The sun was still shining brightly yesterday, but it was already pouring rain today. There was no road at all, so it was even harder to walk. Qin Zhiqiu cursed the damn weather against him while climbing up with difficulty. A team of more than a hundred people quietly left the large army. When Wu Ling led the main force to continue tracking Murong Hong, he directly penetrated into the center of this area.

Wu Ling would make the pursuit louder and force Murong Hong to tighter, thinking that he would gain more time. Qin Zhiqiu was also wondering, if something really happened in this area, then his more than a hundred people would be a little too short to see him.

The heavy rain washed away the steep hillside, washing down the soil that was originally covered on the rocks. The herbs originally attached to it piled up with the soil, but the rocks were exposed to the air. I don’t know how many years it would take to cover these naked rocks with green plants again.

The soldiers used local materials and cut thinner rattans and wrapped them around their boots to prevent slipping as much as possible. On such a steep mountain road, if their feet slipped, it would be very likely to turn into a rolling gourd. If they had good luck, they would fall into a bruised nose and swollen face. If the fall was in the wrong position and the luck was not good, they would die.

Qin Zhiqiu walked at the front of the team. After crawling for a distance, he would throw down the anchor rope he carried with him so that the soldiers behind him could climb up the anchor rope.

After the heavy rain, there is a drizzle that looks endless. This kind of rain is what Qin Zhiqiu hates the most. He can make you soak all over. When you feel the cold, the wind and cold may have entered your body. Fortunately, they were following a guy who had been struggling in the mountains and forests for several years. It was just a common occurrence for him. During the march, they also collected some small movements that seemed useless at the time but could be used when you needed them the most. For now, Qin Zhiqiu and his soldiers have become chickens, but they all took out red and crystal-clear pearl-like red fruits from their pockets and stuffed them into their mouths. After chewing them a few bites, they became hot, sweaty, and red in their faces.

In a day, they only walked half of the journey. At night, they could no longer start a fire and dry their clothes like before, because the fire and smoke would expose their place. Now they must disappear from Murong Hong's vision.

After camping, the soldiers quickly took off their wet clothes and could only put them on the tree pole to dry them. The alert soldiers could only continue to wear wet clothes on duty and stay guard until the middle of the night when they changed their duty.

After a difficult night, the next day it turned into a sunny day. You could feel the hot sun in the early morning, but the road was even muddy and difficult to walk. Everyone seemed to have become a god, with fog on their bodies, looking at the fairy spirit, but it was not so good to be in it.

At this time, the red beads alone would not work. Fortunately, Wu Ling was experienced and had already taken into consideration the possibilities when he set out. The soldiers also contained some pills in their bags. The only function of these patent medicines supervised by the Imperial Medical Office of the Ming Dynasty was to prevent wind and cold from entering the body.

These soldiers were carefully selected and were very strong, much stronger than ordinary people. With these preventive measures, no one was defeated by these difficult environments.

After walking on the line drawn by Wuling for three days, I still found nothing. Qin Zhiqiu was a little doubtful about whether this trip was necessary.

Staring at the map, tomorrow they will reach the most central point of the area. If nothing has been discovered, he will embark on the way back.

Qin Zhiqiu also hoped that nothing would be discovered, and this would be a good thing for them to destroy Murong Hong, at least, there would be no other trouble.

Qin Zhiqiu was looking forward to this, but things were obviously not as he thought. In the evening, his outpost members made an unexpected discovery.

It was a trap. At this moment, there was a beast in the trap. Of course, it was a dead beast. A colorful tiger was lying in the deep pit, and the blood flowed out almost dyed the bottom of the pit red.

Qin Zhiqiu's face became serious. This was not a natural pit, but a man-made one. Several soldiers went down into the pit and were brought up with the dead tiger. There were three spearheads inserted into the pit. It was these spearheads that took the tiger's life.

"It's like a spear used by the barbarians in large quantities." A soldier looked at the spear in his hand: "This is a standard weapon made by Maetsuki, and the barbarians were armed by buying Maetsuki's weapons in large quantities. General Qin, you see, these spears were polished not long ago. The polished marks are still clearly visible."

Qin Zhiqiu nodded, "Restore the original state of this trap, insert the spear, throw the dead tiger down, cover all the traces around us, find a few ambush to hide, and the remaining people will leave here immediately."

"General, if you gain something, do you have to catch a few tongues?" asked a captain.

"No, follow them." Qin Zhiqiu shook his head: "I don't know what the situation is. If you catch someone casually and ask for help, it would be bad. Follow them, find their better points and make plans for the next step. Wang Si, you are the one who tracks the most here, so you will be responsible."

"I understand, general." The captain who called Wang Si nodded.

Qin Zhiqiu took his people away from this area, but what surprised him was that in this area, his soldiers gradually discovered more traces of people who had been active. This place was not like the deserted place he imagined, but instead there seemed to be many people moving around here.

Where are they hiding? Qin Zhiqiu was lying in a tree hole used to hide, looking at the half-crystal moon exposed in the gaps in the woods outside.

Wu Ling's guess is correct. The reason why Murong Hong took them around outside was indeed concealing some secrets.

Murong Hong did not go straight to this area, of course, it could explain some other problems, that is, although there are secrets here, the people here are not enough to destroy their army, otherwise Murong Hongda could lure them directly here and kill a piece of armor without leaving them.

After understanding this, Qin Zhiqiu felt much more at ease. He was waiting for Wang Si to come back and see what the barbarians were hiding in this mountain.

When the sky was slightly bright, the anxious Qin Zhiqiu finally waited for Wang Si to come back.

Wang Si looked excited.

"General Qin, last night, three barbarian soldiers arrived at the trap and carried the dead tiger away. I kept following them."

"Have you found their nest?" Qin Zhiqiu jumped up suddenly.

Wang Si shook his head: "I found it, but the defense there is very strict and there is no way to sneak in. There should be a built-in barbarian army, and they seem to be guarding something."

"Where?" Qin Zhiqiu took a deep breath and calmed down.

Wang Si squatted on the ground, picked up a branch and drew it on the ground: "We are here, from here, and we are going forward. After about ten miles, there will be a very long narrow valley. I don't know how long it is, because at the entrance of this narrow valley, there are barbarians guarding it. There are about a hundred people living in some wooden houses. There are simple city walls at the entrance of the narrow valley, with only a small door. You can see that there are crossbows and other weapons on this simple city wall."

Qin Zhiqiu stood up and stared at the vast Congshan Mountains, "The things in this narrow valley are probably what Murong Hong has always wanted to hide. Wang Si, you have a good sleep first and restore your strength. When you have a rest, take me to take a look. If we don't go to the canyon, we two climb to the top of the mountain. They can block the ground and even block the mountains. Let's stand high and see far."

"Okay, general!"

In the evening, Qin Zhiqiu and Wang Si finally climbed up the mountain on one side of the canyon. When they pushed away the long thatch in front of them and their eyes were cast into the canyon, they were both shocked.

Deep in the canyon, wooden houses were stacked with more and more. Fully armed soldiers patrolled the middle of the canyon, while more people were unclothed, entering and exiting the pits. They pushed carts and dumped trucks of things by the stream in the middle of the canyon. On the edge of the stream, more people bent over, not knowing what they were busy with.

What surprised the two of them was that those who were busy were not convenient to move because they were all wearing shackles on their feet.

"Good guy, there are always thousands of people, right?" Qin Zhiqiu took a breath.

"There are not so many barbarian soldiers. What are those people? Slaves?" Wang Si also opened his mouth wide in shock.

Qin Zhiqiu looked at everything in the canyon, thought for a while, and said, "Retreat, this is not a problem we can solve. Go back and find General Wu before discussing it."

"Don't you leave a few people?"

"Stay it's a big deal. We found a specific place. If a few people are found, wouldn't they be killed in vain?" Qin Zhiqiu shook his head and said, "I don't think this place can be taken down by us, I'm afraid we'll inform the outside of the mountain."

A few days later, Qin Zhiqiu met with Wu Ling again.

Listening to Qin Zhiqiu's reward and looking at Qin Zhiqiu's hand-drawn map and the defense of the canyon, Wu Ling was also deeply surprised. "No wonder Murong Hong has been going around with us all the time. It turned out that it was because of this place. Hey, it's so good now, I touched his vitals."

"General Wu, you are trying to force this place, right? I think we can't take down some of our manpower." Qin Zhiqiu was a little worried that Wu Ling would come to forcefully.
Chapter completed!