Chapter 27: The Coming Battle

After Zuo Zhengfeng arrived at Taoyuan Valley, he told everyone about the soldiers outside capturing people. Tian Dabiao immediately arranged for people to take turns standing guard on the walls to prevent a sudden attack and prepared plenty of wooden and bamboo arrows.

They had a few bows already, and later Tian Mi brought over a few dozen more. She also had a large stock of arrows in her space. However, it would be too conspicuous for a small mountain stronghold to have too many arrows, so Tian Mi only took out some as a temporary supply. The rest were made together with everyone’s help—crafting wooden and bamboo arrows.

Huang Yuanying was someone who couldn’t sit idle. After he arrived, he taught the children how to read and write every day, told stories, and even gave lessons, quickly winning everyone’s favor.

Taking this opportunity, he gave all the food he had brought to Aunt Feng and offered to eat with everyone. It was hard for them to refuse, so they accepted.

Tian Mi often passed by and listened to his lessons. He was truly a knowledgeable and talented person, so whenever she had free time, she would bring her cousin, Xu Feiyan, and Chen Miao to join in, practicing calligraphy and learning about the history and culture of this era.

The original host (Tian Mi’s predecessor) knew a few words, which her mother had taught her, but she had been rather slow and hadn’t learned much.

This was the perfect opportunity to help straighten out her “wayward” sisters, whom she had unintentionally influenced.

Huang Minghui was a dependable and diligent person. After arriving, she managed all of Tian Mi’s affairs perfectly, to the point where even Xu Feiyan got jealous, joking that her position was about to be taken.

Tian Mi often pulled her close and playfully said, “Minghui-jie, what would I do without you?”

This coaxed Huang Minghui into smiles, making her so happy that all her initial awkwardness in Taoyuan Valley disappeared.

Meanwhile, the houses in Fengqiu Village had been repaired. After discussing with everyone, Tian Mi decided to divide the land in the valley and start reclaiming it. One thousand mu within the valley was allocated to the people of Fengqiu Village, while they would reclaim the remaining four hundred mu outside.

Zuo Zhengfeng also joined Tian Dabiao and the others in reclaiming the land every day. The valley had been full of trees before. Although the trees had been chopped down, the remaining stumps were difficult to clear, and reclaiming the land wasn’t easy. Fortunately, with plenty of people, all skilled in manual labor, and a good number of animals to assist, they were able to make progress relatively quickly.

However, the peaceful days were eventually broken. That noon, a guard on the wall, Cui Xiaohu, suddenly shouted, “The soldiers are coming! The soldiers are coming!”

Tian Mi, who was attending Huang Yuanying’s lesson, immediately rushed to her room, grabbed her felling axe, slung her bow and arrows over her back, and headed for the wall at the valley’s entrance. The others quickly armed themselves and followed. Gone were their usual gentleness and calm; each one exuded a menacing, murderous aura that left the Huang siblings stunned, as if they were witnessing a shocking transformation.

The siblings quickly followed to see what was happening.

When Tian Mi climbed up the wall at the valley entrance, Cui Xiaohu was already standing at the ready, reporting sternly, “Tian Mi-jie, there are more than thirty riders coming.”

Indeed, there were over thirty cavalrymen below, all fully armed and carrying spears.

The leader, looking imposing and aggressive, shouted, “Listen up, people above! We are under the command of the General of Qinghe County, here to conscript soldiers. Open the gate and send out your people, or we’ll kill you all without mercy!”

Tian Mi despised these bullies who relied on their power to oppress others. She immediately took out an arrow—specifically, a bamboo one. Narrowing one eye, she focused, pulled her bowstring taut, and released. The arrow flew straight toward the leader, hitting him square in the head. The impact knocked him off his horse, and he fell to the ground, dead on the spot.

This terrified not only the soldiers below, who fled in panic, but also Zuo Zhengfeng and Huang Yuanying, who had come to see what was happening.

What kind of violent temper was this? They thought. You started shooting just because of one disagreement? All the man did was say a sentence, and you went straight for his life? And that’s the son of a prince—on someone else’s turf no less!

Even representatives of the imperial court were still biding their time cautiously!

After a while, Zuo Zhengfeng finally asked, “Miss Tian, do you know who they are?”

Tian Mi replied indifferently, “They’re just lackeys of the corrupt officials in Qinghe County—not worth much.”

The two men were completely dumbfounded. Not worth much? That wasn’t the problem! The real issue was that these people would definitely come back for revenge!

This woman was truly someone who made people feel both exasperated and awestruck!

Zuo Zhengfeng glanced at the construction of the valley entrance and the towering mountains behind it. Damn, he thought, they really were hot-tempered, but they had the capability to back it up. In such a small valley, they had actually built a wengcheng (a fortified courtyard).

Without a large army, this place wouldn’t be easy to capture at all.

Tian Mi’s killing of the small leader wasn’t an impulsive act. The moment the soldiers found this place, it was clear the situation could not be resolved peacefully. Rather than wasting time dealing with them, it was better to strike hard first. A show of strength would scare the soldiers into hesitation. Even if more soldiers came later, Tian Mi could strike ruthlessly again, making the soldiers fearful and more hesitant in battle, ultimately reducing their effectiveness.

Sure enough, the fleeing soldiers, who were used to throwing their weight around, had never encountered such tough resistance before. They hurried back to the city to get reinforcements!

Once back in the city, they reported that their leader had been killed, which was a major incident. To cover for their failure, they could only exaggerate the strength of their opponents, minimizing their own negligence.

When Dong Haibo, a deputy general under Bai Dongyuan, heard about this, he was furious. How could such a thing be tolerated? A group of mere peasants dared to be so bold—they had to be eradicated!

The next day, Dong Haibo personally led his six hundred elite soldiers, all fully armed. After hearing about the tall walls in the valley the day before, they came prepared—not only with spears and long pikes but also with bows, arrows, and long ladders. They were determined not to stop until they had achieved their goal.

Tian Mi, Tian Dabiao, and Uncle Xu Er all guessed that the soldiers would certainly return, so everyone began making preparations. Arrows were placed on top of the walls, large stones were hauled up, and the wengcheng (the fortified courtyard between the inner and outer walls) was covered with dry grass. Even the able-bodied young men from Fengqiu Village were given spears and joined in the training.

Tian Mi had already become their undisputed drill instructor. Holding her felling axe with an imposing air, she trained alongside them. At the end, she raised her voice and said, “Fellow villagers, we traveled thousands of miles, risking our lives to reach this place. It wasn’t easy for us to build the home we have now. And yet these corrupt officials want to capture our people and steal our land. What should we do?”

The crowd, filled with righteous anger, raised their spears and shouted in unison, “Kill the officials! Kill the officials! Kill the officials!”

Tian Mi continued, “That’s right. We must kill those corrupt officials. But to do so, we need strength. Only if we train hard now and build real skills will we be able to fight them when the time comes—so that we kill them instead of being killed! Work hard, my heroes!”

Her words ignited even greater determination. The villagers trained with more vigor and power than ever before.

Huang Yuanying, meanwhile, suddenly found himself without students. Everyone had joined Tian Mi, spears in hand, to train in martial arts. He stood there watching this pregnant woman, who had once seemed so calm and gentle, now transformed into a warrior wielding a giant axe with a murderous aura. It was impossible to figure her out! Were these truly just refugees hiding in the mountains?

His sister had mentioned before that the people in this valley were all refugees, but there were two distinct groups. One group consisted of former security escorts—this much was clear, as even the children and elderly had some level of martial skill. The other group came from Fengqiu Village, ordinary farmers who had followed the security escorts out of gratitude for their protection.

And as for Tian Mi, she had previously taken a husband, but he had died tragically during their flight from disaster, leaving her to fend for herself with her father.

Sigh! What a tough woman she was!