A loud "Bang!"
The old man standing at the gate of Zengluan City, gazing into the distance, shuddered and looked up at the gray sky.
A young man dressed in plain clothes beside him was also looking up at the sky. His expression changed slightly, becoming serious. He said in a deep voice:
"Thunder at this time of year?"
How strange!
"They say that something unusual is bound to happen, could this be an ominous sign?"
As he spoke, he looked into the distance, where a black line was moving—it was a troop of soldiers, gradually disappearing from his sight.
Not long ago, this army arrived in Zengluan City with lightning speed. After quickly resolving the battle, they did not linger and have been out of the city for some time now.
The old man was still looking at the sky when he heard what the young man said. He turned his face and glared at him.
"Young man, don't talk nonsense if you don't understand."
“You’re a scholar, so you probably haven’t done much farming.”
"Thunder at this time of year is unusual, but it's not a bad omen."
"On the contrary, this is an auspicious sign."
The young man looked puzzled, clearly not quite believing it.
By this time, the others who had been with the two had gradually returned home, and laughter could be heard from the crowd from time to time.
The old man turned his head and glanced at the crowd, then stroked his beard and said leisurely:
"Listen carefully."
"Thunder in the first month, earth mounds; thunder in the second month, manure mounds; thunder in the third month, grain mounds."
Do you know what this means?
The young man was surprised that the old farmer could say such things, and became more curious.
"I would like to hear the details."
The old man continued:
"Thunder in the first month of the lunar calendar indicates that the year will likely be unfavorable, with either drought or floods."
“If the harvest is bad, people will not have enough to eat, which will lead to conflict, and in severe cases, it may even lead to war.”
"When people die, there are many graves, which is why it is said that thunder in the first month of the lunar calendar causes many grave mounds."
The young man nodded: "Hmm...that's true."
The old man said again:
"If there is thunder in February, there will likely be plenty of rain this year. Whether it is crops in the fields or wild grass in the mountains, they will grow lushly. With good harvests and abundant vegetation, people and livestock will have more than enough to eat."
He smiled as he said this.
"The more you eat, the more you poop, which is why there are piles of dung."
The young man chuckled as he listened, and said:
"What the old man said is quite interesting."
"Judging from this, the thunder in March and the mounds of grain must mean that this year's harvest is very good, and the granaries will be full of grain, right?"
The old man laughed and said:
"Indeed, as expected of a scholar, you understand immediately."
"Thunder at this time of year means the wheat is growing and heading, which is exactly the kind of weather we hope to see."
He looked up at the sky, then turned his gaze to the distance, even though the army had already departed.
"This year is bound to be a rare good year."
The young man nodded, but hesitated and said, "However, this is probably just a proverb, and it's probably not reliable."
Upon hearing this, the old man burst into laughter. He turned and walked towards the city gate, saying as he did so:
"This proverb has been passed down from our ancestors for hundreds or thousands of years."
"There's plenty of time. Whether it's accurate or not, we'll see in the future."
——
"What?! You saw their people chasing after us?"
The wind howled, dust billowed, and a small troop of soldiers hurriedly ran along the road. There were only about a hundred of them. The leader was pale-faced and looked at the soldier who had brought the news with a panicked expression.
"Yes, General, there are indeed troops pursuing us from behind."
"It doesn't look like there are many; they might be scouts sent by Qin Ze."
"They discovered our trail and that's why they've been chasing us all this way," the soldier replied immediately, wiping the sweat from his face.
"Damn it! I've already abandoned the city and left, and he's still chasing me! He's not giving me any chance of survival!" Qian Shouyi cursed angrily.
When he attacked Linbin City earlier, he felt that it was too difficult and that he had lost a lot of troops at the beginning. Therefore, he made up an excuse that he had fallen off his horse and was injured, and did not participate in the subsequent siege.
Although he was somewhat unwilling, after all, he had plenty of money and food after capturing Linbin City, and he could recruit the lost troops with money and food. However, by a twist of fate, he was lucky enough to escape the battle of Linbin City.
In that battle, Chen Hongbo, Ding Momin, and Liang Gongzhi, who went to assist Ono Jiro, along with their troops, all died in Linbin City, resulting in a complete annihilation.
Even today, Qian Shouyi still feels lingering fear when he thinks of Linbin City.
Therefore, he knew that the last reinforcements to arrive from Linbin City would be an extremely powerful army, and fighting them would definitely not end well.
Afterwards, he retreated to Cangyang City and, taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese stationed in the city were busy fighting, escaped with a small number of soldiers.
He didn't believe that the Japanese in the city could defeat Qin Ze's army; that would be harder than climbing to heaven.
I never expected that in such a short time, they would not only break through the city, but also send people to track me down.
These past few days of fleeing have been terrifying. They have to rush to eat and drink, and now they don't even take the main roads, but instead take the side roads. Yet they are still spotted. This makes Qian Shouyi feel both fear and anger.
He looked up and around. This place was sparsely populated and full of vegetation, indeed a good place to hide.
"You just said that they had very few men chasing after them?" he asked in a deep voice.
The soldier nodded and replied, "Yes, General. Only a handful of people are in sight."
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