Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 125: Finally Begins to Retreat [Three-in-One]

With more than a hundred people moving out at the same time, the momentum is bound to be considerable.

Even after Xia Hong's instructions, no one spoke.

But with more than a hundred people walking together, even the combined sound of their footsteps on the snow becomes very loud, not to mention other sounds.

Fortunately, the northern slope where the rodent group is located is not far from the valley, less than two kilometers in total, and as the rodent group migrates southward, the distance is even closer.

So many people were mobilized together, and they were all loggers. Xia Hong was generous for once. He did not go around Redwood Ridge. He went north after leaving the valley and went straight along the foot of the mountain.

"Everyone stop, we're almost there!"

When they were still more than 200 meters away from the north slope, Xia Hong raised his hand and stopped the team.

Xia Hong had already given the Jinghan Sword to Yuan Cheng. He did not bring the giant axe today, but held a long and narrow weapon in his hand.

The weapon was wrapped in a sheath, and it was impossible to tell whether it was a sword or a knife. Judging from the sheath, it was only about an inch wide, and including the handle, it was about 1.7 meters long.

When Xia Hong took this strange weapon out of the camp, it attracted a lot of attention. However, there were more important things tonight, so everyone temporarily suppressed their curiosity and did not ask.

"Let's follow what we agreed on. Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Yuan Cheng, the three of you take half of the people to guard the west side. Zhao Long, Zhao Hu, Zhao Bao, and the rest of the people, follow me to climb up the mountain wall and attack. Don't worry about the rats that escape to the north, but shoot those that run towards you with arrows!"

"Understood, Chief!"

Xia Chuan and the other six nodded solemnly, then immediately dispersed to inform the people below.

Although the two teams had been divided before departure, Xia Hong's deployment must be made clear to everyone, otherwise problems would easily arise.

Xia Hong raised his head and took one last look at the terrain of the mountain wall, his expression slightly solemn.

Having come here so many times before, he was already familiar with the terrain of the northern slope of the mountain, and had already made a plan to deal with this group of rats.

The valley that Daxia took over from the Rogue Camp is located just east of Redwood Ridge, sandwiched between two mountains in the north and south, both with a height of two to three thousand meters.

The two high mountains extend to the south and north respectively. Daxia’s previous Tupo garrison extended from the southern mountain.

The mountain extending on the north side is also four or five kilometers long. The camps of Chen Ye and Lu Shang are located in this four or five kilometer long mountain.

Chen Ye’s camp is less than two kilometers away from the valley. A group of rats have now taken over its nest, lurking on the hillside just above the cave of their camp.

The hillside is about a hundred meters above the ground. Only by climbing up the rock wall on the west side can you see the group of rats on the slope.

Less than two kilometers south of the hillside is a valley; to the east is the depths of the higher, more mysterious, and more dangerous mountains; to the north is Lu Shang’s camp, and beyond that is the arrow bamboo forest; to the west, after going down the rock wall, is Redwood Ridge.

"If the rats are willing to go to the deep mountains on the east side, that would be great. If they are not willing to go, you can drive them farther north. But you can't let them go to the south and Redwood Ridge. You just need to guard these two passes. Whether they die or escape is up to them!"

That's right, the purpose of this operation, which had been prepared for nearly a month, was not to eliminate this group of rats at all.

Xia Hong's goal from beginning to end was just to drive them away.

There are nearly four hundred rats. With Daxia's current strength, it is simply wishful thinking to want to wipe them all out.

The best strategy is to try to drive them away.

There is a valley to the south, so of course we can't let the rats pass through; Redwood Ridge is their long-term activity area, so it's not a big problem if a small number of rats pass through, but if the number increases, their base in the valley may be discovered, and the risk is too great, so it's not possible.

Walking to the foot of the cliff, Xia Hong looked at the ten vines that had been arranged in advance, and turned back to whisper to Zhao Long who was closest to him:
"Everyone, you must remain quiet when you climb up. You cannot make any noise. Once you are up, find a good position and wait for my orders!"

Zhao Long nodded and whispered to Zhao Hu beside him: "Everyone, you must remain quiet when climbing up. You cannot make any sound. You cannot talk after you are up there. Find a good position and wait for the leader's orders!"

Zhao Hu then passed it to Zhao Bao, and Zhao Bao passed it to others, and it continued like this until all forty-eight people had heard the instructions, and everyone turned their eyes to Xia Hong who was at the front.

Xia Hong didn't say anything else, just pointed at the vine.

The three Zhao Long brothers were the first to choose three vines to climb up, and then forty-eight people followed him, divided into ten groups, and all climbed up.

Xia Hong watched quietly from below, and only climbed up at the end after everyone else had gone up.

On the mountain wall, there is an area that is 20 meters long and only two or three meters wide. It is about a hundred meters away from the rodent group on the north slope. There are only four trees in the middle, which does not affect the view much.

The area was small to begin with, and even though more than fifty people were divided into two rows and were all squatting, it was still full and seemed a bit crowded.

Xia Hong squeezed to the front and took a look at the group of rats not far away. Most of them were still sleeping, with only a few awake. He immediately felt a lot more relaxed.

Then he didn't say anything, but took out a transparent pill from his arms, and then signaled with his eyes to Zhao Long who was nearest to him.

Zhao Long nodded, and immediately took out a pill exactly the same as the one in his hand from his arms, then nudged Zhao Hu next to him with his elbow.

Zhao Hu received the signal, made the same move, and then informed the next person.

Just like the process of passing the message just now, after receiving the signal, all the remaining people took out the same pills as the one in Xia Hong's hand from their bodies.

"Thanks to this Green Saliva Fruit, the decoction pot has combined the formula of the primary detoxification pill. Otherwise, I really wouldn't dare to bring people here just relying on the Tengjiao saliva!"

Xia Hong said secretly in his heart, with a look of relief on his face.

Saliva can only relieve the toxins of Tengjiao through smelling, but it cannot completely detoxify.

But at this moment, after taking these primary detoxification pills in the hands of him and the others, not only can they completely ignore the influence of Tengjiao toxin, but also from the name, it is obvious that they are also effective against other types of primary toxins.

The Green Saliva Fruit is the fist-sized fruit that was found on the tree where the dragon was perched during the last hunt. After bringing it back and identifying it in the medicine pot, I immediately came up with the recipe for a primary detoxification pill.

Even more fortunately, in the recipe of the primary detoxification pill, the most consumed ingredient is Tengjiao saliva. Although Qingyan fruit is very important, only a little bit is needed in each furnace.

One furnace can produce 20 to 25 primary detoxification pills. Xia Hong used up all the green saliva fruit in one breath and refined ten furnaces in total. For the more than people who were going out tonight, each of them was given two pills, which was more than enough.

Seeing that everyone had taken out the detoxification pills, Xia Hong took the lead and put the detoxification pill into his mouth, and the others followed suit.

After the pill entered his stomach, Xia Hong gave the three Zhao Long brothers a look.

Zhao Long, Zhao Hu and Zhao Bao nodded and stood up. Each of them took out a fist-sized piece of blue meat from their arms. In the middle of the meat was a pure white round bead, and white air was constantly surging on the bead.

The three men each took a special iron arrow, then passed the blue piece of meat through the iron arrow and hung it in the middle, then drew their bows and arrows, aiming at the group of rats, and finally turned to look at Xia Hong, obviously waiting for his order.

Xia Hong was not in a hurry, but turned to look at the others, held up two fingers, and spoke loudly:

“Two things, remember!
1. Once the poisonous fog disperses, everyone must shoot all 30 arrows in their bodies as quickly as possible while ensuring accuracy.

Second, the rats may burrow through the ground. If you haven't used up all your arrows, you can find a position flexibly by yourself, individually or in cooperation, as long as you can kill them; once you have used up all your arrows, run immediately, but you are not allowed to run towards the valley, you can only run towards Redwood Ridge! "

"Understood, Chief!"

With the experience from his previous life, Xia Hong had thought about whether he should gather all the people together and fire in rotation to form a continuous rain of arrows, which would have greater impact and lethality.

But after trying it once in the valley, he gave up immediately.

First of all, there are only a hundred of them in total, which is too small a number. The range of the arrow rain formed by their rotation is too small to cause much group damage.

Secondly, the rotating archery method seeks speed rather than accuracy. Even if the rat is hit by the Tengjiao poison mist, its speed is still there. If the accuracy is not good, the arrows shot out are basically wasted.

After considering many factors, Xia Hong decided to let everyone play freely. After all, they were all at the lumberjack level and possessed a basic strength of more than 5,000 kilograms. With the help of bows and arrows, as long as the hit rate was high enough, it would not be difficult to hunt the rodents affected by the Tengjiao poisonous fog.

"Do it!"

When he spoke just now, he had already alarmed a few awake mice. Seeing that some mice had begun to move towards this side, Xia Hong immediately gave orders.

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

As soon as Xia Hong finished speaking, Zhao Long and the other two, who had already been ready to go and had pulled their longbows into a full moon shape, immediately let go.

laugh…………

The moment the three specially made iron arrows rubbed against the bow, a violent spark was produced, instantly igniting the blue piece of meat fixed in the middle.

The three iron arrows were like fire meteors, flying at a rapid speed and moving forward, leaving a straight trail of white smoke in the air, breaking the silent night.

Zhao Long's arrows shot to the left, Zhao Hu in the middle, and Zhao Bao's right.

The three men's goal was to almost cut the entire rat group into three pieces, shooting directly at three different places.

Of course, none of them were shooting at open space.

Pfft…………

The three brothers were all equally strong. Not only did they shoot their arrows at the same time, but the distances between their targets were also not far apart. The three arrows pierced through the heads of the three rats almost at the same time. In the silent night sky, only one sound was heard.

The three-headed rat didn't even have time to scream before the sharp arrow pierced through its head and nailed it to the ground.

Bang…………

At the same time, the blue piece of meat on the iron arrow was burned through, and the Tengjiao poison sac inside exploded instantly. Three thick white mists spread out in an instant, quickly covering the entire group of rats, and even continued to spread outward.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”

“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”

“Squeak…”

………………

The mouse colony had been alarmed as early as when the three mice were shot, but everything happened too quickly. After the white fog dissipated, the dense and swarming sounds of mice could be heard one after another.

Unlike the calls of ordinary rats, the roars and cries of hundreds of huge rats were extremely terrifying.

"Everyone, find your own target, quickly!"

Although the white fog was thick, it became much thinner after a while and had no effect on vision.

At Xia Hong's command, forty-eight people, plus Zhao Long's three brothers, all drew their bows and arrows and shot wildly at the rats in the white fog.

Whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…

Countless iron arrows flew past them. The rats closest to the group were already pierced with arrows before they could react. Dozens of them even had their pupils pierced, and were killed by a single arrow.

The group of rats, who were responding in panic, all looked towards the people on the south side, with their creepy teeth bared and fierce gleams in their eyes.

"squeak…………"

A clear rat cry suddenly sounded, and the group of rats immediately began to move.

They actually moved quickly towards the south under the rain of arrows.

These evil beasts are not afraid!
Xia Hong saw clearly that the rodents covered by Tengjiao's poisonous fog had become very slow in movement. In the first wave just now, almost everyone shot more than three arrows. Although few were killed with one arrow, at least forty or fifty were seriously injured.

Despite suffering such heavy damage, the swarm of rats still tried to rush towards them!
Could the voice giving orders just now be the leader of the rat pack?
Xia Hong, whose eyes had never left the group of rats from beginning to end, did not find anything unusual among the rats. A fierce look flashed across his face, and he shouted at everyone.

"Keep shooting faster, everyone push forward and find your own position!"

clang…………

As soon as Xia Hong finished speaking, he drew out the extra-long weapon from his waist, took the lead and rushed out from the slope.

"Come on!"

"Brothers, follow the leader and press forward. These beasts are poisoned. They are so far away, yet they still want to make trouble. Kill them!" "The leader has already charged, so why should we be afraid? Get close and shoot. I have already shot two of them. These rats are not that powerful."

…………

Hundreds of rats give people a very oppressive feeling.

The shouting from the crowd was actually a cover-up for the fear in their hearts.

The three Zhao Long brothers were the fastest to follow Xia Hong. They were stronger and naturally had less fear in their hearts.

And the others, with a few people taking the lead and shouting, also rushed out from the slope one after another.

Of course, the crowd rushed out not to engage in direct combat with the rats.

When the rats rushed towards them, they had already gathered together from the original large group. Xia Hong ordered everyone to push forward for the purpose of:
The first is to find a position with a better view to shoot arrows; the second is to shorten the distance and improve accuracy; the third is to simply boost the morale of one's own side and, from a psychological level, put the greatest pressure on this group of rodents.

Xia Hong had no doubt about the wisdom of the cold beast.

Especially for rodents that you have dealt with several times, their intelligence is definitely not low.

The north slope was only a hundred meters away from them, with only four trees in the middle. After rushing forward more than ten meters, the crowd automatically divided into four waves, each occupying a big tree. Using the big tree as a barrier, they began to shoot arrows frantically at the approaching group of rats.

Whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…

The sound of wind created by the iron arrow rang in his ears. Realizing that he was only ten meters away from the rat in the front, Xia Hong's eyes became stern. He put his hands behind his back, made a gesture to the back, and continued to rush forward.

When everyone saw the gesture, they immediately understood what it meant, and the iron arrows shot from the back were all raised a little higher and no longer aimed at the front of the group of rats.

Meanwhile, Xia Hong had already bumped into the rat in front.

The extremely long weapon in his hand could be identified as a knife from the end.

But as a knife, its blade is too narrow, only an inch long; at the same time, it is too long, about 1.7 meters including the handle. If it were not for the blade, it would look like a long stick from a distance.

Compared to the broadswords they used before.

No matter how everyone looked at this knife, they all found it weird.

However, Xia Hong, who rushed forward with the sword in both hands, quickly made everyone understand the terrifying power of the long sword in his hand.

At the moment when the body of the first rat was about to come into contact, Xia Hong suddenly accelerated his body, held his hands horizontally, and swung the long sword from right to left, while his body rushed forward and suddenly pulled diagonally, bringing out a sharp blade light.

The rat that was hit by Tengjiao's poisonous mist slowed down and its reaction became slower. Faced with the sudden increase in speed of the sword light, it could only dodge in a panic.

Compared with other cold beasts, it is only one meter long and naturally more flexible. With a light leap, it dodged to the flank.

Tear…………

However, its body dodged.

But there was no time to take away the tail.

Not to mention Xia Hong's basic strength, the blade was over 1.5 meters long and had an attack range far beyond imagination. With one slash, he easily cut off the cricket's long tail and even cut off a lot of the back half of its body.

Pfft…………

The rat lost its balance due to a broken tail and flapped its wings on the ground a few times before Zhao Long, who was far away, shot an arrow through its head and nailed it to the ground.

"Captain, what's the name of this knife? It's so powerful!"

Zhao Long killed a rat with one arrow, then looked at the long sword with surprise in his eyes.

"Ceremony sword."

Xia Hong said the name of the weapon in his hand, and without looking back, he continued to rush towards the other rats nearby. He slashed in the air with both hands, and the blade light cut two or three rats along the way in half, and even more had their tails cut off.

The rodent has a small body, a long tail, and is agile and much faster than other cold beasts. It is obviously not suitable to use that heavy giant axe with it. Before helping Zhao Long and the other two to forge the three ten-thousand-jin iron bows, Xia Hong was thinking about what weapon he should use.

The broadsword can be used, but it does not have a clear advantage against a swarm of rats.

Xia Hong thought about it for a long time and finally thought of the ceremonial sword, one of the four types of Tang swords.

As the name suggests, when the ceremonial sword first appeared, it was used as a ceremonial instrument for a long time in the royal family or important occasions because of its length and exquisiteness, which could highlight the solemnity and majesty, and it had little practical significance.

However, during the Ming Dynasty, a famous general combined the ceremonial sword with a spear and developed a set of methods suitable for killing generals and capturing flags on the battlefield. This made the ceremonial sword have practical significance and revived this weapon.

The ceremonial sword is most suitable for charging into a formation, using a small number to defeat a large number, and because of its long blade, its attack range is wide enough, making it very effective against speed-type enemies.

When dealing with long-tailed, fast-moving, large-scale cold beasts like gnats, the ceremonial sword is the perfect weapon.

These are not just Xia Hong's guesses.

At this moment, Xia Hong is using his actions to prove how powerful the ceremonial knife is in controlling rats.

As time slowly passed, the rats were increasingly affected by Tengjiao's poisonous mist. They became slower and their reactions became more sluggish.

Xia Hong's ceremonial sword was almost invincible. It slashed all the way along the way. Any rodent it encountered, even if its body was not cut in half, its tail would at least be broken. In the worst case, even its head was chopped off directly.

Even if some of them were lucky enough to survive Xia Hong's ceremonial sword, they could not escape the subsequent rain of arrows.

Xia Hong rushed forward. In less than ten minutes, it was estimated that the people in the tree fired only four to five rounds on average. There were more dead rats on the ground.
Fifty or sixty.

Including the first wave, at least sixty to seventy members of the rodent group died, and more than a hundred were seriously injured, which is almost a quarter of the rodent group.

"I just don't believe it. I'm not afraid of killing you evil beasts!"

Although his original intention was to expel them, if there was a chance to kill them all, how could Xia Hong let them go easily? He said this in his heart, and then, seeing that the group of rats did not retreat, Xia Hong's face became more fierce, and he turned around and shouted to the people behind him:

"Keep pushing forward, and kill them all if they don't run away!"

Xia Hong rushed forward even more fiercely. After hearing his shout, the rest of the people surrounding the four big trees also moved forward again and launched a new round of offensive.

The ceremonial sword flashed with a cold light, and the iron arrows were like a torrential rain.

There are only two kinds of sounds on the entire northern slope of the mountain. One is the squeaking sound of mice, and the other is the sound of iron arrows rushing.

Moreover, it is obvious that the former's voice is getting smaller.

"Drilling into the ground, dreaming!"

Xia Hong cut off the long tail of another gnat and suddenly glanced to the flank. He found three or four gnats with their teeth bared, gnawing at the ground frantically. Realizing that they wanted to burrow into the ground, he immediately rushed towards them.

Whoosh…whoosh…whoosh…

Under the influence of Tengjiao's poisonous fog, the speed at which these gnats burrowed into the ground was much slower than before. Before Xia Hong could get there, three iron arrows broke through the air from behind and went straight into the mouths of those gnats.

The iron arrows had powerful penetrating power and pierced through their heads directly, with most of them coming out from the back.

"Leader, retreat, the rat pack is retreating!"

Xia Hong, who was already in close combat with the rat in front, did not pay attention to the situation behind him. When he heard Zhao Long's surprised shout, he hurriedly stopped his actions, looked up into the distance, and a look of joy suddenly appeared on his face.

Sure enough, many gnats had already started to flee to the west, and the rest of the gnats followed suit.

So scared!

"Slow down first and give them time to go down!"

After these rounds of attacks, Xia Hong knew without even looking that there were only about ten arrows left. The rats began to retreat, and the hit rate of the follow-up shots would definitely not be high, so he immediately ordered everyone to slow down.

On the other side, a large group of rats came down from the west side of the mountain wall, thinking they could escape. However, before they could enter Redwood Ridge, two iron arrows with poison sacs, exactly the same as the ones just shot on the north slope, shot at them.

The two rodents at the front were pierced directly by the iron arrows and flew away. Their poison sacs burst and the white smoke, which was already gradually becoming thinner, was replenished again.

"kill!"

Xia Chuan's clear, cold and crisp voice rang out, and the other forty-eight people who had been ready for a long time and could no longer hold back drew their bows and arrows, and fired another round of arrow rain at the group of rats that had just fled in panic.

"Everyone keep shooting. Don't let them come back. Move to the south and don't leave any path for them."

The panicked and disorderly group of rats just turned their heads and tried to return to the top of the mountain wall when Xia Hong's cold voice came from the top of the slope.

Along with his voice, there were dozens of iron arrows breaking through the air.

The Redwood Ridge on the west side was blocked, and the mountain wall on the east side was also sealed.

Moreover, Xia Hong also led everyone to move south.

The end of the rat colony seems to have come.

Of course, they still have one way out, which is to the north.

"I want to see whether these evil beasts will run away or not!"

Xia Hong looked around at everyone and specifically checked the quivers on their backs, discovering that most people still had seven or eight arrows left. He became alert and a bold idea popped up in his mind.

But when he looked at the group of rats, he found that there were only about two-thirds of them left. He immediately dispelled all the thoughts that had just arisen in his mind.

"Xiachuan Luoyuan, keep speeding up and keep them all here!"

Xia Hong shouted to the people on the west side, and then gave the same order to the people behind him. He then rushed towards the group of rats below with the same aggressiveness as before.

The extra-long ceremonial sword showed its power again. Just like when he was on the north slope, Xia Hong was like a fish in water. He kept pushing the outermost rodents on the east side inwards, and killed six or seven of them in a short while.

The rats on the periphery kept retreating and squeezing in, obviously they were scared.

But seeing this situation, Xia Hong, although he was working hard, his heart was beating more and more nervous, and even his face became a little ugly.

"These beasts, aren't they afraid of being killed? Why don't they run away?"

Xia Hong didn't know whether he was afraid of rats or not.

But he was really a little panicked in his heart!
Because he clearly felt that the arrows shot at him from behind were getting fewer and fewer.

Zhao Long's group of arrows were soon used up.

Of course, there are still a lot of arrows from Xiachuan Luoyuan's group.

But the current favorable situation was achieved by attacking from both sides.

Once the rats realize that there are no arrows on the east side, the outcome will be unpredictable.

Without bows and arrows, the lumberjacks would have to fight hand-to-hand with the rats. Even if the rats were hit by the Tengjiao poison mist and their strength was greatly reduced, they would still be dead!
"Don't leave yet!"

Xia Hong gritted his teeth and moved forward. After killing a few rats, he charged forward again.

It was not until he had almost rushed to a position more than ten meters inside the group of rats that he saw them from afar.

The northernmost group of rats finally began to retreat.

"call…………"

(End of this chapter)