RWNEFE -Chapter 80 Turning the Enemy into One of Our Own!

Shen Lanxi raised her hand. “Slow down. Light the torches and make the Yuezhou banner more visible!”

The Wei family soldiers immediately carried out the order.

They soon drew close, and once Shen Lanxi saw clearly, she raised an eyebrow.

Another birthday-tribute convoy!

“Who goes there?” the people on the opposite side immediately drew their weapons and went on alert.

Chunxue and Qiushuang held up the banner and carried the official documents as they walked forward.

“We’re from Yuezhou, delivering birthday gifts to the Third Princess. Who are you?”

“We’re from Dengzhou—also delivering birthday gifts to the Third Princess.”

“That’s great! So we’re all on the same side!”

After checking their documents, the other party immediately smiled and put their weapons away.

“You’re still traveling at night?”

Chunxue replied, “We have no choice. Yuezhou is on the outskirts—if we don’t ride hard, we’ll fall behind.”

The others looked curiously in their direction. “What are you delivering?” Why were there no chests and no grain?

Chunxue said awkwardly, “You know Yuezhou has suffered a disaster. There’s no money or grain to spare, so we can only send some handsome young men. We hope they’ll catch the Third Princess’s eye, and that she’ll send some relief to help Yuezhou…”

The Dengzhou soldiers twitched at the corners of their mouths. Everyone else was offering tribute—Yuezhou, on the other hand, was basically asking the Third Princess for aid.

Still… those Yuezhou officials were quite something, sending so many men.

It was pitch-dark, so they couldn’t see clearly. But if they were sending men, they must be good-looking.

The Dengzhou leader felt a pang of sympathy for the treasure and grain Dengzhou had sent. If he’d known earlier, they should have sent a few handsome men too.

Send one man—save one chest of goods. Send two—save two chests…

“The Third Princess’s birthday banquet is still a while off. Why don’t our two convoys travel together? We can look out for each other along the way.”

“That would be perfect!”

The next morning, when the Dengzhou soldiers finally got a clear look at their companions, they saw one burned face after another and felt uneasy.

Chunxue had to explain again.

“Yuezhou is about to fall into chaos. Many refugees have been driven desperate by hunger…”

The Dengzhou soldiers had encountered refugees on their way as well. Hearing this explanation, there was no need for further detail—they understood immediately.

When refugees are desperate to survive, they’ll do anything!

“You people from Yuezhou have really had it hard.”

Chunxue said, “It’s not hard. Once we deliver the tribute and satisfy the Third Princess, she’ll send relief. When that happens, Yuezhou’s disaster will be resolved.”

The Dengzhou soldiers secretly curled their lips—they didn’t believe the Third Princess would ever provide disaster relief.

After traveling another half day, they finally arrived at Beiheng Town.

As soldiers on official duty, they could enter the city for free, and food and lodging at the relay station didn’t cost a thing. Naturally, once inside the city, they headed straight for the relay station.

At the entrance of the relay station, Shen Lanxi saw the Shen family members locked inside prison carts!

Aside from looking a bit dispirited, they were otherwise fine.

Wei Dongzhuo’s group was far too recognizable. When Shen Yuanjing spotted them, he immediately clung excitedly to the bars of the prison cart.

Shen Lanxi gave him a subtle look to stay calm, then turned her head and followed the Dengzhou soldiers into the relay station without even glancing sideways.

Inside the station, besides them, there were two other convoys delivering birthday gifts. Learning that they were all there for the same purpose, everyone quickly found common ground. Before long, the sound of drinking and conversation inside the relay station doubled.

The inn attendant received orders from the escorting soldiers to deliver food and water to the prisoners.

Halfway there, he suddenly twisted his foot and nearly spilled the food on the ground.

Shen Lanxi reached out and steadied him.

“Brother, are you alright?”

Seeing that Shen Lanxi was dressed as a soldier, the attendant immediately replied respectfully, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

Shen Lanxi said, “Your foot looks hurt. I’ll deliver it for you—just wait here.”

The attendant hurriedly refused. “Officer, how could I let you do that?”

Shen Lanxi picked up the food and walked off. “Just consider it a good deed for the day…”

As soon as the attendant put weight on his foot, a sharp pain shot through it. Seeing that she was truly delivering the food and not doing anything else, he muttered a couple of words and sat down to wait.

Using the cover of her wide sleeves, Shen Lanxi swapped all the coarse buns for meat-filled steamed buns, and added some salt and sugar to the water jugs, shaking them to mix.

“Big Brother~”

Shen Yuanjing had already told the family earlier that their eldest sister had arrived, but none of them believed him!

Now that they saw her personally delivering food, surely they believed him now?

“Keep your voice down. Eat quickly!”

There were two prison carts. After delivering food to Shen Yuanjing’s cart, she went to the other one.

Except for Zhang Zifen and her children, all the members of the eldest branch were there.

“Big—” Shen Yuanxin recognized her and tears immediately spilled out.

“Eat. Don’t talk.”

Seeing their eldest sister dressed in a soldier’s uniform finally put Shen Yuanxin at ease. The idea of acting as bait had been her eldest sister’s plan—she would definitely get them out!

After handing out the food, Shen Lanxi went around and poured water for each of them.

The buns were stuffed with plenty of meat, and the water was sweet. After two days of being battered by wind and sun, the Shen family members ate with their heads down, not even noticing when Shen Lanxi left.

After the meal, everyone rested for an hour and a half before setting off again.

That single meal had turned the escorting soldiers and the tribute escorts into sworn brothers. They agreed to continue together toward Jinmen.

Shen Lanxi’s group brought up the rear. They had no treasure—just a cart of people. Fortunately, the soldiers were wary of the “tribute’s” appearance. On the surface, they still treated them like brothers and didn’t dare do anything to them.

From then on, whenever there was a chance, Shen Lanxi would send food and water to the Shen family—sometimes Chunxue and Qiushuang would go instead.

Setting aside the first two days, life for the Shen family’s eldest branch became quite comfortable: food when they wanted, drink when they wanted, and even a cart to ride in.

Leaving everything else aside, just in terms of food and travel, it was far better than being in an exile convoy. In exile, they had to work for food and constantly worry about dangers like refugees. Now, not only did they not have to work, they even had soldiers protecting them.

Once they realized this, the Shen family members relaxed considerably. The more optimistic ones even joked from time to time. In just a few days, some of them had even gained weight!

They also encountered refugees along the way. But since they were many and all soldiers, the refugees actually detoured far away when they saw them.

Inside the prison cart, Shen Yuanjing and the others whispered among themselves.

“If only they weren’t taking us to the Third Princess…”

“There were so many refugees—just a dark mass. They even went out of their way to avoid us~”

“Do you think Big Brother is using these soldiers to escort us safely to Jinmen?”

Wasn’t this what books called turning the enemy into one’s own use?

“Big Brother is amazing. If it were me, I’d never have thought of this…”

After another four days of travel, they passed through a market town.

“Once we pass Yanjia Market and travel three more days, we’ll reach Jinmen!”

“When we get there and receive our reward money, damn it, I’m going to live in a pleasure house for a whole month…”

“Look at your lack of ambition~”

Just as Shen Lanxi sat down at a roadside tea stall, yet another birthday-tribute convoy arrived!

The crack of whips and the sound of curses carried over from afar.