It turned out to be a procession of ordinary commoners, and quite a large number of them. They were probably the civilians who had fled from Liang City last night.
The horses used by Jiang Jin's team were all warhorses, fine steeds. Furthermore, they had set off earlier than the commoners, so it was normal for them to be an hour or two faster.
The procession was massive and stretched out very long, consisting almost entirely of horse-drawn carriages. They were likely the relatively wealthy families from Liang City.
About two quarters of an hour after the carriage procession passed, more people arrived—some pushing wooden carts, some driving donkey carts, and others walking. There were even more of these people than the previous group.
Jiang Jin made a rough estimate; there should be about seven or eight hundred people. Combined with the previous group, the two batches together were estimated to be over a thousand people.
She frowned and muttered inwardly, *Did only this many people manage to escape from Liang City?*
However, on second thought, she understood. Many people must have chosen to head south, as the First Prince was in Sizhou in the south.
As for the north, the closest county town controlled by the Han people to Liang City was Lin County, which was about 800 miles away.
Jiang Jin's next destination was also Lin County. She needed to go there to purchase some things, especially some cooked food to store in her space.
The food made by the three-person kitchen team was truly... hard to describe.
They couldn't make steamed stuffed buns, steamed buns, or flatbreads. In short, they couldn't make anything.
Her second goal was to buy some people. Not only did she need to buy people who could cook, but if possible, she wanted to buy people from all walks of life.
Not to mention the vast amount of manpower needed for development after arriving in Gefeng, they also needed more manpower on the road, especially strong young adults.
Currently, the team only had 10 people, 4 carriages, and a total of 10 horses.
Zhou Sui and Xie Nanxiao had to drive the carriages and also be responsible for the team's safety. Even with their excellent physical fitness, they couldn't be used like this forever.
She had to free up these two major combat forces so they could better respond when danger arose.
After thinking about it, she decided to teach Feng Qingzhu and the other women how to drive the carriages, just in case.
Having sorted out her next steps, she closed her eyes to rest. She was actually quite tired, having not slept well the previous night.
Several more waves of fleeing refugees passed through the canyon one after another. These people didn't look like they were from Liang City, and it was unknown where they had fled from.
Time flew by, and about two hours later, Zhou Sui and Xie Nanxiao came up to relieve her.
Jiang Jin raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you resting?"
Zhou Sui replied, "Resting for over two hours is enough. My lady, you should go rest."
Jiang Jin shook her head. "I won't rest. If you're not going to rest, then gather some rocks. When the time comes, we can't do it alone; we'll have the others come up and help push the boulders."
Zhou Sui and Xie Nanxiao didn't waste any words and started looking for rocks nearby, moving suitable ones into position.
They didn't stop until lunchtime. Lunch was requested by Jiang Jin; since she now had grain, she naturally wanted to eat three meals a day.
After lunch, Xie Nanxiao handed over the gold cakes they had smuggled out, along with the wealth from the cellar, to Jiang Jin. "My lady, this is the gold and silver we brought out from Liang City. It's for you."
Jiang Jin was somewhat surprised. "For me?"
Xie Nanxiao smiled with a hint of flattery. "Lao Yao and I can't just eat your food for free, so we want to give you these valuables. Please, you must accept them."
Jiang Jin thought for a moment and shook her head. "I have grain and money in my carriage, and I'll restock grain when we reach Lin County. You should keep these for yourselves."
Xie Nanxiao grew anxious. "My lady, we have nothing. We won't feel at ease if you don't accept it."
Jiang Jin: "..."
She was rendered speechless. How could there be people who wanted to give their wealth away?
After some thought, she agreed. She had saved the three of them, so it was reasonable to accept some of their wealth. Besides, this money would eventually be used to buy grain for everyone to eat.
Xie Nanxiao breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly stacked the boxes in the large compartment of Jiang Jin's carriage.
The afternoon weather was sweltering. Sitting under a large tree at the top of the slope, Jiang Jin continuously drank water to prevent heatstroke.
Just as she was beginning to doubt her judgment and think that Liang City might not have sent anyone to hunt her down, the pursuers from Liang City finally arrived.
Not many people were sent, but they were all cavalry. Jiang Jin counted them—there were 43 people in total, which meant 43 horses!
It was now early in the Shen hour, around 3 p.m. By this time, everyone was well-rested and in good spirits.
She instructed softly, "Later, remember to try not to hit the horses. These are all warhorses, not easy to come by. We'll take them all."
It was August, and the vegetation and grass were lush, so raising horses wouldn't be a big problem.
Of course, just feeding warhorses forage wasn't enough; they also needed supplementary concentrated feed, such as wheat bran, soybeans, and black beans.
For the currently quite wealthy Jiang Jin, this was a small matter; she could afford it.
The group nodded solemnly and then split up to take action.
It was only then that Jiang Jin realized Dong Si knew archery. According to him, his archery skills were quite good, so Jiang Jin gave him a bow and a quiver of arrows.
Curious, Jiang Jin asked, "How do you know archery?"
Dong Si looked a bit shy. "The Empress was very good at horseback riding and archery, so this servant learned a bit from her."
In this era, martial prowess was valued, and it wasn't uncommon for women to learn horseback riding and archery.
Seeing that the 40-plus riders were about to enter the canyon, everyone held their breath, waiting for them to fall into the trap.
However, for some reason, the cavalry unit suddenly stopped.
Jiang Jin frowned.
Dong Si crouched beside her, a bit nervous, and whispered, "Could they have noticed something?"
Jiang Jin shook her head. "They shouldn't have. Let's wait and see."
Sure enough, a few breaths later, the cavalry resumed their movement, slowly entering the canyon.
Jiang Jin secretly sighed in relief. If the enemy had been cautious enough to send scouts ahead, as long as they didn't enter the dense forest, they wouldn't have found them, which wouldn't be a big issue.
But if the scouts entered the dense forest and discovered their group, it would be difficult to wipe out all the cavalry.
The enemy probably never imagined that these few 'ants' like Jiang Jin would dare to ambush them, so they rode straight into the canyon.
The canyon was narrow, only allowing two horses to pass side by side, making the procession quite long.
Once they entered the ambush zone, Jiang Jin drew her bow and whispered, "Release."
Feng Qingzhu and Liu Mi were tense but moved quickly, working together to push a large rock weighing tens of pounds over the edge.
The rock tumbled down the canyon with loud thuds...
The cavalry marching through the canyon suddenly heard the sound of falling rocks. Their hearts tightened, and they instinctively looked toward the sound.
*Swish.*
At the same time, Jiang Jin fired her first arrow, aiming straight for the leader's neck.
*Pfft.* Blood splattered.
Zhou Sui, Xie Nanxiao, Chen Xi, and Dong Si were not far behind, firing the arrows in their hands almost simultaneously.
They reaped four more lives.
*Bang.*
Only then did the tumbling rock hit the bottom of the valley, striking a horse perfectly. The struck horse immediately collapsed, throwing its rider off its back.
The bottom of the valley instantly fell into chaos, with screams, shouts, and the neighing of horses echoing all around.
