Hearing the noise, Jiang Dalang and his eldest son ran to open the door. Seeing that it was indeed Shopkeeper Qiu, they quickly opened the threshold and led the donkey cart in.
Qiu Rong also ran out of the house. Seeing that her parents and brother had also come, she felt relieved. She helped her mother into the house and went to clean up two side rooms for them to live in.
Manager Qiu told his in-laws what he had seen: "Alas, I saw the city gate was closed just after I left the city. The city gate was closed in broad daylight, which means either they encountered foreign enemies or there was a civil strife. My heart is pounding until now, it was a close call!"
Fortunately, I listened to my third in-laws and my daughter, otherwise I would be locked up in the city and at the mercy of others.
When Old Man Jiang and Jiang Dalang heard this, their faces changed drastically and they hurried to call Jiang Sanlang to discuss countermeasures.
The next day, Jiang Sanlang called a meeting of the villagers and told them about the strange things happening in the county. Finally, he said, "Something must have happened in the county. We must be vigilant to prevent the rebels from coming. I will inform the surrounding post stations about this and let them make the decision."
There are also several Wupu Posthouses around Qinchuan County, and he doesn't know if they are accomplices from the county seat, so he has to go and notify other counties.
Moreover, the county lieutenant of Qinchuan County had an old grudge against him, and he might take this opportunity to take revenge on his family.
The clan leader frowned: "Could it be that the county has also rebelled against the new dynasty?" If that were the case, it would be really bad. His little grandson and the two children of the Jiang family are all newly promoted military officers of the new dynasty. Everyone knows about this.
It would be disastrous if the rebels attacked the village and captured the elderly, the weak, women and children and used them to threaten the Xin Dynasty’s army.
Thinking of this, the clan leader said again: "Sanlang, take a few more people to notify the surrounding post stations and garrisons, and we will also set up in the village."
"This is exactly why I called everyone here. Now the first priority is to build the gate to the village, and then gather all the villagers from the surrounding villages to fight the enemy together." Jiang Sanlang said.
Over the years, under the supervision of the little girl, the village wall has been mostly repaired, and now only a few entrance and exit gates have not been installed.
As long as they guard the village gate, no one can climb over the wall.
One reason is that there is a circle of soapberry trees outside the wall, and the other is that there are several tall arrow towers beside the wall.
"Okay! Let's do it!" everyone agreed in unison.
So, several villagers who were good at riding horses followed Jiang Sanlang to notify the post station and the garrison, while the rest of the people provided the wood and hemp ropes in their homes and worked together to build the village gate.
Other young men from the school ran to other villages to inform the village chiefs of other villages and asked them to bring people to help as soon as possible.
Chen Changsheng from West Village could no longer sit still, so he simply notified the people from West Village to come and help, and built straw and bamboo huts in East Village. Everyone in his village, including his own family, had to come in to take refuge.
While everyone was busy, Yingbao took Dahuang and Xiaohei to the wild to pick up stones. No matter how big or small, as long as they could be pried open, they were all put into the cave.
If a real fight breaks out, those bamboo arrows and the like won't do as much damage as stones, so she has to pick up more stones.
Unfortunately, there are not many medicinal materials that can be used to prepare colorful and odorless highly toxic drugs, otherwise it would be much easier to secretly poison those bad guys.
Even if it was Ma Fei San, she didn't have much on hand, so she couldn't make a group of people numb in a short time.
Several days passed in a flash.
That day, several young men who were acting as scouts suddenly ran back and shouted as soon as they entered the village: "Oh no! A group of soldiers are coming!"
Everyone was shocked and rushed to tell each other.
People at the market also ran into the village carrying baskets and pushing wheelbarrows.
Although the textile workshop also had high walls, it was still not as safe as the village, so all the weavers ran in.
Like everyone else, Yingbao heard the scout's shouting and immediately ran to the West Village to find Mrs. Wang and asked her to come to the East Village quickly.
Mrs. Wang did not hesitate. She ordered the servants to load the food and other items in the house onto the carriage and quickly went to the East Village.
Not long after, Yingbao, who was standing on a high watchtower, saw more than a thousand soldiers going up the south slope. They first rummaged around in the market for a while, but when they found no valuables, they went straight to the textile workshop.
The door of the workshop was closed. They pounded on it for a while, but found that they couldn't open it. So the leader ordered them to turn back and besiege the village.
The village gate was built in a very sloppy manner and one could see inside from the outside.
But these doors were made of logs and were very strong, so the rebels were unable to break through them in a short time.
Yingbao saw that the person riding on the tall horse was Cao Shen, and there was another person beside him who seemed to be talking to him.
Yingbao always felt that she had seen this person somewhere before. After thinking about it carefully, she suddenly remembered that he and Chen Changping had been together.
Thinking of the Chen Wan incident, she understood a little.
This person should be King Cheng’s trusted aide Yan Jinshan.
He was actually in collusion with Cao Shen, and the dream he had might have been a warning.
If my eldest cousin and his family had not come back, they might really have killed him and his family.
When Yingbao thought of this, she felt a chill on her back.
If I had neglected the dream, perhaps my cousin and my aunt's family would have been killed.
Yingbao narrowed her eyes slightly and saw those people starting to set fire to the village gate.
The gate was made of hemp rope and wood, and fastened with wooden pegs, so it was completely fireproof.
Zhang Meng stood on the sentry tower beside the village gate and shouted, "Shoot!"
Several villagers standing on the watchtower began to shoot arrows at the men.
But it was the first time they used bows and arrows to fight against soldiers in imperial uniforms, and they still felt uneasy and did not dare to actually kill those people.
Zhang Meng was a little angry and shouted, "Aim at their vital points and shoot. There are so many of them coming at once. It's either him or me who will die. Why are you hesitating? Are you waiting for them to kill all your wives, children and elders?"
The villagers' hands trembled, and they saw that the people outside had set fire to all the houses in the market. Suddenly, flames shot up into the sky. They were immediately furious, and they drew their bows and shot arrows at the bottom without any regard.
But the village gate had been broken open and the rebels poured into the village like a tide.
Yingbao stood on the arrow tower and threw stones down one by one.
Next to her are her father Jiang Sanlang and her mother Chunniang.
This watchtower, and the watchtower where Zhang Meng is standing opposite, are also two strongholds guarding the village gate.
If there is an enemy attack, these two arrow towers can also provide some resistance.
But neither she nor her father had expected that Cao Shen would bring so many people at once just to attack a village.
However, Cao Shen may not know that the village gate is only the first barrier, and there are second and third barriers behind it.
The rebels rushed into the village amid the villagers' rain of arrows and stones, but what the hell was this circle of soapberry branches in front of them
I saw a circle of soapberry branches piled up inside the gate, blocking all the roads. The thorns on the branches were so sharp that it made people's scalps numb.
The road ahead was blocked and the rebels were constantly attacked by bamboo arrows and stones above their heads. They retreated in a hurry, leaving behind dozens of corpses and injured people.
Cao Shen frowned and waved his hand to order the team to retreat out of the attack range of the arrow tower.
"It seems that we can't attack from the main gate." Yan Jinshan touched his chin and said, "This village is indeed full of hidden talents. We should not underestimate it. Brother Cao, your plan may take some time."
Cao Shen sneered: "If I can't take down a small village, how can I be worthy of following the king? Brother Yan, rest assured, Cao will flatten this village and bring all the heads and property to see the king."