The village head and Hu Zi hurried forward to support Mr. Xue.
Hu Zi said with red eyes: "Uncle Lizheng, please tell me the truth about my grandfather!"
"Oh." The head of the village sighed.
In the past, we didn't tell the truth to Mr. Xue because we were afraid that he wouldn't be able to bear the blow. But now that we are leaving Qingya Village, we have to tell him the truth in order to stop him from thinking about us.
"Uncle, the guerrilla army of General Bai of the Northwest Army was completely wiped out in a battle more than a month ago. A total of 3,000 people were killed, and no one survived."
Hu Zi's father and second uncle were both under the command of General Bai of the Northwest Army and were two of the three thousand men.
"How...how could this be?" asked Old Man Xue with trembling lips.
"The government said that it was General Bai who delayed military intelligence, but rumors are circulating that the new Northwest Army commander is a fool who doesn't know how to fight a war, and that General Bai actually took the blame for this incident."
In fact, many villagers who had recently been to the town knew about this matter. They were worried that Mr. Xue would not be able to bear the blow after knowing it and would leave Hu Zi behind and pass away, so no one dared to mention it in the village.
It's just that adults can pay attention to what they say, but it's difficult for children to do so. Hu Zi had heard about the death of his father and second uncle from his playmates a long time ago, and he cried a lot behind Uncle Xue's back.
"Grandpa, Dad and Second Uncle can't come back."
"Let's go up the mountain with everyone else. Once we get up there, we won't have to do military service or labor, and we won't have to give our survival food to others."
Hu Zi's voice floated up to the treetops along with the breeze.
Although he was young, he knew everything. He clearly understood what it meant to enter Yue Heng Mountain.
Wei Yunlan couldn't help but feel dazed when she heard this. She seemed to understand why the power in Yue Heng Mountain developed so quickly.
There is a saying that goes, if the officials force the people to rebel, the people will have no choice but to rebel.
If they were not really forced into a situation where they had no other way to survive, who would be willing to leave their homes and go up the mountain to become a bandit?
"Let's go back, it's time to set off." Wei Yunlan said softly.
Yu Qi held her arm and took her quietly back to Mr. Xue's yard.
Not long after, Uncle Xue and Hu Zi also entered the yard.
Immersed in the grief of losing his son and the anxiety of leaving his hometown, Mr. Xue almost forgot that there was a stranger living in his house.
Seeing Wei Yunlan and the others, he was slightly startled, and then said apologetically: "Gentlemen, something happened in our village, I'm afraid we can no longer entertain you."
"We are just about to set off, thank you for your hospitality, old man." Wei Yunlan clasped his hands and bowed to Old Man Xue.
Not long after they left, Mr. Xue, who had packed his bags and was about to lock the doors of several rooms in his house, suddenly found two pieces of silver on the kang in the west room.
"Hey, those gentlemen are so polite."
"It's not easy to travel around in this world. Huzi, we wish you all a safe journey..."
…
Wei Yunlan and his party, who were given sincere blessings, were not so "safe". Just after passing Shangya Village and running along the mountain road leading to the official road outside for a while, they encountered officials who stopped halfway.
They were the ones who had just left Xiaya Village not long ago.
Judging from the situation, two horses in their team must have been injured on the mountain road.
The originally anxious officer's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Wei Yunlan and his group appear, "Stop!"
Wei Yunlan had no intention of stopping halfway, but the officer blocked their way in the narrow road and refused to let them pass.
"I have requisitioned your horses, dismount."
"Why?" Wei Yunlan had no intention of paying any attention to these officers, but she didn't expect them to bump into her.
Looking at his arrogant tone, he must have done this kind of thing of occupying people's things many times in the past.
"When the government does something, you should cooperate." The officer spoke in an impatient tone, pressing the hilt of the knife hanging on his waist with his hand, which was full of threats.
"So what if you don't cooperate?" Wei Yunlan frowned slightly.
"You won't be tolerated!" The chief officer drew the knife from his waist, and several officers who were sitting behind him to rest and handle horse hooves also drew their knives and stood up.
"The people who employ you think highly of you, so stop making excuses and get off the horse immediately!"
Wei Yunlan glanced coldly, ignoring the officer, and asked softly to Yu Qi who was sitting behind him, "Are you sure about these?"
"It's a piece of cake."
"Then let's get started." A few words came out of Wei Yunlan's mouth lightly, and Yu Qi behind her instantly jumped up from the horse's back.
He came in front of the police officer in an instant, and before the police officer could react, the long sword in his hand had fallen into Yu Qi's hands.
There was a flash of the knife, and the officer fell backwards.
The remaining four officers were stunned by this sudden change. Before they could raise their swords to resist, the ghostly figure had already circled around them.
The knife flashed, and the one body lying on the ground instantly turned into five.
Including the one hanging on the horse's back, there were exactly six people in a team, neat and tidy.
"It's... out of breath already?" Ningshuang and Tingxue, who were riding on another horse, came to their senses at this time.
He looked at the body on the ground with some horror, but could not say that he thought his young lady was cruel. These officials provoked him first, so they deserved this fate.
but……
"Miss, will this cause trouble?" Ningshuang asked worriedly.
Wei Yunlan shook his head slightly. It would be safer to kill him than to let him run away.
Their current identities are not allowed to be seen in public, and even if they have changed into men's clothing, there is still a certain risk. Keeping those officials who have seen them is a hidden danger.
Only the dead cannot speak, let alone them, who deserved to die.
"Miss Wei, please don't get involved. Let me handle it." Yu Qi used the ropes on the officers' bodies to tie their bodies tightly to the horses' backs, and then slapped the horses' buttocks hard.
Six horses rushed out of the mountain road and ran away in different directions.
Wei Yunlan and the others also galloped on their horses at the same time, facing the morning light and continuing towards Suijiang.
…
Qingfeng County, outside the city gate.
The officers in charge of escorting the exiled prisoners looked haggard and in a miserable state.
The two days we stayed in Qingfeng County were even more tiring than the ten days we had been on the road before.
They were outside the city when the earth dragon turned over. They ran out of the woods in time and did not suffer any injuries. However, in the panic, many people in the team ran away.
Among the four families, people from each family ran away, and the Wei family had the most people running away. Out of the dozen or so people, only Wei Maolin and two servants were left.
The officers wanted to look for it, but they simply had no time to do so.
Compared with the family members who ran away, what was more terrible at the moment was that Officer Jie and Lord Liang and his party who had entered the city had not come out yet.
They had inquired a lot in the past two days and just found out that when the earth dragon turned over, Lord Liang and the Jieguan were trapped in the collapsed inn.
It hasn’t been dug out yet!
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