Chapter Seventy-One: Escape

  The second update is delivered!

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  Yuán Qìng was indeed fierce enough, and in just a short moment, he had cut down five Jin soldiers. Although only one of them was the real "Ring Leader", it also showed his extraordinary bravery. However, no matter how brave he was, he didn't dare to charge into the formation of over twenty Jin soldiers with only a single-handed short axe, without the protection of heavy armor.

  So far away, Jin Bing's army came to surround them. Yuan Qing turned his horse around and rushed back to the grain cart, shouting loudly: "A Xing, quickly cut off the head of that Shi Fu Chang, and take down the military wooden plaque on him, let's go!"

  The White-Faced Scholar saw Yuan Qing kill six Jin soldiers by himself, half of his body was already stained with enemy blood, and his whole body was filled with murderous aura. He couldn't help but exclaim: "What a good fellow! I am Chen An, the magistrate of De'an Prefecture's Anlu County. Chen Gui and Chen Yuan are also here. May I ask, what is your surname and name, good fellow?"

  He Yuqing glanced at Chen Gui with a slanted gaze, snorted and said: "Isn't it just that you want to know my name? Why so many words. I am He Yuqing, formerly a mountain bandit, now a righteous army."

  Chen Gui said, "The country is in trouble and the Emperor has issued a decree to raise troops. No matter what your background was before, if you can kill the Jin bandits, you will definitely get a good start. Why not abandon evil and follow goodness? It's worth more than a thousand pieces of gold. What is this brave warrior's name?"

  Chen Gui asked Ah Xing, but at this time Ah Xing had just thrown the head of Tu Tu to He Yuanqing, letting him hang it on the edge of his horse's saddle. Just as he was about to speak, suddenly a arrow shot towards the grain cart.

  Because the golden soldiers who shot arrows were relatively far away from the grain cart, they used a throwing method, which was slightly slower and not very accurate. However, at this time, only Chen Gui was standing on the grain cart, if he really aimed at him, it would be difficult to dodge.

  A Xing's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword, just as he was about to leap onto the carriage and open it. But then, the man holding a bow and arrow, who seemed to be Chen Gui's bodyguard, suddenly drew his bow and shot an arrow in haste, actually knocking away the enemy arrow that was flying through the air.

  Ah Xing and He Yuanqing stared at Zhang Li together, nodding in unison: "Good archery skills, having such martial prowess in the official army is indeed not ordinary."

  Then Axing mounted his horseback, and he and He Yuanqing rode together on one horse, rushing towards the continuous mountains several miles south of Yi River.

  At this time, Zhang Li also supported Chen Gui down from the carriage and said, "Sir, let's go too."

  Chen raised his head and looked around, saying: "Now it's all in chaos, where are we going to go?"

  Zhang Li drew a big bow and pointed, saying: "Of course it's safer to go into the forest, we don't have horses, so we're not afraid of entering the forest."

  Chen Gui watched the scattered crowd fleeing for their lives, his heart filled with worry as he said: "The Jin people will not give up easily, once they start pursuing and killing, who knows how many people will be left alive in the end? I'm also unsure if it's right or wrong to encourage them to flee like this..."

  "Sir, do not blame yourself. As the saying goes, 'riches and honors are destined, life and death are in heaven.' Even if these people did not flee, they would still be implicated by those two good men and could not escape the slaughter of the Golden Army. Fortunately, there are fewer Golden Soldiers left on the south bank now, and the defense is lax. It's just the right time to escape, running away is also good, can escape a few count as a few..."

  As Chen Rui and Zhang Li had feared, the rioting had alarmed the Khitan army on both banks of the Yi River.

  However, at this time, the northern shore was crowded with people and vehicles, blocking the passage of the pontoon bridge. Although the Jin army repeatedly scolded and whipped, it was not difficult to disperse the crowd, but those many cattle and horse-drawn carriages were not easy to move. Therefore, for a while, the large troops of the Northern Shore Jin Army could not cross the bridge to rescue.

  At this time, the remaining Jurchen soldiers on the southern bank were indeed fewer in number. In Zongwang's central camp, there was still a thousand elite female Jurchen cavalry, all of whom were seasoned veterans and fierce generals, the crème de la crème among the hundreds of thousands of Jurchen soldiers on the eastern route. With this thousand-strong iron cavalry, even if the most elite Western Army of the Song Dynasty came to attack, they wouldn't dare to come with less than 30,000 troops. Does the Song Dynasty still have a Western Army? No! That's why Zongwang and other high-ranking Jurchen generals were so unscrupulous, daring to indulge in pleasure on enemy territory with only a small defensive force.

  And the ones who escorted and drove these last 30,000 captives were also 1,000 Jurchen soldiers. Among them, only 200 were female Jurchen warriors, while the remaining 800 were Alixi slaves, and at least half of them were infantrymen. Of course, although these Alixi slaves were not very powerful in the eyes of the Jin people, they could defeat the Imperial Army of the Song Dynasty. In other words, their combat effectiveness was stronger than that of the Song army, not weaker.

  Apart from this, there is another army south of Yihe River, which is the Jin army's scouts and patrols scattered within a radius of twenty miles. This team responsible for sentry duty has about 500 people. They are divided into small teams of five, with a total of one hundred small teams, scattered in the area south of Yihe River within a radius of twenty miles. Each team is responsible for a section of the region, and the teams can see each other, every hour, they also need to swap defense areas. This kind of network-like patrol defense is very strict.

  In total, Jin Jun had 2,500 troops south of the Yi River that he could mobilize, and most of them were elite soldiers, with a combat effectiveness comparable to an army of 5,000.

  Arrived at the gate, such a thing happened, from Zong Wang and below, all the Jin generals were extremely annoyed. Of course, no matter how angry they were, they wouldn't make a big deal out of it, using a thousand elite troops to capture these slaves was not worth it. And the 500 cavalry couldn't be called back either, that was too far away, with that effort, the Jin army on the north bank of the Yi River would have arrived early. So, for now, the only ones who could really take action were those thousand Jin soldiers escorting the prisoners.

  One thousand armed soldiers, hunting down thirty thousand refugees like rabbits, this matter seems to have no suspense at all. The only question is how much time it will take and how many can be captured alive?

  Aji's running posture was not much different from that of a rabbit. Although he had been starving for a long time and his physical strength had decreased greatly, he was still light and agile, and his running speed was not inferior to that of an adult. Seeing that most of the captives were running towards the forest, Aji added a thought, escaping this kind of thing, where there are many people is not necessarily safe. With more people, the target is bigger, and it's easier to attract pursuers. So Aji dragged Liu Da, who was crying uncontrollably, towards the mountain. Although the distance to get there was farther, wasn't it safer?

  As expected, Ah Qi, Liu Da and a group of clever people had just escaped from the fleeing crowd when a large number of Jin soldiers came in like a pair of pincers opened by crabs, surrounding them on both sides. Their target was clearly the large batch of captives who had fled into the forest.

  Because the willow branches in the forest would trip and blind the horses, Jin army cavalry did not participate in the pursuit within the forest, but instead chased after those who fled along the open terrain towards the mountains.

  Aji turned back and felt a chill, originally no matter which direction he ran, the chances were only fifty-fifty. This was also too bullying! Wasn't it popular to have one or two fish escape the net?

  There are one or two fish that have escaped the net, and maybe even more than that. But does Agi have such good luck?

  At this time, only the sound of horseshoes behind him was getting closer and closer. Ahji subconsciously turned his head back - oh no! A snow-bright knife light entered his eyes...

  Suddenly, Ah Qi felt his body tighten and was pushed out by Liu Da, who was holding him tightly. Ah Qi couldn't catch his footing and fell with a bruised nose and swollen face. But Liu Da had been slashed on the arm by the knife and instantly stained his sleeve with blood.

  The injured Liu Dafei was not afraid, but instead looked up at the sky and laughed wildly, his hands spread wide: "Haha! Golden Dog, come on! Grandpa is standing right here, give grandpa a thrill, and grandpa can meet with brothers sooner..."

  That Jin soldier who was chasing to kill, although he couldn't understand what Liu Da was saying, could also guess a thing or two from his frantic expression. In a fit of rage, the Jin soldier surprisingly sheathed his sword and didn't chop, but instead urged his horse forward quickly, rushed to Liu Da's face, pulled hard on the reins, clamped tightly on the horse's belly, and stood up in the stirrups.

  That iron hoof as big as a bowl was raised high, and in front of it, within three feet, Liu Da closed his eyes and waited for death - this Jin soldier actually wanted to trample Liu Da to death.

  In the midst of the screaming, hoofbeats filled the air, and a lone rider suddenly appeared at the side rear of the Golden Army. A person stood up on horseback, taking advantage of the momentum of the galloping horse to charge forward fiercely. This charge was so powerful that it knocked the Golden Soldier and his horse to the ground together, kicking up a cloud of dust.

  That man stuck out his elbow and grasped a curved knife, and with one stroke, he cut open the Jin soldier's neck. Then he pulled up the horse, turned over and got on, and stretched out his hand to Liu Da, who was stunned: "Your brother is a good fellow, you're not bad either, just for this, it's worth saving once."

  This is Ah Xing!

  He Yuancheng on another horse stretched out his big hand towards Aji: "Little brother you're not bad either, want to get on the horse?"

  Aji was overjoyed and just about to reach out when he saw the gruesome head hanging from the saddle, which made his heart skip a beat.

  He Yuanqing sneered: "What's this? Have you seen fewer dead people on this road?"

  Jin Jun drove more than 200,000 people northward all the way, basically treating humans and livestock equally. Along the way, hunger, disease, injury, exhaustion, plus heavy labor, nearly 10,000 corpses were left behind. Such a long-distance march, with more than 20 million deaths nearing 10,000, was considered by the Jin people as a normal loss, within an acceptable range.

  Aji was certainly no stranger to dead bodies. However, being so close to a severed head, and that of an evil person at that, made him feel somewhat afraid.

  He Yuqing was getting impatient: "Are you coming up or not? There's a Golden Dog catching up from behind, if you're not coming up I'm leaving."

  "Aji was startled and jumped: 'Go ahead and go up, who dares not.'"

  As two strong horses neighed loudly, the four of them rode off in pairs, like the wind.