Chapter 356： no one to help

Chapter 356 No One to Help

Ying Bao was shocked when he heard this and ran out quickly with his brother.

Meet Zhang Xuehua and her two concubines on the road.

“Yingbao, where are you going?” Zhang Xuehua was about to ask Yingbao about the situation outside the city, but when he saw her running out in a hurry, he couldn’t help but ask.

Yingbao didn't even look back: "I'll go to Jiangkouzi to have a look!" After that, he ran out of the Moon Gate.

When I got to the street, I didn’t see many pedestrians, but occasionally I saw some wealthy families coming out with a group of servants, holding wooden sticks, machetes and other items in their hands, and running towards the river.

Ying Bao was delighted and passed by a wasteland lined with bricks.

It is estimated that these bricks were used by some family to build a house. There are two big piles.

Ying Bao suddenly stopped and looked around. Seeing no one around, he immediately stepped forward to collect two large piles of bricks.

Thinking about it, he threw an ingot of five taels of silver on the ground and covered it with a brick.

Jiang Wu didn't know why, so he ran with his sister and asked, "Why did you destroy other people's bricks?"

“It’s of great use!”

Yingbao followed a group of people and ran to the dock, and saw many young people gathered around.

The river in the city is actually a tributary of the main river, meandering through the entire city from northwest to southeast.

This kind of landform requires the people in the city to guard two entrances and exits.

Not only that, there must also be people on the city wall to prevent barbarians from climbing up the city wall.

Ying Bao glanced at the city wall in the distance and sighed inwardly.

The book in my mind said that there were few guards in Jingzhou City, with only a few hundred people in total.

These hundreds of people were dispersed to defend various places. There were only three or four people at each post. They posed no threat to the barbarians below the city.

Jiang Wu ducked into the crowd to take a look, then came back and told Ying Bao: "Sister, those people were beaten away! Let's go find Brother Huzi."

Ying Bao glanced at the water. There were two broken fishing boats burning quietly.

There are still two or three corpses in Hanoi, and they look like gangsters.

Several guards carried small rafts over to retrieve the bodies.

Because this stuff will pollute the water source if left in the river, it must be fished out and burned.

Ying Bao knew that this was just a test by the barbarians, and they would probably sneak in at night in less than two days.

She stretched her neck to look for her gourd boat, but she couldn't find it, and she didn't know who was holding it to where it was.

Yingbao walked back with his younger brother sadly and went to find Zhang Min and Huzi on the other side of the city wall.

When we came to the mountain trail, there were soldiers guarding it, and no one was allowed to climb the city wall.

“We are looking for Zhang Min, he is the son of Prefect Zhang.” Jiang Wu explained.

The soldiers knew that Governor Zhang's youngest son was back, and immediately ran to defend the city. They immediately said, "Okay, I'll take you up."

So, the siblings climbed onto the city wall under the leadership of the soldiers.

Zhang Min and Hu Zi are indeed here. They are looking at the city with Prefect Zhang.

Ying Bao also stood on the female wall and looked down.

On the hillside in the distance, the barbarian bandits' animal tooth flags were fluttering in the wind, and many animal skin tents were lined up in rows. It looked like there were quite a lot of people there.

A group of cavalry galloped over the city, holding their swords in their hands and running back and forth with the heads of the people, shouting provocatively.

Zhang Taishou was so angry that his teeth were itching, but those people were too far away and his arrows could not reach them.

“Lord, the letter asking for help has been sent out, we can only wait for the reinforcements to arrive.” said an aide.

Zhang Taishou nodded and said, "I'm afraid no one will come to help."

It has come a long time ago. He sent people to the military camp dozens of miles away from Jingzhou City early to ask for help, but there was no news.

This time the barbarians came with nearly 5,000 people, more than ten times more than the soldiers defending the city. Once they were allowed to attack the city, the consequences would be disastrous.

Another aide said: "My lord, why not summon the servants of the rich families in the city to fight against the enemy together."

Prefect Zhang nodded, stroking his beard and thinking deeply.

Even if the servants come, it will be in vain if they have no weapons in their hands.

If you want to repel the barbarians who are attacking the city, you must use bows, arrows, kerosene, etc. But if that doesn't work, stones and bricks can also be used as weapons, just in case they attack you secretly.

Zhang Min saw Ying Bao and Jiang Wu and came over and said: "You guys go down quickly and take Hu Zi back to the house." Hu Zi was only eleven years old and was just as tall as the female wall. He couldn't even see below when he stood on his toes. It doesn't work at all on the city walls.

Yingbao: "Come down, too. I have something to tell you."

Zhang Min had no choice but to go down the city wall with his junior sister and the others and asked, "What's the matter?"

“Tell your father to immediately organize people to carry bricks and stones to the city wall, and prepare tung oil.” Yingbao actually wanted to prepare some feces and urine, but in the end he didn’t say it.

Zhang Min: “I understand.”

After a pause, Zhang Min said to his junior sister guiltily: "Yingbao, it's me who has caused trouble for you siblings."

Yingbao was speechless.

 He and his younger brother Huzi have ways to protect themselves and are not worried about being killed if the city is breached, but what about Zhang Min's family?

Even if he hides them, the court will still settle accounts later.

Alas, being an official is not easy either.

Yingbao suddenly regretted letting her younger brother take the imperial examination.

Zhang Min hesitated for a while and then said: "Yingbao, if the city cannot be defended, please find a way to escape with my mother and sister."

"Okay." Ying Bao promised: "If the city is destroyed, I will definitely let them leave safely."

Zhang Min's eyes were red, and he immediately turned around, his back to Ying Bao. "Thank you, little junior sister."

"Thank you, we are brothers and sisters. I hope we can defend the city together and drive away the barbarians." Ying Bao said.

“Hmm!” Zhang Min walked quickly towards the city wall without looking back.

Huzi blinked and said to Yingbao, "Brother Zhang Min is crying."

Ying Bao hummed, turned around and walked back.

Hu Zi and Jiang Wu followed, muttering as they walked: "Let's go eat. I just drank a bowl of porridge and a steamed bun in the morning. I'm hungry now."

“Okay.” Yingbao also wanted to see what was available in the city, so she might as well buy something for self-defense.

Walking around, many shops were still operating as usual, but there were a lot fewer stalls outside.

Yingbao has been to Jingzhou once and knows all about the shops here.

I quickly found a noodle shop and ordered three bowls of mutton noodle soup from the store.

As the three of them ate the noodles slowly, they heard the shopkeeper whisper to his wife: "Let's take a break tomorrow. We can't even buy mutton, so what kind of noodles can we make?"

His wife responded: "Then rest. I heard from the lady next door that there are a lot of barbarians coming outside the city, and the crowd is very scary."

Storekeeper: "I heard about it too. Oh, how did those barbarians come to our place? I really don't understand."

A guest sitting next to us eating noodles answered: "It was said that all the defenders on the border had fled, so the barbarians fought all the way over without any effort at all."

“The barbarians are attacking us at the door, so the imperial court won’t send people to suppress the bandits?” asked another person.

“What kind of faction should we send? Take a look at the military camp outside our city. I have lived for more than 40 years and I have never seen those soldiers practice more than once.”

“It’s true, those officials are all out to get money, who cares about that?”

(End of this chapter)