Ultimately, the bandits of Langya Mountain could not resist the lure of money and agreed to Madam Xia's request.
However, they only intended to target the young and beautiful woman mentioned by Madam Xia, and did not want to touch the others. After all, money was easy to come by but food was hard to come by. If they really harmed His Highness the Second Prince, none of their brothers on Langya Mountain would be able to escape.
The Second Prince and his entourage waited at the foot of the mountain for a full half day, but the two soldiers who had gone to scout the area did not return.
The Second Prince paced anxiously on his horse, unsure whether they had passed through safely or had been captured by bandits and met with misfortune.
"Chief Huang, should we send someone else to check again?"
"Your Highness, let's wait for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. If they don't return, we'll take another route."
When Chief Huang said this, he also looked helpless. These two soldiers were considered to be the more agile soldiers under his command. If they could not even pass through such a small target, then Wolf Tiger Mountain was probably too ferocious.
Just as everyone was about to give up, the two cavalrymen who had been sent out earlier returned at full speed.
"Your Highness, there are bandits on almost every hill in this area, though most of them are not large in number."
It turned out that as they traveled through the Wolf Tiger Mountain range, they discovered that there were people on guard duty on every small hilltop, but they lived in small groups.
We were delayed because we disturbed them on the last hilltop.
"Chief Huang, let's hurry and get through here."
Although the Second Prince knew that these bandits would be difficult to deal with, he was more concerned about the epidemic in Liaocheng, so he did not want to delay any longer.
Chief Huang didn't know what to do, but he still reluctantly agreed, because he knew that the Second Prince was very stubborn, and he was also concerned about the epidemic in Liaocheng. Every second wasted meant that one more person would die from the epidemic.
"May I ask if the shopkeeper has ever seen a large group of people pass by here?"
Wu Yong ordered a pot of tea made from coarse, hairy leaves at the tea stall, and then handed a small ingot of silver to the shopkeeper.
"Young master, you are too kind." The shopkeeper had never seen such a generous customer before, and said with a smile after taking the money.
“A few days ago, a group of officials did pass by here and even asked me if I bought some tea.”
Money makes the world go round. The tea stall owner not only told Wu Yong the direction that the Second Prince and his entourage were going, but also gave him detailed information about the number of horses and sedan chairs.
Before leaving, they even packed a lot of snacks for Wu Yong so he could eat on the way.
Wu Yong rode a fast horse, carrying a bundle on his back and some snacks from the shopkeeper, and galloped towards the direction where the Second Prince and his entourage had gone.
But eventually, at a fork in the road, he stopped. One road wound around the Tiger Mountain range, while the other went directly through the Wolf Tiger Mountain range.
"When you're calling out troops, you just go wherever you end up."
Wu Yong ultimately chose to traverse the Langhushan mountain range directly.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Li Youran and the Second Prince's Consort were traveling at breakneck speed, covering a journey that should have taken three days in just one and a half days.
"Miss, Madam, please have mercy and give us some food."
"Poor thing, my child hasn't eaten for three days."
The Second Prince's Consort, who was sitting in the middle of the room, could not bear to see these people suffering. So she instructed the maid next to her to distribute the dry food she had with her to the refugees.
"Sister, I can't give it to you."
Before the maid could take out the dry food from the bundle, Li Youran stopped her and shook her head with a troubled expression as she looked at the Second Prince's wife.
"If you distribute these provisions, sister, we're afraid our carriage won't even reach Liaocheng today."
The Second Prince's wife hadn't considered this. She originally thought Li Youran was just reluctant to part with the rations, but upon closer reflection, she realized that her sister wasn't heartless.
After hearing Li Youran's words, he realized that if dry food was distributed to the refugees, even more refugees would gather around.
With so many refugees, this amount of dry food is simply not enough to go around. Not only that, but some refugees might also take the opportunity to riot and loot their belongings.
"The city gate of Liaocheng is not far ahead. After we enter the city, we will find the magistrate and ask him to open the granaries and distribute grain."
Seeing Li Youran say this, the Second Prince's Consort did not insist any further.
The closer to the city gate of Liaocheng, the more refugees there were. Most of them stayed by the roadside, either waiting where they were or heading to places further away from Liaocheng.
Currently, a large-scale outbreak of the epidemic has occurred in Liaocheng, and the city gates have been sealed off, preventing people inside from leaving and people outside from entering.
Most of the refugees outside are from rural areas, where the epidemic is present but not particularly severe.
The reason they stayed near Liaocheng was because porridge was distributed regularly at the city gate. Once they left Liaocheng, they would have to pass through a desolate area without enough food to sustain them on their journey, so they stayed there.
As far as Li Youran knew, Liaocheng was a large city with a population of about 20,000, and the epicenter of this outbreak was in Liaocheng.
According to the reports submitted, dozens of people died from the epidemic every day, and nearly a hundred people were infected with the epidemic every day.
The area most severely affected by the epidemic is northern Liaocheng, where the outbreak first occurred. It is now completely locked down, and residents of northern Liaocheng are not allowed to leave the area.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
