Dozens of people approached from the narrow entrance of Niujia Village, rushing towards Wei Shuwan and her group, giving the impression of a large army pressing in!
From a distance, Wei Shuwan couldn't make out the people's attire clearly, but judging from their imposing manner and the bandit whistles they occasionally emitted, they were undoubtedly bandits from Yandang Mountain.
Even though Wei Shuwan didn't know much about Niujia Village and these bandits, Niujia Village was located at the foot of Yandang Mountain. Given that it had been able to coexist peacefully with the bandits for so many years, Wei Shuwan guessed that most of the villagers must be relatives of the bandits.
The bandits certainly weren't targeting the villagers of Niujia Village when they came down the mountain. They probably received a tip from the village and saw the intruders as easy prey.
Therefore, the bandits came for them!
"Run!" Wei Shuwan shouted urgently, lifting her skirt and running towards where the carriage was parked.
Miao Xiang, a maid in the back courtyard, had never encountered such a dangerous situation before, so her reaction was naturally a beat slower. Zi Qiao pulled her up, and thankfully she didn't hold her back.
The four guards were all trained martial artists, and their quick reflexes led them to a coordinated plan after exchanging glances: one of them would leap onto the driver's seat of the carriage, carrying Wei Shuwan and the others as they fled out of the village. The remaining three would mount their horses, forming a human wall to cover the carriage's escape.
One of the bandits spotted the target and whistled, then sped towards them at full speed!
The three guards of the Wei family understood that they could not possibly fight against dozens of bandits with their own strength, so when the bandits got closer, they suddenly split into three groups.
Shouting, "Come and catch me if you dare!" they spurred their horses and galloped off in different directions from the village!
The bandits were momentarily misled by the three men's actions, but soon they spotted the carriage that had already sped away, and someone ordered, "Chase that carriage!"
Seeing that the large group of bandits was still chasing after the carriage, the three guards who had split up regrouped after circling around. Although they knew that following to protect them would mean certain death, they steeled their hearts and ran after the bandits ahead!
Meanwhile, Wei Shuwan, Zi Qiao, and Miao Xiang, sitting inside the carriage, were being jostled around by the speeding vehicle. They had no choice; they were fleeing for their lives.
"Girl... what do those bandits want to do?" Miaoxiang asked, her voice trembling with tears.
Before Wei Shuwan could answer, Zi Qiao bluntly pointed out: "What else could they do? Naturally, it's for money and sex. If they're taken back, they'll either extort money or make her their bandit wife!"
"This is the outskirts of Beijing, right under the emperor's nose, how dare they..."
"I heard that they even tried to assassinate the emperor when he was on his southern tour!"
Zi Qiao's words were not wrong. Wei Shuwan had also heard about this matter. Therefore, the emperor hated the bandits of Yandang Mountain to the bone and sent troops into the mountain to suppress them several times.
However, because the Yandang Mountains spanned five prefectures, and the bandits were quite familiar with the terrain, coupled with advance warnings from officials in the court, the bandits would always leave their strongholds and move between prefectures by the time the campaign was launched. The pursuit stretched endlessly, and in the end, the Imperial Guards suffered the most heavy losses.
Zhu Xian had vigorously investigated internal traitors, adhering to the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free," and imprisoned a large number of officials. However, he ultimately failed to eradicate the bandits of Yandang Mountain, as he died before them.
Later, Crown Prince Zhu Haogan was deposed, and the young prince born to Consort Wen ascended the throne. What could a baby who was still breastfeeding know? He couldn't even sit steadily on the dragon throne and had to be supported and constantly teased by a wet nurse to keep him from crying loudly in front of the officials when attending court.
At that time, Li Qingchen had already been appointed as the regent, wielding immense power. Even the young emperor, who had just learned to speak, had to call him godfather in order to ensure he would receive milk every day.
As for the bandits of Yandang Mountain, they simply vanished without a trace in the historical torrent of dynastic changes, as if they evaporated overnight, and there has been no further news of them robbing, killing, or assassinating officials.
As the carriage sped along, Wei Shuwan involuntarily recalled a memory about the bandits of Yandang Mountain, which plunged her into an even more tense mood.
Zi Qiao risked lifting the brocade curtain to peek behind her and said anxiously, "Oh no, they're catching up!"
He urged the guards driving the car, "Faster, faster!"
The reins in the guard's hands were almost smoking, but no matter how fast a carriage carrying four people was, could it be faster than a single rider?
Wei Shuwan understood this as well. She lifted the curtain to look at the situation outside and said, "It seems we have no choice but to jump out of the carriage."
"Jump out of the car?" Zi Qiao exclaimed in shock. "Jumping out of such a fast car, I'm afraid you won't survive, girl!"
"But there's no other way. The carriage carrying the four of us will be caught sooner or later, and then we'll all be captured. If we jump out of the carriage now, both we and the driver will have a chance to survive!"
As she said this, Wei Shuwan began to move. She took off her cloak, wrapped a thick silk robe around her head, and then put it on her head: "Let's give it a try!"
Ziqiao and Miaoxiang nodded through their tears, and followed suit, wrapping their cloaks around their heads with silk shawls. Then the three of them climbed out of the carriage and waited for the next turn.
Only when turning a corner could the carriage slow down slightly, giving them a chance to escape from the sight of their pursuers.
However, the mountain road was unusually straight. After speeding along for a while, there was no fork in the road. When a fork in the road finally appeared, Wei Shuwan jumped without hesitation!
Beside the mountain path was a steep slope, which she quickly tumbled down. In late autumn, the vegetation was withered, and there wasn't even a patch of grass beneath her. Her shoulders, back, and chest scraped against the rough stones as she went; the pain of being shattered to pieces couldn't have been worse!
But Wei Shuwan stubbornly held back, not uttering a single sound.
When her body finally rolled to a stop on flat ground, she rested for a while before slowly sitting up, supporting herself on the ground. Her whole body felt like it was broken, but fortunately, the silk cushion supporting her head prevented her from hitting any vital organs.
Wei Shuwan removed the handkerchief that had been stuffed in her mouth, put her cloak back on, stood up shakily, and moved forward little by little, intending to meet up with Zi Qiao and Miao Xiang.
However, she persevered and walked for a long time, but still couldn't see Ziqiao and Miaoxiang.
"Didn't they jump down...?"
Wei Shuwan roughly recalled that she could hear the bandits whistling as they chased after her around the corner the moment she jumped out of the car, so it seemed that they were already close to her at that time.
Thinking about it this way, it's likely that after she jumped out of the car, the bandits turned the corner, preventing Ziqiao and Miaoxiang from jumping again. If they had jumped, they would have only exposed her as well.
Wei Shuwan was worried about Zi Qiao Miaoxiang and the four guards of the Wei family, but none of them could help each other now, and they could only find their own way to survive.
What she should do now is leave this mountain first. Once she reaches the post road, she can catch a passing carriage and return to the capital before reporting to the authorities!
But would reporting it to the authorities be of any use?
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