Leng Aofu wasn't angry. Instead, she smiled and said, "It's alright. Don't you believe in my skills?"

"It's not that I don't believe in your skills, but water and fire are merciless. Once the embers reignite, given how dry it is now, you won't be able to escape even if you want to."

After saying that, Shenxi began to explain the knowledge about forest fires, including how to prevent forest fires, how to extinguish fires, how to save oneself, and the dangers of forest fires.

Although Shenxi's mouth was also very dry, it was necessary to take this opportunity to educate these people.

Everyone listened quietly, and even the children stopped crying.

Children don't not want to cry; they just get tired of crying and most of them have already fallen asleep.

Anyone who continued to cry or fuss was carried away by the adults to a distance so as not to disturb Chenxi.

The villagers and guards were indeed listening attentively.

This fire made them realize how terrifying forest fires can be.

The screams they heard yesterday were enough to terrify them.

Leng Aofu was initially somewhat unconvinced, but after listening to Chen Xi's reasoned and well-founded explanation, she couldn't help but listen.

Although she had been wandering the world for many years, this was the first time she had ever encountered such a large-scale forest fire.

This explanation of forest fires reminded Shenxi that the previous publicity campaigns had not addressed the issue of forest fires and wildfires. This point needs to be added in the future, since Bian'ai County and the surrounding counties have a lot of mountainous areas and forests.

Because of Zheng Hongfang and others' shouts, the villagers and guards at the bottom of the cliff no longer seemed anxious.

At this moment, Zheng Hongfang looked extremely anxious.

They advanced five or six miles, but could not advance any further.

There's no other reason than that the smoke was too thick.

The further in you go, the thicker the smoke becomes.

In this area of ​​five or six miles, we encountered more than a dozen corpses.

In other words, they were all trying to escape, but they failed.

Zheng Hongfang realized the horror of forest fires. The area under his jurisdiction is mostly mountainous with abundant forests, and he needs to increase publicity about this in the future.

But what can we do now? The sky is bright and clear, and the sun is high in the sky, which means it's already quite late.

If we can't get things moving properly, we won't finish the work by nightfall.

Li De was in a panic. Everything else was fine, but the leaders couldn't go without food and water forever.

How long can a person survive without food and water, coupled with the intense heat caused by forest fires?

Even if you manage to persevere, your body will definitely suffer damage in the end.

How could they tolerate their leader being harmed?

Han Rang gritted his teeth and said, "Select dozens of skilled men to infiltrate directly. We must not let the commander starve or die of thirst."

Li De immediately agreed: "I'll go."

Zhao Jun immediately chimed in, "I'll go too."

Dou Yong, however, stared at the smoking forest, lost in thought and remained silent.

The reason we can't get through is this smoke.

If the smoke and dust are blocked, then we can get through.

Using only a damp cloth as a barrier, they could only go in for a maximum of five or six miles.

However, upon closer observation, he noticed that the smoke and dust were mainly in the air, while there was very little smoke and dust on the cleaned ground.

Dou Yong immediately said to Zheng Hongfang, "Mayor, our masks are too thin. I suggest we make them thicker and add some of those unburnt charcoal pieces inside. If we make the soldiers walk with their backs bent, we might be able to advance further."

"As for cutting directly through, I don't recommend doing that. The ground is too hot, and you can't stand on it at all."

Zheng Hongfang was completely dumbfounded. He could understand walking with a bent back, and there would be less smoke below, but what use was charcoal that wasn't fully burned?

Zheng Hongfang asked directly, "What do you mean by charcoal?"

Dou Yong replied, "I once read a miscellaneous book that recorded that crushing charcoal that was not fully burned and putting it in a mask could block poisonous gases."

"What book are you reading? I've never even heard of it. At a time like this, you can't be fooling around."

Zheng Hongfang was very skeptical of this strange method.

Li De said, "Mayor, Dou Yong has always been clever, so let's do as he says."

After saying that, he said to Dou Yong, "Dou Yong, you go and give command. I'll listen to you."

Zheng Hongfang: ......

Forget it, in this emergency, I won't bother arguing with them.

The leader is the most important person.

Dou Yong directly ordered his soldiers to remove the charred remains of the unburned trees, crush them, and then wrap them in double-layered masks.

The fabric for these masks was made from the soldiers' clothes that they took off.

The female soldiers weren't so fussy either, and they tore off their undershirts as well.

There were plenty of trees, so there was plenty of coke to be produced.

With so many soldiers, the work was quick, and over a hundred sets were made in the blink of an eye.

Dou Yong immediately ordered more than a hundred soldiers to put on charred masks and then clear the way.

Then he ordered the remaining men to either continue making masks or pump water, and to send the water four or five miles into the water using simple masks, and to stay there until they came back out.

Try to bend over and clear the way inwards.

Zheng Hongfang, Li De, and the others were still at the front.

Although Zheng Hongfang didn't believe it, he still put on the charred mask.

But in the end, I had to admit it worked; the smoke was noticeably less irritating.

The heat was so intense that I could only endure it by getting my body soaked in the rain.

As expected, the pace of progress accelerated significantly.

Around noon, Wang Jia arrived and explained that villagers would be arriving gradually, bringing some food with them.

Everyone immediately felt relieved and shared the remaining food among themselves, otherwise working on an empty stomach would have been too unbearable.

Sure enough, after about an hour, the villagers from the nearest village arrived.

I brought a lot of food.

And they joined in the work of clearing the way.

Villagers from several villages arrived one after another.

As night fell, the soldiers lit torches; they had advanced ten miles.

Dou Yong solemnly instructed the soldiers carrying torches to be careful and not to let the torches touch other places, so as to avoid causing another fire.

Fortunately, the incident did not reignite.

Zheng Hongfang then used a megaphone to shout "Commander!" Shen Xi could hear him clearly now.

The people in the basin had long since stopped talking; even hunger and thirst had left them with neither the strength nor the energy to speak.

Leng Aofu also quieted down. She had already given all her food to Chenxi and the guards last night.

However, because she often roamed the martial arts world, going hungry was a common occurrence for her, and lying on the ground to conserve energy was her most frequent method.

She had given up on the idea of ​​climbing to the top of the cliff. The commander said that even if she climbed up, it would be difficult to get out unless she could endure the smoke and the burns on her feet.

If there's no other way, she'll definitely go all out.

But now there is outside rescue, so there is no need for her to take risks.

However, she quietly approached Chenxi and asked, "If your people are truly so foolish that they can't rescue you within two or three days, do you have any way to save yourself?"

Chen Xi licked her dry lips and smiled slightly: "Guess?"