The general was stunned by this arrow, and it wasn't until Zhao Baihu came to his senses. He hid behind the grain cart with a flustered expression, afraid that another cold arrow would come out of the forest and take his life. He didn't want to die as miserably as Zhao Baihu did.

  The weeds by the roadside swayed in the wind, and the atmosphere on the quiet road was oppressive. Since Zhao Baihu was shot through the throat with one arrow, there was no movement in the woods on both sides. The soldiers' hands holding their knives trembled slightly. The previous killing had been too easy, making them relax their vigilance. Now that a new enemy appeared, they were also exhausted.

  A soldier swallowed hard with a gulp, which sounded so loud on this deathly quiet forest path.

  In the middle of the road, there were a few scattered grains of rice. A field mouse that was searching for winter food ran out from the forest and happily picked up those grains. It looked around with its small head, hoping to find more. Suddenly, it saw a group of people - it was the first time it had seen this kind of creature. Their tall bodies seemed intimidating, triggering the mouse's timid instinct to turn around and run away immediately. However, it glanced down at the rice in its paws and sniffed the sweet aroma coming from afar, hesitating between fear and greed. The ground shook, startling the mouse, and its timid nature took over. It clutched the rice in its paws and ran swiftly towards the forest.

  "Charge! Kill them all and the grain is ours!" The cries of slaughter echoed, and another group of bandits emerged from the forest.

  This time the thieves are not like the previous batch, hoes and wooden sticks have become big knives and long guns, the old, weak, sick and disabled have become young and strong men. The two sides fought again, the mountain bandits were in high spirits, the Ming army had just gone through a battle and was out of strength, the leader was also shot dead by an arrow, and with fewer people fighting more, they fell into a very disadvantageous position as soon as they engaged in combat.

  General Zhang saw that the situation was unfavorable, so he instructed the soldier beside him: "You ride on Baihu's horse, we'll cover you and break out to report to the Wei authorities, tell Commander-in-Chief about everything that has happened here!"

  The soldier nodded in response, and General Qi led others to kill and retreat towards Pinggu County.

  At this time, there was still a group of mountain bandits in the forest who had not been killed, one of whom held a strong bow, carried an arrow bag on his back, and narrowed his eyes slightly, as if a snake staring at its prey, it was he who shot and killed Zhao Baihu.

  "Second brother, we've already killed the vanguard who charged into the forest. Now we need to quickly find the remaining one in the Ming army. Once we kill him, the Ming army will be leaderless and we can easily defeat them."

  Lao Er didn't respond, he just nodded silently and his eyes became even more focused as he searched through the Ming army.

  At this time, another sturdy man with a hatchet spoke up: "Big brother, are we really okay to rob this military grain convoy? I heard that Beiping has changed its master now, and it's the newly arrived Prince of Yan. Will he cause trouble for us?"

  "Alas, plundering the military rations is also an unavoidable measure. The grain stored in our mountain stronghold isn't enough for us to get through the winter. These days, no rich merchants or wealthy households have passed by here. If we don't take action, can we hold on? Can the women and children in our stronghold hold on?! This batch of grain was exchanged with the lives of 200 elderly and weak people, I must take it!" The middle-aged man at the forefront replied coldly.

  The few people behind him did not make a sound after hearing this, because the big brother said everything was true. The several brothers were all escaped soldiers from the previous dynasty, and they didn't want to die for the Northern Yuan court again, so they built a stronghold in the mountains, occasionally taking in some people who had lost their homes due to war and famine. From then on, food and medicine became the most important supplies. Every winter was the hardest to bear, often it was the sick without medicine and the old with declining health who gave up themselves for others.

  Since the Ming army broke into the Yuan Dynasty and occupied Beiping, they also came out of the mountain to trade with the people in the city, exchanging mountain goods for some daily necessities, and were able to be self-sufficient. The people in the mountain stronghold also entered the civilian register one after another, and their lives were getting better day by day.

  But since the new magistrate of Pinggu County took office, his attitude towards Shanli has changed. At first, he only raised prices, but gradually began to prohibit other merchants in the county from purchasing goods from Shanli, allowing only transactions at the shop opened by the magistrate's wife, with prices close to forced buying and selling. Finally, he even sent people to intercept and rob the teams that went down the mountain to purchase goods, taking their goods to fill his private warehouse.

  Moreover, they do not recognize the household register of our mountain stronghold, and vilify us as bandits, repeatedly applying for troops to come and annihilate our mountain stronghold, wanting to borrow a knife to kill and silence us. If it weren't for the fact that the route into the mountains has been well hidden all along, our stronghold would have been attacked by the soldiers long ago. Even so, what was originally a stronghold of nearly three thousand people now only has over a thousand people left, losing half in an instant.

  This time, it was also forced to have the idea of robbing military rations. Led by their elder brother, they had already ambushed in advance on both sides of the forest, and there were 200 elderly and weak people who volunteered to sacrifice themselves in exchange for the survival of the mountain stronghold. These were all people who could not survive this winter, they knelt down and begged their elder brother to let them make a last effort for the mountain stronghold. This led to the previous massacre, because they only came to use their lives in exchange for the physical strength of the Ming army...

  The battle is still ongoing, but the Ming army's situation is getting worse and worse. The remaining Ming troops are shrinking into a circle to defend themselves. At this moment, a Ming soldier flipped over on horseback and rushed towards Pinggu County in the gap. Lao Er's arrow also shot out at the same time, also hitting the vital point with one arrow.

  The general looked at the beheading knife on his chest, coughed up a mouthful of blood. He struggled to straighten his body, raised his sword and shouted: "Kill!" At this moment, the remaining Ming army launched their final charge.

  The soldiers who had gone far away heard the last roar of the commander-in-chief behind them, tears streaming from their eyes, and they kicked their horses hard. He would not let the commander-in-chief sacrifice in vain. He must bring his troops back to avenge the many brothers who had died.

  At this time, the third arrow of Lao Er was also shot out, pointing directly at his back heart, but the distance was too far and the arrow deviated. This arrow ultimately only hit his left arm.

  The soldier grunted and continued to ride forward, bowing his head. The fourth arrow on the string of the second brother was not shot out because it was already too far away, and shooting it would have been useless anyway. The eldest brother sighed and waved his hand to signal to his brothers behind him to charge and kill as soon as possible, to end this meaningless battle.

  The wind blew gently, blowing down the wild grass by the roadside, and the corpses of the Ming army and the mountain bandits lay scattered all over the road. Both sides had fought to the death, the Ming army for military orders, for duty-bound. The mountain bandits were fighting for their lives, for the future of the mountain stronghold. It didn't matter who was right or wrong, it was just that both sides had different stances.

  The defeated Ming army was speechless, and the standing victors had no joy, for this was an avoidable battle.

  In fact, there was no winner in this battle. The temporary victory of the bandits does not represent anything. The Ming army will inevitably investigate the theft of military rations; perhaps one day the bandits will be exterminated, or perhaps the Ming army will never find a way into the mountains and give up.

  But the life that has passed is ultimately irretrievable...

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