Tzu-yang

  "Old Master and Mistress, something terrible has happened!" Little Wu's anxious voice came from outside the house.

  Mo Wen put down the bamboo flute and walked out of the door, just as Xiao Wu ran to the outside of the east wing. Seeing Mo Wen, he rushed over and said, "Young master, just now a lone military officer came to buy medicine for his wounds, saying that the Hu people have already broken through Qingping City."

  "What? How can it be so fast?" Mo Xun was suddenly shocked, Qingping City is the northern garrison of Xi Yang County, less than 50 miles away from here, and is the northern gate of Xi Yang County.

  "He said the Huren sent a monster to lead the charge, they can't hold on at all..." Xiao Wu said up to this point and saw Master and Madam walking out of the main house, so he quickly turned around to inform them of the situation.

  "What kind of monster?!" Madam Mo's face turned pale in an instant.

  Old Mo was also greatly shocked by the words, but as an old man with a steady heart, he immediately made a decision after a brief frown, "Let's go, let's go now!"

  Madam Mo turned around to go back to the main house to pack things up, but was held back by Old Master Mo's hand. "The packing is almost done, throw away what needs to be thrown away, you go help your son tidy up."

  Madam Mo heard the words and immediately walked towards the east wing, Mo Xiong also reacted at this time, returned to the house with his mother and wife to pack up their belongings, after a while they packed everything properly, three horse carriages set off immediately.

  "The barbarians will arrive on horseback soon, and the villagers are still unaware. Xiao Wu, you're quick on your feet, go to Lin's house and tell Old Man Lin and the other villagers to hide as soon as possible. We'll wait for you by the river." Old Mo said to Xiao Wu.

  Xiao Wu nodded in agreement and handed the whip over to Mo Wen. He then turned around and ran back.

  Mo's pharmacy usually had some helpers, and the only family servants were Old Wu's family and two maidservants. Mo asked Old Wu and his father to each drive a horse carriage, quickly leaving the city gate and heading south at high speed.

  Xiyang County is over a dozen miles away from the Yellow River. After leaving the city, the three of them drove their horse-drawn carriage and fled in a hurry. Although many people had not seen the brutality of the Huns, they had heard from refugees who escaped from the north that the big-nosed Huns were not only different from the Han people in appearance but also in temperament. When the Han people fought each other to seize territory, they would treat innocent civilians with kindness after breaking into a city. However, if the Huns broke into the Jin State's cities, they would loot and plunder on a large scale, leaving no livestock or food behind. Women would be taken away and used for the Huns' pleasure at night, only to be slaughtered and served as food during the day. Now that Qingping City in the north has fallen, the Huns will arrive soon. If they fall into the hands of the Huns, the consequences are too terrible to contemplate.

  After running for three miles, Mo Xun turned his head and looked back, only to find that the people of Xi Yang County, who had received the warning, were rushing out of the south gate like ants leaving their nest. Everyone did not expect the Hu people to come so quickly, and in the chaos, they dragged their children and wives, rolling and crawling, calling for the old and young, wailing and crying, the scene was extremely chaotic.

  Three horse-drawn carriages, originally used for delivering herbs to the pharmacy, were not covered with canopies. Mrs. Mo and Lin Ruochen sat in the first carriage driven by Old Master Lin. Mo Xun drove the second carriage closely behind, carrying two maids from home and a companion wife who had come over with the Lin family. The old Wu couple was at the back, and that carriage mainly carried utensils and various medicinal materials from the pharmacy.

  Yesterday, it snowed, and there were three inches of accumulated snow on the ground. The horses ran in the snowy field, often slipping and falling, and the carriage was shaking violently. However, at the moment of escaping for their lives, people couldn't care about that much, frequently whipping the horses to hurry them up. After a short while, they could already see the icy river surface five miles ahead.

  "Dad, can horse-drawn carriages run on ice?" Mo Wu shouted loudly. Before this, he had always addressed his father in a more polite manner, but at this critical moment, he didn't have the luxury to be so particular about his words.

  "It's hard to say." Old Mo responded loudly.

  "Let's get down to the riverbank and abandon the carriage, our lives are at stake." Mo Xiang shouted.

  "The whole family's livelihood is on the cart, what will we live on if it's lost?" Old Mo said with a shake of his head.

  Mo Wen's heart was inevitably in a flurry as he encountered this situation for the first time, and due to his concern for Xiao Wu's safety, he frequently looked back. As a result, Mo Wen had several close calls on the snowy road, and the last time the carriage almost overturned, causing him to break out in cold sweat. After that, Mo Wen dared not be distracted again and focused on driving behind his father.

  After a stick of incense, the horse carriage arrived at the riverbank, and everyone stopped to catch their breath and wait for Xiao Wu.

  Mo Wen stood on the carriage, looking north, and found that except for the fleeing civilians, there were no Huren soldiers and horses in sight. This situation made his heart slightly settled, and he immediately turned his head to look around, soon discovering Xiao Wu running at the front of the crowd.

  Xiao Wu was born with good legs and was familiar with the terrain, so he quickly ran close. However, just as Xiao Wu was still a hundred zhang away from this place, Mo Xun saw a large group of Hu people on horseback appearing on the northern mountain ridge, less than five li away from the riverbank. Due to the distance being too far, Mo Xun couldn't see the appearance of the Hu people, but he could see them chasing and killing the common people who were escaping from the city.

  "Father, the barbarians have come." Mo Wu shouted in terror to his father.

  Old Mo's eyebrows furrowed upon hearing this, and he turned his head to anxiously gaze at Little Wu in the distance.

  "Let's go first, old master." At the critical moment, Old Wu shook the reins and led the way onto the ice.

  "Be careful." Mr. Mo hurried to catch up with the carriage, and as his servant for many years, he naturally knew that Old Wu was driving ahead on the ice to scout out the road for them. The horse-drawn carriage driven by Old Wu was the heaviest, and as long as it could pass through safely, the two carriages behind would also be able to make it through safely.

  "Master, hurry up, I can keep up." Xiao Wu's voice arrived before he did.

  Mo Wen did not immediately rush to the ice, but stared in shock at the Hu people riding horses in the distance. They were all wearing barbarian clothes, with big noses and full beards, shouting loudly as they hacked at the fleeing civilians. Their curved knives were extremely sharp, chopping off heads like cutting melons. The severed heads of the civilians spouted blood more than two feet high, some who were chopped on their backs did not die immediately, letting out despairing cries in the snow. Mo Wen had never seen such a bloody scene before, and was so shocked that his whole body trembled like chaff, his hands and feet not listening to commands.

  "Drive!" Xiao Wu ran over with a big sweat and took over the reins to replace Mo Wen, driving the horse carriage onto the ice.

  The river surface is hundreds of feet wide, the ice surface is very slippery, and the horse's hooves are iron-clad. The horses dare not walk too fast on the ice surface, otherwise they may fall down. Three horse-drawn carriages keep a distance of about 15 meters, cautiously making their way to the opposite bank.

  "Dad, hurry up." Xiaohui turned his head back and shouted at Old Wu who was running in the front.

  "Father!" As soon as Xiao Wu's words fell, Lin Ruochen in the middle carriage let out a heart-wrenching scream towards the north. Mo Wen turned back in confusion and saw his father-in-law being split in half from left shoulder to right rib by the Hu people on the riverbank.

  Lin Ruochen fainted after calling out, Mo Wen did not faint but he vomited. He saw his father-in-law's fresh blood and also saw his father-in-law's heart and lungs, two hours ago his father-in-law was still alive and smiling as he sent him off on horseback.

  Just as Mo Xun was about to vomit, a cold and crisp cracking sound made his hair stand on end. This was the sound of the ice surface cracking under the weight, emitting a splitting sound.

  "Old man, it's no good here, let's go downstream..." Old Wu's words were drowned out by a loud crash.

  Don't ask, just stop vomiting and look up, only to see that Old Wu and his wife, as well as the horse carriage they were driving, had all fallen into the ice cave. Since the carriage was made of wood, it didn't sink immediately after hitting the water, thanks to the horses' desperate struggles to swim.

  "Lao Wu, grab the whip!" Mr. Mo hastily got off the carriage and ran to the edge of the ice cave to lend a hand.

  "Dad, Mom, I'm here to save you." Xiao Wu jumped off the horse cart in a hurry and rushed forward.

  "Don't come over!" Mr. Mo shouted hastily to stop them, but it was too late. The ice had already cracked and before Xiaowu could reach the crack, the ice collapsed again, sending the two people on the ice along with the second horse carriage into the water instantly.

  Originally frightened and disoriented, Mo Wen suddenly panicked and jumped off the carriage to run towards the ice cave. He reached out to pull his mother and Lin Ruochen who were closer by, but as soon as he touched the broken ice surface, it was unable to bear their weight. With one pull, his feet felt light, and icy water instantly filled his mouth and nose.

  Don't ask about the rough water, after falling into the water, he immediately held his breath and picked up Lin Ruochen who had been frozen awake by the icy water, then put him on the ice surface. He then tried to rescue his mother again, but she was middle-aged and overweight, wearing a thick cotton coat that became heavy when wet, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it.

  The ice water was extremely cold, and after a moment, Mo Wen felt his body start to numb and stiffen. He looked around and found that his father and Old Wu had disappeared, while Xiao Wu was doing the same thing as him.

  "Where's my dad?" Mo Wen loudly asked Xiao Wu.

  "It's all been washed away! Mother, what are you doing? What are you doing?" Xiao Wu said with a sobbing tone. Although the river water had frozen, the water under the ice was still flowing.

  "Wa'er, save the lady." Xiaowu's mother struggled to pry open her son's fingers and instantly disappeared into the water without a trace.

  "Sister!" Xiao Wu cried out and dove into the water in an attempt to search for her, but after several times of floating up and sinking down, how could he find her.

  Xiao Wu's eyes were hopeless, struggling to swim over, and together with Mo Xun, they pushed Mo Furen's upper body onto the ice surface. However, Mo Xun immediately felt something was wrong. His mother, who had been climbing up earlier, suddenly stopped moving. He looked up to see an arrow about a foot long stuck in his mother's forehead, entering from the front and exiting from the back, already dead. A one-eyed foreigner was pulling the carriage that hadn't fallen into the water towards the north shore, with Lin Ruochen and several maids on board, all of them stunned like wooden chickens due to excessive fright.

  "I'll fight you to the end." His mother's tragic death and his wife's abduction had filled Mo Xun with extreme grief and indignation, and in a fit of rage, he summoned all his strength and rushed towards the barbarian on the ice.

  Mo's loud shout startled the barbarian, who turned around, drew his bow and shot an arrow. The distance between them was less than five zhang, and Mo instantly fell to the ice surface with an arrow in his chest.

  After being shot by the arrow, Mo Wu didn't immediately lose consciousness, but under his severe injuries, he was unable to move and could only watch as the red figure on the horse carriage gradually disappeared into the distance...