched their tents. Perhaps they were too tired from the day, because everyone slept soundly and didn't even notice a tiger coming in from outside.
Xie Lanzhi was staying up all night when she happened to run into the tiger. She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out a flintlock pistol. She fired at the tiger, scaring it away.
Aza and the others immediately stood up upon hearing the sound.
At the same time, the newly recruited soldiers heard the familiar gunshots and immediately identified Xie Lanzhi's location in the northwest.
The newly recruited soldiers, each carrying a torch, rushed towards the northwest. The bright torches startled Aza and his men, who scattered in disarray.
How did we get into the territory of the newly formed army?
"It's all my brother's fault for throwing branches around! What are we going to do now?" The Mo family disciples cried out in alarm.
Three months ago, the Grand Master sent them to the mountainous region of Huayin Kingdom to explore coal mines. Three months later, Lord Anshan abandoned them, and they remained in place like fish that had slipped through the net, afraid to make a move. Finally, spies from their homeland sent someone to arrange for them to leave, only to encounter the newly formed army.
What bad luck they've had!
A group of people looked on, tears welling up in their eyes, as the rings of fire shrank around them, leaving them completely helpless.
Until the newly recruited soldiers spotted them and shouted, "Drop your weapons!!"
Aza was only carrying pots and pans; he had no weapons whatsoever, and even if he did, they were just short bows. He was no match for the well-equipped newly arrived army.
So Aza led the way and they all squatted down with their heads in their hands, waiting to be caught.
The newly recruited soldiers surrounded Aza and the others. Xie Lanzhi happened to be taking a nap behind a nearby grove of trees when she saw the torches and went outside.
Aza then realized that someone had been following them all along.
"Who are you? How dare you deceive us!"
"This is preventing us from getting out!"
Xie Lanzhi didn't want to talk right now. She was hungry, so she went straight to the newly recruited soldiers to find some rations.
The newly promoted military officer immediately handed her a water bag and some dried meat. Xie Lanzhi had been hungry all day and wolfed down her food. She only put her hands down after she had almost finished eating.
At this moment, Li Fuyi also rushed over. When he saw Xie Lanzhi, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Marshal, His Highness is waiting for you in the mansion. You should go back quickly."
Xie Lanzhi nodded: "Thank you for your hard work these past two days."
“This is our duty,” Li Fuyi said, quietly moving away from her.
Xie Lanzhi chose a horse, and before mounting it, she glanced at Aza and asked, "You are disciples of the Mo family, aren't you?"
Aza and the others hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Yes."
"Very good. You can live now." Xie Lanzhi felt she had gotten a good deal, but she wondered what these Mo family disciples would write.
However, he must be proficient in something, otherwise he wouldn't have been sent here by Aqina.
Afterwards, she rode her horse, carefully led by the newly recruited soldiers, out of the dense forest, along with Aza and a hundred others.
Si Xitong heard someone report that Xie Lanzhi had been found in the dense forest.
She breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the stool. Azi brought her a cup of tea and comforted her, "Sister, I knew your husband was a lucky man and would definitely be alright."
“You haven’t eaten anything all day, not even a drop of water.”
"If your brother-in-law knew, he would be very worried about you."
Si Xitong took the tea and forced a sip, then ate a few bites of pastry, when the sound of horses' hooves came from outside.
She immediately put down her teacup and rushed out of the county government office. Seeing Xie Lanzhi carefully dismount her horse, and her feet barely touching the ground, she ran over and hugged her.
Xie Lanzhi suddenly took a step back: "Little Phoenix."
"Lanzhi." Si Xitong hugged her tightly, his anxious expression making Xie Lanzhi's heart ache. She clung to her, not daring to leave her side for a moment.
Xie Lanzhi patted her back to comfort her: "I'm fine, I'm back now."
"Although I was a bit unlucky, I didn't come away empty-handed."
She told her about her discovery of a group of Mo family disciples who had been left behind in the dense forest. Si Xitong wasn't in the mood to care about that right now. She pulled her back to their room.
Xie Lanzhi put it aside for the time being. She took a nice bath, ate a hot meal, and then Anyi came to her door.
She looked at Si Xitong cautiously.
Then he looked at Xie Lanzhi: "Marshal."
Xie Lanzhi asked her to come and sit down. An Yi hurriedly came over, put down a memorial, and then left.
Xie Lanzhi was somewhat puzzled: "Is Anyi afraid of me?"