Chapter 432: Just Consider It a Military Drill

The Huaxia Soldiers also rushed over at this moment, but they were one step too late; Huangpin and the others were already over ten meters from the riverbank. Seeing this, the Soldiers immediately raised their crossbows and began to fire; in any case, there was no need to capture them alive.

The hounds also had their leashes removed and were let into the river; the hounds were all very good swimmers, so there was no need to worry at all.

Seeing the Huaxia people pursuing them, Huangpin and the others hurriedly paddled even harder, and even the others used their hands to splash the water, hoping to drift a little faster.

A round of crossbow bolts was fired, and those sitting in the back were immediately struck; they clutched their wounds and howled, but still did not forget to paddle. Those in the front of the raft knelt on the raft, covering their heads with their hands to shrink their silhouettes and dodge the incoming arrows.

Huangpin hurriedly took out the bamboo shield he had been sitting on and blocked it in front of himself; he was also trembling with fear, not daring to show his head.

The hounds swam vigorously and soon reached the side of the bamboo raft, wanting to climb up, but they were struck by the hands and kicked by the feet of the Suiren tribe Soldiers; the hounds could not even manage to bite.

The Soldiers on the bank were also afraid of accidentally injuring the hounds and did not dare to continue firing, so they could only order them to move away first. The hounds did not understand; seeing they could not catch the people, they shifted their focus to the moving bamboo poles, bit down and would not let go, struggling with the people on the bamboo raft.

In order to keep the bamboo poles, the Suiren tribe Soldiers had to stand up, but as soon as they stood up, they were riddled with incoming arrows, and then, dragged by the bamboo poles they were holding, they fell into the water.

Seeing people fall into the water, the hounds immediately focused their targets to attack, and the Huaxia Soldiers could also fire without any scruples. The Soldiers in the back row of the bamboo raft were already covered in arrows and had almost no breath left; those in the front row also began to get injured. They turned their heads and saw that Huangpin actually had a shield, so they hardened their hearts and lifted their dying companion in front of them to use as a shield to block.

The Huaxia attacks were no longer effective against them, and the hounds were also gradually running out of stamina. The Huaxia Soldiers noticed they were starting to drift further and further downstream, so they could only call the hounds back.

Even after discovering that no more arrows were being fired, Huangpin and the others did not dare to stick their heads out to observe, and with the bamboo poles gone, they could only let the bamboo raft drift downstream.

Seeing that there was no more opportunity, the Soldiers on the bank could only give up after following the raft along the riverbank for a distance. Although they failed to wipe them all out, they still had some gains; it was just unknown if the commander that the King had specifically named to be killed was among the dead.

Huangpin and the others drifted for who knows how long, and only after they could no longer hear a single sound did they dare to stick their heads out to look. There was not a single shadow on the opposite bank, and only then did they dare to put down the corpse they had been holding up.

Originally, they had intended to throw the corpse into the water, but they were surprised to discover that on one Soldier's corpse, an arrow had pierced through an arm, and the exposed arrowhead was actually metal. After scooping up a handful of water to rinse it, the arrowhead was indeed iron.

They were immediately overwhelmed by this sudden surprise, and then hurriedly began to retrieve the arrows. Every arrow had an iron arrowhead; the value of these things was extraordinary.

But when they pulled them out, they found there were barbs that wouldn't come out, so they pulled them out in reverse; if the arrowhead wasn't exposed, they just used force to pierce through the corpse—they were already dead anyway, so it didn't matter.

The fear of the few survivors was largely washed away by this harvest, and then they began to consider the problem of crossing the river. The bamboo poles were gone, and they had drifted an unknown distance along the Dahe; if they kept drifting, they were afraid they would return to the gates of Huaxia City.

The only thing they had left to use was a spear. The few pushed the corpses into the river, and the pressure was immediately eased quite a bit. Paddling vigorously again, they saw some results, and just as they were about to be exhausted, the Dahe took a turn, and they were successfully carried by the current onto the convex bank.

The few who reached the shore felt as if they had been granted amnesty, and their hearts were still pounding. But they could not afford to rest yet; they had only reached the opposite bank of the Dahe, and they were still on Huaxia territory. Only by continuing to traverse this forest and then crossing another small river could they return to their Suiren tribe.

But the advantage now was that the forest was denser, and they were even better hidden; even if the Huaxia people came to catch them again, they would have more opportunities to escape.

The Huaxia tracking Soldiers declared the mission a failure and could only return to report. After Baifeng heard the entire course of the battle, he felt that the commander was on the bamboo raft, and was the very person holding the bamboo shield, as his actions and anticipation of the crisis were too timely.

Considering this person's thinking and learning ability, he was definitely a great hidden danger, and since he might also know of the existence of New City, he absolutely could not be left alive. Therefore, Baifeng decided to send more Soldiers to cross the river with hounds for a large-scale search. In any case, it was already Winter, and they didn't have much to do, so he would just treat it as a large-scale military drill.

This time, Lu was to lead the troops. The former young man was now entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Baifeng. Lu was very excited and expressed that he would definitely be able to handle it well. Baifeng actually did not have high hopes for this operation; after all, the Wasteland was too big, and even if they had dogs, how far could they really scout? The dogs didn't know what they were looking for, and might even lead them to find wild beasts, so he did not set any performance targets for Lu.

The mission was to last for three days, because if the enemy wanted to run, two days would be enough for them to reach the border.

Lu was young and vigorous, and since it was his first time leading troops independently, he declared that he would definitely bring the people back. If Baifeng hadn't stopped him, he would have signed a military pledge. It was precisely this that made Baifeng feel that Lu was still not steady enough and could not shoulder heavy responsibilities; he could only continue to temper him, and something like this was fine for him to practice with.

He allocated five hundred Soldiers and one thousand Militia to Lu, along with fifty hounds. They were to bring their own supplies for three days; there was no Logistics Department, and they did not need to return to the city at night, but were to camp on the spot and search for three days. After that, regardless of whether they found them or not, they had to return.

After receiving the orders and the Military Tally, Lu left in high spirits and then went to assemble the Soldiers.

At this time, Huangpin and the others were also heading straight in the direction of the Suiren tribe, and the paths they took were all chosen to be those that no one dared to walk, exceptionally difficult and hidden.

Also wandering in this wilderness were two other groups of Suiren tribe deserters. The first group, who had killed to escape, had the goal of finding Huaxia City and defecting to Huaxia, but they had gone in the wrong direction and were only now gradually finding the right way.

The second group of deserters had gone through several internal conflicts because they had disagreements over who should be the Leader. In the end, several Small Teams formed a Large Team; although there were still some conflicts, they did not resort to violence.

But they were still missing nearly three hundred people; some had died in internal conflicts, and a portion had completely gotten lost and didn't know where they had gone—in any case, they hadn't been seen since they got off the shore.