Traveling through time and space

"In reply to your Excellency's words, I am Yang Yunxi, the clan leader of this village. I would like to ask you to allow me to take people to Quanyang Town to look for our family and relatives."

"What's going on?" asked Lord Du.

"Sir, I haven't had any news from my parents' home. I wanted to go and see them, but I couldn't get out of the way." A woman in her thirties knelt down and came forward in front of everyone, and the crowd began to cheer.

"Everyone stand up and speak, one by one," Du Renren's face turned cold.

"Sir, these are people who have family and relatives in Quanyang Town. We have lost contact with them since the disaster." The kneeling clan leader answered carefully. "Yang's son is Cheng'er, a scholar."

"Yes, please save my son. He just went to visit his grandparents, but he never thought he would lose his life. He is the hope of our family." A woman cried out loud, and then others started crying too.

"Sun Yan, Yang Lizheng, Zhang Dalai, Wang Chao, come forward and tell us everything you know," Lord Shang said with a gloomy face. He looked back at his men and immediately put knives to the necks of these four men.

"Sir, I don't know what happened over there, but I haven't received any news from Quanyang Town these days." Sun Yan replied.

"Who did Lord Liu send to garrison Quanyang Town and Liuwan Town?"

"To answer your question, it was the county magistrate Zhang Luntong. I personally sent him here on the first day of the disaster." Sun Yan insisted.

"My lords, there is no news coming down. I'm afraid someone is deliberately hiding it and doesn't want the news to leak out." Su Yuanyuan asked.

"Looking at it now, it's certain that the disaster over there is probably the most serious." Lord Shang looked at Lord Du, "Lord Du, it seems we need to go and see it ourselves, but we don't have enough manpower and food right now."

"Sir, we are willing to take out the remaining food in our homes for the emergency. We only ask you to rescue our families immediately." The clan leader was very anxious.

"What do you think?" Lord Du asked Su Yuanyuan.

"Okay, let's do this. The younger ones will come along; they might be able to help. Take some food with you, too. As for your food, we'll return it to you once the imperial court delivers. We won't let you suffer any loss. Now, I'll give you half an hour to gather up the remaining food and other snacks from home. We'll set out together later." Su Yuanyuan gave the instructions to the two adults, who nodded in agreement. "How long does it take to get to Quanyang Town from here?"

"If it doesn't stop, it will take twelve hours," Sun Yan replied.

Su Yuanyuan was actually a little apprehensive when she heard this. Could she possibly walk all this distance? But she was helpless. It wasn't until later that she realized it was actually possible to ride a horse up the mountain, but that was a story for another time. "Has it rained here in the past few days? Have there been any aftershocks or anything like that?..."

Su Yuanyuan listened to their conversation.

"To answer your Excellency's question, it often snows, but it hasn't snowed heavily in the past two days."

"Young man, look at this mountain. Although there are trees and vegetation, mudslides can still occur. Has one happened recently?" Su Yuanyuan looked at the mountain next to him curiously and asked the person standing next to him.

"Miss, what is vegetation?" the young man asked Su Yuanyuan.

"Look, there are a lot of trees on the mountain. The roots of the trees make the soil on the mountain more solid and less likely to collapse. Look closely, doesn't it look like a blanket covering this mountain? Is this Mount Puji?"

"This is not Puji Mountain, this is Shoupu Mountain. Puji Mountain starts from here." The young man replied.

"Girl, they are all here," Dongmei reminded herself softly beside her. In front of her was a group of people, both men and women, waiting with large and small bags, but many of them were wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats.

"We are in the mountains, it rains frequently," someone explained.

"Princess, are you okay? Can we set off?" Lord Du came over and asked in a low voice.

"Master Du, we can set off now. I am sure I can do it," Su Yuanyuan also answered in a low voice. She didn't expect that Master Du was so cute, haha.

"Yuanyuan, be careful, this is a mountain road."

"I understand, big brother. You should be more careful. The road here is easier to walk than when we came up just now." Su Yuanyuan was walking in front, because after the adults left, a group of people followed behind, all carrying things on their shoulders and in their hands. Not to mention the hardships along the way, it took the group nearly twenty hours to reach what they called Quanyang Town, a journey of twelve hours. Of course, they also dealt with some things and people when passing through other villages. Along the way, except for the noise of the villagers, Su Yuanyuan and others were very quiet. Why? Because what they saw and heard along the way really made them angry. When it was almost dark, they finally stopped. Su Yuanyuan looked at the crowd, and they were really exhausted and miserable. When they said they would stop, some sat down and some lay down. There was basically no one standing. Even the two adults sat on an upside-down tree, gasping for breath. But after a while, they realized that this stop did not mean they had reached their destination, but that they could not go any further. Along the way, they also passed by several blocked sections. Because it was night, they saw with the help of torches that there were many stones blocking the road, and the road ahead was blocked.

"Sun Yan, are you sure that Quanyang Town is ahead?" Lord Du asked Sun Yan and others. They had been leading the way all the way.

"Master Du, I'm sure that Quanyang Town is just ahead, but I don't know how far this roadblock is."

"Yes, we can't see anything clearly now, and we don't know what the situation is. We don't dare to rashly send people to explore the way. Do we have to wait until tomorrow morning to act?" Lord Du asked Sun Yan, "Which village is the nearest village here? Or is there no village nearby? There is not even a single light in sight."

"Master Du, the nearest village is two miles away and is called Hejialei, which belongs to Quanyang Town. Over there is Fujia Village, which belongs to Liuwan Town. They should know something about this. Can you call them over to ask about the situation?"

"Come here, keep watch everywhere. Okay, go and notify everyone, and bring some pots and firewood. We have been walking for a day and a night, so everyone needs to have something hot to drink," Lord Du said as he stood up and sat down again. It was obvious that they were also very tired.

"Princess, the tent over there has been set up. You can go in and rest." Xining whispered to Su Yuanyuan.

"I'm fine. Please go and rest, adults." Su Yuanyuan looked at the two adults who looked a little embarrassed. Among this group of people, only Xining brought the only tent. "Xining, find some water so that the two adults can wash up." Su Yuanyuan smiled, and the people who followed her also covered their mouths and laughed at the two adults in front of them.

"Why is Lord Shang in such a mess?" Lord Du asked Lord Shang using the weak light from the gate.

"Lord Du looks just like a beggar right now?" The two lords looked at each other and laughed. "We don't look like lords who can sit in the imperial court anymore. We look like refugees."

"My lords, please go into the tent and freshen up."

"Princess, you should go and rest." The two adults refused at the same time.

"My lords, when you're out and about, there's no need to be so particular." After Su Yuanyuan's repeated persuasion, the two lords finally agreed to change clothes and wash their faces, not wanting to dishonor their reputation as fourth-rank officials. Su Yuanyuan and the others were already reaching their limit. Looking at the people sitting on the ground, Su Yuanyuan slowly walked to the side. They were now standing with a roadblock in front of them, the road they had come from behind them, a large river to the left, and a mountain to the right. Su Yuanyuan stepped forward to examine the soil and touched it; it was solid stone. The roadblock in front also seemed to be stone, but nothing else was visible.

"Yuanyuan, big brother is tired too."