Chapter 8: Strike Out

  The Fangshan Mountain is actually a hill, with an elevation of only 200-300 meters. In the south, it would be just a small mountain package, but in the vast terrain of the two rivers, it can be considered a big mountain. Although this mountain cannot be said to be high and steep, it has the advantage of having deep valleys and dense forests, hiding hundreds or thousands of people, making it very difficult to search.

  It is said that in the ancient Shang Dynasty, King Zhou killed Bi Gan here, and later people sympathized with him, so it was named Framed Man Mountain. And a thousand years later, this Framed Man Mountain once again welcomed a large group of "framed men" who had suffered greatly.

  At dawn, the first ray of sunlight shone into a deep valley in Wangshan Mountain. This place, which was previously rarely visited by people, was now packed with people sitting or lying on the ground everywhere. Looking around, there were probably several thousand people.

  Di Lie sat on a protruding boulder at a high place, silently watching the group of survivors who had escaped with their lives, his head almost splitting into two. He hadn't expected that last night's perilous escape was only just the beginning, and the things that would truly give him a headache were still to come.

  People were rescued, but the danger has not ended. More than ten miles south, there is still a large Jin army camp, staring fiercely, and it's unknown when they will suddenly pounce and capture them all, sending them back to their original form.

  Compared with the Golden Army that may appear at any time, hunger is currently the most pressing threat.

  These Song Dynasty prisoners were almost penniless, and on the way, they were used as laborers to transport a large amount of goods looted by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty from Bianjing. Every day, they worked hard but couldn't eat their fill, and after a night of fleeing, they were exhausted and starving, with their chests stuck to their bellies. As soon as it dawned, they spontaneously formed groups of three or five, searching for food all over the mountains and fields. They didn't care about insects, mice, eggs, wild fruits, or flowers, as long as they could fill their stomachs without risking their lives.

  Di Lie didn't have any other choice, let alone others, even himself, the calories from last night's snacks were almost all consumed after being tossed around for a whole night.

  If this problem cannot be solved, without using the golden soldiers to search the mountains, these refugees who have barely escaped from the tiger's lair will again enter the wolf's den, and what's more, they will voluntarily deliver themselves. In that case, all his previous efforts would have been in vain.

  Just as he was racking his brains, the young craftsman Aji climbed over with his hands and feet, took out an oilcloth package from his bosom, and respectfully handed it to Di Lie. Di Lie was somewhat surprised: "What is this?" But his nose caught a whiff of meaty fragrance, and his heart skipped a beat as he opened the package to find that it was indeed the meat he had packed last night. The quantity was clearly less than before, but there was still half a leg of lamb left.

  "Alright, consider it a debt I owe you. Next time, I'll repay you with a whole roasted lamb..."

  Ajie shook his head: "This is actually Di Ge's food, Ajie just helped to keep it safe and didn't dare take credit."

  Di Lie had a good impression of this sincere young man, and smiled as he patted his messy hair: "That's also for the storage fee, one roasted sheep is the storage fee. It's settled then, I'll definitely give it to you another day."

  "Aji nodded in agreement: 'Yes, Aji believes that Di Ge will definitely be able to do it.'"

  Unexpectedly, this young man had such confidence in himself. Di Lie felt that the burden on his shoulders had become even heavier. Food! Where could he go to get enough food for so many people?

  At this time, Lu Laoer, who was guarding under the rock and regarded himself as a guard, suddenly ran to report: "The Yang brothers are back, it seems like they have something to report."

  Yang family brothers are Yang Kuang and Yang Zongbao. These two brothers were originally scouts of the Western Army, although they were only low-ranking military officers with the title of Di Gong Lang (the lowest rank among the 54 ranks in the Song army), but they had been in the army for many years and had experience fighting against the Western Xia, Liao and even Jin armies. Especially Yang Kuang, who joined the army at the age of 15, has now been in the army for nearly 20 years, and has been a scout for over 15 years, truly an old scout.

  Di Lie naturally wants to make the best use of people, so he directly arranges for these two brothers to take a few Western soldiers who escaped with them and go to the vicinity of the Jin army camp to monitor the movements of the Jin army. Now that these two brothers are rushing back in a hurry, what situation will they have?

  "The Golden Dogs did not give chase, but instead retreated hastily, and by around noon, the camp was already empty. Only less than a hundred cavalrymen were left behind, led by two Pu Dian Pai heads (each in charge of 50 men). One team spread out to search for scattered horses, while another team guarded the camp - it seemed that some supplies had not been taken away from the camp. Although there were Golden Dog scouts patrolling all around, we didn't dare get too close, but even from a distance, we could see that there was quite a lot of stuff... who knows, maybe even grain! Yang Zhe's face was filled with excitement - the Golden Army had unexpectedly given up their pursuit and retreated hastily, relieving the safety of these several thousand escapees. This was already a surprising turn of events, and on top of that, they had left behind a large amount of loot, guarded by less than a hundred men. If we take advantage of the dark night and strong winds, maybe we can grab some of it and temporarily alleviate our grain shortage."

  Di Lie was also surprised by the good news brought back by Yang's brothers. When did the Jin people become so easy to talk to? After being tossed around for a night, with fires and explosions, and taking advantage of the chaos to escape, it all just ended like that? Could there be some kind of trickery involved? However, thinking carefully about it, for these ordinary civilians, it's really not necessary to go through so much trouble. As long as the Jin people are willing, they can just dispatch a few troops to guard each mountain pass, and within ten days or half a month, they can catch every single one of them without exception. Looking at it this way, last night's chaos must have caused significant damage to this branch of the Jin army, with many soldiers wounded or killed, war horses scattered everywhere, and one of the two main generals mysteriously dying, making this branch of the Jin army powerless and unwilling to capture the escaped prisoners again, choosing instead to hastily retreat.

  The current problem is that leaving behind more than 100 Jin Bing soldiers to capture the scattered horses nearby can be understood, but why leave behind a large number of supplies?

  Yang Feng, the eldest with a simple appearance, a messy beard and a silent expression, seemed to have noticed Di Lie's question and explained in a low voice: "The golden dog took away many supplies from Bianjing, divided into several routes for escorting. Our route seems to be escorting some armor, military equipment and part of the grain and fodder. Although there are hundreds of large carts and thousands of mules pulling them, it requires a large number of people to pull them. Last night's chaos resulted in many casualties and escapes... I guess that the golden dog is not unwilling to take away all the supplies, but actually doesn't have enough manpower..."

  Di Lie looked at Yang Qiong with a look of appreciation, a smile spreading across his face: "You've analyzed it very reasonably. Good, the Jin people don't have enough manpower to transport all the supplies away - but we do! This busy work, we're still very happy to help with."

  Yang Zhechong also said excitedly: "Right, we'll take advantage of the fact that the Golden Dog's reinforcements haven't arrived yet, grab a few carts of grain and fodder, and then escape from this place."

  Yang Feng sighed: "I don't object to robbing grain, after all, if there's no food or fodder, this two-river region will be a barren land for thousands of miles, and even if we escape, it'll still be a dead end... But although we have many people, those who can actually fight are less than one hundred. How can our ragtag troops of several dozen men with insufficient armor and weapons possibly get grain from under the noses of nearly a hundred Jurchen dogs? Moreover, at least twenty of these Jurchen dogs are genuine female Jurchens... I'm afraid..."

  At the mention of Jurchen archers, even a young and vigorous man like Yang Zongbao couldn't help but lower his head and clench his fists, gritting his teeth in silence. As for the ordinary Western army soldiers behind them, it was even more so.

  Di Lie "parachuted" into this era only a few days ago. Although he knew that in the early and mid-12th century, the Jurchen-led Jin people were almost invincible, sweeping across the north and south of the Yangtze River, with the reputation of "Jurchens are not satisfied with ten thousand, ten thousand cannot be defeated". But for Di Lie, who came from modern times, underwent rigorous training, and witnessed countless modernized weapons' shocking striking power and elite soldiers from various countries, these legends were too ancient to have any psychological impact on him, without the slightest pressure.

  So Di Lie simply said a sentence: "We don't need that many people, just me and you two brothers are enough."