Chapter 355: Yan Yu, You Can Do It

Hu Er stopped under a tree. This distance was enough, there was no need to get any closer.

He stared at Qi Wu’s movements, watching him try very hard to make his footsteps lighter and lighter…

He was really on edge, not worried about Qi Wu, but afraid they would make a sound too early and alert those dozen or so Northern Rong.

Xiao Er had made it very clear: their Arrow Towers stood right in the village and could not be hidden at all, anyone who came would see them. But as for the fact that the village had blades and bows and crossbows, as long as these people were silenced, those who came afterward would have no idea.

And since they had prepared in advance, one side acting deliberately, the other seemingly unaware, they would catch them completely off guard and kill them.

So Hu Er’s task was crucial. Whether he shot people or horses, he had to keep them here.

He and his big brother were the only ones in the village who had two weapons, one bow and one crossbow.

The Bamboo Crossbow was outfitted with more than enough Bamboo Arrows. In Xiao Er’s words, they did not need to worry about the cost, supplies were unlimited…

The strong bow came from the Northern Rong. As long as your arm strength was enough, it could shoot farther than the Bamboo Crossbow.

A gust of wind swept through, lifting the blades of grass and making them rustle.

These dozen or so Northern Rong truly had not expected a village to come attacking them from behind.

Qi Si strode forward in big steps and swung the door panel in a horizontal sweep, chopping down the two who were closest.

Qi Wu had originally planned to slam down, but when he saw Fourth Brother cut down two like that, he immediately changed his move. The first one went down, the second reacted fast and tried to duck under with a crouch, but he was still a bit too slow. The panel hit him right on the head, his skull cracking open on the spot.

The Qi Family Brothers’ first move already showed its power.

The several groups of people who had crept up quietly were instantly fired up. If they could not swing a door panel, they could still swing clubs. They went for the Northern Rong’s heads and necks, and if they could not reach those, then the waist and back would do.

When a grown man swung a club with all his strength, putting everything he had into it, who could possibly withstand it?

Quite a few were beaten until they spat blood.

Everyone swarmed forward. The Northern Rong had only one saber, and he had to defend against five or six people at once. He might dodge the blade, but he could not dodge the clubs, and there were also those two incredibly fierce door panels. Whoever they sliced fell, whoever they slammed died…

Two Northern Rong who finally managed to struggle free tugged their reins to flee.

Hu Er, who had long since climbed up a tree, fired the crossbow first, then drew the bow.

Two arrows flew in succession, and when the arrows arrived, the men were dead.

The fight ended with extraordinary speed.

The people of Xiao’an Village went around knocking each head with their clubs to make sure they were dead beyond any doubt.

Several men pushing handcarts popped out from who knew where and tossed the corpses onto the carts.

“Big Brother Da Tie, don’t just throw them up in the hills and leave them alone. It’s best if someone keeps watch. If they attract wild beasts from the mountains to drag them off, that would be a loss. Each one is worth one or two taels of silver!” Yan Yu reminded him.

“Don’t worry, Xiao Er, I know what to do.”

Da Tie took after his father, steady by nature. He was not very old, but he had already learned to carry himself properly. He did not seem like a young lad, more like a little old man.

Everyone rounded up the horses that had scattered and handed them all over to Da Tie, to be housed together with those they had seized earlier.

After double-checking the position of those more than three hundred Northern Rong, Yan Yu said urgently, “Cover the ground with some dirt and get back to where you were before.”

A few wooden sticks scraped back and forth over the ground, and after just two or three strokes, the hoofprints vanished.

Everyone ran back and went into hiding again at their designated spots.

Before long.

The sound of hoofbeats came from the distance.

Yan Yu’s expression grew solemn.

He held his breath and did not even dare take in a full lungful of air, afraid he would miss something. His eyes were fixed on where they were coming from.

They had entered the village!

A dense mass of people and horses, moving with clear purpose, headed straight for Xiao’an Village.

“Pull!”

Yan Yu picked the right moment and shouted.

Three thick, long hemp ropes snapped taut and were pulled up in an instant.

“Ah…”

The several ranks of Northern Rong charging in front went tumbling off their horses. The people behind immediately yanked on their reins. The horses either reared to a halt or veered to the sides with their riders.

The boys who had finished pulling the ropes ran like the wind, sprinting into the Arrow Tower on the west side.

The door panels were pressed down seamlessly on top.

Several clubs pounded away, and they even snuck in a knife or two when the chance arose.

By the time the Northern Rong still on horseback reacted, those who had been unhorsed were already dead as could be.

“Twenty!” Yan Yu shouted.

The men of Xiao’an Village immediately stopped, then, holding their door panels and brandishing blades and clubs, turned and ran back.

After they had run twenty steps, they stopped and once again sought places to conceal themselves.

Yan Yu silently cheered himself on in his heart.

The rhythm was good. Yan Yu, you can do it, you can!

As if wary that there might be more trip ropes, the Northern Rong slowed their pace.

Which in turn suddenly increased the pressure on Xiao’an Village.

The Northern Rong had already realized that there was something different about this new village.

They moved together as a group, closing in slowly.

…

Er Tie was thrusting with the pole for all he was worth, again and again. The raft was shooting along so fast it was unbelievable, rushing downstream faster than the spray could catch up.

The night was cold and the wind bitter. Er Tie was shivering so hard his teeth rattled, yet he did not dare let the raft slow down in the slightest. His body was freezing, but his heart was burning.

He stared unblinking at the riverbank, afraid he would pass Gufeng by. He had only been here once, and during the day at that, so it was not as if he was not nervous.

The raft suddenly lurched and veered a little toward the shore.

Er Tie’s head was numb from the cold wind. Before he could figure out what had happened, he saw the scenery around him gradually overlapping with what he remembered.

This was… it?

He hurried to pole the raft toward the bank, and as soon as it touched shore, sure enough, it was Gufeng.

Er Tie was so excited his whole body was trembling.

He leaped.

On a normal day, with that one jump, he could easily have cleared a great distance.

But right now his whole body was stiff. With this jump, one foot landed on the bank and the other went into the water…

Er Tie tied the reins to a tree.

He kept huffing into his hands and rubbing them together as he jogged in place.

Only after he had worked himself a bit warmer did he break into a wild run toward Gufeng City.

…

Yan Huaiwen was using the firelight to read a letter from the Magistrate.

It said that the autumn grain from Crouching Tiger had been brought into storage one batch after another. This year’s harvest was good, and Magistrate Tian’s delight showed between every line.

He even indulged in a bit of imagining about how much better this winter would be for the people of Crouching Tiger.

When he mentioned Tianyou and Heng’er entering school, it was the same, full of unstinting praise.

He concluded by saying that everything regarding Gufeng was left to Yan Huaiwen’s own judgment. If anyone made things difficult for the people from Crouching Tiger, they could first choose to avoid a confrontation. If the other side went too far, they could simply come back on their own, and he, the Magistrate, would stand behind them, and so on.

Yan Huaiwen smiled.

He put the letter away.

He walked out of the shed and, as expected, saw Young Doctor An still poring over the medical text by firelight.

He was speechless for a moment.

From the day he had handed over this copied medical collection from his home to Young Doctor An, the dark circles under the young doctor’s eyes had never faded.

His diligence in study and research surpassed even that of students preparing for the civil examinations.

Young Doctor An had debated eloquently with the other physicians and taken first place. The prescription he used to treat the sickness was revised every two or three days.

Corresponding to the increasingly precarious stock of medicinal herbs was the fact that fewer and fewer corpses were being carted away each day.

It was becoming evident that the epidemic in Gufeng was at last being brought under control.

All of this had happened after Crouching Tiger sent people to help.

The refugees saw everything clearly, and with the people of Da’an Village spreading the word everywhere, the prestige of Crouching Tiger in their hearts had risen sharply, far surpassing Gufeng and even Yongning.

It had become the big city where the refugees most wanted to settle.

When they were having the refugees re-registered, he took the opportunity to reason and appeal to the Magistrate of Gufeng City and persuaded him to allow the refugees to choose anew where they wished to register their household…

(End of this chapter)