The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl - Chapter 396:

Chapter 396: Chapter 392: Rebel Army_1

Jiang Dalang and his eldest son ran to open the door at the sound, indeed it was Shopkeeper Qiu. They quickly unlatched the door and led the donkey cart in.

Chou Rong also ran out of the house and saw that her parents and younger brother had come. Her heart was relieved as she helped her mother into the house, then she went to prepare two rooms for them.

Shopkeeper Qiu told his in-laws what he had seen, “Alas, I saw the city gate closed as soon as I left the city. Closing the city gates during the day means either an enemy invasion or an internal rebellion. My heart is still pounding. That was a close call!”

Fortunately, he had listened to his son-in-law and daughter’s advice, otherwise he would have been trapped in the city, leaving him open to slaughter?

Hearing this, old man Jiang and Jiang Dalang’s faces changed dramatically, they hastily went to call Jiang Sanlang to discuss a plan of action.

The next day, Jiang Sanlang called a village meeting and talked about the strange events in the county town. At the end, he said, “There must be something wrong in the county town, we need to be vigilant in case the rebel army comes here. I will inform the surrounding post houses about this matter so they can decide what to do.”

There are also several weapons shops and post houses around Qinchuan County, and he also had to inform other counties, not knowing if they were in league with the county town.

In addition, the county magistrate of Qinchuan County had an old grudge against him, and may take this opportunity to retaliate against his family.

The Clan Leader furrowed his brow, “Could it be that the county town has also rebelled against the new dynasty?” If that were true, it would be terrible. His grandson and the two children of the Jiang family were all newly appointed military officers of the new dynasty, a fact everyone knew.

If the rebel army broke into the village and captured the elderly, weak, and women and children to threaten the new dynasty army, that would be disastrous.

Thinking of this, the Clan Leader said again, “Sanlang, you take more people to notify the garrisons at the surrounding post houses, and we need to prepare here in the village.”

“I called everyone here for that very reason,” said Jiang Sanlang. “The priority now is to build the gate for the village entrance and gather all the villagers from the surrounding villages to resist the enemy together.”

Over the years, under the supervision of the young girl, more than half of the village wall has been repaired, with only a few of the gates remaining to be installed.

As long as they keep the village gate secure, no one can climb over the village wall.

First, because there are a ring of soapnut trees on the outside of the wall, second, because there are several tall arrow towers next to the wall.

“Good! Let’s do it!” Everyone agreed in unison.

So, a few villagers who were good at riding horses went with Jiang Sanlang to notify the post houses and garrisons, and others provided their timber and hemp ropes to work together to build the village gate.

Some of the students from the school ran to other villages to alert the village officials to bring people over to help.

Chen Changsheng of West Village couldn’t sit still, he simply told the people of West Village to come over and help, and set up straw and bamboo sheds on the side of East Village. Everyone from his village including his own family, planned to take refuge in the enclosed village.

While everyone was busy, Yingbao took Dahuang and Xiaohei out into the wild to pick up stones. She collected all she could lift, big and small, into the cave mansion.

When a battle actually happened, the damage caused by throwing stones at people would be far greater than that of bamboo arrows, so she needed to collect as many stones as possible.

Unfortunately, the ingredients for making the potent, colorless, and odorless poison were limited. Otherwise, it would be even easier to secretly poison these bad guys.

Even the Powder for Anesthesia, she didn’t have much, and couldn’t incapacitate a bunch of people in a short time.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye.

One day, the scouts suddenly ran back and shouted as soon as they entered the village, “Bad news! A troop of soldiers is coming!”

Everyone was startled and rushed to spread the news.

People at the market also picked up their baskets and pushed their wheelbarrows running into the village.

Although the textile mill also had high walls, it was, after all, not as safe as being inside the village. So all the weavers ran into the village.

Yingbao heard the scout’s shout like everyone else, and immediately ran to West Village to find Lady Wang, urging her to come into East Village quickly.

Lady Wang didn’t hesitate, she ordered her servants to load the family’s food and other supplies onto the cart and hurried into East Village.

Before long, Yingbao, who was standing on the high watchtower, saw over a thousand soldiers up on the South Slope. They rummaged around the market first, and finding nothing of value, they went straight to the textile mill.

The big doors of the workshop were tightly closed. They battered them for a while but were unable to break them down. The leader then ordered them to turn around and attack the village.

The village gate was roughly made, it was visible from the outside.

But these gates were made of round logs and were very sturdy. The rebels couldn’t breach them right away.

From his vantage point, Yingbao could see Cao Can riding on a tall horse, engaging in a conversation with someone.

Yingbao felt like she’d seen this man somewhere before. Thinking carefully, she suddenly recalled that he’d been with Chen Changping once.

Thinking about the incident involving Chen Wan, she began to understand a little more.

This man must be the staff officer known as Yan Jinshan, a close confidant of King Cheng.

He was actually collaborating with Cao Can. The dream she had might have been a forewarning.

If her elder cousin and his family hadn’t returned, they might have been killed by them.

Upon thinking about this, chills ran down Yingbao’s spine.

If she had dismissed her dream as insignificant, perhaps her elder cousin and his aunt’s family would have fallen into disaster.

Yingbao squinted her eyes, watching as those people started to burn the village gate.

The gate was merely bound with hemp ropes and logs, and was held together by wooden pegs. It couldn’t withstand the fire.

Zhang Meng was standing on the watchtower next to the village gate. He yelled out, “Fire arrows!”

Several villagers on the watchtower began to fire arrows at those people.

However, being a first-time experience for them to aim a bow and arrow at soldiers dressed in imperial uniforms, they were still somewhat hesitant, and didn’t dare to kill these people outright.

Zhang Meng was a bit angry and shouted out angrily, “Aim at their vital points, fire! If they come at us in such numbers, it’s do or die. What are you hesitating for? Are you waiting for them to kill your wives, children, and elders?”

The villagers trembled a little, and upon seeing the people outside setting all the market buildings on fire, there was a sudden burst of flames. In a rage, they drew their bows and shot arrows, firing indiscriminately below.

But the village gate had already been breached and the rebels surged into the village like a tide.

Yingbao was on the arrow tower, throwing down rocks.

Next to her were her father, Jiang Sanlang, and her mother, Chunniang.

This watchtower and the one where Zhang Meng was, were the two strongholds guarding the village gate.

If the enemy invaded, these two arrow towers could provide some resistance.

However, neither she nor her father had expected Cao Can to bring so many people to attack just one village.

However, Cao Can probably didn’t know that the village gate was only the first barrier, with a second and third one waiting behind.

The rebels braved the barrage of arrows and the rain of stones from the villagers to rush into the village, but what was this ring of soapnut branches blocking their way?

Just inside the gate was a circle of soapnut branches, blocking all the paths, with sharp spikes protruding from the pile of branches, enough to make one’s scalp numb.

With the path ahead blocked and constant attacks from bamboo arrows and stones from above, the rebels hurriedly retreated, leaving behind dozens of dead and injured men.

Cao Can frowned and waved his hand signaling his troops to retreat out of the range of the arrow towers.

“It seems like we can’t attack from the main gate,” Yan Jinshan stroked his chin, “This village is indeed a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger. We can’t underestimate it. Seems like your plan, brother Cao, might have to go through some twists and turns.”

Cao Can scoffed, “If I can’t break a small village like this, how am I worthy of following King Cheng? Don’t worry brother Yan, I will tear this village down and bring all their heads and wealth to the King.”