No one knew who let out a loud shout, but the already enraged villagers immediately rioted. Armed with farm tools, they clashed with the soldiers from the Five - City Military Command.
The plague had spread widely. In just two days, it had affected more than a dozen villages on the outskirts of the capital. The Five - City Military Command didn't have enough manpower. Only a dozen or so soldiers were deployed to guard each village.
Now that the villagers were suddenly in a frenzy, how could they stop the break - out of over a hundred people?
In an instant, chaos ensued, and they were at a standstill with the government troops.
When Sheng Jiangli's army happened to pass by, they saw several villagers at the village entrance carrying a stretcher. There was probably a patient on it. The villagers roared:
"There's a patient with a high fever here. If you're not afraid of death, come and stop us!"
Hearing it was a high - fever case, even the soldiers backed away in fear.
Taking advantage of this, the villagers rushed out in a crowd, heading straight for the army.
Sheng Jiangli frowned immediately and shouted an order, "Form ranks! Drive them all back!"
Among those people, no one knew if there were some with evil intentions or trouble - makers who liked to incite the crowd in the village. It was easiest for them to take advantage of the situation and cause trouble at this time.
The five hundred soldiers obeyed the order and immediately formed a three - row human wall to face the villagers.
Caiyu and Qingqing were squeezed into the front row in the chaos and were directly facing the villagers.
Since they were all ordinary people of Daye, the soldiers didn't draw their swords.
Those villagers with red - eyes rushed recklessly towards the human wall where Caiyu and the others were.
"Sister Caiyu!" Qingqing cried out in a low voice and was knocked down by the crowd.
Caiyu was not spared either. The villagers carrying the stretcher were rushing towards her. Caiyu sprained her foot and fell face - to - face with the patient on the stretcher.
The patient was already on the verge of death. Being pounced on like this, he immediately opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, which splashed on Caiyu's face!
Exclamations rang out all around.
Caiyu only felt a stench rushing towards her, filling her nostrils. She almost fainted from the stink.
Just then, she was pulled back by a powerful force.
Sheng Jiangli, not knowing when he had drawn his sword and injured several villagers, came to her and took her out of the chaotic area.
Caiyu was completely dazed. Before she could come to her senses, her chin was pinched tightly.
Just as she was about to let out a startled cry, a handkerchief was pressed on her face and wiped vigorously.
The man wiped so roughly that the ashes used for her disguise on her face, along with the bloodstains, were all wiped clean. Her overly gorgeous face was finally revealed.
Caiyu timidly opened her eyes and met Sheng Jiangli's cold and angry face.
"Is it fun?"
His voice was cold, and there was hardly any emotion in his tone.
But this was the first time Caiyu had seen Sheng Jiangli like this.
"A, Brother A Li..." Caiyu stammered in a low voice, her eyes pleading, "I'm sorry... But I had to come."
"Caiyu..." Qingqing finally managed to push through the crowd and staggered over. But a glare from Sheng Jiangli stopped her in her tracks.
"Stay there and don't come any closer!" Sheng Jiangli pointed his scimitar at Qingqing and shouted angrily, "Did you encourage her to come?"
Qingqing's face turned pale. She didn't dare to shake her head in denial or nod in admission. She stood there like a statue, looking pitifully at Sheng Jiangli.
Something had happened even before they reached the mountain. It was easy to imagine how furious Sheng Jiangli was at this moment.
Caiyu took a deep breath and finally calmed down. "A... General Sheng, it wasn't Qingqing who encouraged me. I came on my own. Don't blame her wrongly."
"Why?" Sheng Jiangli narrowed his eyes and stared fixedly at her. His heart ached faintly. "Is it because you want to see Song Yinghuai again?"
"If you're so eager to follow him, why didn't you just leave with his troops last night? You're so smart. It wouldn't have been difficult for you to sneak into his troops. Why bother me?"
Sheng Jiangli was heart - broken.
He wasn't completely unhappy to see Caiyu here, but she had gotten into trouble under his command!
He didn't know if that patient had the plague. If so, what should he do?
He felt extremely guilty now.
How could he not have noticed that Caiyu had sneaked into the troops?
If he hadn't had sharp ears and heard Qingqing call out in the chaos, he might not have found out until now.
His complaints were less about scolding Caiyu and more about self - blame.
Caiyu lowered her head and said in a small voice, "No, it's not because of the prince... I'm not that unreasonable. I know you're going on an important mission. I came for other reasons..."
What other reasons?
Even though Sheng Jiangli was extremely intelligent, he couldn't guess what Caiyu was planning for a moment.
However, this was not the place to talk in detail.
The top priority was to suppress the rioting villagers, and Caiyu... had to see a doctor immediately!
Sheng Jiangli took a deep breath, grabbed Caiyu's hand and urged the soldiers, "Stop the man on that stretcher for this general!"
The number of soldiers was greater than that of the villagers. After the chaos, the soldiers from the Five - City Military Command also rushed up and subdued all the trouble - makers.
Sheng Jiangli covered his nose and mouth with a mask, pushed Caiyu aside and said in a deep voice, "Stay away from those villagers!"
But Caiyu grabbed his arm. "General Sheng, that patient probably doesn't have the plague. Don't worry."
Sheng Jiangli stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her.
Caiyu said, "I've been following the troops for half a day and heard people talking about this plague. I know that the symptoms of the plague are blood spots, bruises, high fever and shortness of breath."
"But when I pounced on that man just now, he was barely breathing and his body was cold. He didn't have a high fever or shortness of breath."
"Moreover... the blood he spat out was bright red. If it was blood stasis, it wouldn't have been ejected. It would have been black - red clots just spitting out of his mouth. So I'm sure his symptoms are not those of the plague."
Sheng Jiangli nodded slightly but still insisted, "I understand, but I still need to confirm. You stay here and wait."
Sheng Jiangli strode forward and approached the patient to examine him.
The villagers carrying the stretcher averted their eyes and said, "General, we were just in a hurry to get out for medical treatment, so we rushed at you. Please forgive us... We're afraid he really has the plague. It's better for the general to stay away."
Sheng Jiangli glanced at the speaker. His eyes flickered, and he hooked his lips under the mask. "If so, why aren't you afraid? You don't even cover your faces with masks?"
"This..." The men's faces showed fear.
The patient had been making faint groans since Caiyu knocked him down. Listening carefully, it seemed that he was shouting in pain.
Sheng Jiangli saw that he was covering his chest with his hands and couldn't move at all. He didn't toss and turn like a plague patient. Instead, he was like a statue.
Caiyu stood on tiptoe and craned her neck to pay attention to the situation there. She also noticed the patient's abnormal behavior.
She frowned and shouted, "It seems that he has a chest injury."
And it was an external injury!
Sheng Jiangli had the same suspicion. Hearing this, he suddenly lifted the straw mat covering the patient!
Amid a series of exclamations, the patient's body covered in wounds was revealed!
His tattered clothes were covered in blue and purple bruises!
Sheng Jiangli reached out and gently pressed. The patient let out a cry of pain.
Sheng Jiangli had led troops in battles for many years. He wasn't good at dealing with diseases, but he was very familiar with external injuries.
One press and he understood.
He frowned abruptly, and the scimitar in his hand was placed on the man's neck. A cold chill shot out of his eyes:
"Did you do this?"
The blade of the scimitar was cold and sharp. As soon as it touched the skin, it cut open a blood - filled wound. The man only felt a sharp pain on his neck and immediately knelt on the ground begging for mercy:
"General, spare my life! This man is a disabled person in the village. He has no relatives at home. We saw that the village was sealed off and there was an epidemic in the neighboring upstream village. We were worried that the plague would spread to our village, so we tried to find a way to go into the city to avoid it..."
"So you beat him up like this and pretended he had the plague to distract the village - guarding soldiers?"
The cold light in Sheng Jiangli's eyes shot out, mixed with disdainful contempt, which was chilling.
He simply swiped the scimitar upwards!
A thin line of blood arced through the air, and the man fell straight to the ground.
Sheng Jiangli put away his scimitar and said coldly, "Since you're so afraid of death, this general will send you to hell first!"