At night, a dark cloud covered half of the bright moon in the sky, and the stars were dim. A basket slowly drooped from the top of Jincheng City. After arriving at the ground, two people crawled out of it clumsily.

Zhao Ruosu, a clerk of the Secretariat, held the rope and shook it twice to show that everything was safe. He sighed softly and walked towards the bridge. His followers followed closely and kept looking back. Although Jincheng was small, it was a safe island in the vast ocean. If you leave here, you don’t know how long it will take to wander to dock again.

The two of them carried a bag on each and walked west. There were fewer Huns here, and there were mountains a few miles away. After entering, they might be able to avoid the Hun cavalry. The big bag of the followers was filled with a lot of dry food, so they were so heavy that they fell down. He had to pull it on his shoulders twice, suspecting that he would not be starved to death, but to be exhausted to death.

Not long after, a team of cavalry rushed out of Dongcheng, with more than a hundred people trying to attract the attention of the Huns, but it did not work much. The Huns had strong military strength and were not panicked at all. Hundreds of people boarded the horses to fight, and the other camps remained unmoved and were not affected at all.

The Chu army did not dare to fight in real time and quickly retreated to the city.

Zhao Ruosu and his followers had not yet arrived in Lianshan. It was completely whimsical that such two people wanted to walk through the Huns' blockade. After hiding for nearly an hour, they were captured alive. There were also Huns in the mountains, tied their hands firmly with ropes and led them along like animals.

The only thing that the followers were pleased was that both of their burdens were taken away, which relieved a lot of the burden.

The Huns talked happily and laughed, and the two Chu people couldn't understand a word. Zhao Ruosu suddenly felt a sense of fear. If the Huns didn't take him seriously and killed him on the spot, his plan would be defeated.

So he shouted and acted like I was very important, but after being whipped a few times, a blood mark on his face, which hurts so much.

The two were tied to a pillar in the camp, and the passing Huns laughed and spit out loudly at them.

It was dawn, but no one was paying attention to them, interrogating them, and even delivering water and food. They had not been killed. The only reason seemed to be to show the strength of the Huns: no one could escape from their siege.

Zhao Ruosu stood up all the time, unwilling to give in, and told himself in his heart that there was hope that the Huns would not react so quickly.

As noon approached, he couldn't stand it, so he could not bear it, so he had to sit on the ground, leaning against the pillar, looking at Jincheng, feeling nervous, not as calm as he was when he was telling the emperor's plan.

The entourage also sat down and licked his lips, "We won't die here, are we?"

Zhao Ruosu is not good at inspiring people. After thinking for a while, he said, "According to my observation, only one of ten strange plans can be successful, so it is best to govern the world to uphold the truth. It is not common to use strange plans. This time it is a forced one. Whether it can succeed... depends on the will of God."

"Ah? I saw that you were talking well in front of His Majesty, and I thought... I was deceived by you." The entourage was a person next to the emperor, named Niu, who had only a little understanding of the entire plan, and his courage disappeared. He said in a crying voice: "I came with you voluntarily, and I ran so farther. I could still run further by myself."

"Cry, cry loudly." Zhao Ruosu said.

"What are you doing? Do you look down on me?"

"When you cry, it's more like it's true, crying hard."

The loach howled twice, and soon the sadness came from it. He really started to cry. His nose snot and tears made the Huns around him laugh.

Zhao Ruosu shouted sternly, calling him embarrassing the Emperor of Chu. Loach cried even harder. Until someone got up and whipped two whips, he stopped crying, sobbed quietly, and waited for the Huns to walk away, and whispered: "My name Zhao, my reputation has been ruined, and you have to save your reputation for me in the future."

"Don't worry, as long as you can leave alive, all the credit will be yours."

Loach almost cried again. This Lord Zhao really doesn't encourage morale.

As the sky gradually became late, the Huns kept bluffing and did not fight. The two captured men were so hungry that they could not cry. The loach could not cry even if they wanted to cry. They muttered: "I thought the dry food was too heavy last night. I really miss it now."

Zhao Ruosu was sweating all over his body. He heard the word "dry food" and his stomach was roaring, but he still straightened his body and tried hard to maintain his sitting position. "You always have a name, right?"

"Yes, loach."

"I mean daming, a formal name, a name given by a gentleman or an elder in the family."

"This... I knew my surname was Chao, and my name was Niqiu."

"Which Chao?"

"Are there many Chaos?"

"Not many, there are only two commonly used ones, one with its tongue rolled up, and the other without it." Zhao Ruosu said while writing the words "Chao" and "Cao" on the ground with his tied hands.

The loach didn't recognize the words, so he tried to roll his tongue, not roll his tongue, and he muttered back and forth for a long time, saying with certainty: "I am Zhuan Chao."

"It's this." Zhao Ruosu pointed to the word "Chao" on the ground, "I'll give you a name."

"Don't loach sound good?"

"It sounds nice, but it's hard to get into the elegant hall. In the future, if you become an official, you will interrogate the prisoner in court, and he will be called... Big Fish, won't you be embarrassed? 'Loach Lord sent an order, and the big fish was indicted ten times."

"Haha." Loach smiled, "Can I still become an official?"

"Of course, you are your confidant around His Majesty. As long as you don't make any mistakes, it's a matter of time to become an official, and you're a high-ranking official."

Loach coughed twice and shouted: "Loach Lord, who dares to call a big fish, is guilty of being beaten eighty, and is matched with the frontier."

Zhao Ruosu was about to say that ordinary people couldn't stand the eighty sticks, but the loach cried again. This time he was really crying from the beginning.

Zhao Ruosu sighed lightly and said nothing.

"Mr. Zhao... give me a name." The loach sobbed, "It must be bigger than...the big fish."

"It's bigger than a big fish, it's a whale. It's a giant beast in the sea, which is said to be able to swallow the entire ship." Zhao Ruosu wrote the word "whale" on the ground, but unfortunately it was dark and even he could not see the handwriting himself.

"Swallow the entire ship?" Loach was neither convinced nor was hesitant, "Then I'm called Jing, Chao Jing."

Apart from a new name, nothing was born this night, and another team came out to test the enemy situation, but it was useless and the Huns were unmoved.

Zhao Ruosu and Chao Jing were too hungry and slept against the pillar. They were awakened by cold water early in the morning. Several Huns talked for a long time, kicked them a few times, threw down two hard cakes, and left.

This was their only food in the past two days. No matter how dirty the ground was, they picked it up with their hands and swallowed it. Even Zhao Ruosu didn't care about his image. After eating three big mouthfuls, he changed to chewing it slowly.

"The Huns can't make cakes." Chao Jing said, licking the dough on his lips, his cakes had already been eaten.

Zhao Ruosu tore off half of the remaining half of the cake and handed it over. Chao Jing didn't dare to be polite. He took it in his hand and ate it. He lowered his hunger and sighed, "It's a pity that my gold and silver treasures are my whole village, but they have worked hard to fish for ten years and have not exchanged so much money. Although they have to pay it back to His Majesty in the end, I can always touch it for a while, but now I can't even touch it."

"Give it back to Your Majesty?" Zhao Ruosu didn't understand.

"It was His Majesty who asked me to accept bribes, and then..." Chao Jing covered his mouth with both hands, remembering that this was a secret.

Zhao Ruosu smiled twice, without saying anything, and had some new impression of the emperor.

There is only breakfast, no lunch, and dinner. Chao Jing was even hungry, especially when he felt thirsty, and regretted not taking a sip when he was watered in the morning. He really didn't want to watch the Huns running around on horseback, and asked in a hoarse voice: "Mr. Zhao, you seem to be calmer today than yesterday."

"It is up to people to plan things, and it is useless to succeed. It is better to let things go and quench thirst and fatigue."

"Really?" Chao Jing also sat upright like Zhao Ruosu. After a while, he felt his back was sore and numb. He gave up trying. Looking at Jincheng from afar, he murmured: "Zhang Youcai must be enjoying delicious food and drinking spicy food. Just let him follow him out at that time."

After nightfall, the Huns started eating, and the meat fragrance came from afar. Chao Jing cursed quietly, and he couldn't even feel that he could not sleep. However, when he saw a group of Huns coming on horseback, he hurriedly shut up, and he didn't want to eat it in front of him.

The Huns untied the ropes on the pillars and led the two prisoners out of the camp. The horses were fast and the people were slow, so they could only trot and follow. Zhao Ruosu shouted a few words and asked where they were going, but he didn't get a response. Chao Jing's face turned pale, "It's over, it's over, and we're going to do it. The Huns love to be clean and take us outside the camp. No... it's not that pile of corpses, right?"

The fire of the corpse pile has not been completely extinguished until now, and there is still a smoke rising. When I think of myself, Chao Jing is neither thirsty nor hungry, I feel weak in my heart and weak in my legs. I am afraid of embarrassing the emperor, so I have to be calm and not speak again.

I don’t know how far I went, but the surroundings became more and more desolate. It seems that I am not going to the pile of corpses, but digging a hole on the spot.

The Huns stopped, said a few words to each other, most of them left, leaving only two people behind, and when their companions walked away, one of them jumped off the horse, and said in the words of Zhongyuan: "Let the two adults suffer."

Chao Jing was stunned, and Zhao Ruosu clasped his fists and said, "You are not a Hun?"

The man took out a dagger and cut off the rope from Zhao Ruosu's hand, "We are Chu people from Liaodong. To be ashamed, for the sake of the lives of the family, we had to follow the Huns and Fuyu people into the pass. We have no choice. Having the opportunity to save the two adults is our atonement."

Chao Jing was even more surprised, but he did not forget to extend his hand and let the other party cut the rope.

Zhao Ruosu seemed very alert, "Your Excellency has let the Huns leave so easily?"

The man shrugged, "I've been a leader, and there are so many people who can listen to him."

Zhao Ruosu nodded and expressed his belief.

"It is not suitable to stay here for a long time. Two adults should go quickly. I have surveyed the terrain and entered the mountain from here and walked along the mountain on my left. After more than ten miles, I can go to Guandao, and there are no Huns there."

Zhao Ruosu shook his head, "I can't leave now, our things..."

The man turned around and asked for a small bag from his silent companion, "The thing is here."

Zhao Ruosu hurriedly took it in his hand, checked it in the moonlight, and breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you two righteous men. I don't know the names of the two noble surnames. If you have the chance in the future, you can ask for merit for you."

The man smiled and said, "How dare those who surrender to the enemy leave their names to insult their ancestors? Two sirs, please leave quickly."

Zhao Ruosu put on a bag and thanked her. Chao Jing also bowed her and asked, "Where is our dry food?"

The man smiled, walked to the mount, took off a skin bag and threw it over, "There is no dry food, only a little wine." After saying that, he turned over and left with his companions.

"It's so lucky to meet a righteous man." Chao Jing said.

Zhao Ruosu patted the burden on his body, "It's not the righteous man who helped him, it's it."

The two walked towards the mountain with deep and shallow feet. Chao Jing didn't think so much, so he opened the wine bag and took a big sip, and handed it to Zhao Ruosu.

Zhao Ruosu shook his head. He had forgotten his hunger and thirst, and just wanted to leave here as soon as possible and find the Northern Army, who was stationed in unknown places. (To be continued.)8
Chapter completed!