Jinghong Tower

Chapter 362: Tablets vs Tablets

The next day, before dawn, Aqiu's mother brought Aqiu here.

Seeing He Ran, Aqiu's mother held He Ran's hand tightly and said, "Miss, my Aqiu is clumsy and average looking. She has been married before, but she hasn't had a child in three years. She may not be able to have a child. She can't be a prostitute. She can't be sold to an old bachelor in the mountains, but he won't want her. She can only do rough work and make a living by her strength."

Xiaoli and Liuxia's faces changed. Xiaoli stepped forward and tried to pull Aqiu Niang away. He Ran motioned her to step aside and said to Aqiu Niang, "Don't worry, I want her to cook for me. I won't let her be a prostitute, nor will I sell her to an old bachelor to have children."

He Ran's voice was not loud, but her tone was firm. However, Aqiu Niang did not pay attention to her as she was still immersed in her own emotions.

"Miss, please, if my Qiu makes a mistake in the future and you don't want her anymore, please send her back to me."

He Ran used the other hand that was not held to gently pat the back of Aqiu Niang's hand: "Okay, if that day really comes, I will have someone send her back."

Aqiu Niang let out a long breath, as if she had accomplished a major event in her life.

She undoubtedly loved Aqiu, and she protected her daughter with her not-so-strong arms, but Aqiu was not her only child, she had a whole family behind her.

Aqiu only brought simple luggage, the same small bag from yesterday, but it was a little bulger.

Aqiu's mother wiped her tears and said: "Aqiu, if you want to blame someone, just blame me. I'm sorry for you, but I can't do anything about it."

"Mother, you are not sorry for me. It is my fault that I have caused trouble for the family."

Aqiu Niang sighed. It was only then that she remembered something. She looked at He Ran and said, "Miss, may I ask what your surname is and where you are from?"

He Ran smiled: "My surname is He, and I am from Zhending Prefecture."

"Oh, it's Miss He." Aqiu Niang had never even been to the nearest Yangzhou Prefecture. As for Zhending Prefecture, she had never even heard of it.

At noon, He Ran and his party left the house they were staying in and headed towards Yangzhou along the official road.

Aqiu and Liuxia rode together. It was her first time riding a horse, and her body was tense. She dared not move while riding. But when the horse went farther and farther away, she still mustered up the courage to look back, but she could no longer see A'niang.

It has been three days since leaving Xuzhou, and during these three days, He Ran has not received any battle reports.

This place was very close to Yangzhou City. The further they went, the fewer people there were. Looking around, they were the only people on the official road.

"Boss, look, our camp is right in front of us!"

He Ran also saw it. In the whistling wind, the big flag with the word "Ran" on it fluttered in the wind.

"Huh, it seems like the war hasn't started yet!" Xiaoli was surprised.

Xiao Li was most familiar with the battle reports from the front line. Most of the time, she was the one who read them to He Ran. She knew that He Xiulong started attacking the city before dawn every day, and this hour was when the fighting was most intense.

He Ran smiled and said, "Isn't it good to not have a war? Let's go and see them training their troops."

She knew He Xiulong, who had been training as soon as she heard the rooster crow for years.

When they arrived outside the military camp, the soldiers guarding the camp did not recognize them. Xiaoli smiled gently and took out a sign: "We are from the Military Medical Supervisor and came from Xuzhou. Please inform us, big brother."

The soldier guarding the camp took the sign and looked at it. He had never seen such a sign before, but he had heard of the Military Medical Supervisory Bureau. Now all the military doctors accompanying the army were sent by the Military Medical Supervisory Bureau.

"Are you the new military doctor?" asked the soldier guarding the camp.

Xiaoli nodded: "Yes!"

The soldiers guarding the camp were delighted: "Great! There aren't enough military doctors these days. Wait a moment, I'll go in and report."

He Ran looked at Liuxia and the others and said, "You all go and help later."

"Yes!" Although they are not military doctors, they have learned simple bandaging techniques.

At this time, He Ran noticed Aqiu. She was in a daze, with a look of surprise on her face, but not fear.

"Don't you want to come and join the female general of the Ran army? This is her military camp." He Ran said.

A Qiu nodded blankly. It turned out that she was here to be a cook.

A moment later, a young female general trotted out. She was only fifteen or sixteen years old, with a youthful look in her features.

He Ran remembered her. This was He Linlin. The last time she saw her was in Hejia Village, where she followed He Shixiang to participate in field training.

In a few years, the little girl has grown into a female general.

Seeing He Ran, the little girl couldn't hide her excitement: "Big..."

She turned her face to Xiaoli forcefully: "Sister Xiaoli, you have worked hard on the journey, please follow me in."

This is a war zone. There are not only troops but also spies from various forces.

Since Head He claimed to be a military doctor, she didn't want anyone to know that she had come to Yangzhou.

When they got outside the tent, He Ran said to Liu Xia, "You guys go and help."

She looked at Qiu again: "You should go with us."

Aqiu's mind was no longer working, he nodded subconsciously, and followed Liuxia subconsciously.

He Ran brought Xiao Li into the tent. As soon as they entered, they saw He Xiulong with an excited face.

"Boss! Is it really you?"

He Ran found a chair and sat down, saying, "Tell me, what happened in the past few days?"

He Xiulong then reported what had happened in the past few days one by one. When she heard that Zhou Chi's tablet had been hung on the gate of Yangzhou city for three consecutive days, He Ran burst out laughing.

What a pity, Zhong Yi is still in Beijing.

Otherwise, the matter can be left to him to handle on his own.

He Ran felt a little regretful. It was such a good opportunity, but she missed it.

You should know that not everyone has the opportunity to face their own tablet directly.

She asked, "You sent a fake Jing Lao San over there, but what about the real one? Can you find it?"

He Xiulong nodded: "We found him on the same day. We don't know what Marshal Zhou did to him. He was dazed at first, and then he was startled. He hid everywhere when he saw the war horse. But we didn't let him see the horse for the past two days, and he has gotten much better and can communicate normally."

He Ran smiled: "It seems that he still has psychological trauma. Please make arrangements. I want to meet him today."

"Boss, if they keep hanging the tablet of Taizu, what should we do?" He Xiulong asked.

He Ran asked back: "What do you want to do?"

He Xiulong: "It has been three days, and the soldiers have almost rested. If they are still like this tomorrow morning, I will shoot the tablet with an arrow and then attack. But I am afraid that will implicate the boss. There are many scholars in Yangzhou City. I heard that they sit in silence outside the government office every day. Tomorrow I will shoot an arrow and those scholars will turn their pens around." He Ran laughed and said, "The pens of scholars should not be offended easily, but don't be afraid if you really offend them. Besides, they use the tablet as a shield to avoid fighting. We can follow their example and carry a tablet too."

Hearing this, He Xiulong was stunned, and then a light bulb went off in her head, and she understood what Mr. He meant.

"But is this really possible?" That's Taizu.

He Ran: "If I say yes, then yes. This is better than shooting through the tablet with an arrow."

He Xiulong thought about it and agreed, so she immediately asked someone to make arrangements.

In the wounded soldiers' camp, the military doctors and medical workers were busy as hell. Liuxia stretched her neck to look around and finally found an acquaintance. She walked over and said, "Clear sky!"

A young military doctor heard someone calling her, looked up, and saw Liuxia.

"Sister Liuxia, Sister Jinbo, Sister Hushang, Sister Qingzhuo," she didn't know Qiu, so she nodded at her, "Why are you here? Where is the headmaster?"

She is Du Hui's apprentice He Qingkong.

When the Ran army marched south, Du Hui sent both of his apprentices to the Military Medical Prison, and He Qingkong and his sister He Nuanyang were assigned to He Xiulong's army.

The two sisters once followed Du Hui to Laomofang Hutong and met Liuxia and his three companions.

Liuxia hissed, signaling He Qingkong not to ask any more questions. She smiled and said, "I heard that they are too busy here, so we are here to work."

He Qingkong pointed at the wounded soldiers in front and said, "They need to change their dressings. Sisters, go and take a look."

Liuxia and the others rolled up their sleeves, washed their hands first, and then got busy.

Although Qiu had never learned it, he could still help out, carrying basins of clean water and carrying basins of bloody water away, sweating profusely. He was frightened when he first saw the wounded soldiers, but gradually got used to it.

At this time, a female military doctor shouted: "Two people come to help, carry her out."

A Qiu ran over quickly and saw that it was a female soldier, very young, perhaps only seventeen or eighteen years old.

"Is she beyond saving?" Qiu's voice trembled.

The female military doctor shook her head: "Carry him out."

A Qiu put his shaking hands to the female soldier's nose, but she was no longer breathing.

Looking at that young face, Aqiu felt sad. She took out her handkerchief from her arms and covered the female soldier's face with it. Together with another medical worker, she carried the female soldier out of the wounded camp.

There were two flatbed trucks parked outside the camp, with several corpses wrapped in straw mats on the trucks. Black hair was visible from inside, and they were all young people.

The female soldier's body was placed on a cart. A Qiu couldn't bear to look at it any longer, so he turned around, took a few quick steps, and suddenly squatted down and started to cry.

This was the first time she faced death and the first time she saw so many young people lose their lives.

The medical worker came over and patted her on the shoulder: "It's okay, you'll get used to it after seeing it a lot. This is war."

Aqiu raised his tearful face and asked, "Is this war?"
She suddenly realized how ridiculous she was before.

She once thought that as long as she joined the army as a cook, she would have a place to live and would not have to worry about food and drink.

Her parents' home was only twenty or thirty miles away from here. Everyone knew that fighting had broken out in Yangzhou, but as long as it didn't reach their doorstep, they wouldn't think about how cruel war was. People would die in the war, many people would die.

Seeing that she had stopped crying, the medical worker smiled and said, "On my first day here, I not only cried, but also vomited. You are much better than me. At least you don't vomit when you smell blood."

Ah Qiu forced a smile: "Yeah, I didn't vomit. Let's go and get to work!"

When it was time to eat, everyone was too busy to have time to eat, so the people from the kitchen camp brought over some dry food, two pancakes per person, a piece of pickled vegetable, and bone soup.

Ah Qiu had no appetite at all. A soldier looked at the cake in her hand eagerly. Ah Qiu asked, "Are you not full?"

The soldier nodded embarrassedly. He was injured in the leg. The spear pierced the thigh muscle, but fortunately the bone was not injured.

Aqiu saw that he was only about fourteen or fifteen years old, which was the age when he was growing up. Aqiu remembered that when his younger brother was this age, his appetite was also astonishingly large.

Ah Qiu handed him the pancake and the bone soup, saying, "It's all yours, eat it."

On the first day in the military camp, Aqiu was busy until very late, and Liuxia took her to the back of the wounded soldiers' camp, where there was a small bed of strange design.

Liuxia pointed at the small bed and said, "You're lucky to have found a camp bed. You can sleep here. Don't worry, the barracks are very safe."

The camp bed was very narrow and could only accommodate one person. A Qiu asked, "Sister Liuxia, how do you sleep?"

Liuxia smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about us. We are following the boss and we have to be on duty at night."

"Big boss?" In just one day, Aqiu had heard this title more than once.

She suddenly thought of He Ran: "The boss is Miss He? She is..."

Liuxia smiled: "You haven't heard of Mr. He, have you?"

Aqiu blushed. She had indeed never heard of it.

Liuxia said: "That's not your fault. The village is a little isolated. The name of the leader He is Ran, the Ran of the Ran Army. She is the leader of our Ran Army and the leader of Jinghong Tower. She will be the leader of the world in the future."

A Qiu opened her mouth wide, she didn't know He Da Dang Jia, because it was a respectful title, and this was Jiangnan, under the rule of the imperial court. People here called He Ran by her name, and the officials even called her a traitor.

But for the common people, they only knew that the army was coming, there was a war in Yangzhou, the troops were led by a female general, and there were many female soldiers in the army, so Aqiu thought of joining the army. An army with female soldiers was the best way out she could think of for herself.

But she never dreamed that she would really come to the army. However, she had not seen the legendary female general, but met He Ran of Ran Army.

This is He Ran!
She knows the name!
She actually met He Ran. No, she followed He Ran. No, now she can't call her by her name. She has to call that kind lady He Da Dangjia like Liuxia and the others.

Perhaps it was the first time she lived outside her home, or perhaps today's experience was too shocking, Qiu didn't fall asleep until the second half of the night. When she was sleeping soundly, she suddenly heard a call. She woke up from her dream and heard someone shouting, "Twenty medical workers, twenty, come and gather!"

A Qiu got out of bed and ran out following the sound. The tent was already full of people standing outside with torches lit and some holding lanterns. She was at a loss as to where to stand.

"Aqiu, come here!"

Following the sound, Aqiu saw Liuxia and she hurried over.

Liuxia said, "The war is about to start. You don't need to go with us. Going will only cause more trouble. Just stay in the wounded camp to take care of the wounded. There will be more wounded soldiers sent over today, so you will be busy."

Aqiu nodded, but caught a glimpse of what Liuxia was holding in her hand. It was covered with silk and he couldn't see what was underneath.

"What is this?" Qiu asked.

Liuxia pursed her lips and smiled: "This is a tablet, the tablet of Emperor Renzu."

It turned out to be the emperor’s tablet. How amazing! Aqiu had only heard of Emperor Taizu. Who is this Emperor Renzu?