Chapter 312 Returning Home
Everyone looked at her nervously, as if afraid that something unexpected would happen at the last moment.
If it is delayed for a few more days, not to mention Zhou Heng, I'm afraid the entire Jinzhou Prefecture will not be able to bear it.
Even Zhou Heng's throat rolled over, his eyes tense, "What happened?"
Seeing everyone in the room looking at her as if facing a great enemy, Fang Ruyu couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's not a big deal. Maybe it rained a while ago and the gunpowder is a little damp. It smells a bit wrong."
The people below immediately panicked, "What should we do?"
Seeing Fang Ruyu's normal expression, Zhou Heng knew that the damp gunpowder was no big deal. "Didn't you have someone bring a lot of sacks of flour inside the house?"
"Yes, finely ground flour can absorb moisture in the air and prevent the gunpowder from getting damp. Maybe the air was too humid some time ago, so the flour doesn't seem to be working very well."
“Is the problem serious?”
"It's not a big problem." Fang Ruyu smiled and shook her head, "But we still have to think of a way, otherwise it will take several days to dry naturally."
When they heard that it would waste time, everyone immediately became anxious.
"Miss Fang, we can't wait! We can wait, but the soldiers at the front can't!"
"We've been waiting for so long. If we wait any longer, I'm afraid Jiang Yongkang will come all the way to Qiongzhou Prefecture!"
"Yes, Miss Fang, now that things have come to this, all that's left is assembly. You should think of another way."
Fang Ruyu thought for a moment, "There are ways. This flour can absorb moisture from the air, but with all the flour tied up in the sack, I'm afraid it won't be very effective. I vaguely heard my father say before that you can spread the flour out and then light it with a tinder. If the tinder goes out, it proves there's still moisture in the air. If the tinder burns, then the moisture in the gunpowder should have been absorbed."
When Fang Ruyu said this, there was a slight tremor in her voice that was barely noticeable.
She looked around, expecting someone to question what she said, but surprisingly no one objected. It could even be said that everyone was urging her on.
"Don't they say gunpowder shouldn't come into contact with open flames?"
"Where's the open flame? Just a tinder, and stay away from the gunpowder."
"As expected of Miss Fang, why don't we try it out quickly? Don't waste time!"
"But the flour is scattered everywhere, which is unsightly. Why don't you ask Your Highness to move outside the storehouse?"
Zhou Heng was very anxious. "Don't worry about me. Send someone to spread all the flour."
Fang Ruyu tried to sound calm. "Yes, it's best to spread it out so the whole room is filled with flour. That way it will absorb faster. As long as the gunpowder is fine, the firearm will be ready in no time."
Someone immediately rushed into the warehouse.
Under the light of Fang Ruyu's torch, a dozen soldiers with swords walked into the room, and then, following her instructions, used their bayonets to fiercely strike the sack of flour in the corner.
Someone reminded: "Follow Miss Fang's instructions and spread the flour!"
In an instant, flour all over the room scattered like flowers from heaven.
After saying this, Fang Ruyu looked around and asked, "Who brought the tinder?"
One soldier immediately volunteered, "I have one!"
"Okay, when the flour fills the entire room, you light it. Remember to stay away from the gunpowder." Fang Ruyu instructed. Her heart was beating so fast that she almost vomited, but she held it back. Then she slowly walked towards Zhou Heng, her voice tense, "Your Highness, let's go wait outside the storeroom."
Zhou Heng always liked cleanliness, so he naturally didn't want to be covered in flour, so he had to take all the officials out.
Someone immediately closed the warehouse door, leaving only the soldier who lit the fire and the person who scattered the flour.
Everyone stood at the door waiting anxiously.
Zhou Heng stayed by her side, staring intently at the scene in the room, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Fang Ruyu turning and leaving.
"Your Highness, I think the tinder in that soldier's hand seems a little wet. I'm afraid it won't light. There are tinders in the carriage. I'll go get some."
Zhou Heng didn't even look at her, and didn't even notice that her voice was trembling slightly. He just waved his hand impatiently, "Go quickly."
Fang Ruyu turned and left.
She walked neither fast nor slow, but her mind was blank. She calculated the time in her mind until her legs gradually became weak and painful, and she seemed unable to see anything in front of her.
She was so nervous that her back was soaked with sweat.
She can't stop.
She still has to live well.
She wants to go home.
Return to the home in Jinzhou Prefecture.
She doesn't want to die here!
Fang Ruyu walked so quickly that she almost stumbled. The soldiers outside the fortress were a little confused when they saw her coming out alone, but no one dared to stop her.
Fang Ruyu's face was pale, and she stumbled as she walked, almost falling several times. But she bit her lower lip and pinched her hand tightly until her nails dug into her skin. The pain made her sober.
Then she ran.
Until he ran some distance away from the fortress where the military supplies of Qiongzhou were stored, suddenly, the sky and the earth roared, and only continuous "bang bang bang" explosions were heard. The whole mountain was shaking, and Fang Ruyu finally couldn't hold it anymore and fell directly to the ground.
She turned her head to look.
I saw a huge plume of green smoke rising from the direction of the warehouse, followed by crackling explosions and flames shooting up into the sky. For a moment, the sounds of war drums, screams, footsteps, and horse hooves were mixed together!
Soldiers on high ground beat drums and shouted, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The sound travels far!
There was the sound of countless footsteps, all heading towards the fortress.
Piles of flour cannot be ignited by an open flame, but flour floating in the air combines with oxygen and will explode when it encounters an open flame.
This is the intermediate physics knowledge taught in the literacy class.
She had taught her students this time and again, and her students had looked up and questioned: Can crushed flour really burn?
Now she has proved...
Fang Ruyu's chest kept rising and falling.
She vomited with a "wow".
She did it.
She really killed her enemy!
Zhou Heng was just outside the warehouse. These hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder were enough to destroy a city, let alone a mortal body like Zhou Heng!
He must be dead!
Dead as a whirlwind!
Don't come to harm her and her family again!
I can no longer look at her hypocritically and say those disgusting sweet words to her!
He can no longer compete with Xu Zhenying for the world!
From now on, no matter whether it is Fang Xun, Fang Ningmo, or Fang Ruyu, their future will be bright!
Fang Ruyu wanted to laugh loudly, but her throat seemed to be stuck and no sound came out -
She could only cry.
Her tears streamed down her face. She didn't know whether she felt wronged or happy, but the only thing she was sure of was that she had no regrets!
She is as beautiful as jade and will never regret it!
What to do next?
Fang Ruyu's mind went blank.
After thinking for a moment, she came to her senses. There was no time to be sad. She had to leave here as soon as possible!
The person sent by Xu Zhenying to pick her up was still some distance away. Right now, she needed to rely on herself to get out of Qiongzhou and move towards her bright future!
Fang Ruyu wanted to stand up, but her legs felt like they were filled with lead and she couldn't lift them at all!
She struggled to support herself with her arms, the will to go home supporting her frail body. She struggled to crawl on the ground like a maggot, with only one thought in her mind.
go home.
Return to Jinzhou Prefecture.
Soon, a man came riding a horse with a clear sound.
Fang Ruyu turned around and saw General Ma approaching with a spear in the sunlight. He was so fast that he was about to pierce her head with a swoop.
Fang Ruyu's face was ashen. It was over. This General Ma was the princess's confidant. He had even accompanied the princess to Jinzhou Prefecture before.
She smiled sadly.
It seems that God is not on her side this time.
But that's okay.
Loyal bones are buried everywhere in the green mountains, why should we return home wrapped in horsehide?
Fang Ruyu raised her head, determined to die, but she heard a chuckle: "Miss Fang, why don't you leave quickly? If you don't leave now, His Majesty the King of Ming's men will catch up with you!"
Fang Ruyu opened her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and she looked at him with a dazed look.
"Miss Fang, His Highness asked me to pick you up. The people from Jinzhou Prefecture are already waiting for us outside the city. We must leave this place quickly!"
Fang Ruyu then noticed that he was carrying a bundle on his back. She was shocked and said, "Are you one of His Royal Highness Prince Zhao's men? When did you...take refuge in Jinzhou Prefecture?"
"This isn't the place to talk. Miss Fang just made such a loud noise in the camp. Martial law will be put in place throughout Qiongzhou soon. We won't be able to leave then!"
The fear in Fang Ruyu's heart suddenly turned into surprise.
The so-called finding a way out of a desperate situation makes one overjoyed.
General Ma stretched out his hand and lifted her up fiercely. Fang Ruyu used the force to jump onto the horse. The two of them rode together, then left the movement behind them and rode away!
Almost at the same time, the entire Junshan camp was alarmed.
Hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder exploded at the same time, seemingly blowing the entire mountain apart. Everyone felt the ground shaking. Some people subconsciously thought it was an earthquake and kept shouting, "The earth dragon is turning over, everyone hide quickly!"
Someone else saw the flames and smoke rising into the sky and shouted again: "It's burning, it's burning!!"
Mixed in with it was the warning sound of "enemy attack".
In an instant, the entire Junshan camp was in chaos.
The two of them rode upstream on horseback, encountering almost no resistance the entire time. Everyone was running, fleeing, and screaming, but the two of them were in the panic and did not attract any attention at all.
As they were running out of the camp, the guards asked a few questions before General Ma roared, "Get out of the way! There's been an explosion in the camp, and Prince Ming is still inside, his life or death uncertain. Her Highness the Princess ordered me to rush out of the city to fetch Doctor Lu. You've delayed us, and you deserve to have your heads chopped off!"
When the soldiers heard that His Majesty Ming Wang was in danger, they were terrified and removed the roadblocks without asking any questions, allowing them to ride away at full speed.
After they had been gone for quite a while, one of the clever soldiers came to his senses and said, "That's not right. The person behind General Ma must be Miss Fang, right? Why do we need to bring Miss Fang along when we ask for a doctor?"
What's more, who in the entire Junshan camp doesn't know the relationship between Miss Fang and King Ming?
And now General Ma and Miss Fang are riding on the same horse, which seems weird no matter how you look at it.
"Why do you care so much? What on earth just shook so much? What happened?"
The soldiers had no time to pay attention to Fang Ruyu and General Ma.
The explosion in the camp's warehouse fortress just now was enough to confuse everyone's mind.
The wind was howling and Fang Ruyu was almost vomiting.
Every nerve in her body was tense. Even though there was a strange man in front of her, her will to survive overcame everything. She just held on to General Ma's waist tightly, fearing that she would fall off the horse!
They ran all the way -
Until we left the Junshan camp, passed through the busy city, and walked through the crowd, and directly set foot on the nearest road to Luzhou.
In the mountains and forests, only their horses were running madly.
Fang Ruyu was thinking in his mind, recalling scenes one by one. Those who were standing outside the warehouse just now were almost all the civil and military officials in Qiongzhou, all of whom were Zhou Heng's confidants. These people were so close to the gunpowder. Once the flour burned, the closed room would inevitably cause a big fire, followed by the gunpowder.
Fang Ruyu was very sure.
This time, the officials in Qiongzhou who supported Zhou Heng were completely annihilated.
There is no more resistance to Jinzhou Prefecture's westward advance!
However, they were stopped when they were leaving the city. Xie Deshu, the general defending Qiongzhou Prefecture, did not go to the Junshan camp today because he was on duty. He saw General Ma and Fang Ruyu going upstream and running all the way from afar, so he naturally became suspicious.
In addition, the huge commotion on the mountain today made people in the city panic. With his keenness and directness gained from years of fighting, he naturally realized that there must be big changes in Qiongzhou today.
So he first sent people to stabilize the people in the city, then sent people to the Junshan camp to inquire about the situation, and finally selected a group of elite soldiers and generals to guard the city gate personally.
"General Ma!"
From a distance, he ordered the two men to stop their horses. General Ma's expression changed slightly, and he said to Fang Ruyu behind him, "The situation may not be good. General Xie is notoriously cautious. I'm afraid we will be questioned for a while. Be quiet for a while, and I will answer."
Fang Ruyu's hands were shaking slightly and her face was pale, but for some reason, as she got closer to Luzhou, she felt more courageous.
Her eyes became more determined, "Okay."
"General Ma..." General Xie tilted his head, pretending to just realize it was Fang Ruyu. He then smiled and said, "Miss Fang, what are you two going to do?"
General Ma immediately put on an anxious expression, "General Xie, please get out of the way! There's an accident at Junshan Camp! The gunpowder has spontaneously combusted, and the warehouse is on fire, and even His Royal Highness the Prince of Ming is injured! Her Royal Highness the Princess has ordered Miss Fang and me to find Doctor Zhao to treat the Prince of Ming's injuries. Don't waste time!"
Upon hearing that His Majesty Ming Wang was injured, Xie Deshu became extremely nervous. "No wonder I felt the ground shaking just now. I thought there was an earthquake in Qiongzhou. Turns out something happened in the main camp. Where's the military doctor?!"
Although Xie Deshu was nervous, he was quick-witted. "There are so many military doctors in the camp. Why don't you let them treat your highness's injuries first? Why do you have to run so far?"
Fang Ruyu and his men left the Junshan camp and headed straight for Guangzhou. Now they can reach Luzhou after leaving Guangzhou.
"The situation just now caused chaos in the camp, and no one knows where the military doctors have gone. Even if there are military doctors, Doctor Zhao is the master of treating external injuries. His apprentice said that he went to the front line in Gwangju. We must find him immediately!"
Suddenly, Fang Ruyu's cold voice was heard, "General Xie, do you want His Royal Highness Ming Wang to die? Or do you suspect that General Ma and I are spies from Jinzhou Prefecture?"
Xie Deshu smiled reluctantly, "How dare I? Everyone knows that Miss Fang works day and night for firearms and is a hero to our Qiongzhou Prefecture."
"So you suspect that I eloped with General Ma?"
Xie Deshu's expression changed slightly, and he looked up at the pale-faced woman. She had a pretty face, but her eyes were sharper than ever before.
Thinking of His Majesty the King of Ming's extraordinary feelings for this woman, and the fact that they were engaged, even though Xie Deshu felt that the picture of General Ma and Fang Ruyu together was indeed a bit weird, he could only suppress it.
"Miss Fang, what are you talking about? There was such a commotion on the mountain today that I could hear it from two hundred miles away. At this critical moment, everyone entering and leaving must be questioned. I am only following the rules. Please don't blame me, Miss Fang." Xie Deshu could only give in and raised his hand, "Clear the path and let them pass!"
But before he finished speaking, something suddenly changed!
Suddenly, drums and horns were heard from the city walls. Some soldiers were terrified and kept waving flags to warn people, shouting, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! People from Luzhou are attacking!"
"What?!" Xie Shude shouted, "Who's calling?!"
"Jiang Yongkang's men are attacking! They're everywhere! They have firearms!"
When firearms were mentioned, everyone's faces changed, and the fear of being dominated by firearms once again struck their hearts. Their soldiers from Qiongzhou Prefecture were once brave and good at fighting, but now they were beaten by the people from Jinzhou Prefecture and didn't even know how to fight.
Xie Deshu's face changed drastically. "How could the people from Jinzhou Prefecture attack us?! Where's Hongzhou? Isn't Hongzhou guarded by Old Hu? Could it be that the people from Jinzhou Prefecture have taken Hongzhou as well? Why haven't I seen any battle reports?"
But no one answered him.
Everyone was stunned by the aggressive Jinzhou soldiers.
Suddenly, they rushed out from somewhere and rushed towards the city gate like a tide. The sounds of horse hooves, screams, and drums were heard from all directions.
How could Xie Deshu care about Fang Ruyu and the others?
Fang Ruyu was also shocked. She never expected that Xu Zhenying would attack the city at this moment. She had just killed Zhou Heng when Xu Zhenying's men attacked. It was obvious that there was more than one traitor in Qiongzhou Prefecture!
How many people in Qiongzhou Prefecture voted for Xu Zhenying?
Fang Ruyu thought terrifiedly, and in her mind she recalled the faces of all the civil and military officials who had come earlier. She immediately realized that several of her advisors were not among them! Even the internal affairs officer who was in charge of military supplies and fodder was not there!
But right now, these are not the main points.
The horse beneath his crotch neighed anxiously. Faced with this sudden change in the situation, Fang Ruyu became a little anxious: "General Ma, the people from Jinzhou Prefecture are coming to attack us. If we rush over now, we will only be mistaken for people from Qiongzhou and killed by mistake!"
"That's all right, His Highness has already thought of this!" General Ma removed the bundle in front of him and dropped two red silk ribbons. "His Highness said that if we run into a large army, we should tie these red ribbons around our necks! That way, the soldiers of Jinzhou Prefecture will know we're on their side!"
Fang Ruyu was shocked. She didn't expect Xu Zhenying to have even prepared this.
"Miss Fang, hold on tight! We're breaking out now!"
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