Nine helicopters flew at full speed towards the east, leaving the screaming Khitans behind.
They swept over high mountains and plains, and over crowds of people.
Cough, cough!
Two days later, the convoy entered the territory of the Great Song dynasty, but encountered a situation at Shuozhou.
The camp was fine the previous evening, but at midnight, a fierce wind suddenly sprang up.
Leaves rustled in the wind, and branches as thick as an arm were snapped by the gale.
Fang Er was awakened by the commotion outside, put on his clothes, lifted the tent flap, and went out to check. As soon as he stepped out, the clothes he was wearing were blown away by the wind.
Clothes were not important, but the weather had changed too suddenly. If it continued, it would definitely affect their journey.
"Pa~~"
"Ah!!"
Fang Er felt something hit his head. He quickly covered his forehead and looked at the ground. An egg-sized ball of ice was still rolling.
It was hailing.
This was simply a case of "when it rains, it pours." Lu Benwei and Chen Qun were waiting to find famous doctors in Bianliang for treatment, and this had happened on the way!
It was truly frustrating.
"Damn, such big ice eggs~"
Li Shimin's voice came from a tent nearby.
Fang Er turned to look and saw him blocking his head with both hands, staring at the ice balls on the ground.
"Dad, hurry back, don't get hit!"
After he reminded Li Shimin, he saw Wang Xuance and Ge Luoyang rush out of other tents, holding sleeping bags, and running towards the helicopters.
"What are you doing?"
"Duke, we're going to cover the helicopters so the rotor blades don't get damaged."
They continued to run forward without stopping.
"Come back! It's too dangerous!"
Although the hail might damage the rotor blades, he couldn't stand by and watch the soldiers gamble with their lives.
"Don't worry, Duke, these little ice eggs won't kill anyone~"
Ge Luoyang had already reached the helicopter, shaking out a sleeping bag and putting it over the rotor blades, while grinning at Fang Er.
Li Xiuning and the other female generals also crawled out of their tents, wearing clothes on their heads to protect themselves from being hit.
The hail continued to fall, and it got heavier and heavier. The canvas tents were even pierced with holes, making it more dangerous to stay inside.
"Duke Fang, do you know who the current emperor is? I want to flay him alive!" Zhao Guangyi's shoulder was hit by an egg-sized hailstone. Although it didn't break his bones, it made him grimace in pain.
Fang Er didn't understand why he asked this. He counted on his fingers: "Oh, by calculation, it should be your great-grandson."
Zhao Guangyi roared furiously, "Villain! This must be a villain. When we enter Bianjing, I will beat this villain to death!"
"It must be that he has done something outrageous that has incurred the wrath of heaven, leading to divine punishment upon the human world!"
Li Shimin turned to look at him, his eyes filled with bewilderment.
Fang Er was also stunned by this remark. Good heavens, he hadn't even met the person yet, and Zhao Xu had already been condemned just because of a hailstone?
He shook his head speechlessly, then said to everyone, "If it continues like this, we can't stay in the tents. Let's take shelter in the cabin."
No one had any objections, so they all ran towards the helicopters, holding their clothes or sleeping bags over their heads.
Ge Luoyang and the others successfully covered the rotor blades, but the windows couldn't be covered in time. The front windshields of Helicopter No. 2 and No. 4 were already shattered by the hail.
After everyone had entered the cabins, the sleeping bags they took out were collected and used to cover the windows from the outside.
Ding ding, ding ding, the hail was ringing.
This hailstorm lasted for nearly an hour. Looking down from the helicopters, the ground was covered with a thick layer of broken ice.
The strong winds did not cease, and after the hail came a torrential downpour, which only subsided slightly by dawn.
Wang Xuance and the others went out in the rain to retrieve the sleeping bags. Looking out the windows, the accumulated water on the ground was already ankle-deep.
"Dad, we have to leave!"
"The engine air intake is located under the fuselage. If this rain continues, it will eventually flood in, and then we won't be able to leave!"
Fang Er said to Li Shimin with a serious expression.
Li Shimin didn't understand these things. He waved his hand and said, "Just give the orders."
Fang Er glanced at the sky, picked up the walkie-talkie, and issued orders to Ge Luoyang and the others: "All take off, proceed at low altitude and slow speed towards the northeast, maintain distance, and observe carefully!"
Soon, the fleet ascended in the heavy rain, avoiding the more densely clouded southeast direction and flying northeast.
The southeast was the correct direction to Bianliang, but judging by the clouds, the rain there was clearly heavier, so they had to detour northeast.
Fang Er wondered if this rain had anything to do with the earthquake they experienced before passing through the spatial channel, but the weight on his heart grew heavier.
Along the way, they saw crops below shattered by the hail, and the ground was already flooded by rainwater.
They flew all the way to Youcheng Prefecture, and the rain was still falling, although it was lighter than in Shuozhou.
However, there were still no pedestrians on the streets. Only a few commoners were on the rooftops, repairing leaks in the rain.
This was the territory of the Liao Kingdom. Even if they landed here, they might not find a doctor who could treat Lu Benwei.
So Fang Er ordered the fleet to turn from Youzhou towards the southeast. After a short distance, they would reach the territory of the Great Song.
At the border between the two warring countries, although the people's livelihood was devastated, there should be people in the army who were skilled in treating external injuries.
In Xiangzhou Prefecture, Han Qi, the then Pacification Commissioner of Hebei, had nothing to do on a rainy day and invited some literati to the yamen for drinks and poetry.
The Song and Liao dynasties had been at peace for many years, but the war with the Western Xia had been continuous.
This sudden heavy rain also gave them an excuse to steal a moment of leisure.
"Gentlemen, they say spring rain is as precious as oil. After this heavy rain, it will be another year of abundant harvest!"
"Why don't we each compose a poem with this rain as the theme?"
In the pavilion in the back garden of the yamen, Han Qi pointed at the rain outside the pavilion and said to everyone with a smile.
"Excellent, excellent! Since that's the case, I will shamelessly offer my humble attempt for your esteemed critique."
A man in a scholar's robe rose from the wine table, paced in the pavilion with his head held high, and then with a flick of his fan, he fanned it a few times. His demeanor was extremely flamboyant, and it was no wonder that people in later generations would call such people literati and poets.
He shouted with bright eyes, "Got it!"
"The rain nourishes all things, fine and silent; spring arrives, and all things continue to inherit."
"The sound of the deer's rut can still be heard; the wish for peace is offered to the heavens!"
After reciting the four lines of poetry, the man closed his fan with a snap, turned back to the table, and cupped his hands to Han Qi.
"Lord Han, please comment!"