Chapter 14: The Frightening Path of Fleeing

“Um…” Actually, the old man preferred to call him ‘younger brother’; the calm and wise demeanor that this younger brother displayed last night deeply impressed him.

In that chaotic situation, while everyone else was terrified, he was the only one who stepped up to lead everyone to safety.

They say heroes emerge in troubled times, and for such a young child to stand out like this, he would surely become a significant figure in a few more years.

Xia Mo chuckled awkwardly, “I was so scared last night that I was dumbfounded. How could I be the leader for everyone? Old man, I think to be a leader, one must be a person of high morals and prestige. I’m young and inexperienced, clearly unsuitable. Why don’t you take on the role of leader? Just let my brother and me know what you need.”

The old man’s preferred younger brother refused, and the older brother declined as well.

After pondering for a moment, he had no choice but to agree.

“I’ll ask the villagers for their opinions, and you two should come along as well.”

“Alright.”

After a while, the old man gathered everyone together for a meeting.

“Everyone, regardless of which village you come from or where you’re headed, I propose that from now on, we unite and walk together. After last night, we need to send out young men to take turns keeping watch at night. We must not let a situation like last night happen again.”

“Old Zhou, we’ll listen to you.”

This group had over a hundred people. Old Zhou arranged for the young men to follow at the front and back of the group, while the elderly, children, women, and everyone’s belongings walked in the middle, and the large procession continued southward.

On the road, Xia Mo carefully recalled the plot from the original story, which she hadn’t read in a long time and couldn’t remember much of.

Since it was from the male protagonist’s perspective, the focus was on how he was transported south by human traffickers, enduring humiliation and suffering from severe illness, nearly being tortured to death.

The northern battles were only described in passing, with just a few lines.

What she knew was that the two provinces of Bian and Liang would be completely lost to the enemy.

But what kind of place were these Bian and Liang provinces?

“Hey.” Xia Mo stopped to look at the map.

“Do you know where Bianzhou is?”

“I know. The next big city we’re heading to is Bianzhou.”

Xia Mo: “…”

So they were still north of Bianzhou?

That meant they hadn’t escaped the enemy’s attack range yet.

“What about Liangzhou?”

“Liangzhou is south of Bianzhou.”

Xia Mo looked horrified.

Oh no, can their two legs outrun their four?

The book didn’t mention how long it took for the enemy to occupy Bian and Liang provinces.

“Why are you suddenly asking this?” Xiao Jingyuan asked curiously, staring at Xia Mo.

Xia Mo forced a strained smile and said, “We need to go through Bian and Liang provinces to get to Baiyue, so I was just asking to calculate how much longer it would take.”

“Is that so?” Xiao Jingyuan said with a strange expression. “We do need to pass through Bianzhou, but Liangzhou… we don’t necessarily have to go through Liangzhou.”

Xia Mo: “…”

“Hey, is that so? Then I must have remembered wrong. You said you’re familiar with the map, so I’ll just follow your lead on where to go next.”

“Mm.”

“By the way, were those people last night ordinary mountain bandits or the soldiers from Northern State?”

Old Zhou told everyone that they were local bandits, but Xia Mo suspected they were not just ordinary bandits.

Xiao Jingyuan’s fair face darkened, and he suddenly seemed less youthful. “They were soldiers from Northern State.”

“Really? How did you figure that out?”

“I examined the body of that person.”

Xia Mo remembered that Xiao Jingyuan had first rummaged through the body, taking all the valuable items before throwing it to the villagers to vent their anger.

It turned out that his examination of the corpse was not just a simple search for valuables.

“So you mean the soldiers from Northern State have already come in?”

“No, if they had come in, there wouldn’t have only been those few people last night. The usual tactic of the soldiers from Northern State is to first send a cavalry team to create chaos, causing the commoners to believe they have already invaded, which would frighten them into gathering in the nearby main city for protection. Once the city gates are opened, they would take advantage of the chaos to disguise themselves as ordinary people and flood into the city, cooperating with those outside. If the city gates are not opened, they will drive the commoners to assist them in attacking the city. In either case, Liangzhou City is in danger.”

Xia Mo’s heart skipped a beat. “If Liangzhou City is in danger, what about Tongzhou?”

They had just spent the night in Tongzhou a few days ago, and many commoners were already gathering outside the city.

Xiao Jingyuan said coldly, “Tongzhou cannot be defended anymore.”

Xia Mo instinctively looked back.

Xiao Jingyuan turned her face back to him. “What are you looking back for? Look forward.”

The young emperor was so calm?… Indifferent?

Xia Mo thought for a moment and tentatively asked, “Don’t you think the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of every individual?”

Xiao Jingyuan raised an eyebrow, looking at her in surprise, feeling that her words were rather strange.

“In our Great Zhou, the conscription law states that one is called to serve at fifteen, and I’m not yet thirteen, so whether I can defend it or not has nothing to do with me.”

Tsk tsk, is that something you can say?

Xia Mo didn’t know what the commoners in Tongzhou would face; she only knew they needed to hurry toward Bianzhou.

Xiao Jingyuan estimated that at their current speed, it would take them about ten more days to reach Bianzhou, and at least twenty days to reach the main city of Bianzhou.

In those twenty days, they would still face various troubles.

In troubled times, the dangers not only came from enemy states but also from many people being forced to become bandits, robbing and fleeing.

The soldiers from Northern State often operated in small teams of eight to ten, riding horses to kill and burn, causing many villages along the way to suffer.

They didn’t kill many, just three or five people, then set fire to houses, scaring the villagers half to death, forcing entire families to flee toward the main city.

On the way, strong young men, along with some former good-for-nothings, spontaneously banded together to bully the elderly, women, and children, robbing them of food, livestock, and more. Within ten days, such tragedies were everywhere.

As they traveled, Xiao Jingyuan’s youthful face grew increasingly solemn, gradually becoming indifferent.

Although he didn’t speak, Xia Mo knew he must be feeling distressed inside.

That day, their group clashed with a nearby band of grass bandits. Under Xiao Jingyuan’s command, the makeshift band of bandits did not gain any advantage and instead was driven to flee by the villagers.

After the battle, Old Zhou let everyone rest on the spot and said with lingering fear, “Fortunately, we left early and had many people; otherwise, if we had been caught here, we might not have made it out alive.”

He had a large family with five sons and eight grandsons, four of whom were already adults, so he wasn’t afraid.

Those with fewer men at home had already been marginalized in the group.

Xia Mo and Xiao Jingyuan were fine; for them, Xia Mo counted as an adult male, and although Xiao Jingyuan was just a half-grown boy, in a fight, he could match three adult men.

It was truly bizarre; even a half-grown child was so formidable.