"The city wall is still under construction, what are they doing here now?"
"I heard that he's going to take over our supervisory duties. Lately, I've been feeling uneasy. Do you think something bad is going to happen?"
"No way, we haven't seen bandits or barbarians in Fuxian County for years..."
Upon hearing this, Zheng Quchi suddenly understood what he meant by saying he would meet with her often and what he meant by teaching her the art of bone flexibility in a couple of days.
But why would they suddenly come? Replacing the local militia with the army, strengthening military defenses and armed forces, generally indicates that they are being deployed in advance in response to some unsettling factor.
Was it because they discovered the Mohists' secret plan to destroy the city walls? Or was there some other unexpected event?
The soldiers chatted and walked away. Zheng Quchi then came out of the shed area. Lying down for too long was worse than stretching her muscles. She felt increasingly listless these past two days. Her hands were healed, but her heart felt like it couldn't find a way out.
"Ta-da!"
Suddenly, several loud strikes were heard, the clear, resonant sound carrying far and wide, sharper and more piercing than the sound of bells, deafeningly loud.
"Report—" From the mountain path, a pale-faced soldier, adjusting his askew hat, rushed to the quarry and reported to the foreman, Wu Si, "A cavalry force has appeared in the northern mountains! Judging from their attire, they are the Gan Yi barbarians!"
The foreman was terrified on the spot, his voice trembling so badly he could barely speak: "They're here... how many people are here?"
"No, I don't know. Maybe there are dozens, maybe there are hundreds!"
The foreman realized what was happening, turned around, and shouted, "Immediately notify everyone to evacuate the quarry!"
Zheng Quchi overheard everything from behind. She quickly stepped forward and asked, "Why are we evacuating? We have at least a thousand people here. Why should we be afraid of a few dozen or a hundred?"
"What do you know?!" a soldier shouted angrily at her. "Those barbarians are skilled in archery and horsemanship, and they are also well-equipped with fine armor. We have neither good weapons nor know how to lead troops into battle. We only have strength, do you think we can rush up and fight them?"
Zheng Quchi glanced around and saw that the soldiers were only wearing ordinary blue robes, and the knives at their waists were rusty. She tried to speak slowly: "Are you just going to give up and evacuate like this? What about the city walls? What about the people who were building the walls around the city?"
"The troops stationed here will come to handle the situation once they receive the message. There's no point in us staying here!"
Does being able to escape actually help?
Zheng Quchi thought about the large portion of the city wall destroyed at Guixupo, and also about how the garrison patrolling south should still be concentrated in the south at this time, leaving the north almost unguarded.
If these barbarians were riding horses at full gallop, how could they, with only two legs, outrun a fast horse with four legs?
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