Chapter 86: New Warfare Method
Editor: Atlas Studios
When Fei Bai brought the medicine over, he carefully sized up Mu Yangling. He saw that her face was pale and her eyes were tightly closed, and there was a faint smell of blood on her body. How could she be as impressive as everyone said when she was clearly no different from a nine-year-old girl?
Sensing that someone was approaching, Mu Yangling suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Fei Bai warily. Fei Bai felt a chill in his heart and his body froze on the spot. It was only when Mu Yangling’s eyes turned warm that Fei Bai felt alive again. With a stiff smile, he said, “Miss Mu, your medicine is ready. Drink it quickly.”
“Thank you.” Mu Yangling took the medicine and drank it in one gulp. She asked, “Is your little general not back yet?”
“Soon, soon.” Fei Bai said respectfully, “The general has already ordered the Fourth Young Master to return. You should be able to see him tonight.” Seeing Mu Yangling’s indifferent expression, he said cleverly, “The few people who came with you have been attended to by the doctor. They’ve all taken medicine and we’re just waiting to see if they can wake up tomorrow.”
A grateful expression appeared on Mu Yangling’s face as she said sincerely, “Thank you for taking care of them, Sir. Please note down the cost of the treatment first. We’ll definitely repay you when we have the money later.”
“Miss Mu, you’re too polite. My Fourth Young Master said that you’re his benefactor. This is what our Qi family should do.”
Mu Yangling shook her head. “I can’t be considered their benefactor. It was nothing. Besides, he has long returned the favor. Since he saved our lives this time, we’re the ones who are indebted to him.”
Seeing that this lady was tactful, Fei Bai became even more respectful. “Miss Mu, your parents have also entered the residence. I’ll invite them over now.”
There were more than 200 people from Nearhill Village, so the Qi Residence naturally could not accommodate so many people. Liu He did not allow Mu Shi to become indebted because of this, so other than Liu Xuan and the few injured people, everyone stayed in the east of the city with the refugees.
Mu Shi’s family was invited into the general’s residence, and Madam Ma-Liu and her granddaughters were also brought over by Mu Shi.
Fei Bai personally went over to invite them.
Mu Shi quickly walked in and touched his daughter’s forehead. He then checked her wound and only heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that there was no fever or inflammation.
Shu Wanniang came in with the children, Madam Ma-Liu, and the others. “Ah Ling, how are you?”
Mu Yangling smiled and said, “Mother, I’m fine. How are my uncles?”
Shu Wanniang lowered her head. Sighing, Mu Shi said, “Liu Yong and the others are fine. It’s just that your Uncle Xuan and Cousin Li aren’t yet in a stable condition. Whether they can survive or not depends on fate.”
Mu Yangling’s heart tightened. “Where did Cousin Li get injured?” She remembered that when she went to lure the Hus away, he only suffered some light injuries.
“There’s a deep cut on his back. He lost too much blood. Liu Yong said that when they were changing paths, they encountered a lone Jin soldier who got separated from his group. By then, they were already so severely injured that they only had the strength to breathe. It was all thanks to your Cousin Li and Liu Yong that the Jin soldier was killed. Otherwise, your Uncle Xuan and the others wouldn’t have survived.” Seeing that his daughter was silent, Mu Shi stroked her hair and said, “Good child, you’ve done very well. If it were me, I might not even be half as good as you. The little general and the rest were all praising you. Your Great-uncle He also said that they’ll set up a longevity plaque for you later.”
Mu Yangling did not feel proud. Along the way, she had seen the commoners sitting by the roadside hugging their loved ones’ corpses and crying. A three or four-year-old child had lost his parents and was standing ignorantly in the middle of the road. Mu Yangling clearly realized that this was not the peaceful China in the 21st century, but an era of war. Here, human lives were worthless like grass.
However, even a blade of grass had its own emotions and yearned to live. But here, once the invaders invaded, they could only place their hopes on the Imperial Court. Unfortunately for them, this Imperial Court was not too reliable.
If they wanted to survive, they had to rely on themselves. Mu Yangling said seriously, “Father, when we go back, I’ll teach them some martial arts and military formations, okay? So that the next time the Hus dare to enter the pass again, we won’t be so passive.”
Mu Shi thought for a moment and agreed. In fact, in the border city, many commoners knew some martial arts and war tactics. It was just that the Xingzhou Prefecture had only been designated as a border for a short period of time, and the commoners had yet to adapt after living like this for hundreds of years.
“Mother, how are my siblings?”
“They’re fine.” Shu Wanniang said with a faint smile, “Your younger siblings are smart. They know that we’re running for our lives and haven’t cried since last night.”
Mu Yangling turned to look at the two babies. Seeing that Little Bowen and Xiuhong Xiulan were standing silently at the side, she knew that the three children had suffered a huge impact. She sighed slightly and said, “Father, brew some medicine for Bowen and my cousins to calm down. Also, note down the medicine given to my uncles so that we can repay the money later. Since Qi Haoran has already returned the favor by helping us, we can’t benefit for nothing this time.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep the prescriptions and pay him back when we have the money.”
“But we can’t let the two of you pay for it all.” Seeing that Shu Wanniang didn’t say anything, Madam Ma-Liu knew that she wouldn’t object. She could only stand up and say, “I’ve seen that medicine. There’s even ginseng inside. How much would one prescription cost? Furthermore, there are a total of eight people. Are the two of you planning to repay the debts for the rest of your lives? They suffered those injuries because of the village, so the village has to contribute some money at least.”
Mu Yangling smiled bitterly. “Great-aunt, our village was burned down. Do you think everyone can fork out the money? Besides, the other 46 families have already lost their loved ones. If we’re gathering money to treat the ones who are injured, shouldn’t we give more to the families that lost a member? There’ll be no end to this. Qi Haoran hasn’t actually asked us to fork out the money. It’s just that my family doesn’t want to owe anyone a favor. If you ask them for money just to avoid owing anyone a favor, they definitely won’t be willing.” Mu Yangling sighed. “Poverty is the key thing here. They don’t even know what they’re going to survive on this winter.”
As they only cared about escaping, the grains they brought out were only enough to last for a few days. What was going to happen when they ran out of grains in a few days?
Since the village had already been plundered by the Hu people and burned down, how much could possibly remain?
Fortunately, because the Mu family had savings, they should do fine until next summer.
When Qi Haoran rushed back in the evening, he ran to report to Qi Xiuyuan first. Just as he turned around and was about to run home, Qi Xiuyuan grabbed his collar from behind. “What’s the hurry? What if your soldiers see you like this?”
“Brother, I want to go back and check on Mu Yangling. I wonder how she’s doing. You have no idea. She was covered in blood and almost injured her vitals in several places.”
Qi Xiuyuan stood up and said, “I’ll go back with you. I heard that she’s very skilled in martial arts. Have you sparred with her before?”
“No. When she recovers, I’ll go and spar with her. Brother, she’s a hunter and is very familiar with the forest. After those Hus entered, she totally led them by the nose. This is despite the fact that her subordinates are all just farmers who only know how to farm. If it were our soldiers, we would definitely have been able to deal with the Jin soldiers behind with ease. At the very least, we wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.” Qi Haoran’s eyes lit up. “If we could make some arrangements in advance, I believe our chances of winning would be higher. Brother, why can’t we lure the Jin soldiers into the forest and engage in jungle combat?”
“Jungle combat?” First time hearing it, Qi Xiuyuan fell into deep thought.
Qi Haoran urged, “Brother, our horses have always been inferior to the Jin soldiers’. They were born on the grassland and grew up on horseback. In terms of riding skills, most Han Chinese can’t compare to the Hu people. However, our Great Zhou has many forests. Since they have already attacked all the way to our Great Zhou territory, why do we have to fight according to their methods every time? We should fight in the forest since horses aren’t very useful there.”
Qi Haoran’s words opened up another world for Qi Xiuyuan.