Chapter 179
Chapter 179
When Jin Bao and Ye Qi emerged from the tent, they found that Long Xia had already assembled ten thousand soldiers.
However, those ten thousand men would be traveling on foot, and reaching Baishui Town from here would take at least five or six days. Jin Bao could not wait that long.
“Uncle Ye Qi, can we go first? Baby has to save Suisui.”
Ye Qi nodded. After notifying Long Xia, he took Jin Bao and rode ahead of the army.
On her own, Jin Bao could have reached Baishui Town in one day. But now she had to match Ye Qi’s speed, so she could only slow down.
Her heart burned with impatience.
Fortunately, after riding as hard as they could, they finally reached Baishui Town early on the third day.
Only a little over a month had passed since Jin Bao last left the town, yet she almost failed to recognize it upon her return.
Corpses now littered the once-spacious streets.
Every shop along the road had shut its doors and barred its windows.
Not a single person could be seen outside.
Jin Bao looked anxiously at the buildings on both sides of the street.
When they passed the inn from her previous visit, she saw that someone had kicked its doors to pieces.
The innkeeper and waiter from last time lay in pools of blood not far from the entrance, travel bundles still strapped to their backs.
Jin Bao’s long eyelashes trembled.
Her small hand clenched the reins so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The bright smile she usually wore had vanished from her little face.
Her lips were pressed into a tight line. The farther they traveled toward the Xiao Family residence, the more corpses appeared.
Some belonged to common people, some to armored soldiers, and others to the Xiao Family’s household guards.
“Uncle Ye Qi, do you think Suisui is still alive?”
Jin Bao’s voice was soft and low, as though she were asking the man behind her and herself at the same time.
Ye Qi still heard her.
“Princess, the Xiao Family cannot be wiped out so easily. Since Prince Cheng intended this to be a surprise attack, he would not have sent too many men. There can be no more than a few thousand.
“The Xiao Family has been established in Baishui Town for a century. They can hold out against several thousand men for at least half a month.”
Jin Bao tried once more to focus and summon a vision connected to Suisui, but she still saw nothing. It was as though someone were deliberately interfering with her.
Since she could not see, she would have to find Suisui herself.
“Uncle Ye Qi, faster.”
Ye Qi slapped the horse’s rump several times.
The black horse raced down the deserted street.
Neither rider noticed the countless pairs of eyes peering from the houses on either side, watching them with terror and curiosity.
Baishui Town was vast. Even at a gallop, traveling from the town entrance to the other side took half an hour.
Before they reached the Xiao Family’s inner city, they heard the thunderous din of battle from far away.
“Princess, we cannot continue on horseback. We have to abandon the horse and proceed on foot.”
They were now outside the Xiao Family’s inner city. Charging forward at this point would turn them into living targets. They had to find a way inside, make contact with the Xiao Family, and assess their losses.
“Uncle Ye Qi, don’t follow me. I’m going in to find Suisui.”
Ye Qi was uneasy. Armies were clashing all around them. If the Princess suffered so much as a scratch, even ten of his heads would not be enough to pay for it.
Before Ye Qi could object, Jin Bao stepped onto the horse’s head and leaped off. Her little body scrambled onto the roof of a nearby house.
Ye Qi watched as she swiftly vanished from sight.
Jin Bao raced across the rooftops. When she reached the end of the street, she finally saw what lay ahead.
Prince Cheng’s troops had completely surrounded the Xiao Family, but the Xiao Family’s city walls kept them outside. For the moment, the two sides were locked in a stalemate.
Prince Cheng’s men had chosen to besiege the city without attacking. They intended to exhaust the provisions inside and force the defenders to open the gates and surrender.
Jin Bao studied the dense mass of people below. This was not her territory, so it seemed she could not subdue them all directly. If she could lure them into the woods, she would be able to dispose of them within minutes.
But Suisui’s safety concerned her far more right now.
Jin Bao turned and climbed down from the other side.
To enter the inner city, she first had to cross the moat.
That presented a problem. Jin Bao did not know how to swim.
After pondering the matter briefly, however, she came up with a good idea.
She pulled a flowering plant from the courtyard of a nearby home.
Finding a secluded spot, she set the plant on the bank and controlled it with her mind. The plant grew wildly, its vines extending all the way to the opposite bank.
Jin Bao stepped onto the vines and quickly ran across to the base of the wall.
The Xiao Family’s city wall might as well not have existed in her eyes.
She had simply forgotten that guards stood atop it.
At first, the guards were so stunned by what Jin Bao had done that none of them reacted. Only when they saw her begin scaling the wall in the blink of an eye did they remember to fight back.
“Loose the arrows!”
Someone shouted the command.
Every bow immediately turned toward Jin Bao.
Fortunately, Xiao Lan was on the wall observing the enemy. He leaned over the parapet and spotted a little girl who looked strangely familiar.
“Stop! All of you, stop! No one is to hurt her!”
Xiao Lan roared in excitement.
The next moment, Jin Bao landed in front of him.
He scooped her straight into his arms. At that instant, he knew they had already won. Prince Cheng’s army across the moat was doomed to complete annihilation.
“Uncle Xiao, where’s Suisui?”
Seeing a familiar face, Jin Bao immediately asked in alarm.
Xiao Lan hesitated. “Suisui?”
“Yes, Suisui! She’s my little niece. We caught bad people together, and she treated me to roast chicken. Baby came to save Suisui. Is she okay?”
Xiao Lan finally remembered that his second younger brother’s little granddaughter was nicknamed Suisui. But the child was only three years old. How had she managed to catch the Star Maiden’s attention?
Xiao Lan personally took Jin Bao to find Suisui at once.
Only when she saw Suisui nestled against her mother in the Xiao Family’s main hall did Jin Bao finally relax.
“Suisui!”
“Little Auntie?”
The fear on Suisui’s little face melted into a sweet smile when she saw Jin Bao.
She climbed down from her mother’s lap, ran over, and hugged Jin Bao tightly.
The sight of the two adorable little girls embracing was both heartwarming and amusing.
“Suisui, don’t be scared. I came to save you. My daddy sent Uncle Long Xia with lots and lots of people to rescue all of you.”
Jin Bao meant those words for Suisui, but she was also speaking to everyone present.
Sitting nearby, Xiao Lan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
“Miss Xiao, how many days will it take your father’s men to arrive?”
Jin Bao thought for a moment. “About three more days. My daddy said Uncle Xiao has to hold on and drive all the bad people away.”
Xiao Lan could indeed hold out for another three days. Everyone would simply have to tighten their belts and endure.
Prince Cheng’s men had attacked without warning. The Xiao Family’s grain was stored in outlying estates, and there had been no time to transport it into the inner city.
Their remaining food would not last three more days.
They could, however, water down the congee, replace steamed buns with flatbread, and ration every serving.
Jin Bao’s arrival steadied the hearts of everyone in the Xiao Family.
But that sense of security abruptly vanished later that night.
In the middle of the night, when the entire town lay in deathly silence, the enemy suddenly launched an assault.
No one knew where they had obtained the fire oil. They poured it directly across the moat.
Flames encircled the entire inner city.
Xiao Lan had only just lain down when a subordinate rushed in to report.
He had not slept properly for several days, and even during brief naps, he remained fully dressed.
The sudden battle cries outside startled him awake.
“What happened?”
“Family Head, this is bad! The enemy resorted to a dirty trick and poured fire oil into the moat. Our walls are surrounded by flames, and the wind is blowing against us. The men on the walls have caught fire too, and the enemy is taking the opportunity to shoot fire arrows!”
Fire arrows carried flammable material soaked in oil. Why had the enemy suddenly launched an attack?
Could they have received some kind of news?
“Quickly, take me there.”
From the main Xiao residence, towering flames could be seen outside.
The main residence stood higher than the other courtyards, offering a rough view of the situation beyond.
As soon as Xiao Lan left the courtyard, he saw members of the other households pouring into the road. Everyone was craning their necks toward the city gates.
“Uncle Xiao, are the bad people about to break in?”
Jin Bao had also been awakened by the commotion. She and Suisui approached hand in hand, rubbing their sleepy eyes.
At the sight of Jin Bao, Xiao Lan sighed softly.
“They have not broken in yet, but this sudden attack must mean they learned that reinforcements are coming. This is their last desperate struggle. If they continue attacking like this, our gates will certainly fall.”
Jin Bao looked toward the commotion too, but she was so short that she could not see anything.
“Uncle Xiao, I can put out the fire outside, but I need lots of plants. Move all of them onto the walls. The more, the better. Can you do that?”
Xiao Lan was overjoyed.
“We can. I’ll have every plant in the Xiao residence moved to the walls right now.”
At Xiao Lan’s command, everyone sprang into action, from the household servants to the women of the family.
This was a matter of life and death. If they could not withstand this assault, the city would fall.
They understood perfectly well what horrors awaited them afterward. They had all heard what these invaders had done to the townspeople: burning, killing, looting, and committing every evil imaginable. They were nothing more than bandits.
Half an hour later, before all the plants had even been moved into place, Xiao Lan saw that the gates were already on the verge of collapse.
If the gates fell, the city was finished.
“Uncle Xiao, hurry! Move some potted plants behind the gates.”
Jin Bao had also realized how dire the situation had become.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Xiao Lan ordered his people to carry the potted plants over.
The Xiao residence contained several gardens, so there were plenty of plants available.
Once the pots were in place, Jin Bao slowly raised both hands.
As her hands rose, every plant began growing at a frenzied pace.
The plants gradually thickened and stretched upward.
They crowded together until they sealed every gap behind the gates.
Their roots burst through the bottoms of the pots and plunged deep into the earth.
In the blink of an eye, countless green vines braced the gates that had been on the verge of collapse. The vines filled the entire gateway. Even if the wooden gates fell, anyone trying to enter would still have to force their way through layer after layer of living barriers.
And the moment anyone entered, Jin Bao could hang them all from the vines.
At the same time, she accelerated the growth of the plants on the walls.
They spread over the outside of the battlements.
Jin Bao controlled the vines and made them lash out with all their strength.
The vines extended all the way to the moat.
Under Jin Bao’s control, they whipped the burning oil across the moat and onto the opposite bank.
Sparks instantly ignited the armor of Prince Cheng’s troops, who had been waiting for the gates to fall.
As Jin Bao made the vines thrash the water, even more burning oil splashed onto the bank.
Prince Cheng’s thousands of soldiers retreated in a frenzy.
An hour later, the moat that had been a sea of fire was peaceful once more. Only the acrid odor lingering in the air testified to the inferno that had just raged there.