The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 287 Half war, half peace.

Fifteen minutes later, everything returned to calm.

The lake center location swallowed up 50,000 troops.

The white salt crust land has been replaced by yellow sand.

Perhaps, before long, those salt deposits will reappear and solidify into a hard salt crust landscape.

But that's something for later.

Right now, the scene of this man-made geological massacre is so shocking.

The ancient commander and his men were so shocked that their legs felt like they were about to fall.

He held his chin and never took it down again.

The way they looked at Gan Minglan didn't seem like they were looking at a person.

Unfortunately, I saw the same look in the eyes of the Rat King a few days ago!

The King of Rats is no ordinary rat!

Yes!

How could an extraordinary rat recognize a mere mortal as its master?
The ancient commander's mind was blank.

I wanted to say something, but my throat felt tight.

He swallowed hard, finally mustering the courage to stammer and ask:

"General, how did you manage to bury the enemy in quicksand just now?"

Gan Minglan removed her hat, silently mourned for a minute facing the center of the lake, before composing herself and replying earnestly:

"If we're going to count, we should attribute it to Thunderclap and Rat King! Rat King burrowed into the salt crust at the bottom of the lake and saw the underground river below!"
I asked for its help: use a detonating bomb to blast away the clumps of sand above the underground river. The loose sand would flow away with the underground river, causing the upper sand layer to collapse!

"Hiss! So there's an underground river beneath that salt crust! That's it! Lop Nur used to be a big lake, and the bottom was leaky! General, could you teach us how to bury thunderbolts? Can this method be used in the desert?"

Seeing that the ancient centurion's face had turned bright red, he looked as if he would specialize in landmine warfare if it were feasible.

Gan Minglan felt a chill run down her spine and quickly tried to cool him down:
“If we can’t detonate all the buried mines precisely, the next one to step on them might be one of our own! Besides, in this vast desert, how do you know which direction the Hu people will come from, and how they will enter your minefield? This time, it was the Hu scouts who left markers along the way that made my plan possible.”

Commander Gu suddenly realized: "So that's what you've been busy with these past two days!"

He understood what the general meant.

This thing also depends on the right time and place; with his brain, he probably couldn't have planned it so perfectly.

That's all, that's all!
There's nothing wrong with following orders; after all, the general won't take all the credit for himself.

The soldiers below also snapped out of their daze from the conversation between the two.

Then came the barrage of compliments:

"General, I admire no one but you! Only you have the ability to bury 50,000 elite Hu troops alive in a quarter of an hour without losing a single soldier!"

"Yes, General! Following you on the battlefield has truly broadened our horizons!"

"Look! That wooden sign, that landmark sign in the middle of the lake, is still there! It's really going to serve as a wooden tomb for these 50,000 soldiers!"

"."

This moment belongs solely to the victors.

Not long after.

From afar came the voice of the Rat King, which confirmed that the Hu people were buried deep enough in the quicksand and that they had no chance of survival.

Gan Minglan blew a whistle, then led a dozen or so people towards the mother city of Weilu without looking back.

"Let's go. Don't forget that General Xiong is about to face the 200,000-strong army of the father-in-law of the Khan of the Kashgar Khanate! This time, we'll coordinate with General Xiong and our goal is to intercept their grain!"

"Tsk tsk, Ang can't stand to hear that, 'enough grain to feed over 300,000 people for a year!' How many shi (a unit of dry measure) is that? Old Ang must be green with envy!"

"What's there to be afraid of if you get sick! Commander, your illness needs to be treated with the barbarian's military rations, and a lot of them will do!"

"Haha, you've prescribed a great medicine, kid!"

In Hami City, hundreds of miles away, the atmosphere was far less tense than in the desert. The military families were eating and drinking as usual.

The children were fascinated by the exotic streets and alleys of Hami City.

Zhao Ran, who should have been repatriated, stayed at the guerrilla general's mansion because the Hu people were coming in a fierce manner and they could not spare any elite troops to escort her back to the border city.

Poor Zuo Wenkang and Gan Mingfu had homes they couldn't easily return to, so they had to lead their mapping team to live in the front courtyard of the General's Mansion.

Zhao Ran has not had a pleasant time these past few days.

The general's mansion does not restrict her personal freedom.

Every day, she would stroll around the royal city with her personal maid, disguised as a man.

However, in these streets and alleys full of exotic charm, you can't find a single shop open for business!
She's a wealthy young lady with two hundred taels of silver in her pocket!
Arrived in Hami City, have money but nowhere to spend it?!
This actually has something to do with Gan Minglan and the others.

The vanguard battalion blew up the city gates and stormed into the royal city that night, earning them a fearsome reputation.

Then they went on a rampage, arresting people and confiscating their property, causing chaos and disorder throughout the city.

After that, they did something even more ruthless.

They killed tens of thousands of aliens and then left their corpses to dry outside the city!
One pile, one piece.

There is no such thing as one that is not stained with blood.

The ordinary people and merchants in the city were like birds startled by the mere twang of a bow.

Every day, I would watch the Han soldiers in blue armor patrolling the streets through the crack in the door.

They were terrified that these Han soldiers might one day wipe out their entire families.

Let alone doing business, they dare not even go out.

If you have to go out, you have to choose the time of day and avoid people.

The days of fear and anxiety did not last long before Hami City welcomed even more troops.

More than 15,000 Han soldiers settled in the city.

People who absolutely need to go out are afraid to leave.

Families with infants at home wish they could keep their babies' mouths shut for every single hour of the day.

It was not easy.

Those plague gods have gone out of the city to fight!

The very next day, without any delay, military dependents arrived!

The people of Hami felt as if their hearts were filled with seawater, a bitter and astringent feeling.

I wonder when this will end.

Continue to peek at the world through the crack in the door.

This look.

Yo ho!

A considerable number of Han soldiers' families, young and old, actually came!

Some bolder locals, quick-witted as ever, simply sent their teenage children out into the streets to test the temperaments of these family members.

You won't know unless you explore.

Upon closer inspection, these locals almost slapped themselves in the face.

I heard what the kids in my family, who were only a teenager, were saying:

"Mother, hurry up and bring all the melons from our farm! The old lady of the General's Mansion is having a housewarming banquet in a few days, and the General's Mansion needs to buy a thousand melons."

"Ata, get the spicy lamb trotters business up and running! Today I saw a rich man's son banging on the doors of many shops with his servant. He looks like he's desperate to spend money!"

"The Han Chinese military dependents are not scary at all, the old lady is all smiles! Their children are also fair-skinned and tender, and they are very friendly to us!"

It was the arrival of the military families that officially began the close contact between the Han people and the local people.
(End of this chapter)