After traveling through time, I rely on force to survive

"That's right! We're looking for Zhou Yimo!"

Reminded by Li Qingqing, Li Feng suddenly remembered that every prefecture and county had official granaries. He immediately sat down at his desk, ready to pick up his pen and write a letter.

“I will write a letter to him right away and ask him to find a way to open the granary and borrow grain.”

While Zhao Dipu is currently riding high on his momentum, if logistical supplies are arranged properly, they might be able to defeat the enemy soon, and their younger sister wouldn't have to worry about food supplies.

"No need to write a letter, I'll go myself and take Da Shuang and Xiao Shuang home."

Li Qingqing quickly stopped her, implying, "Borrowing government grain is no small matter. It would be troublesome if someone found out. Have you forgotten? I'm a capable person. Don't you trust me?"

Li Qingqing felt that borrowing government grain was a bit suspicious, but regardless of whether she could borrow it or not, her original intention was still to go back.

Borrowing grain can only be a short-term emergency measure. If you want to be worry-free in the long run, of course, you need to grow crops continuously from the land!

Moreover, she has many personal matters to attend to when she gets back.

Putting everything else aside, let's talk about the candles. At the time, I just thought I would be back soon and hand them over to Changshun and the others to manage. I don't know how the business is doing now.

Furthermore, some villagers probably still have doubts about her "encouraging" the village chief and others to plant green manure in the fields.

If winter vegetables can be grown at this time, it will dispel some of their doubts and increase their trust and support for rice cultivation in the future.

After hearing Li Qingqing's words, Li Feng remembered his sister's abilities and realized that rashly allowing Zhou Yimo to open the official granary would indeed easily arouse suspicion.

I was really flustered just now.

As Li Feng hesitated, Li Qingqing spoke up again.

“It’s alright for me to be away for a few days, as you’re here to keep watch. Besides, it will take at least a month for the imperial edict to reach us. If the emperor is busy with other matters and it gets delayed, we may not be able to set off for our return until after the New Year.”

Li Feng chuckled, "You talk as if you know the Emperor quite well."

Li Qingqing smiled wryly, then asked,

"There aren't many soldiers left in the city, are there? If you have time, please help me train Hu Dabao and his men while I'm away. In case something happens in the future, I'll have them to use in an emergency."

Upon hearing this, Li Feng immediately became serious and said, "I have already sorted out the number of guards. In the end, you will only have a little over eight hundred soldiers on the payroll. The force is really too weak! I didn't expect that we had the same idea about the arrangements for Hu Dabao and the others. Let's use the excuse of building a city and needing centralized management to hide the soldiers in the construction and train them in the labor!"

Upon hearing this, Li Qingqing's eyes instantly lit up with a smile. "Alright! That's exactly what I was thinking. Then I'll have to trouble you, brother!"

As the two were discussing, Deputy General Chi burst in like a gust of wind, looking flustered.

"Oh no! Oh no! A Li chieftain and his witch doctor have contracted the plague and have been carried here!"

"An epidemic?!"

Li Feng abruptly stood up, his expression suddenly becoming serious as he stared intently at Deputy General Chi. "Is this true? Has the physician verified it?"

"Absolutely true!"

Lieutenant General Chi hurriedly said, "Those two people were being carried in sedan chairs, their bodies wrapped up tightly, and they kept coughing! They were trying to sneak into the city! Luckily, the physician happened to be at the city gate, and he immediately recognized that those were definitely symptoms of the plague!"

"Isolate them immediately!" Li Feng ordered.

"They've been quarantined! Vice General He stopped them outside the South Gate, but they refused to leave, insisting they were the leader and demanding to see the city lord!"

Deputy General Chi wiped the sweat from his brow and said quickly,

“These barbarians are truly wicked! Even the girl traveling with them is lying, insisting that their leader and the shaman have caught a cold, and that our city lord definitely has a solution! In my opinion, they are deliberately trying to spread the plague to us!”

"Is it Ying Xiao who's coming?" Li Qingqing thought for a moment and then asked.

"Huh, Li Qing, you know him?" Deputy General Chi's eyes widened in surprise, then he quickly waved his hand.

"He did say his name was Yingxiao and that he was the chief of the tribe, but even if you know him, he's infected with the plague now, so you absolutely mustn't go to him!"

Li Qingqing ignored him, but frowned and thought to herself.

How could it be an epidemic?

They had just returned from the tribe the day before yesterday, and neither the owl nor the shaman showed any signs of being infected!

Oh no... When she was disguised as a divine messenger, she specifically instructed that those tribesmen not to follow her. Could it be that these tribesmen really obeyed and never dared to approach the mountain spring?

If that's really the case, then these two... have really had their fill of mountain winds and caught a severe cold!

Thinking of this, Li Qingqing stood up guiltily and walked towards the door, saying, "I'll go take a look."

At this moment, the soldiers guarding the south gate of the border city were on high alert!

Their faces were covered with strips of cloth that they had found somewhere.

One man, holding a curved megaphone, shouted at a large group of people outside the city, "Get back further away and leave immediately!"

The tribal soldiers outside the city were both angry and anxious to be driven away like this.

They had no loudspeakers, so they could only raise their weapons and wave them at the city gate.

"Open the city gates! Open the city gates! We've come to your city lord for help! We've brought generous gifts!"

Unfortunately, the sound did not travel at the same rate, so the people on the city wall could not hear it clearly.

Not only could they not hear clearly, but they were also misunderstood.

The medical officer stood on the top of the city wall and peered out of the gate tower.

Seeing the Li soldiers baring their teeth and brandishing their weapons, shouting and jumping around, he quickly shrank back and looked at Deputy General He.

"See, I told you they had ulterior motives! They actually brought a plague to attack the city! You must not let them get close!"

The deputy general was terrified by the medical officer and immediately ordered the city guards, "Keep shouting and tell them to leave here immediately, or we'll shoot arrows!"

"Don't fire the arrow!" the physician hurriedly stopped him.

“I’ve heard the plague is very serious. If someone dies near our city gate, the wind will blow the plague into the city, and we’ll all be finished!”

Deputy General He was terrified upon hearing this.

He would have been able to leave the border city in a few days, so why did he have to encounter such a thing at this critical juncture?

What a sin he has suffered!

Deputy General He quickly tightened the cloth covering his mouth and nose, and ordered the city guards, "Continue to shout and drive them away!"

After thinking for a moment, he asked the physician with unease, "If they're alive, won't the wind blow the plague over here?"

"Whoosh—" A soldier holding a megaphone happened to hear this and was so frightened that his hand trembled, and the curved megaphone fell straight off the city wall.

"Anything is possible, we must not let our guard down!"

The medical officer frowned, his face grave. "Although I've never experienced anything like this before... anyway, let's get them out of here as soon as possible!"

The shouts from the city tower grew louder and louder.

The tribal soldiers, furious, ran to the sedan chair and reported, "Chief, they're bullying us! They ignore us when we call out to them!"

Yingxiao and the witch doctor lay sprawled in the sedan chair, coughing incessantly, completely ignoring the soldiers.

The soldiers had no choice but to carry the sedan chair back a little further.

Lin Ana, with her sharp eyes, spotted the object falling from the city wall and quickly said to the soldier beside her,

"Go and pick up that curved tube. I saw they use it to shout. Let's try it too, maybe they'll be able to hear us!"