I have suffered enough in my previous life, my cousin will never marry me

Chapter 123 He will definitely come

Seeing the people around her were furious, Ye Wanshu no longer had the heart to argue with them.

After all, she came to Baixiang County not only to save this small group of self-pitying people, but also for the safety of the vast majority of incense farmers, and to protect the Ye family's incense-making industry for herself.

After scanning the surroundings in the rain, she looked back at Mother Wang and quickly asked, "Where is Shopkeeper Tao now?"

"Manager Tao and the magistrate have been organizing resistance against the enemy at the East City Gate."

After Madam Wang finished her serious speech, she advised the farmers standing in the rain, "The Duke's wife's opinion doesn't represent our daughter's position. Since she has come to Baixiang County, everyone should trust her. Even if Prince Yongning doesn't care about us, we must protect her."

Many local farmers were grateful to Ye Wanshu for bringing her support. They looked at her anxiously and asked, "Miss Ye, the county militia and the men organized by Manager Tao have been holding the city for five days. We have less than 3,000 people and have already been killed or wounded. What should we do now?"

Looking at the elderly, the weak, women and children around, Ye Wanshu now has only one belief, which is to defend Baixiang County.

Looking at the group of veterans she brought with her, her eyes were extremely determined: "Everyone, come with me to help Manager Tao. We must not let the pirates into the city."

He hurried to the East City Gate with his men, only to see the ground in a mess. The surviving soldiers and Shannon took advantage of the pirates' pause in their attack to lean on the city wall to catch their breath.

Ye Wanshu spotted the figure of Shopkeeper Tao in the crowd. His body was covered in blood, and there was not a single clean spot on his face. She could only rely on her past memories to imagine his handsome face.

In my memory, he has always been my grandmother's most admired and capable person, and is quite popular among the servants of the Ye family. However, because of the Gu brothers, he rarely gets close to me.

"Tao Anran."

Ye Wanshu called out to him, and when Tao Anran saw her, he immediately walked over from the corner.

He mustered up all his strength and clasped his fists respectfully towards her. He felt so weak all over that he almost fell down. Mu Qingqing supported him.

"Young Master, be careful," Mu Qingqing said with concern.

"Thank you girl."

Tao Anran glanced at Mu Qingqing inadvertently, and stood up quickly in embarrassment, bowing to her respectfully.

"Young master, you don't have to be polite."

Mu Qingqing also subconsciously let go of him immediately and stood next to Ye Wanshu.

"Brother Tao, what's the situation outside now?" Ye Wanshu asked.

"According to the intelligence gathered by the County Magistrate, the pirates have assembled approximately 50,000 to 60,000 men and are marching directly towards Baixiang County. However, thanks to everyone's combined efforts over the past few days, the pirates have been unable to breach the city gates."

Tao Anran reported meticulously, "For some reason, the pirates were still attacking the city gate this morning, but suddenly retreated half an hour ago. The county magistrate was injured, so I sent him back to rest."

Glancing at the soldiers and servants around him, he became extremely worried. "Young Master, I'm worried this is a pirate trick. I'm afraid Baixiang County won't be able to hold out for many more days. I've already taken care of the account books, money, incense formulas, and the incense masters of each incense shop. Please lead everyone to evacuate first."

Seeing his anxious face, Ye Wanshu showed sincere admiration.

He is worthy of being the pillar of the Ye family. With only a few thousand people, he resisted the pirates' fierce attack for five days and prevented Xiangfang from suffering any losses.

Guessing that he was determined to perish alongside Baixiang County, Ye Wanshu shook her head and said, "Brother Tao, I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay with you to defend Baixiang County and wait for the imperial army's support."

"Can"

Tao Anran looked at her worriedly, and Ye Wanshu explained, "Although we are outnumbered now, the continuous rain is temporarily in our favor. If we ask everyone to evacuate at this time, the difficult road will hinder the retreat, and secondly, we are afraid of falling into the trap of pirates." Mu Qingqing had also seen the situation on the road. It was flooded everywhere and it was difficult to walk. How could a group of elderly, weak, women and children evacuate?

"Master Tao, Sister Wan is right." Mu Qingqing strongly agreed with Ye Wanshu's decision. "A hasty retreat would be slow and would only harm everyone if the city fell. It would be better to hold Baixiang County to the death and wait for support from the imperial court."

"It's not that I don't trust King Yongning."

Tao Anran sighed dejectedly, "The Qizhou army was annihilated, and the Pacification Commissioner abandoned the city. Yingzhou, the closest city to Qizhou, only has a mere 20,000 troops. Even if Prince Yongning wanted to fight, he's too noble to risk his life to personally travel to Qizhou. By the time he mobilized his troops and arrived, Baixiang County would have already fallen."

"How do you know my cousin won't rush to Qizhou's aid immediately?"

Mu Qingqing was extremely upset and shouted, "My cousin will never allow the people under his rule to be ravaged and trampled upon by pirates."

This was the first time Ye Wanshu saw this girl so angry. Although she didn't know when Fu Mingchi would arrive, she had already decided to live and die with Shannon and the others, so she would never run away.

"Brother Tao, I know you are worried about my safety, but at this time we have no choice but to continue to defend Baixiang County."

Ye Wanshu said, "Once Baixiang County falls, not only will the incense vendors in the city suffer, but even the people in other counties and prefectures will suffer as well. So, we have no choice but to unite as one and defend Baixiang County together."

The Shannons who had followed were greatly encouraged by these words. The resentment in their eyes immediately subsided a lot, and they all said, "Since the young lady is willing to live and die with us, we have nothing to fear. We will defend Baixiang County together with the young lady."

After hearing this, Tao Anran had no time to persuade them anymore and began to instruct the group of veterans brought by Ye Wanshu to reinforce the defenses.

Seeing that everyone in the city was so motivated, Ye Wanshu felt happy but also extremely nervous.

When she thought of the fifty thousand pirates waiting outside the city, she didn't know if she could lead everyone to hold on to this small town. Her only belief was that as long as the people in the city were there, she would not abandon them again.

Just thinking of Fu Mingchi, she felt an inexplicable pain in her heart.

This guy is really naive. Even though he was seriously injured, he still insisted on waiting outside Taowu for three whole days. It was just like the situation in her previous life when she was praying in front of the brothel for Gu Tingchen to change his mind.

After thinking about it, she realized that apart from following his heart and canceling the marriage, he didn't seem to have done anything to let her down. She really shouldn't have treated him so cruelly.

Walking in the rain with Mu Qingqing holding an umbrella, Ye Wanshu was still a little uneasy as she looked at the busy figures around her.

"Sister Wan, are you worried about my cousin?"

Mu Qingqing probably saw through her thoughts and chuckled softly, comforting her: "Don't worry, Sister Wan. My cousin has always loved his people like his own children. He will definitely come to your aid."

My cousin cares so much about Sister Wan that he would rush here even at the risk of his life. Mu Qingqing has no doubt about this.

Ye Wanshu didn't know how to answer her. She was hoping that Fu Mingchi would bring people to stop the pirates as soon as possible, but she was also a little worried.

Walking forward silently, I suddenly heard the sound of iron hooves coming from afar.

Everyone in the city was in a panic, like a frightened bird. After listening for a while, Ye Wanshu immediately realized that something was wrong.

"This sound didn't come from the east of the city."

She thought for a moment and said, "It's the west side of the city, the direction of the west side of the city."

"West of the city?" Mu Qingqing immediately became uneasy. "Could it be that the pirates have already broken through Qizhou and surrounded it from the west?"