Chapter 381 Severely Injured and Comatose
"Let's go to Yuncheng first. We can find out the strength of the barbarians and also confirm the situation inside the pass."
"Um!"
The group continued their journey without stopping, and the closer they got to Yuncheng, the more people they encountered on the road who were going in the opposite direction.
Sheng Sheng was extremely nervous.
war……
These were words she had only seen in storybooks.
After traveling at a faster pace for two days, the group finally arrived in Yuncheng.
This was the first time the group had arrived at a new place without stopping to admire it properly; they went straight to the granary on the outskirts of the city.
Approaching the granary from a distance, one could see several squads of soldiers patrolling nearby.
The atmosphere was serious and somewhat heavy; no one spoke, everyone was simply focused on their respective duties.
"Brother, look, they're guarding it really tight!"
Xie Yun observed for a moment and said, "Hmm, it seems they have also realized the problem of food supplies, so they have increased the guard on the granaries."
However, although there are many people guarding the granary, the area around the granary looks so... chaotic?
There was blood on the ground, of unknown origin, and the withered grass was trampled and mixed with the mud.
It doesn't look like a granary; it looks more like a battlefield that hasn't been cleaned up yet after a battle.
Before the group could ponder for long, the carriage was stopped as soon as it approached.
"Wait, this is a vital grain depot. Please go elsewhere."
Two soldiers stopped them and kindly reminded them, "Don't go any further! Why are you going that way? Turn around and head south right now! Zhennan Pass is about to go to war with the barbarians!"
Ta Ying: "Thank you for reminding us. We are heading to Zhennanguan. May I ask where we are?"
Before he could finish speaking, a scream suddenly rang out, interrupting the conversation.
The first scream seemed like a signal; in an instant, this once silent land was suddenly engulfed by a series of shouts.
Immediately afterwards, a whistle blew.
"Beep—"
"The barbarians are coming again! Be alert! Counterattack!"
The soldier beside him immediately changed his expression: "Damn it, the barbarians have sent people to harass the granary again!"
The voices were cryptic and unclear; sensing something was amiss, he lifted the carriage curtain and quickly asked, "What do you mean?"
"There's no time to explain! You'd better get out of here, or those barbarians will kill you all!"
After saying this, the two soldiers hurriedly ran towards the place where the whistle had been blown.
"Why!"
Sheng Sheng's gaze followed the two soldiers, only to see that before they even reached the entrance of the granary, they were suddenly attacked and killed by a group of people with their faces covered by black cloth.
The force was so great that it spun the two soldiers halfway around, revealing the knife wounds that stretched from their faces to their stomachs, a gruesome sight to behold.
Sheng Sheng: "!!!"
Startled, Sheng Sheng fell to her seat, and the carriage curtain was lowered, shutting her out of the outside world.
Xie Yun was very worried about her and hugged the little dumpling to the corner: "Sheng Sheng, what's wrong?"
Sheng Sheng looked up at him, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
It wasn't that she wasn't prepared to witness these scenes firsthand; it was just that the two vibrant people who had kindly reminded them of these things had died so tragically in the next second.
Sheng Sheng suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
"It's alright, brother."
She gestured to Xie Yun that she was alright, then urged him to go and check what was happening outside.
Given the urgency of the situation, Xie Yunyang could only temporarily suppress his desire to comfort his sister and observe the situation.
Xie Yunyang patted the little ones who had become alert because of the smell of blood, and gently told them to go and stay with Sheng Sheng before lifting a corner of the carriage curtain.
"What's going on?"
"Young master, it must be the barbarians who sent people to harass the granary."
Ta Ying pointed towards the granary and said, "The situation has been stabilized now, young master, there is no need to worry."
Upon hearing this, Xie Yunyang's brows not only did not relax, but instead furrowed even deeper.
Looking closer, in the blink of an eye, more than a dozen corpses lay on the ground. Besides the masked barbarian, there were several Yu soldiers.
A man who looked like a general sighed several times at the mess on the ground, and then quickly ordered people to clean it up.
The soldiers quickly dragged away the bodies, picked up the weapons dropped by the barbarians, and washed away the blood with buckets of water...
It was so skillful, it didn't seem like it was the first time.
"Strange, these soldiers seem used to the barbarians harassing the granary?"
Despite their resentment towards the barbarians, they remained calm, as if they had known all along that the barbarians would come to harass them.
Moreover, the general showed no intention of sending anyone to Zhennanguan to report the situation.
Xie Yunyang was puzzled and instructed Ta Ying to drive the carriage closer to the granary.
Deputy General Wang was already having a headache from the constant, inexplicable harassment from these barbarians, and seeing the carriage approach only made him more anxious.
"Who are you people? Why are you running this way? Can't you see the barbarians are rushing here?"
Xie Yun-yang had no patience for further negotiation, so she got off the carriage and showed him her crown prince token without saying a word.
Vice General Wang's eyes widened, and he quickly knelt down to pay his respects: "This humble general, Wang Xu, greets Your Highness the Crown Prince! I was unaware of Your Highness's presence and have offended you greatly. Please forgive me!"
Upon hearing Vice General Wang's words, the surrounding soldiers stopped what they were doing and saluted him.
"General Wang, please rise." Xie Yun helped him up and cut to the chase, "What happened here?"
"Your Highness, the barbarians have been launching night raids on the granaries for the past half month. Each time, they only smash the grain sacks and disrupt military discipline, but they don't steal the grain," Wang Xu said with a headache. "These past two days, they've come a dozen or twenty times a day, with intervals ranging from a quarter of an hour to an hour. They don't launch large-scale attacks; each time, only a small team comes, making it seem like pure harassment!"
Wang Xu pointed to the mess on the ground and showed it to him.
Xie Yun was even more puzzled: "Zhennan Pass is in front of us, so how did the barbarians get here? And why didn't they report the situation here? Are they just going to let the barbarians do this?"
Wang Xu explained, "To the northwest of Yuncheng lies a village called Panjia Village. Normally, the barbarians and our dynasty maintain a superficial peace, and trade takes place in Panjia Village, making it a peaceful place where neither side targets the other. From Panjia Village, one can bypass Zhennan Pass to reach Yuncheng."
But a few days ago, the barbarians suddenly erupted, first slaughtering all the Yu people in Panjia Village and then occupying the village. The war horn between the barbarians and us can be considered to have sounded from that moment. The barbarians occupied Panjia Village, and our people have heavily guarded the mountain pass, but the terrain there is complex and difficult to navigate. Even though we have tried our best to defend every intersection, these barbarians still find opportunities to exploit.
"So that's how it is." Xie Yunyang pondered for a moment. "What's the situation inside Zhennan Pass? Why isn't my elder brother taking any initiative? Are we really just going to let the barbarians harass us like this?"
"Your Highness the Crown Prince... His Highness the Crown Prince, he..."
Wang Xu's expression was complicated.
Xie Yun had a bad feeling.
"What's wrong with my brother?"
"His Highness the Crown Prince... is seriously injured and unconscious."
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