"Is this Qingping Town?" Yan Liqiang rode on Caiyun Zhuiyue, looked at the town in front of him, turned his head and asked Liu Xitong.
"Yes, this is Qingping Town. I've been here several times before!" Liu Xitong nodded affirmatively and looked at the surrounding streets. "Here... it seems, it seems that there are no zombies!"
"Be careful, don't be careless, take a look first!"
"Um!"
The whole team followed Yan Liqiang and walked slowly. There was no one on the streets of this town, and there were no zombies to be seen. The streets were littered with scattered debris, broken tiles, broken pots, and scattered furniture. Some of the doors of the shops and restaurants on the street were wide open, with chaos inside, while others were tightly locked with no one to be seen. The scene in the town reminded Yan Liqiang of the uninhabited town that was being demolished.
Not only Yan Liqiang, but other people on horseback in the team also turned their heads and looked around, as if they were afraid that a zombie would jump out from somewhere.
The town was completely quiet. Apart from the occasional chirping of birds flying overhead, the only sounds were the clattering of Yan Liqiang and his group's horses' hooves and the turning of their wheels, echoing on the bluestone floor.
All the traces in this town indicate that the people living in the town should have escaped. This makes Yan Liqiang feel somewhat comforted, because the people in this town are still alive, most likely because the magic insect in his hand is still alive and has not been killed, so most people in this town have not turned into zombies.
Finally, after walking more than a hundred meters on the road in the town, the group finally saw five charred corpses on the street. The five completely charred corpses were locked with iron chains. Judging from the traces at the scene, they should have been tied up and thrown in the middle of the street and burned to death with firewood. Those zombies would not be so troublesome to kill people, so it is very likely that these five corpses should be zombies infected with insect eggs.
At this time, the first ray of light from the rising sun has already shone on the ground, and the sky has gradually become brighter.
There was a little noise coming from the alley not far away...
"Who..." Liu Xi shouted loudly, and the crossbow in his hand suddenly turned towards the alley. Many soldiers on horseback also raised their weapons at once.
A cat ran out from the alley, turned around and saw so many people on the street pointing weapons at it, and was probably frightened. After meowing, it crossed the street in the blink of an eye, nimbly climbed onto a big banyan tree, then jumped onto the roof, and then disappeared...
Liu Xitong let out a long breath and lowered the crossbow in his hand.
"Where is the iron lock bridge?" Yan Liqiang knew it was a cat just by hearing the footsteps, so he didn't move.
“It’s not far ahead!”
After walking a few hundred meters along the road, the group finally arrived at the bridgehead of the town's cable bridge.
The iron chains of the bridge were still there, but the seven or eight thick iron chains that made up the bridge deck had been cut off and fell into the river. The deck of the iron chain bridge no longer existed, and only three or four iron chains were still there on the entire iron chain bridge, spanning both sides of the river. Looking at the iron chains, most people could barely walk across with the support of something, but they couldn't carry too many things, and it was completely impossible for horses and carriages to pass through. Seeing this scene, almost everyone in the team turned their eyes to Yan Liqiang, and no one spoke. What to do now was up to Yan Liqiang to decide. From last night until now, Yan Liqiang had established prestige in the entire team with his strength and practical actions. The entire team ran from the Deer Park to here, and everyone was still alive, with only a few people injured. It was simply a miracle.
Before Yan Liqiang could say anything, a guard from the palace came over on horseback, "Master Yan, the queen wants to talk to you..."
"Yes!" Yan Li emphasized, turned the horse's head, walked back a few steps, and came to the carriage where Concubine Rong was sitting.
The curtain of the carriage was drawn open, revealing Concubine Rong's eyes. After traveling all night, the people in the carriage probably didn't get enough rest, and there was a hint of fatigue in Concubine Rong's eyes.
"Master Yan, can't we cross the bridge ahead?"
"Well, this bridge was also damaged, but not as badly as the previous bridge. There are still a few chains left. People can hold on to the chains to cross, but horses and vehicles cannot..."
"Is there any road ahead?"
"I heard from Captain Liu that there is a ferry several dozen miles ahead..."
"Well... I see everyone is a little tired after running all night... Can we take a rest in this town for a while..." Concubine Rong said, with some embarrassment in her eyes and a slightly shy expression.
Yan Liqiang suddenly understood what was going on. Although they found a place to rest for a quarter of an hour on the road last night to make it convenient for everyone, Concubine Rong had been on the road all night and was in a hurry to go to the bathroom. However, she was too embarrassed to explain it, so she could only make such a suggestion in a tactful way.
Looking at Concubine Rong and then at the exhausted faces in the team, Yan Liqiang made a decision immediately, "Okay, let's find a place to rest in Qingping Town first, eat something, and recover our mental and physical strength. We will find a way to deal with the rest..."
Concubine Rong finally breathed a sigh of relief, "Then thank you, Lord Yan...", and then she lowered the curtain again.
Yan Li turned his horse back and waved his hand, calling several officers from Luyuan over. "Zhang Leyan, his name is Qian Dazhu, you two take a few brothers and set up a few sentries at the entrance of the town we passed ahead. If anyone comes, immediately sound the alarm!"
"Yes!" Zhang Leyan and Qian Dazhu nodded, said hello, and turned around with more than ten people on their rhinoceros horses to run towards the town entrance. These two officers from Luyuan, Zhang Leyan is smart and Qian Dazhu is steady, the two of them are a good pair together and will not make any mistakes.
"Guo Sida, Xu Shu, Meng Hui, the three of you take people to search the town and find a place for everyone to stay!"
"Yes!" The three men took the order and turned away with a group of soldiers.
"Yan Qing..." Yan Liqiang called out.
Yan Qing, carrying a horn python bow, rode over from the back of the team, "Master, you called me..."
"Well, Captain Liu knows the way. You and Captain Liu can go to the Bailongdian dock to find out if there are any boats..."
Liu Xitong knew the way and had good cultivation. Yan Qing was an archer. The two of them could work together to explore the way ahead. Nothing would go wrong. Even if they encountered zombies, they could return safely.
When the two heard Yan Liqiang's order, they looked at each other, clasped their fists at the same time, and said, "Yes!" After that, they rode their horses and continued to rush south.
…
Qingping Town was not very big. It only took Guo Sida, Xu Shu and Meng Hui a short while to walk around the town with their men. As expected, there was no one left in the town. All of them had run away, and there were no zombies. There were two large houses on the edge of the bamboo forest in the north of the town. They looked quite nice and were a good place for everyone to rest.
Yan Liqiang directly asked everyone to go to the two mansions to rest and stay.
The two mansions were next to each other and their doors were locked. There was no one inside. When Yan Liqiang and his men arrived, they simply broke the door locks of the mansions and moved in.
The group had been traveling all night and were extremely tired. As soon as they arrived at the mansion, they rested and ate.
Yan Liqiang directly let Concubine Rong and the others live in the backyard of a large mansion. There were several courtyards in the backyard, including a garden, a rockery and an attic. It seemed that it was originally the residence of the women in the mansion, and now it was just right for the women in the palace to live in.
Just after we settled down here for a while, Liu Xitong and Yan Qing came back with news.
"There are still a few small boats on the Bailong Lake, but most of the people have fled. Many people from the villages there have already fled. Some who didn't have time to escape hid in the Bailong Lake and didn't dare to come out. There are fifty or sixty miles of reed marshes in the Bailong Lake, and the end is endless. Many people in Qingping Town who didn't have time to escape hid in the reed marshes. As soon as we arrived at the dock, we met a man who ran out of the reed marsh to look for something. When he saw the military uniforms I was wearing, he dared to come out to meet us and told us the situation..."
"Are there many people who survived in the nearby villages?"
"Quite a lot. I heard from that person that there weren't many villagers in the villages here who turned into zombies. The few that did were beaten to death or burned to death before they could hurt anyone. That night, they saw the smoke from the Imperial Capital in Stanley, and heard that something had happened in Huizhou City. The chaos started, and people in the nearby villages began to run away. In the past, many people here wanted to run away when they heard that the heavenly calamity was coming, but they didn't have a pass and the government was in charge. The chaos in the past two days just gave them the opportunity..."
"Okay, I got it, you guys go and rest!"
After letting Liu Xitong and Yan Qing leave, Yan Liqiang asked someone to call Manager Wen over.
"Ah, my lord, you have something to talk to me about!" After witnessing Yan Liqiang's divine power last night, Manager Wen's smile became more humble when he saw Yan Liqiang, and he spoke cautiously.
"There must be a blacksmith shop in Qingping Town. Take a few craftsmen with you to have a look. Although the blacksmith in the town has fled, the things in the blacksmith shop should still be there. Ask your craftsmen to go to the blacksmith shop to make a few iron locks and chains to repair the bridge. Once they are made, we can cross the river after the bridge is built. This must be done before dark!" Yan Liqiang patted Manager Wen on the shoulder. "When we can leave here depends on you, Manager Wen!"
Manager Wen was startled, and then immediately became excited, "Don't worry, sir. As long as there is a blacksmith shop in town, I will have someone finish the job before dark!"
"Well, go ahead!"
Manager Wen bowed and left.
At this point, Yan Liqiang felt that it was the wisest choice to take the craftsmen from Luyuan with him...
(End of this chapter)