When Mingyu and the others were leaving the city, the city gate was crowded with people trying to escape. Now, only half an hour had passed, and there were only a few people running out of the city gate.
After the South Gate quieted down, if you listened carefully, you could still hear the heavy "bang bang" sound from the north as the Tartars rammed the city gate with wooden stakes.
The Tartars concentrated their forces to attack the north gate of Tianshui City. Most of the few remaining troops of Tianshui City went to guard the north gate. There were not many soldiers guarding the south gate. When they saw a little girl like Mingyu riding a horse and running towards the city desperately, they all widened their eyes in surprise. A soldier who seemed to be the leader could not help but shout to Mingyu: "Little girl, things are not worth your life. The Tartars are coming in soon!"
Seeing that Mingyu was well dressed and rode a good horse, he thought she was a daughter of a merchant family, returning home to retrieve some valuable things she had left behind.
The wind whistled past Mingyu's ears. Mingyu naturally heard the dissuasion of the soldiers guarding the city. Looking at the empty street in front of her, Mingyu gritted her teeth, lowered her body, and quickly passed through the city gate.
The gate of the mansion was wide open, Mingyu rode in directly, dismounted and tied the horse to the tree in the front yard, then ran non-stop towards the kitchen. Ignoring the faint "dong dong" sound of collision in the air, the whole mansion was eerily quiet, Mingyu's heart also began to beat wildly, cold sweat kept coming out from his forehead.
"Lixiang! Lixiang!" Mingyu shouted at the top of her voice, her voice changing tone perhaps because of anxiety and fear.
After calling out several times, no one responded to Mingyu. Mingyu was anxious and scared. The two maids, Hongxi and Hongxian, said that they had locked Lixiang in the woodroom, but the door of the woodroom was not closed at all, and there were only dozens of bundles of firewood in the room.
Just when Mingyu was about to stamp her feet and cry, a noise came from the small room behind the kitchen. Mingyu was startled and ran to the back of the kitchen. She saw a broken porcelain bowl thrown out of the window, hitting the bluestone slab on the ground and shattering into pieces.
There is someone in the ear room!
"Lixiang, is that you?" Mingyu ran to the window of the ear room and stood on tiptoe to look inside. She saw that Lixiang's hands and feet were tied up, with a handkerchief stuffed in her mouth. She stared at her with tearful eyes and nodded desperately.
At that moment, all the fear and panic that Mingyu had endured along the way seemed to be worth it. The door of the ear room was an old wooden door with a small lock. Mingyu went to the kitchen to pick up a brick, smashed the lock hard, and rushed into the ear room, tears falling.
"You silly girl, you scared me to death!" Mingyu said with a smile, untied the ropes that bound Lixiang's hands and feet, and pulled the handkerchief out of Lixiang's mouth.
After regaining her freedom, Li Xiang burst into tears, knelt on the ground and hugged Mingyu, her whole body trembling, crying, "Second Madam, why did you come back? It's not worth it for me!"
Mingyu couldn't help but stretched out his finger and tapped Lixiang's forehead vigorously, wiped the cold sweat from his face, and said with a smile, "Stop talking so much nonsense, and leave quickly!"
However, just as Lixiang pulled Mingyu out of the ear room, two black arrows with flames flew in front of them. Lixiang was completely unprepared and she stopped suddenly in shock, and both she and Mingyu fell to the ground.
"Oh no! The Tartars have entered the city and started firing rockets!" Mingyu was really scared this time. From time to time, she could see flaming arrows flying towards them and landing on the roof. Soon, the entire roof was on fire. Maybe the Tartars would rush in soon.
Lixiang was not afraid at this time. With red eyes, she pulled Mingyu and ran out. When they reached the kitchen door, Mingyu broke free from Lixiang's hand, rushed into the kitchen, took out a frying pan and handed it to Lixiang. Lixiang asked in surprise, "What do you want this for?"
Because of nervousness and fear, Mingyu clenched his teeth tightly. After running with Lixiang for a while, he squeezed out two words from between his teeth, "It works."
When the two ran to the front yard, Mingyu hurriedly untied the horse, turned around and took a look. The Cuiwei Pavilion, the tallest building in the mansion, was half burned down, and the fire began to spread to the surrounding courtyards.
Mingyu climbed onto the horse first, leaned over and stretched out his hand to Lixiang. Lixiang looked at the tall horse with its nose raised and snorted with some fear. Mingyu was a little anxious, "Don't be afraid, get on quickly!"
Lixiang no longer hesitated. She closed her eyes and made up her mind. She pulled Mingyu's hand and got on the horse. In her hand, she was still holding the iron pot that Mingyu gave her. Lixiang, who was sitting behind Mingyu, was trembling with fear. She asked Mingyu: "Let's throw away this iron pot. It's very heavy and the horse can't run fast!"
"You can't throw it away." Mingyu refused flatly, turned the horse's head and prepared to run out, saying: "Hold your legs tightly against the horse's belly, I will hold you with one hand, you won't fall, tear your skirt into strips, tie them to the handle of the iron pot, and carry the iron pot on your back."
Lixiang immediately understood Mingyu's meaning. There were many rockets fired along the way, and once they left the mansion and reached the empty street, there would surely be even more rockets fired by the Tartars. The two of them would inevitably be affected by the rockets. With the iron pot as a shield behind them, they would be much safer.
Mingyu patted the horse's back with one hand and tightly grasped Lixiang's clothes with the other. The two had just run out of the marquis's mansion not far when they heard a rumbling sound behind them, like the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground, followed by the chaotic sound of horse hooves and shouts of killing.
Li Xiang put the iron pot on her back and couldn't help but look back. She was so scared that her voice changed. "The Tartars are coming! The Tartars are coming!"
Mingyu clenched her teeth tightly and did not dare to look behind her. She was afraid that if she looked behind her, she would be as frightened as Lixiang. She lowered her body and ordered Lixiang, "Hold me tight!" Then she let go of Lixiang's hand, freed one hand to swing the horsewhip, and ran towards the south gate desperately.
Lixiang hugged Mingyu tightly and leaned over the horse's back. She heard the sound of ding-dong coming from the iron pot behind her. She thought it was the sound of iron arrows hitting the iron pot. She was nervous and scared. Lixiang couldn't help but sigh at Mingyu's foresight. If Mingyu hadn't taken out the iron pot at the last minute, she was afraid that the two of them would have been shot into sieves by the stray arrows.
Mingyu couldn't suppress the fear in her heart. She grew up in a peaceful era and had never experienced anything like this. The fear of racing against death chilled her heart. She knew that the Tartars were still some distance away from them, but she didn't dare to look back, as if if she looked back she would see a Tartar with a hideous face raising his butcher knife towards them.
Mingyu could only whip the horse whip desperately, praying that the horse under her would run faster and faster. From the sound coming from the north, the defenders were still resisting the Tartars. If they couldn't resist, she would probably die here today. Their horses could not outrun the Tartars' excellent war horses anyway.
Maybe Master Bao was still fighting the Tartars at the north gate, or maybe he had already retreated outside the city and joined his wife and the others. Mingyu's mind became clearer in fear.
The rare warm sun of late autumn hung high in the sky, but Mingyu could not feel any warmth at all. In just a few hours, she had faced too many deaths. It turned out that a person's life was so insignificant in this historical catastrophe. Even though Sima Qing was a marquis, he ended up with his head and body separated.
Mingyu suddenly thought of Master Bao, and she smiled bitterly in her heart. Even if she could escape safely, she didn't know if she could ever see that arrogant and domineering handsome young man again.
Both of them were terrified. When they saw the South Gate in front of them, Mingyu finally breathed a sigh of relief. The soldiers guarding the South Gate were long gone. The gate was empty without a single person. There were several corpses lying on the ground, trampled beyond recognition. It was very scary. There was a burning smell in the air. Mingyu's teeth were chattering because of fear.
Soon after leaving the city gate, the road forked. Mingyu decisively turned his horse's head and ran towards the small road. Whenever he encountered a fork in the road, he took the small road heading east. The Tartars had already entered the city. Their horses ran faster. If they took the main road, they would inevitably be caught up by the Tartars. In comparison, this difficult country road was safer. The Tartars were few in number, and their purpose was probably just to occupy the town. The countryside was vast, and they would not be able to take care of it for a while.
After running for more than an hour, the horses that Mingyu and Lixiang were riding finally couldn't run anymore. They were breathing heavily through their nostrils and white foam was coming out of the corners of their mouths. No matter how hard Mingyu whipped the horse, it couldn't move any further and could only move slowly.
Li Xiang was so anxious that tears were streaming down her face. She touched the horse under her and cried, "Please, run!"
Mingyu sighed, threw away the reins in his hand, and said to Lixiang, "Get off the horse, it can't run anymore." The farthest distance the horses in the marquis' mansion have ever run is to burn incense in the temple. They have never experienced such high-intensity running. At this moment, this horse has reached its limit and it can't run anymore even if it is hit.
Lixiang was carrying an iron pot on her back. She sobbed and got off the horse. Her movements were clumsy and ugly. Mingyu was no longer in the mood to tease Lixiang. After Lixiang got off the horse, Mingyu also got off the horse swiftly.
In late autumn, the country roads are quiet and peaceful, as if isolated from the outside world. In the ditches on both sides of the road, the grass that had grown wildly due to the rain in the summer has long since turned yellow and is swaying slowly in the dry ditches with the autumn wind.
Mingyu led the horse and Lixiang's hand and walked slowly forward. There were a few farmhouses not far away. She wanted to ask for a bucket of water for the horse. Lixiang was held by Mingyu with one hand, and covered her eyes with the other hand. She was still crying and occasionally said: "You, you shouldn't have come back... My life is cheap, and I will die if I die... For me, I will lose a lot by sacrificing you! Even if I die, I will not be able to see the master and the mistress..."
Mingyu thought of the two bodies covered by the white cloth, and Aunt Yu's feet dangling in the air in red embroidered shoes. She couldn't help but frown. Perhaps because she had experienced so many deaths, she was more sensitive to "death". She scolded them bluntly: "What nonsense are you talking about? What about death! Aren't we both fine here? We still have to go back to Jiangnan together!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian () to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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