Yun Zheng opened his mouth and spit out the slurry water from his mouth, threw away the rain poncho on his body and asked the wild old man sitting on the back of the elephant: "Master, there is no cloud in the sky, why does it rain in the forest?"

The wild sole pointed to the towering tree and said, "This rain is not from the world, but these big trees are spitting out excess water in their bodies. The hotter the weather, the more they vomit."

The monkey pulled a bug more than an inch long from his head and said, "It's not only raining, but also bugs!"

The wild man smiled and took the insects in the monkey's hand and stuffed them into his mouth. It was very sweet. Yun Zheng knew that the Jiaozhi people were accustomed to eating insects, so they could still remain calm. The monkey pointed at the wild man in horror, and his stomach surging.

"When you walk into the jungle, the jungle is the master, we are guests, and we eat whatever the master gives us. The Buddha is compassionate and will not be stingy with his kindness. Even in the remote mountains, he will be full of virtue." After eating the insect, the wild old man sat cross-legged on the elephant's head, and he really looked like a monk who was enlightened.

Yun Zheng stood on the back of the elephant and looked forward. Hundreds of elephants waved their noses to open the way, and shouted from time to time. The heavy footsteps were heard from afar, allowing snakes, insects and beasts to escape. The armored soldiers standing on the elephant's back waving their long swords to cut off the vines on both sides of the road one by one. Liang Ji stood in front, holding a powerful crossbow, constantly patrolling the movements around. As a vanguard team, he did not dare to be careless at all.

In the jungle on both sides of the road, naked Khmer people jumped like flying on both sides, climbing vines like monkeys and swinging around the trees. Everyone was carrying a bucket of arrows on their backs. I heard that each arrow was covered with snake venom, which was effective in blood sealing the throat. This thing is not only their fighting tool, but also their hunting and eating guys. In the jungle with branches, it is hard to guard against.

Behind the elephant formation are countless pack horses and mules. The cavalry sits on horses, holding whisks in their hands, and constantly helping the war horses drive away the dense blood-sucking insects in the jungle. Although these pack horses and mules are covered with gauze clothes, as long as they stop, the gauze clothes will be covered with all kinds of strange-shaped insects.

Zhou Tong personally held the backyard, and he was also responsible for leaving eye-catching marks so that the caravan would not get lost when returning. Although there were Khmer people who could be guided, Zhou Tong was still skeptical of the nations other than the Song people.

Cui Da followed closely behind the army with eleven shopkeepers from major merchants in Shu. The guys and shopkeepers who followed them this time were the smartest and capable men in each family, and they also brought huge guards.

Walking in the mud of the jungle, none of these shopkeepers who are usually pampered and complained. Seeing that their huge investment was about to gain something, they would rather die of exhaustion than give up this bloody feast of merchants.

Cui Da did not ride a horse, and six Khmer men carried a light gauze tent. He sat leisurely inside, and was still interested in looking around to enjoy the wonders of the tropical rainforest.

Cui Da is not a soldier, so he can sit in the gauze tent. It’s nothing. As long as you pay enough money to carry someone through the jungle, it’s not a problem to carry someone through the jungle. Cui Da is the one who can afford to pay.

There was a broken army behind the merchant team, Lang Tan's subordinates. When they had just handed over the errands with Peng Jiu, they gritted their teeth and said, "I used my feet to crawl in the mud and water. You can actually lie in the gauze tent. Is this still a natural thing? I think you just need to bring your maid to serve you."

Cui Da took a bunch of bananas from the gauze tent and threw them to Lang Tan and said, "This is my ability. If you have the ability, you can come up. If you don't do it, you must be Qiu Ba. You deserve to be exhausted.

"Hahahaha, Lao Cui, just be sour." Lang Tan grabbed the banana and then threw it to the brother behind him. He peeled a banana and took a big bite and continued: "You were dragged back by your mother. Although Lao Wuzi suffered a little, he would definitely win a wife and a son when he went back this time. You want to think that we don't want you."

Cui Da put away his smile and said, "Old Lang, can we succeed in this trip to Shenglong Mansion? The big business in Shuzhong has put a heavy bet. If this time fails, the business in Shuzhong will be severely damaged. Without three to five years of hard work, it will not be able to recover."

Lang Tan laughed and said, "I heard from Master Yesou that the most valuable thing in Shenglong Mansion is the Divine Wood Palace. The entire palace is made of excellent red sandalwood. If you have the ability to demolish the palace and take it back, it will probably be enough for you to pay."

Cui Da nodded and opened his mouth to ask the shopkeeper Hua who was riding a mule in front of him: "Old Hua, how much is a chessboard made of rosewood worth? I heard that you gave it to King Han, and I was very impressed!"

The thin shopkeeper Hua rolled his eyes and said, "If you don't understand, just say less. That's called a chess scale. How to judge the price of things that cultivate one's body and nature, but if you have a chess scale on hand, I'll give you a price of 300 jin."

Cui Da smiled and said, "Wait, I will get you thousands of chessboards of red sandalwood. If you don't offer this price for me, I'll be anxious about it."

Manager Hua said, "Ruby sandalwood is OK but not to be requested. If you have the ability to get a few thousand yuan of materials, I will even lose everything, but I am afraid you won't get it."

Cui Da made a fucking haha ​​and covered up the matter. After all, he hadn't seen that palace yet and could not count it.

Lang Tan took out a handful of fried noodles from Cui Da's gauze tent and asked while eating: "Old Cui, how much did we spend in total to send troops this time? I think it may be no less than 100,000 guan."

Cui Da smiled bitterly and said, "One hundred thousand guan, you think 100 thousand guan is too big. The dispatch of a large army is actually a sea of ​​gold and silver. Not to mention the various equipment and food we provide, the army alone drove from Shuzhong to Guangnan, which cost no less than 70,000 guan. If the headquarters counts it, it is almost 200,000 guan. So, the general knows that this time the march into Shenglong Mansion is full of difficulties in order to prevent the merchants in Shuzhong from going bankrupt, but he insists on walking, just to fill the hole."

Lang Tan said strangely: "No, isn't the wealth of Master Nongzhi not enough to pay our military expenses? Forget the capture of Hot Spring Pass, just Pennsylvania is probably a lot of captures? Could it be that all of them were greedy by you, a black-hearted ghost?"

Cui Da touched his chin and said, "Of course it's enough, but not too many. Nong Zhigao's search for the words is poor and there are not many valuables. The wealthy family in Guangnan ran away with Xiaoshuo before Nong Zhigao came. It takes a lot of time to exchange those seizures for money. My brother, I'm following the army to do business, without a tenfold profit, who will run with you?"

Lang Tan angrily spitted a fruit core at Cui Da. He couldn't tell the story of such a black-hearted ghost. The brothers only made a few cents of money by fighting for life and death, and all the benefits were taken away by these people.

He had nothing to say with the unscrupulous merchants, and he whistled, and hurriedly walked towards the formation with his subordinates. The army was advancing in a rolling manner. Only in this way can the army be in a state of vigilance at all times.

It was extremely difficult to march in the dense forest, especially the physical exhaustion was even more terrifying. After only two hours of walking, the army had to stop and find a dry open-air place to rest.

I thought there would be water everywhere in the jungle, but after I came in, I found that it was not the case at all. There was indeed a lot of water here, but unfortunately I could drink very little water.

Just look at the corpses of wild beasts that fell dead by the pool, you will know that the water here is poisonous, and the mountains overlap, the forests are as vast as the sea, the swamps in the woods are continuous, the river valleys are dense, jackals and beasts are rampant, and the malaria of miasma is spreading. It is considered a very dangerous place. The mosquitoes, poisonous snakes and miasma in the Wild Mountains are hard to guard against, and each blow is fatal trauma.

The road that Wu Shengjun walked was not so much a small forest path. It was first stepped on by an elephant, and later it was constantly widened, which led to these roads.

Yun Zheng was very glad that he had the help of Master Yesou and the Khmer people. Without their help, it would be difficult for him to find a clean water source. Without their help, he would probably only be able to enter Jiaozhi by really fighting hard with Li Rizun. When things develop to this point, it is no longer as simple as a combination of interests. Without the Khmer people, the price he needs to pay would be too high. Now that he can bypass those heroic passes and appear at the city of Shenglongfu, it should be the best choice.

Less than six days after entering Linmang, the soldiers' feet were already swollen in water. If they were not baked and dried quickly, it would not take long for the feet to rot.

Finally, he encountered a large area where the army could camp. Yun Zheng ordered the entire army to rest and then continue on the road after two days of rest.

"Master Yesou, call out the tribe members who are exploring the way in the forest. They should also rest. As long as we leave enough manpower, we have a long way to go and cannot withstand the loss."

Yun Zheng has clearly known in the past few days that his army has fallen ill and the situation is not serious. In addition, although he will be attacked by mosquitoes when walking with an elephant, he has never encountered poisonous snakes or beasts.

Those Khmer people who were clamoring on both sides of the road were at the highest danger. Yun Zheng saw with his own eyes that a huge python was lying on the side of the road with his stomach bulging and unable to move. He ordered people to kill the python. After breaking his stomach, he found that there were three Khmer corpses in the python's belly that had not been digested yet...

"This is the sincerity of the Khmer people. General, we have almost nothing, the only thing we have is our own life. Now, we dedicate our lives and ask the general to help the Khmer people come out of the ignorant world and build our own country. Only in this way can our sacrifice be meaningful.
Chapter completed!