Chapter 420 : The Great War (3)

きつね: Here, an extra chapter as new year eve’s gift for everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my readers for reading here on this site and to my tea makers (OneEyedZel, AAp DC, dolowomeye, Mainechan, luc.semion, pgfawn, B, Kyra, Sab Bel, Paloma, MdloveHeck, CooperBlue, Khvist, Mooza Alteneiji, Momo, Leier, Ari, Austin, AuthorIvyHarper, Hawa Camara, k.seriguchi, Christiine Govinden-Loh, Caitlin Webb, Alex, Speracles, theninjalurks, Ebi, Syrenz, and beexcw) for preparing many cups of tea to get me through my translation periods.

I also want to take this chance to wish everyone:

May all of you have a wonderful year in 2023!

Now, I will leave you with the chapter. Enjoy! 😗

Yuxi fell into deep thought, and after thinking for a long time, she said towards Zijin, “Zijin, you should personally go to the Fu family and ask the Eldest Miss Fu to come over.”

Zijin asked, “Madam, what will you ask Fu Qingluo to do?”

Yuxi said, “Go and ask her personally, and say I have something to ask her.” It was not safe on her side either, so she definitely could not spare her staff to go there. The only way out was to seek outside help, but finding outside help took a lot of work.

When Zijin heard the words ‘I have something to ask’, her eyes widened as she asked, “Madam, you wouldn’t be asking Fu Qingluo to go to the farm to protect those children, would you?”

Yuxi explained, “Although she had a selfish motive when she offered to teach those children last time, it can be seen that she has a good heart. If we ask her this time, she should not refuse.” Since she had taken these children in, she should be responsible for them until the end.

Zijin did not retort and nodded. “Okay, I’ll go now.” She only hoped Fu Qingluo had this in mind and would not let Madam down.

Yuxi touched her belly and softly said, “I hope your father will be safe and sound.”

A shichen1 later, Fu Qingluo followed Zijin to the Yun Residence. Once Fu Qingluo saw Yuxi, she asked, “Zijin said you had something to ask me?” It was a rarity that Han Yuxi would seek her out, too, which was a delightful surprise.

Yuxi told her about the fire in the granary on the farm. “The grain in the granary was prepared for the children, and now it has all burned down, and the children’s food rations have become a problem.” Yuxi was a cautious person. When she bought that much grain, she had already thought that such a big commotion would definitely attract the attention of the Xu family and the others. If someone got angry and burned the granary, those children would have problems getting their meals. In times of war, food was not easy to buy. At the time, most of the grain put on the farm had been hidden away as a precaution, leaving only a small portion to cover people’s ears and eyes2. Still, she never expected that something would go wrong with the granary.

When Fu Qingluo heard this, her face turned very ugly. “Who did this? How dare they burn the granary!” Food was equal to life in Yu City, especially during the war. These culprits were simply too hateful.

Yuxi shook her head. “I’m not sure about that, but I’m worried about the safety of those children. I don’t know many people in Yu City, so I want to ask you for your help.”

When Fu Qingluo heard these, she didn’t hesitate as she asked, “What do you want me to help you with? As long as I can do it, just ask!”

Yuxi explained, “I can’t spare any men from here, so I want to ask you to protect the children on the farm and help me buy some food for them. Since the food has all been burnt down, those children will have to starve if we don’t buy food to replace them.” The food price today was even higher when she bought it, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the price changed from day to day.

When Fu Qingluo heard this, she didn’t think about it as she immediately agreed. “That is not a problem.” It was not difficult for her to do so, and since she could offer some help, she wouldn’t refuse.

Yuxi handed Fu Qingluo a thousand taels of silver and said, “I don’t have much money left, so take this first and buy as much food as possible. If that isn’t enough, I’ll think of something else.” Apart from the 60,000 taels of silver Qiu Shi gave, Yuxi had little money on hand.

Fu Qingluo didn’t want to be unreasonable as she took the silver ticket and assured Yuxi, “Don’t worry. I won’t let those children go hungry.”

Yuxi said gratefully, “Thank you.”

Fu Qingluo waved her hand. “If you can ask me to help you at this time, that means you think highly of me. Enough of those polite words. I’ll go back to fetch my things if there’s nothing else.” The so-called ‘fetch things’ was not just about picking up some clothes but also about getting some money.

Yuxi sent Fu Qingluo to the gate and said, “I’m counting on you to protect those children.” This was the downside of being understaffed. When her child was born, she would have to choose a few useful people so that she would not have to ask outsiders for help in case of an emergency.

Back in the inner courtyard, Yuxi went into the Buddha Hall again. Before she went in, she said to Mama Qu, “Please don’t disturb me if there’s nothing important.” She had felt ill at ease from yesterday to today, and Yuxi had a hunch that something was wrong with Yun Qing. Only there was no definite news for now, and she could only rely on chanting to dispel the anxiety in her heart.

When Han Ji arrived at the farm, he thought it would be chaotic. But when he entered the place, he realised it was nothing like what he had imagined. The farm chief, Lian Daxin, was directing people to clean up the burnt granary; among these people, more than twenty were older children.

Han Ji was not angry that Lian Daxin had put these children to work but somewhat relieved. It was time to show these children how hard it was for Madam to provide for them. That way, they would be grateful. Han Ji walked over towards Farm Chief Lian and asked, “Did all the grain inside the granary have been burnt?” Although not all of the grain had been put in the granary, there were several thousand jin3 of grain in there!

Lian Daxin answered gloomily, “All the grain in the granary was burnt, with so much of it had turned into ashes. These sons of b*tches weren’t even afraid of being struck by thunder4.” Lian Daxin was also Yun Qing’s army camp veteran who retired after being injured. He was unmarried and had no children, but he had a good relationship with Hao Dazhuang. Thus, Hao Dazhuang let him come here and become the farm chief. For these veterans, nothing was more despicable than the intentional burning of grain.

Han Ji said, “The families of the deceased guards must be appeased.”

Lian Daxin smiled bitterly and answered, “They have no family. Let’s prepare a few good coffins for them.” The few people who were guarding the grain were all without families.

Han Ji’s face was also sorrowful as he asked, “Have the arsonists confessed?” Han Ji was not stupid. The mastermind must have information that could be used against these groups of people. Hence, there was no way they would confess easily!

Lian Daxin shook his head. “No, they didn’t tell us that even after they were beaten until they spat out blood. Does Madam have any orders?” Madam must have given specific orders for such a significant matter. He was ashamed to say that such an important place had been entrusted to him by Madam, and yet something had gone wrong.

Han Ji shook his head. “Madam said that if the children still have living parents, they can be sent back if they want to leave. They can stay on the farm if they don’t want to.”

Lian Daxin respected Yuxi. Only a kind-hearted person like Madam would pay for the care of these fatherless children. “This will be done later. Steward Han, did Madam say anything about how to handle those criminals?”

Han Ji did not want Yuxi to be known as ruthless. It took a lot of work to get a good reputation, but it would only need a blink of an eye to ruin it. To preserve Yuxi’s good name, Han Ji said, “No, Madam left the matter at my disposal. But I thought since they like fire so much, why don’t we let them have fun with it themselves!”

Lian Daxin wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t have been chosen to manage the farm if he had been one. Upon hearing this instruction, he asked, “Does Steward Han mean to set them on fire?” Seeing Steward Han nodding, Lian Daxin said, “That will be a waste of firewood!” Although he said so, he still instructed his subordinates to carry on with it.T

/C

Not long after Han Ji had finished dealing with the criminals, Fu Qingluo arrived. When she saw Han Ji, Fu Qingluo said, “Your Madam has left the matters on the farm to me. You can go back now.”

Han Ji looked at Fu Qingluo and nodded. “Then I’ll be grateful to Miss Fu.” Many things were going on at the residence that he couldn’t get away from, and he didn’t feel at ease being outside for too long. As for the children, as long as they weren’t a cause of public outrage, people wouldn’t try to silence them with poison.

Han Ji made it back to the house without any accidents. At this moment, Yuxi had already come out of the Buddha Hall and was talking to Mama Qu about something. When she noticed Han Ji’s arrival, she asked, “How are things at the farm?”

Han Ji reported, “The Farm Chief has handled everything on the farm very well. Then Miss Fu came over and said that she had taken over the matters on the farm, so I came back here.”

Yuxi thought Fu Qingluo was being too ungracious, but this was not the time to care about such things. “I asked her to help.” There were many things that Han Ji needed to report to her, but she didn’t need to explain everything clearly to him.

Han Ji didn’t proceed with the farm matter either, as he suggested, “Madam, I think we’d better buy more food to be stored.” Only when they had enough food stored would they feel secure.

Yuxi shook her head. “Buying too much grain right now will make us become an eyesore. We’ve saved a lot of grain before, so there’s no rush to buy more. However, the food we’ve brought in should be preserved well and not be destroyed again. As for the grain hidden away on the farm, don’t let the news slip.”

Han Ji nodded. “Okay.”

The breeze was still, and the waves were quiet6 for the next four days. However, Yuxi couldn’t keep herself calm. She spent most of her time in the Buddha Hall chanting sutras. Even though she knew that Yun Qing would return safely in the end, she could not settle down to do anything else and could only be at peace when she was reciting scriptures.

After four days of being chased by the northern barbarians, Yun Qing lost nearly 4,000 men, more than half of the total of soldiers he had escaped with, leaving him with only 2,000 men in the end.

Huo Changqing told Yun Qing, “We are still three to four days away from Yu City, and we don’t have much dry food left. If we keep going like this, we might be unable to escape.” The men were exhausted, and even the horses couldn’t take it any longer. Once their enemies caught up with them, they would be dead, and even if they didn’t die, they would have to become their enemies’ captives.

Huo Changqing’s idea was to have someone pretend to be Yun Qing and run away in the direction of Yu City. Yun Qing would then take a small group of men and flee towards the trail, giving him a better chance of escaping.

Yun Qing refused without even thinking, “No. We don’t have enough troops already, and it would be even more dangerous if we spread out.”

Hearing this argument, Huo Changqing said to Yun Qing after a momentary silence, “If we can return to Yu City safely this time, we cannot show any more mercy to Qin Zhao. I believe even Marshal Qin, under the nine springs, won’t blame you for it.”

Yun Qing nodded his head. “Uncle Huo, don’t worry. This is the last time.” He had backed down repeatedly, all because he was considering Marshal Qin’s kindness towards him. But this time, Qin Zhao had violated his bottom line. For the sake of the more than 10,000 soldiers who had died unjustly, he could no longer submit himself to Qin Zhao.

Yu Cong ran over and reported, “General, the pursuers are catching up with us again, and they are less than ten miles away.” The pursuing troops were strong, and their morale was high, while they were so tired of running for their lives that they did not have enough time to eat and drink. Under such circumstances, they would naturally be quickly overtaken.