Chapter 436 : Injured

Early the following day, Yuxi called Xu Wu as soon as she woke up and asked, “How is the situation on the battlefield?” It was already the eighth day, and if the northern barbarians did not retreat by today, it would be hazardous for them. Yuxi had been in a state of nervousness all this while.

Xu Wu looked grim as he replied, “It’s not ideal. I have just heard that we suffered another 3,000 casualties last night. We have now lost 40,000 men to injury and death. If the northern barbarians do not retreat, we will likely be unable to defend Yu City……” The total number of soldiers in Yu City was originally just over 50,000, and now less than 20,000 could participate in the battle, creating a very dangerous situation for them.

Yuxi said, “The northern barbarians’ rations shouldn’t be able to sustain them all for more than two days.” She was also under tremendous pressure, as she was the one who had guessed when the barbarian army would run out. If her calculation were wrong, the consequences would be disastrous.

Xu Wu said, “Madam, would you like to relocate to the winery?” Moving around was challenging for a person with a big belly. So if they had to move, they had to do it ahead of time.

Yuxi was silent for a moment before asking, “When do you think the reinforcements will arrive?” The speed of the reinforcements was really too slow.

Xu Wu shook his head. “It will take at least five to six days for the reinforcements to arrive. We can’t count on them.” They could not blame the slow pace of the reinforcements. There were 100,000 troops in Elm City. Under normal circumstances, it would be a breeze for the city’s army to defend it for a month.

Yuxi thought for a moment and said, “If the northern barbarians have not retreated by tonight, we will relocate to the secret passage in the winery in the evening.” She thought that if the barbarians’ food were burned, they would only last until today at best. If her guess were wrong, she would have to take full responsibility for it. If Xu Wu knew what Yuxi was thinking, he would have felt she was worrying too much. No matter what, there was no way she could be involved in this matter.

Xu Wu nodded. “Then I will begin the preparations.”

Not only Xu Wu but Yuxi’s side must also prepare. If the city was taken, they could only hide in the secret passage and wouldn’t be able to go out for a long time. There were many things they needed to arrange for such a situation.

When Mama Qu heard they had to move, her face instantly turned pale. “Madam, is it true that the city cannot be defended?” Hiding in the secret passageways was not a permanent solution after all. Besides, Yuxi was pregnant. Mama Qu couldn’t let Yuxi give birth while hiding in the underground passage!

Yuxi said, “This is just preparing for the worst. Maybe the northern barbarians will retreat today!” She didn’t want to go into the secret passage either, for if she did, she and her child would suffer.

At that moment, Zijin was having a good time attacking her enemies when a sharp arrow flew towards her. She had been very conspicuous over the past few days, which had attracted the attention of a northern barbarian general below. Such a strong person should be dealt with sooner rather than later, lest she would become another powerful enemy for them. So the general sought out a fantastic archer and decided to kill Zijin today.

Zijin was so focused on killing the enemy that she failed to notice the approaching danger. With his exceptional hearing, Yu Zhi spotted the threat in time to pull Zijin back as the sharp arrow flew past her ear and whistled off into the distance. However, Yu Zhi’s action allowed the enemy to strike at his back. Although Yu Zhi wore armour, it was already worn out after a few days of use, and he collapsed immediately after receiving the cut.

The sight of Yu Zhi’s injury infuriated Zijin, and with a single slash, she cut off the head of the northern barbarian soldier who had wounded him. As she was about to ask Yu Zhi about his wound, another sharp arrow flew towards her.

Yu Zhi shouted, “Be careful……” but it was too late. The sharp arrow shot straight into Zijin’s arm.

Seeing the two injured, two burly women rushed to help them down. Yu Zhi had no objection, as he couldn’t kill the enemy in his current state. But Zijin refused to go down, saying, “I’m fine. You carry him down first.”

Yu Zhi turned to the stouter woman and requested, “Help her down as well.” Seeing Zijin’s reluctance, Yu Zhi said, “If you don’t go down, I won’t go down either. Let’s just die here together.”

Zijin barked, “Stubborn *ss.” While Zijin was injured on her arm, Yu Zhi was wounded on his back, which continued to bleed.

Zijin had been with Yuxi and knew some common sense things, such as that if Yu Zhi could not stop the bleeding in time, he would probably die of blood loss. Killing the enemy was important, but so was saving her fiancé. There was nothing she could do but follow Yu Zhi down the city platform. She planned to wait until she was bandaged and then returning to battle.

When they came down from the platform, they were being helped to a special place for wounded soldiers when they were seen by Old Woman Yu. She said to the two women, “Leave these two to me!”

Zijin turned to Old Woman Yu and said, “Mama Yu, you can help him first!” The arrow in Zijin’s arm hadn’t been pulled out yet, but because it hadn’t been, it hurt but didn’t bleed much. Unlike Yu Zhi, whose back was covered in blood and whose face had turned as white as paper.

Yu Zhi nodded and said to a teenage girl beside him, “Bring the wine over here.” All the wine prepared for the Dingbei army was now being brought up for use. However, since the amount was limited, it was usually not given to anyone who was not seriously injured.

Old Woman Yu handed Yu Zhi a cloth and said, “Bite down. I’ll clean your wound first and then put some medicine on it.”

Zijin said, “He has a bottle of wound medicine with him, so after you clean his wounds, pour the powder on them.” As they left, Master Yang gave them the last two bottles of his medicine.

Old Woman Yu wiped Yu Zhi’s wound with wine-soaked cotton wool, and after wiping it clean, she poured the powdered medicine powder from the bottle onto it. Because of Zijin’s instructions, the amount she poured out was minimal, but the bleeding stopped quickly.

Yu Zhi’s head was drenched in sweat from the pain.

When the young girl who worked with Old Woman Yu saw this, she asked in surprise, “Grandma, what kind of medicine is this? How can it be so effective?”

This came as no surprise to Old Woman Yu. Since Zijin and Yu Zhi had unique identities, it was normal for them to have good hemostatic medicine at hand. “Get some gauze quickly.”

After bandaging Yu Zhi, Old Woman Yu was about to pull out the arrow of Zijin. Before doing so, she also gave Zijin a piece of cloth to bite on, then added, “Please bear with it.”

As soon as Old Woman Yu had wiped Zijin’s wound clean, she went to pull the arrow out of Zijin. But to her surprise, she only moved it gently when Zijin immediately screamed in pain.

When Yu Zhi saw this scene, his face changed dramatically. He immediately stopped Old Woman Yu. “You can’t pull it out. This is a barbed arrow.”

An example of a barbed arrow.

Drawing of a Tie Gan San Xu Duan Ming Jian, from ‘Deng Tan Bi Jiu (《登壇必究》)’.

Image Credit | Great Ming Military (ARROWS OF THE MING DYNASTY, Nov 19th, 2017)

As the name suggests, the barbed arrow was a type of arrow with a barbed head. If it pierced the flesh, it would lodge in the bone. If it was pulled out by force, in less severe cases, the injured arm could not be moved for a year. In more severe cases, it would be completely disabled.

Zijin’s face also changed as she exclaimed, “Are you saying this is a barbed arrow?” Few had seen barbed arrows, as they were only used at critical times. Since she was a mere soldier, she hadn’t expected such a deadly weapon to be used against her.

Unbeknownst to Zijin, her bravery and ability to kill hundreds of enemies over the past few days had long since attracted the attention of the enemy generals. And now that she had begun to wear armour, the other side didn’t want her to continue to grow and become an even more formidable threat to them in the future, so they used their ultimate killing move directly on her.T

/C

Yu Zhi hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, Master will find a way.” After saying that, he turned to talk to Old Woman Yu. “Mama, please help us find a way to get back to the General’s residence.” Even if the physicians here could remove the arrow from Zijin’s arm, Yu Zhi did not dare to let them do it. He trusted his master more.

Not daring to delay, Old Woman Yu immediately sent someone to find Han Ji. Following Han Ji’s instructions, some people were arranged to send the two back to the General’s residence.

Yuxi was packing things inside her room when she saw Tian Ju burst in and say to her, “Madam, Zijin Jiejie2 and Yu Dage3 are both injured.”

Mama Qu’s expression changed, and she hurriedly looked at Yuxi but was relieved to see that her expression was still normal, and she did not even look scared. When Mama Qu came to her senses, she glared at Tian Ju. That damned girl still didn’t know how to judge for herself what she could and couldn’t say. Why did this maid tell Madam such important news without going through her first? What if Madam had been shocked? This maid really was a fool. How could Mama Qu appoint her as Madam’s personal maid?

Feeling Mama Qu’s stern eyes, Tiang Ju shrank her neck.

Yuxi asked, “Are they badly hurt?” Being injured in battle was to be expected, as long as it was not life-threatening.

Tian Ju hurriedly said, “Zijin Jiejie2’s arm has been pierced by an arrow, and Yu Jiefu4 has a wound on his back, but neither of them is in life-threatening danger. But I have heard that the arrow seems to be some kind of barb that is difficult to pull out.” Zijin and Yu Zhi were not taken to the inner courtyard but to the second courtyard instead.

When Yuxi heard that it was a barbed arrow, her heart sank, and she said, “Let’s go over and have a look.”

Mama Qu was a little reluctant, “Madam, it’s going to be a bloody scene. You’d better not go over there!” She did not want Yuxi to see such a scene. Of course, she did not want to see it either.

Yuxi reassured her softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” She had been burned to death before, and ordinary scenes like that wouldn’t scare her.

When Zijin returned to the Yun residence and saw Master Yang, she asked him pitifully, “Master, am I going to be disabled?”

Master Yang barked, “Now you know how to be afraid? What did you say when I refused to let you go? Didn’t you tell me that you weren’t afraid of dying? What, you’re not even afraid of losing your life, but you’re still afraid of being disabled? I really want to tell you that if you are so capable, you can still be a one-armed hero even if you lose your arm!”T

/C

Zijin replied weakly, “Master, I don’t want to be a hero.” She just wanted to kill a few more northern barbarians to prevent them from entering the city.

Master Yang sneered. “If you don’t want to be a hero, why are you fighting so hard? Do you really think Yu City cannot be defended without you?”

Zijin lowered her head and fell silent. With or without her, it wouldn’t change the overall situation, but she knew that with both her and Yu Zhi’s strength, far fewer people would die.

When Yu Zhi saw that Master Yang was mumbling on and on without getting to the main point, he became anxious and said, “Master, please do something to get the arrow out, will you?” Each minute the arrow stayed in would be a source of peril for Zijin.

Master Yang became even angrier. He scolded, “You wimp! In other families, wives obediently follow their husbands, but not you. You have gone entirely out of line. Yu Zhi had been henpecked even before they were married.

Yu Zhi was not even afraid of Master Yang’s scolding, so he said, “Master, pull out the arrow first, and then you can scold me as much as you like”.

Yuxi had just passed through the second courtyard gate when she heard Zijin’s pitiful screams. Mama Qu’s face turned purple with fear, and she hurriedly turned to look at Yuxi. She was relieved that Yuxi still looked normal, but a strange feeling suddenly surfaced in her heart. She couldn’t bear to see Madam looking so calm.

Yuxi was not frightened because Tian Ju had just said that Zijin’s arm injury was not life-threatening. Now that Zijin was screaming so miserably, she guessed that Master Yang was pulling the arrows out of her. As long as her life was not in danger, she would not be afraid.