Chapter 361: Chapter 357: Siege_1
Yingbao and the others finished eating their noodles. They looked around but didn’t find what they needed.

They then came to the stonemason shop, where Yingbao was surprised to see a large stone statue standing in front of the shop.

The statue was of a woman, with a high bun, wide sleeves and ribbons, and peony flowers beneath her feet. It looked as if she was about to fly to the heavens.

“Master, old man, is this statue for sale?” Yingbao asked.

The stonemason waved his rough hand: “The statue was already ordered by someone else, it’s not for sale.”

Yingbao was curious: “Who ordered it? Someone from Jujube Tree Village?”

The stonemason nodded, and asked back: “Young lady, how did you know it was ordered by someone from Jujube Tree Village?”

“Actually, I’m from the Wuchang Taoist Temple in Jujube Tree Village,” Yingbao said.

“Oh?” The stonemason glanced at Yingbao: “No wonder. So you’re from the Taoist Temple. I heard that the incense at the Wuchang Taoist Temple has been thriving recently, with about a dozen Taoists now, almost catching up with the Wuji Temple.”

Yingbao: …

The Wuchang Taoist Temple is thriving?

She wondered where all the Taoists came from. Were they villagers from Jujube Tree Village?

Seeing the stone mason busy with his carving, Yingbao felt it inappropriate to disturb him any further. She and her younger brother Huzi headed towards the Zhang Mansion.

After entering the Zhang Mansion, Yingbao told her brother and Huzi to rest while she went to speak with Lady Zhang.

Being a ten-year-old child herself, and not a local, no one paid her any attention to what she wanted to do.

Lady Zhang was different. Once she stepped in, no nobility in the city would dare say a word.

“Have the townsfolk take turns guarding the riverbank?” Lady Zhang pondered upon hearing eYingbao’s plan.

Yingbao: “Yes, if the barbarian bandits sneak in at night and there is no one guarding the riverbank, won’t it be dangerous?”

After hesitating for a moment, Lady Zhang finally nodded: “Alright, I will have someone go around and notify every household. Anyone who refuses to guard shall be fined five taels of silver.”

Upon seeing Lady Zhang willing to intervene, Yingbao breathed a sigh of relief, bid farewell and went back to her room to rest.

At midnight, the barbarian bandits suddenly attacked the city.

They carried large log stumps and repeatedly rammed them against the city gate.

Zhang Min and his elder brother led soldiers down to the city, throwing stones and bricks, and splashing burning tung oil down.

There were also bandits sneaking in from the riverbank.

Just as a dozen or so bandits made it ashore, they were surrounded by hundreds of townsfolk. They held tools like flat sticks, clubs, hoes, and chisels, courageously smashing them onto the bandits.

In this battle, the bandits suffered heavy casualties. In the end, they abandoned thirty to forty bodies and jumped into the river to escape.

When Yingbao woke up the next day, Zhang Xuehua told her about the previous night’s events.

“Last night, the barbarian bandits attacked the city. Thanks to your idea, those sneak attackers failed.”

The young girl took Yingbao’s hand, had her sit in front of the mirror, and said with a smile, “Let me comb your hair. My mother wants to speak to you.”

Yingbao obediently sat, letting Zhang Xuehua comb her hair and braid it.

Looking at the graceful young girl in the mirror, Yingbao suddenly asked, “Sister Zhang, if the city can’t be defended, will you and your mother leave with me?”

Zhang Xuehua was startled, her hand holding the comb trembled slightly, “Why would it not be defended?”

“Because there are more and more barbarian bandits outside, they will gather many troops to attack Jingzhou.” Only by taking Jingzhou could the barbarian bandits keep moving south.

If Jingzhou didn’t have any reinforcements, and could only defend, the barbarian bandits would certainly not withdraw their troops, even if they had to expend a month, two months, or even half a year, they still wouldn’t stop attacking.

But could Jingzhou really hold out for that long?

The smile on Zhang Xuehua’s face gradually disappeared.

Her father was the prefect, she, her mother, her elder brother and sister-in-law, and the two half-sisters, would all not leave Jingzhou before the townsfolk.

What if the city really were to be breached — where would her family go?

Looking at Zhang Xuehua in the mirror, Yingbao said, “I promised my second senior brother that if anything unexpected happens, I will take you all away.”

“No… I can’t leave.” Zhang Xuehua forced herself to remain calm, slowly braiding Yingbao’s hair.

Yingbao touched her braid, turned her head to Zhang Xuehua, and said, “Sister Zhang, don’t be frightened, I was just saying.”

She just wanted to prepare them mentally.

Jingzhou was already besieged, and comforting words were meaningless.

If there was a slight chance of survival, who would choose to die willingly?

But when Lady Zhang heard about the situation analyzed by Yingbao, she was as shocked as her daughter.

She thought that as long as they held out in the city, the Imperial Court would soon send troops to rescue them.

But what if they didn’t come?

Lady Zhang looked at Yingbao and solemnly said, “Yingbao, we now have a glimmer of hope, but we must hold on to the city. As for the rest, we shall not mention it again. We can’t let the defenders lose morale, let alone the chaos among the common people.”

“Hmm, I just analyzed it to you and didn’t tell outsiders,” Yingbao certainly knew not to spread rumors at this time.

Three days quickly passed.

The war was becoming increasingly tense.

The barbarian bandits attacked the city every day, but to no avail.

Eventually, they stopped attempting to ram the city gate, and instead chopped down a lot of timber from the woods and piled them up at the city gate, in an attempt to burn it down.

At the same time, they made rafts out of trees, planning to enter the city by water.

Governor Zhang and his two sons didn’t sleep at night, each leading a team to fend off the bandits.

Gradually, the city’s people began to panic, and many wanted to escape from the city by water.

But the waterways were now blocked by the bandits, with many rafts blocking the outer river.

There were a few families who didn’t listen to advice, sneaking out in small boats, only to be captured by the bandits.

The bandits used these villagers as human shields, supporting the rafts over, and the soldiers guarding the route shot them dead on the spot.

Zhang Min led a team of several dozens to guard a water route, and there was also a defense team of over a hundred townspeople. They worked day and night, taking turns to guard the river.

Once, the bandits tried to sneak into the city by diving underwater with reeds in their mouths.

Just when they thought they were about to succeed, they were trapped by a fishing net.

When they used daggers to cut open the net, they alerted the guards at that location.

The result was predictable: dozens of bandits were eradicated.

But this action thoroughly infuriated the bandits’ leader, Wan Yan Hashi.

A few days later, Wan Yan Hashi ordered a total assault, intensively attacking from two water routes and the city gate at the same time.

In the city, the citizens were mobilized by Lady Zhang to resist the enemy.

After listening to Yingbao’s suggestion, she had instructed them to build a long corridor on both sides of the inner city gate and a gateless courtyard behind it early on.

The corridor was shaped like a long-necked gourd, and a deep pit was dug at the part resembling the belly of the gourd, in which wooden spikes were placed.

A layer of bamboo mat was placed over the pit, covered with twigs and loose soil.

As soon as the bandits broke through the city gate, they would inevitably follow the corridor into the belly of the gourd, eventually falling into the trap.

When this happens, a few soldiers would be arranged above to shoot them or drop stones down from the two sides of the wall, ensuring that whoever entered would be killed.

To construct this corridor, they transported all the stones from the stonemason’s house. Many people’s stone yard walls were also demolished. True to the saying, many hands make light work, this project was successfully completed in a few days.

Today, Yingbao, along with Huzi and Jiang Wu, followed Lady Zhang and Zhang Xuehua, standing on the wall of the corridor behind the city gate, quietly listening to the shouts of killing and intense impact outside the city.