AWB Chapter 353 Crisis
Chapter 353 Crisis
Lieutenant Wang, who was leading the troops, had just given some instructions and turned to look back when two soldiers in front of him let out a scream. "Ah! Ah! My leg!!"
"Everyone be careful! Stop right now!" Lieutenant Wang shouted, but it was too late. Four or five soldiers fell into the pit. One died on the spot, three were injured in the legs, one was lucky enough to catch someone next to him but lost half of his leg, and another was injured in the arm.
"What's going on!" The group, who had been feeling drowsy, instantly snapped awake, their bloodshot eyes scanning the surroundings.
"Stand at your posts! Stand back to back! Remain vigilant!" Lü Xiong shouted, issuing Wang Erniu's orders.
When everyone lit torches and approached, they discovered that someone had dug a deep pit in the road. The soil looked freshly dug, and there were tree stumps and thorns in the pit. Falling in would result in death or serious injury.
"Second brother, let's fight them to the death!" Lu Xiong said angrily and painfully.
"That's right, what kind of hero sneaks around? If you're so capable, come out and fight."
"Captain, we can't escape!" The soldiers were all filled with righteous indignation.
"Don't worry, we won't let this go. But right now, we're on their turf. Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. We only have about a hundred people. If they really want to make a move, hundreds of them can crush an ant like this. So we can't act rashly. I will definitely avenge this in the future, brothers, believe me."
Wang Erniu arranged for someone to collect the body of the deceased soldier, and arranged for the other wounded to be put into a carriage. The children also sensibly squeezed into a carriage with Chen Wenfang.
Corruption was rampant in the Song Dynasty. Soldiers were poor, and officials were poor too. Wang Erniu was even poorer than Chen Wenfang, but even so, he couldn't equip his more than one hundred personal guards with horses. It took several months to buy fifteen horses. Wang Erniu also left five horses for Wang Hanyang. Including the ones he had bought before, he brought almost all of them with him this time. The oxcarts and donkey carts were used to carry goods, and the wounded soldiers had difficulty getting comfortable.
They set up camp on the spot, and after the accompanying military doctor bandaged up the wounds, Wang Erniu arranged for the men to sleep in shifts, and they could only leave at dawn.
"Mr. Song, what should we do? They're too vigilant."
Song Mo Ran slammed his fist on a tree. "They told them to stop him, and they really only stopped him once, without even showing their faces! Useless! They're lucky to be alive. Let's inform the people over there, and they'll deal with them. Let's get out of here!"
As dawn broke, Wang Erniu, who had just finished arranging the shifts for his staff after an hour's sleep, was greeted by an official who arrived with dozens of people.
"Commander Wang!"
"Magistrate Zou!" Wang Erniu breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing an acquaintance. This was Ouyang's good friend, the magistrate of a neighboring county who had served there for ten years. He then led his men to discuss the matter in detail.
Chen Wenfang had been jostled around in the carriage all night, but she wasn't sleepy at all. She got off the carriage to check on the child, who had already recovered from his fever, but was still weak and hadn't woken up.
Chen Xuanyu and his children had already gotten off the bus and were running around wildly.
Aunt Hu and Juan'er were helping the cook prepare breakfast when they saw Chen Wenfang coming over and asked her what she wanted to eat.
Chen Wenfang smiled and declined. Watching the cook put chili sauce into the pot, she wanted to laugh. She had casually mentioned to Wang Erniu that it would be more convenient to keep some chili sauce on the vehicle for cooking. She didn't expect the soldiers to be so quick to agree.
She rolled up her sleeves and helped out, thankfully she was wearing narrow-sleeved clothes, which made it very convenient.
The army's rations were all flatbread, dry and hard, so they had to cook some soup to help them digest. Some soldiers who hadn't rested broke the flatbread into pieces and cooked it directly. Chen Wenfang watched as the cooks added some salt and chili sauce and drank it straight away. She looked at them from all angles and felt that something was missing.
"Wait a moment before you eat!" Chen Wenfang called Aunt Hu to the side.
The soldiers were somewhat puzzled, but they all stopped and waited for her.
The weather in the south is great; there's no shortage of wild vegetables all year round.
“This is good!” Chen Wenfang pulled up a handful of water celery and taught Aunt Hu how to recognize it. “And this houttuynia cordata and dandelion are also good for clearing heat and detoxifying, and are very suitable for eating now.”
The two of them picked a large handful, washed them clean, brought them back, twisted them off, and put them in the pot.
"Madam, is this really edible?" the soldier in charge of cooking the soup asked somewhat nervously.
“I can eat it, I’ll eat it for you to see.” Chen Wenfang didn’t hesitate at all. She picked up the spoon next to her, filled a bowl for herself, squatted down, and ate it in front of everyone.
I must say, it tastes really good, a bit like salted bok choy. With the chili sauce, Chen Wenfang feels like she could have another bowl.
Strangely enough, the cooks and soldiers who were eating flatbread stopped and stared intently at the wife of the captain. She had no airs of a noblewoman, squatting on the ground with a bowl, drinking the same wild vegetable soup as them. The scene was inexplicably heartwarming.
Seeing this, Aunt Hu picked up a bowl and said with a smile, "Give me a bowl too!"
As if waking from a dream, everyone came over with their bowls to fill them, and some even identified the wild vegetables and picked them themselves.
After this incident, Chen Wenfang's reputation in the army became extremely good, on par with Wang Erniu.
"What did you say? A gold mine? Really?" Wang Erniu was unusually shocked.
"That's absolutely right! Otherwise, how could the Lin family have been wiped out!" Magistrate Zou explained.
"How dare the Huang family be so confident in covering this up? The national treasury is empty right now. If this were reported, who knows how many people could be saved. These powerful clans are too audacious!"
“The cowardly starve to death. They’re not bold enough to be so rich. Anyway, Commandant Wang, you need to be careful. I heard that the Huang family and the He family are related by marriage. I hope it’s not that Chief Envoy He, otherwise it will be troublesome.” Magistrate Zou sighed. “I’m here to tell you this because of Ouyang’s favor. It’s good that you know about this. That runaway slave is a problem. You can handle it yourself. There’s not much I can do to help.”
"Thank you very much, Magistrate Zou. You have helped me a great deal. I am resting today. I would like to trouble you to look after the wounded soldiers. Fortunately, there are no more traps ahead. Once we leave Longyan, they will be too far away to reach us, so we can speed up." Wang Erniu bowed sincerely.
"Not at all, you are close friends with Ouyang, so he is also a good friend of mine. This little thing is nothing to worry about."
The two discussed some more details. Wang Erniu left two people in Hua'an County to take care of the injured. With Magistrate Zou looking after them, there was no need to worry.
Under the scorching sun, they rested and slept in the forest all day, and set off again at dusk, traveling day and night in this alternating manner.
Wang Erniu finally entered Quanzhou territory in mid-August and breathed a sigh of relief.
Quanzhou during the Song Dynasty was known as the "largest port in the East" and the most prosperous maritime trade center along the coast. Unfortunately, due to the rampant presence of Japanese pirates who wreaked havoc on the local area, many legitimate businesses were forced to leave. However, the more chaotic the situation, the greater the opportunities, and many people also tried to make a fortune in the chaos.