Just when Zhu Houzhao and his party were staying in the wilderness village, Yun Liu and Xier, wearing dark green oilcloth robe, stood on the tree of a big tree, watching the village ahead for a long time.

Unlike Zhu Houzhao's house where he could make fire and barbecue, Yun Liu and the people she brought could only eat cold food. Not only that, they also had to hide in a relatively secret place and observe in secret, and could not show their appearance. Even when Zhu Houzhao and his party lacked food, they had to give them food. The wild goat was sent by Yun Liu.

"Senior sister, it's really not easy to do these small moves... You don't know how troublesome it was to send a living creature just now. It was almost seen through by Mr. Zhu's people..."

Xier was previously responsible for taking people to send goats, but she was still scared at this time.

Yun Liu sighed helplessly and said, "This is also impossible. The lord told me that this must be done. Do we have the right to choose?"

Xier pursed and said, "Even the animals who died are better than living animals. Or maybe you can just send some dry food and put it in the rice jar of a family. Just think that it was left by the villagers when they left."

Yun Liu said: "This is likely to arouse Mr. Zhu's suspicion. It is best not to try those things that are too obvious... Well, since the task has been completed, don't complain anymore. What we have done in the past few years has basically been completed secretly. This time, the difficulty has only increased a little!"

Xier was still a little unhappy. Obviously she didn't want to stay in the deep mountains and forests on a rainy night in late autumn. She felt that this was too tormenting. She said with a bitter face:

"Senior sister, since there is no danger on Mr. Zhu, why don't we go to the back mountain and find a cave to ignite a fire to warm it up? This rain came too badly."

The light rain fell sparsely. Because the temperature was too low, the breathing was obviously white. Yun Liu herself couldn't hold on, but she still shook her head:

"No, the Lord's order has not been completed yet, and the relationship between Mr. Zhu, whom we are protecting, cannot be relaxed at all... We have gritted our teeth and survived the hard work on the grassland before?"

Xier frowned and said with some embarrassment: "Senior sister, but... as a woman, there are always a few inconvenient days every month. This ghost weather... makes people feel very embarrassed."

Yun Liu glanced at Xier a few times, immediately understood what the other party meant, and sighed: "Actually, no one is wrong. I can only say that our women are constrained in everything they do, but the more they do, the better they need to do it... Let's do this, you go to the back mountain first, where brothers are already making fire... You don't need to watch tonight."

When saying this, Yunliu tried to lower her voice and looked in the direction of the mountain village. Although the bushes were very dense, Yunliu could still look through the gaps between the branches and leaves.

Xier said, "But...Sister Sister, can you do it? If I remember correctly, you and I have been menstrual periods these few days, right?"

Yun Liu shook his head and said, "My body is not as delicate as you. You are the young lady's life, but I am born to work hard, so I can't compare. You go there first. If there is an urgent matter here, you should come and help. Don't sleep. This place is not a good place. You may encounter tigers, leopards, jackals, etc.."

Xier nodded: "Sister, I'll go first, you should rest early. In fact, this kind of rain and snow weather is really not suitable for us to come out, just leave it to our subordinates... After all, we basically trained it step by step."

"Um."

Yun Liu responded, but didn't even look back, allowing Xier to jump off the tree.

Xier couldn't wait to go to rest. For her, the amount of activity during this period was much greater than that of Yunliu. After all, she was the one who was responsible for running errands before. After running continuously, her body was already showing signs of loss and needed time to recuperate. In late autumn, she was in the rain. She was most unbearable.

...

...

In the cave in the back mountain, Xier sat on a straw pile with thick cotton wool and closed her eyes and slept. A few meters away from the front was a firewood fire. There was an iron rack next to the fire, with Xier taking out her close-fitting clothes and coats from her bag. Although they were all clean, the mountains were wet. Take them out and bake them on the front line to remove the moisture before changing the clothes.

As the fire jumped, the temperature in the cave rose rapidly, so she finally felt a little warmer in her wet clothes.

There were seven or eight subordinates who came with her, all of whom were backbones of the female army.

The female army trained by Yunliu and Xier personally chose orphans from Jiubian, Guanzhong, Northern Zhili, Central Plains and Shandong. They were generally only in their teens when they adopted them. Now after three or four years of training, they can come in handy.

In recent years, all female army members first received cultural course training. In addition to reading and literacy, they also had to learn to draw military maps based on understanding the map, and then received martial arts and bow and horse training, and at the same time received some detailed skills training such as spy intelligence.

Since the two sisters were trained by Dongchang Fanzi Yu Niang, they still have their own set of ways to train the female army.

However, because of the particularity of women, Shen Xi did not transfer this force to the battlefield when using the Tatars this time, but now he has to secretly protect Zhu Houzhao. These female soldiers who have been trained for a long time are just in handy. Shen Xi also wants to see if they can apply what they have learned.

"Master, your clothes are baked."

A female soldier took her hot inner garment and outer garment, walked in bypassing the light gauze and acted as a screen, and said respectfully to Xier.

The cave and the outside are completely different worlds.

The male soldiers could not get close to this place, they rested in another cave. Similar to Zhu Houzhao's two fires, which were divided into two rooms and main halls. Xier also created two fires according to her gender, one in each cave.

There were two female soldiers who were cooking fire with her at the innermost part of the cave. These two female soldiers did not have menstruation like her, but were injured because they accidentally slid down the cliff while catching in the mountains.

There were six female soldiers sitting around the entrance of the cave. Their condition was relatively better, but because the cold and moisture at the entrance of the cave were very heavy, and there were no straw and leaves on the ground to block the coldness, they generally looked pale, their lips were black, and their mental state and appearance were not very good.

Xier took the clothes and put them on. When she turned her head, she found that the female soldier was looking at her with envious eyes... After all, she had everything here, not only did she not have to worry about food and drink, but she could also roast the fire, and also had bedding and dry clothes to keep the cold.

At most, these female soldiers brought thin quilts and raincoats, as well as changing clothes, shoes and marching bags, and finally fried noodles, pot and other dry foods, which are basically standard in Shenxi's army.

After all, the scouts need to travel through mountains and rivers or even lurk. Apart from the necessities of daily life, there are very few other things that can be brought, and these are female soldiers in front of them with relatively thin bones.

"You all come to the fire to keep warm."

Xier ordered, "It will always be warmer if you get closer to the fire."

With the permission of Xier, the "master general manager", the female soldiers cheered first, then covered their mouths nervously, and then quickly leaned over to the fire, with happy smiles on their faces. However, because of the long-term wind and sun exposure, their skin was dark and rough, and their appearance was far inferior to Xier.

In front of these female soldiers, Xier felt a sense of pride.

After all, I am a top student in the Jiaofangsi, and it is a place where I can make a living by relying on my face. However, when I think about my current experience, I couldn't help but feel a little upset.

"Now I have a gorgeous mansion in my capital, with so much land, but I can't go back to enjoy it, and I don't even have a child. Wouldn't I be lonely in the future? When can the lord protect me?"

Thinking of this, Xier was a little sad and disappointed. In addition, she was indeed a little tired and uncomfortable. She lay on the cotton wool, covered with a mattress, and fell asleep in a drowsy way.

...

...

It was late at night and the rain was drizzling, and the stream was still on its way.

After Chen Xi left Juyong Pass, he basically followed Zhu Houzhao's footsteps to Weizhou. In his past few years of military career, this kind of urgent marching was almost common and he didn't feel it was too hard.

But his body was not iron-clad. In the second half of the night, he had to let his servants stop and rest. When Zhu Hong ordered people to set up a tent, Chen Xi hid in the carriage and looked at the map with candlelight.

"Sir, we can actually stay at the inn." Zhu Hong saw a group of subordinates busy, so he came over to remind him.

Chen Xi smiled faintly, "This time I came out has a great relationship. You can't be slackened at all. Just treat it as a training camp on the grassland. Let the brothers have a good rest, set off tomorrow morning, and replace people in the middle and take turns to watch!"

Although Chen Xi seconded 200 soldiers from Li Pin, he did not act with him. Now there are only about thirty followers around him.

But these minions are definitely the elite among the elites, and it is a bit exaggerated to fight one or ten, but it is easy to use the muskets in your hand to deal with a surprise attack of one or two hundred people after forming the formation.

In addition, although there are not many people in Chenxi, he can mobilize many people secretly. However, now it is basically concentrated in Lingqiu and Weizhou to protect Zhu Houzhao's safety.

Although Chen Xi was tired all the way, he did not rush to sleep after entering the tent. He just checked the latest information received in candlelight and grasped Zhu Houzhao's movements in a timely manner.

"Sir, I found a messenger from the west outside. The person has been cut off. It seems that Datong Town sent to Juyongguan to pass on the information."

Zhu Hong reported at the door of the tent.

Chen Xi bent down and walked out of the tent and followed Zhu Hong to the gate of the simple camp. However, he saw a soldier kneeling on the ground, surrounded by a group of people.

"Who are you?" Chen Xi asked.

The man said, "The messenger in the army...you will return the letter to me! Can you read the urgent documents in the army?"

The soldier has some backbone and is surrounded by a group of strangers, so he can speak without being humble or arrogant.

Chen Xi nodded: "It's so rare to be loyal to you! Take the document."

One of the entourages sent the document to Chen Xi, and someone came to light it with a lantern so that Chen Xi could see the text on it clearly. After Chen Xi looked carefully, he realized that it was involved in the movements of the Tatars on the grassland. Datong Town told Jiubian to introduce the latest situation of Batumonk.

Chen Xi thought to himself: "Batumuk had been hiding but not showing up before. Perhaps it was the Tatars who had planted a miniature work in the heart of the Central Plains to explore the news of the Ming Emperor's trip. Suddenly, he raised a big banner in Guanshan and vowed to regain the throne of Khan... It seems that the centipede insect will die without being stiff."

"How to deal with this person?" Zhu Hong asked for instructions.

Chen Xidao: "Since he is a messenger in the army, let him continue to pass on the message... Remember to be smart next time, don't be intercepted by someone so easily."

The soldier said unwillingly: "What kind of hero is a sneak attack?"

"Hey, you kid aren't convinced? Are you looking for a fight?" Zhu Hong rolled up his sleeves and said.

Chen Xi waved his hand, and the soldier grabbed the message tube, jumped on his horse and ran away in the distance. Zhu Hong asked for instructions: "Sir, should we continue to rest?"

Chen Xi waved his hand: "Since you have exposed your whereabouts, you can't stay anymore... Keep on rushing and wait until dawn before resting!"

...

...

Zhu Houzhao slept in a deserted village for a night, and finally recovered a little energy when he woke up in the morning. This was the first time he slept in a place with tiles covering his head within six days after leaving Weizhou City.

Jiang Bin served by her respectfully.

Zhu Houzhao took off the blanket and clothes covered by her body and glanced at Jiang Bin. At this time, Jiang Bin was only wearing a single coat. He deliberately did not wear someone else's coat to let the emperor feel the hard work he had put in, and to show his loyalty, but to Jiang Bin disappointment, Zhu Houzhao did not express anything special.

"Your Majesty, are you awake?"

Jiang Bin said with a smile on his face.

Zhu Houzhao stood up and stretched: "Although I slept all night, I still felt very tired, but my condition finally improved... Do you have any food now? I want to drink a bowl of hot mutton soup."

Jiang Bin did not expect Zhu Houzhao to make such a request early in the morning. If someone like Xiao Twist who often takes care of the emperor would basically understand what to do at this time and would prepare some simple food and drink early in the morning. After all, Zhu Houzhao often eats irregularly and will eat when she thinks about it.

Jiang Bin said: "Your Majesty, I have not started to prepare in advance, please forgive me. Let's go to the hot soup..."

Zhu Houzhao did not criticize Jiang Bin and nodded: "Then go quickly, I'll wait."

Jiang Bin went to the main hall outside and asked the guards to boost the fire, and then helped Zhu Houzhao with the remaining mutton soup last night.

Zhu Hou shone out and revitalized his muscles and bones. When he left the yard, he found that the sky outside had cleared and the sun appeared on the hills in the east. Because it existed in front of a mountain, it rained and the trees were lush around it. It was said that birds were singing and flowers were fragrant. He couldn't help but breathe in fresh air greedily.

"Your Majesty, you have to wait a little longer before you can eat. The heating has begun." Jiang Bin came over and said.

Zhu Hou took a look at the surrounding environment and frowned and said, "Jiang Bin, it's probably not OK to continue walking south. If we don't have food, we will definitely have big trouble if we encounter bandits on the road."

"Well."

Jiang Bin hesitated for a moment and asked, "Then your Majesty, are we going west?"
To be continued...