Chapter 287 Oh no! The Princess has miscarried!
A group of people crowded into a cave outside the village, while others were stuck at the cave entrance and couldn't get in, getting soaked in the rain outside, which led to a fight.
Everyone was desperately trying to squeeze in, and when there wasn't enough room, some people were pushed out. Old Liao, wearing a straw raincoat, maintained order.
"Everyone move inside, squeeze in, and work together to get through this heavy rain."
The group of people standing at the entrance of the cave glanced inside, but did not move an inch.
Old Liao lashed his whip against the stone wall at the cave entrance, roaring, "Then you all go in and let the people outside in! Didn't you hear me?"
The people at the door said, "Uncle Liao, look, we're all standing close together, there's no way to squeeze in."
Old Liao pushed through the crowd and saw a spacious spot. He pointed and said, "Are you blind? Can't you see there are plenty of empty seats over there? Everyone, move over there!"
"We can't get through. That's King Xuan's territory, and there are guards around. They're afraid we'll cause him to miscarry."
Yun Jiaoyue was soaked to the bone, her wet clothes clinging to her body. She was unconscious and curled up in Zhao Xuan's arms.
Clutching her abdomen with both hands, she murmured in a low voice, "Cold, cold, Your Highness, I'm so cold, I'm in so much pain, my whole body aches, child, save our child, let's go to the city and find a doctor, sob sob..."
"The rain is too heavy now, Yue'er, just bear with it a little longer. Once the rain stops, I'll immediately go into the city to take you to a doctor." Zhao Xuan held her tightly in his arms and pointed to the fire beside him, "Quickly add firewood."
Old Liao was still yelling at people outside, "If you don't dare to push, then come out first, and let the people outside squeeze in."
Nobody wanted to get soaked in the torrential rain; the rain felt like being whipped. People inside slowly moved in, finally making room for those outside to squeeze in.
Two more hours passed, and the rain still hadn't stopped. The rainwater at the cave entrance was knee-deep, almost soaking their lower bodies.
After more than ten days on the boat, everyone was dizzy and had no appetite. They hadn't eaten enough the night before, and it took them half an hour to find this cave. They were so hungry that they were dizzy and some of them collapsed from hunger.
The water from the mountain, mixed with mud, branches, and uprooted grass, surged down the mountain like a mudslide.
Some people saw that the rain was gradually stopping and started clamoring to go down the mountain to find food or take their families to the city for medical treatment.
Zhao Xuan was also eager to bring Yun Jiaoyue into the city.
Based on his past experience, Lao Liao felt that the area below the mountain was probably already flooded, making it extremely difficult to enter the city.
He advised those people to wait until nightfall to conserve their energy and wait for the water level to drop before wading into the city, or for those waiting in the city to arrange for a carriage to pick them up.
Old Liao suddenly felt fortunate that he had let a group of people into the city last night; otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable, and they would be on the verge of collapse now.
He had confidence in Zhao Jiu and Hu Feng.
Zhao Xuan heeded the advice and first sent his guards down the mountain to scout out the situation. If they could enter the city, he was to be allowed to go in first, and a carriage was to be arranged to pick them up.
Yun Jiaoyue's body couldn't withstand the strain either.
Some people ignored the warnings and went down the mountain. More than an hour later, they dragged their disheveled bodies back to the cave, covered in mud and almost becoming mud figures.
Seeing their disheveled appearance, Lao Liao didn't mock or ridicule them. Instead, he said calmly, "You've seen it with your own eyes. Give up now. Stay in the cave and wait for someone to come and rescue you, or wait for the water level to recede before continuing your journey."
There was dry firewood inside, which they lit with a tinderbox. Old Liao and a few guards caught rats and roasted them to eat. When there weren't enough rats, they went outside to collect earthworms.
The torrential rain washed earthworms to the surface; some were small, some were large, some even bigger than a thumb. The small ones were eaten raw, while the large ones were roasted.
The convicts had never even considered eating these things before, no matter how hungry they were. They were too disgusting to eat; they would rather starve than eat them.
A boy, his lips pale with hunger and on the verge of death, leaned against his parents' arms.
Old Liao stuffed a roasted earthworm into his mouth, "Eat!"
The child was momentarily confused, and was frantically chewing on the food in his mouth.
His parents were terrified and desperately pried his mouth open, shouting, "Kun'er, spit it out, spit it out, you can't eat it..."
The child was reluctant to spit out the food that was almost in his mouth, so he quickly swallowed it, smacked his lips, and said, "Delicious, delicious."
He still wanted to eat, so he grabbed his parents' hands and said, "Mom and Dad, let's go pick earthworms too."
Old Liao picked up a roasted earthworm from the shelf and ate it in big bites. "Hmph! Back in the day, when I was serving in the army on the border, there was no food. What didn't I eat? Wild vegetables, tree bark, grass roots, and so on? This is meat, at least. Take it or leave it. If you don't eat it, just wait to starve to death."
Seeing that Lao Liao and the others were fine after eating and even seemed to enjoy their food so much, the others couldn't help but salivate.
Finally, unable to resist any longer, I went outside, picked up some earthworms, roasted them, and ate them.
Old Liao saw them eating and picking up more, as if they were addicted. "You can't eat too much of this stuff, or you'll get diarrhea. Just make sure you don't starve."
"In addition, these types of mushrooms are also edible. Just be sure to identify them. If you're unsure, you can ask me. Brightly colored ones are generally poisonous."
Along the way, they gradually learned to recognize some wild vegetables and mushrooms.
Old Liao was still worried and repeatedly reminded them that some individuals are just naturally stupid and keep making the same mistakes.
Another night passed, and it rained all night long.
When they woke up the next day, the rain hadn't stopped, and they were almost in despair. The sound of sobbing echoed through the cave, "Waaah..."
"I've finally made it to Lingnan, am I really going to die here? I don't want to die!"
"Why haven't those people who have already entered the city come to rescue us? Are they hoping we'll die here?"
Old Liao sneered, "The water down below is almost as high as a person. How are they going to rescue them? Do you want them to come by boat, or fly over?"
"Anyone who wants to go into the city should take a knife, cut down trees, make a bamboo raft, and paddle into the city. If they expect others to rescue them, and then complain when others don't, do they think others owe them anything?"
"We don't know how to make bamboo rafts, and even if we did, we wouldn't know how to paddle them."
Another sobbing sound echoed from inside the cave, "Waaah..."
Old Liao ignored them, leaned against the stone wall and closed his eyes to rest. Luckily, they were almost there, otherwise he would have been furious.
Another day passed, and the rain finally stopped.
Blue sky and white clouds, clear weather.
"The rain has stopped, the rain has stopped. Let's go down the mountain and hurry into the city. My daughter has caught a cold, and she'll die if we don't get her to the city for treatment soon."
As the group descended the mountain, the accumulated water at the foot of the mountain reached above the waist of an adult man. A single slip could drown him, not to mention the elderly and children.
"The water level is so high, how are we going to get across? How are we going to get into the city? What should we do? What should we do? Uncle Liao, please think of a solution!"
"The only way is to cut bamboo, make bamboo rafts, and row across."
"But we don't know how to make bamboo rafts or row boats!"
"Yes, the water is neither deep nor shallow, it's easy to capsize."
When Lao Liao heard that they didn't know how to do this or that, he was so angry that he gritted his teeth and cursed, "If you don't know how, then learn! All you can do is eat, that's no use!"
“The elderly and children sit on bamboo rafts, and adult men hold the edge of the rafts and push them.”
Old Liao led his men to cut bamboo, took several bamboo rafts, and finally sent some people aboard to try it out.
Suddenly, someone rowed a bamboo raft towards them from around the corner.
Someone spotted Zhao Jiu on the bamboo raft and excitedly stood up, waving and shouting, "We're here! We're here! Come quick! Help!"
Zhao Jiu and Hu Feng rowed five bamboo rafts to the foot of the mountain and stopped. They went up the mountain and said to Lao Liao, "Brother Liao, Brother Liao, are you alright? We have prepared a horse-drawn carriage ahead. The water is too deep here. We will take the bamboo rafts across and then get into the carriage."
"Good brothers, we owe you a lot this time." Old Liao was worried because he didn't know what the road ahead would be like.
Even a strong adult man would have a hard time wading through water for more than ten miles, let alone the elderly, weak, women and children. Losing half of them would be considered a good outcome.
Hearing that the carriage they had arranged was nearby, he breathed a sigh of relief.
If the area ahead was also flooded, they would have to swim for more than ten miles. The convicts were exhausted and hungry, and they would starve to death before they even reached the halfway point.
Zhao Jiu took out a bag of meat buns from his bundle and gave it to Lao Liao. "Brother Liao, you've worked hard. I specially bought meat buns for the brothers. Eat up."
With the bamboo rafts brought by Zhao Jiu and his men, all twenty-odd escorts knew how to row.
The road ahead was clear, and there were carriages waiting. They were to board the bamboo rafts and be transported back and forth to the carriages.
It took eight bamboo rafts and more than a dozen trips to transport all the people.
There were only five carriages, carrying about a hundred people. It would take at least three trips to get through, and everyone was scrambling to ride in one of the carriages.
Zhao Xuan carried Yun Jiaoyue onto the carriage, put her down, and as soon as he climbed on, he found his hands were sticky with blood.
He turned Yun Jiaoyue over on the ground and saw that her pants were stained red.
Upon seeing this, Liu Yiyi, who had just climbed onto the carriage, covered her mouth and exclaimed in alarm, "Blood? Oh no, the princess has miscarried!"
Zhao Xuan climbed onto the cart and ordered the driver, "Hurry into the city!"
The driver hesitated for a moment when he saw that there were still people who hadn't gotten on yet.
The reins were snatched from his hand in the next instant.
Zhao Xuan's guards drove the carriage into the city, asking the driver for directions.
Su Wan'er, who hadn't boarded the carriage yet, chased after it, shouting, "Your Highness, there's mine! I haven't boarded the carriage yet! Wait for me, ah!"
Liu Yiyi said, "Your Highness, Wan'er hasn't boarded the carriage yet."
Zhao Xuan said coldly, "He won't die!"
Su Wan'er had only taken two steps when she tripped and fell heavily to the ground. She tried to get up but fell into the mud again. Her body, face, and hair were covered in mud, and she was almost unrecognizable as a mud figure.
"Waaaaah, why am I always the one who gets abandoned? I want to go home..." She lay in the mud and sobbed, tears mixed with mud rolling down her cheeks.
Zhao Jiu couldn't bear to watch any longer. He grabbed her arm, lifted her up, and took off his outer robe to drape over her shoulders. "Don't cry. There are carriages over there. You can squeeze in and sit down."
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