Chapter 264: The Lady of the Wang Family 2
"Oh! Madam Wang, if you have anything to say, just say it!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"My maiden name is Liu. My father was a ninth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites. He had a good chance of getting promoted, but he offended his superiors because of his drunken remarks. Seeing no hope of promotion, my father resigned and returned to his hometown to do business. I am originally from Shaanxi, but after returning home, I encountered a rebellion by various rebels. Both my father and mother were killed in the chaos. Because I was pretty, I was taken away by the rebel leader to be his concubine. I had accepted my fate, but the rebels were defeated and they fled all the way. The leader disliked me for slowing down their pace, so he abandoned me in the wilderness and ran away alone! I was almost eaten by a wild beast, but I was lucky enough to be saved by Wang Fugui. Seeing that he was an honest and decent man, I agreed to marry him." said the wife of the Wang family.
"I didn't expect that the lady of the Wang family is from an official family! The most pitiful people in this chaotic world are women like us who have no control over our own lives!" said Li Sihong.
"I have accepted my fate with him! But I still have an uncle in Sichuan! He treated me very well in the past! I want to go to Shizhu, Sichuan to find him. So that he can know what happened at home! I want him to visit my mother's grave. So, I want you two nobles to take me with you, please?" Sister Wang pleaded.
"But how do you know we are going to Sichuan?" Zhao Xiaofei asked puzzledly.
"The times are bad now, with wars and chaos everywhere. The only peaceful places in the world are Nanjing and Sichuan. So I think you two must go to Sichuan first and then make plans. So I plan to ask you two to take me back to see them. Even if I die, I want to see my relatives for the last time!" Mrs. Wang cried and knelt down in front of Zhao Xiaofei and the others.
"If I take you away, what will your husband do? He has been very good to you!" Li Sihong asked.
"Of course we will take him with us. I can definitely convince the head of our family to let him go with us!" said Mrs. Wang.
"Okay! If the head of your family comes back and agrees to let you go, I think everyone will be very happy!" Li Sihong refused embarrassedly.
"Thank you, ma'am, thank you, sir. I will definitely be able to convince the boss. Thank you all!" After saying that, the wife of the Wang family actually knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
After sending the Wang family's wife away, Zhao Xiaofei said, "This Wang family's wife is so thoughtful! I don't like maids like this."
"She's right. We don't have much choice now. There's nowhere to go except Sichuan! It's better to let her be a servant. Wang Fugui can be a bodyguard, and the wife of the Wang family can be a maid!" Li Sihong said.
"A maidservant? It's the lady from the Wang family. You're lucky enough to serve her!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
However, Zhao Xiaofei was just like Wang Fugui, afraid that his wife would listen to him. In the end, Zhao Xiaofei was persuaded by Li Sihong and finally agreed to take the couple to Chengdu together.
A few days later, Wang Fugui returned. His wife, weeping, told him about her trip to the south to visit her uncle. Wang Fugui disagreed. He was worried that his wife wouldn't be able to adapt to the rugged mountain environment. She was already weak, and what if she got even sicker?
As a result, the wife of the Wang family acted like crying, making a fuss, and even threatening to hang herself, and Wang Fugui had no choice but to surrender.
The same thing went for Zhao Xiaofei. He was persuaded by Li Sihong and agreed to take the couple on the road with him.
Wang Fugui traveled for a few days, buying medicine and gathering information about the situation outside. The Kenan army had been defeated and retreated to Hanzhong, continuing to retreat. Li Zicheng was busy repairing the city walls and had sent another large army north. They were probably going to seize northern Shaanxi! The Jianlu were heading towards the capital, presumably to retreat to the capital's periphery. Meanwhile, Wu Sangui and Jiang Xiang had unexpectedly occupied Datong and the surrounding areas. Wu Sangui proclaimed himself king and established the Ningyuan Kingdom. Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi, sensing the chaos in the Central Plains and the uncertain fate of the empire, occupied Taiyuan Mountain and the southwestern part of Shanxi, waiting for a good price.
Zhao Xiaofei heard this and said to Li Sihong, "Where does Wu Sangui get his confidence from? He's talking about the Ningyuan Kingdom! Why doesn't he just go to heaven? The Eight Banner Han Army is even more cowardly! They're still waiting for a price. When it comes to shamelessness, these people are unmatched!"
"They believe that the Eight Banners have been severely damaged and are unable to advance into the Central Plains again. That's why they did this!" said Li Sihong.
"I'm going to capture them all alive and let them experience the ten most cruel tortures!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"The ten tortures?" Li Sihong asked.
"You will know it later! The journey to Sichuan is long. How many valuable items do we have?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"My jewelry will be melted down later, and the gold ornaments on your belt are probably worth over a hundred taels of silver. Four people going to Chengdu is quite wealthy!" Li Sihong said. A hundred taels of silver would have been enough to cover the expenses of twenty people in the late Ming Dynasty, let alone four.
After resting for ten days, the four men set off on their journey as master and servant.
In reality, the Wang family's wife isn't seriously ill; she just needs some rest and some supplements. Zhao Xiaofei and Li Sihong have made plans to head to Hanzhong first. The White Spear Army is still there, so if they encounter Fang Xinyu, they'll be fine. If Fang Xinyu retreats to Chengdu, we can continue on to Chengdu. However, if we encounter any search teams along the way, we should ignore them. What if there's a traitor here? Unless we encounter Wan Shan or General Zhou himself.
So many traitors have emerged in my army, they've been completely exposed. All the knowledge I've gained has been for nothing. I feel like a loser among all the other time travelers! Others have carefully planned their moves and now dominate the world. What about me? I've ruined a good hand.
It seems I've underestimated the heroes of the world! I thought that just because I'd traveled through time and space, everything would be smooth sailing, and I'd definitely succeed. I was so self-righteous.
Wang Fugui bought Zhao Xiaofei and his friends some new clothes and two carriages. Unfortunately, the horses had all been taken away by the rebels, so they had to rely on donkeys. And being able to buy a donkey was already a great achievement!
Zhao Xiaofei and his companions set out from Foping County. Heading southwest, they initially saw nine out of ten houses empty. As they approached Hanzhong, the population gradually increased, until only five or six out of ten houses were empty. Most of the pedestrians had pale faces, and many even looked like zombies in zombie movies. Their eyes were lifeless, and they were eager to eat anything they saw.
Perhaps in their eyes, Zhao Xiaofei and his group could be considered breakfast! Zhao Xiaofei and Wang Fugui knew something was wrong when they saw this situation. They hurriedly whipped their horses, not caring whether the woman sitting in the car was comfortable or not, and rushed all the way.
As it got dark, we arrived in a place where there was no village or shop in the distance. The northwest wind was blowing, and danger was quietly approaching.
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