Yu Shida, who was already seething with anger, suddenly stood up. He stood up so abruptly that the chair behind him fell over.
He stared intently at the person in front of him.
"What? Say it again! Which village?"
The soldier repeated, "Yes, it's a manor outside the city that was only put into use last month."
Yu Shida, who was already seven or eight parts drunk, was unsteady on his feet. He staggered and grabbed the table to steady himself.
"How did it get burned?"
"Reporting to the general, I was unaware of the situation. Yesterday, I was on the night shift, and when I went to take over today, I saw flames everywhere in the distance, and I could hear the sound of firecrackers exploding from time to time."
"How are the people inside?"
The soldier shook his head, "I don't know, I didn't see anyone come out from inside."
"And now?"
Yu Shida hoped for a miracle and heard the news that the fire had been extinguished, as it contained all the results of his research over the past few days.
More importantly, he spent a lot of manpower and financial resources to obtain materials from elsewhere.
"It's not extinguished yet!!" The soldier lowered his head and continued, "The main problem is that the fire is too big; there's nothing we can do with just a few of us."
The only source of water in the village was the well inside; the irrigation ditches outside were almost completely dry, making it virtually impossible to extinguish the fire.
"Let's go, take the men and go out of the city to take a look."
Yu Shida had only taken two steps when he touched the token hanging at his waist. "Where's my token?"
He panicked! He remembered putting it on before leaving the house!
"Second Young Master, I'll go back and look for him right away." The servant panicked and immediately ran towards his residence.
With everything going wrong, Yu Shida clenched his fist again after relaxing it.
A moment later, a servant ran out holding a token and said happily, "Second Young Master, we found it! He must have forgotten to wear it when he changed clothes this afternoon."
The importance of this token is self-evident; if he finds it, he won't be beaten up.
Did he really forget to wear it? A look of doubt flashed in Yu Shida's eyes.
Without giving it much thought, Yu Shida took the token and led his men out of the city.
Once outside the city, in the dark of night, there was no need to light torches; the place that turned half the sky red was their village.
Yu Shida's heart sank.
It’s over!
If it keeps burning like this, everything will be gone!
All his hard work and the raw materials he painstakingly sourced were reduced to ashes!
The fire on the estate was not extinguished until the afternoon of the following day.
Outside the shop, rows of charred corpses were laid out.
Yu Shida sat on horseback, his eyes bloodshot. He hadn't rested since last night.
Soon, the doctor in charge of the examination came to report.
"General, the people on the estate were killed by a single, fatal cut to a vital spot."
Yu Shida's face was clouded with gloom. "With so many people on the estate, how come you didn't notice someone coming in?"
"Reporting to the general, it seems to be the work of someone we know," the coroner said.
"An acquaintance?" Yu Shida's expression changed drastically, and he was enveloped in a murderous aura.
The coroner lowered his head; this question was beyond his knowledge.
The other soldiers racked their brains, but none of them expected that the Southern Prefecture had such power that it could kill so many people and set fires so silently.
"Did the Yun family make any moves yesterday?"
The subordinate in charge of surveillance immediately tensed up. "Reporting to the general, there is nothing."
"What about the Yun family's troops?"
"No one has been seen going in or out."
Yu Shida coldly stared at the charred corpses of various shapes in front of him, his lips tightly pressed together, his hand holding the reins trembling. "Hou Cang! Send a sum of money to their families as compensation."
He turned his horse around, slapped the back of the horse with his whip, and rode away first.
"Let's go! Back to the city!"
He wanted to see just who was so audacious as to oppose the Yu family!
A group of people followed behind and left one after another. Under the trampling of the horses' hooves, the originally clear wheel tracks on the road gradually blurred until they were no longer visible.
Yongqing City
The sky was beginning to lighten, and colors were gradually appearing on the horizon, with the deep blue slowly receding.
A luxurious and comfortable carriage stopped in a grove of trees ten miles outside Yongqing City.
Yunye helped the heartbroken Lu Yashuang out of the woods.
Hearing the commotion, Yunmu got off the carriage and helped Lu Yashuang into it.
"Shuang'er, don't be sad. You're still young, you can have more children."
Lu Yashuang burst into tears, "Mother, it's all because my body is weak."
"It's not your fault, those thieves were just too wicked. Let's go back, you must miss your mother after being away for so long!"
Mica changed the subject to comfort her.
Standing outside the carriage, Yunye said, "Mother, you rest for a while. We'll wait until everyone is here before we set off."
Knowing that he still had things to do, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law did not urge him, but lowered the carriage curtain and spoke quietly.
A quarter of an hour later, four or five carriages came from the direction of Nanzhou Prefecture.
Judging from the tracks left by the horse-drawn cart wheels, the cart was loaded with heavy goods.
Upon seeing Yunye, Yun Xiaobei jumped down from the carriage.
"Greetings, Second Master Yun!"
Yunye reached out and helped him up. "No need for formalities. Have all the brothers evacuated?"
"Don't worry, Second Master Yun. With Fourth Brother Yun, Sixth Brother Yun, and me here, I guarantee there won't be any problems."
Yun Xiaobei smiled brightly, and continued with a hint of regret, "I really didn't expect the Yu family to have brought so many good things, it's a pity we can't bring them all out."
Yu Shida had extensive connections and managed to find a lot of raw materials for bomb research within just half a month.
It just so happens that the city lord is short of supplies, so transporting these back to Longtan should be enough for her to make quite a few cannonballs!
After inspecting all the goods in the carriage, Yunye patted him on the shoulder and praised, "It's already quite good to have received this unexpected fortune. Don't worry! I will definitely report to the city lord and give you a generous reward during the New Year!"
"Alright! Then I thank Master Yun on behalf of my brothers."
After exchanging pleasantries, Yunye summoned another group of people, each dressed in clothing of a different social class, who were led by Yun Xiaobei back to Nanzhou Prefecture via the same route.
Besides Yun Si and Yun Liu, who are skilled at concealment, whenever the secret guards of Nanzhou Prefecture complete a mission, for safety reasons, the Yun brothers require that another group of unfamiliar secret guards be sent instead.
Watching Yun Si lead his men away into the distance, Yun Ye waved his hand.
"Let's go! Back to Longtan."
Lin Yinan and his wife were both in Chi'an, so Yunye decided to lead the team to Chi'an first to meet up with Yunmo, and then pick up his son.
On the way, the convoy moved extremely slowly in order to take care of Lu Yashuang, who was not fully recovered, and the heavy cargo in the trucks behind.
They finally arrived at the foot of Chian Mountain on the morning of the second day.
On an open space near the border of Changyi County and Yongqing City, many villagers were making mud bricks and sawing wood, with a few familiar figures occasionally visible in the distance.
"Second Master, it looks like there's construction going on up ahead."
The guards came to report.
Yunye rode forward and soon spotted Yunming's figure in the crowd.
After not seeing him for a long time, he felt that his fourth brother had grown taller and stronger.
Without him saying a word, Yunming saw the convoy approaching from afar.
When Yunming saw the people on horseback, he was overjoyed and ran excitedly in the direction the caravan was heading.
"Second Brother, you're back!"
Yunmu opened her eyes inside the carriage. "Shuang'er, I think I heard Ming'er's voice?"
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