Through the troubled times and famine, I just want to farm peacefully

The huge explosion suddenly woke He Xiong up from his sleep. He sat on the bed with his heart beating like a drum.

He glanced at the shivering woman beside the bed and asked, "Was it thundering just now?"

The woman lowered her head and ignored his words.

As if he had thought of something, He Xiong turned over and got dressed. Just as he put on his shoes, he heard the guard knocking on the door.

"General, something terrible has happened!"

He Xiong picked up the sword on the table and opened the door. "Why are you so nervous?"

"Reporting to the General, has the South Gate been breached?"

"what?"

"Longtan and Cangwu counties gathered 30,000 troops and used the explosives that Deputy General Yu had used to blow up the South City Gate."

After hearing this, He Xiong hurried out of the backyard of Yu Mansion.

After making sure that everyone outside had left, Yu Qiutao slowly stood up from the bed, staggered to the door, and said to the maid guarding outside the yard: "Prepare water, I want to take a bath!"

After washing and dressing again, Yu Qiutao sat on a chair and let her maid do her makeup. She caught a glimpse of the messy bed in the inner room through the screen from the corner of her eye. She frowned in disgust, and her face showed a changeable expression.

She reached out and snatched the comb from the maid's hand, "Take the bedding off the bed and burn it somewhere where no one is!"

The maid nodded her head and went out carrying the dirty bedding.

Yu Qiutou quickly tied her hair up and was about to go out when she saw the old woman and her maid coming with new bedding to make her bed again.

She stopped the two men and said, "Tidy up the west wing and spread the bedding over there. I will live there from now on."

The old woman was stunned for a moment, then she reacted and winked at the maid next to her.

"Yes, slave, go right away."

She just sat in the dark yard, watching the maids and old women coming in and out to clean the west wing. People coming and going outside were hurried and flustered, and it had nothing to do with her.

The night before, the Hu people entered the city. At first, she was worried that the eldest daughter would not be able to take the three of them away in time, and would be captured by the Hu people who entered the city. When she learned that the deputy general of the Hu people was actually the second son of the Yu family, she was relieved.

Yu Qiutao once thought that Lieutenant General Yu was a kind-hearted man because after the master and his mistress died one after another, he had never treated her and her two children harshly.

But all this is just appearance.

Only one day later, Lieutenant General Yu entertained the Hu general He Xiong at a banquet in Yu's residence, and presented her to the Hu general as a plaything.

Suddenly, faint crying sounds were heard from the east wing.

Yu Qiutao got up in the dark and walked towards that direction. She pushed open the door and saw a little girl standing barefoot in front of it crying.

"Mom, where have you been? Juan'er is scared!"

Yu Qiutao picked her up and patted her back to comfort her, "Don't be afraid, Juan'er, mother is here."

She groped for the table, picked up the tinder, lit the oil lamp, and seeing her daughter's face full of tears, she quickly reached out to wipe them away.

Juan'er had sharp eyes and saw that her wrist was bruised under her sleeve.

"Mom, who hit you?"

Yu Qiutou withdrew her hand, pulled down her sleeves, and kissed her daughter's little face, her eyes full of hatred.

"Juan'er, remember, the people who bully us in this family are all bad people!"

"Whoever bullies my mother, I will kill him!"

A childish voice came from the bed. Zheng Ge'er woke up at some point. His little hands were clenched into fists, and he looked indignant.

Yu Qiutao carried Juan'er to the bed and hugged the two children in her arms. "Remember, no matter where you are, except for mother, everyone else who treats you well has ulterior motives. Especially the people from the Yu family and Longtan, they are all bad people who want to harm us."

"Don't worry, mom! My brother and I will protect you when we grow up."

The two children looked at each other secretly, and saw the seeds of hatred taking root and sprouting in each other's eyes.

He Xiong and his trusted guards went out of the backyard and happened to meet Yu Shida who came out of another yard.

"What's going on? The guard said that the explosives are even more powerful than what you made?"

"I don't know." Yu Shida said respectfully.

At the beginning, he only said that he discovered this by chance, and did not specify that he learned it from Longtan.

He Xiong knew that this was not the time to argue. "Go and notify all the soldiers to assemble. The enemy has already breached the South Gate, and they are still living a life of drunkenness and debauchery."

After leaving Yu Mansion, other deputy generals hurried over with less than 30% of the soldiers.

When He Xiong saw that there were so few people, he immediately became angry and shouted, "Where are the others?"

A deputy general bowed his head and said helplessly: "Reporting to the general, the other soldiers are drunk and can't be awakened."

"Can't wake him up?"

He Xiong was so angry that he pulled his already messy hair. He did not stop, drew the big knife from his waist and rushed towards the South City Gate.

"Let someone wake them up no matter what means are used. The rest of you, follow me to the South City Gate to defend against the enemy."

Yu Shida, as the deputy general, took the lead and followed.

Halfway through the journey, they saw flames rising from another direction of the city, accompanied by several huge explosions, and the smell of burning food quickly filled the air.

"Oh no! Someone is burning our granary!"

He Xiong slapped his forehead, wondering how he could have forgotten such an important thing.

They had worked so hard to accumulate so much food, and once it was destroyed, the soldiers' combat effectiveness and morale would be greatly reduced.

At this time, Yu Shida took the initiative to step forward and said, "General, I am willing to go to the granary."

"Go! Try your best to minimize the losses. It would be best if you catch those thieves and torture them severely. That won't be enough to relieve the hatred in my heart."

So, the team was divided into two, He Xiong went to the South Gate to fight, and Yu Shida went to rescue the granary.

Not long after the two sides had walked away, a rain of arrows came from the city wall.

"There is an arrow attack, use a shield to protect!"

They thought they were just ordinary arrows, but they exploded one by one after hitting the ground, blowing the Hu soldiers on the street to pieces, and people and horses fell to the ground. The houses in the city soon caught fire.

Seeing many soldiers around him being killed or injured in the explosion, He Xiong suddenly became angry and embarrassed.

"Quick! Archers, get ready. Aim at the city walls. Shoot them into sieves."

When the rockets stopped, He Xiong seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

After the two sides exchanged arrows, Yun Yi looked at the catapults on the city wall with a sneer and decided to give the enemy a taste of their own medicine.

"Send back to them the stones they carried up."

Just as He Xiong was about to move towards the South Gate again, large pieces of rocks fell from the sky and they hurriedly ran into the houses on the street to take shelter.

Before Yu Shida reached the granary, he heard a loud noise coming from the west gate.

The soldier who managed to escape happened to meet him and said, "Report to the deputy general, Cangwu County brought 20,000 troops to break through the west gate."

"The west gate was also broken?" Yu Shida was a little bit unbelievable.

Where did Cangwu County get the explosives? Could it be that they have formed an alliance with Longtan?

Yu Shida's mind worked quickly and he soon figured out the key.