Chapter 71

I don't know how long it had been, as if the darkness and weariness that seemed to want to drag one into the depths of the earth, where even the sea would dry up and the rocks crumble, finally relaxed a bit.

It seemed I had returned to my college days, where most of my time was spent in a monotonous routine between the library, the cafeteria, and the dormitory. However, the familiar people and things of everyday life always felt somewhat distant and vague.

Even when I interacted with them, joked around, boasted, and got drunk together, then sneaked back over the wall in the early morning to avoid the night watch and the discipline patrol, it all felt somewhat unreal, as if something would be lost at any moment, a sense of dislocation and confusion.

After staying up all night on a night shift, I was waiting for the final download task in the list to complete, but the "ding" at 99% never came. I dozed off at the computer, and the black and white cat I often fed came over and licked my forehead.

"Stop it, I'm really tired," I said, trying to push it away, but only felt a wet sensation.

"You're drooling a lot," I complained.

The cool sensation on my forehead woke me from my heavy sleep, but it turned out to be a drop of water seeping through a crack.

I endured a dizzy and nauseous feeling, lying on the ground and slowly moving my neck, then my shoulders, waiting for the discomfort to pass.

As I moved, the sensation in my limbs gradually returned. I felt pain all over my body, but fortunately, nothing seemed to be missing.

I spat out a few times, the earthy smell in my mouth and nose gradually fading, and finally managed to speak.

"Is... anyone else still alive...?"

From the sound of rats gnawing, a muffled voice came from my arm, a person huddled in my arms, sobbing and unable to speak.

Feeling my response, she clung to me with joy, rubbing her head against me like a clingy kitten to express her emotions.

I then looked around in the dim light.

The memorial tablet of Emperor Wumu, the Great Sage of Literature and Martial Arts, blocked the beam that had fallen on my head. The lotus vase and cloud patterns on the beam, worn by time, were still faintly visible.

After a long time, I gathered enough strength to push away the wooden beam above me. I found several other people lying on the ground.

Madam Chen had a cut on her forehead, bleeding profusely, but she was still breathing. The others were in similar conditions.

It seemed that the altar, which had been knocked over, inadvertently protected most of us from the collapsing roof.

After a while, a large beam was pushed away, and a few people, looking like mud monkeys, crawled out, supporting each other. Despite their disheveled appearance, they felt a mix of emotions but couldn't laugh.

The rain had stopped, and rays of sunlight filtered through the thick clouds, gradually making the damp and sticky air lighter.

Apart from us, there seemed to be no other signs of life in the collapsed shrine. The bodies of the bandits, who had died in various positions, lay scattered, unattended.

It was like a vivid and cruel picture of the end of the world, a vast tomb that buried our and our unknown enemies' final efforts.

Life and death are natural. The old servant died shortly after being carried out, seemingly having used up all his remaining strength in the battle.

Cui Tuzi, holding the half-body of Yin Xiaoyan, who had been exposed in the ruins, wailed like a nagging woman, muttering about past events, including how this child was actually his illegitimate son from an affair with a neighbor, and the complex feelings of surprise and helplessness when the child was sent to him as an apprentice.

Han Liangchen, slightly recovered, silently went outside to stand guard for us.

Madam Chen and her three remaining attendants, along with me, the person huddled in my arms, and Han Liangchen, Cui Tuzi, Qian Shuining, and Yan Jiuer, made up a total of ten survivors.

The balance of power between the two sides seemed to have subtly changed, but this thought quickly faded as we needed to rely on each other in this situation.

We reorganized our tasks. The men who still had strength searched the ruins for usable items, while the women and the injured searched the bandits' bodies for valuables, piling them on the ground.

A fire was lit on the ruins, drying the ground and warming our exhausted bodies.

"Someone..."

The person huddled in my arms, who had been picking up dry wood, suddenly jumped up like a frightened cat and ran over to hug me tightly.

There were still living bandits, and we approached them with caution. We moved a pile of broken tiles and found someone moaning and cursing from beneath the wooden structure. It was Bo Fu.

His body was almost entirely covered in mud and blood, but he was still alive and conscious.

As I slowly removed the dirt and foreign objects from his wounds and stitched them up, he said, "I'm Bo Fu, the fierce bird. How could I die easily?"

Sweat dripped from his forehead as he gritted his teeth.

"I can only die on a woman's belly... Ah!"

Although the red tiger and the gray panda, which had been left in the corner of the room, were also crushed into unrecognizable meat paste, they had served as a kind of cushion. My luggage, including the doctor's equipment, was not damaged and was dug out.

We had even more luck when Yan Jiuer found some horses tied to sturdy trees in the forest at the foot of the hill, clearly the bandits' mounts, as well as the bodies of some merchants who had been killed to prevent them from talking.

However, the stirrups and saddles, which had been defaced, and the items found in some of the bags, made us feel heavy-hearted.

But at least the eleven survivors had food and riding equipment. Besides the two horses that had been converted into stretchers, there were three extra horses for carrying or rotating, so the Red Tiger VII and the Gray Panda III were reborn.

After a quick meal and cleanup, we set off again.

We had to leave as soon as possible, not knowing if the bandits had any surviving companions or if they had sent messengers to bring more trouble and threats.

A short while later,

Dusong Ridge? I looked at the stone marker at the mountain pass and rode away from this place that had left us with so much pain and almost buried my ambitions and aspirations at the foot of Tianmu Mountain.

After crossing the last part of the Tianmu Mountain foothills, we entered the territory of Hangzhou, or Lin'an County. The waterways and canals, like the veins of the earth, spread across the vast plains of southern Jiang.

Although there were still signs of war and desolation, the passersby we encountered did not look as malnourished as those in Huzhou.

Half a day later, Lin'an County was in front of us. It was a large county, classified as a first-class or prestigious county in the traditional five-tier system.

We did not enter the city. Madam Chen sent one of her attendants, and a group of soldiers, like a swarm of bees from a smoke-filled hive, surrounded us.

A rider, wearing a mountain-patterned helmet and a headpiece, dismounted and approached us, bowing and shouting loudly,

"Is this the residence of Lady Chen, the County Lady of Xiangyi?"

"Song Haiqing, the military governor of Lin'an, comes to pay respects to your safety."

His expression was genuinely fearful, and the sweat on his forehead was clearly visible.

...

Two days later,

The long-awaited hot water and bath made me groan in comfort. The slightly warm, soap-scented water gently massaged away the cold and pain accumulated from my journey.

On the copper tray in front of the wall fan, a slender servant girl brought a new robe, still smelling of fresh cutting and ironing. The copper belt was intricately carved.

Through the glass-embedded window, I could see the carefully maintained white plum trees and budding peach branches, as well as the faintly visible red mud and white walls, and the red-tiled, lacquered buildings in the background.

It reminded me that we were no longer on a journey but in the large residence of the Jiangdong Inspector and Hangzhou Prefect in the old city of Hangzhou.

During this time, I received one good piece of news, one bad piece of news, and one neutral piece of news.

The bad news was:

The Jiangning Army's land and naval forces had successfully captured the capital of Xuancheng, the seat of the Xuancheng Prefecture, and suppressed the remaining forces of the Xuancheng Prefecture's governor and the Dongjiang Inspector. However, they were suddenly shocked by the major changes in Jiangning City, and the news spread quickly, causing serious divisions and disputes among the expeditionary forces.

The nominal commander of the army, the brother-in-law of the Governor-General Zhou Yi, the Defense Commissioner of Runzhou, Sun Run, was assassinated while inspecting the city and comforting the troops, leading to a major conflict between the two main forces, the Hengjiang and Tiande. The remaining forces split into three groups.

One group stayed to defend Xuancheng and was besieged by local counterattacks; another group sailed down the river to Jiangning and was ambushed at Zhongshan, with the remnants scattering; the third group headed west into Raozhou and disappeared.

Thus, Han Liangchen had no one to turn to.

The neutral news was:

The Madam Chen we encountered was indeed the family of the former Prefect of Raozhou. However, the title "former" was significant because this old official was now the Governor of Jiangxi. But compared to his other identity, this was nothing.

He was the Southeast Commander and General of the Southern Dynasty's Five Route Recruitment and Pacification Commission, known as "Tiger General" Ning Zecheng, who had led and controlled several prefectures for over seventeen years, a powerful figure even in the Jiangdong region, which was often in a state of hostility.

Not to mention, the Yongxing Prefecture, which included Hangzhou, Yuezhou, and Mingzhou, was a strategic location at the mouth of the Yangtze River, already infiltrated by the Southern Dynasty's naval forces.

The news of the ambush and near-annihilation of the family of the Commander of the Yongxing Prefecture, while on a visit to the region, was a shocking event. Not only the local commanders, but even higher-ranking officials could not escape responsibility.

In other words, we had inadvertently attached ourselves to a powerful ally.

Yes, that was the good news.

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