Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside Chapter 1602: Siege and Chaos

Gu Jinli replied, "Granny Lei, don’t worry. We have a way to preserve cooked dry rations, and it’s still a bit cold here in the Northwest, so the dry rations won’t spoil within two months."

She went on to explain, "With the Prefecture under siege, if the Rong people poison our water sources, we’ll not only have nothing to drink, we won’t even have water to cook with. And once the city is besieged, the woodcutters can’t come in to sell firewood, so firewood is also a problem. We have a lot of people, and every meal consumes quite a bit of fuel. We need to take advantage of the fact that there’s still firewood and turn our grain into dry rations. Also, in wartime, if you can just grab a piece of dry food and eat, it’s much more convenient."

Afraid that Ms. Gao Lei would be dissatisfied and scold her again, she continued, "I’ve already sent the household servants out to buy dry wood, charcoal, timber, pine oil, water vats, earthen jars, water pouches and other items, to ensure as far as possible that we’ll have enough firewood and clean water to use."

Mrs. Han said, "It’s still Sister-in-law Qin who thinks of everything."

Although she was born into a noble family, she had never experienced war. When she heard Xing’an Prefecture was besieged, she was so terrified she clutched Sister Yu and Brother Yi tightly, utterly at a loss for what to do.

Ms. Gao Lei suddenly stood up and shouted, "Peng Wen, Little Peng Wen!"

Peng Wen had just returned with his men; hearing the call, he rushed over and said, "Old Madam, what are your orders?"

"Go quickly and inform Lei Mao, tell him to scatter the people of the Lei Family’s Trading Team through the city to guard the wells, then go to the government office and report to Magistrate Hao, so he can immediately search the entire city to prevent Rong people from lurking inside and poisoning our water sources." Thinking of how the Rong people loved to use Poison in war, Ms. Gao Lei’s eyes reddened.

The Rong people’s Poison is vicious; every time they use it, countless people on the Great Chu side die.

"The Rong people are going to poison us?" Peng Wen was shocked, then hurriedly said, "Yes, I’ll go find Ah Mo and the others right away. You, Old Madam..."

Ms. Gao Lei waved her hand and said, "Don’t worry about me. This old body has a group of Protectors guarding me. I’ll stay in the separate yard and won’t go anywhere; nothing will happen. You hurry and get to work—if you’re late, it’ll all be over!"

"Understood." Peng Wen left at once, mounted his horse and rode to the main residence of the Lei Family’s Trading Team to find Lei Mao.

Lei Mao was the Grand Steward of the Lei Family’s Trading Team in Xing’an Prefecture. He was very well-connected in Xing’an Prefecture, not only familiar with the situation in the Prefecture but also able to directly meet the lords of the government office. Seeing Peng Wen arrive, he asked, "Where’s Aunt? Why didn’t she come back?"

Lei Mao and Peng Wen were both nearly forty, so they called Ms. Gao Lei "Aunt."

Peng Wen said, "The Old Madam has settled in at the separate yard. She said Mrs. Qin is young and has no elder at her side, and now that there’s war she’s afraid the girl will be scared, so she went to keep Mrs. Qin company."

He then relayed the matter of the Rong people possibly poisoning the wells in the city, and that they needed to go to the government office to inform Magistrate Hao so he could send people to search the Prefecture again.

"All right, I’ll make arrangements at once." Lei Mao immediately had someone beat the gong, gathering all the people of the Lei Family’s Trading Team.

Good grief, in less than half a quarter of an hour, the entire front courtyard of the main residence was packed with sturdy, blade-bearing men, like a fierce bandits’ gang assembly.

Lei Mao said, "Everyone is to split into three groups: one group goes to all the wells in the Prefecture to guard the water sources and strictly prevent the Rong people from poisoning them; one group stays to protect the family members; one group goes to the separate yard to guard the Old Madam!"

"Yes!" The people of the Lei Family’s Trading Team answered and immediately dispersed, led by three housekeepers rushing off in different directions.

Lei Mao, on horseback, rode with Peng Wen toward the government office, only to be told, "Lord Magistrate is not in the government office; he’s gone up to the city tower."

With Xing’an Prefecture under siege, Magistrate Hao, as Magistrate, naturally had to go up the city tower to inspect the situation.

The two of them spurred their horses on without stopping toward the city tower, but didn’t dare ride too fast, afraid their mounts would crash into pedestrians on the road.

The Prefecture was already in chaos: everywhere people were out buying grain, salt and other supplies, and families were dragging everyone along to flee the city.

Seeing this, Lei Mao shouted, "Going out of the city now is a dead end. Don’t go out; prepare enough food and water and stay at home—that’s the safest!"

But these people wouldn’t listen at all, saying, "The Rong people are upon us; in a little while the city will fall. If we don’t flee now, are we supposed to sit here and wait for the Rong people to kill us?"

They even kindly advised, "Judging by your clothes, you’re from the Lei Family’s Trading Team, right? Your Lei Family’s Trading Team is pretty good. I advise you to hurry and take your family and flee too. Otherwise, once the city falls, the men will be killed, and the women will be ravaged to death!"

With that, he dragged his parents, carried his child, called to his wife and headed for the city gate.

There were many households like this, clogging up the streets.

Lei Mao frowned and stopped trying to persuade them. The main city gate was already closed anyway; these people couldn’t get out. He and Peng Wen dismounted, led their horses through the crowd, and only once clear of it mounted again and galloped off.

More than three quarters of an hour later, they finally reached the city gate.

The gate was already blocked utterly tight. The soldiers had formed a human wall, blades drawn to bar the crowd: "Fall back! General Liang has ordered that anyone who dares approach will be killed without mercy!"

The people of the Prefecture were blocked before the gate, unable to leave the city, and cursed furiously, "To hell with you! You’re soldiers, yet you don’t go kill Rong people—what right do you have to point your blades at us?!"

Lei Mao shouted, "Because there may be Rong spies hidden among you, trying to get close and open the gate for the Rong people, bringing death to the commoners inside the city!"

He then pointed at the man who had just cursed and said, "He might be one of the Rong spies. Arrest him!"

Hearing this, the man was scared out of his wits and hurriedly said, "No, no, I’m a commoner inside the city, a good citizen. Who the hell are you? Don’t you slander me!"

Peng Wen sneered, "He is Manager Lei, the Grand Steward of the Lei Family’s Trading Team!"

The moment the four words "Lei Family’s Trading Team" were spoken, the man shrank his neck and offered an apology, "I was blind and didn’t recognize Mount Tai. I beg the Grand Steward not to be angry. I truly am a commoner on the good register, not a Rong person. I just saw the Rong people had come and wanted to take my family and flee."

Lei Mao said, "At a time like this, taking your family out of the city—are you fleeing or going to your deaths? If you don’t want to die, if you don’t want every day from now on to be bitter, then get back!"

The Lei Family’s Trading Team weren’t any kind of gentle, pious folk; every one of them carried a blade and was comparable to fierce bandits. There were some things they dared to do.

Hearing this, the large crowd trying to leave the city grew frightened and stepped back, yet still didn’t go home.

Peng Wen said, "Still not going home? Lurking at the city gate, are you hoping to be the first to be cut down when the city falls?!"

At those words, the commoners finally realized that staying at the gate was indeed unwise, and people began to head back.

Lei Mao had already gone up onto the city tower and met General Liang. Pointing at the crowd, he said, "Please have General Liang send men to shadow these people and see where they go. There’s a high chance there are Rong spies hidden among them."

General Liang knew Lei Mao made sense, but with such a vast throng of people, where was he supposed to find soldiers to tail them all?

However, General Liang wanted to use the manpower of the Lei Family’s Trading Team to help defend the city, so he nodded and agreed, sending out soldiers from three Section Leaders to shadow the crowd. He then asked Lei Mao, "What have you come for?"

Could it be that Ms. Gao Lei had accused him, and Lei Mao had come to settle accounts?

Lei Mao repeated what Peng Wen had told him.

General Liang was stunned, then hurriedly took him to see Magistrate Hao, saying, "Magistrate Hao, this matter is too serious. We must immediately send people to search for Rong spies again, to avoid another tragic incident of the Rong people poisoning us."

The Northwest had fought the Rong people not just once or twice. The Rong people had always been unreasonable; their favorite tactic in war was Poison. One could not let one’s guard down.