"Grandfather." The young man's eyes reddened, his grip tightening on Yun Ci's hand.
The tall prisoner also felt his throat tighten. How could he not know his father's condition? He just still held onto a sliver of hope. "Is there really no other way?"
Liu Mi shook her head: "I can only try to temporarily bring his fever down, but the rotting flesh on his leg needs to be treated. Especially the bone, the fracture seems quite severe. I really have no way to deal with it."
The several prisoners all had sorrowful looks in their eyes.
The tall prisoner pursed his lips, and after a good while, he said, "Then I will have to trouble you, young lady."
Together, they lifted Yun Ci onto the carriage.
Jiang Jin thought for a moment, picked up a waterskin, and secretly slipped an antipyretic and an anti-inflammatory pill inside.
With Liu Mi's medical skills, she probably wouldn't be able to bring this fever down. Not to mention, it would take her quite some time to prepare and brew the medicine; it wouldn't be able to solve the immediate emergency.
Jiang Jin handed the waterskin to the tall prisoner. "The weather is hot. Feed him this water. I've put some special fever-reducing medicine inside."
The reason she said it out loud was out of fear that they wouldn't feed him properly, and if it spilled, it would be wasted.
Anyway, the pills had already dissolved inside, so no one would know what they looked like.
Yao Ji's eyes flickered; in his heart, he already knew that this waterskin likely contained the same kind of medicine she had given him before.
The tall prisoner hurriedly thanked her, "Thank you, my lady."
He had the young man support Yun Ci while he fed him small sips at a time.
Although Yun Ci was in a coma, he still had the instinct to swallow, and the water was quickly fed to him completely.
Seeing him drink it all, they all secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Chen Xi, Li Su, and the others gathered the weapons of the Quzhao soldiers and loaded them onto the carriage.
Dong Si handed over all the money obtained from searching the bodies to Jiang Jin. The amount was not much, just a few strings of cash.
The group continued to move forward.
The smell of blood here was too strong, and they currently didn't have the manpower to dispose of the corpses.
Moreover, this was flat ground with no shade from trees, and the sun was scorching hot as if it were on fire, making it unsuitable for making camp.
The convoy traveled forward for about five or six li before finding a suitable place to rest.
"Grandfather's fever has gone down!" the young man's pleasantly surprised voice rang out.
Everyone looked toward the carriage, inwardly marveling at the effectiveness of Jiang Jin's medicine.
The tall prisoner felt even more grateful. A medicine that could reduce a fever so quickly must be very precious. He silently etched this favor into his heart.
Liu Mi hesitated a bit and asked, "My lady, should I still prepare the fever-reducing medicine?"
Jiang Jin nodded. "His high fever will definitely return. Brew the medicine first and keep it ready. If he gets a high fever, let him drink it."
Liu Mi nodded and began to prepare and brew the medicine.
The others cooked, gathered firewood, watched the horses, and so on, each performing their own duties.
Jiang Jin also learned the identities of these five people.
Yun Ci was the General of Chariots and Cavalry in charge of the Northeast Army. He had spent almost the majority of his life guarding the borders.
His eldest and second sons had both sacrificed their lives in battles against the barbarians.
The one who had been carrying him earlier was his third son, Yun Yu, who was born to Yun Ci in his old age when he was nearly forty, and was only twenty years old this year.
The young man was Yun Ci's grandson, the son of his eldest son, named Yun Ce, aged thirteen.
The other two were Qiu Wu and Lu Ping, both generals of the Northeast Army.
Zhou Sui sighed. "When Dingyang was besieged, the Emperor urgently summoned multiple military units back to the city for rescue. Yun Ci was among them, but they never arrived. Now it seems it wasn't that Yun Ci didn't want to save them, but that he was already unable to protect himself."
Jiang Jin pondered, "Are you saying he had already been captured at that time?"
Zhou Sui shook his head. "I'm not sure. But even if they weren't captured, the Northeast Army was probably in a difficult situation and couldn't extricate themselves."
At this time, Yun Yu walked over and bowed to the two of them. "This Yun is grateful to you both for your life-saving grace, as well as for treating my father."
Zhou Sui took a half-step back and didn't speak, yielding the main stage to Jiang Jin.
Jiang Jin accepted his bow and said, "There's no need to be polite."
Although he already knew that this woman was the person in charge of this group, seeing Zhou Sui step half a pace behind her still surprised him a little, making him curious about the woman's identity.
Jiang Jin looked at him and asked, "What is the current situation of the Northeast Army?"
Speaking of this, a trace of sorrow appeared on Yun Yu's face. "In the beginning, there were the Jiao people in the northwest and Quzhao in the northeast."
"Later, Quzhao even allied with the Jiao people to besiege Liuxiang Commandery. We had no outside help and insufficient provisions. We retreated all the way to Shouli County and were ultimately trapped there. Half a month ago, the city fell."
'The city fell'—three simple words, yet they expressed all the partings by life and death and the shattering of the common people in the world.
The three of them were silent. After a long while, Zhou Sui finally asked, "The Northeast Army, are they all...?"
Yun Yu nodded heavily, his voice hoarse. "Except for a few who were scattered, almost all of them died in battle. Some who were injured and captured were also killed by the Quzhao people."
There was another long silence. Zhou Sui suppressed the sorrow in his eyes and asked, "Where were they going to escort you?"
Yun Yu: "Wuqin. Quzhao has occupied most of Feng Province, and the Quzhao Chanyu is in Wuqin."
After saying this, he smiled bitterly. "They wanted to escort us to Wuqin, put us on trial in front of all the Han people, and then execute us."
To the Quzhao people, the Northeast Army was the most powerful stumbling block in their invasion of Yan Country's Feng Province.
It was precisely because of their stubborn resistance that Quzhao had sacrificed countless soldiers. Now that they had annihilated the Northeast Army and captured Yun Ci alive, they naturally wanted to thoroughly humiliate him.
A flash of anger passed through Zhou Sui's eyes, but he didn't speak.
Jiang Jin was also silent, feeling quite uncomfortable in her heart. An old general who had dedicated his entire life to Yan Country and even sacrificed two of his sons, was ultimately going to die under the enemy country's trial, simply because he stubbornly protected his own land and people. It was both ridiculous and tragic.
She took a deep breath and asked, "How much further is it to Lin County? There should be physicians in the city, right?"
Yun Yu was stunned for a moment, and then overjoyed: "My lady, are you going to Lin County to find a physician for my father?"
Jiang Jin nodded. "Why not? We must at least try."
Yun Yu's breathing became rapid. "This Yun thanks you on behalf of my father first."
He calmed down a bit before continuing, "Lin County is about two hundred li away from here."
Over two hundred li. At Jiang Jin's pace of half traveling and half resting, it would take about two days.
If they traveled at full speed, they could at least cut the time in half.
Jiang Jin didn't waste words: "We'll rest for a quarter of an hour after lunch and then set off. We'll speed up and try to enter the city by tomorrow morning."
Zhou Sui bowed and lowered his head: "Understood."
Yun Yu bowed in salute: "Great kindness cannot be expressed in mere words. If there is any place where this Yun can be of use, I will certainly not decline."
After eating, Yun Yu and the others finally recovered some strength. Except for Yun Ce, who stayed in the carriage to take care of Yun Ci, everyone rode horses to move forward.
When they set up camp at night, Yun Ci woke up once, but his body was extremely weak, and he fell back into a deep sleep not long after.
Zhou Sui took Xie Nanxiao into the mountains specifically to hunt a wild pheasant. They cooked meat porridge for Yun Ci and fed it to him little by little.
As the morning light softly broke, Jiang Jin practiced a set of martial arts routines, and then it was time for breakfast.
After a night of ample rest, Yun Yu and the others finally recovered, radiating the vigorous vitality unique to military generals.
The carriage traveled very fast, and by noon, they arrived near Lin County.
The herd of horses was too conspicuous, but fortunately, Zhou Sui, Yun Yu, and the others were very familiar with the vicinity of Lin County and found a dense forest on a hillside suitable for hiding.
After settling the herd of horses, Jiang Jin took Dong Si and the three members of the Yun family, setting off in two horse-drawn carriages. Zhou Sui followed behind on horseback, while the rest of the group stayed behind to guard the herd.
This was where the advantage of having a large group truly showed. Even though several of their main fighters were leaving, they had the added support of two military commanders, Qiu Wu and Lu Ping. Otherwise, she really would have been a bit uneasy leaving things solely in the hands of Xie Nanxiao.
After traveling for a little over a quarter of an hour, they caught sight of the dilapidated yet sturdy walls of Lin County. Above the city gates, the characters for Lin County were inscribed.
