I was living in the Five Dynasties period, just after crossing the Zhongdu Bridge.

The so-called Jingxing Pass is so narrow that carriages cannot travel on straight tracks and cavalry cannot form ranks.

Logically speaking, since Shen Lie and his group wanted to avoid disaster, the safest route after leaving Zhongdu should have been to first turn south, then west, passing through Liaozhou or Yuci to enter Hedong, thus avoiding the defeated soldiers and Khitan cavalry on the official road.

But the problem is, this is a chaotic world.

It was the end of the Five Dynasties period, a time when bones lay exposed in the wilderness and not a single rooster crowed for miles.

The original official road has long been submerged by refugees covering the mountains and plains, while the remote paths are full of highwaymen and defeated soldiers.

Rather than risk their lives by venturing into the mountains, it's safer to blend in with the torrent of refugees and use the human presence as cover.

It was in this way, drifting with the tide, that Shen Lie, along with Liu Laosan and his nephew, were swept along by the crowd and stumbled upon Jingxing Pass, the fifth of the Eight Passes of Taihang.

This place is a vital passage from Hebei to Shanxi, and has always been a strategic location fought over by military strategists.

The evening wind stopped, but the chill intensified.

Beneath a sheltered earthen cliff, Shen Lie was laboriously prying open a frozen flatbread with a piece of broken iron.

This is their food ration for today.

As for its source, it certainly didn't fall from the sky.

On the second day of the refugee crisis, someone took a liking to the armor on Shen Lie's body. Fortunately, Shen Lie was only injured in the leg, and his physical condition was surprisingly good.

The deaths of five refugees were exchanged for a few tattered flatbreads and the tattered linen tunic Shen Lie was currently wearing.

"Brother Shen, I'm back."

Liu Laosan appeared at the edge of the earthen cliff, his arms bulging as if he were protecting something.

He strode over, glanced at Sanlang who was fiddling with straw sandals, and then took out half a piece of... dried meat from his pocket.

The dried meat had a fine texture, unlike that of pork or mutton.

"Where did it come from?" Shen Lie didn't answer.

Liu Laosan's hand stiffened for a moment, and his eyes darted away.

"I picked it up by the roadside...it might have been scattered by some wealthy family after a disaster." Liu Laosan lowered his head to avoid Shen Lie's gaze and quietly put the piece of dried meat into his sleeve.

"My lord, please eat the cake first; it's all gone."

Shen Lie stared at the other person's hand, which was covered in frostbite, for a long time.

He had seen too many things during his escape these past few days.

Pots and cauldrons set up by the roadside, steaming meat soup, and hungry people with green eyes.

The term "two-legged sheep" appears only briefly in historical records, but in reality, the air itself reeks of nauseating blood.

Shen Lie reached out and handed over the flatbread that was as hard as a rock.

He wanted to live, to climb the social ladder in this chaotic world, and to become a meritorious official who helped the emperor rise to power.

But this doesn't mean that his 21st-century thinking can accept "food" that goes beyond a certain bottom line.

"How's the situation outside?" Shen Lie took a bite of the pancake, used his teeth to grind off a crumb, and held it in his mouth to slowly dissolve it.

"It's been reduced," Liu Laosan squeezed out the two words through gritted teeth.

Shen Lie paused for a moment, then reached out to warm his hands by the fire.

"Du Chongwei?"

"Yes, and there's also that military supervisor, Li Shouzhen." Liu Laosan spat into the fire. "I heard that on the tenth day, Du... Du Chongwei led his troops to surrender, kneeling across the Hutuo River and handing over his entire army of 200,000 to the Khitans. The Khitan emperor was overjoyed and rewarded Grand Commandant Du with an ochre robe."

Ochre robe.

Shen Lie looked at the flickering flames and felt nothing but absurdity.

Does wearing an ochre robe make one an emperor?

Two hundred thousand troops.

Apart from Wang Qing's two thousand men, the rest didn't even draw their swords.

"And then?" Shen Lie continued to ask.

"And that Khitan emperor was also a ruthless character."

"He didn't fully trust Du Chongwei, so he directly divided the 200,000-strong army in half, handing half over to the Khitan vanguard commander Zhao Yanshou. The remaining half remained with Du Chongwei, but Du Chongwei confiscated all the warhorses, armor, and weapons!"

Shen Lie gave a cold laugh.

Sending a group of unarmed soldiers south?

"And then there's Hengzhou." Liu Laosan swallowed hard and continued, "To show his loyalty, Du Chongwei personally led a large army to the walls of Hengzhou and tried to persuade them to surrender. When Wang Zhou, the military governor of Shunguo, saw that Du Chongwei had surrendered, he surrendered the city without saying a word."

With the loss of Hengzhou, Hebei lost its natural defenses.

The territory of the Later Jin Dynasty was now completely exposed.

"What about the Zhongdu Bridge?" Shen Lie suddenly asked.

Liu Laosan hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Shen Lie, seemingly considering his words.

"Speak." Shen Lie swallowed the last bite of the biscuit.

"Over at Zhongdu Bridge... a mound of skulls was built."

Shen Lie's hand, which was warming himself by the fire, froze in mid-air.

Jingguan (a mound of skulls).

Piling up corpses forms a mound, and sealing it with earth forms a platform.

This was the most barbaric and blatant way to flaunt martial prowess in ancient warfare.

Wang Qing got what he wanted, but his affairs after death were never settled peacefully.

"I heard that all two thousand men are inside." Liu Laosan's voice was a little unsteady, his eyes fixed on Shen Lie. "The Khitans piled up the corpses right at the bridgehead... and those wounded soldiers who didn't die were also stuffed in there."

If I had arrived two days earlier or left a day later, my head would probably be a cornerstone of that mound of skulls by now.

Wang Qing fought to the death and refused to retreat, but was humiliated after his death; Du Chongwei betrayed his country for personal gain, but was rewarded with a red robe.

This is the way of the world.

"Is there anything else?" Shen Lie asked, his eyes lowered.

Liu Laosan shuddered.

He couldn't quite understand this young officer.

Upon hearing that his former superior and comrades had been turned into a mound of corpses, this man didn't shed a single tear, nor did he utter a single curse.

"There's something else, which is quite strange," Liu Laosan added.

"I heard that the day after General Wang Qing died in battle, which was the day we left, a group of imperial guards from Bianliang, about a few hundred strong, foolishly ran into Zhongdu Bridge. As it turned out, the Khitans were cleaning up the battlefield and... they were all slaughtered."

"Government troops?"

"I heard it's the Imperial Guard, apparently from Bianliang," Liu Laosan gestured.

"There were about several hundred people, and the leading eunuch was also skinned alive."

Upon hearing this, Shen Lie suddenly chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?" Saburo, who had been silently tidying up his straw sandals, couldn't help but look up and ask.

"I laugh at our official; he's truly an honest man."

Shen Lie stood up.

Of course he knew what was going on with those hundreds of people.

If I remember correctly, on the fourth day of this month, when the battle at Zhongdu Bridge was at its most critical, Du Chongwei didn't think about how to fight. Instead, he sent an urgent letter to Shi Chonggui in Bianliang requesting reinforcements.

As for the unfortunate emperor Shi Chonggui, who had already handed over the entire nation's military strength, where would he find any soldiers left?

Left with no other choice, Shi Chonggui had to send out the last of his palace guards, a few hundred men.

Even a forced march from Bianliang to Zhongdu Bridge would take six or seven days.

We set off on the fourth day of the lunar new year and arrived on the tenth.

It was precisely at the moment when Du Chongwei surrendered and the Khitans took over the battlefield.

This isn't just about a few hundred lives.

This means that from here southwards, all the way to Bianliang, the heart of the Central Plains, stretching for hundreds of miles, has become an undefended ghost town.

Shi Chonggui had no decent knife left, and he had no choice but to wait in Bianliang for Yelü Deguang to seize his throne.

"Pack up." Shen Lie glanced at Liu Laosan, who was still hiding the piece of dried meat in his sleeve.

"Throw that piece of meat away. As long as I, Shen Lie, am alive, you uncles and nephews will always have a clean meal to eat."

Liu Laosan was startled.

He looked at the young officer in front of him, his old face turning bright red.

A moment later, he silently took out the piece of jerky from his sleeve and threw it far away.

"Let's go."

"Shi Jin is dead."