Lin Dan had no time to care about the turbulent situation in Beijing and on the border. After falling into the mountain stream, she was swept into the rapids and repeatedly hit the riverbed full of huge rocks. Many bones in her body were broken and she was completely unable to move. Fortunately, she was quite lucky and was eventually carried to a shallow beach by the current, where she was picked up by several kind-hearted people, thus saving her life.
These people were all border civilians. They found that although Lin Dan was a woman, she was wearing a military uniform with the totem of the Western Expedition Army embroidered on the cuffs and collar. Naturally, they did not dare to stand by and watch her die. If there hadn't been the Western Expedition, they would have lost their lives, so how could they have returned home?
They immediately carried Lin Dan back to the village. Because she was a woman and inconvenient to take care of, they placed her in a widow's home. Every household gave the widow a few bowls of corn as the cost of Lin Dan's treatment. The widow has a son who just turned eight this year and can stay by her bedside.
"Sister, you recovered so quickly! The doctor said that if an ordinary person was injured like you, it would take at least ten days or half a month to get out of bed." A three-foot-tall little kid ran into the room holding a bowl of medicine. He looked very cute with his chubby face.
Lin Dan took the bowl and drank it all, saying softly, "I'm well now, there's no need to boil the medicine, so as not to waste money."
Xiao Douding shook his head and said, "These herbs were picked by Doctor Meng himself in the mountains. After drying them, they can be boiled in water. It doesn't cost any money. Sister, are you leaving?"
Lin Dan rubbed his head and said gently, "I will leave after my injury is healed. I can't stay at your house forever for free."
The little kid blushed and waved his hands, "It's not free food and lodging. Mother said you are a soldier who sacrificed your life to protect us, so it's our duty to support you. Sister, can we go with you?"
"You are living well here, why do you want to leave?" These days, Lin Dan often wandered around the village and found that winter wheat was sown in the fields. It was the ear-forming period, and the view was green and lush, which was a very pleasing sight. If they wait another month or two, the villagers will have a good harvest. If they leave now, all the food for this season will be gone and they will starve to death.
The little boy frowned and said bitterly, "With General Lin Dan gone, the Xiongnu have joined forces with the other four Hu people to attack Hetao again, with an even greater momentum than before. The Xiongnu who were driven away by General Lin Dan have come back to plunder us. If we don't leave now, we will be unable to leave when the grain is ripe."
The Huns did not engage in production and relied entirely on looting for food. The village was rebuilt with great difficulty. She thought she could live a peaceful life under the protection of General Lin Dan, but she did not expect that she would be assassinated by an assassin and her body was never found. Now the emperor is investigating the origins of those assassins. Some say they are the assassins of several princes in the court, and some say they are spies of the Huns. But no matter who they are, they are too far away from the people living on the border. All they knew was that their great God of War was gone, their good days were ruined, and they no longer had a home to return to.
“Sister, you should leave quickly. You are a member of the Western Expedition Army. If the Huns find out, they will definitely come to kill you. The village chief said yesterday that the news of your recuperation in the village must not be leaked to anyone. You should leave quietly after nightfall and don’t let anyone know. My mother and I will not go with you, so as not to drag you down.” The little kid climbed onto the kang and found Lin Dan’s belongings.
Seeing the cleanly washed black military uniform, a dark light flashed across Lin Dan's eyes. She rubbed the little boy's head and said firmly, "Don't worry, I will never let the Huns bother you again."
Little Douding's eyes were a little red, and he was reluctant to leave Lin Dan. When Lin Dan was lying in bed unable to move, she told him stories about the battles at the border every day. They were so beautiful!
As the two were talking, they heard the sound of horses' hooves and the shouts of villagers outside: "Oh no! The Huns are coming! Everyone, hide!"
Before the little kid could react, his mother rushed in, held him under her armpits, and then went to support Lin Dan, saying hastily, "Hurry, hurry, hide in the cellar, the Huns are coming!"
"Why should we hide when the Huns are coming?" Lin Dan quickly put on his military uniform and strode out. When passing by the courtyard gate, he picked up a stick as thick as his arm. All the old, weak, women and children in the village hid themselves, leaving only a few young and strong men standing on a tower, holding homemade bows and arrows in their hands, staring with hatred at the dozen or so black spots that were getting closer and closer.
The Huns were good at riding and shooting. When a group of them came charging on horseback, it would be difficult for ordinary people to resist. They were like evil spirits passing through, they didn't even get off their horses, they hacked and shot anyone they saw. They only needed to run back and forth in the village a few times to basically kill all the villagers, and then they dismounted calmly to sweep up the spoils. If they came across women, children or infants who had escaped the net, they would take those they liked back as slaves, and kill those they didn't like. In their eyes, people from the Central Plains are like dogs and pigs, and as lowly as ants.
How could the people living along the border not feel hatred after being massacred like this? Even if they risk death today, they will take a few Huns with them.
"Eh? That's the military wife of Widow Zhao. Why did she come out?" A strong man immediately ran to the window and called out anxiously, "Miss, the Huns are approaching, come back quickly!"
Lin Dan looked back at them and waved his hand calmly. When passing by a house, she took a pot cover made of wood and used it as a shield.
Seeing that she was holding a wooden stick in one hand and a wooden board in the other, as if she was going to fight with the Huns, the villagers couldn't help but feel anxious. The Huns rode on tall horses and held double-edged scimitars. They could not be dealt with by ordinary sticks. This female soldier was too reckless! Several strong men ran down the tower and tried to pull her back, but they saw several arrows flying through the air, aiming straight at their foreheads, so they quickly hid behind the door.
There were several arrows stuck at Lin Dan's feet, but she didn't even frown. It seems that these Huns had already discovered that she was a woman, so they did not intend to kill her, but instead saved her for torture until the end.
While he was thinking, the Xiongnu was already in front of him. He said in broken Chinese: "Ada, you really have good eyesight. This person is indeed a woman, and a very beautiful one. You can take her back to you to serve you. You can herd cattle and sheep during the day and ride her as a horse at night. It will be so happy!"
"Hahaha, I want this woman, and no one of you is allowed to compete with me for her!" The strongest man laughed wildly.
As they talked, several people rode their horses closer, causing the villagers to gasp in fear. They shouted through a door: "Soldier's wife, run away quickly, what are you doing standing there?" If possible, they really wanted to knock the woman's head open to see what she was thinking. No matter how brave you are, you are just one person and unarmed. How can you defeat these Huns riding horses and holding swords?
In order to rescue Junniang, they shot arrows at the Huns repeatedly, but their bows and arrows were very crude, with limited accuracy and range, and could not pierce the Huns' leather armor at all. Some arrows deviated in the air and fell to the ground, unable to even penetrate the soil.
The villagers were suddenly filled with despair. Seeing the Huns bending down and preparing to pull the soldier's wife, who was so close to them, onto their horses, they no longer cared about anything else and quickly opened the door and rushed out to save her. Just at this moment, the motionless soldier woman raised the stick in her hand and hit the arm of the Hun who was trying to rescue her.
The subtle sound of bone cracking was drowned out by the Hun's screams, and the other man rolled off his horse wailing, but Junniang jumped onto the horse's back at a speed so fast that it was difficult to see with the naked eye and replaced him. Before the Huns nearby could react, they were hit on the head by her sticks one after another and fell to the ground.
The light wooden stick, which was originally used as firewood, seemed to weigh a thousand pounds in her hand. It smashed the Huns' brains so hard that their brains burst and blood splattered. They fell off their horses and died with their legs twitching.
Several Huns who were farther away realized that they had provoked a tough opponent and rushed over to attack. However, the soldier's wife had already thrown away her sticks and planks, picked up the scimitar from one of the corpses, and rode her horse to fight back. She bent, leaned forward, leaped and jumped on the horse's back as flexibly as if she were on flat ground.
The Huns swung their swords into afterimages, but none of them hit her even once. On the contrary, she, if she didn't strike, it would be fine, but every time she struck out, she would chop off a head. After an incense stick of time, the ground was full of human heads, and there were still several headless corpses sitting on the restless horses, with blood spurting out from the broken necks. The military woman was sitting among several blood pillars, her face as cold as frost and her eyes as deep as a pool. The scimitar in her hand had long been soaked in blood and emitted an eerie red light.
To be honest, this scene is really scary. It took a long time for the villagers hiding in the tower to run down and look at her in awe.
"You, who are you?" The leading villager swallowed secretly. They have been living on the brink of life and death for years and are accustomed to the brutal methods of the Huns. How could they not see Lin Dan's strength? In just a blink of an eye, she killed more than a dozen Huns without even breaking a sweat and her hair was not even ruffled. Coupled with her bright facial features and cold and compelling aura, she was clearly the legendary General Lin Dan!
No, she was far more heroic and brave than the legend said, and she made the villagers tremble with excitement.
"Pile up the bodies and place them at the entrance of the village. If you have any wire, give me a roll." Lin Dan said slowly, "Every time the Huns come out to plunder, they always split into several groups. These people are the vanguard, and the main force is still behind."
Seeing the villagers' frightened expressions, she added: "Don't be afraid. The Huns are nothing but ordinary people. If they come, we will kill them. It's no big deal."
Seeing that she said it so lightly, everyone calmed down. Some people were moving the body, and some were looking for wire. A quarter of an hour later, the area in front of Lin Dan's horse was filled with corpses. She had tied the wire between two large trees at the entrance of the village and adjusted the height several times.
After doing all this, she still sat on her horse, quietly waiting for the Huns, while the rest of the villagers hid in nearby houses.
The sound of the Huns' horses' hooves was getting closer and closer. Soon they climbed over the slope, raising dust and arrived at the entrance of the village. Seeing the corpses piled on the ground, they raised their swords and rushed towards Lin Dan who was waiting nearby, each of them with murderous eyes and ferocious expressions. However, the next moment, the iron wire hanging in the air had cut their necks and bodies, splitting them in half. Blood burst out like a waterfall, the scene was truly spectacular. Even if the last few Huns noticed something was wrong, it was too late to dodge.
They could only watch helplessly as they crashed into the wire and were beheaded.
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