Hibiscus Tent: The Prime Minister’s palm is reborn

She watched the big white horse being taken away by Zhou's army.

Liang Qian took out the map and decided to take a shortcut.

She found a piece of dry branch and walked forward while pulling through the grass.

Ever since she nearly stepped on a snake last time, Liang Qian no longer dared to be careless when walking in the wild.

Finally, after noon, she walked out of the deep forest.

After walking for a long time, my feet and legs were sore and my mouth was dry.

Liang Qian sat down tiredly on a big rock to rest. Comparing with the map, she found that this place was already the territory of Lianzhou.

She took out her sheepskin water bag, but after just two sips, there was no drop left.

Without water and the big white horse, we can’t go on like this.

Liang Qian didn't dare to stay long, so she just took a short rest and continued walking forward.

Before the sun sets, a village appears not far away.

The village is small, with only a few households, and you can see the rising smoke from the cooking fires before you get close.

Liang Qian was delighted. It seemed that she would not only be able to get some water to drink tonight, but also have a decent place to stay.

He was already extremely tired, but now he immediately perked up and quickened his pace to move forward.

When they reached the village entrance, Liang Qian was staring blankly at the scene in front of her with dazed eyes and horror.

The joy just now turned into fear in an instant.

There were four or five men with fierce faces, holding big knives standing nearby, and in the open space in the middle, women and children were squatting huddled together, sobbing.

Bandits robbed the village?

Suddenly a person appeared and everyone looked over.

When the women and children saw that it was a single woman, their hopes were instantly extinguished. Their eyes were filled with disappointment and sympathy. They lowered their heads silently and cried softly.

The big men were stunned, then looked at each other and laughed. It was delivered for free?

Someone smiled maliciously and walked towards Liang Qian with a big knife in hand.

"Where is the girl going alone?"

Liang Qian glanced behind him, but it was too late to run, so she slowly reached for the bag.

Just as the rough big hand was about to fall on her shoulder, the fat and strong man fell down in front of her.

His face was distorted and his expression was painful. He died before he could even scream.

The accomplices behind him stopped laughing when they saw this, and were shocked and suspicious.

Someone noticed something was wrong, shouted angrily, and ran over with a knife in hand.

Liang Qian no longer concealed herself, and while retreating, she shot several arrows at the people rushing towards her.

In a short while, all the people lying on the ground died.

When the women and children squatting on the ground saw this, instead of cheering, they shrank their necks and trembled with fear.

Some older women bravely stood up and begged desperately.

"Please spare my life, Queen."

Liang Qian put away the small bow and arrow.

"I'm not some queen. I'm just passing by and want to go into the village to ask for some water. It's getting late and I want to stay overnight. Of course, I'll pay for it."

Afraid that they would not believe him, he took out a few coins from the pouch at his waist.

At this point, the women and children squatting on the ground finally breathed a sigh of relief and stood up with the help of each other.

The woman from before embraced the child hiding behind her and asked Liang Qian, "Why did you go out alone during this chaotic time?"

Seeing that they still had concerns, Liang Qian said frankly, "My brother is in Lianzhou City, and I am going to seek refuge with him this time."

The woman nodded and took a few steps closer.

"My house is more spacious, just follow me back."

Liang Qian bowed, thanked her, and followed the woman home.

As she walked, she did not forget to observe. The whole village was very dilapidated, there were not many people, and there were several empty houses.

After asking, I found out that the men in the family had gone to the battlefield, and the old man who had been guarding the family had died of illness.

The woman filled Liang Qian's sheepskin bag with water. The little boy lay on the door, sticking his head out and staring at her curiously.

Liang Qian smiled and took out the only remaining piece of white jade cake from her bag and handed it to him.

The little boy looked at his mother and Liang Qian with confusion in his eyes, not daring to reach out to take it.

The little boy had never seen such a thing, but the woman had seen it. Although it was not as exquisite, it looked very similar in appearance.

The woman looked at Liang Qian carefully, noting that she had slender white fingers and spoke politely, and asked, "You must be from a wealthy family, right?"

Liang Qian put the white jade cake into the boy's hand with a light tone.

"My grandfather was an official in the past, but our family fell into decline."

Even so, the woman was amazed again and again.

In their poor and remote area, it is rare to see a merchant's wife, let alone a daughter of an official from a wealthy family.

The little boy held the white jade cake and brought it to the woman.

The woman smiled, patted his head and let him eat by himself.

Looking at this scene, Liang Qian thought of Xier and Zhou Xin.

She lowered her eyes and said no more.

Dinner was wild vegetable porridge.

In fact, there were only a few grains of rice floating around, but more were green wild vegetables.

Liang Qian drank the vegetable soup while listening to the woman's story.

It turned out that when the woman was seven months pregnant, her husband was called up to the army. Three months later, she gave birth to a daughter, but unfortunately, the daughter died of illness within half a month.

As the woman spoke, she covered her face and started crying. The little boy put away the white jade cake and leaned against her.

Liang Qian understood that the woman at that time must still be in confinement after giving birth, and was weak after giving birth, so she must have been forcing herself to take care of two children.

pity……

She sighed, unable to be comforted.

As soon as the sun rose, Liang Qian got up to pack up.

During breakfast, Liang Qian told the woman that she suggested that the women and children in the village go with her to Lianzhou City.

Lianzhou is adjacent to Tuyang and Fanzhou. Fanzhou was captured by the Zhou State a long time ago, and now Tuyang has also been occupied by the Zhou army. As a result, Lianzhou is sandwiched between the two places and is not safe.

During the war between the two armies, this small village on the edge was not only vulnerable to attacks by bandits, but even if the Zhou army attacked, it was hard to say whether it would not be massacred.

Faced with bandits, they were unable to protect themselves and were at the mercy of others, let alone the powerful Zhou army.

At first some people hesitated, but gradually, except for a few who insisted on holding on, most of them agreed.

Liang Qian roughly counted and there were about ten people.

It is not easy to travel with a group of people, and it takes more energy and patience when there are young children among them.

After walking for another four days, we finally approached our destination on the evening of the fifth day. During the journey, we passed several villages, but unfortunately, only ruins were left, indicating that they had been abandoned long ago.

All along the way, there was only desolation and desolation.

It seems that since the drought that year, natural disasters and man-made disasters have never stopped.

As the sky was getting darker, Liang Qian stood up and prepared to lead everyone to continue on their journey.

Unexpectedly, I saw a faint flash of fire in the distance.

Liang Qian immediately asked everyone to keep quiet and hide nearby while it was still dark.

Without the crying and talking of children, the air suddenly became quiet, and the sound of fighting could be clearly heard in the distance.

Others heard it too, and they all became nervous.

Someone asked timidly: "Could it be that the Zhou army has already arrived? Then what should we do? If we can't enter the city, where else can we go?"

Liang Qian patted her shoulder and said soothingly, "You guys hide here first. I'll go ahead and explore the way. As long as I don't make a sound, you guys mustn't come out."

The older woman wanted to go with her, but Liang Qian shook her head and refused.

After Liang Qian finished speaking, she crouched down and walked straight towards the place where the fire was flashing, not caring whether there would be any snakes, insects, rats or ants popping out of the grass under her feet.

Liang Qian hid behind a hillside, frowning as she looked at the road not far away.

It turned out to be the Zhou army and the Qi army.

Although there were not many people on either side, there were already many corpses lying on the ground, and the survivors were still fighting to the death.

Suddenly, a long sword stabbed straight into the vest of the person who was fighting.

Liang Qian was shocked and subconsciously stood up and rushed forward.