Chapter 166: A Desperate Stand

Chapter 166: A Desperate Stand

The crowd quickly scattered.

Xiao Yin looked up and saw the scene before him, his expression darkening. "The Tatars have already reached Haitian City?"

"Haiyue City hasn't been attacked yet. They might have just arrived. If Haitian City falls, Haiyue City will likely be next," Nurse Jin said.

"Let's see what they want!" Xiao Yue said, stepping into the middle of the road.

"Yu~"

A group of people wearing woolen coats quickly pulled on their reins upon seeing a woman blocking their path. Before they could even scold her, their eyes lit up.

"Look at this beauty."

"Take her, let's enjoy her back home."

The Tatars spurred their horses forward again.

"Looking for death!" Xiao Yue, who had initially wanted to ask what the Tatars were doing in Haitian City, decided against it after seeing their intent. She sidestepped, spun, and slashed with her dagger.

"Ahhh!"

With a scream, the Tatar tumbled off his horse.

The horse, startled, bolted away.

The remaining Tatar followers had not yet recovered from their shock before they too fell off their horses.

"Are they all dead?"

"Good job! We've been hoping for someone like you to show up. This is great."

"Recently, the Imperial City has not been managing things well. Tatars have entered the city and are causing trouble in our Haitian City. Sigh, it's really annoying. We all want to move to Haiyue City."

The surrounding townsfolk gathered around, looking at the bodies on the ground and discussing among themselves.

"Are you all from Haiyue City?" someone asked.

"Yes, we are. We're planning to visit the Imperial City for fun," Xiao Yin nodded.

"You'd better return to Haiyue City and not go to the Imperial City. It's said that many Tatars have entered the city, and the emperor doesn't care. The Prime Minister is gone, and the generals are mysteriously ill. The Imperial City is almost becoming the Tatars' city."

"Shh, don't say that. A few groups of people have also arrived here recently. I wonder if they are the same people!"

"I don't know if Haiyue City will let us go. We'd feel safer there, even if we had to stay at an inn, with the Second Prince watching over us."

Recently, many messages have been coming from Haiyue City.

Most of them talk about how the Second Prince of Beidi is leading the people to create a better city, how they have cleared the mountains to prepare for planting crops.

In recent years, Beiling has been under the control of the Seven Colors Palace, and the Imperial Tutor has been acting as if he has absolute power, making the entire nation work for the Seven Colors Palace.

All food crops were removed, and the townsfolk were forced to plant toxic herbs for the court. Even in Haitian City, the closest city to the Imperial City, they suffered the most. Once a command from the court was issued, they had to obey absolutely.

If not, the punishment would range from light penalties to the loss of life.

Even the Imperial Tutor frequently comes to Haitian City.

Naturally, the townsfolk were terrified when they saw the dead Tatars.

"You killed someone! Oh no, who is this woman? If the Tatars find out, they'll come back and slaughter everyone in Haitian City!"

"Report to the authorities, hurry and report it."

Someone went to report it, and before long, the constables were dispatched from the yamen.

Yuan Hui turned around and raised his hand, revealing a token in his palm.

"Uh, t-this is the Second Prince's military token. You, you are the Second Prince's people?" The constable was startled and quickly turned to say, "Inform the City Lord that the Second Prince's people have broken in!"

They couldn't stop them at the city gate, and they had already set up defenses within the city.

Soon after, many city guards rushed out from all around.

"I didn't see you act so bravely when the Tatars were terrorizing the townsfolk," Xiao Yue coldly remarked.

"You are wanted criminals of the imperial court. Come with us to the City Lord's mansion!" The constables escorted them to the City Lord's mansion.

The City Lord of Haitian City was a middle-aged man who walked out from the inner hall. Looking at the group, he took a deep breath and stepped forward, saying, "Several of you are presumably friends of the Second Prince, correct?"

"Yes, does the City Lord intend to punish us?" Yuan Hui asked.

"You look familiar... Have we met before?" The City Lord looked at Yuan Hui and frowned.

"So, the portraits at the city gate were drawn by you?" Yuan Hui immediately understood the origin of the portraits and, looking at the middle-aged man, said, "General Zhao, you've gained some weight, haven't you?"

"General Yuan, Yuan Hui?" The City Lord's eyes widened as he looked at Yuan Hui, and the next moment, he immediately turned around and said, "The City Lord's mansion is closed to guests today!"

Afterward, the City Lord invited them to the backyard.

"Ever since you arrived, we in Beiling have finally dared to hope again," said the City Lord.

"General Zhao, that doesn't sound quite right. Loyalty to the emperor shouldn't be like this. You are Beiling's mighty general, after all," Yuan Hui said.

"This gentleman here, is he the prince of Great Wei?" In the main hall of the City Lord's mansion, General Zhao bowed and asked Xiao Yin.

"Yes!" Xiao Yin responded.

"Zhao Yiwen, paying respects to the Emperor of Great Wei." This General Zhao, who had been fighting in the Northern Desert for years, had met Yuan Hui but had never encountered the Emperor of Great Wei. Therefore, upon learning that this was the Emperor of Great Wei, he immediately knelt on one knee to pay his respects.

"General Zhao, you perform your salute well." Xiao Yin turned and sat down, gently patting Xier as he said, "Rise, I want to know, is there another reason for your hospitality towards us?"

"I've been on the battlefield since I was seventeen, and only in the past three years have I had any peace. Because I opposed the Imperial Tutor and others in the court, the emperor sent me to Haitian City to guard it. For three years, the townsfolk of Haitian City have been hungry and cold. With the Lunar New Year approaching, they will have to go to the capital to beg for food again," Zhao Yiwen said.

"Beiling is impoverished everywhere, even here in the City Lord's mansion." Xiao Yue looked outside the mansion, noting the absence of rock formations and fish ponds, replaced entirely by vegetable gardens.

"Zhao Yiwen, a loyal general of the Beiling dynasty, is at his poorest in this, the 728th year of the dynasty." As Xiao Xi'er thought to herself, Xiao Yue looked at the middle-aged man with softer eyes.

"I thought that with Great Wei's years of continuous warfare and dynastic changes, the people would mostly be impoverished, but I didn't expect that you, Beiling, with your fertile soil and ability to raise livestock, would be so poor!"

Xiao Yin had braced himself for the worst, but even he couldn't have anticipated the extent of the poverty in Haitian City.