Chapter 401 Significance
By night, the hilltops of the Green Forest League were still brightly lit.
After Xie Zhuoning went back to discuss some things with Xiao Jinxuan, he heard that the women were still sewing the tarpaulin, so he returned and wanted to ask them to rest.
But before I got close, I heard them talking.
"I sewed eight today!"
"Look how proud you are. Chunmei sewed thirteen of them and didn't say anything."
"Sister Chunmei, you should at least take a rest and don't damage your eyes."
"It's okay, we can still hold on." Chun Mei said without raising her head, "If we sew one more person, we may have a better chance of winning. If we keep one more person alive, we will have a better hope of returning home."
She wanted to go home and see her parents, sister and brother.
When she was captured on the mountain, she thought there was no hope of returning home.
But now, a beam of light fell, and the endless darkness before her eyes was no longer there.
"I miss home too. The mushroom pancakes my mom makes are so delicious, even better than meat."
"When I left, my sister-in-law had just given birth to a baby. It was a tiny, pink, and adorable baby. I don't know how old she is now. Will she still call me aunt?"
"My parents have difficulty walking, and I don't know if they are still alive..."
A mixture of longing and sadness, when everyone present heard these words, memories were brought back to them and they all sobbed softly.
But after crying, everyone started to cheer each other up and continued to compete to see who could sew more.
Because they want to end this war as soon as possible and return to the arms of their families as soon as possible more than anyone else.
Seeing this, Xie Zhuoning said nothing and left silently.
Most of the suffering in this world falls on women's shoulders, and then in the quagmire, resilient flowers bloom.
So even if she and Xiao Jinxuan didn't get any credit for hiding their identities this time, everything they did was meaningful.
Unexpectedly, on the way back, I ran into Xiao Jinxuan.
He left in a hurry with a group of people, apparently he had encountered an urgent matter.
The two looked at each other and passed each other.
Xie Zhuoning was not so tactless as to pull him aside and ask what happened to waste his time. Instead, he went back immediately, called Song Yuqiu over, and asked Xia Ju to help him set up devices and traps in the residence.
The more serious the situation was, the more she had to ensure her own safety and never let herself hold Xiao Jinxuan back.
"Princess." Ling Xiao came over and bowed, "My master asked me to come here with Xia Ju to take care of your safety."
"Don't touch the machine," Xie Zhuoning called him and asked him to go around and enter the house. Only then did he have the chance to ask, "But what happened?"
Ling Xiao replied: "There are hidden troops of the Xichuan Army on the mountain, secretly passing the message out and revealing the way we climbed the mountain."
That road was originally the retreat route prepared by the Green Forest Alliance for their escape. When they went up the mountain, they did not cross the Tiandeng, but climbed up the mountain unnoticed from the road at the back of the mountain.
Now Xiao Jinxuan has ordered the chains of the ridge ahead to be cut, and that road is the only way to go up and down the mountain.
If the Xichuan Army went up the mountain, the well-trained army would face the uneven quality of the bandits, and it would be a one-sided massacre.
Xie Zhuoning frowned slightly, secretly regretting his mistake, "I thought it was too simple."
He originally thought that by using He Wenjun as bait, he could lure out all those who wanted to save him or kill him and catch them all in one fell swoop, but he didn't expect that there would still be some fish that slipped through the net.
No wonder Xiao Jinxuan wanted to send Ling Xiao back even though she already had Xia Ju by her side.
Now the people of the Green Forest Alliance cannot be trusted, and it is hard to say which one of them is the hidden stake planted by the Xichuan Army.
She carefully warned, "Everyone take turns to rest tonight, stay alert at all times, and don't let anyone take advantage of you."
Several people nodded heavily, "Yes!"
On the other hand, Xiao Jinxuan learned about everything that happened on his way there.
During his patrol, the second in command of the Green Forest Alliance spotted some people acting suspiciously and became suspicious. After tracking them down, he found out that those people had killed all the sentries along the way to the back mountain, secretly led the Xichuan Army up the mountain, and planned to launch a surprise attack on the Green Forest Alliance!
Wen Yan said with emotion, "This time, thanks to the second in command who discovered the clues, he immediately sent someone to pass on the news. Otherwise, when the Xichuan army arrived, there would definitely be a fierce battle."
"A fierce battle is unavoidable now." Xiao Jinxuan's brows became more stern and he moved as fast as the wind.
The sentry was killed, and part of the Xichuan Army had already come up. Even if the second in command brought some people with him, he would not be able to hold out for long.
If they were a little slower, who knows how many more people would have died.
At this moment, just as Xiao Jinxuan expected, the second in command was already struggling to cope with the overwhelming force of the Xichuan Army.
"Are there any more arrows?"
“No…no more.”
"Where are the traps? Activate all of them!"
“It has already started.”
But not only were their weapons simple and limited, but they were also bandits who were naturally afraid of officials. When the two armies met, they were already at a disadvantage.
Then the Xichuan Army leader shouted, "A reward of five taels of silver will be given to anyone who kills a bandit." Faced with such a huge reward, the local soldiers rushed forward as if they were risking their lives.
It's almost a one-sided crushing situation!
The second in command suddenly remembered what Xie Zhuoning had said to him -
"Given your crime, even if you surrender, you can only be spared the death penalty, but you can't escape the punishment alive. But if you can make great contributions in the battle against the Xichuan Army, then I can promise you a civilian status."
When he was young, he went to school with his father for a few years and learned some moral principles.
His father taught him to be a good person.
But his father didn't teach him how a good person should survive in this world.
As he watched his loved ones die one by one in front of him, he could only force himself to become more sinister and cunning, and full of calculations step by step.
He knew that the mountain bandits were all reckless men who needed someone to take care of their accounts and make plans.
With these, he gradually climbed to the position of second in command.
He thought he was completely rotten and hopeless, and that he would be stuck in this rotten mess for the rest of his life.
But she said that she could give him a civilian identity.
Civilian status means a blank slate, and everything can start over.
It means that he can go to Chunmei openly and ask for her hand in marriage as long as she is willing to marry him.
It means he can live a normal life like a normal person.
How great a temptation is this for him?
He drew his sword. This was the first time he held a sword, but strangely, he didn't feel afraid at all.
"Brothers, if we let the Xichuan Army go up the mountain, not only will we die, but also your parents, wives, and children on the mountain will die! Follow me and kill them, and never let them go up!"
He roared loudly, and then led everyone to rush towards the Xichuan Army.
Relying on their familiarity with the mountain and the traps set up everywhere, they actually fought back and forth with the Xichuan Army.
People on both sides fell down one after another, as if human lives were the least valuable wild flowers and weeds on this hillside.
The second in command didn't know where he was injured. He just felt pain all over, and even his eyes were filled with blood mist.
The moment he fell, he thought that he had tried his best.
It’s just a pity that he didn’t have the time to tell Chunmei his feelings.
But he couldn't help but feel lucky that he didn't tell her that she deserved a better man than a vicious thief like him...
But just as his eyes were about to close, a streak of silver light flashed like a shooting star and flew into the crowd.
The steady voice that followed was sonorous and powerful, spreading in all directions, "The first battalion, treat the wounded, the second and third battalions, follow me to kill the enemy!"