Traveling to ancient times, with space

Chapter 23 Traitor

The town has two main gates, and they usually enter and exit through the south gate.

The shortest route out of the south gate is through the street leading to the county government office in the town.

Just as Su Dabao was driving his mule cart past the county government office, about to turn a corner and exit through the south gate...

Facing behind her, Su Yue saw several of the Xiongnu people that Su Dabao had mentioned about to enter, and no one was stopping them.

"Stop the cart." Su Yue immediately stopped the mule cart.

He patted Su Dabao and pointed to the entrance of the county government office, asking, "Su Dabao, do you think those people are Huns?"

Su Dabao was startled when he was suddenly stopped, thinking something had happened, so he turned around to look at the county government office.

I could only see the last person, who was indeed a Hun.

"Yes, they are Xiongnu people. Hmm! What are they doing at the county government office? Were they arrested?"

"Let's go around and take a look." Su Yue had a gut feeling that she had to go and check, otherwise she would feel uneasy.

Su Erbao was still a child, and the thought of going to the county government office really terrified him.

"Sister Yue, let's not go."

"If you want to go, get off and hurry up and go around here." Su Yue directed Su Dabao to drive the mule cart toward the wall next to the county government office.

Now, apart from homeless people, there are very few ordinary people wandering around the town.

Su Yue had Su Dabao find a wall that he could climb over to get into the county government office and then they stopped.

Su Yue stood on the cart and climbed towards the county government office. Not high enough, she had Su Erbao squat down and climb over him.

"Su Dabao, Su Erbao, you two go wait for me at the town gate. I'll go in and see what's going on, then I'll come find you." Su Yue was going alone; if she encountered anything, she could always hide in her spatial dimension.

If we take those two burdens with us, we won't even know how we died. It's better to let them wait outside the town.

If anything happens, there's no escaping it.

Su Yue climbed over the wall into the county government office and found that there were not many guards. Instead, she could hear some noises coming from the back of the house.

Su Yue followed the sound to the back of the house and saw that apart from a few people guarding outside the town, everyone else from the county government office was there.

A woman dressed in finery was directing people to load things onto the carriage, one trip after another.

They looked like they were struggling to move it, and I had no idea what those boxes contained.

The boxes alone filled three horse-drawn carts, and what followed were sacks, which were probably grain.

Su Yue quietly slipped to the county magistrate's office in front, knowing without a doubt that the people who had just come in must be there.

Su Yue saw a sign that read "A clear mirror hangs high".

Su Yue looked around and, finding no guards, slipped aside, moistened her finger with saliva, and poked a hole in the window paper to look inside.

Sitting on the high platform was a plump middle-aged man dressed in a brown casual robe; he was none other than Magistrate Zhu.

The Huns who had just entered, disguised as refugees, bowed and saluted those above.

Su Yue could only see Magistrate Zhu's mouth moving, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Su Yue was so anxious that she almost wanted to rush in to listen.

Looking into the room through the opening, I noticed that there was an open window at the back, near the pillar.

Su Yue jogged over, carefully climbed in through the window, and slowly moved behind a pillar to eavesdrop.

"Magistrate Zhu, everything you said has been agreed to by our lord, and it can be carried out tonight."

“Alright, tell your lord that the south gate will open at midnight tonight, and your men must arrive before dawn.” Magistrate Zhu, who had been all smiles just moments before, became very serious as soon as he finished speaking.

"Don't worry, Magistrate Zhu, our men are all ready."

"Then you should leave quickly." Magistrate Zhu waved his hand, signaling the Xiongnu men below to leave.

Su Yue only heard these two sentences when she came in, but she could tell that Magistrate Zhu seemed to have betrayed the country and colluded with the enemy!

Just as Su Yue was about to climb out the window again to leave, she heard someone come in again.

Magistrate Zhu asked the visitor, "Master Li, how is the tidying up of the backyard going?"

"Reporting to you, sir, everything is almost ready, we're just waiting for you." The man who came was an old man in his forties or fifties.

"That's good. Later, send someone to replace our people at the South Gate. Give the instructions, and we'll be leaving now."

"Sir, are we really going to abandon the people here?" Master Li asked, unable to bear it any longer.

“Master Li, it’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I can’t! It’s the order from above. If we don’t follow it, we’ll only face death. Besides, even if we don’t listen to that person, it’s already too late. The Xiongnu army is already thirty miles outside the town.” Magistrate Zhu sighed.

"My lord, can that person really succeed? What if he fails..." Master Li began, but did not finish his sentence.

"Now is not the time to worry about those things. The most important thing is right now. You know that General Lü and the Third Prince are in the same faction. If we don't do this, how can we dampen their spirits? Sigh! Ping'an Town is just the beginning." After saying this, Magistrate Zhu patted Li Shi and turned to leave.

Li Shi watched Magistrate Zhu leave, and then jogged away as well.

Su Yue overheard the gist of the conversation at Zhu Zi the day after tomorrow, and felt a chill in her heart. If she hadn't come to town today and hadn't overheard their conversation, wouldn't she have died as a result of these people's schemes?

What a load of rubbish Magistrate Zhu! He's practically handing Ping'an Town over to the Xiongnu.

If the Xiongnu were to invade the town, the people here might still be able to survive. But General Lü, who was stationed here, has killed countless of them.

Once Ping'an Town falls, the people of the dozen or so surrounding towns will basically have no chance to escape.

It's just a pity for the ordinary people. They were already suffering from natural disasters, and now they've been hit by man-made disasters as well.

Alas! Ping'an Town is no longer peaceful.

Su Yue thought to herself that she had to do something; she just couldn't let these people have their way.

Carefully, they climbed over the wall and headed straight out of town.

Su Erbao kept staring at the town gate. Su Yue was now someone who could make him eat meat every day, and her status in his heart was almost on par with his father.

"Sister Yue, over here." He called out as soon as he saw Su Yue from afar.

Su Yue jogged over, and Su Erbao tried to pull her onto the carriage, but couldn't manage it.

"Sister Yue, get in the car, we're going back."

"Su Erbao, don't pull me. I have something to say to you two." Su Yue moved closer to the two of them so that the wandering refugees outside the town wouldn't hear.

"You get in the cart first, we can talk on the way. It seems there are more refugees now than when we came, it's not safe." Su Dabao also reached out to pull Su Yue onto the mule cart.

"Listen to me, you two. I just went in and heard that the Huns are about to invade. The county magistrate is packing his belongings to escape. Go back and tell the village chief to have someone pack their things and leave the village quickly."

Go back and pack up your belongings. If I haven't returned two hours after you got home, don't wait for me. Keep heading north without stopping. I will come looking for you.

"Don't even think about hiding in the mountains. If there's a war here, it won't end in a day or two. If there are any villagers who won't listen to advice, just let them be." Su Yue said softly before turning to go back to town.

"What? Sister Yue, what did you say? The Xiongnu are really going to invade?" Su Dabao had heard how ferocious the Xiongnu were, and his voice trembled as he spoke.

"Sister Yue, what are you going to do in town? We need to hurry back and tell our parents we need to escape!" Su Erbao's hands started trembling as soon as he heard that the Huns were going to invade.

They all heard from adults since they were young that if someone disobeyed, the Huns would come and eat them.

"I have other things to do. You take the mules and go first. Remember, you can only escape north," Su Yue instructed again.