October in Liaodong had turned cold. Although the evergreen forest was still full of leaves, the ground was hard because of the frost. Hundreds of people on horseback rushed out of Hekulun, and the galloping hooves thumped on the ground, startling countless birds.
October was a critical season. Whether they could survive the winter depended on whether they could store enough food this month. It didn't matter whether the food was farmed, gathered, hunted, or simply looted. Anyway, people would starve to death if they didn't have enough to eat. This happened every year and couldn't be ignored.
The Han people of the Central Plains chose farming, but the Jurchens in the wilderness of the north did not have such conditions. In their eyes, only the weak would work and farm, and the strong only needed to rob when the time was right. In fact, the Westerners also thought so. Since the Greek period, various city-states had been robbing each other.
Chu Ying was a person who was used to robbing. He really didn't have any food reserves, so robbing was a matter of course for him. Don't think that this idea was too shocking. This was a different nation, a different culture.
This Bei Lei was born at the most difficult time for Nurhachi. But since he appeared on the battlefield, he had always been invincible and had never been defeated. He used to be the sharpest spear in his father's hands. He inherited Nurhachi's tyranny and courage, but he didn't inherit Nurhachi's brain. He didn't have Nurhachi's survival troubles in those days, nor did he struggle to think about hardship.
His early life experience made Chu Ying completely believe in violence. This was vividly shown in the first few months when he ascended to the throne — a good hand was played badly by him. He could lose the throne that was easily obtained, and the cooked duck flew away.
Now another 'cooked duck' flew away from Chu Ying's hand.
Chu Ying needed to loot, but he couldn't do it alone, so he needed a subordinate with a brain like Zhou Qingfeng. He felt that he was very tolerant and gracious to Zhou Qingfeng, and regarded him as a confidant. Zhou Qingfeng should offer his loyalty and die for him.
And did Zhou Qingfeng have any crooked thoughts? There must be.
Chu Ying was confident that with his powerful martial arts, Zhou Qingfeng would not dare to play any tricks on him even if he had any crooked thoughts. However, he did not expect that Zhou Qingfeng would play a trick right under his nose. The extremely important iron furnace was completely destroyed, and Zhou Qingfeng himself had even led his troops to retreat with the excuse of attacking Jianzhou.
At this moment, Chu Ying's entire body was burning with evil flames.
Chase, I must chase that Zhou brat back.
He thought that he would be able to take advantage of the situation, but who knew that he would be fooled.
The Jurchen nobles of Ehekulun were furious after being fooled. Uța immediately sent people to chase after Zhou Qingfeng, and Chu Ying personally took action. As he urged his horse to leave Ehekulun, he was still vaguely uneasy. Where did Zhou Qingfeng get the courage and confidence to be sure that he could escape?
According to Chu Ying's calculations, Zhou Qingfeng's more than two hundred subordinates had no horses at all. Even if they ran without stopping, they could only run about a hundred li in a day, and that was on flat terrain. However, Ehekulun was surrounded by mountainous areas, and there were only a few roads. Most of the slaves would die of exhaustion if they ran a hundred li of mountain roads in a day.
Zhou Qingfeng's subordinates lacked large animals for transportation, and they only had more than twenty handcarts loaded with logistics supplies. They could not escape through the mountain trails like Chu Ying did when he fled to Ehekulun. In fact, it was already very heaven-defying for them to travel fifty li a day along the mountain roads. However, even after chasing for a long time, the pursuing troops could not find any trace of Zhou Qingfeng's troops.
"Something's wrong." After leading the troops to chase for a few hours, Chu Ying waved his hand to stop the pursuing cavalry. He traveled through the dense mountains. The road was rugged, and the forest was quiet. He did not even see a shadow. "Zhou Qingfeng did not escape along the mountain roads that we expected."
Taking advantage of the short break, the pursuing Kulun cavalry took out their dried meat and water bags to replenish their food. The Jurchen barbarians knew the importance of maintaining their strength. Chu Ying's slaves also passed the smoked dried meat to him, and this made Chu Ying frown even more.
The cavalry would usually carry three days' worth of dried meat, but they could only carry one day's worth of water. Therefore, when marching in the wilderness, they had to follow the water source to facilitate their replenishment. Otherwise, even if you were the king of heaven, you would not be able to command a thirsty army.
"Are there any rivers nearby?" Chu Ying asked the Kulun slave beside him.
"Rivers? Yes … There are many, "the Kulun slave said.
Herkulun was a city deep in the forest. It was surrounded by three rivers, and the surrounding tributaries were even more numerous. Some of the rivers could not even be named, but they still had a wide surface and gentle flow.
"We were all tricked. Zhou Qingfeng should have slipped away from one of the rivers," Chu Ying guessed.
The Kulun slave reminded in a low voice, "Goat Baylor did not bring any boats, he only had some carts."
"Idiot!" Chu Ying scolded angrily, "Is it difficult to cut wood to make rafts? That guy knows how to forge iron, so he must have secretly forged a large number of axes to cut down trees. We were two days late, which was enough for him to make dozens of rafts and float on the river surface. "
The Jurchen lacked metal tools, so cutting wood was a difficult task. However, Chu Ying knew that it was not difficult for Zhou Qingfeng, and could even be said to be easy. He had seen Zhou Qingfeng's Saber of Light with his own eyes. It was really sharp, and it was not afraid of rust, so it was very convenient to use it to cut down trees.
"Immediately inform Division Leader Uța to stop chasing along the mountain road, and ask him to send people to search along the river." Chu Ying turned his horse around and wanted to return to Herkulun. However, his mind instantly thought that if he followed the river, there would be too many routes that Zhou Qingfeng could take, and it would be even more difficult to catch him now.
No, that kid wanted to escape, and he definitely wanted to escape back to the Ming Kingdom. He could temporarily use the river to avoid the pursuit, but he still had to go ashore. This was because most of the rivers around Herkulun flowed north, but the Ming Kingdom was to the west, even further west than Hetuala.
"This kid could not have brought a lot of food, so he must have chosen a place to stay and prepare food." Chu Ying calmed down and asked the Kulun slave beside him, "What villages are there in the west?"
"Green Mountain Peak, Gorilla Gully, Flowing Water Gully, …." The slave mentioned a lot of places in one breath, and it sounded like a small gathering place in a forest or canyon.
Chu Ying quickly asked, "Which place is the closest, big enough, and can prepare enough food?"
The Kulun slave was silent for a while, and slowly said, "That is Liuhe Gully in Jianzhou, also known as Liuhe Village. There are many people there, so there must be a lot of food stored there. "
Chu Ying fiercely whipped his horse and ordered all the Kulun cavalrymen following him, "Let's go to Liuhe Village. That kid Zhou Qingfeng must have gone there. Even if he didn't go there, we will take down that village. You can take the money, food, and women as you wish. If the sword is not sealed for three days, we will wait for him there. "
When they heard that they were going to rob, all the Kulun cavalrymen shouted excitedly. They did not even care whether it was Zhou Qingfeng or not, and only cheered for the 'three days of sword not sealed'.
Meanwhile, in Ekulun City, a maidservant hurriedly ran into Abahai's house. She lowered her voice and shouted in surprise, "Mistress, your calculations are too accurate. Young Master Zhou has escaped, and Uța and Chu Ying have brought people to chase after him. Now there is no one watching us in the city. "
Abahai was drinking tea, and he immediately stood up when he heard the maidservant's words. His face was full of joy as he asked, "Zhou Qingfeng escaped? He really escaped? "
"Yes." The maidservant nodded. "Not only did Young Master Zhou escape, but he also destroyed the smelting furnace he built outside the city. Uța and Chu Ying were furious because of this, and they brought hundreds of people to chase after him. Now the whole city knows about this. I just heard that the people who were chasing after him haven't found Young Master Zhou yet. I wonder where he is hiding? "
"Hahaha …!" Abahai laughed happily. "These men, I knew that none of them had good intentions. As long as I secretly gave Zhou Qingfeng a few pointers, with that brat's stubborn temper, he would definitely provoke Uța and Chu Ying. Now, everything is going according to my plan. At least I didn't waste so many virgin scenes these few days. "
Abahai was so happy that she could not close her mouth. She had never been so happy since she came to Ekulun. She was lonely, helpless, and afraid. She was worried that she would be trapped in this wild woman's territory and be swallowed up. She had been looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble and create an opportunity to escape.
Abahai had thought of many possibilities, such as Nurhachi leading troops to rescue her, Chu Ying sending her back, or Zhou Qingfeng secretly taking her away. But these ideas were too passive. She actually had the best situation in her heart.
Whether it was explaining the situation in Ekulun to Zhou Qingfeng or secretly informing Uța and the others about their intentions, Abahai had a kind of hope that Zhou Qingfeng could stir up trouble and attract the attention of Uța and Chu Ying. Then, she could leave more easily.
Actually, Abahai did not hold much hope that such a situation would occur. But Zhou Qingfeng did better than she expected — now that almost all the wild women nobles in the city had run to chase after Zhou Qingfeng, there was no one in the city who could watch over Abahai.
"Pack up immediately. We have to leave as soon as possible. Just bring something to eat and throw away all the other burdens. " Abahai was happy, but she was not in a hurry. She ordered the maidservant, "Hurry up and release the green sea eagle that Daer Han left behind. Tell that servant to come and help me. I don't know how long Zhou brat can last outside, and I don't know when Chu Ying will come back. We have to leave quickly. "
A carefully raised Hai Dong Qing was taken out of the eagle cage. The old slave in charge of raising the eagle fed a few pieces of fresh meat into the mouth of the raptor, then tied a written roll of paper to the leg of the Hai Dong Qing, and gently threw it away. The eagle immediately spread its wings and soared into the sky, disappearing into the clouds in a moment.
Abahai stood behind the old servant and asked, "Where can this Hai Dongqing fly to? Can it find Daer Han? "
The old servant hurriedly knelt down and replied, "Master, this old servant's eagle can't find Master Daer Han. It will only return to this old servant's house. Master Daer Han should be waiting at this old servant's house. "
Abahai really did not know the relationship between the two. She only knew that after Zhou Qingfeng banished Daer Han, Daer Han deliberately left the old servant in charge of rearing the eagle, saying that if there was anything, he could use the old servant's green sea eagle to contact him. Hearing that the eagle was going to fly to the old servant's house, she asked, "Where is your house?"
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