The whistling wind and the galloping carriage filled my ears, and tears blurred everything, leaving only distorted firelight and shadows.
"Ma'am, the eldest son will come back safely." A Yuan persuaded from the side, and pulled me into the car to fasten the curtain.
I lay down on the mattress with my eyes open, except for the noise outside, there was only darkness around me.
The carriage galloped all the way, and two hours later, the escort general Song Ke came to report that it was almost dawn, and the horses and soldiers needed to rest after running around in the middle of the night.
I didn't want to talk or go out, so I asked A Yuan to tell Song Ke for me, and he was the one to decide what to do.
The car stopped, and I heard the sound of soldiers walking outside, and occasionally someone whispered, and was immediately reprimanded for silence.
Leaving Qiling overnight, everyone knew that he had escaped. The atmosphere was a bit depressing, and even the birdsong on the trees had a strange meaning. People were cautious, as if they were afraid of alarming something.
"Ma'am," A Yuan said to me in a low voice after getting out of the car and coming back, "The fourth son is also like Madam, he doesn't eat."
Then I remembered that there was another Wei An among these people. After thinking about it, I got up from the mattress.
"Is my hair messy? Are my eyes swollen?" I asked A Yuan.
A Yuan looked at me and smiled: "I'll get a wet handkerchief, Madam will wipe it off." After finishing speaking, he got out of the car.
She wetted the stream with a towel, wiped my face when she came back, and applied it to my eyes for a while. When she felt all right, I got out of the car.
When Song Ke and the soldiers outside saw me, they all showed surprise and saluted. I nodded to them, asked some more questions about food and drink during the trip, exchanged pleasantries, and walked towards Wei An's carriage.
Wei An was sitting in the car, cutting and chiseling, making a boat. Seeing me, he was a little surprised and saluted.
"Fourth Uncle hasn't eaten yet?" I asked.
Wei An remained expressionless: "Eldest sister-in-law has never used it either."
"It's just right, my concubine and my fourth uncle will use it together." Without waiting for his answer, I asked A Yuan to bring over the food and water.
Wei An hesitated, looked at me, but stopped what he was doing, got out of the car and sat on the rock with me, picked up a piece of embarrassing food and ate slowly.
"Uncle Fourth is still building boats?" After eating, I looked at the unformed wooden piece.
"Yeah." Wei An chewed his embarrassing food, and said, "I'm going to try to find an iron chain that is easy to lock and untie."
I said yes, the idea is good, but it seems too late now.
"Fourth Uncle." My heart sank, and I said slowly, "If... I said, if the water village is burned, what will happen to those boats?"
Wei An thought for a while: "It's inconvenient for the boats to be released, there was wind last night, and the boats were already on fire before they were released."
In other words, the huge water village is useless before the war begins.
Wei Tan's rear army became the last camp.
I felt cold in my palms and remained silent.
"Sister-in-law, don't panic." Wei An was quiet for a moment, looking at me with clear eyes, "When I build a big ship that is easy to disassemble, and fight again in the future, the water village will not be burned."
I froze for a moment, only to find it funny and unable to laugh. Thinking of that figure last night, my heart is bitter.
"That's it, Fourth Uncle, work hard." After I finished speaking, I got up and walked back to my carriage.
A group of people hurried forward, Qiling had already been left far behind. Although the mountains and vegetation are separated from the south by the river, the scenery is quite different from that in the north.
No one was in the mood to stop and play in the mountains and rivers. Until noon, Song Kelai told me that ten miles ahead was the boundary of Xin'an, and there was a city called Wancheng, which was the county seat of Wanxian County, where we could stay overnight.
I'm not familiar with these, let Song Ke make arrangements.
When the sun slanted, sure enough, a city appeared in the field of vision. Everyone was overjoyed, and hurriedly walked quickly, but when they got to the bottom of the city, they saw that the city gate was closed tightly.
Song Ke shouted at the door from the bottom of the city. Not long after, a man showed his head on the top of the city.
"Who is coming?"
"I am Song Ke, a general under the prime minister's command! Hurry up and open the door!" Song Ke said.
The man said: "Oh! So it's General Song! Wait a minute, I heard that there is another war ahead recently, the county magistrate is not allowed to open the door easily, so the villain asked first!" As he said, he heard a muffled sound, and the city gate slowly Open slowly.
Song Ke stopped everyone and did not enter.
"What's the matter?" A Yuan missed to peek through the car window in doubt. After a while, Song Ke shouted: "Turn back! Let's go!" Everyone was shocked, the driver hurriedly turned the horse's head, and A Yuan and I were bumped Have to fall on the mattress.
When I sat up again, I only heard the sound of shouting and killing, Song Ke shouted: "Guard the master!"
The dust raised by the vehicles was flying all over the sky on the road, and I couldn't see the scenes of the fighting clearly. But the carriage sped forward, and it didn't take long for those voices to run behind. After bumping for nearly a moment, suddenly, with a "poof", the carriage shook violently, and the driver shouted "Woo", the carriage shook so hard that bones ached, and it took a while to stop.
I was still in shock, and was about to ask what happened, when the driver gasped and said, "Ma'am! The cart can no longer run! The horse pulling the cart ran away and died!"
Accidents happened frequently, and I was so upset that I ignored A Yuan's obstruction, so I got out of the car to have a look.
Surrounded by a mountain forest in the countryside, it is secluded and deserted. In front of the carriage, only one of the two horses pulling the carriage was still standing, panting heavily, causing the other to fall to the ground without breathing. The driver was unfettering the dead horse, sighing as he did so: "Since it came out of Qiling last night, it has never rested a few times along the way. I thought I could enter the city at night, but... oh..."
At this moment, a sound of horseshoes was approaching, and I was shocked. I was about to tell them to hide, but the driver said: "Don't hide! It's the carriage of the fourth son!"
I looked over, and sure enough, the carriage came galloping, but the one sitting on the driver's seat was Wei An.
"Woo!" Wei An was not proficient in driving, and he stopped the carriage after several feet.
"Fourth Uncle!" I hurried forward and looked him up and down, "Is Fourth Uncle okay?"
Wei An put down his whip, jumped out of the car, and shook his head: "It's nothing."
"Ah! It finally stopped!" I was about to speak again, but unexpectedly, the car curtain was raised, and Wei Jiao got out with a pale face, "I'm scared to death!"
I looked at them in amazement.
Wei Jiao patted the dust off his body, and said with a smile, "Young Madam, don't be surprised. A certain horse was shot down. Fortunately, the Fourth Young Master pulled me into the carriage, and then the driver of the carriage was shot down again, and the Fourth Young Master went to Drive." After finishing speaking, he cupped his hands, "Is Young Madam all right?"
I:"… "
"I don't know what happened to those sergeants?" A Yuan asked.
Wei Jiao shook his head and said: "The people in the city are enemy troops. General Song Ke escaped to cover us up, and the death battle is behind us. I'm afraid the danger is unpredictable."
Everyone is silent.
I looked at the incomplete carriage and said sadly, "What should I do now?"
Wei Jiao thought for a while and said, "Someone used to practice medicine in this area. If the young lady is willing, there is a plan."
I said, "Wei Bianque, please tell me."
Wei Jiao said: "In this county and township, every wealthy family has a horse-drawn carriage. It is common for the whole family to move during a war. I will wait for four people and three horses. Why don't we abandon the wrecked cart and use two horse-drawn carts? Riding on a horse doesn't look like a pedestrian."
I looked at him, then at the crowd and the carriage.
When we go out, Wei An and I are wearing ordinary clothes, and the carriage is also in an ordinary style. At the beginning, we wanted not to be ostentatious, but now it is just right.
"Who rides the chariot and who rides the horse?" Wei An asked.
Wei Jiao said: "Young Madam is in poor health, so she still rides with A Yuan; the Young Master and the driver drive ahead, and someone rides a horse."
A Yuan looked at him suspiciously: "Is Bian Que thinking about running away by himself?"
Wei Jiao glared at her, and said angrily, "Is this such an unrighteous person?! Go to the countryside and see, which adult man here doesn't ride a horse! Somebody has followed the eldest son, he is his man in life, and he is in death... "
"Okay," I interrupted aloud, "just like Wei Bianque's plan, it's not too late, just prepare quickly."
Everyone should go down and clean up separately.
The compartment of my carriage was broken, so I cleared out the contents and put them on Wei An's car. In order not to leave any traces, I pushed the wrecked car down a nearby ditch. For the rest, just as Wei Jiao said, A Yuan and I were in the car, the driver and Wei An were outside the car, and Wei Jiao was on the horse.
In order to look more like a villager, under Wei Jiao's guidance, I wrapped a scarf around my head, and Wei An's horns were also combed into the most rustic style by A Yuan.
After everything was arranged, Wei Jiao looked like it, so he set out on the road.
It was almost dark, and the group suffered a sudden change, and they were already exhausted, and no one spoke.
Along the way, we didn't find any homes for us to stay, so we had to sleep on the side of the road. Wei Jiao, Yu Zhe, and Wei An went to collect firewood, while A Yuan and I stayed in the camp to share the embarrassing food.
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When it was dark, the bonfire was lit, and the light diluted the night.
A Yuan and I broke the embarrassing food and put small pieces into our mouths. Wei An finished eating early and fiddled with his wooden boat.
On the opposite side, Wei Jiao and Yu Zhe chatted happily.
"I heard those sergeants call you Uncle Huang earlier?" Wei Jiao said.
The driver laughed: "It's just children screaming, I dare not take it."
"Why don't you dare to do it? I used to live in the village, and the older ones were not called uncles." Wei Jiao chewed on the embarrassing food, and said, "Uncle Huang's accent sounds like Hengzhou."
"Exactly, I'm from Hengzhou."
"Oh, then you and I are half of the township party, Maozhou and Hengzhou are next door..."
The two were chatting and laughing, and it seemed much deserted here.
I was still thinking about Wei Tan, it's been almost a day since I left Qiling, I don't know how the battle went. Along the way, I was restless with this matter hanging in my heart. Wancheng is the only way for Qiling to return to Yongzhou. Wancheng was captured and the situation became more dangerous than before.
Wei Tan... When I think of him, I feel as if something is gripping my heart. But I was in this vast countryside, only helpless and restless.
Suddenly, A Yuan pulled me hard: "Madam..."
I looked at her and saw her staring ahead, nervous.
I followed and saw two people appearing in the shadows in front of me. They were two strong men with rough clothes and disheveled hair, but the knives in their hands were shining brightly.
Wei Jiao and Uncle Huang also saw them, their expressions changed, and they stood up from the ground.
"Who are you waiting for?" Wei Jiao asked nervously.
One of them looked at him, then looked at A Yuan and me, and smiled wretchedly. He spit on the back of the knife and wiped it with his sleeve: "We are from nearby villages, and this mountain forest belongs to my family when you stay overnight. I will collect some money later."