Chapter 193: Chapter 138: Returning to Changning Again_3
Translator: 549690339
He did not even know where he would stay until the moment he made the choice.
With such meticulous care and thorough preparation, he sought to do his best to ensure his own safety.
Although, from the current situation, no one really had the guts to assassinate him among the tens of thousands of soldiers.
But better safe than sorry.
It’s always right to make some extra preparations and find a few more escape routes.
As a long-lived being with a long lifespan, Lu Yuan has racked his brains to ensure his own safety, reaching an extreme level of stability.
At this moment, he hides in the makeshift tent he has prepared, feeling safe and secure, and begins to practice martial arts with ease.
Although going on expeditions and traveling every day is tiring, improving one’s martial arts and strength cannot be neglected.
Increasing one’s strength by even a little bit adds a few more guarantees to one’s own safety.
In order to survive in this chaotic world, Lu Yuan is doing his best.
Under his efforts, the conversion of Inner Strength in the second bizarre meridian progresses smoothly, and nearly half of it has been completed.
By this speed estimation, in just over half a month, the conversion of this meridian will be completed.
One night passes quietly without incident in the blink of an eye.
The second day.
As the sky begins to lighten, Lu Yuan wakes up on time from his brief sleep, and meets his personal guard at a pre-determined location in the tent.
At this time, the soldiers who have rested for a night also start to wake up, tidying up their tents and baggage, while the cooks prepare breakfast for the soldiers to eat and drink before continuing their journey.
Surrounded by a large army, Lu Yuan’s sense of security returns.
After eating the carefully prepared breakfast by his own accompanying chef and digesting it for a while.
He immediately takes up his whip and leads his army southward.
After two more days of marching, the army finally arrives at the battlefield of Changning County on New Year’s Eve.
Although it is the holiday season, the atmosphere in Changning County is exceptionally solemn and deadly.
In the fields, numerous abandoned and burned houses can be seen, along with stinking and rotting human corpses. Every mile, a few can be seen on the road.
Some villages with a few remaining inhabitants tremble in fear when they see the army approaching. A few struggling men, led by the village elders, shakily offer some grain and supplies, hoping the army will not disturb the village.
Lu Yuan looks at them and knows without thinking that these villagers must have suffered from the scourge of soldiers and bandits.
Last year, when he led his army to quell rebellions in various places, he saw many beastly soldiers who were nominally soldiers but actually committed worse deeds than bandits.
Those local tyrants who pulled out militias, on the surface were the government’s armed forces, but in reality, they were completely private forces.
These guys have little restraint when doing things.
Thus, they have done countless outrageous deeds to gain benefits.
With a sigh for the suffering of these ordinary people, Lu Yuan doesn’t accept the supplies they offer. This small amount of supplies is nothing to his army not even enough for one person’s meal.
But for the village, it may be their only food.
In the cold winter, the villagers are having a hard time, and it’s New Year’s Eve, so there’s no need to push people into despair, causing tragedies of starvation.
After comforting the villagers with a few words, asking about the battlefield situation, and ordering the troops not to disturb the people, Lu Yuan continues on his way.
The army continues forward for a while and soon arrives at a small town.
This town has a two-meter-high earthen wall protecting it, and even a few watchtowers behind it, with people guarding them.
At this moment, those people become nervous when they see a large army coming. Fortunately, when they see that it’s the government’s army, they feel a little relieved.
However, even so, the town gate remains closed, showing no signs of opening.
Just like the villages encountered earlier.
In troubled times, sometimes soldiers can be more brutal than bandits.
This town likely fears that the entrance of the soldiers could cause uncontrollable incidents.
The fear of soldiers among the people is truly indescribable.
Perhaps all that’s left is to sigh and say, “Better to be a peaceful dog than a person in chaos.”
When Lu Yuan gets to the entrance of the town, someone dressed as a scholar comes down from the wall in a basket, accompanied by two followers, and walks over with small steps.
Upon seeing Lu Yuan, the scholar is surprised.
It turns out this person has met him before.
Lu Yuan also recalls, and then remembers that this person was one of the gentry who attended the military performance at the drill ground.
However, he was only a learned and cultured man at the time, and since he did not take the military or official career seriously, he only chatted with Lu Yuan for a while and did not form a close relationship.
However, the world changes too fast.
Four years ago, Da Yue was still enjoying peace, music, and dance, with feasts in all its borders.
At that time, studying and becoming a scholar were the best ways for many people to improve their social status.
But four years later, today, Da Yue is full of bandits and chaos from wars.
Even Changning County has been invaded by bandits, becoming what it is now.
Such circumstances are truly lamentable and thought-provoking.
After chatting with the scholar for a bit and hearing about the situation in Changning County over the past few years, Lu Yuan begins to feel a sense of pity.
But there’s no time for lengthy conversations; the vanguard has already sent messengers approaching hastily.
After saluting, they report that the vanguard has already engaged with the Seven Stars bandits and has crushed one of their peripheral forces.
Scouts then find that there are about 20,000 bandits surrounding Changning county town.
Although there are government troops also camped outside the city, they have closed their camp gates and do not come out. As long as the government soldiers outside the city still hold their positions, the situation on their side should not be too bad.
Upon hearing the news, Lu Yuan, without further ado, bids farewell to the scholar and leads his army to rendezvous with the vanguard..