Chapter 136

  "Adult..."

  "There's no need to say more, if Heng City falls, then this expedition of mine will be completely meaningless." Tang Yin said seriously: "Whether Heng City can hold on or not depends entirely on all of you, I hope none of you will disappoint me!"

  Tang Yin insisted on not bringing Cheng Jin and Lu Fang with him. The two of them had no choice but to watch Tang Yin's back as he left, staring blankly.

  As usual, the generals around Tang Yin were only the two brothers of Shangguan. Although Shangguan Yuanwu and Shangguan Yuanbiao were a bit impulsive in their actions, they were highly skilled and could really help Tang Yin a lot in battle.

  Tang Yin, Yue Tian and Shangguan brothers left the city and joined forces with 4,000 cavalrymen, then headed straight to the territory of Besa City-State.

  The route Leta said was pretty good at first, it's just a straight shot through the Pab Great Plains of Besa City-State, but after crossing the plains, the direction changes and it goes into the deep mountains and dense forests.

  It was deep winter now, and the Besa City-State was even colder than the Wind Country. On top of that, they were still traveling through the deep mountains, where the mountain winds howled and cut into their skin like knives, chilling them to the bone.

  When they arrived, the Wind Army had made corresponding preparations, and each of them wore thick cotton-padded jackets. However, the cold in the mountains was still unbearable for the Wind Army. Even Tang Yin's head was frozen to the point of pain, and he estimated that the temperature in the mountains was below minus 40 degrees Celsius.

  The climate is cold, and the road is not easy to walk on. To be exact, there is no road at all. The thick snow covers the entire ground, and when you step on it, only half of your knee can be seen outside. When the journey is difficult, even war horses cannot move forward, and people have to get off and pull the war horses forcefully. With such a marching speed, it's strange if we can go fast.

  It took only a little more than a day to cross the vast grasslands of Pab, but entering the deep mountains, they walked for three days without seeing an end in sight. Moreover, as they went further north, the weather got colder and colder, to the point where not even horses could withstand it, let alone humans. The horses were so cold that they couldn't even stand stably, their four legs trembling with fear.

  Deep in the barbarian state's territory, war horses are as good as life. If a war horse dies, its rider cannot survive either. To protect their mounts, many of the Wind Troop soldiers took off their cotton-padded jackets and wrapped them around their horses' bodies.

  Seeing the plight of his own soldiers, Tang Yin's mood also became extremely gloomy. He found Le Tian and asked: "How much longer do we have to walk before we can reach Besa City?"

  Lai Tian raised his head and looked around, then asked his scouts again, "Sir, it's almost time!"

  Tang Yin had heard this sentence at least fifty times. He said in a condensed voice, "You said this on the first day when we entered the mountain, now we've been walking in the mountains for three days, and you're still saying this?"

  He smiled wryly and said with a embarrassed expression: "This time it's really coming soon."

  Tang Yin glanced at him and hummed, without asking further questions, then turned his head to look at the soldiers on his own side.

  Without the protection of cotton garments, the soldiers' faces were frozen and turned blue. It was time for a rest, but the Wind Army huddled together in small groups, embracing each other for warmth. In this state, it wasn't just a question of whether they could fight against the barbarians, but even whether they could survive to leave the mountains.

  Tang Yin walked slowly up to a group of soldiers, bent down and picked up several dry firewood and threw them into the bonfire.

  As soon as Tang Yin arrived, the surrounding Feng Jun stood up in unison and trembled to greet him: "Great... Sir!"

  He trembled in his heart and hastily waved his hand, saying calmly: "Sit down, don't get up!"

  He looked at the soldiers around him and said, "Brothers, bear with it a little longer, we'll be out of the mountains soon."

  "If I had known... that this place was so cold... we would have brought more cotton-padded clothes..." A soldier in his early twenties said, his lips pale and chattering.

  "Yes... I knew it would be like this, we should have brought more clothes. Our country is warm..." The other soldiers chimed in, one after another.

  Tang Yin pursed his lips, straightened his waist, and walked towards that young soldier.

  The young man was frightened by the sight, thinking he had misspoken. He immediately pushed away his companions and stood up trembling, looking at Tang Yin and stuttering: "G-g-great... sir... I-I-I..."

  Tang Yin smiled at him, patted his shoulder, and then casually untied the cord button on his collar, took off his outer garment, and put it on the soldier's body. He sighed softly: "Isn't it said that there is no clothing? I share my cloak with you." This scene reminded him of the Qin Song in the Book of Songs. When he first heard this sentence, he didn't feel anything, but now he realized how aptly this song was written.

  His words were met with a mixture of understanding and confusion by his comrades, but his actions moved everyone present deeply.

  The young soldier's eyes welled up with tears as he clutched the overcoat draped over his shoulders, and after a brief moment of stunned silence, he suddenly came to his senses and hastily pulled it down, not daring to put it on.

  Tang Yin pressed down on his hand and said: "Put it on, I'm not cold!"

  "Sir!" At this time, the soldiers around also stood up one after another, looking at Tang Yin in unison.

  There are countless generals in the world, all of whom claim to be able to share joys and sorrows with their soldiers. But how many can really do it? No matter how loudly they shout slogans, it's not as convincing as a simple action. Such is Tang Yin, how can he not make his soldiers follow him to death?

  An elderly veteran led the way, singing loudly: "When the country is in trouble, I will go to war, wrapped in horsehide, and die a heroic death!"

  The song soon infected other warriors, and the crowd also sang loudly: "When the country is in trouble, I will go to war, wrapped in horse leather, my heroic spirit! Wind, wind, great wind——"

  The military song of Fengguo was sung over and over again, with increasing fervor, and as people sang, their bodies grew warmer, the feeling of cold gradually fading away.

  Listening to the songs of the people, looking at the young faces of the people, Tang Yin was deeply moved and delighted with his Fengguo generals.

  He sat in a circle with the other soldiers, and out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Le Tian standing not far away, looking around in all directions. He pointed at Le Tian and said, "You've all seen him clearly."

  The soldiers didn't understand what he meant and looked at each other in confusion. Someone plucked up the courage to ask, "Sir, what do you want us to take a good look at?"

  "Take a good look at this man's face and remember it well." He nodded to Le Tian, saying: "It was he who led us on this road. If we are unlucky enough to freeze to death in the deep mountains, even as ghosts we won't let him off. If we're lucky enough to make it out alive and return to Feng Guo, don't forget to remind me to heavily reward this guy!"

  The soldiers were stunned at first, then burst out laughing, and Liao Tian himself was also speechless with laughter, shaking his head repeatedly.

  Tang Yin rarely had a joking moment, but this time he suddenly made a joke, which was quite refreshing and also enlivened the atmosphere of the crowd.

  At this moment, a sudden horseshoe sound came from the front, and the soldiers were shocked, picking up their weapons in their hands.

  Tang Yin remained leaning against the station, he had heard the sound of horseshoes a long time ago and had already judged that there was only one horse, so he didn't bother to respond.

  Soon, a war horse came galloping over. The newcomer was not a barbarian, but rather a scout sent out by the Carefree Sect.

  He dismounted and hurried over to Le Tian, whispering something in his ear.

  After listening to his subordinate's report, Le Tian first showed a look of surprise, then burst out laughing. He ran up to Tang Yin and said: "Sir, good news!"

  "What? Are we finally going to leave the deep mountains?" Tang Yin raised an eyebrow and glared at Le Tian.

  Luo Tian chuckled and scratched his hair, saying: "That's not it, but a small village of barbarians was found in the northwest, which should be enough for our army to rest at night."

  "Oh?" Tāng Yín's spirit lifted, and he stood up from the ground with a creak, looking in the northwest direction. His eyes were filled with a vast expanse of white snow, and he couldn't see any sign of the village. But Lè Tiān wouldn't make false reports, so he blinked his eyes and muttered: "It's really 'heaven doesn't abandon people', even such a place can be found to have a village, I don't know if it's your good luck or the barbarians' bad luck!"

  Lotus smiled wryly.

  There are villages to live in, who would still be willing to stay in the cold and frozen wilderness. Tang Yin immediately walked to his horse's side, mounted it while shouting to the surrounding soldiers: "Mount up! We're going to the barbarian village to warm up!"

  "Yes!"

  The soldiers' eyes lit up as soon as they heard the word "village", their spirits soared, and they responded in unison, mounting their respective war horses, led by Lü Tian's scouts, rushing straight to the northwest towards the barbarian village.

  In the northwest, there is indeed a village, a small village not big, only three rows of houses, estimated to be just over 20 households and hundreds of people, most of whom are hunters, with animal hides and frozen meat hanging outside each household. The houses are simple and remote, and on this scale, in Fengguo, it can't even be counted as a village, but only as a hamlet.

  But for Feng Jun, who was now cold and hungry, this place was almost like heaven.

  Four thousand cavalry, with horses at full gallop, came rushing over like a storm.

  The sound of horseshoes was loud and clear. As soon as the crowd entered the village, they startled the villagers. Many households opened their doors, and the villagers came out curiously to watch.

  The village was in a state of semi-isolation, and the villagers had never seen wind people or wind soldiers. Seeing so many cavalry suddenly enter the village, they didn't understand what was going on. The villagers walked out of their homes and stood by the side of the village's dirt road, watching with bated breath.

  Tang Yin saw the situation, his mouth corner raised, urging the war horse to move forward in the front row of the troops. At the same time, he turned his head and ordered the soldiers to disperse and surround the village first.

  At this time, a middle-aged barbarian who looked like a village chief walked out of the villagers, took two steps forward, and loudly asked Feng Jun: "What are you people? Why did you come to our village? Are you lost in the mountains?"

  Tang Yin smiled slightly, rode his horse to the middle-aged man's side, looked him up and down, didn't say a word, but suddenly drew out the curved knife behind his back, without warning, and chopped down fiercely.

  Plop!

  This knife, solidly chopped on the neck of a middle-aged barbarian, the latter's face still had a look of surprise, but his head had already popped into the air, and the blood that sprayed out stained the white snow with crimson.

  "Kill! Kill everyone here!" With one slash of his knife, Tang Yin beheaded the middle-aged barbarian and pointed his blade at the crowd in front of him, shouting loudly.