Chapter 304 - 302: Saving Lives (Second Update)

Chapter 304: Chapter 302: Saving Lives (Second Update)

The soldier immediately saluted and said, "They... they are like bandits crossing the border, burning, killing, looting, committing every kind of atrocity. The villages they pass through have turned into hell on earth."

Everyone was shocked.

What exactly is Li Yuan trying to do by letting his subordinates act so recklessly!

However, Xu Jing remained calm and said, "He came to completely tarnish your Lord’s reputation, so he is naturally unscrupulous. If I’m not mistaken, Li Yuan’s performance isn’t over yet. In the end, he will probably act as a savior, send troops to help suppress your Lord’s ’rebels’."

In this way, he takes credit for both good and bad deeds.

Finally, after taking care of Xiao Yi and Prince Zhao, who came to investigate this matter, he could report the incident to the court as a hero, and whatever he says will be taken as truth.

Just imagining that scene, Captain Zhong couldn’t help but grow furious, gritting his teeth and muttering, "What a despicable scoundrel!"

Though angry, he understood the gravity of the situation, quickly turning to Yan Ci and saying, "Doctor Yan, if Li Yuan’s men have indeed acted early, our trip to Lingzhou might be fraught with danger. Shall we return first..."

But Yan Ci sternly replied, "No, it’s precisely because Li Yuan has already acted that we can’t delay any longer. We must meet Vice Minister Xiao and Prince Zhao before Li Yuan’s men reach Lingzhou."

Xu Jing gave Yan Ci an approving look and said, "Indeed, Li Yuan’s men acted tonight without even your master’s men catching wind of it. It shows that this was intentional on Li Yuan’s part, aiming to catch us off guard. The previous intelligence about acting in two days might have been a smokescreen. He wouldn’t have expected us to encounter his night march by chance.

Now is the best time to rush to Lingzhou. Their focus is on this surprise attack, so monitoring Vice Minister Xiao and Prince Zhao might be more lax."

With both Yan Ci and Xu Jing saying this, Captain Zhong and Cheng Xiao had nothing to add, and they could only press on towards Lingzhou with determination.

They intended to bypass the direction of Li Yuan’s troops, but they couldn’t avoid a village ahead. They waited at a distance until dawn, before their sentry reported back that the soldiers in the village had indeed left.

The group then moved forward quickly. Even though Xu Jing was mentally prepared, her heart skipped a beat when they entered the village.

The once peaceful and serene village was now in ruins, with injured villagers lying everywhere on the roads and children walking around aimlessly, crying loudly.

This is the stark reality of war.

Yet terrifyingly, this is only a corner of the war.

Seeing Xu Jing’s face grow darker and darker, Yan Ci sighed inwardly and said, "When I was young, I grew up witnessing such scenes. Lingzhou was then occupied by rebels, and my parents couldn’t return home, so we wandered around practicing medicine.

The cruelty of war is unimaginable to those who have not experienced it..."

Before the words were finished, a despairing cry came from not far away, "Hui! Hui, pull yourself together, you can’t leave me and the children like this!"

"Mom, Mom, waa!"

Xu Jing finally couldn’t bear it anymore and shouted, "Stop the carriage!"

The driver of the carriage instinctively halted the horses. As soon as the carriage stopped, Xu Jing jumped off and ran quickly towards where the sound had come from.

In front of a farmhouse, burnt down to its bare bones, a man with a dirt-covered face lay despairingly on the ground with two children aged seven or eight, crying and calling out to a woman lying on the ground with her eyes closed.

The woman’s body was covered in mud and ash, her complexion was ashen, her lips were blue, and her abdomen was prominently swollen; she was pregnant.

A few villagers stood around them, shaking their heads sorrowfully, "Zhang Si, stay strong. When they rescued your wife, she was already gone; there’s nothing more we can do."

"My... my child and wife are also gone, sobbing. Who are these bandits? I don’t believe they are Lord Cui’s men! How could Lord Cui allow such trampling of the people!"

"But the flag they carried was indeed Lord Cui’s Black Bottom White Tiger Flag! Previously, it was rumored everywhere that Lord Cui had ambitions to usurp power, and it was exposed by his own men. Maybe... maybe he was shamed and angered... Or this might just be his true nature!"

Cui Han’s followers, who were chasing after Xu Jing, turned completely pale upon hearing this.

Xu Jing, however, didn’t bother with any of that, walked straight up, knelt by the woman’s side, and began a quick examination, asking, "I’m a doctor. What exactly happened?"

Seeing Xu Jing suddenly appear, Zhang Si was initially shocked, but upon hearing her claim to be a doctor, he seemed to see a divine being descending and quickly said, "Doctor, please save my wife! Early this morning, some inexplicable soldiers came to our village, they broke into my house, dissatisfied even after ransacking all valuables, and set it on fire! I barely managed to rescue my wife, but by the time I got her out, she was almost out of breath..."

A villager watching couldn’t help but say, "Not almost, she had no breath left; I personally checked, there’s no mistake..."

Others looked at Zhang Si with faces full of pity.

This is a tragic case of one corpse, two lives. It was normal for Zhang Si not to want to accept the reality.

Hearing this, Xu Jing maintained her composure, "So, your wife didn’t sustain other injuries, and it’s just a case of being trapped in the fire for too long?"

Zhang Si immediately nodded vigorously, "Yes, I always protected her, I didn’t let those scumbags hit her..."

Without waiting for him to finish, Xu Jing took out a clean handkerchief from her waist, quickly cleaned the dust from the woman’s mouth and nose, loosened her collar, and began performing CPR.

When Yan Ci, who had also rushed over, saw this, he immediately recalled what Xu Jing had done to Little Dongzi earlier. Realizing she was performing a rescue, he quickly instructed, "Quickly bring my medical kit from the carriage!"

She was used to carrying her medical kit with her, and before leaving White Poplar Village, she had Wang Zhongheng send someone to fetch it.

This medical kit contained some basic medicines and tools needed for practicing medicine. Xu Jing was now performing first aid, and if she was fortunate enough to revive the woman, further medical treatment would be needed immediately.

The villagers were stunned, watching this group of people suddenly appear, but more shocking was what Xu Jing was doing.

When they saw Xu Jing suddenly pinch the chin of Zhang Si’s wife and lower her head in a kiss, many couldn’t help but gasp.

What kind of treatment is this?!

The most critical thing is, Zhang Si’s wife was already dead! Many had personally checked her breath; only Zhang Si refused to believe it.

No matter how strange the doctor’s methods are, it’s useless; it would be better to save this effort for others who need help...