Chapter 18
"We followed this direction and went in two or three miles before we ran into this pack of wolves."
The surviving officer said.
"Who knew there were wolves there? We didn't see any when we searched the mountain yesterday."
"It should be Master Feng who brought it here."
"Feng Duojin?" Li Jieguan was stunned, then he understood and his face became even uglier.
Gu Ran, who was helping to bandage the wounds of the injured police officer, paused for a moment when he heard this, then started moving again.
"Yes, we found pieces of Master Feng's clothes and his sword near the wolf den. Unfortunately, we encountered wolves and didn't have time to clean them up. In this weather, I guess the wolves would have eaten them all long ago."
So, after Feng Duojin was kicked down the hill, he was taken away and eaten by the wolf?
And it just so happened that the wolf den was on the side of a low slope. From the direction they pointed, it was estimated that the forest below the low slope was connected to that side.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why Feng Duojin's body did not appear where it should have been, but his belongings were found near the wolf's den.
Gu Ran was in a complicated mood. He was afraid that the perceptive Li Jieguan would notice something was wrong, so he didn't dare to look at Pei Liuniang's expression.
"The wolves had nowhere to find food in the heavy snow, but they met Master Feng, and then..." The officer who was explaining paused, then continued, "I guess the wolves found some food once and thought there was more food here, so they slowly moved their den over here. They happened to see us entering the mountains today, so they thought we were food and hunted us."
"Fortunately, Officer Li Jie came back in time and saved us."
"Fuck him! Even if Master Feng wants to die, don't get us into trouble!"
"If he hadn't wandered around on New Year's Eve, why would we have gone into the mountains twice? Today he got us injured and almost lost our lives." The injured officers whimpered.
"Alright, now that things have come to this, there's no point in saying more." Li Jieguan looked at the darkening sky and said, "Treating the wound, we'll go back to the post station immediately."
The days are short and the nights are long on snowy days, and the time when there is daylight is very short. In addition, when they came, everyone had all their limbs intact and had strength. When they returned, almost all nine officers were injured, four with minor injuries and five with serious injuries. The most seriously injured were the two officers who had worked with Li Jieguan to deal with the wolf disaster after discovering the wolf's den.
At that time, they were the ones who held the wolf back and asked the other two postmen to go back and report for help.
Unexpectedly, the wolf was very cunning. When it saw that the food was about to escape, it chased after it.
The two officers had pieces of flesh bitten off their shoulders and legs, and were bleeding profusely. They were now being treated by Li Jieguan, but they were still unable to walk.
The other two postmen who escaped back to report the news were the ones Gu Ran first saw being torn apart by wolves when he was hiding from the wind at the bottom of a low slope. Although they were helped by the guards who were guarding them, they were also bitten in many places. One of them had his ankle tendons bitten off and is now unable to walk.
As for the minor injuries, they were Li Jieguan, the two officers he brought to the foot of the slope, and one of the postmen who was responsible for guarding them.
They returned quickly, rescued the officers who had been attacked by wolves, and killed five wolves. One escaped, but was also exhausted.
Therefore, the return journey became extremely slow.
Those who cannot walk can only be carried by others, but there are not enough people - only Gu Ran and Pei Liuniang are in good health, and they are not very strong, so it is impossible to ask them to carry others.
So although Li Jieguan wanted to rush back to the post station to spend the night, in fact, everyone walked very slowly.
When we finally reached the meeting place, it was already dark.
Today, it is impossible to return to the post station.
Li Jie Guan finally found a cave nearby and planned to camp there for the night.
He left two lightly injured officers as guards and ordered Gu Ran and Pei Liuniang to help look after the wounded.
Gu Ran could only nod silently.
They helped to place the seriously injured officers in the cave. The cave was not small and could accommodate five people, but there were many of them, so they placed all the seriously injured officers in first.
There was snow all around, and no hay or straw to lay on the ground, so they could only put them on the ground.
For fear of touching their wounds, Gu Ran was very cautious when touching them.
The two lightly injured officers outside the cave had already gathered firewood and started a bonfire. There was a pile of firewood on each side outside the cave and another pile inside the cave. They didn't mind wasting firewood and just warmed up the cave first.
Because they came to the forest to look for someone, Gu Ran naturally did not bring any food, and there was no extra food for her to bring.
As for the officers, one or two of them brought some steamed buns and biscuits to satisfy their hunger, and they gave them to the seriously injured officers first.
The same goes for drinks.
Gu Ran didn't bring any water and was very thirsty after walking for a whole day.
But the officers would not give her any water to drink. In addition to giving priority to the seriously ill, they also had to save it for tomorrow.
When Gu Ran was so thirsty that he couldn't bear it anymore, he would grab a handful of snow piled on the branches of the trees and moisten his throat.
She and Pei Liuniang squatted together by the campfire outside. They had no tent, no quilt, and not even thick clothes, wondering how they would get through the night.
After finding the cave, Li Jie Guan went back and carried the five dead wolves to the wooden rack he had made and dragged them back.
Li Jie Guan moved quickly, and it only took him about half an hour to go back and forth. Everyone was surprised to see him dragging the dead wolf over.
"Li Si, barbecue."
"Okay." Li Jieguan's deputy, Li Si, received the order and quickly got busy with another officer.
"You two, follow me and continue to collect firewood nearby. Collect as much as you can." Li Jieguan raised his hand.
Gu Ran and Pei Liuniang glanced at each other and followed.
Of course there were no firewood trees nearby, otherwise they would have discovered and chopped them down last time.
Although it didn't snow today, the snow outside the post station was cleared every day and was naturally not thick. However, in this desolate mountain area where no one cared, especially in the high places, the snow was as thick as one meter.
There was very little firewood on the ground, so Li Jieguan finally cut down all the dead branches from the trees with a knife, tied them into bundles, and asked Gu Ran and the others to carry them.
Gu Ran also did as he was told.
In this way, he collected a lot of firewood, and then put it on the rack that Li Jie Guan had used to pull the wolf, and pulled it back.
When they returned to the cave, the bonfires on both sides of the cave had almost gone out, but the one inside the cave was still burning, illuminating the cave with an orange light. People could feel a hint of warmth when looking at it from afar.
In front of the cave entrance, Li Si and another officer had set up a wooden rack. After skinning a wolf, they cut it into several large pieces with a knife, stuck them on wooden sticks and started burning them.
The outer layer of wolf meat was already roasted until it was greasy and dripped onto the fire, igniting bright flames.
Seeing Gu Ran and the others coming back, Li Si hurried over to help, unloaded the firewood, and immediately added some more to the fire to make it burn more vigorously. Another officer rolled the wolf meat on the branches from time to time.
As far as Gu Ran knew, wolf meat was not the most delicious among all meats, it was too tough.
Nowadays, there is no other way to stew or braise the wolf meat until it is rotten and add other seasonings. Instead, it is roasted directly over fire, which would probably taste even worse.
But, perhaps when one is starving, anything to eat seems to be the most delicious thing in the world, not to mention that the original owner had not eaten meat for half a year since he was imprisoned.
When Gu Ran put the wolf meat handed to her by the officer into her mouth, she took a bite. The hot oil and juice burst and splashed in her mouth. It was sweet and hot, making her feel it was extremely delicious.
Wolf meat was not as unpalatable as she had imagined.
Perhaps it was because the official who was grilling the meat was incredibly skilled? Or was it because the wolf meat wasn't cooked well enough, so it was very tender?
The seriously injured officer in the cave got the hot wolf meat and ate it with relish. He didn't even feel the pain from his wounds. He kept saying it was delicious and asked for another serving.
Although there were five wolves, they could not find food in the winter, so each one weighed only about 40 to 50 kilograms. Excluding hair, internal organs and skeleton, there was only about 20 kilograms of meat.
But there were eleven people, and nine of them were servants with big appetites, and they were very hungry, so the five wolves eventually ate them all.
Perhaps eating meat can nourish the internal organs of injured people, dispel the cold and keep warm, and is also very beneficial to promoting wound healing, so Li Jieguan brought the wolf back and roasted it for everyone to eat.
Mixed in with them, Gu Ran, who had only been able to eat roasted snake meat in small bites before, now didn't care about being polite and ate it with big mouthfuls. She wanted more after she finished. The officer, seeing that they had shared hardships, didn't give her any special treatment by depriving her of the meat just because she was a prisoner. So Gu Ran opened her stomach and ate meat to her heart's content for the first time in the Dasheng Dynasty.
Although I didn't get the rabbit, it was still nice to have the chance to eat some meat.
Gu Ran thought about the close calls he had today, sighed, and after resting for a while, he began to worry about how he would spend the night.
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