Shenxi instructed Zheng Ankang: "Have someone go back and inform Zhao Rong, and tell him to bring people to dig up all the kudzu roots in the places I marked in the next two days, and then bring people to catch up with us."
"Yes." Zheng Ankang called over a young man and told him to go back and relay the message.
"Also, tell the logistics minister to keep the food safe and secure. If any more refugees come in to rob, everyone must do their utmost to protect them."
"Yes, sir." Although Zheng Ankang had doubts, he still gave the order.
Chenxi led his men, following the trail left by the refugees.
When Chenxi found more severely wounded refugees lying by the roadside, he frowned. There were even more corpses left behind, a total of forty or fifty, as if they had been attacked by a large pack of wolves.
No wolf carcass was found.
Shen Xi instructed Fang Chenyan: "Take a look at that person, see if there's any hope. If there is, then help him. If not, then forget about it, and while you're at it, ask him what happened."
She needs to have a lot of information, but that doesn't mean she can be threatened by Li Si.
There were three injured refugees, all of whom were seriously injured.
"Commander, there's still hope for this one," Fang Chenyan replied after checking each one.
No sooner had he finished speaking than the most severely injured refugee stopped breathing. The other one was also unlikely to survive, falling into a deep coma.
Only one person was conscious. Fang Chenyan gave him a simple cleaning and bandaging, nodded to Chenxi, and said that this person could live.
Shenxi nodded, allowing him to ask questions.
"What exactly happened here?" Fang Chenyan asked after bandaging the wound.
The weakened man seemed to see a glimmer of hope and was willing to speak: "A pack of wolves, dozens of wolves, all hungry wolves, they attacked silently last night."
"And then what?"
"Many people were scattered and ran away, and some resisted, but the wolves were too ferocious."
The man took a breath and continued, "We thought that if we followed those hundreds of armed men into the mountains, we would be protected. Who knew, who knew, although they let us follow, they only allowed us to follow behind them, not to get too close. The wolves attacked those of us behind them. By the time someone called the forest leader, the wolves had already retreated."
"Who is Lin Tou'er?"
"The leader of several hundred armed men."
"I heard there were several thousand people following them, how come they couldn't handle a few dozen wolves?"
The man licked his dry lips and sighed, "There are several thousand people, and they're not all the same group. Those who were far from the wolf pack ran away, and the rest ran away as well. Only those who couldn't escape put up a fight."
"Lin Tou'er couldn't help much, and he even took the dead wolf away. Nobody dared to say anything."
The man's words contained a hint of complaint: "Of the seven of us, only one woman was alright, and she even left with someone. The rest of us are lying here."
Hearing this, Chen Xi frowned. This forest chief was somewhat different from her initial analysis.
"How did you manage to come in with them in the first place?" Fang Chenyan's questions were exactly what Shen Xi wanted to know.
“What can we do if we don’t follow? There’s no food outside. Boss Lin led a group of people who ran away from the south. He said there’s a war in the south, so we shouldn’t flee south anymore. He can lead us into the mountains to find food.”
"Are there several hundred of them also looking for food like you?"
The man sighed, "They came from the south, and by sheer coincidence, they ran into a group of people. They had grain on their carts, so they robbed them. It's their good fortune to have food."
Chenxi came over and asked, "Do you want to live?"
The man's eyes were filled with a desire to live: "Of course I want to live. If I didn't want to live, I wouldn't have suffered like this."
Chen Xi nodded, moved closer to the man, and said in a low voice, "If you want to live, I'll have someone take you to the back. There are my men there. You need to spread good word about how bad Lin Tou'er and his gang are. Say as bad as you can, and see if you can do it."
The man was dumbfounded; what kind of tactic was this?
Chen Xi smiled and said, "If you can do it, I'll give you something to eat to keep you alive. If you can't, I'll just leave you here and not take care of you."
"It's possible!"
"Alright, you better remember this. You said it yourself, no one is allowed to touch me, understand?"
Both of them spoke in very low voices, and only Fang Chenyan and Zheng Ankang could hear them.
The two of them were also completely baffled.
It is evident that Shenxi spoke to this person in such a private manner that he did not ask any questions.
Shen Xi straightened up and instructed, "Guard captain, have two men take him back to our base camp and take good care of him."
"yes."
Zheng Ankang called over two more people to escort the man to the back of the line.
As they continued walking, despite Fang Chenyan's composed demeanor, he still quietly asked, "Commander, why did you make Hao Zheng do that kind of thing?"
Hao Zheng was the name of the injured man. The guard had already made a note of it before Shen Xi could ask.
Chen Xi smiled gently and asked in return, "If it were you, between me and Lin Tou'er, who would you choose first?"
Fang Chenyan replied without hesitation, "Of course I choose you!"
Zheng Ankang pondered for a moment: "If it were an ordinary person, they would definitely choose Lin Tou'er."
Fang Chenyan also realized: "That's right. If one doesn't particularly trust the leader and isn't determined, one would naturally choose Boss Lin."
Shen Xi sneered: "How can I hand over the foundation I laid to someone else!"
"There will be more refugees coming in behind us, but as long as they are not a large group, they will not have much of an impact on us."
"The only one we need to be wary of is this forest foreman. If we get the chance, we'll take him down!"
Shenxi took a deep breath: "As long as we stay united, we can use some methods to wipe out a few hundred of them. As for the remaining few thousand, their hearts are not united, and it's uncertain who they will follow in the end."
Chenxi wasn't in a hurry to continue, but Lin Tou'er and his men were probably in a rush to find a suitable place to set up camp and establish their territory, so they were moving faster, leaving many of the hungry refugees behind them unable to keep up.
This was exactly what Chenxi wanted.
Chenxi Ling Fang Chenyan, along with several members of the medical team, began providing free medical care to the impoverished refugees. Of course, they did not treat hunger or other illnesses, but only provided basic medical care to those in need.
Shenxi made a bold statement: "Whoever truly follows her will be given a way to survive!"
“We’ll follow.” A group of about twenty refugees were the first to follow Shenxi.
“We’re willing to follow too.” The group of more than thirty people followed behind.
"However, there are conditions for following me!"
"Whatever the conditions, as long as we can survive, we'll agree to anything!"
"My team is following behind. You need to break up and join my squad. Any objections?"
Without the slightest hesitation, these refugees agreed. Even if they were scattered or crippled, they would be happy to follow as long as they had food and drink. Nothing was more important than being alive.
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