"Miss, what should we do now?" Upon hearing that the war between Great Yan and Xijiang had broken out at Linggu Pass, Shunzi immediately sought out Wan Xueying. "Should we retreat south?" he asked. After all, this place wasn't far from Linggu Pass and could easily be affected.
Wan Xueying frowned and asked, "No news from Shen Yu yet?"
"Not yet," Shunzi shook his head. "Ever since you and Master Pei started training, there's been no news."
"Then tell Nan Ying to keep gathering information and report back at all times. The rest of us should prepare for a double-edged sword. If our army is defeated, we'll immediately flee south." Although Great Yan didn't have many troops stationed at Linggu Pass, the Xijiang River didn't have many nearby either. There were no reports of more Western troops approaching the border. If the two armies fought, Great Yan would undoubtedly have the upper hand.
The trigger for this incident was most likely Pei Xuanqing and Shen Yu's raid on the private vaults of several generals. Those generals, seeking revenge, secretly declared war on the Great Yan. Such hasty action would have been impossible unless the Great Yan side was negligent, leading to a major defeat.
Even though her analysis was very logical, she still had to consider the lives of her family, so she had to be prepared to escape at any time.
Wan Xueying asked Qiu Shi and others to be on high alert. She was not afraid of anything else, but she was most afraid that someone would take advantage of the situation to rob her.
She also sent people to bring the An family, Lin Yingnan and his servants, and Gu Ming and his mother to the mansion. After all, she had many guards here, so if anyone really wanted to attack them, they would have to think twice.
Facts have proved that Wan Xueying's preparation was not unreasonable. Instead of waiting for the Xijiang army, they first waited for a group of thieves.
The first people to discover that the horse thieves would be detrimental to their village were Liu Laolai and his son Liu Ergou.
The reason they discovered it is quite funny.
Ever since Wan Xueying taught them a lesson, they were afraid of being expelled from the village, so they never dared to make any moves on the villagers.
But the old ways never change, so they set their sights on other villages, especially those that were a little further away from Yushu Village.
When they heard that Dayan and Xijiang had gone to war, some people living near Linggu Pass fled south for fear of being affected.
Because of the drought, those villages were almost completely deserted, if not completely empty. The father and son wanted to visit those villages and see if they could get some benefits.
But before they could find a suitable village to attack, they discovered a group of horse thieves who were looting, killing and burning everywhere.
This frightened the father and son so much that they ran back.
Liu Laolai had some conscience. The first thing he did after returning to the village was to find the village chief and tell him about the matter.
The village chief was undecided for a moment whether to flee with the villagers immediately or find a way to repel the bandits. Thinking that Wan Xueying had a group of guards who might be able to help, he took Liu Laolai's wife to find Wan Xueying.
"Uncle village chief, those are horse thieves. Even if all the people in our village run away with their families, can we be faster than a horse?" Wan Xueying asked instead of answering when the villagers asked her.
"There are quite a few elderly people in our village. Even if the bandits don't ride horses, we can't outrun them. So before I came here, I thought it would be best to find a way to repel the bandits."
"Then I wonder how many people are there on the other side?" Wan Xueying asked Liu Laolai.
"I didn't count carefully. Ergou and I were just busy running away."
"So which village did you see them in?"
"Yangshu Village..." Liu Laolai couldn't be sure. They didn't have a destination, they just wanted to see which village had fewer people and where they could profit.
"No," Liu Ergou interrupted Liu Laolai, "It's Xujia Village, the one where everyone has the surname Xu."
"How do you know that's Xujia Village?" Liu Laolai looked at Liu Ergou.
"I heard someone shouting 'Big Xu' and 'Second Xu', so I guessed that must be Xujia Village."
"Okay," Wan Xueying nodded, "I understand. I'll ask someone to find out right away." Time waits for no one. Seeing that the father and son were also confused and Nanying was not around, she handed the matter over to Shunzi.
After making the arrangements, she continued to discuss with the village chief how to deal with the horse thieves.
"No matter how many people there are on the other side, they are no more than the able-bodied laborers of our several villages combined."
"Do you mean to call on the strong laborers from the surrounding villages to fight against the horse thieves together?" asked the village chief.
"That's right." Wan Xueying nodded. "They're not just robbing our village. To prevent other villages from suffering, we all have to work together to repel the bandits. No," she said with a cold glint in her eyes, "we have to kill them all!"
"Kill all the horse thieves?" The village chief's voice was trembling when he said this. At his age, let alone killing people, the number of times he could kill chickens was limited.
"If we don't eradicate the problem and let them go back to the mountains, when they come back later, everyone in our villages will die." She was not exaggerating. Those horse thieves had no humanity and would kill even those who had not offended them, let alone those who had offended them?
If it were before, they could repel the horse bandits first and then leave it to Shen Yu and his reserve team. But now it is an extraordinary period and they can only rely on themselves.
"Okay, I'll go discuss this matter with the other village chiefs first." Although the village chief couldn't accept the idea of killing the horse thieves all at once, it didn't stop him from doing other things, which was really good.
"I'll have someone send the village chief in a carriage. Oh, and by the way," Wan Xueying reminded him, "it's best if you send a few people to tell the rest of the village about this. Have each family send a few strong men with weapons to come to me. I'll have someone teach everyone some defensive tactics first."
Although we couldn't point fingers at the villagers and kill them, there was strength in numbers, so we could still ask them to help with defense. The reason for gathering everyone together first was to prevent them from being overly frightened when encountering bandits and not knowing what to do. We had to make a division of labor in advance.
This matter would only be convincing if the village chief found someone to arrange it, which also shows the importance of a village chief.
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." The village chief accepted her proposal.
Actually, not many people fled from their village. Some people who had fled famine before returned home one after another. After discovering that there was a water source in the village, they regretted fleeing too early.
The villagers were united. When they heard that the horse thieves were about to come to their village and had killed many people, some strong and energetic laborers picked up their sickles, hoes, pickaxes and other tools at home and gathered outside the Wan family's mansion without saying a word.
Even Liu Laolai and his son, who were almost frightened before, each took a farm tool as a weapon and joined in.
An Dayong and An Ping did not back down. Lin Yingnan and his servant, who finally had a chance to use their skills, were even more eager to try, and everyone joined the team.
Qiu Shi divided them into teams and selected captains according to Wan Xueying's instructions. Each team will fight the enemy together under the command of the captain.
There was no time to teach the rest. Shunzi, who was in charge of gathering information, rode back anxiously to report: "The bandits are approaching Yangshu Village. They might be their next target."
Wan Xueying said, "Oh no! The village chief just went to Liushu Village and said he would go to Yangshu Village next."
"Then what should we do?" An Dayong asked anxiously, "Should we send someone to bring the village chief back?"
"Dad, we can't just pick up the village chief," Wan Xueying said with a determined look. "We can't just sit there and wait for the bandits to attack us. If the lips and teeth are gone, we'll be in trouble. We have to go to Yangshu Village to provide support." Although the bandits were attacking faster than she expected, the goal of the villages working together to repel them remained unchanged. She preferred to be proactive rather than passive, not wanting to drag the war into their village.
"Do you all agree?" An Dayong turned to seek the opinions of the strong laborers in the village.
"Agreed! Let's go support Yangshu Village now."
"I agree! Let's go support Yangshu Village now." The strong laborers gathered in the village responded one after another.
"Okay then," An Dayong continued loudly, "We all have to listen to Xueying later. We have to do whatever she tells us to do." He had to build momentum for his daughter.
"Okay! We'll all listen to Xueying."
"Well then," Wan Xueying said without any hesitation, "let's all go to Yangshu Village to provide support."
After saying that, he got on the carriage first, took An Dayong and An Ping to Yangshu Village first, followed by Qiu Shi and others.
However, before leaving, for the safety of her mother, An Fan, Aunt Chen, Madam Wu and others, Wan Xueying left behind two guards and also kept Lin Yingnan and his servant.
On the way, Wan Xueying asked Shunzi how many bandits there were. She was afraid that the villagers would be scared after hearing how many people there were, so she stayed until now.
"About thirty or forty people," Shunzi replied.
"Thirty or forty people?" It didn't sound like a lot, but the opponents were all desperate criminals who killed without blinking an eye. Not to mention the villagers who rarely fought, even her ten guards would find it difficult to withstand them in a one-on-one fight.
"You go and find out again." The responsibility of finding out the news still fell on Shunzi.
"Yes! I'll go find out right away. But miss, please don't be so stubborn. If there is any danger, we can escort you and the An family away without any problem."
"I understand." Wan Xueying nodded, "You should also be careful and don't expose yourself."
"The little one will."
After everyone from Yushu Village left the village, the villagers from Liushu Village who had specially gone to their village to inquire about the news also hurried back to the village to report the news to the village chief of Yushu Village. The strong laborers in Yushu Village also hurried to Yangshu Village for support under the leadership of their village chief.
When Wan Xueying and others arrived at Yangshu Village, the villagers were still unaware of the situation. When they learned that the horse thieves were about to attack the village, they all panicked.
Fortunately, the strong laborers from Yushu Village arrived quickly with their tools. They quickly returned home, picked up their farm tools, and prepared to fight the horse thieves to the death.
"Village Chief," Wan Xueying suggested to the head of Yangshu Village, "We think the bandits will be here soon. We'd better set up some traps first. If we don't have time, we can use some ropes as tripwires."
"Girl, I don't know anything about this. Everyone is counting on you." The head of Yangshu Village nervously handed the important task to Wan Xueying.
"Well, everyone, listen to me. Let's go to the village entrance and set up traps and tripwires."
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