Yu Xunmei glanced at her impatiently, "What is that? Can't you just finish what you're saying at once!"
The maid closed her eyes briefly, then mustered her courage and said, "The gatekeeper came to tell us that our second young master has led an army of 100,000 Hu people to surround Nanzhou Prefecture. The soldiers of the prefectural government have surrounded our Yu family and we are not allowed to enter or leave at will."
"Are the elders aware of this matter?"
"The old lady and the clan elders have all been notified, and they should all be in the council hall at this time."
"Quickly, help me change my clothes."
Receiving a lot of information at once, Yu Xunmei threw off the covers and got out of bed.
After hastily throwing on a coat, Yu Xunmei braved the cold and rushed to the council hall, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
She also had many questions in her mind. Wasn't he supposed to be on a northern expedition with the Wang clan of Dongyue? Why did he suddenly bring the Hu people to besiege Nanzhou Prefecture?
Before even stepping into the council hall, one could hear the clan elder slamming his fist on the table in a fit of rage.
"This ungrateful little bastard, is he even doing human counting?"
“I told you long ago that this man is unreliable, but you and the patriarch wouldn’t listen. After the old patriarch died, he squandered almost all of the Yu family’s century-old fortune. Now look what’s happened, he’s actually letting a wolf into the house, bringing a barbarian army to attack our own home.”
Yu Shida's former adoptive mother curled her lip and glanced at Yu Xunmei, who stepped in.
"Is what the elder said true?" Yu Xunmei tried to suppress her pounding heart.
The foster mother rolled her eyes and said disdainfully, "Go outside and see, the whole city is talking about it now. Do you think I would fabricate facts to slander him?"
Yu Xunmei entered the house and sat down, trying to calm herself down. She looked at the clan elder.
"Elder, what should we do?"
"The whole city is fleeing, but our Yu family is surrounded and can't get out."
"Alas, the Yu family's backbone is about to be torn apart, to produce such unfilial descendants." The clan elders sighed one after another.
Yu Xunmei felt a chill run down her spine. She desperately wanted to rush up to that man and ask him where he intended to place them, and whether he even considered the Yu family as his own.
The clan elder glanced at Yu Shida's adoptive mother, whose hair was now completely white; she had also suffered a tragic fate.
"Now, the only way is to expel that beast from the Yu family in front of that man and all the soldiers, and sever all ties with him. I just don't know what everyone's opinion is?"
An elder straightened the wrinkles in his clothes, glanced at Yu Xunmei, and sighed, "He's not my own flesh and blood, and he's already been adopted by the main wife. What do I have to be reluctant about? It's just a pity that the old patriarch raised him with such care, and in the end, he's going to disappoint the old patriarch."
"What does the young lady think?" The clan elder turned his gaze to Yu Xunmei.
Although she is an unmarried woman, she now manages all the affairs of the Yu family, so such important matters naturally require her opinion.
Yu Xunmei twitched the corners of her mouth; how could she not hear the bitterness in her adoptive mother's words?
"Let's do as the elders say."
The clan elder sighed and said, "Then we will go open the ancestral hall now and retrieve the family genealogy. Tomorrow we will go and beg the officials outside the gate. We will certainly not let such a wicked child disgrace the Yu family's reputation."
"Then I'll have to trouble the clan elder."
Yu Xunmei took a sip of the cooled tea, and could still faintly hear the footsteps and voices of people scattering and fleeing on the street.
She thought that the Yu family didn't have many guards left, and if the Hu army attacked, she wasn't sure if they could still hold them off.
As for whether Yu Shida would kill the entire Yu family, she dared not gamble.
She had treated him with great enthusiasm, but he saw the Yu family as a stepping stone to climb the social ladder. Only after her mother's death did she understand many things: it's better to rely on yourself than on others, and you can't always expect others to come to your rescue when you're in trouble.
"Elders, have each branch pack their belongings. If the city falls, we will leave with the Yun family," Yu Xunmei said after thinking for a moment.
As for the other prominent families in Nanzhou Prefecture, they were not even on her radar; she would only kick the Yu family when they were in trouble.
Only the Yun family, all these years, Father has misjudged him, thinking he was weak and easy to manipulate. Yun Zhenchuan may seem mediocre and incompetent, but in reality he is reserved and steady.
The Yu family will stay with them; they won't be eaten alive.
The elders had no objection to her suggestion; the bandits' massacre of the city was entirely due to the Yun family.
Now that the Hu people have besieged the city, it is the Yun family who are taking the initiative to stand on the city wall to resist them.
The Yun family's pragmatism and competence are evident to all the people of Nanzhou Prefecture.
Just as the entire Nanzhou Prefecture was in a state of panic, a carrier pigeon silently flew towards Longtan.
The end of the Yin hour is precisely the time of dawn.
A large number of people gathered outside the north gate of Nanzhou City, waiting quietly for the city gate to open so they could leave the city smoothly.
"It's almost the end of Yin hour, why isn't the city gate open yet?" someone in the crowd was getting impatient.
"That's right, it used to open much earlier, around 1:15 AM."
Yun Shiyi, exuding a chilling aura, stood by the north gate with his eyes closed, holding a long sword.
A large number of Hu people had already gathered outside the city gates, waiting for the gates to close so they could rush in to burn, kill, and loot.
Suddenly, his ears twitched slightly, and he vaguely heard the creaking sound of a bow being drawn outside the city gate.
Yun Shiyi thought to himself that something was wrong, and suddenly opened his eyes, glancing at the densely packed crowd of people standing on the street.
"Quick, hide! The barbarians are about to shoot arrows from the shadows!"
The soldiers around him immediately raised their shields to block.
The people immediately turned around and ran back.
This infuriated Yun Shiyi. "Don't run! Quickly hide under the eaves!"
"Fire the arrows!" came the order from outside the city gate.
In the blink of an eye, silver light flashed in the air, and a rain of arrows poured down.
Yun Shiyi paused on his toes, drew his sword, and flew to block.
Then, a dozen or so black figures followed closely behind.
There were too many arrows, and the number of skilled bodyguards with agility and nimbleness was limited.
Arrows rained down like rain, and people carrying bundles and with their families were hit and fell to the ground. Fear and helplessness filled their faces, and screams, howls, and cries for help rose and fell.
The once bustling streets are now littered with blood and gore.
After the rain of arrows subsided, Yun Shiyi calmly organized his soldiers to launch a counterattack.
On the street, an uninjured young man saw this and quickly got up from the ground. He picked up the arrows stuck in the ground and on the door, and soon he had a large bundle of them.
He handed the arrows to the soldiers, who glanced at him, said nothing, picked up the arrows he had gathered, placed them on their bowstrings, and shot them again toward the city gate.
Seeing this, other villagers joined the effort to collect the arrows, with some even climbing onto rooftops to retrieve them.
After firing three rounds in succession, Yun Shiyi jumped onto the city wall to investigate, only to find that the Hu people had retreated three miles away.
The first round of attacks has stopped.
Yun Shiyi began directing the people to carry the injured to the nearest medical clinic for treatment.
The situation at the south gate of Nanzhou Prefecture is equally dire.
Relying on their superior numbers, the Hu people launched a fierce attack on Nanzhou Prefecture, firing arrows and attacking the city gates with battering rams.
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