In the past, the thing Barbarians feared most was the Mo Family men. Even if they wanted to invade Da Shun, they would choose to attack when the Mo Family was guarding the southern border.
It would take at least half a month for the Mo Family to rush from the southern border to the western border across the entire Da Shun territory. The Barbarian invaders would take advantage of this half-month window to catch Da Shun off guard.
The two brothers guessed that the Barbarians must have heard that the Mo Family was exiled to the northwest.
Putting aside whether their other brothers survived, just Ninth Brother alone was enough to deter the entire forces of Barbarians.
The Barbarians were worried that the patriotic men of the Mo Family, even though exiled here, would not want to see Barbarians invade the Da Shun territory.
That was why they took the opportunity of inciting the Barbarians to raid Xi Ling Village, to probe the situation of the Mo Family.
Other than that, they could not think of any other reasons.
The current Mo Family had completely lost hope in the Da Shun court. Just barely staying alive was difficult for them, how could they possibly handle other matters?
However, only the Mo Family knew this clearly. In the eyes of outsiders, these men of the Mo Family were loyal patriots who would surely not sit idle when the nation was in peril.
It was not surprising that the Barbarians would have such worries.
This showed that the goal of the Barbarians in raiding this time was merely to plunder the common folk, while the masterminds behind it wanted to take the chance to scout for information on the Mo Family.
After the two brothers figured this out, they did not plan to explain it to anyone. With so many Barbarians left unchecked, whether they lived or died had to be settled first.
First, Seventh Elder Brother looked over the villagers of Xi Ling Village. The injured were being carried into the village under Zhao Li Zheng’s command.
There were still many severely injured, after all most clashes involved iron weapons. Although the Mo brothers shielded them at the forefront, those villagers could not emerge completely unscathed.
...
He Zhiran was also not idle on her side. The dogs called back by Rice Ball were variously injured, with a few unable to make it back.
These dogs were personally bought by her from the space. She had witnessed their growth and saw their loyal guardianship of their home everyday. When free, they would even wag their tails ingratiatingly at her.
Thinking of this, He Zhiran’s eyes reddened slightly, but now was not the time for her to be overly sentimental.
The priority was treating the injuries of these dogs that still survived.
Moreover, she saw that many villagers were also injured.
She sent Rice Ball into the space, while her consciousness swiftly gathered a large amount of medicine for external injuries, bandages and other items, packing them into a large package to take out from the space.
Fortunately she was well prepared, having swapped the medicines into porcelain bottles and the bandages into white linen of this era, sterilized at high temperatures, making them usable like modern gauze bandages.
Whether people or dogs, the number needing treatment was not small. With just herself alone, the treatment would likely be delayed.
Seeing that Seventh Elder Brother and Eighth Brother had dealt with those Barbarians, He Zhiran shouted loudly at the Mo Family women: “Mother, sisters-in-law, come quickly to help!”
The women were currently still in shock. They had just seen Ninth Sister-in-Law come over to say a few words to Mo Yuance, after which those Barbarians immediately collapsed in swathes...
After all, they had never experienced such scenes before, and were unclear on things like white powder either, only assuming that it was dust stirred in the fight.
All of this was too inconceivable, which they still could not digest quickly.
Hearing He Zhiran’s shout, other than Old Lady Mo, the rest felt like suddenly awakening from a dream.
Old Lady Mo knew that her ninth daughter-in-law would not call them groundlessly. She reminded:
“Go quickly, see what matter your Ninth Sister-in-Law has.”
Hearing their mother-in-law’s prompt, the women successively collected their thoughts and hurried with large strides towards He Zhiran.
On seeing her family come over, He Zhiran immediately placed the large package before everyone.
“Mother, sisters-in-law, our dogs are injured. I cannot handle it alone and need your help.”
The Mo women now saw the bloodied dogs before them, feeling equally awful, with the more tender-hearted already tearing up.
Second Sister-in-Law said sorrowfully: “Poor dogs, to have sustained such tragic injuries guarding us.”
Old Lady Mo had the calmest disposition. Seeing her daughters-in-law still lamenting over there, she hurried urged:
“If you feel sorry for these dogs, then follow your Ninth Sister-in-Law’s arrangements to immediately help treat the wounds.”
In her youth she had followed the old Lord to border passes before, and saw such battle scenes a few times.
Only difference was, what she saw injured then were people, while what she saw now were injured dogs.
The feeling was the same – it made one’s heart ache to watch.
Even without the mother-in-law speaking, the sisters-in-law would have gone all out to help save them. Just that they did not know medicine, and could only look to He Zhiran for instructions.
He Zhiran opened the package.
“See here everyone, first wipe the wounds with this – it prevents rotting, and this stops bleeding – apply it then tie a firm bandage...”
Inside were not just medicines, but He Zhiran had also prepared a few razors.
These were not unfamiliar to them as ancient women – they used it to groom their husband’s beards.
“And these, to shave away the hair around the dogs’ wound area for ease of treatment.”
As time did not wait for man, while handing out the razors to them He Zhiran went on: “Also, bring severely injured dogs to me. Just treat surface wounds on your side.”
Including Old Lady Mo and Mo Hanyue, the women earnestly nodded, immediately checking the dogs’ injuries.
Truthfully, they feared dealing with such bloody wounds in their hearts.
But thinking that it would be useless culpability if they delayed rescue over fear, they steeled themselves to overcome the fear, boldly trying to treat the dogs’ injuries.
He Zhiran observed that Mo Hanyue performed the best, her techniques also seemingly more skilled than the rest.
In fact, He Zhiran did not know that the lass often had to bandage her own injured rabbits from their fights. Treating these bigger dogs was no different for Mo Hanyue from treating her rabbits.
Seeing her motions, He Zhiran was very pleased. She instructed the women to direct any doubts to Mo Hanyue.
Mo Hanyue could handle the dogs, freeing up her hands to check on the villagers.
Xi Ling Village had no doctors. Getting one had to be from the city, which would delay rescue by much.
If there were severely injured, lives could be easily lost from it.
