"Attack the camp? Let's go! Let's go out and take a look."
The Western Rong Army could be said to be the nightmare of all the people in the southwestern and northern border areas. Hearing the shout outside, all the strong men in the tent, including the little soldier who had sneaked in to poison them earlier, followed Xue Huai out angrily.
Sheng Nanxi lay in the bushes not far away, paying attention to the movements of the Western Rong army in the distance while keeping an eye on the movements in the camp of Southern Qi.
Seeing that the Western Rong army was less than ten miles away from the camp, King Kang's guards still firmly believed that the other side was conducting a drill.
Sheng Nanxi had no time to figure out the reason, so she had to hold the voice changer and keep shouting, asking the Nanqi people here to quickly enter the anti-enemy state.
When Xue Huai left the camp, he saw that although the voices kept shouting that the other side was not rehearsing, the guards of King Kang did not take it seriously. On the one hand, they hung a white flag representing a truce in front of the camp as ordered by the commander, and on the other hand, they sent people to find out who was shouting and disturbing the morale of the army.
He looked carefully and saw the Western Rong people riding towards the camp in a mighty manner in the distance. It didn't look like a drill, but more like what the strange voice said, an attack on the camp!
Xue Huai was shocked. He wanted to see the deputy commander immediately to report what he had seen.
As soon as he reached the gate of the civilian camp, he was blocked by the personal guards of King Kang. "The deputy commander ordered that the camp be closed for rest. No one is allowed to enter or leave the camp unless it is an important matter."
Seeing the rows of black spots in the distance getting bigger and bigger, while the tent next door was as quiet as a chicken, Xue Huai felt extremely anxious and hurriedly bowed to the guard.
"Sir, I have urgent military matters to report to the deputy commander. Please go and pass the message on."
"Military emergency? You haven't left the camp yet, so how could there be any military emergency?" The guard remained unmoved and pushed away Xue Huai, who was trying to get close to him.
"Hurry back to your tent! If you keep talking nonsense here, I will sue you for lying about military intelligence and disturbing the morale of the troops!"
Xue Huai was pushed by him and staggered. Fortunately, a strong man beside him was quick to catch him.
The anger of the strong working people was completely ignited, and they all blocked the door angrily.
"Are you, the personal guards of King Kang, crazy?! Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Western Rong are attacking the camp, but you insist that they are just practicing. You are still fighting among yourselves when you are about to die?!"
"This place is only about ten miles away from the Mobei Pass, and we have never tolerated foreigners entering. They dared to rush in so recklessly, obviously not taking the Southern Qi border troops seriously."
"If they are plotting the treasures under the ruins of Gaochang, it's fine. But what we're afraid of is that if we don't resist, they'll get what they want and attack Mobei Pass in one fell swoop, repeating the massacre of the village more than a decade ago! You don't organize people to resist, you don't inform the Northwest Frontier Army, and instead you don't let us out. What's the logic behind this?!"
"I heard that there is an epidemic in Yunzhong County. Now is the time when the defense is the weakest. If the Western Rong army attacks now, won't they be able to take advantage of the situation?!"
"What? The northwestern border has only been stable for a dozen years, and you have forgotten your roots? Forgot Xiliu Village, Shiqiao Village, Meizhuang Village... Forgot the tragic massacres of countless villages and towns? Forgot those women and young men who were taken away as slaves? Don't you have wives, children and elderly people you want to protect?!"
The workers were getting more and more excited. At this point, a man named Ding rushed out with a shovel.
"I am from Xinxiliu Village! My mother hid me in the cellar of your house in order to save me. Our entire village was killed by the Xirong people. It was my cousin's family who were kind enough to raise me."
"Okay! You military masters are used to being good and soft-hearted. But I will fight those Xirong bastards to the end! I will defend my country even if I die!"
His words were like a blazing fire in the hearts of the workers, and they all picked up shovels and stood in front of the guards.
"Yes! As a man, I will fight the enemy with my own body. My wife and children are behind me, and I will never retreat!"
"With my wife, children and elders behind me, we will never retreat!"
Even though the Southern Qi border had been peaceful for many years, when we were young, we often heard about the Western Rong people slaughtering villages.
Many strong men lived near the border, and they all knew that if the Southern Qi army did nothing and the Western Rong people really rushed over, their wives and children would surely suffer.
The crowd shouted louder and louder with excitement, and even the guards in the next tent could not help showing any emotion.
The guard at the entrance of the tent was originally doing his job properly, but when he heard the shouts, he showed a look of shame on his face.
"I...we didn't know about this either. This was all the deputy commander's idea."
"Get out! You are so obedient! Get back into the crotch of your deputy commander!" Ding Xiao pushed aside the somewhat surprised guard, snatched the spear from the other's hand and rushed out first.
The group of strong men behind him were so excited that they glanced at Xue Huai subconsciously. Seeing him nod slightly, they followed him out without hesitation.
Seeing that some of the guards in the next tent were also infected by their emotions, they rushed out with weapons in hand. Even some of the team leaders began to disregard the orders from their superiors and arranged their men in order to prepare for the attack of the Xirong people.
Sheng Nanxi, who had been lying on the ground and listening carefully to the noise in the distance, suddenly felt a little cold.
She had not taken care of the affairs of the Nanqi camp before, partly because she wanted to test Xue Huai and others' ability to respond, and partly because she always felt that the voices on the other side were a little strange.
At first, she thought there were some unusual noises in the neat sound of horse hooves. If the noises were a little louder, she would be able to hear them.
It turned out to be the sound coming from the army farther away!
"Oh no! The more than 1,000 people rushing over now are the vanguard, and there are more than 10,000 people following them! We didn't hear it just now because the distance was too far, and the army in front of us was covering us!"
"Looking at their posture, the Xirong people are clearly well prepared! They have somehow reached an agreement with King Kang to use the surprise attack on the Southern Qi barracks in the nearby drill."
"Initially, we sent out more than a thousand people, but we thought it would be easier to turn around with fewer people. When the vanguard army caught the Southern Qi people by surprise, the ten thousand people hiding in the back would rush over and directly seize the treasures under the Gaochang ruins with the advantage of numbers!"
Sheng Nanxi had a stern face. She looked in the direction of Yunzhong County, and her voice became even colder.
"When we came here before, we clearly discovered that half of the troops at Mobei Pass had been transferred to other places. If the Mobei Pass was unguarded, the Xirong people must have learned of this news and gathered a large number of troops to attack at this time!"
"Maybe what the brave man just said is true. They not only want the treasures under the Gaochang ruins. They also want to rush into Mobei Pass and occupy Yunzhong County in one fell swoop!"