Chapter 120 Charge into battle
But Xu Lezhi's true colors were revealed so quickly. Not only did he not feel grateful to Xu Qingying for saving his life many times, but he also hated her so much. It was a complete waste of her efforts.
What an ungrateful person.
Huang saw through Xu Lezhi and thought to herself that her second son, Xu Deyuan, was probably useless. The younger generations in the second branch were all timid and unlikely to amount to anything. Even if all of them were put together, they were no match for the sixth girl.
As an old woman, she might still have to depend on Xu Qingying for the rest of her life. Why should she make the Sixth Girl unhappy because of a group of ungrateful people from the Second House?
What's more, Xu Lezhi had previously insisted that Xu Qingying return the money she earned from the soap business. Although Xu Qingying did not say it explicitly, Huang saw it clearly. Anyone who dared to touch Xu Qingying's money would be asking Xu Qingying to fight her to the death.
The third branch will definitely rise in the future. Will the second branch, who is used to being the head of the family and giving orders, be willing to be inferior to others?
We still have to split up.
This incident has caused other families to be eyeing the soap money from the third family, which is because the family has not been divided!
The sixth girl is destined to soar into the sky. How can this flapping eagle be restrained by these little chicks?
Huang grabbed Xu Qingying's hand and sighed, "My dear, I'm sorry for putting you in such a difficult position. Well, although I want a harmonious family, it's only natural that a tree grows bigger and branches out, and a business grows bigger and branches out. I also know that each of you has your own ideas. Okay, I'll make the decision. When we get to Qianzhou, the first thing we'll do is split up! This will also save you other families from having to keep an eye on the third family's pockets!"
In the past, when the topic of dividing the family was mentioned, everyone looked happy.
The eldest wife relied on having many sons and more labor, and was afraid of being implicated by other wives, so she wanted to split up the family business immediately.
Second wife Xu Deyuan boasted of his education and his ability to draw and paint, earning some money. He worried that his two sons were still young and couldn't support the family for the time being, so he thought it would be best to wait two years until his sons were older before dividing the family. But now that Xu Deyuan had injured his hand, he probably didn't want to split up.
It doesn’t matter to the fourth room. Zhao Zhenlan’s family is in business anyway. A letter will ensure that they won’t starve or freeze to death.
But now, since they knew that the third branch had earned tens of thousands of taels from the soap business, they were feeling uneasy and naturally had some thoughts about Huang's proposal to split the family.
Even so, they did not have the courage to directly propose to confiscate the profits of the third-room soap factory like Xu Lezhi did.
Who is that sixth girl? On the night of the bandits' sneak attack, she dared to pick up a knife and kill people, and she also instigated other women to follow her and kill together.
Besides, Sixth Girl had such a good relationship with the squad leader and the others. As long as they were still in exile, Xu Qingying would have the final say in the exile group. If anyone dared to bring up the matter of soap, I'm afraid even squad leader Zhao and the others would back up the Third House.
When it comes to interests, the situation reaches a deadlock.
Huang Cui'e could only laugh and respond, "Mom, we are still in the rebel camp. We don't know when we can reach Qianzhou, and we don't know if we will survive to reach Qianzhou. If we want to split up, it won't be too late to discuss it after we arrive in Qianzhou safely."
Xu Dekai also expressed his opinion: "That's right, we might as well think about how to escape from here. Our Xu family cannot be involved in any rebellion!"
Huang nodded. She knew this was not a good time to say this, but she also made a promise to Xu Qingying and Miao: "Don't worry, as long as I'm here, the soap business is signed and sealed in black and white. If it says it belongs to your third wife, it belongs to your third wife. If anyone dares to mention this again, I will give him a slap in the face!"
These words were meant to reassure the people in the third house and to intimidate others.
Although Xu Qingying was annoyed that someone was coveting her money, she also knew that now was not the right time to split up the family business. She smiled and said, "Thank you very much, Grandma. However, I have no other hobbies in my life except making a little money. If anyone dares to take my money, they'd better consider their own wealth."
Xu Qingying showed a sweet smile and glanced at everyone's face lightly.
Huang Cui'e almost shuddered when she met her gaze.
The fourth room didn't have any thoughts and looked calm.
The younger generations from the second house were also a little frightened, and they all lowered their heads when they met her gaze.
But Xu Yinxi made an unprecedented statement, "The soap business is written in black and white. Anyone who has such thoughts should be struck by lightning!"
Lian immediately said, "That's right. The money for the soap was earned by the sixth girl herself. We didn't contribute a bit, but we just want the benefits. Not only the sixth girl, but even I won't agree to it!"
After saying this, Lian Shi intimidated the younger ones from the second house, "Did you hear that?! If you dare to mess around with Le Zhi again, I'll break your legs!"
These illegitimate children were already afraid of the Lian family, and now they could only nod their heads hurriedly.
Xu Qingying was very satisfied, and then continued, "As for the matter of dividing the family that Grandmother just mentioned... These are extraordinary times, and we still need to unite as one. Let's put the topic of dividing the family aside for now. Jinzhou is in chaos right now, and we don't know what the situation will be like tomorrow. We'll make all the decisions after we arrive in Qianzhou. It's late, everyone should go back and get some rest."
Xu Qingying was still thinking about how to delay time and find a way to slip away after finding out the situation in Ye County. However, when it rains, it pours. Early the next morning, everyone heard a burst of gong sounds, and soon someone came to inform them that they had to set out to attack the city immediately.
Everyone in the Xu family was still in a daze. They didn't even have time to put on their clothes before they were shouted at and dragged to the city gate.
There were already more than a thousand people gathered at the gate, several times the number seen yesterday. At this moment, there was a commotion at the city gate.
Everyone was still confused and hadn't figured out what was going on. They only saw Xu Qingying coming over from afar. "Miss Xu, I heard the gongs early in the morning, and then someone called me here. What's going on?"
Someone immediately said, "I heard they said the vanguard has returned and found a village with food. We must go over and support them immediately."
"What's going on? Are we really going to the war? I won't go. I'm weak and will definitely die on the battlefield! Miss Xu, please think of a solution quickly—"
Some people in the team were getting anxious, but there was nothing they could do because someone on the stage was already reading out the names of the groups.
While everyone was listening attentively to her grouping, Xu Qingying had already pushed through the crowd and quickly walked towards the man on the platform. However, as soon as she got close, she was stopped by two soldiers beside Li Datou.
The two soldiers were young and frail, and at first glance, they were refugees from the area. However, they were quite imposing. Seeing someone barging in, they immediately shouted, "What are you doing?! The city lord is busy, why are you interfering?"
Xu Qingying saw Hu Wei's back and quickly called out to him, "Uncle Hu!"
Hu Wei heard someone calling his name in the chaos, and when he turned around, he saw it was Xu Qingying.
He walked over quickly, and before Xu Qingying could ask, he got straight to the point: "I know what you want to ask. There's no time to explain. According to the rules, you will be separated into teams. Each team will have a captain, and you will just follow the captain. Follow the captain's orders along the way and do whatever he tells you to do."
"Rules, what rules? Are you saying our people can't form a team on their own?"
Hu Wei sneered. "You're wishful thinking. You're new here. If we put you in a team, you'll have no experience, and we'll have to guard against you escaping."
Xu Qingying thought about it and realized that this was the truth.
This group of bandits was formed on short notice, and not only did they not trust each other, but Li Datou himself didn't trust them either. The best way to manage them was to simply break up the teams and have them supervise each other.
Xu Qingying wanted to know more, so she hurriedly asked, "Where are we going now? Are we really going to attack the city?"
"Why do you need to know so much? Just go back and follow the captain!" Hu Wei kindly warned, "Don't even think about running away. Li Datou isn't as honest as he appears. He's cruel by nature and has killed countless people. You'd better be careful!"
Xu Qingying thanked him and hurried back through the crowd. By the time they'd made it back, most of their team had been gone. Even Huang and Xu Meixiao were gone. Xu Qingying began to get anxious and angry. Xu Degui quickly said, "Mother and Meixiao have been assigned to the reserve group. They'll stay in Ye County and won't have to march with us."
Miao also said: "All the old people and children in our team have been selected to stay behind."
This is barely good news.
At least I don't have to follow them to march and fight.
"Xu Degui, come with us!" Xu Qingying's heart was suddenly lifted up. She couldn't help but pull the man's sleeve and asked, "Brother, what are you going to do?"
"We have to transport food, and this is not a job for those with less strength."
Miao covered her chest and kept chanting "Amitabha". Fortunately, she didn't have to rush to the front line.
Perhaps it was the unknown future and the noisy environment that made not only Xu Qingying, but everyone in the Xu family felt unprecedented panic and fear, and they all didn't want to leave.
Xu Qingying was in a panic as she had to join a new team, be in the same team with complete strangers, and charge into battle.
Soon, almost all of their team of more than 100 people were dispersed.
Xu Qingying observed carefully and found that Li Datou had divided the more than 2,000 people into several groups. Huang, Mei Xiao, Xu Fuwei, Xu Huizheng and other old and young people who were unable to move stayed in Ye County. The able-bodied men like Xu Degui and Xu Huiming either went to the vanguard team or to the team transporting food. The strong women were responsible for cooking and other logistics. She didn't know if Li Datou had taken care of her, but she went to the rear-end team where there was no danger. It was said that she only needed to wait for the vanguard team to kill people and then rob food and clean up the battlefield.
However, with so many teams, you will definitely meet familiar faces.
Not long after, she saw several familiar faces.
Xu Yinxi, Feng'er, Fang Xun, Aunt Ma, and Li Xiucai. These people all looked weak and had little fighting power, so they were assigned to this team.
She quickly gathered these familiar faces around her. Feng'er was at a loss, but after seeing Xu Qingying and other familiar people, she calmed down a little. "Miss, what is our team doing?"
"Clean up the battlefield. We don't have to go to the front lines."
"Girl, what about them? Will they be dangerous?"
Xu Qingying gritted her teeth and shook her head, "I don't know either."
Xu Yinxi secretly held Xu Qingying's hand and said in a low voice, "Can't we run?"
"How can we run? There are probably 70 or 80 people in our team, and these 70 or 80 pairs of eyes are staring at us."
"Are we really going to charge into battle? If someone gets killed, the nature of the situation will change."
Feng Er said: "Now that things have come to this, what else can we do?"
After a brief exchange, Xu Qingying saw the troops marching out from the front. The city gates were wide open, and over a thousand people lined up and marched out one after another, looking quite impressive.
Feng'er tugged at Xu Qingying's sleeve, her voice tense, "Miss, I saw Master Huiming! He's been assigned to the vanguard team. He doesn't even have a decent weapon. How can he kill the enemy?! This...what should we do?"
Xu Qingying also saw Xu Huiming.
He was thin and looked panicked, and was obviously looking around for other members of the team.
Xu Qingying had no choice but to wave her arms to reassure him.
She was more panicked than ever before. What should she do? Should she really follow Li Datou to kill people and rob?
Run, everyone scatter, how to run?
If they run away, Li Datou will definitely take action against the remaining people!
She always felt that since she traveled to the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was always a mysterious force pushing her forward, and she had no choice but to do so every time. Now she had to go to the battlefield?
Xu Yinxi rarely saw Xu Qingying, who also looked bewildered. She quickly said to Feng'er, "Third cousin is so smart, he will find a way to protect himself."
Immediately afterwards, their team also set off.
Xu Qingying noticed that their team had little combat effectiveness. They were of varying ages, with about seventy or eighty people. The leader was a tall and thin young man. They all called him Master Li. It was estimated that Master Li had a close relationship with Li Datou, which was why he was able to get such a safe logistical role.
Xu Qingying and his men did not distribute weapons. They waited until the front troops left and then set off at the end.
Seeing the city gate slowly closing, Xu Qingying felt a little restless.
Xiaomeizi is still in the city.
Grandma is also in the city.
I was so flustered today that I didn't even say goodbye. What if this is a farewell forever?
Xu Qingying drove out the messy thoughts in her head, then forced herself to calm down and look for a solution.
The team marched through the wilderness for a full half day. Xu Qingying took advantage of the lunch break to get close to Mr. Li. Mr. Li didn't seem to know the situation. He just said that every time someone went to explore the way first, they would rob the village with rich families, and they would just follow.
At night, Xu Qingying saw from afar a fire rising into the sky in a forest somewhere, accompanied by screams. Her heart skipped a beat, and then she heard Master Li draw his long knife and call out to everyone, "There's already a fight going on up ahead. Let's hurry into the village and grab the food. Take away everything we can, and burn the rest! Anyone who dares to run will have their head chopped off! Charge!"
A group of people just ran away.
Xu Qingying grabbed Xu Yinxi and Feng'er and rushed in aimlessly.
But as soon as I rushed in, I was shocked by the scene in front of me.
I saw flames rising into the sky, and the village was already engulfed in war.
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