"Extinguish the fire, it’s curfew!"
Every night, at a certain hour, soldiers would come to announce the curfew, directing all laborers to extinguish their bonfires and rest.
The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was drastic, but for this time of year, combined with the presence of tents, it was at least endurable. freew\e bnovel.com
Xue Three fetched some water and doused the bonfire before crawling into his tent.
The other three strangers had their own makeshift tents. The laborers had all been conscripted in a hurry and weren’t nomads, so the tents in the laborer’s camp were very small, barely serviceable.
The soldiers’ tents, on the other hand, appeared quite presentable, clearly standard-issue military gear.
"My lord sleeps inside, I sleep outside."
Liang Cheng laid his blanket at the entrance of the tent and lay down.
Zheng Fan didn’t object; Liang Cheng was a Zombie and probably didn’t mind the cold. Still, he looked at Xue Three with some curiosity, "San’er, aren’t you coming in to sleep?"
Xue Three shook his head with a grin. He pulled out a wineskin he’d secretly brought along from inside the tent and gestured outside. "My lord, I’ll sleep out here. I’ve already dug my hole. I’m small, so digging is easy for me."
After Xue Three went out, Zheng Fan also lay down.
But no matter what, he knew he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.
The knife was tucked under his blanket, within arm’s reach. This cold, inanimate object, it seemed, was the only thing that could bring him genuine warmth.
"My lord, rest assured, we are watching," Liang Cheng said.
There was no need for more conversation, as Zheng Fan trusted Liang Cheng’s judgment.
The grain transport unit they were currently in was definitely tasked with more than just transporting grain.
Liang Cheng had said it was highly probable that their supply train was being used as bait. Furthermore, their deliberate choice to camp in such a "death-courting" terrain tonight meant that, barring any unforeseen incidents, the bait would be deployed this very evening.
Even if I alerted the Centurion in the supply camp, he would likely silence me first. Judging by the strange behavior of that cavalry detachment these past few days, it’s probable that the regular soldiers in the supply camp are aware of their mission, Zheng Fan considered.
As for trying to protect these innocent laborers by revealing the truth, then leading them to mutiny and escape...
Firstly, this was the desert, a four days’ journey on foot from the border city of Hutou. If the laborers scattered and fled, they would face a one-sided massacre, whether from the Barbarians or the Yan State cavalry. Very few would make it back to Hutou City alive.
Additionally, if they actually did that, Zheng Fan and his two companions would become outlaws, and it would also implicate Blind Siniang and the others back in Hutou City.
Therefore, no one was a saint, and Zheng Fan had never aspired to be one. Moreover, looking at it from a slightly more cold-blooded perspective, using these two or three thousand laborers as bait to annihilate the enemy and achieve the war’s objective might be unfair to the laborers, but for the big picture...
It was a muddled account, and beneath such muddled accounts, even those who understood could only feign ignorance.
I’m just a laborer, just a laborer, that’s all I am... Zheng Fan constantly told himself.
On the battlefield, just staying alive is enough, he thought.
Hmm, and if conditions allow, I wouldn’t mind grabbing some benefits for myself as much as possible, he mused.
However, the day’s journey had indeed taken a toll on his stamina. After lying down, Zheng Fan still felt his eyelids grow heavy. He could only carefully try to keep a sliver of awareness while attempting to doze off for a bit.
Liang Cheng, sleeping at the tent’s entrance, would occasionally open and close his eyes. Outside the tent, in his well-concealed little pit, Xue Three was slowly sipping his wine, licking his lips from time to time.
Perhaps, for Zheng Fan, this was an agonizing wait.
But for the other two, this was the greatest anticipation they’d had in half a year!
Let the night deepen!
Behind the earthen slope outside the camp, a group of dark figures appeared.
The figures gathered there briefly before dispersing with great speed. They stealthily approached the camp from all sides, eliminated the sentries in their respective sectors, and began to infiltrate the camp.
It would be hard to say they were well-trained, as each individual moved in their own distinct way, yet they infiltrated silently, advancing without causing any significant disturbance in the camp.
These were natural instincts honed from their everyday hunting.
The desert conditions were harsh, and these Barbarians were warriors tempered by nature itself. Even Yan State’s elite cavalry, a hundred years ago during the great Yan-Barbarian War, had only managed to resist them by relying on superior equipment and tactical discipline. Consequently, these laborers, who were mere farmhands until recently, stood no chance against them.
Three dark figures crept into a tent where three men lay sleeping. The figures tiptoed towards the slumbering laborers.
In the darkness, it seemed only the faint glint in their eyes could convey their mutual understanding.
The three attacked almost simultaneously. Each clamped a hand over a laborer’s mouth before the man beneath could awaken, while their other hand, holding a knife, slashed directly across the throat.
No screams were heard. It wasn’t just here; in several other locations, this infiltration and night raid progressed in an orderly manner.