Chapter 254
Chapter 254
“Si Si, over here! Pour some oil here.”
“Oh no, someone’s coming! Si Si, hurry and give me the oil.”
There were skilled fighters serving the commander, but Ji Si and Ji Lu kept them occupied.
Jiang Yunsui ran everywhere, splashing oil and setting fires.
“Disaster! Fire!”
“The study is burning!”
“The eastern courtyard is on fire!”
“The storehouse is burning!”
The commander roared furiously, “Who did this? Where are the arsonists? Catch them!”
Unfortunately, no matter where his men searched, they could not find the person setting the fires.
Some even saw flames spring up from empty air with their own eyes and became terrified.
“The fire! The fire appeared out of nowhere!”
That plunged the place into even greater chaos.
Nearly everyone present had committed deeds that weighed on their conscience. Naturally, they were frightened of ghosts coming to knock on their doors.
Jiang Yunsui concealed her contribution to the night’s excitement and fled the moment each fire caught.
As confusion consumed the residence, the five hundred elite soldiers Ji Lu had brought attacked from the opposite side of the city.
The commander guarding the city had no choice but to send troops as reinforcements.
“What’s going on? Whose men are those?”
“We don’t know! They’re all dressed like commoners. There’s no telling which faction they belong to.”
Taking advantage of the disorder, Shen Qingzhu and the others followed Jiang Yunsui’s map to the storehouse holding their herbs.
Inside were not only their medicinal supplies, but also three large chests of silver, grain, and merchandise seized from other traders.
Shen Qingzhu said, “Leave the grain. Take our herbs, those three chests of silver, and the other medicinal supplies over there.”
There was no time to carry off the other merchants’ goods.
They hitched horses to the wagons and began moving out.
Most of the defenders had been dispatched to the western gate. Here in the east, far fewer men stood guard.
Ji Si, Ji Lu, Shen Qingzhu’s party, and the small force of elite soldiers waiting outside joined together and smashed straight through the gate.
Someone lifted Jiang Yunsui onto a wagon.
“Move!”
The wagons raced through the darkness.
By the time the Prince of Nanyang’s men reacted and tried to pursue them, it was already too late.
Ji Lu laughed heartily. “Too bad we didn’t bring more men. We could’ve hauled away even more. Still, we burned that corrupt dog’s residence too. What a thrill!”
“Why didn’t we take the grain? There was so much of it.”
Shen Qingzhu replied, “If we took all the grain, the Prince of Nanyang’s men would need to replace it to avoid punishment and keep their army supplied. They won’t farm it themselves. Who do you think would suffer in the end?”
There was no need to ask. It would be the ordinary people.
Ji Lu said, “Then it’s better to leave the grain behind.”
They had no need to openly confront the Prince of Nanyang yet. These were, after all, their own countrymen. They could not be treated the same as the Barbarians.
If the supplies had belonged to the Barbarians, they would have seized every last grain without hesitation.
“Move faster. Stay off the official roads and find hidden paths.”
“Leave a few men behind to erase our tracks.”
They traveled through the entire night without daring to stop.
Back in the city, the commander under the Prince of Nanyang flew into a rage when he discovered that he had been tricked and had lost both the medicinal herbs and the silver. He cursed at the heavens.
Even now, he had no idea which faction had targeted him.
The several hundred elite troops that attacked had withdrawn immediately without lingering to fight. They disappeared into the mountains at tremendous speed, and his men still had not caught them.
“Chase them! Bring back the silver and herbs!”
Unfortunately, even after several days of pursuit, they found no clues whatsoever.
With no other choice, the commander shifted the blame onto the royal court and the current emperor to avoid punishment.
The two factions were already at war, so it was entirely plausible that the court’s troops had stolen their supplies.
By then, Jiang Yunsui’s party had been gone for four days. They had relaxed considerably and no longer traveled day and night without rest.
Jiang Yunsui stroked the horses sympathetically.
“You worked so hard. Good horses.”
She fed them mushrooms.
With a heavy egg hanging in front of her chest, Little Mushroom walked somewhat awkwardly, yet somehow looked adorably plump and clumsy.
“Little Yunsui, when is that egg going to hatch?”
“Little Yunsui, come here. I have something tasty.”
“Little Yunsui, I have something fun. Look at the grasshopper I wove for you.”
Jiang Yunsui had grown familiar with these people. Almost every day, someone called her over.
She also liked sharing her mushrooms with everyone.
After wandering outside for a while and listening to some gossip, Jiang Yunsui returned to the carriage with the Phoenix-Mimic Bird egg in her arms, thoroughly satisfied.
Shen Qingzhu was reading. When he saw the sweat covering her forehead, he flicked it lightly.
“Your hair and clothes are soaked.”
“The sun is blazing, yet you still run outside every day. It’s fortunate you don’t tan. Otherwise, you’d have turned into a little lump of charcoal by now.”
Jiang Yunsui blinked and beamed.
“I’m so pale!”
She leaned toward the basin of ice, picked up the milk tea cooling on top, and took a sip.
Delicious, delicious.
It was fortunate they had learned how to make ice with saltpeter. Otherwise, the heat on this journey would have been unbearable.
“We’re almost there.”
Jiang Yunsui was looking forward to their arrival too. Mobei’s environment might be harsh, but it was where she had first arrived in this world.
It was her first home here, and she missed it quite a bit.
At last, they reached Mobei.
Jiang Yunsui poked her head out the carriage window and saw a long line before the city gates.
Her young voice rang clear. “Shen Qingzhu, there seem to be way more people than before.”
Beizhen City had never been this bustling in the past.
Shen Qingzhu looked outside and nodded. “Many refugees have come to Beizhen City and been resettled here.”
When their wagon train reached the gate, Shen Qingzhu presented his token. The guards inspected them briefly, then let them pass.
Inside, the city was visibly more prosperous and lively than before.
The roads had been repaired until they were smooth and level. City guards patrolled the streets, while shops and hawkers had multiplied. Everywhere they looked, the city appeared to be flourishing.
Jiang Yunsui even spotted a drunken man causing trouble. The patrol guards soon arrested him.
None of this had existed before Ji Yan’an took control of Beizhen City.
Precisely because law and order had improved, the city had grown steadily livelier, and more ordinary people were willing to venture out and earn money.
The imposing wagon train attracted a great deal of attention.
With Great Liang embroiled in civil war, travel had become far more dangerous for merchant caravans. As a result, far fewer came to Beizhen City.
This was the first convoy of such size anyone had seen in months.
“What are they selling?”
“Doesn’t that look like medicinal herbs?”
“That many herbs?!”
The wagon train continued all the way to the former Ji Family General’s Mansion, where it finally stopped outside the gates.