Chapter 7: Thunder on a Clear Day

  "It's out! It's finally out!" Lu Lao Er was so excited that he couldn't help himself, vigorously waving the thorny stick in his hand.

  "It's really a pitiful sight, we have hope to return to Bianjing again." Zhou Dewang hugged Aji tightly and shed two lines of turbid tears.

  Hou Fangjing's legs went soft, and he sat on the ground, his body almost completely drained of energy. Ye Die'er was even more exhausted than him, if not for relying on Di Lie's strong arm, she wouldn't have been able to stand steadily. Her sweaty hair stuck to her pale forehead, her plump chest tightly pressed against Di Lie's shoulder, constantly heaving with rapid breathing. Unfortunately, Di Lie couldn't feel the tenderness due to the isolation of his heavy armor and his anxious mood.

  Yes, Di Lie's current mood is more anxious than before the breakout - because this crowd had just escaped from the encirclement and immediately dispersed in all directions. And on this open plain, once they were pursued by the Jin army cavalry, the consequences would be disastrous. If such a situation occurred, he would not be saving people, but harming them, and this was an outcome he could not accept.

  "Lu Laoer, you quickly take these brothers to intercept the scattered people and try to gather them together." Di Lie ordered Lu Laoer to lead those armed craftsmen to intercept the crowds that were running around like headless flies. At this moment, Lu Laoer also had a deep respect for this strange young man who had just severely reprimanded him, and he accepted the order without hesitation.

  Di Lie loudly asked the crowd sitting in a heap if there was anyone familiar with the terrain. However, at this time, the crowd was noisy and chaotic, except for dozens of people who were relatively close, most did not hear what he said.

  Zhou Dewang, who was beside him, suddenly slapped his forehead: "Hey, look at this old man's head. Aren't those Liu brothers from around here? Don't worry, young fellow, I'll help you find them."

  Before long, Zhou Dewang led out a few men wearing coarse linen clothes, with disheveled hair and dirty faces, who looked timid and fearful. They came before Di Lie: "Young Master Di, these Liu brothers are all local people. If there's anything unclear, just ask them."

  According to Zhou Dewang's explanation, these people were all "hegong" civilian artisans. The "hegong" of the Song Dynasty was actually a situation where the government only paid a small amount of money and rice to hire non-military civilian artisans to do work. These civilian artisans did the same work as military artisans but only received half the normal military artisan's salary in rice, barely enough to support their families. If they had many mouths to feed, for half a month every month, they would fall into poverty and hunger, their situation was much more miserable than that of ordinary workers.

  However, Di Lie did not understand or care about this at the moment. He only cared about one thing: "What kind of terrain is this? Are there any mountains, rivers, or hills around that can be used for hiding?"

  The Liu brothers hesitated for a moment before answering in a trembling tone: "Alright, let the young master know. This place is Wu Dao Slope, northwest of Laiyang, about ten miles away from Laiyang. To the north, within a dozen or so miles, there is a mountain called Mangren Mountain. The mountain is deep and forested, with treacherous roads, making it easy for people to hide. Even if there were tens of thousands of soldiers, they would have difficulty searching..."

  Di Lie was very unfamiliar with the geographical situation and state names of the Song Dynasty, and he didn't know where "Anli Army" and "Liyang" were in later generations, let alone heard of "Wangren Mountain". Originally, "Hebei" was known, but a "Hebei West Road" confused him again. However, these are not important, what's important is that there is a deep mountain six or seven kilometers ahead, and only by entering the mountain can one be truly safe.

  Di Lie made a decisive decision: "Old Zhou, Old Hou, you lead all the gathered personnel, with Liu brothers as guides, and rush into the deep mountains to hide. Before I come back, never try to run out of the mountain to spy, lest you be taken advantage of by the Jin people."

  The person who was called out didn't have time to speak, and Ye Die'er had already cried out in surprise: "You...where are you going?"

  He casually tossed aside the blood-stained, sticky iron thistle bone, shook his hand holding the sniper rifle, and calmly said: "If no one cuts off the pursuit, everyone will be killed by the Golden Army... Moreover, at this moment, there are still people escaping from the Golden Army camp. If no one receives them and cuts off the pursuit, these fleeing people will definitely not escape the Golden Army's slaughter. Tonight, because of my decision, too many people have already died... Now, saving one more person is like redemption..."

  Zhou Dewang and Hou Fangjing, along with the surrounding craftsmen, all came to comfort him: "Life and death are predetermined, wealth and honor are in heaven. We all agreed before escaping that we would each be content with our own fate, so don't blame the young master, and the young master must not blame himself. Moreover, the young master's kindness to us is as great as giving us a second life... The Jurchen people are powerful and cruel, it was unwise for the young master to single-handedly resist them, let's escape together instead. Taking advantage of the chaos in the Jurchen camp, we may be able to safely escape into the deep mountains..."

  Di Lie raised his hand to interrupt the crowd's clamor, speaking slowly and deliberately: "If I wanted to leave, no one could stop me - not even the strongest Jurchen woman of this era! However, as a soldier, I must take responsibility for my actions! Since I caused this chaos, I must be the one to clean it up. All those who have already escaped must safely complete the last dozen or so miles and hide in the deep mountains; all those who didn't make it out in time, I will give them one last chance - that's what I'm going to do!"

  A silence fell over the crowd. After a long while, a loud cheer suddenly erupted: "Good fellow! Good guts! My brother's life was saved by you, and it would be no trouble to return it to you!" Along with the rough shout, several burly men emerged from the crowd, standing in a line before Di Lie.

  Di Lie was taken aback: "Everyone, this is..."

  A burly man in his thirties stepped forward and said, "I am Yang Feng, this is my brother Yang Zongbao and several of our comrades from the army. We were all captured by the Jin people after the defeat of the Western Army of the Great Song and were incorporated into the logistics support team. Just now, we took advantage of the chaos to escape with the help of a good fellow. Now, we are willing to follow you and cut off the enemy's rear, fighting for a way out for everyone."

  Di Lie nodded, and said with a smile: "Indeed, there is a bit of the Great Song Army's true character. Good, I was worried that Old Zhou, Old Lu, and Old Hou would lack experience in organizing troops in this chaotic situation. Since you are all old soldiers, I will entrust this task of gathering and retreating to you. As for covering the rear... it's not that I look down on you, but my tactics are completely different from yours, and when the time comes, not only can't we coordinate well, but it would also affect my performance."

  Upon hearing Di Lie's words, several soldiers scowled in discontent. One young man in his early twenties with a sharp expression stepped forward, about to say something, but was cut off by Di Lie waving his hand: "No time for debate, execute!"

  He then signaled for Ye Die'er to take off the heavy armor on her body, whether it was an ambush or an escape, lightening up was the best. As he turned around, Ye Die'er suddenly called out to him, turning back, touching a pair of desolate and beautiful eyes: "You must come back safely, slave... we will all be waiting for you..."

  Di Lie nodded silently and then waved his hand to everyone, rushing quickly towards the Golden Army camp that was still in chaos and flames.

  At this time, the wall of the village was still occasionally breached by three or two people fleeing from the broken gate. Di Lie stood beside a burning wooden stake, letting everyone who escaped see him and shouting loudly: "Go northeast! Go northeast..."

  Apart from guiding the direction, Di Lie's hands and feet were not idle, pulling all the scattered deer thorns and wooden stakes around to the passage close to the damaged stockade wall, piling them up high. These deer thorn stakes were as thick as a bowl mouth, with several roots embedded together, extremely heavy, usually requiring five or six strong men to move. In another time and space, Di Lie's physical body had not undergone any variation, and he would have found it absolutely impossible to lift. But now, he truly possessed the strength of a lion or tiger, without any problem at all.

  Just as Di Lie was about to throw the last giant tree trunk that had fallen nearby onto the chaotic pile of wood, which was at least two men high, the ground began to shake and a loud rumbling sound like summer thunder came from afar.

  "It's no wonder that he is the most elite warrior of this era, his reaction is quite fast." Di Lie took a deep breath and looked back towards the northeast. Even in the dimly lit night with weak starlight, the faint outline of the long retreating army could still be seen. At this time, the Jin army's pursuit troops had already set out, it wasn't hard to imagine that without a powerful rear guard force, what kind of tragic ending would await these fleeing people.

  Di Lie felt a mix of tension and relief at this moment. What he feared most was that the Jin army's pursuing troops would not follow the fleeing crowd's tracks from this broken hole, but instead emerge from another gate. If the Jin soldiers turned to exit from another gate, he wouldn't be able to snipe them. However, if they took another gate, it would waste time and take a big detour, which generally wouldn't happen with pursuing troops.

  As expected, Jin Jun's actions didn't let him down.

  Di Lie quickly extinguished the torch and returned to the edge of the chaotic woodpile, his hands grasping a wedge-shaped piece of wood that had been buried at the bottom. With just one pull, this supporting wedge would cause the already unstable pile of logs to collapse, blocking the passage.

  The sound of horseshoes was getting closer and closer to the broken gate. Di Lie's forehead was sweating, and he wanted to pull out the wedge several times, but one or two desperate escapees who kept popping up made him unable to make up his mind.

  "Wait a little longer, wait a little longer...... every escape counts..."

  Just as the three escapees appeared at the broken gate, a shrill whistle pierced the air. The three dark faces, full of joy and excitement, suddenly contorted, their hands spread wide, eyes bulging, and they fell to the ground. On their backs, countless feathered arrows were stuck...

  The place where these people fell was just a dozen or so steps away from Di Lie. Although the light was dim, Di Lie seemed to see clearly the pain, unwillingness, and strong desire to survive in their eyes...

  "Damn it, what kind of world is this!" Di Lie gritted his teeth and fiercely pulled out the wedge.

  The piled-up wooden stakes, like a small mountain, suddenly collapsed and blocked the passage. Under the sudden change, seven or eight pursuing cavalrymen were caught off guard and crashed into the unevenly stacked sharp wooden stakes, causing both horses and men to fall, with miserable screams and cries.

  Suddenly, the sound of horseshoes and horse whinnies filled the air, followed by the fading thunder of hooves, while various shouts and crackling torches could be heard clearly.

  Di Lie could clearly see through the gaps in the stockade wall hundreds of Jin soldiers blocked behind the wall, each wearing armor and holding sharp weapons, riding majestic horses, with large quivers of arrows hanging from their saddles. The flickering firelight reflected off the armor and sharp blades, radiating a cold and fierce murderous aura that sent chills down his spine.

  A loud clattering of hooves suddenly rang out, and a knight with a silver helmet and a dense scale armor emerged from the crowd. Seeing the scene in front of him, he looked extremely furious, swung his whip, and roared at the Jin army cavalry beside him for a while, then pointed to one side.

  As the first knight waved his hand, more than a dozen Jin soldiers rode out in unison, throwing out over a dozen cowhide ropes with living knots at the end. The ropes were tied to the wooden stakes on the back of the stockade wall. At this time, dozens of Jin soldiers came forward on horseback, holding the ropes together, and then using their horses' strength to pull backwards. The tight cowhide rope suddenly made a creaking sound, and the stockade wall's fence gradually loosened and tilted...

  Damn it, these guys aren't stupid at all!

  Di Lie was somewhat at a loss, according to his original estimate, the Jin army's pursuing soldiers who were blocked from escaping would either retreat and take a detour or first act as porters to clear the roadblocks. Either way, it would give him some time to let the escape team run further... Unexpectedly, the opponent had their own set of moves and didn't play according to his expected script.

  Judging from the situation, if we don't take drastic measures, it's not just the safety of the main troops that will be in danger, but even our own lives will be at risk.

  "Can't be helped, I'll have you all taste the 'Black Thunder' explosive a thousand years ahead of time." Di Lie took out a hand grenade from his pocket, pulled the pin with his thumb, and threw it out after a two-second delay. Immediately afterwards, he turned around and sprinted away without caring about exposing himself.

  The grenade drew an arc in mid-air and hit the silver-helmeted knight squarely.

  A loud noise was heard locally, and the beautiful silver helmet sank into a shallow pit. The knight's body shook, almost falling off his horse. The Jin army cavalrymen surrounding him suddenly shouted and shouted in unison. At this time, many Jin soldiers had already discovered that there were vague fleeing figures in the wilderness outside the village wall. One by one, the Jin soldiers angrily took their bows and arrows, mounted their horses, and prepared to shoot that reckless guy into a hedgehog.

  At this time, the silver helmet knight who was attacked angrily pulled out his horse and loudly stopped the movement of the golden soldiers. Then he himself held a large number of riding bows, drew an arrow head from the quiver A pick-shaped arrow - this powerful armor-piercing arrow is usually launched with a crossbow, can penetrate all heavy armor within 200 steps. It's just that when using a bow to launch it, the distance is much shorter, but the armor-piercing effect remains unchanged.

  It can be seen that this silver helmeted knight is extremely cruel. First, he blocks the way with messy wood, and then uses "stone" to attack his own humble escapee.

  The arrow is on the string, the bowstring sounds a clear "twang", the bowstring is drawn into a full moon shape, the arrowhead points directly at the fleeing figure 50 or 60 steps away...

  Just as the Silver Helmet Knight was about to fire, a deafening roar like thunder shook the ground. In the Golden Army's cavalry formation, a violent gust of wind suddenly appeared, and a powerful shockwave blew more than a dozen Golden Soldiers near the explosion center into the air like paper scraps. Within a radius of twenty meters, everything was enveloped in scorching heat and flames exceeding one thousand degrees Celsius.

  At the moment when the fierce fire engulfed the Silver Helmet Knight, the bowstring turned to ash, and the arrow suddenly lost its restraint and shot out - the tail wing brought a burning flame, drawing a dazzling light in the night sky, as if it was a guiding arrow, falling far ahead of Di Lie.

  The fugitive troops, far and wide, were all shocked by this shocking loud noise. Everyone slowed down involuntarily, looked back, and stared blankly at the soaring flames, bewildered...