After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 880 - 866: Locust Plague (Major Revision)

Shi Le didn’t waste words with her; he had a premonition that today would end with either her death or his own. He viciously struck toward her...

The two exchanged seven or eight moves in an instant, with everyone intentionally avoiding them. Dusk had arrived, and the setting sun cast a crimson glow on Zhao Hanzhang’s spear. With a thrust, she pierced Shi Le’s side, while he simultaneously drove a knife into her shoulder. Zhao Hanzhang ignored the knife in her shoulder, and with a swift twist of her spearhead, she drew it out, slashing toward his neck...

Shi Le wanted to seize the opportunity to kill her with a knife, but he was a step too slow. In a moment of extreme crisis, he instinctively leaned back, narrowly evading the spear that grazed the front of his neck.

A moment later, a thin line of blood seeped from his neck—something most wouldn’t notice. Shi Le, trembling slightly, touched his neck and saw the fresh blood on his fingertip. Then he clutched his left side, looking red-eyed at Zhao Hanzhang, his voice hoarse: "General Zhao indeed lives up to her reputation."

Zhao Hanzhang tilted her head slightly, glanced at the blood-stained armor on her right shoulder, and smiled at Shi Le, "General Shi is not bad either."

Shi Le let out a hearty laugh, twirling his knife, and shouted, "Let’s go again!"

Zhao Hanzhang spun her spear to meet him, but suddenly Fu Tinghan called out to her, surprised and anxious, "Hanzhang—"

Zhao Hanzhang’s heart tightened, and she instinctively turned northward to see a black cloud-like mass obscuring the sky in the distant horizon beneath the orange-red sunset, approaching rapidly;

In front of the black clouds, a dark mass moved quickly toward them, seemingly chased by the clouds...

Shi Le originally intended to take advantage and stab her, as he wasn’t the gentlemanly sort, but seeing her suddenly turn with wide eyes, he couldn’t help but turn and look as well—and with one glance, he was stunned.

His heart felt like it was being gripped, and he asked in horror, "What is that?"

Zhao Hanzhang snapped back to reality, immediately turning her head and loudly shouting, "Ceasefire, ceasefire—"

"Everyone into the forest, quickly!" After shouting, Zhao Hanzhang noticed some hadn’t sheathed their blades, and she immediately thrust her spear to block them. Pausing for a moment, she decided not to kill the Shi Army soldier but kicked him away, grabbed her little soldier by the collar, and retreated to the roadside, "Retreat into the forest, conceal yourselves, hurry!"

Shi Le also reacted, sharply instructing his men to ceasefire and hide in the forests on both sides.

They clearly saw that the dark mass on the ground was people, and the black mass in the sky was a swarm of locusts that covered the sky.

The locusts stretched as far as the eye could see, and the mass of people was large and dark. Based on Zhao Hanzhang’s experience, there must be twenty to thirty thousand of them.

This narrow road was specially chosen by Shi Le for an ambush against Fu Tinghan, thinking it would be difficult for him to charge with so many cavalry, favoring him more in a hasty retreat.

But now, if suddenly thousands of people charged through, this narrow official road...

And the people fighting on the official road...

Sound of gongs rose urgently, and both the Zhao Family Army and Shi Army began retreating.

Soldiers, upon hearing the sound of the gongs, stopped their actions and retreated warily, but some in the heat of battle seemed not to notice and continued fighting madly.

Fu Tinghan dragged seven or eight people from the melee, forcefully ordering them to ceasefire and retreat into the forest to hide.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Shi Le in anger, signaling the banner to turn back, gathering the soldiers to leave quickly from the passage. But in less than a quarter of an hour, the locusts had already arrived, their wings fluttering as they flew above. Some flew so low, they crashed into people’s faces, necks, and bodies like stones...

It was Zhao Hanzhang’s first time seeing locusts in such numbers, akin to a sudden snowstorm, dense and uncountable. They moved forward with determination, unless there were plants along the way they liked to eat, they would flap down. However, after a moment, when they took flight again, the ground was stripped bare...

With locusts covering the sky, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but wave them away, knocking down at least a dozen with each swing, and when she opened her mouth, locusts flew in...

The warhorses, struck by the locusts, became frightened, neighed, raised their hooves, and ran, unable to be held by the soldiers.

The army, still forming, began to fall into chaos. Zhao Hanzhang, brushing locusts aside, ran toward the soldiers, but as soon as she turned, she collided with a Shi Army soldier.

She was in this state, let alone the others.

The line between enemy and ally briefly established was blurred once again, and both sides became mixed together.

Shi Le also struggled to maintain order, trying to take advantage of the situation to leave.

In the end, he managed to gather less than two hundred troops, and as he looked back at the remaining Shi Army mixed with the Zhao Family Army, he steeled his heart and left. But just as they ran a few hundred meters away, they collided with the mass of people on the ground.

It was a swiftly moving large group with the characteristics of refugees, the ones at the front mostly pushing carts loaded with elderly, children, and luggage...

Further back, people carried bundles, clothing varied;

Some in tattered clothes, others without a patch of fabric missing, dressed in fine linen, even wearing silk—though all were dirty.

Both sides were stunned when they met.

The refugee group had already seen people here, but they had been too far away to discern what they were doing. It was dusk, and visibility was already poor. As they drew closer, the locusts arrived ahead of them, obscuring visibility further.

Now, face to face, mere tens of steps apart, they finally saw the bloody weapons in their hands and the armor they wore.

Fear instantly spread, and those at the front wanted to turn back, but those behind didn’t agree.

Unable to see the front, they only wanted to quickly move through the official road, escaping the locust swarm above them, heading to the next city pool. Consequently, those behind pressed forward... 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Those at the front had no choice; it was either escape to the forest or continue forward, or face being trampled.

During their exodus, they had encountered such situations before, especially when scrambling for food.

The refugee group continued onward. Under this endless procession, Shi Le could only temporarily yield. He wanted to leave against the current, but found himself unable to move as more people pressed from behind, unwittingly being pushed toward Fu Tinghan.

Face to face with an enemy, emotions flared brightly.

Shi Le’s eyes reddened at the thought of Fu Tinghan being Zhao Hanzhang’s fiancé, reaching out to grab him.

Shi Hongtu, who had been guarding Fu Tinghan, extended his hand to block and caught hold of Shi Le’s hand.

Seeing him, Shi Hongtu was equally excited, disregarding the crowd, and aimed a tight-fisted punch at Shi Le’s eye...

He thought if he could kill Shi Le here, it would be a great achievement!