Cui Hongyu shook her head, "No, he said it would take at least three to five days."
At this moment, Princess Zhaoning, who was beside them, spoke, "Then let's hurry up the mountain to search. The sooner we find him, the more at ease we'll be."
"Your Highness, please wait in the village. I'll take them up the mountain," Liu Rumei quickly interjected to stop her.
Princess Zhaoning, however, stubbornly glared and said, "No, I'm in charge here. You have to listen to me."
Liu Rumei was very helpless and spread her hands, "But before we came, His Highness the Crown Prince said we should listen to Sister Hongyu."
Princess Zhaoning looked at Cui Hongyu with a smile, "Miss Hongyu, we're going up the mountain to find Chen Xiaobei now. Do you have any objections?"
Cui Hongyu shook her head, "Your Highness, please wait at the foot of the mountain. Miss Liu and I will go up."
"No," Princess Zhaoning's attitude was resolute. "I came specifically to go up the mountain. Let's not waste any more time, and set off immediately."
Princess Zhaoning was impatient, and given her status as a high-ranking princess, Liu Rumei couldn't force her to stop.
Liu Rumei had no choice but to re-arrange the plan, assigning Yang Zhi, Yang Chun, and Liu Ce to stay with two thousand soldiers to protect Hetou Village. She, Princess Zhaoning, the young maid, Chu Han, and others, along with the subordinates of Liu Tie and Zhou Quan, plus a thousand soldiers, would go up the mountain overnight to search for Chen Xiaobei.
The reason for leaving heavy troops at the foot of the mountain was still due to Shen Qiang's words. There were five thousand people on the mountain, and if they were to descend collectively, the impact on the small mountain village would be enormous.
Taking a thousand men up the mountain, the narrow mountain paths would limit their maneuverability, making the disparity in troop strength less obvious than at the foot of the mountain.
Meanwhile, Chen Xiaobei and his group were still busy transporting military supplies and provisions overnight, and danger was quietly approaching.
Just as Shen Qiang had said, there were still many soldiers on the mountain. After the great fire, these soldiers, in their panic, had fled all the way to the Dragon King River. Seeing no way out, they had no choice but to return. Thus, Qi Chong and his men ascending and descending the mountain perfectly missed them.
The leader of the group was named Zhu Ting, a trusted subordinate of Zhu Meng.
He had gathered about two thousand men. They walked back along the mountain path, and soon someone ran to report.
"General, we've found people in front transporting our military supplies."
Hearing this, Zhu Ting frowned.
"Is it the Crown Prince's men?"
The person shook his head, "They're wearing commoner's clothes and speaking their dialect."
Zhu Ting nodded, "So, it's a group of villagers."
"It appears so from the signs."
Zhu Ting pondered for a moment, then turned and said, "You wait here, I'll go take a look."
Zhu Ting took off his armor, carrying only his saber, and walked forward with the scout.
Indeed, there were flickering torchlights ahead.
Dozens of villagers were carrying various supplies from the tents and heading down the mountain.
To be honest, Chen Xiaobei and the others were also careless. After Qi Chong left, he thought there were no more people on the mountain, so he didn't even set up sentries. Everyone was focused on transporting supplies down the mountain as quickly as possible.
Moreover, due to the extended battle line, the closer they got to the original location of the rope bridge, the more provisions were left behind. Therefore, over a hundred villagers were spread out over these dozens of miles of mountain road, appearing sparse.
Most were in small groups of three or five, without any large formations.
Zhu Ting watched carefully for a while, an idea forming in his mind. He said to the scout beside him, "Go and bring two hundred men over. Have them all change into civilian clothes."
Soon, two hundred soldiers were brought over. Zhu Ting pointed to the few flickering torchlights in the distance and said, "These groups of three or five will surely enter the tents nearby. You go in and lie in wait first."
The two hundred men immediately dispersed into twos and threes and entered the dozens of tents nearby.
As expected, a few villagers arrived and immediately split up to enter the tents.
The leader of the villagers, Chen Daqiang, was immediately gagged and pinned to the ground as soon as he entered a tent.
Soon, Chen Daqiang was tied up securely, and a rag was stuffed into his mouth.
Then, several villagers were carried out of the tents. Zhu Ting waved his hand, signaling for them to be carried further away.
Zhu Ting waited there, like a hunter waiting for prey. Wave after wave, within an hour, he had captured over twenty people.
At this time, Chen Xiaobei was completely unaware of this, chatting and laughing as he walked towards this area with Chen Dayong.
As they walked, Chen Dayong suddenly stopped.
"Brother Xiaobei, why does it feel wrong to me?" Although Chen Dayong had never been a soldier, he had worked as a guard in a wealthy family and knew some martial arts. He had some experience in this regard.
Chen Xiaobei scratched his head, "What's wrong? Don't scare yourself."
Chen Dayong pointed forward, "Look, it's dark ahead, not a single spark of light."
"Not many people have passed this way either."
Chen Xiaobei's mind buzzed.
His memory flashed back rapidly. That's right, when they had just come down the steep slope, there were many torches ahead.
"This is bad, something has likely happened ahead," Chen Xiaobei immediately became vigilant.
"Brother Dayong, quickly, let's go back. We'll stop everyone along the way and count to see how many are missing."
The two turned back and stopped everyone along the way, quickly retreating to the steep slope. After a headcount, they discovered that nearly thirty people were missing, including the village captain Chen Dachun, and team members Chen Daqiang, Chen Sanliang, and others.
After waiting for another half hour, no one had returned. Chen Xiaobei was convinced that something had happened to them.
At this time, Zhu Ting, who had been waiting for a long time and saw no one coming, also realized that these villagers must have sensed something.
"Take these villagers and retreat. Retreat to the place with the pond."
Zhu Ting was referring to Longyan, but he didn't know the name, so he could only use "the place with the pond" as a substitute.
Before leaving, Zhu Ting called over the soldiers and instructed them to take as much provisions as possible.
As they walked, a soldier beside him asked in confusion, "General, why aren't we searching further to capture all these villagers?"
Zhu Ting laughed heartily, "No rush, no rush. Catching more people means more food to eat. These twenty-odd people are enough. They'll have to return everything they took, no matter what it is."
At this moment, Chen Xiaobei was filled with regret. He should have followed the original plan and returned in the afternoon. By now, they would have passed the Mountain God Temple without any trouble.
Greed makes one lose sight of moderation. He had pushed too hard, and now, people were gone. What should he do now?
What was even more critical was that among his subordinates, only Chen Dayong knew some martial arts; the rest did not.
How could they rescue the captives?
Just then, Chen Dayong said anxiously, "Brother Xiaobei, we should lead the people to retreat first."
Chen Xiaobei, however, shook his head, "You take them to the Mountain God Temple first. I have to wait here. What if they come back?"
Chen Dayong sighed, "Alas, if they were to come back, they would have already. Something has definitely happened."