Even women who travel through time can become prime ministers and nobles.

Chapter 494 Reinforcements Arrive

"Who's there?"

Suddenly, the sound of rebels came from outside. Wang Ying was so frightened that his soul almost left his body. He quickly wrapped the herbs in his clothes, climbed out through the back door, and ran towards the dilapidated temple in a panic.

The footsteps behind her grew closer and closer, and she could even hear the rebels laughing and cursing. She could only run for her life, tripping over stones several times and scraping her knees until they bled, but she didn't care about the pain.

Fortunately, she finally made it back to the dilapidated temple. As soon as she locked the temple door, she collapsed to the ground, scattering the herbs she had been carrying all over the ground.

Ya Ya rushed over and hugged her: "Auntie! You're back!"

"Quickly...quickly brew some medicine for your sister Shi..."

Wang Ying gasped for breath, pointing at the herbs, her vision blurring—when she ran, her arm had been slashed by a rebel's knife, and blood had been flowing continuously; only now was she feeling the pain.

Inside the dilapidated temple, Cui Zhihao was coughing against the wall. With each cough, the wound in his chest felt like it was being torn apart. He quickly wiped away the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, afraid that Ya Ya would see it and be frightened.

Lin Yiyu sat next to him. The wound on his leg had become infected. When the gauze was removed, it tore off the skin and flesh along with it. He gritted his teeth and didn't utter a sound, but the cold sweat on his forehead soaked his hair.

"Brother Cui, are you alright?"

Lin Yiyu looked at Cui Zhihao's pale face and reached out to help him, but almost fell over herself.

Cui Zhihao shook his head and took out a small bamboo tube wrapped in oiled paper from his pocket—not long after Wang Ying left, a carrier pigeon landed on the temple eaves, with Cui Jiu's letter tied to its leg.

He opened the letter, his fingers trembling: "His Majesty has sent the Duke of Lin, His Highness the Crown Prince... and the Prince of Xiang to relieve the siege of Chuzhou."

Lin Yiyu's eyes lit up, but then immediately dimmed again: "They want the defense map. Do we still have the intelligence we compiled before?"

"In the cracks between the bricks under the stove."

Cui Zhihao struggled to his feet, moved step by step to the stove, and squatted down to pick at the grout between the bricks.

His fingers were swollen beyond recognition from his previous injury, and it took him a long time to finally pry out a crumpled roll of paper.

The writing on the paper was already somewhat blurred, and there were a few spots stained with blood—stains he had accidentally gotten on when he was beaten by the rebels.

"I'll copy it."

Lin Yiyu moved over, took the paper roll, and found a charcoal pencil.

His hands were shaking, and the characters he wrote were crooked, but he put a lot of effort into every stroke.

Cui Zhihao sat beside him, holding the paper for him, and occasionally reminding him where he had missed any information: "The rebels at the west gate change shifts every two hours... and the granary in the south alley has few guards."

The two supported each other and spent nearly an hour rewriting the intelligence.

Choi Ji-ho tied the intelligence tightly to the carrier pigeon's leg and patted the pigeon's head: "You must deliver it...you must deliver it."

The carrier pigeon flapped its wings and flew away. The two of them stared in the direction of the temple gate until they could no longer see the pigeon, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, Choi Ji-ho started coughing again, this time even more violently, and even coughed up blood.

Lin Yiyu quickly helped him up: "Brother Cui! Don't scare me!"

"It's nothing...just a minor problem."

Choi Ji-ho waved his hand, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.

He thought of his mother at home, and of Cui Jiu, wondering how they were doing, whether the intelligence would be delivered successfully, and whether Shi Wanxia would be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived…

Outside the city, candlelight blazed brightly. Lin Yongnan held the intelligence sent by Cui Zhihao in his hand, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly.

Crown Prince Shen Yanzhou stood to the side, clad in armor, his face expressionless, but his grip on the sword hilt was tight.

He had just received news that the rebel army in Chuzhou City had begun massacring the city's inhabitants, and the number of civilians who had died was still unknown.

"Your Highness, look at this defense map."

Lin Yongnan handed the intelligence to Shen Yanzhou: "The West Gate has the most guards, but there's a half-incense stick's worth of time between shifts; the South Gate has fewer guards, but there are hidden sentries, so you can't force your way in."

Shen Yanchu stood on the other side, holding a map in his hand, and pointed at it with his finger: "How about we split into three groups? One group can feign an attack on the west gate to draw the rebels' attention."

"Go all the way to the granary in the south alley, burn their grain, and cut off their retreat; the last route is to break in through the north gate—the north gate has the fewest guards and is close to the ruined temple, so we might be able to find Cui Zhihao and the others first, and also..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but Shen Yanzhou knew what he wanted to say—they were all worried about Shi Wanxia.

"Burning down the grain silos is too risky."

Shen Yanzhou shook his head. "The rebels have gone mad. If their grain supplies are burned, they will only massacre the city even more frantically."

"What should I do?"

Shen Yanchu grew anxious. "We can't just watch the people be slaughtered, can we? We outnumber the rebels. Can't we just force our way in?"

"A forced entry would result in too many casualties."

Lin Yongnan sighed, "The rebels have civilians as hostages in the city. If we force our way in, they will definitely use civilians as shields."

After a moment of silence, Shen Yanzhou suddenly spoke up: "Feign an attack on the west gate to draw the guards away; then send a light cavalry force to enter through the secret passage at the north gate—I checked before, there's an abandoned waterway at the north gate that leads into the city."

"After the light cavalry enters, they will first protect the people, especially those near the ruined temple, and then they will attack us from both inside and outside."

"Secret passages?"

Lin Yongnan hesitated for a moment, "Is it feasible? What if there's an ambush?"

“Choi Ji-ho’s intelligence report didn’t mention any ambush in the secret passage, and there’s no time to hesitate now.”

Shen Yanzhou's tone was firm, "Prince Xiang, you lead light cavalry in through the secret passage; Duke Lin, you lead the main force in a feigned attack on the west gate;"

"I will lead another contingent of troops to wait at the south gate for your signal."

Shen Yanchu nodded: "Okay! I'll go prepare now!"

He turned to leave, then stopped and looked at Shen Yanzhou, "Your Highness, Shi Wanxia, ​​she..."

"She'll be alright."

Shen Yanzhou interrupted him, but there was little confidence in his eyes.

He recalled that when he met Shi Wanxia before, she smiled and told him that she was going to Chuzhou City to investigate the rebels and that she could protect herself.

But now, she's in the city, her fate unknown...

The dots spread...

Inside the dilapidated temple, Wang Ying finally finished brewing the medicine.

The medicine smelled bitter, filling the entire dilapidated temple. She carefully helped Shi Wanxia up, trying to feed her the medicine, but as soon as the medicine touched Shi Wanxia's lips, she frowned, spat it out, and coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood.

"Miss Shi! Miss Shi, wake up!"

Wang Ying cried in distress and scooped up another spoonful of medicine, wanting to feed it to her again.

Just then, the sound of rebel footsteps and hoarse shouts came from outside the temple gate: "Search! Search carefully! We just saw a woman run in!"

Wang Ying's face turned pale instantly. She quickly put Shi Wanxia back into the pile of firewood, covered her with a tattered blanket, and then carried Ya Ya into the woodshed. She stood in front of the woodshed door, tightly clutching the small knife that Shi Wanxia had given her earlier—that knife, which Shi Wanxia had said could protect her.