Little Youran then lifted her head from her arms and said in a clear voice, "Great-aunt, my cousins, we don't have soldiers, but we brought food!"
Madam Yun chuckled and patted Madam Su's hand, "In the end, it's still you who cares about this old woman."
Madam Su leaned on the old lady's shoulder, "Aunt! We are relieved that you are all safe and sound."
Li squeezed in as well, "Fourth sister-in-law, it's my turn!"
After saying that, she snatched Xiao Youran from Madam Yu's arms, "Oh my little Fu Bao, finally your second cousin's aunt can hold you again! With little Fu Bao here, I feel much more at ease!"
Then everyone around rushed over, asking all at once, "Isn't that right? With Little Lucky Baby, we're sure to turn bad luck into good this time!"
"How is Wufeng County doing now? I heard that many small groups of stragglers have been burning, killing, and looting in neighboring counties."
"Those damned Westerners, they appeared out of nowhere, and I heard that more than a dozen counties in western Taizhou have been affected!"
"I heard that Sunjia Village over there was massacred. We saw flames shooting into the sky a few days ago, so we went door to door to notify everyone to bring their rice and grain and escape here."
"Tsk tsk, that fire burned for days and nights...it was horrible!"
"If we hadn't been unable to enter the county town and didn't want to go too far from home, we might have fled to the capital city as well."
"When you came down from the mountain, did you encounter any Westerners? Those damned Westerners live in the village, and we're in a bind! We have no choice but to hold this mountain. Fortunately, they haven't discovered that we're hiding up here yet!"
After the initial chaos subsided, Su slowly answered each question one by one. "Wufeng County is now closed; only exits are allowed, no entry. The eastward direction is still safe for now. We should have passed by Sunjia Village, which you mentioned. Indeed, there wasn't a soul in sight, and the village was burned down. The soldiers guarding the city said that there are indeed several groups of Westerners roaming around, making it very unsafe. One group is staying in Sanyang Village and Zhaojia Village. But we are too close to them; this place is probably not a long-term solution."
The seventh brother of the Yun family squeezed through the crowd, looking worried, and said, "We know this isn't a long-term solution, but we have no other choice right now! We can't go down this mountain, so we can only guard it for the time being. We're so grateful to these clever brothers who are patrolling the mountain for us."
One of the guards came over and said, "Yes, we brothers take turns patrolling the mountain. We were startled when we saw someone coming up the mountain. I regretted firing an arrow, but it turned out to be a good thing we only fired one."
Yun Laoqi hesitated, "Madam Su, you mentioned earlier that you brought some grain? Although we are safe now, we only brought the grain from our house when we fled up the mountain. We also have to take care of several hundred people in Zhao Family Village, I'm afraid..."
Madam Su nodded, "We did bring some food with us, it's on the carriage, parked in that little grove to the north. We'll have to trouble you brothers to help us get it. But the carriage has limited capacity, so it can only last for two meals for now."
The guard nodded. "It's getting dark now. Let's do some reconnaissance and divide the tasks."
Yun Laoqi was moved to tears. "Thank you so much, Madam Su! But it's too dark to start a fire now, so I'm afraid you newcomers will have to go hungry tonight."
They were afraid that people down the mountain would see the fire and smoke on the mountain, so during the day some of them would hide in the cave to cook.
Some people started a fire behind the giant rock outside.
Xiao Youran wasn't afraid; she had snacks on her.
Yun Manyan picked her up in one go, "Little cousin! I'm so glad to see you again!"
Two little girls ran over and hugged Xiao Youran's legs on either side. They were Yun Manqian and Yun Manhan, who were a little older than Xiao Youran. "Little cousin, why don't you sleep with us tonight!"
Xiao You Ran: ……
Let me go!
Then he pounced on the two little ones, saying, "Little cousins! Sleep with us!"
Xiao Youran looked down and saw that it was Xiao Wu Yun Tianzhi and Xiao Liu Yun Tianjiao.
She then glanced around instinctively and saw Yun Tiankuang and Yun Manying standing to the side, smiling at her.
Great, the whole family is together.
It was now completely dark, and there was a faint candlelight on the walls deep inside the cave.
The chieftain let the children stay deeper inside the cave, while the adults rested on the outside, closer to the entrance.
Xiao Youran knew that this cave was the same cave where the thousand-year-old eye-brightening sand was discovered.
At the other end of the cave is a cliff with a deep pool at its base, so getting water shouldn't be a problem.
As she went further in, she indeed saw some tables, chairs, and benches, and the bedding and other items laid out on the floor were all there.
Yun Manyan carried Xiao Youran inside and placed her on a quilt against the wall.
Little Youran then remembered, "Big sister, where's brother-in-law? Why can't I see him?"
Yun Manyan immediately said with some worry, "He...he went with Young Master Wen to fight the enemy."
Xiao Youran's eyes widened. "Oh, brother-in-law will definitely be alright! Maybe he can even earn military merit and get you an imperial title!"
Yun Manyan smiled through her tears, "Thank you for your kind words!"
When asked about their return to Yunjia Village, Yun Manwan gave a brief account, saying that after the Western barbarians entered the pass, Taizhou immediately descended into chaos. Refugees flocked to Wufeng County, and many people were already suffering from famine; this further exacerbated the chaos, with the barbarians taking the opportunity to loot various shops, especially rice and cloth shops. Yunjia's cloth shop and her embroidery workshop were both robbed, and her grandmother, worried about the safety of her family, hurried back to Yunjia Village.
When Yunjia Village was newly built, a large house was specially built for Tian Kuang's family. Unexpectedly, soon after, scattered bandits from the Western Barbarians broke into nearby villages, and Yun Laoqi kept sending young men from the village out to gather information. News of the robbery and massacre of Sunjia Village was immediately relayed back, and Yun Laoqi immediately ordered all the villagers of Yunjia to pack their belongings and prepare to flee.
But to their surprise, the villagers of Zhao Family Village had already come to them, saying that Western barbarian soldiers had raided their village. The villagers of Zhao Family Village dared not resist and fled their village. Those who couldn't escape all died under the swords and spears of the Western barbarians.
Yun Laoqi immediately gave the order, and several hundred people quickly fled to the nearby low hill. After squatting there for two days, seeing the firelight coming from the direction of Sunjia Village, they were terrified. They felt that the low hill was not safe enough. If they were blocked by the Western barbarian soldiers, they would be doomed.
So they secretly moved to Sanyang Mountain in the dark, hoping that the Zhou soldiers mining there could provide them with some protection.
At that time, Sanyang Village had not yet been discovered by the Western barbarian soldiers, so their ascent up the mountain went smoothly.
To their surprise, once they reached the mountain, they discovered that the Zhou army soldiers who had been mining there had already withdrawn, and the grain was in the village. When they tried to go down the mountain to find the grain, they found that the Western barbarian bandits had appeared, so they had to hurry back up the mountain.
"Auntie said that the Great Zhou will send troops to drive away the Western barbarians, and then we will be safe, right?" Yun Manqian, who was a year older than Xiao Youran, looked at her little cousin with anticipation, but there was a hint of fear in her clear voice.
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