Tian Daniu shook his head. “This commoner knows nothing specific. We were all slaves of the Ji people, forced to work under their watch. We have no idea what the situation is like outside.”
Shangguan Mao frowned. “Then why did you choose to escape?”
Tian Daniu lowered his head. “We couldn’t go on living like that. We had no choice but to run.”
Shangguan Mao fell silent. After a long while, he asked, “What do you plan to do now?”
Tian Daniu hesitated for a moment before asking, “Can we stay here? This commoner is willing to do anything.”
Shangguan Mao did not know how to respond. They were barely managing to keep themselves from starving to death—how could they take in all these people?
But if they refused, where else could they go?
“Where were you planning to flee?” Yu Yue suddenly asked.
Tian Daniu sighed. “Here. If that wasn’t possible, we could only cross Qianren Mountain and go to the Nanwu Kingdom.”
Wenlong County was still in Han hands. They had heard that from the Ji soldiers during their idle chatter; after all, it was a neighboring county, and the soldiers occasionally mentioned it.
But they had also heard that Wenlong County was left with only a single city, whose inhabitants were nearly starving to death.
So they had prepared for the worst. If Wenlong County could not take them in, they would have no choice but to risk going to the Nanwu Kingdom.
“How could you possibly make it to the Nanwu Kingdom? They’re at war too. The moment you arrived, you’d be seized and sent straight to the front lines,” Yu Yue said with a sigh.
Tian Daniu’s face filled with bitterness. “We didn’t know what the situation was like in the Nanwu Kingdom. We thought there was no war there.”
His face full of hope, he asked again, “Can we stay in Wenlong County?”
Looking into the pleading eyes of the refugees, Shangguan Mao felt his throat tighten. For a moment, he could not bring himself to refuse them.
After a long while, he finally said, “You may stay for now. We’ll discuss the matter among ourselves.”
Tian Daniu and the others were overjoyed and hurriedly moved to kneel and kowtow.
Shangguan Mao waved his hand. “There’s no need for that. You should know what conditions are like in Wenlong County. We may not be able to keep you here.”
With that, he turned and left, his heart aching terribly. He simply could not bear to face those expectant eyes.
Shangguan Zhan and Yu Yue hurried after him.
Night fell, and Yu Mo slowly awoke from his daze.
“Father, you’re awake?” Yu Yue’s eyes were slightly red, and her face lit up with joy.
Seeing her, Yu Mo froze for a moment before delight appeared in his eyes. He tried to speak, only to find that he had no strength, while his throat was painfully dry.
Shangguan Zhan quickly brought over a bowl of water and carefully fed it to him.
It took a while before Yu Mo regained some strength. “You—you’re back? The grain… did you get the grain?”
Seeing that his old comrade was still concerned about the city’s provisions at a time like this, Shangguan Mao’s heart ached. He stepped forward and clasped Yu Mo’s withered hand.
“We brought it back. Don’t worry. This time, we brought seven hundred and fifty kilograms of grain—enough to keep us going for a while.”
Only then did Yu Mo relax slightly. “That’s good. That’s good.”
“Yes, it is good. We’re saved,” Shangguan Mao said excitedly.
Before Yu Mo could ask, he told him everything about the possibility that Wenxia City in Chongzhou had been retaken by the Sixth Princess.
Yu Mo’s hand, which was as thin as a claw, suddenly clenched with unprecedented strength. “Is that really true? Has Wenxia City truly been retaken by the Sixth Princess?”
As he spoke, he tried to struggle upright. Unfortunately, after being ill for so long, his entire body was limp and powerless. The excitement left him gasping for breath.
Shangguan Mao hurriedly pressed him back down and soothed him. “So you have to hold on. Haven’t we persevered for so long precisely for the day when we can return Wenlong County to its rightful ruler? Don’t you want to see that day?”
Yu Mo wanted to nod, but he truly felt that he would not live to see it.
Wenlong County was not close to Wenxia City. The surrounding area was entirely occupied by the barbarians, and whichever route they took, they would have to pass through territory controlled by them.
They had no strength to confront the barbarians and could only take the mountain paths to avoid them as much as possible. That would make the journey endlessly longer.
More importantly, would the Sixth Princess even take them in? Would she reclaim this isolated city, which had no value and no support?
Yu Mo was actually rather pessimistic about it.
Back then, they had sent people through untold hardships to Sizhou, where they found the First Prince.
The man had merely replied, “I am only a prince. Though I have the will, I lack the power. You must fend for yourselves.”
With those words—“I am only a prince; though I have the will, I lack the power”—Wenlong became an unwanted, abandoned city, left to fend for itself.
Yet they had continued to defend the meaningless city because it was the territory of the Yan Kingdom, and more importantly, its border.
As long as they remained alive, they intended to keep defending it until they were all killed in battle or starved to death.
Alternatively, if the Yan Kingdom gained a new ruler, they would return Wenlong to that ruler’s hands.
As if he had understood the meaning in Yu Mo’s eyes, Shangguan Mao patted his hand. “We’ve fought side by side for so long. I hope you’ll hold on with me.”
“We brought medicine and grain back this time. Eat as much as you need—don’t worry about saving it. The birds are migrating now, and there are plenty of droppings on Qianren Mountain. With the grain we have, we can last a long time.”
“Zhan will take some men to Wenxia City tomorrow. We’ll definitely see hope come to us. I hope you can hold on. Let’s continue fighting side by side.”
Qianren Mountain was made of bare stone, with very few trees, but countless birds passed through it during their migrations, leaving behind large amounts of droppings. If they were lucky, they could even bring down a few birds.
That was one of the reasons they had managed to survive these past two or three years, although many people had died at first from eating bird droppings.
Xu Qing later came up with a method: boil the droppings before eating them. After that, far fewer people died from consuming them.
In any case, it was better than eating dirt. Eating bird droppings might kill them, but eating dirt certainly would.
Shangguan Zhan nodded along. “That’s right. I’ll set out at first light tomorrow. I’ll make sure to deliver word of Wenlong City’s situation to the Sixth Princess and ask her to send people to take over Wenlong County.”
Yu Mo murmured weakly, “Good. Good. I’ll wait. I’ll wait…”
His voice gradually weakened, and he sank back into unconsciousness.
Xu Qing hurried over to examine him. A moment later, he sighed. “He’s only fallen into a temporary sleep.”
Shangguan Mao nodded. “Give him priority when it comes to the medicine and grain. Make absolutely sure he recovers.”
After giving a few more instructions, he left with Shangguan Zhan. He had only just returned and had many matters to deal with. In particular, Shangguan Zhan would be leaving for Wenxia City the next day, so they needed to plan his route in advance.
As dawn was just breaking, Zhou Sui received a homing pigeon from Wenxia City.
After reading the contents of the letter, his heart surged with excitement.
Just then, Hua Ruo hurried in. “Did the lord send a letter?”
Zhou Sui smiled and nodded. “That’s right. The lord has reached an agreement with the Ji army. Punan Commandery and Shangjing Commandery now belong to us.”
Hua Ruo’s eyes lit up. “Wonderful! Are we going to take them over immediately?”
Zhou Sui handed her the note. “Yes. Although the Ji army still needs to collect grain and won’t withdraw all its troops, we must go there ahead of time to prevent them from intercepting and killing our people.”
