Chapter 85: Loss
Editor: Atlas Studios
Including Mu Yangling, there were a total of 55 people. In the end, only nine survived.
When Mu Shi and his men found Liu Xuan and company, three of them were already on their last breaths. Having lost too much blood, Liu Xuan had already gone into shock. Mu Yangling looked at them and said emotionlessly, “Find a doctor for them. Whether they can survive or not will depend on fate.”
Liu Zhuang hugged Liu Xuan, his face filled with tears. “Since you’ve already endured until now, Ah Xuan, you must hang on and wake up.”
Qi Haoran admired them for being able to kill the Jin soldiers instead of escaping blindly. He waved at his subordinates and said, “Hurry up and find the military doctor. Get them some good medicine and put the expenses under my name.”
This time, 89 people from Nearhill Village died in the war disaster. However, after seeing the empty villages and county post-massacre, the people in Nearhill Village could only feel relieved.
As Qi Haoran could not accompany them, he only asked two soldiers to send the villagers to the prefectural capital. Along the way, there were constantly refugees joining in. By the time they reached the prefectural capital, there were already nearly 2,000 disaster-stricken people following behind the villagers of Nearhill Village.
With so many people suddenly rushing to Xingzhou Prefecture, the prefectural magistrate of Xingzhou, Wu Shancai, and the county magistrate of Shunzheng County, He Bao, hurriedly brought their men over.
Worried about letting so many refugees enter the city, Wu Shancai was about to close the city gate, but the four city gates were guarded by Qi Xiuyuan’s men. He could not command them at all.
Since the refugees were brought back by the soldiers of the West Camp, the soldiers guarding the city let them in without thinking.
Furious, Wu Shancai shouted, “What is Qi Xiuyuan trying to do? Is he trying to throw this place into a state of anarchy? With so many refugees surging in, how do we maintain security and enough food supply?”
He Bao glanced at him and cupped his hands. “Sir, I heard that General Qi is in the city. Why don’t we ask him?”
Wu Shancai choked. Last night, when the Hus suddenly attacked the city, he was instructed to close the south city gate and lock Qi Xiuyuan outside the city. At that time, Qi Xiuyuan dared to jump over the city gate and kill his way to his government office to drag him up Xingcheng Pass to face the Hus. He was only allowed to come down after the Hus retreated. After all that, how could he dare to provoke him?
Seeing that he had quietened down, He Bao stopped talking.
At this moment, in the general’s residence, Qi Xiuyuan kept issuing orders, leaving only the 1st Division to guard the pass, and sending the 2nd and 3rd Divisions out to save the commoners.
Aware of the fact that a large number of refugees had surged into the prefectural capital, Qi Xiuyuan pondered for a moment before saying to Rong Xuan, “Since Wu Shancai is still a suspect, I’m worried about leaving the refugees to him. Bring someone to inform him that the West Camp is willing to share the burden of the prefecture. From today onwards, our soldiers will maintain the safety of the city.”
Rong Xuan raised his eyebrows. “I’m afraid Wu Shan won’t agree, for that would mean placing his life in our hands.”
“He has no choice but to agree.” Qi Xiuyuan was filled with anger. “The moment I was transferred out of the city, the Hu people attacked the city. If not for our special means of contact, I’d probably still be in Xingyuan Prefecture now. The defenses of Xingyuan City Pass would have been breached by the time I heard the news. What do you think would happen to me since I’m the garrison general?”
Rong Xuan also suspected that someone was colluding with the Hu people. Filled with fog, Mount Jiexi was not easy to walk through. Other than by accident, the Han people could not reach the Hu people, and the Hu people could not reach the Han people either. It could only be that there were Han people guiding the Hus.
Otherwise, if the Hus could climb over from Mount Jiexi, with such a long defensive line, the Imperial Court would not have merely set up a West Camp here.
“Are you suspecting Wu Shancai?”
“Last night, I clearly told him my identity. According to the rules of the border city, the city gate will close on time, but not to the messenger and soldiers guarding the city. Since I’m the commander of the West Camp, not only should I be able to enter and exit the four city gates freely, even if I reach the Xingyuan Prefecture, he has to open the door for me obediently. Where did the southern city gate get the courage to stop me? They said that the magistrate ordered to open the city gate for no one.” Qi Xiuyuan’s eyes were cold. “I was stopped outside the city gate for five hours. How many soldiers and commoners died because of this delay? I have to settle this score.”
When Rong Xuan thought of the losses this time, he sighed slightly. Now, the Imperial Court could not even afford to pay the soldiers and relied on the local people to support them. Therefore, soldiers could only eat 70% of their fill. These days, it was even harder to conscript soldiers than it was to give birth. In addition, since they had not been able to protect the people this time, it would probably be even harder to collect the taxes to pay out the military salary next year.
“General, the little general sent someone back to pass a message. He has already killed Wu Shu, who was attacking Mingshui County. His main group fled north across Jialing Lake, leaving behind a small group of Jin soldiers to burn. As too many people were affected, the little general requested to send more reinforcements to bring the civilians over.”
Qi Xiuyuan and Rong Xuan’s eyes lit up as they asked in unison, “Haoran killed Wu Shu?”
The soldier nodded proudly. “The general pierced a hole in Wu Shu’s right chest with his sword. It’s a pity that we didn’t manage to snatch his corpse. Otherwise, how impressive would it be to hang it at the city gate?”
However, Qi Xiuyuan and Rong Xuan’s smiles froze. “You stabbed him in the right chest?” Wouldn’t that mean that he could still be alive? In the chaos, Haoran couldn’t have gotten off the horse to check that he was no longer breathing.
However, it was good that they could win the battle. The battle to defend the city was at a critical stage when he suddenly received an urgent report from Mingshui County. Since he really could not spare any troops, he asked Qi Xiuyuan to bring the 4th Division there.
Initially, he simply aimed to protect Mingshui County for as long as possible. Who would have thought that before Qi Haoran arrived at Mingshui County, the county magistrate of Mingshui County, Qian Shu, would suddenly flee at the last minute and take away a group of bailiffs? Only County Deputy Song Zhi insisted on guarding the city with the remaining people. Seeing that they were about to lose, he opened the east and west gates and let the entire county’s citizens out. Alas, even if he guarded the north gate with his life, he could not last until Qi Haoran arrived. The entire county fell into a sea of fire and 40% of the citizens were slaughtered, not to mention the towns and villages under Mingshui County.
Qi Xiuyuan had been a garrison general here for four years. During his time here, the Jin soldiers had attacked countless cities and plundered resources on their enemy’s land innumerable times. Although he could not guarantee victory in every battle, he had never put the people in such a dangerous situation.
His defenses and strategies were all exposed. Instead of saying that he was angry that someone was colluding with the Jin soldiers, it was more accurate to say that he hated himself for his negligence and incompetence.
Those who were familiar with his defense and strategy were definitely people around him. However, he and Rong Xuan were completely oblivious. To him, what was this if not incompetence?
Oblivious to the general’s thoughts, he continued, “The general even asked someone to send someone back from a village and asked us to take good care of him. He said that his benefactor was among them.”
“Oh?” Qi Xiuyuan came back to his senses and asked, “Are you from Nearhill Village?” He had investigated his brother’s journey north, so he naturally knew that Mu Yangling was his benefactor.
The soldier nodded. “They’re the villagers of Nearhill Village. General, they’re very impressive. There were only 50 plus of them, yet they managed to finish off more than 40 Hus and 22 Jin soldiers.”
Qi Xiuyuan and Rong Xuan looked at each other in surprise, a glint in their eyes. “Are they all ordinary villagers?”
“Yes, they’re just ordinary villagers who only know how to farm. However, there was a young Miss Mu with them. She’s so strong that she can crush a person’s bones with her small hand.” The soldier chuckled. At that time, in their excitement, they went forward to pat Miss Xiao Mu’s shoulder, and one of the guys almost had his hand crushed by her.