In Love With My Fierce Farming Wife!
Chapter 675 - 657: Temporary Residence_1

Chapter 675: Chapter 657: Temporary Residence_1

The cave had collapsed, making it impossible to continue investigating the fate of the chief bandit.

After all the turmoil, dawn was breaking.

The surviving bandits were tied up in one place, guarded by designated personnel, sitting on the ground with bowed heads and defeated spirits.

Seeing that Su Pan’er had changed clothes, Uncle Xiao walked up to her with a smile on his face.

"Madam, I just looked around. Not only does this mountain village grow its own vegetables, the cellar also contains a lot of food and various goods robbed from others. Even if we don’t go to town to buy things, we can survive for a year and a half with what’s here. So, I have a suggestion."

Su Pan’er encouraged Uncle Xiao with a nod. "Uncle Xiao, just say it directly."

Uncle Xiao smirked. "We have no definite destination at the moment, so why not stay here for a while and rest? We can decide on the next course of action when we receive news from Lord Marquis. Madam, what do you think of this...?"

The plan was good, but before they left, Qin Yi seemed to have instructed the four female guards on the destination.

If they rashly changed their destination now and stayed here, it might be...

Su Pan’er hesitated slightly, but the worry over the current situation prevailed, and she made the decision!

"Your plan isn’t bad, Uncle Xiao. We’ll rest here for the time being. However, we must remember that this place ultimately belongs to others. We must be cautious until we fully investigate."

"I understand!"

Uncle Xiao hurriedly acknowledged.

With a decision made, Uncle Xiao sent people down the mountain to summon the remaining ones up.

Meanwhile, he also arranged for people to make food, and smoke soon rose from cooking fire. As for the bodies of the dead bandits, they were quickly dragged away and disposed of.

By the time the group of people who had stayed at the foot of the mountain arrived, the food was ready.

Little Yanyan was not shy at all; instead, her big eyes sparkled with curiosity as she looked around, finding everything very novel.

Breakfast was mixed grain porridge with wild vegetables, and a big pot of rice. It was a rare delicacy for everyone who had been travelling for so many days!

Su Pan’er even ate two bowls before putting down her bowl and chopsticks. She unexpectedly found that the number of people who had followed them up the mountain seemed to have reduced by half.

"We started down the mountain late, some womenfolk left before dawn..."

Uncle Xiao’s voice was steady, simply stating the facts.

Su Pan’er nodded, her expression did not betray any reaction, as if she had known everything beforehand.

"Most of these womenfolk are the wives of the original officials stationed in Hezhong Prefecture. They never had any sense of belonging to Lord Marquis. It’s likely that Lord Marquis asked us to help them take refuge, mainly to control these officials. These women probably worried about this too, hence their eagerness to escape from us is understandable."

Even if she were in their shoes, she would not stay either, she would likely look for a chance to escape.

The remaining womenfolk either didn’t understand the situation, truly didn’t have the ability to escape alone, or sincerely wanted to pledge allegiance to Marquis Qin. There were various reasons, but the fact that these people were still left surprised Su Pan’er!

Uncle Xiao bowed his back and did not respond.

Su Pan’er thought for a moment, then instructed, "Before, I noticed that there are two rows of houses on either side of the conference hall in this mountain village. Uncle Xiao, please arrange for them to live there. As for the food on the mountain, distribute some to each household. Tell them we only have this much food on the mountain, so they should eat frugally."

Su Pan’er had no plans to distribute everything equally.

Who knew what the future would bring, especially as there was still no news from Qin Yi’s side?

Eager with a burning desire to know, as soon as the situation stabilized slightly, she immediately sent people to investigate.

There was no news of Su Pan’er and her group on Qin Yi’s side either.

Especially at the moment, after meeting with Jun Ruochen, the two groups had formed a situation of confrontation. Subsequently, small-scale battles occurred between them numerous times. Fortunately, both sides restrained themselves, and no major casualties occurred.

Qin Yi was concerned about the situation outside the city and worried about Su Pan’er. Moreover, he was extremely anxious about the situation with Fei’er.

At the beginning of Qin Feimo’s reign as the Little Emperor, not only was he too young, requiring the Empress Dowager to govern behind the curtain, but also he did not have the Imperial Jade Seal as a symbol of legitimacy. In addition, his hasty ascension without a proper ceremony led to many officials of the previous dynasty not recognizing him.

At first, there were several dozen courtiers who supported him, left to him by the late emperor. However, after Fei’er and Ye Han went to Jingzhao Prefecture and had several frictions with the local officials, a rebellion occurred, which was quickly suppressed by Ye Han but left lingering concerns.

In the following days, some officials excused themselves for being ill and did not attend the morning court session. Eventually, only a few courtiers came to the session, with most taking leave of absence. The Empress Dowager watched it all, storing it all in her memory.

Fei’er was also anxious!

He was keen to demonstrate his abilities to the world, but despite having the full support of Ye Han and the Empress Dowager, he still found himself in the current predicament, which made him feel a sense of tragic heroism.

If only his father could have lived a little longer!

If his father were still alive, if he were older, would the courtiers be in this state?

Looking at the few courtiers below, Qin Feimo tried his best to sit upright.

"Dear ministers, are there any news from the front?"

Of all the questions Qin Feimo asked in court, this one bout the ongoing battle was probably the most frequent.

But this battle also completely exposed his shortcomings!

In order to ascend to the throne quickly, he only had the 30,000 soldiers from Jingzhao Prefecture in his hands, plus the 20,000 soldiers who joined later. Despite boasting of having 50,000 strong soldiers, he didn’t know the actual strength.

However, he had a clear understanding in his heart that giving Marquis Qin 10,000 soldiers to garrison Hezhong Prefecture, along with dispatching additional forces to two other generals later, had already reduced his forces significantly. Now, he only had about 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers left in Hezhong Prefecture.

While this number seemed large, most of them were new recruits who had never been on a battlefield, or were old, weak, sick, and injured veterans who had retired from battle. The number was deceiving - they couldn’t be sent to fight!

Therefore, he was very concerned about the news from Marquis Qin, who was currently holding off the enemy at the front.

But after he finished asking, the few courtiers just kept their eyes down, and no one stepped forward to answer.

Unable to bear it, Qin Feimo asked again, but still, no one spoke.