So whether they encountered Shi soldiers or Zhao’s Army soldiers, they needed to gather them.

However… “Try not to cause panic. These refugees stretch as far as the eye can see—there must be tens of thousands of people, and we only have two thousand men…”

In fact, there weren’t even that many. After all, they had fought for so long and many had died. The pursuing troops here numbered just over a thousand front and back. Shi Lei had brought out at most a thousand men. Now those still alive, combined from both armies, might not even reach two thousand.

Two thousand swept into tens of thousands—if they didn’t cause panic, that was fine. But once panic broke out, even if the Great Luo Immortal descended, it would be useless.

Zhao Hanzhang and her group temporarily followed the crowd forward, even having to part people to move faster. As they walked, they looked around in all directions, wanting to find Fu Tinghan.

Shi Lei very obediently followed them. However, the refugees weren’t obedient. Someone squeezed past from his side, separating him and Zhao Hanzhang. His heart panicked—not because he couldn’t bear to part with Zhao Hanzhang, but because he felt his ribs were bleeding again. He felt he needed to stop and carefully apply medicine.

Right now, it seemed only Zhao Hanzhang had medicine on her.

Just as he was panicking, after that refugee squeezed past, Zhao Hanzhang quickly extended her hand and pulled Shi Lei toward her side. Shi Lei and Shi Hongtu, who had nearly been separated, were squeezed together with her again. The person behind who wanted to squeeze through the gap looked at Zhao Hanzhang’s face, cowered, shrank back, then squeezed to the other side.

The sky had turned completely dark, yet the crowd showed no sign of stopping. The group even lit torches, clearly planning to travel through the night.

Zhao Hanzhang was somewhat confused. She looked left and right, finally selecting an old man carrying a bundle and dragging a child. “Old sir, may I ask, it’s already dark, why is everyone still moving forward?”

The old man turned to look at her. The nearest torch was ten meters away. He could only vaguely see Zhao Hanzhang’s face and couldn’t see more details, not knowing that her face was currently covered in blood.

The old man replied, “We must hurry. There are still refugees coming down from Ji Province behind us. I heard they’re extremely fierce—they rob anyone they see. The locusts went ahead of us. We must be quick too, or we’ll starve to death.”

Now they not only had to compete with people for food but also with the locusts. So they couldn’t afford not to hurry.

“But at night you can’t tell direction.”

“Don’t worry. Leading the way up front is Young Master Gongsun. He knows the roads. Even at night he can tell directions.”

Just as they were speaking, clamor arose ahead. Someone shouted loudly toward them, “Wu’an County ahead is at war. We’re not going to Wu’an County. Everyone hurry along!”

The crowd responded in acknowledgment, their voices resounding through the sky. Then as they walked, they left that narrow official road and directly stepped into the fields, wanting to cut straight across them.

This area was open. Everyone spread out a bit more. Zhao Hanzhang finally felt some relief. She gripped Shi Lei and strode forward with large steps.

Shi Hongtu and the soldier hurried to keep up. Only then did Zhao Hanzhang spare attention to ask the soldier, “What’s your name?”

Hearing the Inspector actually ask him a question, the soldier was overjoyed. “This humble one is Yu Fang, a soldier from the second squad, third unit.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked, “How long have you been a soldier?”

The soldier said, “One year and two months. Master Fu recruited me in Luoyang. This humble one used to be a refugee too.”

So he said with experience, “The land here is large, and the sky is dark. They won’t be able to walk much longer before stopping.”

Indeed, after they followed along for another stretch, people gradually began to stop.

There were still people moving forward. Those who stopped moved their carts and luggage farther away and simply sat down.

As soon as they sat, they startled three to five locusts. The disaster victims viciously swatted away the flying locusts, then felt around searching for firewood to make fires.

Zhao Hanzhang pulled Shi Lei outward. When passing a torch, she stopped. She felt around on herself but found nothing, so she went to feel on Shi Lei’s body.

She found a money pouch. Taking out a copper coin from inside and looking at it, she handed it to that person. “I’ll buy your torch.”

That person looked at the copper coin and hesitated before saying, “This coin requires two pieces.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked. This was a copper coin from the Xiongnu Han State. She weighed it and felt it was about the same weight as her new coins. Moreover, binding a torch didn’t require two coins, right?

Zhao Hanzhang was somewhat unhappy, feeling he had raised the price.

Just as she was about to look for another torch, she heard that person say, “If it’s Zhao coins, one piece will do.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hanzhang was delighted. She immediately searched through the money pouch and actually found Zhao coins. So she used one new coin to exchange for a torch.

Zhao Hanzhang said to Shi Lei, “Saved money. Fortunately you collected my Zhao coins.”

Shi Lei said, “These were looted when we entered Yun City.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s smile fell. She turned and said, “Let’s go. Search carefully and see if there are any scattered soldiers.”

Soldiers and refugees were still different. The vast majority of Zhao’s Army soldiers had armor. Even if broken and tattered, at least they could guarantee one piece per person.

Shi soldiers were different. At least one-third had no armor. Another third, like some of Zhao’s Army soldiers, had broken and tattered armor. Only the remaining third were clearly elite troops at a glance.

Neither Zhao Hanzhang nor Shi Lei knew how many had fled, nor how many scattered soldiers remained in this long column. They could only search area by area.

Who would have thought—once people stopped moving and they sped up again, they could actually find quite a few. Except, they were all Shi soldiers.

Shi Lei discovered his people in the crowd. With a delighted expression, he approached. The soldier, able to find his commander, was also excited. The smile on his face had just risen when with a glance he saw Zhao Hanzhang.

His smile instantly froze.

Zhao Hanzhang looked toward Shi Lei.

Shi Lei said with complete sincerity to the soldier, “This is Inspector Zhao.”

The soldier: …Could he not know this was Inspector Zhao? They had just been fighting not long ago.

Shi Lei continued, “Liu Cong is without principle. He murdered the new emperor. The Han State is no longer worthy of our loyalty. Therefore, this general has decided to abandon darkness for light and pledge allegiance to Inspector Zhao.”

The soldier suddenly understood and immediately knelt before Zhao Hanzhang. “This humble one pays respects to Inspector Zhao.”

The surrounding refugees heard the sound and looked over. But because the soldier’s accent was too heavy, everyone didn’t understand his words. However, seeing him kneeling, and seeing Zhao Hanzhang and Shi Lei both wearing armor with impressive clothing and adornments, they determined he was the soldier’s master. So they just glanced once before turning their eyes away.

Zhao Hanzhang had the person rise. After gaining one subordinate, she continued forward.

Just as Zhao Hanzhang was searching for scattered soldiers, Zeng Yue had finally stopped running. Seeing the locusts flying around him decrease, he quickly turned back to count his remaining troops.

Upon counting, he discovered he had brought out just over two hundred men.

The soldiers all said, “The remaining men seem to all be with the Commander, but we ran in the wrong direction. Perhaps the Commander has already returned to Wu’an County. Why don’t we go back to Wu’an County to see?”