Chapter 6: The Tiger Emerges from Its Cage

  The room was in total darkness, with only vague faces and coarse, stifled breathing visible.

  Di Lie threw down the heavy weapon in his hand, lit the lighter with a snap, and the jumping flame illuminated his angular face.

  The crowd exclaimed in surprise: "Hiss, is that Di Xiaoge? He's been gone for just a moment and has already put on this good armor?"

  Di Lie saw Ajin's surprised little face in the crowd, nodded slightly, took off the package containing food from his shoulder and threw it far towards him: "I said I'd bring you something to eat - catch!"

  Ajie's eyes widened as she unwrapped the package, and her face lit up with joy: "It's... it's meat! So fragrant... so much!" She looked up to thank him, but before the smile had even faded from her face, it suddenly froze. Her two eyes stared wide with terror, and she shouted out loud: "Di Ge, be careful..."

  At the same time as the alarm sounded, Di Lie also heard a sharp gust of wind behind him.

  Di Lie sneered, he deliberately exposed himself to lure the enemy into making a move. Although this was somewhat risky, it was still better than blindly fighting and injuring innocent people. Of course, his sturdy armor was also what gave him the courage to take risks.

  Di Lie dodged and weaved, a strong gust of wind blowing past his shoulder, leaving behind a trail of sparks. Di Lie completely ignored the iron caltrops on the ground and instead held his dagger upside down, pressing himself close to the enemy's right side. First, he struck at the connecting strap of the enemy's right armpit armor, severing it with one slash. The front and back iron breastplates immediately fell apart, revealing the leather inner armor. Before the enemy could react, Di Lie had already swiftly stabbed five or six times in succession at the opponent's armpits, right ribs, and side, then quickly retreated.

  A loud crash, the enemy's iron-tipped club heavily struck the position where Di Lie was just in, the entire dilapidated house shook violently, and the walls collapsed with a rumbling sound.

  Di Lie stood five steps away, quietly watching this opponent with extremely strong vitality, without saying a word.

  This Jin army head guard was a ten-man squad leader, known for his bravery in the military. He never thought that he would be counterattacked and severely injured by his opponent at first glance. He stared at Di Lie with a pair of bull eyes, his right half-body wounds bleeding profusely, unable to stop. As a large amount of blood flowed out, his originally oily face gradually turned waxen yellow, even shrinking somewhat. Finally, his knees buckled and his sturdy body crashed down.

  Di Lie shook his head, turned around and loudly said to the craftsmen: "I believe you also heard the unusual movement outside. I can tell you that the entire Jin army camp is in chaos now. The Golden Camp has mutinied, and everyone is killing each other, which is also your best chance to escape..."

  The house was suddenly boiling, and the faint flames illuminated the excited faces of the workers.

  Di Lie exerted himself to wave his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet. He said, "But I must say this first: if you want to escape from this tiger's den, you'll have to take the risk of crossing a chaotic battlefield. I can't guarantee that each and every one of you will make it out safely; all I can promise is that as long as you try your best, there's a chance for you to return home!"

  As soon as Di Lie's voice fell, the first one to stand up and respond was actually Lu Lao Er. He saw him waving his thick arms and responding loudly: "Rather than being starved or killed by the Golden Dog, it's better to die trying to survive, and blaze a trail for life! I, Lu Daqing, will follow Brother Di Lie to make a fortune!"

  Zhou Lao Han also stood up with the support of his nephew Ah Ji, took a deep breath and said: "This old bones of mine would rather be thrown in my hometown than abandoned in a foreign land!"

  "Life and death are destined, if you venture out and return home safely, it's fine; but if you die halfway, don't blame others."

  "Alright! That's settled then. Di Xiao Ge, you lead the way and take everyone with you!"

  Di Lie didn't say another word, he just nodded heavily, and at this moment, he felt the weight of the burden on his shoulders.

  Hundreds of people fled in a big commotion, which was different from when they sneaked in quietly. It was impossible to deceive the Jin army guards again. Di Lie didn't hide his tracks either, waving the iron thistle bone, leading seven or eight robust men like Lu Lao Er, holding weapons and shields seized from the Jin army guards, forming a sharp triangular formation, taking the lead.

  Di Lie's strength was not to be underestimated, and he could be considered a top-notch warrior. What surprised him, however, was that the craftsmen's skills were also quite impressive. Upon further reflection, it wasn't surprising at all - these craftsmen mostly came from the imperial capital's armory, and were all masters in their field. The master craftsmen who could forge the finest weapons of this era must be extremely familiar with the performance of various weapons, and there was no shortage of those who could wield them with ease. Compared to the Jin people, they lacked only a single aspect - the aura of having been bloodied on the battlefield.

  With a loud crash, a craftsman holding a shield pried open the blade of a Qin soldier's sword and Lu Er'ge took advantage of the momentum to swing his spiked club heavily, smashing the opponent's head. Then he wiped the blood from his face and let out a loud roar: "Refreshing!"

  Behind them, the craftsmen and young men who were captured in each detention point took advantage of the chaos to rush out of the house and escape. More people followed behind this group of obviously organized escapees, so that the team was like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger, bursting through the village gate like an avalanche...

  As soon as they killed their way out of the village, they saw flames shooting up to the sky in the northwest, casting a red glow over half the sky, and it was clear that the fire was raging, with the entire Jin army camp in chaos.

  At this moment, the golden army's camp in the distance was filled with flickering flames, gathering into a dragon of fire, with people's shadows looming and horse hooves sounding like thunder. Wherever the sound of fierce fighting was heard, that's where this "fire dragon" would appear, followed by a series of mournful cries. Above the golden army's camp, hundreds of people shouted in unison and rhythm: "Right Vanguard General Boru has ordered, all troops to immediately return to their respective barracks, lay down their arms and cease fighting, only listening to the commands of their respective officers! With one incense stick as the limit, those who do not return after that will be killed without pardon!"

  Perhaps due to the fact that the disturbance spread throughout the village, these shouts were made in Jurchen, Khitan, Goryeo and Song languages one by one, ensuring everyone could understand.

  It seems that the main general of the Golden Army has finally reacted and taken relatively correct and severe measures - whether or not the enemy attacks, the first thing to do is to suppress the mutiny in the camp, otherwise there will be no need for the enemy to take action, and they will collapse on their own.

  Hou Fangjing and Ye Die'er closely followed Di Lie, although there were many people behind them who had little contact with the enemy, in their minds, only Di Lie's back was the safest. Hou Fangjing was now wiping his face covered with dust and sweat, his two mouse whiskers askew, panting: "Di hero, the Golden People have started to suppress the riot, sooner or later they will discover our large group of people, at that time hundreds of elite cavalry will form an array and charge over, I'm afraid...I'm afraid it won't be good..."

  "I also know that's not good, but we won't give them the chance." Di Lie's eyes flashed as he pointed to the galloping horse herd a hundred steps away. "We'll just follow behind the horses and let them clear the way!"

  If viewed from the air, you can see that there are five Jinjun camps in total, forming a plum blossom formation, with four smaller camps surrounding and protecting the central main camp. The main camp has four gates, each connecting to one of the smaller camps, while each of the smaller camps has two gates at the front and back. Each gate is guarded by thick wooden palisades, with deer-horn-shaped barriers placed in front, and high watchtowers that reach a height of over 12 meters. The watchtowers have three layers, with several soldiers holding flags standing guard on each layer.

  This is just a simple camp built by the Golden Army's temporary barracks. If it were to be stationed for a long time, each camp would have to dig deep trenches, lay iron signs, set up suspension bridges and set up wall defenses and other strict facilities.

  But even for this simplified version of the camp, for Di Lie and others trapped in the Jin army's central camp, wanting to break through several gates under the watchful eyes of strong enemies was almost an impossible task - unless they used explosives to blast their way out.

  Di Lie had also been thinking along these lines, but he found that his good luck tonight was not yet exhausted. The aftermath of the incendiary shell continued to affect the development of the situation. The horse herd, frightened by the raging fire and intense explosion, converged into a powerful torrent of destruction, like an out-of-control train, rushing straight ahead, turning the entire Jin army camp into a chaotic mess. Even that branch of Jin soldiers' elite cavalry unit did not dare to stop its wild momentum.

  Due to poor visibility at night, the frantic horse group recklessly charged towards the sharp deer fence and hard fence, all obstacles were scattered in front of this powerful kinetic energy. Along with these solid objects, countless war horses' flesh and blood were also crushed...

  The guards on the watchtower were frantically sending out signals with lanterns, while desperately shooting arrows at the horse herd, but to no avail.

  The horse group continuously broke through the walls of each village, and on the way, countless chaotic soldiers were trampled into mud. Within a range of tens of meters on both sides of the road where the horse group was galloping wildly, a vacuum zone was formed. Even the bravest person did not dare to step into this death circle - but there was such a crowd, venturing to follow behind, wherever the horse group rushed to, the crowd followed. In this way, they miraculously broke out of the Jin army camp by taking advantage of the momentum of the galloping horses.