Chapter 534: The convoy heads south to establish a temporary camp at the edge of the forest

Early the next morning, Jier began urging the entire team to set off.

He roughly explained his plan to everyone in the team, letting them know the subsequent battle strategy.

Although many Warriors did not feel that with Knight Jier's strength, there was any need for so much scouting and planning—wouldn't it be enough to just take them directly to the door and finish off these Defeated Soldiers?

But this line of thought was severely criticized by Jier.

"If it were two armies at war, doing this might be possible. But this time, the primary goal is to rescue the captured Changmai Village Villagers, and only secondarily to annihilate those Defeated Soldiers! You must understand the priority of this matter!"

"Furthermore, in a head-on battle, the enemy's numbers far exceed ours. I might be fine, but what about you? You've only just received your first payment, and you want to die in a head-on battle like this? Don't you want to earn a bit more?"

The Warriors didn't quite understand the primary and secondary goals, but once the mention of earning more money came up, they understood.

Thus, they one after another agreed with Jier's plan, letting Knight Jier prepare the pre-battle scouting and analysis for them, so that their subsequent battles would have sufficient combat advantages.

Yes, many Warriors had been repeatedly pondering the entire process of Jier commanding the attack on Changmai Village over these past two days, slowly figuring some things out.

They discovered that in the process of attacking Changmai Village, even though their side was clearly at a numerical disadvantage, they were instead attacking fewer enemies with more people in many places. And in battles where numbers or combat strength were equal, Knight Jier would rush over to break the balance, keeping their side at an advantage throughout.

And all of this was basically inseparable from his advance estimation of the enemy's distribution and the enemy's possible reactions after encountering them the night before.

Of course, not many Warriors thought of this level, only two or three, but most Warriors understood that they were able to win all thanks to Knight Jier's battle plan. As long as they followed the plan, they could defeat one enemy after another who was inferior to them step by step, and then, as they fought, the enemy would overall become inferior to them.

Thus, the Warriors one after another supported Jier's plan, and in order to obtain more combat opportunities and reward bounties in the subsequent battles, they took the initiative to get busy, not even needing Jier to command or urge them.

"Isn't this quite good?" Jier scratched his head and shrugged.

But Priest Bataer was not very happy: "You have stimulated their desire for profit, which is why they are so diligent. But in the future, when you cannot provide what they need, or when you cannot satisfy their appetites, Warrior Jier, what will you do then?"

"That is indeed a problem, so let's take it one step at a time, shall we?"

Jier shrugged and didn't say much more. After all, the team's scale was still too small, and saying anything would have the suspicion of self-praise. Even if problems arose in the future, that was something for his future self to consider, not something he should consider now.

"Everyone get on the carts. Most of the supplies will be unloaded in the village first; no one needs to guard them. There is no one else here, at least not for a short time. Everyone unify and head south to the edge of the Shulin. The first step is to establish a smaller Yingdi, the second step is to conduct environmental scouting to find the general direction of the enemy and select the location for a Forward Camp in a safe area of the Shulin, and the third step is to carefully build the Forward Camp to provide support and security for the subsequent battles."

Jier said so much that not many people could understand it, but no one opposed it.

Thus, everyone only took the necessary supplies and tools, climbed onto the emptied horse-drawn carts one after another, sat in the carts, set off from the south gate of the Cunzi, and advanced rapidly to the south.

On the bumpy carts rumbling along, the drivers began to sing.

They were not professional drivers, so they didn't know the driving ditties that professional drivers used to relieve boredom, so they could only sing some ballads they had learned while farming in the past.

"Yo-ho! Today is a good day."

"Yo-ho! Mother has sewn new clothes."

"Yo-ho! Wife has cooked a filling meal."

"Yo-ho! I take up the sturdy hoe!"

"Yo-ho! Walk out the door and greet the neighbor."

"Yo-ho! Be respectful to the god's statue."

"Yo-ho! Friends discuss the work."

"Yo-ho! The village gate has opened!"

"Yo-ho! Arrive at our own field."

"Yo-ho! Wave my good hoe."

"Yo-ho! Dig out the annoying weeds."

"Yo-ho! Drive away the birds that harm the crops!"

"Yo-ho! The sun shines on poor me."

"Yo-ho! Sweat falls in big drops."

"Yo-ho! Good thing the wife brings the child."

"Yo-ho! Holding cold well water to send over!"

"Yo-ho! Rest for a while under the tree shade."

"Yo-ho! Drink enough water and let out a loud burp."

"Yo-ho! Take out the wheat cake the wife just made."

"Yo-ho! Dip it in the salty Bean paste!"

"Yo-ho! The child picks up a hoe to play."

"Yo-ho! I take him to learn farming."

"Yo-ho! He imitates my movements."

"Yo-ho! Just like I did back then!"

"Yo-ho! The strong father is growing old."

"Yo-ho! My child is also growing up."

"Yo-ho! This is our land."

"Yo-ho! This is our story—"

Jier liked these farmers' ballads very much; he always felt that they contained something similar to fate, something grand yet small about human life. Dealing with these young farmers who had been in contact with land and crops their whole lives, Jier always had a feeling that his various actions were constantly rolling these people's original lives and fates toward places they themselves had never expected, or even dared to imagine, slowly walking away.

"Where the road ahead leads, no one knows, drifting and faint—"

Jier muttered a sentence in Chinese and shook his head.

Afterward, he rode his Tianxuecao, galloping back and forth on the wild grassland south of the Cunzi.

The terrain was gradually rising; although it was not obvious, the high and low mountains gradually approaching in the distance ahead, and the lush and dense Shulin, already indicated that they were gradually approaching this Southern Mountains that stretched for an unknown length.

Some white mountain peaks visible in the mountains were even entangled with dense clouds, radiating faint flashes of light. They couldn't even hear the thunder of those distant storms on their side; Jier estimated the distance was still very far.

And in the distant Shulin, one could even see parts of the mountains covered by low clouds, bringing down rain.

But above Jier and the others' heads, there wasn't a single cloud; the sun was bright, even a bit scorching.

But only Jier, with his excellent eyesight, could see these clearly; the others in the team could only see the massive mountains gradually approaching in the front in a general and blurry way.

The team walked straight south, and when they occasionally encountered blocking Shulin or hills in the middle, Jier would let the team stop, and he would carefully identify the surrounding environment, looking for traces of a large group of people having passed by some time ago.

These traces are actually quite easy to find; the wild grass on the ground is uneven in a uniform way, which means that the shorter blades of grass were walked over by many people some time ago, trampling and breaking the original grass, and these shorter blades are all ones that have grown recently.

Occasionally, one can even see an entire patch of irregular circular wild ground that has been cleared; this is clearly where the Defeated Soldier group camped or rested while escorting the villagers.

If one searches carefully along the direction the other party was moving, one can even see small items dropped by this group along the way: a rolling pin for making wheat cakes, a broken comb, a few rusted copper coins, discarded broken Metal Armor Plate, a rotten piece of foot-binding cloth, and so on.

With the existence of these things, it is relatively easy to find the route the other party once took in the surrounding wilderness environment, where the terrain is not complex.

Even that very afternoon, Jier and Bata'er Jiaoshi found some human skeletal remains.

"It is roughly the amount of bones for one person." Jier jumped off his horse, picked up the human remains scattered within a few dozen meters, and said to Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had also dismounted.

"Could it be the bodies of the villagers?" With a worried expression on his face, Bata'er Jiaoshi asked.

"It's hard to say for sure. One can only tell that it should be an adult male, but there are plenty of adult males among the villagers, and those Defeated Soldier, they are all adult males too. It's hard to say if it was a villager harmed by them or a Defeated Soldier who died by accident. Both are possible."

Jier sighed and shook his head at the remains barely pieced together into a human skeleton on the ground.

Bata'er Jiaoshi was silent for a while. Seeing that he could not make a decision, Jier reminded him: "The convoy is still waiting for us!"

The Priest no longer hesitated and said: "Regardless of whether he is an enemy or a villager, it is not appropriate to just let his remains be desecrated by wild beasts. Let's take them with us; find an opportunity to have the convoy returning to Changmai Village take them back to the village to be burned, and put the ashes in a jar just like the others."

Thus, the two found a sack and put all the remains they could find in the vicinity into it.

This first harvest of the trip south was, unexpectedly, a set of this unlucky fellow's remains.

In the afternoon, while there was still quite a while before the sun set, the convoy had already reached the edge of the mountain forest.

The surrounding trees first appeared sporadically in the wilderness, then connected into a small patch, then into entire stretches of forest; further ahead, the dense mountain forest that could block sunlight from hitting the ground extended along the undulating mountains to a distance that could not be seen.

"This is already the outer perimeter of the mountain forest; further ahead, the dense forest will be completely impassable for horse-drawn carriages."

Xueya Site, leading the convoy, shouted loudly to Jier. In fact, this last stretch of road had already made the carriages quite difficult to move, but Jier and his group had been tracking the traces of the enemy escorting the villagers all the way here; clearly, the other party had also found a path that was easy to travel to escort hundreds of villagers. Therefore, the carriages, which were suitable for movement in plains areas, were able to get this close to the edge of the mountain forest.

But no matter how easy a path was, once it reached here, it was completely gone. Ahead, not only was one large tree connected to another, but there were tree roots everywhere between the trees, thick fallen leaves, and gullies hidden by the fallen leaves.

"Find a place nearby to set up a simple camp, and then everyone wait for me to conduct a Scout of the surrounding area to find a safe place to establish a Forward Camp."

After Jier finished speaking, he pointed to the east side, where there was a protruding forest that stood directly beside the route the enemy had once used to escort the villagers. If the enemy still wanted to go from the Mine in the mountain forest to Changmai Village, they clearly would not discover a small camp built behind that forest.

"Go there! Behind the forest over there, there is an open space, and the forest in front blocks the line of sight; it's a good place. Let's camp there today."

After Jier finished speaking, he led the convoy back, bypassed the forest, and arrived at the open space behind the forest.

The place here was not very good; although there were no dense trees growing, the terrain was sloped, and scattered large trees also grew in the open space.

But there was no help for it. Because of the proximity to the Southern Mountains, finding a flat, open space was harder than seeing a complete rainbow. The fact that the ground had a slope was also a situation that could not be helped; they could only make do with it.

"Priest, you come to direct everyone to build the camp. The Warrior are all experienced hands from the Refugee Team, so even if the ground is sloped, I believe it won't stump them. As for the villagers you specifically requested to bring along, let them start preparing dinner; I will go look at the environment in the surroundings first."

Before leaving, Jier specifically reminded them: "Remember, we have already approached the dangerous mountain forest. There will be ferocious wild beasts here, terrifying Monster, and if we are unlucky, we might even encounter Magic Beast. So, when everyone is working, do not let your weapons leave your side, and everyone must ensure they work in groups of a few people and maintain basic vigilance!"

"Xueya Site, you take the Heavy Crossbow and guard the top of my carriage. Load the crossbow string, but do not load the crossbow bolt, and be ready for the surrounding alert!"

Xueya Site nodded, drove Jier's carriage to the very center of the convoy, used a wooden block to wedge the wheels to fix it on the slightly sloped ground, and then climbed onto the roof of the carriage, used his feet to string the Crossbow, sat half-crouched there, and remained vigilant of everything around him.

Especially the dark forest to the south.

It was as if a pack of wild beasts, or a few strange-looking Monster, or even a terrifying Magic Beast could pounce out from there at any moment.

But since those Defeated Soldier could pass through the entire Southern Mountains and survive in the majority, there was no reason why their team, which had defeated the Defeated Soldier, could not handle this!

Moreover, this was only the outermost area of the mountain forest. It is said that in some villages in the south of Sasi County, some brave Hunter could hunt on the edges of these mountain forests.

In all these years, I haven't heard of any serious incidents.

Jier jumped off his warhorse, handed the Tianxuecao to the driver responsible for taking care of the horses, and instructed: "Do not remove the Horse Armor or the weapons on the horses before dark."

Afterward, Jier took a bow and arrows and, carrying the Dwarf Soldier Spear, walked toward the surrounding forest.

Not far away, Bata'er Jiaoshi, who was directing the crowd to clear the weeds on the ground, hurriedly took out the Positioning Nail from the leather pocket at his waist, rubbed it for a while, and made it work.

And in the pocket on Jier's metal belt, a stone ball that served as a matching piece also emitted a faint fluorescence at this time, and this fluorescence had a clear orientation, which was the location of Bata'er Jiaoshi at this moment.

Jier felt something, lowered his head to take out this glowing stone ball from the leather pocket, gestured with it, and smiled: "This battle will depend on you!"

After speaking, he straightened the Plant Concealment Cloak he had already draped over himself and strode toward the forest ahead.

In the places outside the forest where the sun could shine, the air temperature was quite high, but as soon as Jier walked into the forest, not only did the temperature drop significantly in one breath, but most of the light was blocked by the layers of leaves overhead, and there were only a few scattered beams of sunlight that could reach the ground.

Jier could not help but shiver; a feeling of stepping into an unfamiliar territory arose spontaneously.

He understood that from here on, the range of human activity in the south of Sasi County had left him behind, and what he was stepping on now was a wild, primitive world that had never seen human footprints.

The masters here were not Human, but wild beasts moving in packs, Monster with strange abilities, powerful Magic Beast that traveled alone, and even primitive alien races with different civilizations.

Just like those long-haired lynx Beast.

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