Meanwhile, in Yongshan County's Chengguan Town, Lu Yanzheng stood on the town's city wall, holding an umbrella.
"General, please go down quickly, the rain is too heavy." Eagle, also holding an umbrella, stood behind Lu Yanzheng and advised.
Lu Yanzheng remained silent for a moment before speaking, "This war can't be fought for the time being, but we've got more trouble now."
Such heavy rain wasn't just happening in Yongshan County; he knew it was the same in Qiongzhou.
The Qiong River flows through Qiongzhou, and with such torrential rain, the people on both banks will definitely suffer, and it will certainly affect the supply of food and provisions for Prince Yong's army.
An army marches on its stomach; if supplies run into trouble, Prince Yong would never order an attack on Yongshan County unless he disregarded the lives of his soldiers and the people.
Lu Yanzheng could breathe a sigh of relief for the time being, but it was only temporary. Qiongzhou was hit by a disaster, and Yongshan County was also hit by one.
Yongshan County was a county that had been exploited and depleted by successive magistrates. After the disaster struck, their situation would only be worse than that of Prince Yong.
"With Lord Wei here, General, you need not worry so much," Eagle reassured him.
Lu Yanzheng shook his head and didn't say anything.
He knew Wei Chengzong's abilities, but even the most capable person cannot be perfect in every aspect. There might be areas that he overlooked, leading to some uncontrollable and serious consequences.
After standing on the city wall for a while, Lu Yanzheng turned around and went down.
Due to its terrain, Chengguan Town, although only a small town, has an organizational structure modeled after that of a county town, such as its city walls.
The city walls here are five meters high, which was built to prevent foreign invasion.
What was unexpected was that, after so many years, the first external enemy this small town faced was actually the people of Dai Viet themselves.
"Pass down the order," Lu Yanzheng said immediately after returning to his office at the foot of the city wall. "Deputy General Lin will remain in command. I will lead one hundred men back to Yongshan County."
The eagle opened its eyes wide and asked, "General, are you leaving? What about here...?"
"We cannot let our guard down here. We must adhere to the strategies we learned in previous training and not be negligent. I will be back in half a month," Lu Yanzheng said as he packed his things.
The situation in Yongshan County should not be ignored either; he must go back and take a look.
...
It was only late afternoon, but the sky was already as dark as night.
The heavy rain relentlessly washed over the ground, as if trying to cleanse all the filth from the earth in one go.
Jiang Qinyu stood at the doorway, gazing outside. It was unclear how long she had been standing there.
She suddenly turned around and asked, "How many more days will the village's food supply last?"
"Reporting to Madam, the village chief said this morning that it will be less than three days," said Liu, the clerk, looking haggard.
They have been trapped in Banpo Village for five days.
For the past five days, the heavy rain has been nonstop. The temperature, which was so hot that people felt like they were about to peel off a layer of skin, has now dropped, and it feels like winter has arrived in the blink of an eye. People can be woken up by the cold at night.
"Three days?" Jiang Qinyu frowned.
If they only have three days' worth of food left, they will have to find a way to save themselves.
She does have food, but she can't just produce it out of thin air!
Liu, the clerk, said with a hint of resentment, "If it weren't for Madam's insistence on coming here, we wouldn't be trapped here."
"Is Clerk Liu blaming me?" Jiang Qinyu turned around and looked straight at him. "Didn't Clerk Liu see what happened when the people from Hongya Village and Qiaojia Village came over?"
Upon hearing this, Clerk Liu choked on his words. Thinking of what had happened that day, his tone softened involuntarily. "That may be true, but Madam shouldn't have put herself in such danger. How am I supposed to explain this to the magistrate?"
Five days ago, when they first arrived, they saw the people of Banpo Village carrying kitchen knives and hoes, resolutely preventing the people of Hongya Village and Qiaojia Village from entering the village.
Meng Tianze's tokens were useless, and the three groups were almost fighting to the death. Fortunately, Jiang Qinyu appeared and persuaded the people of Banpo Village to accept the people of Hongya Village and Qiaojia Village into the village for refuge.
"I will take responsibility," Jiang Qinyu said calmly.
She would not let these people wait to die here, no matter what.
The people of Banpo Village agreed to accept the people from Hongya Village and Qiaojia Village under her mediation because she was the one who discovered and taught people how to grow sweet potatoes. This identity earned her some trust from the villagers of Banpo Village.
But now that these people have consumed most of the grain in Banpo Village, Jiang Qinyu knows without a doubt that many of the villagers are already harboring resentment.
No, she had to find a way to openly and legitimately take out the food stored in the system.
Jiang Qinyu turned her head and looked up to see the tallest building in Banpo Village, which was a small temple.
The people of Banpo Village are very superstitious. They believe in Taoism, and the temple in the village enshrines a statue of Yuanshi Tianzun.
Jiang Qinyu had only glanced at the temple briefly when she entered the village, without giving it much thought, but now she needed to rely on it.
"Liu the clerk, I'm going to the temple to pray for everyone's well-being," Jiang Qinyu suddenly said.
Liu, the clerk, twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Perhaps we shouldn't?"
She spoke such earnestly about her prayers, as if she could ask the gods for food just by going there.
"At times like this, we have to try whatever we can," Jiang Qinyu said earnestly.
Knowing he couldn't stop her, Liu the clerk could only compromise and accompany Jiang Qinyu toward the temple.
The rain was heavy, and although they were wearing raincoats and straw hats, they were still soaked.
Upon entering the temple, Liu the clerk immediately went to dry his wet clothes, but Jiang Qinyu simply took off her straw hat and knelt before the statue of Laozi.
Liu, the clerk, didn't hear what Jiang Qinyu was muttering to herself, but it was probably just requests for protection, so he didn't pay any attention.
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