Chapter 133: Seeking Medical Treatment in Desperation
Meipu remained silent for a long time, and Shen Yuexi began to feel uneasy.
This atmosphere made her feel a little uncomfortable. It wasn't that she was afraid, but rather that she felt uneasy. She couldn't see Mep's expression, so she didn't know what he was thinking.
"Master Mei, if you don't tell me, I'm leaving."
She was getting tired of waiting, so she teased Maep and stood up, pretending to leave.
"I'll tell you, Miss Shen, please sit down." Mei Pu said hurriedly, "I was just thinking about what to say."
Shen Yuexi sat down again: "Well, go ahead."
"Look, I...if I recover," Mei Pu paused for a long while before speaking hesitantly, "Well, I know you and Xiao Zhuo haven't...I mean, you definitely didn't do it voluntarily at the beginning...Ahem...If I recover, actually, I was a handsome man before I got sick. Although I am ugly now, you see, my sister is also very beautiful. We are brother and sister..."
Shen Yuexi was completely bewildered. Mei Pu's words were so confusing and disjointed, one moment claiming to be healed, the next calling herself ugly, and even bringing up the virtuous concubine far away in the capital. The original owner had never seen the virtuous concubine.
She really wanted to take off the mask to see what his expression was, but she held back and asked:
"Master Mei, what exactly do you want to express?"
"Ah... As for me, I really didn't want to give up... Last year I was going to the capital..."
Before Mei Pu finished speaking, Qiu Liming's urgent voice rang out from outside the door: "Madam, here are two letters, extremely urgent!"
"Two letters, and they're extremely urgent?" Shen Yuexi felt something was wrong, wondering if it had anything to do with Xiao Zhuo.
"Prince Mei, I'm going to go out for a moment."
"Okay, okay." Mep took two deep breaths, feeling as if he had used a lot of effort to say those words just now.
Shen Yuexi didn't have time to think about these things. She stood up and opened the mask a little. After she walked out of the door, she took off the mask, took the letter from Qiu Liming's hand, and opened it to take a look.
One letter came from Xiao Zhuo, and the other was from Qiang Lin of Xirong.
The contents of the two letters were identical: a 20,000-strong Western Rong army was marching towards Xiaogang Village. They would arrive in five to six days, and she was advised to take shelter immediately.
"General Qiu, quickly give these two letters to Prince Mei." Shen Yuexi watched Qiu Liming hurriedly enter the room, picked up the mask and shouted, "Yang Cong, Yang Cong, where are you?"
Yang Cong ran out from a corner door, flexing his wrists. "Madam, I'm coming. That guy is driving me crazy. If I don't beat him up, he'll always come looking for trouble...Madam, you didn't take off your mask just now, did you?"
"Of course not. I still need to speak to Prince Mei," Shen Yuexi said, putting on her mask. "Hurry and lead me in. And tell the sergeant to call Zhang Song over."
Seeing her anxious face, Yang Cong quickly led her into the house and turned back to call Captain Zhang Song.
Mei Pu's voice rang out, "I have seen the letter General Qiu sent me. The Western Rong have 20,000 soldiers and 5,000 captives have rejoined them, totaling 25,000 men. We only have 1,500 soldiers here, and General Qiu is our only commander."
Shen Yuexi said in a low voice: "Have those five thousand people joined them?"
"What do you think, Prince?" Qiu Liming asked.
He sat below the main seat, with Meipu above him to his right. He was dressed in black and wore a metal mask. Shen Yuexi sat opposite him, in a blue dress and also a mask. This way, she couldn't see Meipu, and Meipu couldn't see her face.
Before the lord left, he specifically called him and Yang Cong over, saying they shouldn't let Mei Pu and Shen Yuexi meet. He was quite puzzled at the time and asked why. He remembered the lord saying, "Prevent trouble before it happens," and even a rough-and-tumble general like him didn't understand the meaning of such elegant words. It was just a little funny to see both of them wearing masks.
"The Xirong have sent troops to Langya Pass again, obviously to avenge their last attack." Meipu looked at Shen Yuexi, "I think we can only avoid the attack for the time being."
"If the Western Rong are heading for Xiaogang Village, where can we hide?" Shen Yuexi said, "Unless we enter the pass and rely on the protection of the city walls."
Qiu Liming interrupted, "If we say hello to General Wei, he should let us take refuge in the pass."
"Impossible," Mep said firmly, waving his hand. "I won't enter."
Qiu Liming realized that he had said the wrong thing and quickly shut up.
The imperial court's attitude towards the King of Xiliang had always been to eliminate him as soon as possible, though it had never been stated explicitly, but everyone knew it. Now that the Prince of Xiliang was being asked to seek refuge in the pass, there was no chance he would agree.
Shen Yuexi's tone turned anxious. "If we don't enter the pass, we won't have the troops to resist the enemy. The cavalry led by my husband is now in the territory of Xirong and can't come back."
"Don't worry, Madam Shen." Mei Pu put the letter he had just written aside and picked up the pen to wet the ink. "I will write another letter to my father."
Shen Yuexi quickly stopped him, saying, "I've already sent a letter asking your father to send troops to help Xiao Zhuo. If we send another one, will he have enough soldiers to do it?"
Mei Pu hesitated for a moment, put down the pen and said, "What do you think, Mrs. Shen?"
As everyone was talking, Captain Zhang Song also entered the room. He heard the conversation between Shen Yuexi and Mei Pu and first greeted Mei Pu. Then he said, "Your Highness, we will just take refuge here. As for Xiaogang Village, we can let them fend for themselves."
Qiu Liming agreed with what he heard.
He felt that as long as he could protect his mistress and the prince of Xiliang, the few thousand villagers in Xiaogang Village would be gone. But he was afraid that his mistress would not agree.
His worries were indeed realized. Shen Yuexi said, "With the Xirong army invading, how can we abandon the villagers of Xiaogang Village and flee on our own?"
Zhang Song said, "Madam Shen, it would be fine if we had an army. But now we only have 1,500 men. How can we resist the 25,000-man Western Rong army? Besides, why does Madam Shen value this small village so much?"
Shen Yuexi said, "This village was protected by my husband with great effort. General Qiu knows it best."
Qiu Liming also nodded and said, "Captain Zhang, you know that we have been holding off the attack of the nearly ten thousand Western Rong troops with only five hundred soldiers. If we abandon them, everything we have done before will be meaningless."
In his heart, he also agreed with Shen Yuexi's approach. Xiaogang Village was the base of their army. Without Xiaogang Village, it would be like a wanderer without a home, forced to rely on others everywhere. At that time, people had to bow their heads under the eaves.
Mei Pu hesitated for a moment, then opened his eyes and said, "Then have the villagers of Xiaogang Village move out as soon as possible and return after Xirong leaves."
Shen Yuexi shook her head. "If they wanted to leave, they would have left during the previous battle. The village head said at the time that they would never leave there, even if they died. But these recent residents who moved in can be allowed to seek refuge in Baixiushan."
Zhang Song said, "That's fine. This Taoist temple is large enough to accommodate about another thousand people."
"There's no time to lose," Shen Yuexi said to Qiu Liming, "General Qiu can lead his troops to Xiaogang Village to explain this matter to everyone and ask them to seek refuge in Baixiushan. By the way!"
Everyone in the room saw her suddenly stand up and looked at her. Mei Pu asked, "Mrs. Shen, do you have a solution?"
"Xiao Beiheng!" Shen Yuexi reached out to take off the mask, then put it down again. "He's leading 50,000 troops right here. We can send a letter asking for his help."
"Prince of Qi?" Mei Pu snorted. "He came uninvited and has no good intentions."
Shen Yuexi said, "Now that the Western Rong are about to attack, we must try every possible method. The King of Qi is also one of the kings of Dayan. Now that a foreign tribe is attacking, he will definitely not ignore it. I will write a letter, and you can send someone to see Xiao Beiheng to see if he can send troops to help."
Mep smiled bitterly and said, "Let's try it."
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