Chapter 65

The personal guard shouted a few times with his neck stretched, and then some people crawled out of the earthen houses one after another, slowly came to Little Wei Yuan, and stood in a group.

"Stand straight! Stand forward, why are you hiding in the back? Let the immortal see clearly! Are you looking for a beating?"

In fact, when these soldiers crawled out of the earthen houses, Little Wei Yuan's heart had already sunk. Now there were only thirty or so people standing in front of him, old and young, and the few who were in their prime were as thin as firewood, and he could not see any spirit in their eyes. These garrison soldiers wore their armor loosely, their belts were not tightened, and only a few carried personal weapons, which looked like horn-pointed knives, not the straight knives issued by Western Jin.

Little Wei Yuan swept his eyes over them and had already seen their cultivation clearly; only a few had cultivated some tendons and muscles, mostly half-forged, and their cultivation methods were ordinary, and the effect of physical body forging could only be said to be better than nothing.

"Are these all garrison soldiers?" Little Wei Yuan's face was gloomy.

"They are all! All the garrison soldiers are here."

Seeing that Little Wei Yuan's face was not good, the personal guard said: "The war has been fought for more than half a year, and the strong ones have long been transferred away. Those who can stay in our small place are those no one wants, and there are only these people."

Little Wei Yuan said: "Where did the two fellow disciples in front of me choose soldiers?"

The personal guard said: "Immortal, you also saw that they paid immortal silver. With this money, you can temporarily borrow soldiers who were originally assigned to other positions. Since it is borrowing, of course you have to give the original owner some benefits, don't you think this is the reason?"

This personal guard had a slippery tone, making Little Wei Yuan not want to say another word to him. Little Wei Yuan also knew that it was useless to say anything to him. Before this trip, the Grand Void Palace had already said that the Western Jin government was dim-witted, but Little Wei Yuan did not expect it to be so serious.

According to the Western Jin military system, a county should have three hundred garrison soldiers and one thousand civilian braves. Civilian braves farm during the day, train during the slack season, and are conscripted to go to war during wartime.

Little Wei Yuan was familiar with the military systems of various countries, and there were two people among the five who came together who did not need garrison soldiers. Even if the two people in front who paid immortal silver took away the good soldiers, there should still be more than two hundred garrison soldiers, but now Little Wei Yuan only saw thirty or so, and they were all old and weak, none of them had finished forging tendons and muscles. According to the military system, none of these people were qualified.

Without even thinking, Little Wei Yuan knew there must be something fishy in this. However, Little Wei Yuan was here to guard the land, not to rectify the military discipline for Western Jin. Since only these people could be picked now, Little Wei Yuan reached out and pointed one by one, preparing to pick twenty who still looked passable.

The personal guard hurriedly said: "Too many, too many! Immortal, the county town also needs people to guard, so you can find at most ten."

Little Wei Yuan said coldly: "I came from ten thousand miles away to resist Northern Liao, but you are making things difficult everywhere! That's fine, I will report the matter here to the True Person now, and write a memorial to the prefect by the way."

The personal guard hurriedly accompanied with a smile and said: "Immortal, calm your anger! It is really that the defense in the county is empty. Once the barbarians break the city, I am afraid that none of the tens of thousands of commoners in the city will survive. The captain's meaning is that the immortal should pick fewer garrison soldiers, and the civilian braves will make up for you. Now there are three hundred civilian braves in the immortal's defense zone, and there are many young and strong ones. The leader, Mr. Fang, is a high-level Dao foundation cultivator, which is unique in all defense zones!"

A Dao foundation can indeed be worth a hundred garrison soldiers, so Little Wei Yuan's face eased slightly. At this time, there was not much time left, so Little Wei Yuan picked ten garrison soldiers at random, left the county town, and headed toward the three villages belonging to him.

The village was twenty li away from the county town, and Little Wei Yuan had no mount, so he could only walk there. He was tall and had long steps, and the ten garrison soldiers behind him were old and young, the oldest one had half-white hair, and the youngest looked even younger than Little Wei Yuan's actual age. But Little Wei Yuan roughly estimated that the average age of these ten garrison soldiers should be at least thirty-five or thirty-six.

They ran twenty li all the way, and the ten garrison soldiers did not fall behind, which surprised Little Wei Yuan. At this time, it was just past noon, the scorching sun was in the sky, and the village could already be seen in the distance.

Wei Yuan went straight to the largest and most forward Shayang Village. Shayang Village was surrounded by walls made of stones and rammed earth, about 3.3 meters high.

Before this trip, the Grand Void Palace had already issued data. Ganzhou was desolate, the folk customs were fierce, and Northern Liao not only invaded and looted from time to time, but there were also countless horse bandits running rampant locally. So the residents in this area had to build dock forts to protect themselves, at least to build walls with earth.

There were still some traces of swords and soldiers on the earthen walls, and a few arrows were still stuck on the wall head, obviously having just experienced a battle not long ago. At this time, many people on the wall head were moving stones and ramming earth, trying hard to heighten the surrounding wall.

The appearance of Little Wei Yuan and others soon attracted the attention of the people working on the wall head, and after a while, one person climbed onto the wall head and shouted: "Who is coming!"

A mere zhang-high earthen wall naturally could not stop Little Wei Yuan. Little Wei Yuan jumped lightly and landed in front of that person, showing his identity waist card, and said: "Grand Void Palace Little Wei Yuan, responsible for the defense of this place by the order of the sect, to resist the invasion of Liao barbarians."

That person was originally a bit nervous, but after hearing this, he relaxed and said happily: "So it is a high disciple of the immortal sect, finally looking forward to you!"

Little Wei Yuan carefully looked at the person in front of him. This person's face was covered with dust and mud, and his hair was messy, casually tied into a bun, and he did not know how many days he had not washed. The clothes on his body were also dirty, with stains, sweat stains, and old blood stains mixed together, and he could no longer see the original color. This person was actually wearing a scholar's robe, but the hem of the clothes had long been torn off to facilitate movement.

This person was thin, with a short beard, and deep-set eye sockets, looking like he had not slept well for many days, but his eyes were still bright, clear, and fierce.

At first sight, Little Wei Yuan felt that this person's bearing was extraordinary. He used the Qi-watching technique to look over and accidentally found that there was a group of soft white light at the center of his eyebrows, which was a sign of a successful Dao foundation. It seemed that this was the Mr. Fang mentioned by the personal guard, and he was indeed a Dao foundation cultivator.

Only in Little Wei Yuan's eyes, that group of white light was not bright, the texture was floating and loose, and there was no miraculous luster, so it should be a Human-rank Dao foundation.

Little Wei Yuan saluted again: "You must be Senior Brother Fang, so Senior Brother is also a person on the path to immortality."

That person smiled and said: "I dare not accept the title of Senior Brother. I am Fang Hedong, the 'He' and 'Dong' from 'a gentleman is harmonious but different'. I come from a small sect, originally only thinking about reading some sage principles, and it is already a fluke to be able to cultivate a Dao foundation, which cannot be compared with the immortal sect. This is not a place to talk, so follow me."

He ordered the gate to be opened, let the garrison soldiers in, and then shouted at the people working on the surrounding wall: "Everyone work harder, try to heighten the wall by another half a foot today! One more foot of wall, and fewer people will die!"

The men working on the wall head responded loudly, and their movements became a bit faster.

After getting off the city wall, Little Wei Yuan looked at the inside of the village. The houses here were all walls made of rammed earth, covered with thatch on the top, and the doors were mostly woven from branches, with few wooden boards. Many men were sitting against the wall roots basking in the sun, mostly wrapped in bandages, with blood stains on their bodies. One person was sitting and sitting, suddenly tilted, and fell to the side. The two people beside him hurriedly supported him, calling his name constantly, but that person had no reaction.

Fang Hedong strode to that person's side, reached out and patted his heart, sending in a strand of magic power, and that person woke up, opened his mouth and vomited a mouthful of yellow-green sour water.

"Feed him some food and water, don't be too urgent." Fang Hedong exhorted, let the two men carry that person for treatment, and then turned back to greet Little Wei Yuan.

(End of chapter)