Chapter 400: Chapter 396: Second Cousin Returns_1
Many people were coming into their courtyard, a few of them carrying someone into an empty side room.

Yingbao rushed over to see. A skinny young man was laying on the bed, his face wax-yellow.

“Second cousin?” Yingbao struggled to identify him. This frail young man was Jiang Quan, who had left the house two or three years ago.

Lady Zhou, his aunt, was uncontrollably weeping. When she saw Yingbao, she immediately pleaded, “Yingbao, please save your second brother.”

After checking on her second cousin, Yingbao found an arrow wound on his shoulder. The wound was red, swollen, and festering, teeming with maggots.

Luckily, he had no other injuries. It was a stroke of fortune in an unfortunate situation.

Yingbao ran back to her room to bring her medical kit. She asked everyone else to leave and instructed her aunt to bring some boiled water.

Without any hesitation, her aunt, followed by Chunniang, went to boil the water and sanitize some cloth and a basin.

Yingbao asked her eldest cousin and Erni to stay in the room and assist. She then took out the surgical instruments to remove the rotten flesh and maggots from her second cousin.

Flies in the wild could be deadly. They could locate their prey by smell. They would lay eggs that could hatch in just a few seconds, and the larvae would grow to the size of a fingertip in a mere moment. If they were not removed, they could eat a person alive in two hours.

Given the fact that the second cousin was still intact, it must have been that his companions were taking care of him, continuously removing the maggots.

Yingbao poured strong alcohol on the wound, causing the second cousin to scream in pain.

Jiang Cheng and Erni fought back their tears and held him down to prevent any sudden movements.

Yingbao took out a bottle of medicine and poured it into the second cousin’s mouth. After some consideration, she also gave him some Powder for Anesthesia.

She then applied some Powder for Anesthesia on the wound before starting the procedure.

When she had finished treating the second cousin’s wound, and had applied some powdered medicine for hemostasis and inflammation, and smeared it with Wudingzhi, she asked her aunt to wash his face, hands, and feet.

The second cousin’s boots were nearly fused with his feet. The intense smell that emerged when they were removed almost made Jiang Cheng faint.

Yingbao gave her aunt some medicinal powder and went back to her room to prepare the Wudingzhi. She also sorted out medicine for her second cousin and the family members.

Given the current situation, Xiao Chengjun could invade at any time. She had to prepare additional healing medicine for her father and the others to carry with them.

Jiang Sanlang hurried back when he heard that his nephew and a group of villagers who had gone to fight had slipped back home with serious injuries to inquire about the matter.

Not all the villagers who had gone off to fight had returned. Many had already died in battle, and some were unaccounted for.

Several villagers, upon learning of their family members’ deaths, burst into loud weeping, cursing the Daqian Emperor as they cried.

That night, Jiang Quan woke up. Seeing his parents and family gathered around him, he broke into tears of joy.

After he had lost consciousness, a few fellow villagers had taken turns to carry him back home. He remembered this kindness in his heart.

Of course, he had also saved them on the battlefield. The medicine his little cousin had given him was almost entirely used to treat the injured villagers. Unfortunately, several of them with severe injuries had died.

“Erquan, tell us about what’s happening in Daqian? And how did you come back?” Uncle Jiang inquired, regardless of his son’s recent recovery.

Even though Wang Dashan and several others had already shared their situations, Uncle Jiang still wanted to confirm from his son’s account.

Jiang Quan: “We followed Xiaojia’s troops here. We didn’t know they were coming this way at first. One day I accidentally overheard the generals discussing an attack on the New Dynasty’s route at their camp and learned they were planning to breakthrough from Qinchuan County and besiege Jiankang. I realised something was off, and quickly discussed with Wang Dashan and a few others to return home and warn you.”

An army passing through wasn’t a simple matter. They required a large amount of supplies and it wasn’t unusual for them to loot the people as they went along.

Jiang Quan, concerned for the safety of his family, immediately plotted to escape from the group with several villagers.

They dared not take the official roads, opting instead to cut through the old woods and cross mountains in a bid to reach home.

Unfortunately, they ran into a troop of pursuers at one point. Out of desperation, they jumped into a big river and let the current carry them away. Jiang Quan was unlucky enough to be hit by an arrow in the shoulder.

Finally, they managed to escape the danger. However, Jiang Quan’s wound became infected from being submerged in water, and most of the medicine they had was ruined by the water as well.

Jiang Quan had resigned himself to the idea of dying, but luckily they managed to return home safely, and he didn’t die.

“Those people are planning to breakthrough from Qinchuan County?” Jiang Sanlang immediately thought of Cao Can and the others.

Their audacity, he guessed, probably came from the expectation that Daqian’s troops were coming.

With a serious expression, Jiang Sanlang said to his older brother, “The situation isn’t looking good. No matter how we fortify our village, I don’t think we can withstand the Imperial Court’s army.”

Jiang Dalang agreed.

“So, what should we do?” he asked his younger brother anxiously.

Jiang Sanlang thought for a while, then said, “We need to alert the new dynasty quickly and ask them to deploy their soldiers to block – no, not just block, but to take Qinchuan County first.”

Now the county is occupied by Cao Can and others. Just as soon as the Daqian army arrives, the county will be delivered to Daqian on a silver platter.

If the new dynasty wanted to take it back later, it would be a Herculean task.

The Jiang family and Cao Can were already mortal enemies. If this area were taken over by the Daqian, the fate of the Jiang family would be obvious.

Therefore, he must not allow the Daqian army to connect with Cao Can.

Jiang Dalang nodded, “First, let’s see how far the Daqian army has advanced so we can prepare accordingly.”

If they were still a few days away, then guarding the village would be pointless. It would be better to lead the villagers to escape as soon as possible.

“Good, I’ll have Chen Zhu and Wang Dashan scout ahead.” Chen Zhu had served in the army, and Wang Dashan had been a scout. They had just escaped from the Daqian army, so they had a decent understanding of their marching routes.

So, the two brothers split up to execute their plans. Jiang Da’bo took two villagers and crossed over the Southern Slope in search of the New Dynasty’s army to report the situation. Jiang Sanlang went to inform Sun Licheng and the villagers to be ready to flee at any time to avoid a military disaster.

As for Chen Zhu and Wang Dashan, they always led a few smart young men on horseback to investigate the movements of the Daqian army.

In the meantime, Cao Can retreated back to the county town and did not show up again.

Probably because Chuanhe Town was too far from the county town, he did not dare to act rashly after suffering a loss once.

However, the several surrounding towns of the county were all harassed by him, causing many people to flee to Chuanhe Town with their families.

As a result, the townspeople were uneasy, making it difficult for many villagers to concentrate on farming.

As the maturity of wheat and millet approached and summer harvest was about to begin, everyone’s anxiety grew. They all feared the outbreak of a war during the harvest season.

Finally, Yingbao used up all the medicine she had on hand. So, she let the village children help her pick fresh herbs, which she would buy based on their weight according to the need.

Later, she returned to the entrance of the cave again, lit a torch, and slowly walked in.

The dark passageway was very long. She had just finished burning one torch when she reached the stone door.

She still used a spear to scrape around the entire border of the stone door to clear the broken stones, then pushed hard, but it remained immovable.

By wiping off the dust and moss from the door, Yingbao carefully examined it for any runes. As a result, she did find a large pattern that circled around the entire stone door.