The Marquis, on the other hand, remained calm. Before the traitor was found, he looked at everyone with suspicion. Now, although he was heartbroken, he felt much more at ease.
He paused for a moment, then asked, "What did the other generals say?"
Mu Xu replied, "They originally wanted to defy the imperial decree and lead troops out of the pass to provide relief. But I stopped them, because defying the imperial decree would certainly be labeled as rebellion, and they have relatives in Xindu..."
The Marquis nodded. "You did the right thing. Don't let them get involved unless absolutely necessary. Jiang Cheng's betrayal and the imperial decree to seize power are both aimed at me."
"I thought that even if the Emperor was wary of my achievements overshadowing his own, he would still prioritize the safety of Tianwu. He would only make his move after I finished this last battle, completely annihilated the barbarian cavalry, and ensured twenty years of peace for Tianwu."
"I never expected him to be so impatient, not even willing to wait a few days. He's dragged three thousand vanguard brothers into danger with me!"
"No, my lord, don't say that!" The other soldiers shouted when they heard this.
"We are the Marquis's soldiers, the invincible Northern Expeditionary Army! At any time, we are willing to fight to the bitter end with the Marquis!"
"Besides, there are only ten thousand people down the mountain, not a hundred thousand. We're not afraid! A few charges will break through the encirclement!"
"Exactly, they're just defeated opponents!"
With such high morale, the Marquis and the others were naturally pleased.
The barbarians at the foot of the mountain, not knowing what they were planning, remained inactive, which gave everyone some time to discuss countermeasures.
Looking at the soldiers busily working, Li Laosi sighed and said, "I was originally thinking that after this final battle, when we annihilated the barbarians, I would take my brothers back to Jiangnan and let them reunite with their families."
Now, with such danger, I'm afraid...
The Marquis also frowned deeply. How to break through the barbarian encirclement without using the northern expeditionary army on the border was extremely difficult.
Li Laosi paced back and forth, finally saying, "My lord, let's contact the border to send troops. If the court accuses them of disobeying imperial orders, we'll lead them south. Who knows, we might even establish our own country overseas!"
Mu Xu listened excitedly and replied, "That's what I think too. If we could find a place like the Golden Buddha Kingdom, it wouldn't be difficult to become king directly."
The Marquis stood up and looked towards the border, shaking his head. "No, the soldiers all have parents and relatives. If they leave with us, their parents and relatives will surely suffer. Moreover, it is hard to leave one's homeland. Unless absolutely necessary, no one wants to go far away from home."
Li Laosi kicked a stone in frustration and retorted, "My lord, this won't work, that won't work, where are we going to find reinforcements? We might as well just charge down there, otherwise, if we're trapped on this isolated mountain for a few days, even if the barbarians don't attack, we'll die of thirst and hunger!"
The Marquis tightened the white bandage around his injured leg, picked up his sword, and said, "I'll take my guards to find the weak points in the barbarian siege, and try to break out after dark."
"No, your leg is still injured! If anyone should go, it's me!" Old Li stopped the Marquis and was about to leave.
Unexpectedly, Mu Xu jumped onto the large rock, gazed towards Jiangnan, then jumped down and said, "My lord, we have reinforcements!"
After saying that, he carefully took out an envelope made of oiled paper from his pocket and handed it to the Marquis.
"When I came out, the princess gave me this. She told me to give it to you when I was in dire straits. I guess the time has come. The princess must have a way to save us!"
The Marquis opened the envelope; inside was only a single sheet of paper with a single sentence written on it.
"Trust me, just wait!"
Li Laosi was anxious, so he leaned over and glanced at it, feeling a bit complicated.
He knew that his daughter had some amazing abilities.
However, more than 2,000 vanguard soldiers, with a small number of wounded, were surrounded by tens of thousands of enemies and had no reinforcements.
Even if my daughter were a goddess descended from heaven, I doubt she could save so many people!
Mu Xu ignored them, turned and ran, leaving behind a single sentence.
"Four days! Wait for me for four days! I guarantee I'll bring the princess here!"
Old Li instinctively stood up to stop him, "Come back, come back first!"
But Mu Xu had already run halfway up the mountain, and was even spotted by the barbarians, who roared and drew their swords to intercept him.
Mu Xu longed to go home day and night, and he longed for the girl who had long captured his heart. How could he be stopped by the barbarians?
In a single encounter, he knocked down a barbarian, quickly broke out of the encirclement, and even managed to steal two warhorses!
One horse to ride, and one horse to keep on standby!
On the mountaintop, Lord Hou, Li Laosi, and the others watched as Mu Xu's figure gradually disappeared, and they were all at a loss for words.
"Nonsense!" Old Li cursed angrily. "Why send Fu Niu'er to such a dangerous place! Mu Xu is too unreliable. We absolutely cannot let Fu Niu'er marry him!"
Unfortunately, Mu Xu couldn't hear the threat at all.
Not to mention how Lord Hou and Li Laosi organized their troops and held the fortified Lonely Mountain.
In Xindu alone, although the royal family took the initiative to cover up the Li family's audacity, every household still felt the tension in the air.
The mutual probing with the intention of marriage between men and women continues, and the纨绔子弟 (sons of wealthy families who are spoiled and dissolute) remain imprisoned.
Pedestrians coming and going on the street subconsciously tiptoed, not daring to speak loudly.
The entire city of Xindu was like the calm before an earthquake. At any moment, perhaps just because someone threw a fruit pit, the mountains would immediately collapse and the earth would be turned upside down!
If this is the case for outsiders, then the Earl's Mansion and Broken Gold Beach are naturally the two places most in the spotlight, and therefore even more tense and cautious.
The servants in the Earl's mansion were all bought out through contracts of life and death; they had no relatives, only their masters.
All honor and disgrace are naturally tied to the master's family.
So there's no need to ask; just take everything with you when you head south.
But it didn't work out at Suijintan. It wasn't that the villagers weren't loyal or united enough; it was simply that there were too many elderly people there.
Since crossing mountains and valleys to reach their new home, they have personally reclaimed the land, built houses, dug hot springs, and planted fruits and vegetables, and have now put down roots here again.
Quanzhou is a good place for them, but they don't have the strength to uproot it again.
The village chief, holding a roster, gathered all the remaining people, young and old, and asked them one by one whether they wanted to stay or leave.
An old man grabbed the village chief's arm and sighed, "Brother, we know that the princess and the lord mean well and don't want us to stay and be bullied."
“But we’re all old and really don’t want to move anymore. Besides, even if we went south, we’d be no use except as a burden to the children. So we might as well stay here and watch over Broken Gold Beach for our master.”
“Yes, brother. We really don’t want to leave. We’ll stay here and look after the house. What goes around comes around. Who knows, the owners might come back sometime!” another old lady said.
"When the time comes, we can't let the master see the whole mountain overgrown with weeds! We'll stay here, do some rough work, and when we die, we'll be buried here. Only then can we rest in peace."
The other elderly people nodded in agreement, clearly sharing the same plan.
Today's update is here!
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