The Journey Home (Part Two)
The wooden box in his hands felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. Luo Chong bowed, freeing one hand to wipe his forehead.
I said coldly, "Chief Luo, the cattle have already gone into the river, you wouldn't be thinking of dragging their tails along, would you?"
Luo Zhong shuddered: "No—"
Before the word "meeting" even landed, my hand went empty, and a figure flashed before my eyes.
Shi Yu rushed out, snatched the wooden box from Luo Zhong's hand, raised it high above her head, and hurled it fiercely down towards the city!
With a loud bang, the wooden box hit the ground and shattered into pieces, and a blood-stained head rolled toward the old man beside Nare.
The old man, controlling his horse, circled the severed head once, then exclaimed in shock, "Muz! Isn't this your brother-in-law—the youngest son of Chief Agu of the Tuomang tribe?"
Luo Chong snapped out of his daze, shoved Shi Yu hard, and yelled angrily, "What the hell are you doing causing trouble for me!"
Lin Zhong stepped forward, scooped up Shi Yu with his long arm, and carried her away.
Shi Yu clung to his arm and kicked her legs desperately, crying, "Uncle Lin, put me down! Put me down!"
Chaos erupted below the city gate, and soldiers dismounted and went forward to collect the head of Nare's brother-in-law.
Nare held his riding whip, pointed it at Luo Zhong, and shouted angrily, "Luo Zhong, you treacherous villain! I kindly offered to share wealth and honor with you, but you are ungrateful and slaughtered my relatives! If I don't avenge this, I, Nare Muze, swear I will not be a man!"
The cavalrymen roared, "Revenge! Revenge!"
Having come to this point, Luo Zhong had no way out and loudly cursed the other party: "Naramuze, you fatherless, unruly, and fickle beast! I, Luo Zhong, swear to be loyal to the Song court to the death and protect the people of Nanguang. How could I associate with a beast like you!"
The old man beside Nare spoke up indignantly: "Luo Zhong, everyone has their own ambitions. You should be loyal to your Song court. If you're not satisfied, then fight it out! Why utter such vile words and insult our lord? You're showing far too little respect for the Shimen Fan!"
Shi Yu was pulled back to my side by Lin Zhong, and upon hearing the old man's voice, he suddenly became excited again. His height was almost level with the top of the crenellation. At this moment, he grabbed the protruding bricks with both hands and tried to pull himself up, but Lin Zhong's hands were holding him around the waist, so no matter what he did, he couldn't jump up.
Wei Ji said, "Chief Luo's words were so harsh, but there was a reason for it. If Naremu hadn't sent a secret envoy to infiltrate Nanguang and secretly threatened Chief Luo's family with their lives, insisting on using my head as a sacrifice to put my 'brother' in a position of disloyalty and injustice, Chief Luo's reaction would not have been so strong."
"Muzhe, why did you do this?" the old man turned to Nare, his tone quite dissatisfied.
Nare defended himself, saying, "Third Uncle, I didn't do it. It was all Agu's idea."
"snort!"
Nare looked up at Wei Ji: "You are Wei Ji, the prefect of Yuezhou? You Han officials are indeed cunning one after another!"
Wei Ji then said, “Chief Nare, you are mistaken. Since I was transferred from the capital to Yuezhou, I have been working diligently and conscientiously, following the imperial decree, opening markets and pacifying distant peoples.”
"More than half of the caravan merchants traveling along the Eight Pavilions Road are local people from the Shimen tribe. The thriving trade markets and the exchange of goods are a good thing that benefits both the border region and the people. I wonder why Chief Nare insists on going against the tide and acting unilaterally?"
The chieftain on Nare's right said, "My lord, don't waste your breath on him. These people are just trying to buy time!"
The chieftain on the far left also said, "That's right! Twelve years ago, Brother Wuli led his brothers to sweep through Nanguang. If it weren't for those Han officials taking sides and banning the border markets, we wouldn't have been poor for so long! Now, less than a year after reopening, they expect the Shimen barbarians to be grateful to them? No way!"
Nare looked at the old man beside him: "Third Uncle, shall we attack the city?"
The old man said sternly, "You are the official in charge; your word is law!"
"Third Uncle!" Shi Yu cried out in a shrill voice, "Mu Ze is utterly wicked! Third Uncle! Don't listen to him! Don't!"
Everyone on and off the city wall was shocked.
"Who?!" The old man squinted, gazing upwards. "Who spoke just now?"
Wei Ji and I exchanged a glance, and I said to Lin Zhong, "Give him a hand."
Lin Zhong picked up Shi Yu, and Wu Lei turned the hanging basket upside down and placed it under Shi Yu's feet.
Shi Yu waved her arms and shouted, "Third Uncle! Third Uncle! I am A Dao! Na Re A Dao!"
The old man looked surprised and suspicious: "You're A-Dao?!"
The leaders on both sides of the formation looked at each other across the distance: "This...this is Brother Wuli's son?"
"Their whole family is already—"
Naremu's face tightened: "Third Uncle, I've watched A-Dao grow up since he was a child. His accent and appearance are only slightly similar. That Wei fellow is cunning; how do we know he didn't just pick someone of similar age from the refugees of the Wumeng tribe to impersonate him!"
Shi Yu glared: "Muzhe! You killed Adao's father! You murdered Adao's whole family! Your heart is more venomous than the white-headed snake of Wumeng Mountain; more greedy than the jackal of Niulan River!"
"Nonsense!" Naremuze turned to the old man. "Third Uncle, my elder brother's family has been convicted of murdering Mangdan, and the evidence is irrefutable! This kid must be someone that treacherous Han official hired to impersonate him, intending to sow discord among our troops!"
"It's him, it's him!" Shi Yu hissed. "Third Uncle, Mu Ze colluded with Mang Dan and even sent people to steal letters from my father's room! That day, A Dao and my little brother were playing hide-and-seek and hiding under my father's bed. I saw that the masked man who set the fire had six fingers, and A Gu also had six fingers!"
"Pah!" Naremu pointed at Weiji and cursed, "You corrupt official! Agu and Mangdan are both dead and cannot testify, yet you found an imposter to impersonate my elder brother's orphan and slander us for fratricide! You, you are simply not human!"
Wei Ji said in a low voice, "Chief Nare, don't be desperate. Whether the evidence is conclusive or there's no way to prove it, a lie may cover up the truth for a while, but it can never change the truth. When you deny others, why don't you ask yourself—why do you have to go to such extremes?"
Luo Chong continued to curse, "Naramuze, you are truly inhuman! I heard in Nanguang that Narewuli intended to return to Song. I never expected that you would harm your own brother for your own selfish reasons!"
Naremu gritted his teeth: "The truth will out, and the lie will become the truth! During the Mangdan rebellion, my elder brother and his entire family perished in the fire. The kid you've brought here is definitely not Nare Adao!"
"It is he!" I shouted. "Which leader would like to borrow this powerful bow?"
The chieftains of Nanguang rushed forward, eagerly offering their bows and arrows: "Use mine!"
"Use mine!"
Shi Yu took the bow and arrows, and Lin Zhong carried him up to the top of the battlements. Seeing this, Naremu hurriedly went to adjust his hat and helmet.
I sneered, “Chief Nare, do not panic. Although A Dao is young, he would never stoop to such things as snakes and demons.”
Shi Yu drew his bow to its fullest extent, and with a "whoosh," the arrow flew like a shooting star, and a vermilion flag a hundred paces away fell to the ground.
The "local fighter" on the city wall raised his arms and shouted, "Good! Good!"
Uncle Shiyu exclaimed excitedly, "Thank the mountain god! Our Wumeng warrior, Nare Adao, is still alive!" He turned to glare at Muze, "This is the only remaining bloodline of the Wuli tribe. What do you, as his uncle, intend to do?"
Nare quickly replied, "Big Brother's son is Muze's son." He then pointed to the city tower, "Listen, Adao is a member of my Nare family. There was a rebellion in the village, which is why he ended up in Nanguang."
"You lied to a child whose family was destroyed, and used him against your own people. Don't you feel ashamed? If you know what's good for you, hand him over right now!"
Shi Yu grabbed my arm and said urgently, "Mu Ze, you're the one who's lying! I don't want to go back with you! I want to stay with Aunt Qing, Lord Wei, and my good friends from Nan Guang!"
Uncle Shiyu looked regretful: "Adao, my good grandson. Come with me, and I promise you—no one will dare to hurt you again!"
Wei Jishen glanced at Shi Yu: "A Dao will return to his hometown, but not now. Rest assured, I have no intention of using this child to deal with anyone, nor will I allow him to be used by others."
Naremu exchanged glances with Uncle Shiyu, who said, "Since Adao is unwilling to return with us now, as elders, we cannot force him. Over the past few days, Adao has received much care from you. To express our gratitude, our army will temporarily retreat ten li. We will come to knock on the gate again tomorrow at Yuzhong!"
The fighting became extremely fierce in the following days.
The wounded brought back from Linchuan, Qingling, and Shunxi almost filled the open space in Yanziping. Liu Yu and several doctors from Junlian Town were extremely busy. I asked Huai Xu to find a shaman from a nearby village to help, and things improved somewhat.
Linchuan had city defenses, and Qingling had rugged mountains. The wounded in both places were mainly from arrow wounds; as long as they weren't fatally wounded, timely medical treatment meant they wouldn't die. Only Shunxi, nestled between mountains and water, had the most complex terrain, and the fighting there was particularly brutal. The wounded there had mostly experienced hand-to-hand combat, resulting in more severe organ damage.
In order to carry their injured relatives back as soon as possible and increase their chances of survival, the elderly, women, and children of Yanziping also joined the team transporting the wounded.
After breakfast that day, Liu Yu and Aunt Xu told me that Yanziping was already overcrowded, and several pregnant women would be giving birth soon. During the postpartum period, both adults and infants were highly susceptible to infection. They implied that it would be best to move the pregnant women, new mothers, and young children to the back mountain and have someone take care of them.
Human life is at stake, so I hurried to find Manager Zhang to handle the matter and vacate the house where the farmers in the mountains were resting, and clean it up for future use.
As evening approached and they were about to descend the mountain, A-Guo carried the triplets inside: "Qing Niangzi, there are two constables outside looking for you."
I pushed open the door and stepped out. The person in front of me looked very familiar. After a moment's thought, I exclaimed in surprise, "You are—Commander Zheng?"
“Zheng Shao of Changning Army.” The newcomer smiled and took her hand. “You have a good memory, Qing Niangzi. We met at the Yuezhou government office half a year ago.”
"Yes, that's right." I asked expectantly, "Why is Commander Zheng here? Has the rebellion in Yan been quelled?"
Zheng Shao shook his head, looking embarrassed: "This humble general has been ordered by the military envoy to lead the archer battalion to reinforce the city. The Yan rebellion has not yet been quelled. This time, the barbarians have been planning to attack Yujing for a long time and have an inside accomplice, making the battle extremely difficult."
"I wonder if the two military commanders are well?"
"Deputy Military Commander Zhou is stationed at the central command. The military commander led the Flying Cavalry Battalion to Jiangmen Village last night."
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