There had been no snow in the Capital since the third day of New Year, but the border was still enveloped in a world of ice and snow. The rolling mountains were covered in snow, and there was no green at all.
Ever since the camp was ambushed during the New Year’s Eve, the surviving soldiers of the Northwest Army Camp had been trapped in the mountains for ten days. In these ten days, they had traveled to many places in order to avoid the pursuit of the Xiongnu army.
Tens of thousands of Xiongnu soldiers were guarding the intersection that connected to the Northwest Army Camp. They had no way of breaking out at all with their remaining troops. This meant that they could not send out any news of them asking for help.
In a pine forest covered in snow, two soldiers unbuttoned their pants. Just as they were about to relieve themselves, an arrow suddenly flew across the sky and pierced through one of the soldiers’ thighs!
“Ah—uh—” The soldier screamed in pain, but his companion covered his mouth in time.
His companion looked around warily. He covered his mouth with one hand and pulled up his pants with the other.
“Shh, don’t scream!” His companion whispered.
Blood flowed from the soldier’s thigh, and the soldier broke out in cold sweat from the pain.
His companion carried the soldier back to the cave. “Big Brother Wu, Gou’zi is injured!”
The soldiers in the cave quickly went forward to help and carried Gou’zi to the innermost area where the injured were placed.
At first, there were only Yu Shaoqing, Wu San and the new recruit Da Niu. Gradually, during their escape, they encountered the remaining soldiers from the Northwest Army Camp. Most of them did not have any food, and some of them were seriously injured. Some of them had failed to join Yan Congming, and some of them were waiting for their deaths in the ravines. Yu Shaoqing had taken them all in, and now, their number had reached twenty.
It was not easy to feed twenty people. Fortunately, there were pickled vegetables, meatballs, and pancakes. The meatballs were no longer eaten one by one, but mixed with the pickled vegetables. One meatball and one piece of pickled vegetables could cook a large pot of nutritious soup. It was just that the taste was unforgettable.
There were seven injured people among them, including Gou’zi, it would come up with a total of eight injured people. Five of them had suffered frostbite when they encountered Yu Shaoqing. The other one was stabbed by his companion when he wanted to call his companion along for a midnight toilet break, but he was treated as an enemy by his timid companion. After stabbing him, his companion realized that he had stabbed the wrong person when he heard a scream.
There was also another person who was injured by Xiongnu’s arrows when he left the cave.
Speaking of which, it was strange. The place they escaped into had always been called the Mountain Range of Death. Almost no one could leave alive after entering. Whether the Xiongnu shot them or not, they would definitely die. They did not understand why they had to go through so much trouble to hunt them down.
The Xiongnu hunting was very ferocious. They didn’t care about anything else. They first shot a round of arrows and see whether if they had shot someone, it’s fine if they did. If they didn’t shoot them, they would continue shooting from another place.
This method seemed to be random, but it had dealt a huge blow to the Northwest Army Camp. More than half of the hundred soldiers had been killed by the Xiongnu’s arrows.
“Bear with it, I’m going to pull out the arrow,” Wu San said to Gou’zi.
Gou’zi trembled in pain.
The arrow pierced through Gou’zi’s right thigh. He really didn’t know if he was lucky or unlucky. If the arrow didn’t penetrate through his thigh, the arrowhead, which has barbs, would cause even more terrifying harm to the human body when pulled out. Since the arrow was pierced through his thigh, they just had to cut off the arrowhead and pull it out of the body.
However, it was still very dangerous and painful without the anesthetic powder.
Ah Yi stuffed a wooden stick into Gou’zi’s mouth.
Gou’zi bit the stick.
Wu San held the arrow and pulled it out in one go.
Gou’zi fainted from the pain.
Wu San tied Gou’zi’s wound with a cloth. “There’s no medicine. Whether he can survive it depends on himself.”
There’s a soldier who died on the fourth day of the New Year because his wound was inflamed and he had a high fever. This kind of injury was not a big deal in the camp, but now, they did not have a doctor or medicine. A small injury or illness could kill a person.
“Ah—my foot! My foot—why can’t I feel my foot?” An injured person suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. He had lost one of his military boots while escaping. By the time Yu Shaoqing took him in, his left foot had already been frostbitten.
Wu San looked at his feet and got someone to scoop a bowl of meat sauce soup for him. Then, he went to the other side of the cave to look for Yu Shaoqing.
Yu Shaoqing was using a tree branch to draw the terrain they had passed through.
“How are Gou’zi and Xiao Yu?” Yu Shaoqing asked.
Xiao Yu was the soldier who had frostbitten his feet.
Wu San took off his helmet and rubbed his face helplessly. “Gou’zi’s arrow has been pulled out. Xiao Yu’s foot… can’t be saved.”
Yu Shaoqing’s hand that was holding the branch paused.
“Not even for a day?” He asked in a low voice.
Wu San sighed bitterly and said, “If it’s any later, the entire leg will be crippled. In a worse situation, he won’t even be able to keep his life. But we don’t have any medicine so the risk of amputation is also very high, and he might die.”
“Centurion! Someone is coming!” Da Niu hurriedly walked over. He was in charge of scouting now so he was mainly responsible for gathering information.
Wu San was shocked. “So soon?”
The Xiongnu people would come up to “collect” the corpses after every round of arrows. However, this time, the arrows were not aimed at their cave. Gou’zi was accidentally injured by an arrow that missed. They did not expose their location. Logically speaking, they should not be able to find this place.
“Go and check the code,” Yu Shaoqing said.
“Yes, Sir!” Da Niu obeyed.
Not long after, Da Niu returned excitedly. “Centurion! It’s General Xiao!”
