Chapter 392 The Last Level
As night fell, a camp somewhere in the Dingbei Army was brightly lit and bustling with people.
People pushing carts and bringing their families formed a long queue, passed the soldiers' inspection one by one, and headed north.
Unlike a typical large military camp, the Dingbei Army's northern camp consisted of a small 200-man camp, with 100 cavalry and 100 infantry. Camps were spaced every ten miles, with cavalry patrolling the distances. Everyone passing through the camps was subject to inspection. It felt like they existed solely for the purpose of arresting people.
Shen Yuexi stopped an old man holding a pipe in his mouth and asked him in a group far away from the Dingbei Army.
"Old man, where are you going?"
The old man hunched his back and looked up at Shen Yuexi.
Shen Yuexi had dressed up as a poor girl, wearing coarse clothes, a large headscarf, painted her face, and carrying a basket.
"Young lady, you're not from here?" The old man pounded his lower back with one hand, raised his pipe and pointed at the dark mountains to the west. "We are all from Zhangwu. We heard the war was over, so we came out of the mountains."
A man dressed as a farmer carrying a load nearby interrupted, "Uncle Wang, I heard the King of Qi is a pretty good man."
The old man coughed twice and said, "It doesn't matter who becomes emperor, as long as they don't keep fighting. Even if you hide in the mountains, there will still be bandits who take advantage of the situation to rob you. It's better to be in the city. There are county magistrates and constables, so you don't have to worry all day long."
The man was still talking when a woman in front of him turned around and called out, "Husband, don't dawdle. Once we pass this checkpoint, we'll be in Zhangwu in the second half of the night."
After finding out the news, Shen Yuexi was overjoyed. She said goodbye to the old man and ran to the back of the team.
In the procession, Qiang Lin, his head and face covered in bloodstained cloth, leaving only his eyes and nose exposed, drove a flatbed cart pulled by three horses with ropes. Xiao Zhuo lay stretched out on the cart, his face covered by a torn straw mat. Two women, Chen Lan and Xia Lan, sat beside the cart, draped in mourning.
These outfits were all arranged by Shen Yuexi.
Qiang Lin was a Western Rong person, and any soldier with eyesight could tell he was one. So, he had his head wrapped. Xiao Zhuo's aura was too strong and too conspicuous for the soldiers to ignore, so they had to make him look like a dead person.
Chen Lan and the other two played the roles of Xiao Zhuo's eldest and third sisters, while Qiang Lin played the role of the second brother.
At first, Xia Lan was confused: "Why don't you let me be a maid? I've always been doing this."
"Our family is too poor to afford it." Shen Yuexi explained.
After returning to the group, Shen Yuexi said to Shen Lan, "Sister, I asked, and after passing the checkpoint, we can reach Zhangwu in the middle of the night. This is the last checkpoint."
With these costumes, they have already passed one level. As long as they pass this level, they will be able to escape danger successfully.
To be on the safe side, everyone agreed that if they got separated along the way, they would meet up in Xiaogang Village.
The team was moving forward and was about to reach them.
"Next, hurry up." A cavalry captain of the Dingbei Army shouted impatiently.
"Cry, cry." Shen Yuexi poked Shen Lan with her finger and reminded in a low voice.
Shen Lan didn't need to build up her emotions; she was already sad. As soon as Shen Yuexi finished speaking, she burst into tears.
Xia Lan closed her eyes and tried to cry for a while, but found that she couldn't cry, so she pinched herself secretly, and tears immediately fell.
Seeing both of them crying, Shen Yuexi began to recall her own sorrow. She was still the wife of the man lying in the car. How could a wife remain indifferent when her husband was gone?
It's strange. I cried smoothly in the previous level. Why can't I cry now?
She didn't believe it, and was struggling with it when a man's voice suddenly rang in her ears:
"Madam, what are you doing with your eyes closed?"
Shen Yuexi quickly opened her eyes and realized that it was their turn. The person questioning them was the captain who had urged them on.
"Ah... I'm... I'm praying to God to bring my husband back to life." Shen Yuexi touched the straw mat covering Xiao Zhuo's face. "My husband is gone, and I've become a widow at such a young age."
As soon as she finished speaking, Chen Lan burst into tears.
The captain looked at Shen Lan in confusion, then turned to Shen Yuexi: "This man is dead? Then you are all his wives?"
In his experience, the one crying the most was probably the wife, while the one crying silently beside him was probably the concubine. As for the one before him who didn't even shed a tear, she must be the one with the lowest status, otherwise why wouldn't she be crying?
"Our family encountered bandits," Shen Yuexi sighed. "My brother's head was chopped off several times... My sister's hand was also chopped off. My sister and I were the only ones who were not injured. We hurried back to Zhangwu to find a doctor."
The captain realized his guess was wrong. He said, "You are quite pitiful, but we have been ordered to search for the serious criminal Xiao Zhuo. I will check each of you one by one."
"If you want to see it, please go ahead." Shen Yuexi jumped out of the car and stood aside.
The captain first came to Qiang Lin, who was driving the car, raised his torch and looked him up and down. Then he said to Qiang Lin, "Take off your turban."
The three women next to them almost simultaneously felt their hearts hanging in their throats, and even Chen Lan didn't have time to cry.
Although Qiang Lin was not the person the Dingbei Army was looking for, once his identity as a Xirong was exposed, he would definitely be detained. Naturally, these people would not be able to escape.
Qiang Lin calmly put the flatbed cart down and untied the cloth one circle at a time. Following Shen Yuexi's instructions, he began to remove the cloth from the mouth. When the scars were exposed, the captain shook his head and said, "Don't remove it anymore. It's already been chopped like this. Let's go to the city and find a doctor."
Shen Yuexi secretly glanced at Shen Lan beside her and saw that Shen Lan was staring nervously at Xiao Zhuo lying in the car.
The next step is the difficult part. If Xiao Zhuo can't hide it, he will be doomed.
The captain returned to the flatbed, holding a torch, and was about to approach. Shen Yuexi said, "Sir, I'd like to remind you that my husband might have a bit of a smell... don't let him stink you out."
After hearing Shen Yuexi's reminder, the captain, who was originally planning to lift the straw mat with his hands, pulled out his knife instead and lifted a corner of the mat with the tip of the knife.
As soon as I picked it up, a few flies buzzed out.
Shen Yuexi deliberately smeared some horse blood on Xiao Zhuo's face and neck to attract mosquitoes. She also got some horse manure and tied it to the bottom of the flat board to make the smell stronger. It was a pity that Xiao Zhuo had to endure the stench all the way.
The captain was so choked that he covered his nose and glanced briefly at Xiao Zhuo under the straw mat.
It was dark. Xiao Zhuo's face was smeared with blood, and a beard had formed on his chin. He glanced at it briefly, pulled out his knife, and waved his hand, saying, "Go quickly."
"Let's go." Shen Yuexi quickly signaled Qiang Lin to drive.
After successfully passing the checkpoint, Shen Yuexi finally breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to drive away immediately, but she was afraid of attracting attention if she made any noise, so she had to follow the crowd and walk slowly.
After walking only a few miles, there was a sudden commotion behind them. A cavalry of about a hundred men, holding torches, rode up and chased them, shouting, "Where are the family members who just died? Halt!"
The people on the road didn't know what was happening and became panicked.
Shen Yuexi was shocked. Why did the other party suddenly catch up with her?
It turned out that the captain had let Shen Yuexi and the others go because he remembered something that had just struck him as odd: the three horses pulling the cart.
Ordinary people wouldn't use three horses to pull a carriage. And more importantly, those three horses weren't meant for carriages. As a cavalry captain, he was particularly familiar with horses. He remembered the bay-red steed among the three, clearly a top-notch warhorse.
He immediately led his cavalry in pursuit.
"Husband, what should we do?" Shen Yuexi panicked. The development of the situation was beyond her expectations.
Seeing the enemy cavalry chasing them, if it were just her and Xiao Zhuo Qianglin, it would have been no problem, as all three of them were top-notch riders. But Chen Lan couldn't ride a horse, and Xia Lan was only at the level of a skilled rider. There was no way they could escape.
"I'll lead them away. You guys go to Xiaogang Village first." Xiao Zhuo threw off the straw mat, jumped up, and jumped onto a horse. He swung his sword to cut the rope pulling the cart, and shouted to the pursuers behind him, "Xiao Zhuo is here!"
The captain who was leading the pursuit was overjoyed and shouted to his men, "Catch Xiao Zhuo, and you will bring honor to your ancestors for the rest of your life..."
Before he could finish his words, his cavalrymen had already rushed towards Xiao Zhuo in a chaotic manner. Everyone knew that Xiao Zhuo was the most important person, and the other women were not important at all.
Qiang Lin saw the cavalrymen chasing Xiao Zhuo, and quickly waved his whip and shouted to Shen Yuexi, "Master, let's go."
"No, you go," Shen Yuexi jumped off the carriage and jumped onto the red horse, "Qianglin, cut the rope."
Qiang Lin knew that she was going to chase Xiao Zhuo, but time was running out and there was no time to persuade her, so he had to swing his knife and cut the rope.
Shen Yuexi quickly rode her horse to chase after Xiao Zhuo.
Her riding skills were already superb, and the chestnut warhorse she was riding was a gift from Ji Zhong, so its stamina was much stronger than that of an ordinary warhorse. She caught up with Xiao Zhuo after a quick gallop at full speed.
"Husband, I'm coming."
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