Chapter 11011 Changing Formation
Chapter 11
Inside the luggage cart, Meng Yuning lay on a pile of bags, her eyes closed, resting. She was dangling a little rabbit made of dogtail grass in her hand. Just as she was about to doze off, she heard the guard driving the cart say, "Miss Meng, we're leaving now."
So fast? Meng Yuning was a little surprised. She opened her eyes and replied, "Okay, thank you for the reminder."
The guard sat on the shaft of the cart, pulled the reins, and urged the horse forward.
Meng Yuning sat up and sat on the seat half of which was piled with luggage. She lifted the curtain and looked out, only to see that her carriage had passed Qi Jingyan's carriage and was in the front.
Puzzled, she tilted her head and asked, "Guard Yang, shouldn't we wait for His Highness's car and leave first?"
For so many days, there have been two teams of guards walking in the front, followed by Qi Jingyan's carriage, then her luggage cart, and several other carts carrying pots, pans, and food supplies. Doctor Tang sat in one of the carts at the back, and finally the two teams of guards. They have been walking like this since leaving the capital. Why did they suddenly change the formation now?
Guard Yang, who was driving the carriage, replied politely, "That's what Mu Yun ordered. We'll just do as he says."
Meng Yuning nodded and said okay, without asking any more questions.
Mu Yun is the leader of all the guards and the most capable person around Qi Jingyan. He has a calm temperament and never acts on his own. Whatever he orders is basically what Qi Jingyan means.
But why was her car allowed to go first? Moreover, her car not only passed Qi Jingyan's carriage, but also passed two teams of guards who were ready to go, and actually became the first car.
Looking at the empty road ahead, Meng Yuning's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Could it be that there was an ambush ahead, and Qi Jingyan asked her to block the attack?
Thinking of this, she suddenly became nervous and wanted to say that we should go to the back, but when she thought about Mu Yun's final say in front of these guards, she had to give up the idea.
But she couldn't just sit there and wait for death. She looked around and found that there were only various bundles in the car. She knelt on the car board and piled the bundles around the car, piling them up high, digging a safe pit for herself.
She left a bundle on the ground, sat on it with her knees hugged, and huddled in the corner.
She thought that if there were arrows flying around, these bundles would at least provide some cushioning. If someone came to kill her, she would pull down the bundles on both sides and bury herself, hoping that this way she could escape.
She sat in the carriage, listening anxiously to the noise outside.
The carriage went faster and faster. After about a quarter of an hour, they heard a commotion outside.
Meng Yuning's heart was in her throat. She lowered her head, curled up into a small ball, and pricked up her ears to listen carefully to the movements outside.
Instead of the expected sounds of fighting and arrows, Guard Yang spoke up: "Miss Meng, we're going to be traveling for a while, please sit tight."
Then, without waiting for Meng Yuning to reply, he flicked the whip, and the horse pulling the cart suddenly sped up and rushed out with its hooves raised.
Meng Yuning fell backwards due to inertia, but fortunately there were bags behind her so she didn't bump into anything.
She had just sat down, holding onto her bag, when she heard the sound of hurried horse hooves outside, followed by an angry shout: "Stop, stop at the station ahead."
Then came Mu Yun's voice: "Brother, what's going on?"
The man's tone was filled with anger: "My brother ate the food you cooked and suddenly had abdominal pain and vomited. The guard ordered us to bring the cook over. He has something to ask."
Meng Yuning's heart tightened, and she instantly realized that the escorting officers and soldiers had suffered a poisoning attack and were coming to settle the score with her.
Thinking of the ferocious men, her heart tightened. She reached out to lift the door curtain and urged anxiously in a low voice, "Guard Yang, can we go faster?"
Guard Yang cracked his whip, "Don't worry, Miss Meng. They can't catch up."
The horse ran forward like crazy, and Meng Yuning was hit by the bags falling from both sides. She didn't have time to care, and held on to the seat tightly with both hands, for fear that she would be thrown away.
---
Seeing the carriage Meng Yuning was riding in disappear in a flash, the officer flew into a rage and pointed at Mu Yun who was blocking his way and shouted, "What do you intend to do by deliberately letting that cook go?"
Mu Yun politely bowed and said, "My dear brother, you are worried. Miss Meng has gone ahead to pick wild vegetables."
Mu Feng also stood in front of the officers and soldiers, nodded and agreed, "Yes, yes, you have eaten all the wild vegetables we have left. If we don't pick them up, we will go hungry tonight."
Seeing the two men lying with their eyes open, the man was furious and immediately drew his knife and pointed it at them: "Picking wild vegetables? Our people are feeling unwell because they ate the wild vegetables you gave them. Tell me, did you poison the vegetables?"
Mu Feng waved his whip to knock the man's knife away: "Stop spitting blood at me. The wild vegetables you eat are exactly the same as ours. If they were poisonous, how come we are all fine?"
Mu Yun said politely as usual, "Brother, I see that General Zhang is fine, and some of the others seem to be fine too. Did you eat something by mistake? In my opinion, you should quickly find a doctor in the nearest town to see him, so as not to delay the treatment."
The leading officer looked back and saw that it was just as they said. He looked puzzled. Now he was blocked by several people and could not catch up, so he stopped harassing them and turned his horse around and ran back.
Mu Yun said to Mu Feng and Mu Shan, "You stay behind."
The two men responded, Mu Feng holding a long sword and Mu Shan holding a long axe, and rode their horses to the back of the team.
Led by Mu Yun, the others gathered their troops and simply sped up, soon leaving the escorting officers and soldiers far behind.
Watching the team moving further and further away, Zhang Hujun's face turned ashen with anger. He jumped on his horse and roared, "Follow me and chase them."
But the only ones still standing there, apart from him who had eaten his fill at the beginning, were the twenty officers and soldiers who had not been able to grab the two dishes and one soup because they were on guard duty just now.
In addition, almost everyone got off their horses at this moment, some squatted, some knelt, some sat, some lay down, and everyone held their stomachs and vomited continuously. What's worse, some had their eyes rolled back and foamed at the mouth.
The twenty officers and soldiers who hadn't been injured were frantically caring for the others. When they heard Zhang Hujun's order, they were all stunned. One of them tried to persuade them, "Sir, the situation of the brothers is critical. How about we find a doctor first?"
Zhang Hujun cursed and dismounted with a dark face, "Where's the military doctor?"
According to regulations, their team of 500 people was accompanied by a military doctor.
The man replied, "Sir, the military doctor has returned to the capital."
Last night, the military doctor was riding on a horse and was fine. For some reason, the horse suddenly went crazy and rushed forward. The military doctor was caught off guard and was thrown off the horse, with his calf broken.
General Zhang scolded him for being useless and did not try to get him medical treatment. He simply ordered someone to drive a cart, lift the man up, and send him back to Beijing.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Hujun cursed again, his expression growing even darker. "The military doctor's horse suddenly went crazy last night. It must have been Prince Shen's men who did this."
But now that things have come to this, there is no point in saying anything more.
He stood there for a moment, then fiercely kicked a soldier who had been carrying ingredients over to watch the cooking. "You useless fellows, I told you to keep a close eye on me, but how come someone still poisoned the food?"
The man, with his butt sticking out, was vomiting profusely when he was caught off guard by a kick. He rolled over on the ground and replied weakly, "Sir, ugh~, our subordinates were watching closely the whole time, ugh~, we honestly didn't notice anyone tampering with the situation."
Another soldier who had just followed and watched, fearing a kick, also vomited and replied, "Sir, ugh~, from beginning to end, that dish was made by the eldest daughter of the Meng family. I really didn't see her poison it, ugh~."
Looking at the filth on the ground, Zhang Hujun covered his nose with disgust and stepped back a few steps. Then he raised his foot and kicked the soldier standing next to him waiting for orders, cursing viciously: "Stupid pig, you are still standing here like an idiot. Go find a doctor for me."
The soldier was caught off guard by the sudden kick and fell to the ground. His face looked bad, but he didn't dare to say anything. He nodded, got up from the ground, limped to a horse, climbed on it, and galloped towards the nearest town.
After running for a distance, he turned back and spat fiercely, cursing with a look of resentment: "What a thing."
Someone was sent to find a doctor, but there was no telling when he would return. General Zhang stood there for a while, cursing and directing the remaining 19 officers and soldiers to pull the unconscious people up one by one, scratching their throats to induce vomiting. For a moment, hundreds of people retched...
---
It was unknown how far they had run. When Meng Yuning felt that her bones were about to fall apart, the speed of the carriage finally slowed down.
She felt dizzy and her stomach was churning. She struggled to get out from under the pile of luggage, sat on the seat, lifted the car curtain, stuck her head out, and took deep gulps of fresh air.
She leaned against the window for a long time before the strong urge to vomit subsided.
She looked back listlessly and asked worriedly, "Guard Yang, why aren't we running away?"
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