The General's Wife
The oldest of the selected children was no more than eleven or twelve years old, and the youngest was five or six years old. Both boys and girls looked very healthy. Chu Xiuyuan took them down to the secret room, which was located under the garden of the guest room. They did their best to prepare enough items for the children to survive, such as food, clean water, quilts and so on.
If they were frugal with their food and drink, these things should be able to last for a month. After Chu Xiuyuan carefully taught them how to open the door from the inside, he closed the door of the secret room.
Because they were underground, there was only a little light during the day, and they were even told not to light candles at will.
In addition to these, Chu Xiuyuan also arranged for these people to set fire to the general's mansion directly if the city was broken. This would not only cover up the fact that children aged five to twelve were burned, but also prevent the barbarians from searching too carefully.
Those who stayed behind were ready to die. Fortunately, good news came on the fourth day when the children hid in the secret room.
A long time later, Shen Jin still remembered this day clearly: the general's flag fluttering in the wind, and the human heads strung together like small lanterns hung on bamboo poles. The barbarians who were attacking the city stopped and rushed towards the troops behind like crazy.
"It's the general..."
"The General is back!"
Cheers continued to come from the city walls. Some of them knelt on the ground and cried loudly as they looked at Shuaiqi, while others hugged each other and screamed... The general is back, and they are safe!
"Charge them!" No one knew who was the first to shout, but soon everyone joined together. The survivors took up their weapons. Chu Xiuyuan ordered his men to open the city gates and led the charge out, cooperating with the army of Earl Yongning to attack the barbarians from both sides...
"Aren't you afraid it's a trap?" Shen Jin had been helping An Ping and the others take care of the wounded since the past two days. Naturally, she heard the sound and asked.
Butler Wang said, "So what if it's a trap?"
Shen Jin discovered that during this period, Butler Wang had taught her a lot of things intentionally or unintentionally. She was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then lowered her head to continue boiling the medicine. Yes, even if it was a trap, so what? No matter how bad the situation was, how much worse could it be than it is now?
"I'm really back..." Shen Jin still had a feeling of unreality.
Anping pushed a man who was about to go out to fight to the ground, cleaned his wounds with strong liquor, and said, "Stay still."
"I'm going to fight with the general." The man had many wounds of varying sizes on his body, the most serious of which was on his abdomen.
An Ping pressed on his wound mercilessly, and waited for him to cry out in pain before saying, "You are seeking death."
"I'd rather die on the battlefield," the man said while struggling.
In fact, he was not very old, only about sixteen or seventeen years old. Shen Jin looked over and said, "Enough people have died. It would be more useful for the general if they survived."
Butler Wang didn't say anything, but he obviously agreed. Shen Jin's words made many people's eyes red.
The Earl of Yongning not only lifted the siege of the border town, but also repelled the barbarian soldiers, killing them in disarray. He killed countless enemies and captured hundreds of them, and only then did he stop the pursuit.
But this does not mean that the matter is over. The war damage in the border town, the shortage of supplies, and the burial of soldiers made everyone busy again.
The crying never stopped...
Although it cannot be said that nine out of ten houses in the border town are empty, there is no household with all its residents present. Even those annoying thugs and pickpockets chose to die in battle at this moment.
In some families, even all the men were dead, and the women also took up weapons to kill the enemy. Some elderly people had no strength left, so they also climbed up the city wall, hugged the barbarians and jumped down together, dying together...
Later, Shen Jin learned that the strings of heads that looked like lanterns hung in the army of Earl Yongning were those of many barbarian leaders, priests, and tribesmen. They attacked these people directly from behind and killed them all, regardless of gender or age.
Cruel? If it was Shen Jin from the Rui Palace, she would definitely feel cruel and scared, but Shen Jin, who had experienced the war, felt more fortunate. Thanks to the general's return. If the border town was breached, those heads that were hung up would become theirs.
It was not until the third day that Shen Jin saw Earl Yongning. He was wearing armor of unknown color, with a big beard and sharp eyes. He looked down at Shen Jin. Shen Jin was squatting beside a well and washing cotton cloth with several people. Because it was used to bandage the wounded, it had to be boiled in hot water after washing.
When he saw Earl Yongning, Shen Jin didn't recognize him at all, and Anping called out, "General..."
In fact, Earl Yongning is not that scary... I don’t know if Shen Jin has become braver during this period of time, or if she was misled by rumors and thought that Earl Yongning should be more terrifying, so she didn’t react for a while, and instead looked at Earl Yongning in a daze.
Those who were still cleaning put down what they were holding and knelt down to salute. However, the squatting Shen Jin looked a bit awkward.
However, Shen Jin also reacted, stood up and bowed to Earl Yongning, "General."
"Everyone, get up." Only Butler Wang was with Earl Yongning. He looked at Shen Jin and smiled, "Madam, I'm here to pick you up."
"Thank you, husband." Shen Jin tactfully changed the address.
A long time later, Earl Yongning and Shen Jin talked about their first meeting. Earl Yongning said that he felt Shen Jin was a small ball at the time. If Steward Wang and the others hadn't told him, he would never have thought that Shen Jin had the courage to stand up. He then asked Shen Jin about his impression of him.
Shen Jin just told the truth. At that time... Shen Jin just hoped that Earl Yongning would stop laughing. It looked really ugly and hideous.
However, Lord Yongning didn't know this at this time, and even stretched out his hand with a good feeling about himself. Shen Jin struggled for a while before putting her hand on him. Her hand had lost the tenderness it had when she first came, because because of washing the cotton cloth in cold water and then scalding it with hot water, it not only became red and swollen but also cracked, which looked particularly ugly. However, Lord Yongning didn't care, instead he held her hand tightly.
The fact that Earl Yongning came in person to pick up Shen Jin today also represented her attitude. At this moment, Shen Jin truly became a member of the Chu family and was recognized as the wife of Earl Yongning.
However, Earl Yongning only took Shen Jin back to the general's mansion and then continued to go about his business. Anping still stayed with Shen Jin, but Xile... had died from the arrows of the barbarians.
The children have been released from the secret room. The return of Earl Yongning not only lifted the siege of the border town, but also gave everyone a backbone.
On the fourth day, all those who were still alive and able to move put on sackcloth and went together to mourn the dead.
On this day, Chu Xiuyuan was with Shen Jin, while Earl Yongning and his soldiers escorted the captives. The captives, who had been hungry for four days, had no strength to resist. They were tied and knelt in front of the grave.
All those who died in the battle were buried together, and their names were engraved on stone tablets. Those names were copied by Earl Yongning himself. This was a tradition of the border town. There were constant wars here, so someone specially selected a place with good feng shui and circled it out separately. The best places were reserved for those who died in the battle, and the rest who died of illness or old age were buried around it.
During festivals, people in the border town would spontaneously come to pay tribute to the dead.
The wine was poured onto the ground, and Earl Yongning said in a deep voice, "Blood sacrifice."
As his voice fell, the captives' heads were chopped off one by one and neatly placed in front of the grave. "I, Chu Xiuming, swear to heaven that one day I will use the blood of all the barbarians to pay tribute to the dead warriors."
"kill!"
“Kill! Kill!”
Everyone's eyes were red. The strong smell of blood not only did not scare people, but instead aroused hatred in their hearts. At this moment, regardless of gender, age or status, everyone shouted loudly, deafening...
Even Chu Xiuyuan shouted at the top of his voice. Shen Jin looked at the man standing in the front. Even though he looked ferocious and scary, he was still a man of integrity. Is this her husband? A completely different person from King Rui, more responsible... If he really likes to eat raw meat, Shen Jin thinks she can accompany him to try it. I wonder if raw meat will taste better if it is cooked according to the method of fish sashimi.
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