Farmers of Shu Han

Chapter 1411: Deep into the Swamp
The outline of Birch Mountain undulated on the skyline, and the lingering mist at the foot of the mountain was like a gray shroud, weighing heavily on the edge of the swamp.

There were murky puddles scattered about the quagmire of rotten grass and silt, and the surface of the water was glowing with a dark blue glow.

Occasionally, bubbles would bubble out of the mud, making a muffled "gurgling" sound, as if some ominous giant beast was lurking underground.

At the edge of the swamp, crooked dead trees pointed toward the sky with their fangs and claws bared, and broken vines hung on the branches, swaying in the wind like the arms of a dying person.

General Zhendong rode on his horse, looking at the land of death before him, his fingertips subconsciously stroking the lotus pattern embroidered on the belt of his armor.

This is the armor leather that Amei and Li Mu had sewn together. It is made of Shu brocade and tanned rhinoceros skin that has been soaked in the juice of a hundred-year-old tung tree. It is not only light and breathable, but also difficult to be penetrated by knives and arrows.

But the cost is extremely high, not to mention the raw materials.

It also requires the use of secret methods known only to some wizards in the South, combined with the Han Dynasty's latest textile technology.

"General, is this the hell we passed through?"

Although he was mentally prepared, the first time Zhao Guang saw this place with his own eyes was far more shocking than the various legends.

Half a rotten corpse, not sure whether it was a human or an animal, floated up from the depths of the swamp. The faint stench filled the nose, making people feel a little uncomfortable.

General Zhendong did not answer Zhao Guang's words, but looked at others.

An old Xianbei man came up tremblingly. He was wrapped in a robe made of a whole wolf skin. The copper bells on his waist jingled with his steps, and the animal fangs hanging around his neck shone with a waxy yellow light.

He was seen prostrating himself in front of General Zhendong's horse, speaking Chinese in a very awkward manner, but his tone was extremely respectful:

"Your Excellency, the Birch Mountain Swamp is ahead. This is a place where people are eaten. Once you enter, even if you fly in the sky, you can't escape the eyes of the evil spirits hidden inside. No living thing can come out alive."

"Oh?" General Zhendong sneered with disdain, "Then you came out alive, didn't you?"

The old Hu man stretched out his hand, and his fingers looked like dead vines. The grass debris leaking out from between his fingers turned out to be poisonous weeds unique to the swamp.

He rolled up his robe again, revealing his arms, which were covered with several dark brown scars. The largest scar was three fingers wide and sunken deep into the flesh, almost half the depth of his forearm.

"This land will eat people, but the land that has eaten people before." The old man finally raised his head, his cloudy eyes only dared to look at the small tip of the scabbard, "It will also be afraid of people."

He turned around and pointed in a certain direction. "The way out is thirty steps to the south, on the rock ridge where the underground river changed its course."

The charcoal-gray line representing the stone ridge extends to a point where it suddenly stops.

"There is a lightning-struck pine forest over there. If you want to cross the swamp, you must first obtain the lightning-struck wood. The lightning-struck wood is blessed by heavenly thunder. Use the lightning-struck wood to sacrifice to the White Birch Mountain God. With the mountain god's permission, the evil spirits will not harm you."

Zhao Guang frowned when he heard this: "How is this different from evil sacrifices and obscene offerings..."

Any sacrifice without permission from the government is considered an evil or lewd sacrifice, which has been prohibited in the Han Dynasty for four hundred years.

Once discovered, the offender will be imprisoned for a lighter crime and beheaded for a heavier crime.

Especially after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, control in this area became increasingly strict.

So when Zhao Guang heard that they were going to worship Baihua Mountain privately here, he subconsciously felt a little resistant.

On the contrary, the commander-in-chief, General Zhen, looked normal:
"The Huainanzi Lanmingxun says: Thunder God's axe splits wood into talismans. When I was in Jingzhou in my early years, the folk custom in Jingchu was to carve a human figure struck by lightning on May 5th and hang it on the door to ward off war."

After a pause, he continued:
"The Prime Minister's wife once practiced the Lu Ban Classic. She also told me that lightning-struck wood can be used to build ancestral halls and suppress evil spirits."

"From this we can see that the use of lightning-struck wood can indeed ward off evil spirits and suppress evil." She looked at the old Hu man and asked, "Are you a witch of the Ulolan tribe?"

"Yes. Our tribe is a small tribe, not as big as the Tuoba clan, so we can only graze on the worst pastures. One year, someone was grazing on the edge of the swamp and provoked an evil spirit, which brought a serious disease to the tribe. At night, the evil spirit ate his soul and made him crazy."

"I had no choice but to bring cattle and sheep here to worship and ask for forgiveness from the evil spirit. Finally, I found this piece of lightning-struck pine wood, which cured the people of the tribe."

"Very good." General Zhendong nodded with satisfaction and threw a small flag in front of his horse. With a "swish", it went straight into the ground and waved in front of the old Hu man:
"I don't care what method you use, as long as you can lead us through here, the Ulolan tribe will be able to get the most fertile grassland, and I can guarantee that your tribe will have no worries about food and clothing."

"But," General Zhendong's tone became extremely cold, "if I find that you dare to tell even a single lie, I will take away the eyes of all the living creatures in the Ulolan tribe."

"Don't doubt what I say, because although I have never seen an evil ghost, I have seen the ghost king, and the ghost king is much more terrifying than an evil ghost."

His eyes fell on the guides from other tribes behind the old Hu man, "The same goes for you."

Regardless of whether they understood or not, they all crawled down again.

After the old witch finished the worship using the method of the grassland, General Zhendong ordered:
"Order the whole army - take off your armor and lighten your clothes, use long poles to explore the way, form teams of ten, and connect each other with ropes!"

Her voice was cold, and her eyes swept over the eight thousand soldiers behind her, "Remember, follow the footsteps of your predecessors, and don't make a mistake!"

The eight thousand carefully selected Han soldiers, after avoiding the eyes and ears of the Wei State, slid silently into this land of death like a long snake.

"And the places in front that look like meadows are actually death traps set by evil spirits."

Not long after entering the swamp, the old Hu man suddenly pointed to the northeast and said something.

General Zhendong looked at the clouds in the direction he pointed, but saw a faint hint of paleness among the water plants and knew that it was an unknown white bone.

My heart was startled at that moment.

If we rashly step into this death swamp without a guide, even if all 8,000 elite soldiers are sent in, we probably won't be able to get out.

It seems that it was worth spending three full months looking for a guide.

Of course, now she also hopes that the old witch's worship will be useful so that the soldiers can get out of the swamp smoothly.

Perhaps he was hoping that his wish would come true, so he entered the swamp cautiously and walked for half a day. Except for two horses that were stuck in the mud and could not be pulled out, everything else was fine.

The loss of two horses was much less than General Zhendong had imagined.

During the break, Zhao Guang came over, looking relaxed, no longer as solemn as when he first entered the swamp:

"It seems that this swamp is not as terrible as the legend says. As long as someone leads the way, it should be easy to pass through."

General Zhendong did not speak, but the old witch Zhu beside him looked horrified:
"Sir, you must not say that. We are only at the outskirts of the swamp. Going further in is the real depth of the swamp, and that is where the evil spirits are lurking."

As if to verify his words, after a short rest, they set out again. Before they had gone far, they saw ripples in the stagnant water in the swamp, as if something was rolling in the water.

General Zhendong narrowed his eyes and suddenly asked:
"See where those fallen water plants are heading? The undercurrent is heading southeast. Is this a living swamp?"

The aquatic plants in the front right, which at first glance look no different from other places, bend to the southeast at a strange angle, as if pressed into a quagmire by an invisible hand.

The old witch shook her head:
"I don't know this either. Unless we have no choice, we won't come in here. If we come in, we just hope to go back safely. We never dare to walk around randomly."

Even with someone leading the way, the march was still extremely slow.

The soldiers walked barefoot in the mud, and with every step they had to struggle to pull their calves out of the deep mud.

The rotten grass leaves stuck to my trouser legs and the fishy smell hit my nose.

The further you go inside, the stronger the fishy smell becomes, making you feel a little dizzy.

I don't know how long we walked when a scream suddenly came from the left rear of the team.

A young soldier somehow strayed off the path ahead and fell into a dark pool, with the mud instantly reaching his chest.

He waved his arms wildly, but it only accelerated his sinking. When the black slurry covered his chin, his last cry of "Save me" turned into a string of desperate bubbles.

Then screams were heard from the right wing again - three soldiers and a pack horse fell at the same time. The pack horse struggled to raise its front hooves, but instead threw the food bag on its back into the mud. The moment the dry food fell, dense leeches emerged from the depths of the swamp and rushed towards the living things like a black tide.

"Light the torches! Pour the kerosene!"

The flames struggled to ignite in the humid air, and a foul burnt smell spread, but more leeches crawled out of the mud and climbed up the soldiers' calves.

An old soldier suddenly swung his knife and cut off his leech-covered left leg. Blood splattered into the swamp water, and he shouted hoarsely: "Go! Leave me alone!"

Leeches were attracted by the smell of blood and the swamp water churned.

However, the old soldier's other ankle was soon entangled by leeches, and before he could shout a second time, his entire body was swallowed up by the swamp.

"Go! Go quickly! The wounded are in the middle, and the baggage and horses stuck in the mud are abandoned. Go quickly!"

As the smell of blood spread, more and more leeches appeared underfoot, and the commotion continued.

Fortunately, these were carefully selected elite troops, and coupled with the Han army's unique grassroots organizational capabilities of this era, panic-like chaos did not occur.

Even so, exclamations and screams could still be heard from time to time.

Although they were organized into small teams before setting out, somehow there were always people who would unknowingly fall out of the team and then fall into the undercurrent and disappear without a trace.

"wrong!"

General Zhendong felt his head getting dizzy and his reaction slow. He drew out his sword with a clang and put it on the old witch Zhu's neck. The sharp edge of the sword caused a trace of blood:
"There's something wrong with this swamp, there's something wrong with this fog, it's miasma!"

If she had not been to Nanzhong, she would not have reacted this way, but fortunately, not only had she been there, but she also had a Ghost King.

The King of Ghosts is so evil that even the evil ghosts in the south have to give him a distance.

The King of Ghosts once saved her brother from the evil ghosts in the south.

General Zhendong administered the medicine himself.

"My lord, they, they might be possessed by evil spirits, so they walked into the swamp..."

I don’t know whether the old witch Zhu didn’t understand what miasma was or he didn’t hear it clearly.

But he knew that if he said something wrong at this moment, his entire clan would be buried with the Han soldiers who disappeared in the swamp.

He spoke these words in Chinese quickly with the clearest accent he had ever spoken:
"Go forward half an hour and there will be a large area of ​​hard ground where the army can rest."

To be honest, he didn't expect this situation to happen.

It is probably because too many people came in this time, and so many people and horses fell into the swamp, so the situation became so serious.

"You lead the way yourself! Go!"

General Zhendong quickly retracted his sword and issued a stern order:
"Tell everyone not to stop and to speed up. There is a place to set up camp ahead."

When the last soldier climbed onto the hard ground that the old witch had mentioned, the setting sun was already blood-red.

It was almost night, and since this was a hard surface, the miasma was not as strong as it was during the day, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

After counting the losses, it was found that nearly 400 of the 8,000 elite cavalry were killed, and those who survived were covered in mud, with leech remains embedded in their wounds.

Deep in the swamp, the last ripples returned to calm, and only the spears stuck in the swamp stood in the twilight, like silent tombstones.

"Clean the wound to prevent infection. If the injury is serious, report it immediately!"

The casualties were unexpectedly high, and this was even without encountering the enemy.

Although the miasma is not serious, it can make people slow to react or even confused without them realizing it. This is why many people keep going astray and falling into the dark pool.

Coupled with the rampant poisonous insects, the soldiers would rather fight the Wei army with real swords and guns than to deal with these ubiquitous creatures.

So morale is inevitably a bit low.

Even the most heartless Zhao Guang no longer had his usual optimism at this time.

He hastily cleaned the black mud off his legs, making sure that there were no leeches or other poisonous insects left. Then he sat down, took out his dry food and ate it silently.

“clang, dang~”

In the slightly dull atmosphere, someone was fencing and singing loudly:

The harsh wind blows frost and the seaweed withers, but the barbarians become arrogant and strong.

The Han army had three hundred thousand soldiers, and the general was also in charge of Huo Qiaoyao.

Meteor White Feather is inserted into the waist, and the sword flower Qiu Lianguang is out of the box.

The heavenly soldiers illuminated the old capital in the snow, and the enemy arrows pierced the golden armor like sand.

Clouds, dragons, winds and tigers are all handed over, and Taibai can be destroyed by enemies in the moon.

The enemy can be defeated, their flags destroyed, and we can step on their intestines and wade through their blood.

The captives are hung in the blue sky and buried beside the Changling Mausoleum.

If there is no one in the country, the Han Dynasty will prosper!
……

"Han Dao Chang" was composed by General Feng in Liangzhou. General Zhendong personally supervised the arrangement of the music. It is majestic and murderous, and is deeply loved by the soldiers. It is the most widely circulated poem and music in the army.

Passionate poetry always touches people's hearts. Soon, someone followed the solo and sang along softly. As more and more people joined in, the high-pitched singing reached the sky in the twilight.

Realizing that the morale of the soldiers was gradually returning, General Zhendong secretly breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at the road he had come from, which had been completely engulfed by the night.

But the facts did not end there. The soldiers, exhausted after a day's work, were gradually falling asleep when suddenly someone screamed in fear in the night.

"what's up?"

General Zhendong, who was sleeping in his clothes, suddenly sat up and grabbed the sword beside him:
"Camp Roar!?"

Even if the soldiers who can follow out are not veterans of many battles, they are definitely elite, and the possibility of destroying the camp is extremely low.

But if such loud shouting at night really caused a roar among the crowd, the camp would be inevitably blown up.

"Sir, this is because he was frightened by the evil spirit..."

Old Zhu Wu seemed to have anticipated this and took the initiative to come forward to meet General Zhendong.

General Zhendong didn't say anything, but looked away, because she heard the shouting coming from more than one place.

For elite soldiers, this situation is extremely rare.

This is enough to illustrate the seriousness of the situation.

Having led troops for many years, General Zhendong had a lot of experience. He immediately guessed that this was most likely related to the miasma.

This place is still a swamp, and even though the miasma is not as thick as during the day, the mind is most easily disturbed after going to bed at night.

Considering what happened during the day, it is not impossible that the soldiers were frightened in their dreams.

General Zhendong's gaze fell on Old Zhu Wu, and he said sternly:

"What can you do?"

She naturally had a way to deal with Ying Xiao, but she encountered this situation on the first night after entering the swamp, and the situation would only get worse.

If it is really as he expected, then there is no point in crossing Baihua Mountain this time.

Even if they could reach their destination by force, I'm afraid the soldiers would have lost all morale.

However, it seemed that Old Zhu Wu had obviously anticipated this situation, otherwise he would not have been waiting for him here in advance.