Chapter 373: For the Reward Silver

Yes, on the side with fewer people, their clothes still provided some modesty.

On the side with more people, they were all barefoot, and their clothes were torn into strips. The Heir to Prince Ying could actually understand their intention…

They seemed to be searching for possible hideouts.

“Did you count how many?” the Heir Apparent asked lightly.

“572!”

“And the total?”

“804!”

The Heir to Prince Ying fell silent.

How could he believe that all of this before him was real?

If these more than eight hundred Northern Rong were indeed killed by Xiao’an Village and Gufeng’s city guards, he had a few questions that needed answers.

First, why did Xiao’an Village kill twice as many Northern Rong as Gufeng’s city guards?

Second, standing at a height, he’d just taken in the whole of Xiao’an Village, all in all, there weren’t even two hundred households. Excluding the elderly, women, and children, having two able-bodied adults per household would be generous. How could they have killed over five hundred?

Third, just how many knives and bows did Xiao’an Village have hidden?

“Pengshu, go and check if the numbers are correct,” the Heir to Prince Ying instructed.

Pengshu called two guards to help and went off to carry out the order.

“Do you know how many enemies fell at Crouching Tiger City in this battle?” the Heir to Prince Ying asked solemnly, then answered himself, “Only slightly more than a thousand!”

Yan Yu drew a sharp breath.

Why so few?

And their village here…

“The corpses before us can’t be faked. The dead were indeed Northern Rong invaders. Now, Xiao Er, who can tell me how Xiao’an Village achieved this?”

He looked very seriously at this child, enunciating each word, “You are not a regular army, merely refugees who have only just settled in Crouching Tiger, with a clear household registration as hereditary farmers. So how did you kill over five hundred enemies? How many participated in battle? What methods did you use? Did you rely on the five towers in the village?”

“As the Heir Apparent, I observed that among the Northern Rong killed by Xiao’an Village, most died by arrow. Xiao’an Village, just how many knives and bows do you have? Where did they come from?”

Yan Yu knew that clarity in explanation was necessary.

If she wanted to earn the reward silver, her previous vague responses wouldn’t suffice.

Last time, when they killed six Northern Rong, the prefectural city’s law enforcers were thorough in questioning, leaving no detail unchecked.

Guanzhou places great value on military merit, rewarding bravery in killing the enemy, but it does not tolerate deception; they are precise about everything.

Yan Yu’s big eyes blinked. She seemed to be daunted by the Heir Apparent’s stern words, but in reality, she was reviewing everything that happened last night.

Was there anything that couldn’t be said?

Were there any critical points to avoid discussing?

The Heir to Prince Ying hadn’t expected to learn much from this child.

Even if she was from a scholarly family, having read early and being quite smart, after all, she was still a child; how much could she really know…

“Heir Brother, my family’s ancestral home is in Qishan Prefecture. This year, the drought was relentless, not a drop of rain fell, and the stream by the village dried up.

My Big Sis Daya had to walk a long distance every day just to find some withered wild vegetables to bring back.

Grandpa Village Chief stayed with his family by the village’s one remaining well with water, rationing it strictly each day, allowing only limited withdrawal, not allowing anyone to take more.

Families didn’t have enough water to drink, and the uncles and aunts in the village had to spare a few sips to water the fields, anxiously hoping for a decent harvest.

Eventually, the water in the well got even less.

We couldn’t hold on, so we set off to Guanzhou.

My uncle said it’s cold there, bitterly so, and that the Northern Rong often raided, making it dangerous.

But we came anyway, putting on more clothes to fend off the cold, burning wood and charcoal for warmth. At that time, we didn’t know the Northern Rong would come with so many people, riding horses into the village to loot; it was unimaginable…

On the road escaping famine, we saw a lot.

There were villains who seized the elderly, women, and children, took their food, throwing the men out.

People guarding narrow exits demanded tollfood.

We also encountered mountain bandits from Leshan Prefecture; the mountain roads were hard to traverse, and we moved slowly, meeting several groups…

Heir Brother, we should have entered Guanzhou from Gufeng, but because there were bandits on the Official Road, we took a huge detour and entered Crouching Tiger from Xizhou.

While on the road, there were more of us; now only these remain…

When we registered, we specifically chose this place with mountains and rivers. The mountains have plenty to eat, and by the river, we’re not afraid of running out of drinking water.

Everyone in our village is particularly fond of this place, working tirelessly, clearing land, planting vegetables, building houses, never having a day of leisure.

Heir Brother, Grandpa Village Chief said we need to take root here.

So, when the Northern Rong came, stealing grain, killing people, we couldn’t let them.

We need to survive too!”

Yan Yu’s expression was earnest and solemn: “Heir Brother, the kids in our village, even they dare to fight the enemy, do you believe it?”

The Heir to Prince Ying suddenly understood why earlier, all he could see from the towers were children.

Having experienced famine…

He had indeed heard about the harsh realities faced on the road fleeing famine.

“At first, six Northern Rong came over the mountains. We were terrified, so we decided to build Arrow Towers.”

Yan Yu gestured invitingly, “Heir Apparent brother, come with me.”

The Heir to Prince Ying followed her.

“This is our training ground,” Yan Yu declared without preamble, then took off running.

She sprinted, leaped, climbed, and maneuvered about— as nimble as a rabbit, as winding as a snake.

After going back and forth once, she wasn’t even out of breath.

“The village children all train here.” She intentionally paused, acting stoic, and said, “When we fled the famine, the adults were always cautious and protective of us. If we didn’t run fast enough, we’d get caught; if we couldn’t dodge quickly, we’d get hurt…

So we thought we must run faster and be more agile, so they couldn’t catch us when bad people came.”

“These bows and straw targets are for practicing accuracy. Archery is incredibly useful; we can hunt in the woods and frequently bring back game.” Yan Yu smiled shyly, “My uncle is an accurate archer. He says it’s one of the six noble arts^[1] and makes me practice diligently.”

She casually picked up a bow, notched an arrow, drew the string, and released!

The arrow struck right in the center of the target.

The Heir to Prince Ying was genuinely impressed.

Even with such roughly made bows and crudely carved arrows, to hit the target with such precision and force was remarkable.

And this wasn’t a small bow; it was one used by adults.

If, indeed, what Xiao Er from the Yan family said was true, and all the village children could do this…

Repelling the invaders might not be impossible.

“Last night, when the Northern Rong first entered the village, there were only forty-eight of them,” Yan Yu decided to explain in detail, demonstrating how they managed to take down hundreds of Northern Rong.

“Before they came, Master Lu, who was building houses in the village, happened to return home with his family in the dead of night, waking up the entire village. He told us the Northern Rong had attacked their village, there were too many to handle, so he urged us to flee quickly.”

“But where could we run at night? They had horses, we couldn’t outrun them, so we thought of hiding in the tower…

Our uncles tore down several doors, lifted them to block the entrance below…”

The Heir to Prince Ying listened intently as this child vividly recounted how they used the six confiscated bows and six knives, leveraging the advantage of the high tower and using door panels as shields to fend off more than forty Northern Rong.

The children shot arrows from above, while the young men fought below.

This first group of Northern Rong emboldened Xiao’an Village.

They confiscated their swords and bows, dismantled all the village doors, and separated the villagers, each occupying a high tower…

“Where did you get so many arrows?” the Heir to Prince Ying asked.

Yan Yu replied, “They were freshly carved. The ones hiding in the tower used kitchen knives and sickles to carve an arrow and then passed it up.”

“And where are the arrows now?”

“They’ve all been cleaned and are laid out to dry in the grain yard,” Yan Yu said.

She then took the Heir Apparent to see the wood and bamboo arrows drying in the grain yard.

All handmade and crudely fashioned.

The Heir Apparent was not curious about the presence of bamboo arrows, since he knew Xiao’an Village came from the south, and the Consort of the Heir Apparent was Southern. He knew that people in the south favored bamboo tools.

Yan Yu led the Heir Apparent to the Luo Family’s home to see Uncle Luo.

“Uncle Luo stayed by the river to guard the raft bridge and got frozen stiff.”

She then led the Heir Apparent through the gate to the Qi Family’s courtyard.

“By the time the third wave of Northern Rong arrived, the village had no decent doors left,” Yan Yu said, her expression heavy. “This is my Fourth Uncle Qi. With the door panels shattered, he had no choice but to stand guard at the tower entrance, using his own body to shield it, refusing to retreat.”

Fourth Uncle Qi was being checked by the guards, his face flushed red, unable to utter a word.

“Reporting to the Heir Apparent, all injuries are frontal blade wounds,” the guard reported respectfully.

Several guards looked at Fourth Uncle Qi with admiration in their eyes.

What a man!

Bang!

Grrrr…

A noise came from inside the courtyard.

Everyone rushed out to see.

They saw Qi Da and Qi Wu coming back from outside.

Lying there, Fourth Uncle Qi already seemed tall and sturdy, but seeing Qi Da and Qi Wu standing in the courtyard made him realize just how exceptionally tall and robust they were.

Every household in the village was out of doors.

So Qi Da and Qi Wu went into the woods to bring home timber. For convenience, they tied several logs together in one trip, and upon entering the courtyard, they dropped them to the ground.

This was the source of the noise they just heard.

The two men, dripping with sweat, entered their courtyard, outright shedding their clothes and baring their torsos.

The sight of those powerful muscles!

And the astonishing amount of timber on the ground…

The Heir to Prince Ying was speechless.

The guards were similarly taken aback.

Yan Yu: “Uncle Qi, Uncle Qi Wu, well done!”

Come on, demonstrate!

Let these sheltered folks open their eyes!

A guard walked forward and, under the surprised gaze of Qi Da and Qi Wu, lifted a log.

The solid wood planks were quite substantial and heavy to handle.

He didn’t dare drape them over his back, not because he couldn’t carry them, but because the sheer contrast would be too much…

Ahem, it might end up embarrassing.

“Xiao Er, this…”

Qi Da hadn’t finished speaking when Yan Yu interrupted.

“Uncle Qi, it’s fine, you go about your business. I’m just taking the Heir Apparent to see my Fourth Uncle Qi.”

Qi Da acknowledged with an “oh.”

Qi Wu also turned his attention away.

The two brothers got back to work.

They measured the length and swung the axes lying nearby…

With a few swings per log, they made quick progress.

The onlooking guards couldn’t help but gulp, their hearts pounding with each swing of the axe.

(End of chapter)