“Luoxia Mountain?” Shao Mingyuan felt a sharp pain in his heart, but his face showed only cold sternness beyond any other expression. As he walked outside, he commanded: “Summon forty personal guards to follow me to Luoxia Mountain, and notify the Ministry of Finance, the Five Cities Military Commission, and other offices!”

“Orders received!”

Shao Mingyuan galloped on horseback, the wind by his ears was hot, mixed with a hint of coolness after the heavy rain.

The muddy official road slowed his speed considerably. He could only desperately urge his mount forward, trying to make it faster, even faster.

Luoxia Mountain finally came into view, but what met his eyes chilled the hearts of everyone who arrived there.

Piles of earth and massive rocks blocked the road leading up the mountain. Among the mud, stones, and broken branches, human clothing and even severed limbs could be faintly seen.

Shao Zhi and another subordinate were burying their heads, digging through the mud and stones with their bare hands.

Dozens of personal guards rode behind Shao Mingyuan in complete silence.

Shao Mingyuan dismounted and called in a deep voice: “Shao Zhi!”

Shao Zhi ran over, his ten fingers already bloody and mangled: “General!”

Shao Mingyuan held a digging tool in his hand, walking forward while asking: “Where did you see the signal?”

“Reporting to the General, this subordinate noticed it at the crossroads ten li away. Racing all the way here, this is what we found.”

“The one who sent the signal was Chen Guang, which means he was still alive then.” As Shao Mingyuan said this, his eyes didn’t pause, constantly surveying the surroundings.

“Then Chen Guang now—” Shao Zhi’s voice trembled.

Shao Mingyuan didn’t answer. Standing before the mud and stones, he walked around in a half circle, then pointed to several spots: “Groups of five, start digging from these places. Pay attention to the situation at all times, and don’t injure the buried people. The rest are responsible for moving mud and stones.”

Based on his experience, only those buried under these few spots still had a thread of hope for survival.

“Orders received!” All the personal guards responded together, then quickly acted according to Shao Mingyuan’s instructions, with not a single person raising any objections.

For them, military orders being like mountains was one aspect, but more importantly, their general had never been wrong.

Shao Mingyuan didn’t stand by watching, but bent down to lift a massive boulder.

“General, let us subordinates handle this.”

“Too much talk!” Shao Mingyuan coldly rebuked, his hands never stopping their movements.

How could he stand by with folded arms?

At this moment, Shao Mingyuan’s heart felt empty. He dared not think of anything, nor did he try to think. Only the digging tool in his hands kept swinging ceaselessly.

However, later on, not only did the hoe in Shao Mingyuan’s hands break with a crack, but many personal guards’ tools also began to break one after another.

These personal guards who had lost their earth-digging and stone-moving tools showed no hesitation whatsoever. Like Shao Mingyuan, they all began digging earth and moving stones with their bare hands.

Gradually, everyone’s fingers became bloody and mangled.

“Someone’s out, someone’s out!” Came the jubilant cry of personal guards from one location.

Shao Mingyuan immediately strode over.

Two personal guards dragged out a man in dark robes. The man was young, with half his face smashed, though his delicate features could still barely be made out. However, he was already completely dead.

At that moment, Shao Mingyuan couldn’t describe what kind of mood he felt. He could only utter two words: “Continue!”

He returned to his original spot to continue digging earth and stones. Although his heart felt empty, his hands didn’t tremble in the slightest as he silently dug away mud and tree branches and moved aside stone blocks.

At the mountain base, over forty people carried out rescue operations in an orderly manner. Apart from the sounds of moving mud and stones, no other noise was made. When Jiang Cheng, the Western District Commander of the Five Cities Military Commission, arrived with his men, this was the shocking scene that greeted him.

On the ground nearby lay several corpses of young men in a row – all uniformly dressed in guard uniforms.

Jiang Cheng saw the sword beside one corpse clearly, and his legs nearly gave out: “Marquis this, these are palace guards!”

Shao Mingyuan didn’t lift his head, saying flatly: “Save people first, then talk.”

Before natural disasters, what distinction was there between noble and lowly? All he thought of now was saving people, the faster the better!

“General, there’s a young lady!”

At these words, Shao Mingyuan’s entire body stiffened for an instant, then he walked over expressionlessly to look.

Two guards dragged out the corpse of a young woman, one of them saying, “Her face is completely smashed.”

When Shao Mingyuan saw the color and style of the woman’s clothing, his tense heart suddenly relaxed.

He knew that every person’s life was precious, yet he never wanted to see her carried out from here.

Shao Mingyuan returned, and seeing someone brought by Western District Commander Jiang Cheng raising a hoe to dig at that position, he couldn’t help but coldly shout: “Stop!”

The hoe was held in mid-air, and the person who was stopped looked completely baffled: “What orders does the Marquis have?”

Their Western District was unlucky. They were about to finish their shift when their chief received notification from the higher-ups that a landslide had occurred on Luoxia Mountain.

Luoxia Mountain had both Dafu Temple and Shuying Nunnery, and both the temple and nunnery had subtle connections to the imperial family. A landslide occurring here was serious business. Whether or not anyone was buried, this mountain road had to be cleared.

They could only blame the Western District Military Commission for their bad luck, who told them to be closest to this area?

“Do you know there might still be living people inside here?” Shao Mingyuan didn’t waste words with the minor constable, pushing him aside to carefully lift a large stone.

Just after this large stone was moved away, instead of tightly packed earth and stones inside, there was a narrow space.

Shao Mingyuan looked inside and commanded: “Come, several people.”

Several personal guards immediately came over: “What orders does the General have?”

“You few support both sides while I go in to rescue people.”

“General, let us go in instead!” All the personal guards present were battle-tested talents selected from thousands. In the current situation, none were fools.

This precariously supported narrow space was extremely unstable and could collapse at any moment. If someone went in to rescue people, they might very well lose their life inside.

“No need for more words.” Shao Mingyuan tucked his robe hem into his waist, tied his sleeves tight, bent down, and carefully crawled inside.

Apart from the personal guards who received Shao Mingyuan’s orders to support the mud and stones on both sides, the other guards looked worried, but none stopped their work at hand.

Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but marvel in amazement, thinking to himself that no wonder Marquis Guanjun could intimidate the Northern Territories. Seeing him today, indeed, military orders were like mountains. He, a mere Western District Commander, didn’t have such high awareness. He stretched his neck to peer inside.

Shao Mingyuan moved agilely, avoiding places that might touch the support points of the inner mud and stones, crawling to a man who was bowed forward and lying prone.

He grasped the man’s hand, then his expression suddenly changed dramatically.

This man was protecting a woman beneath him – no wonder his body was positioned this way.

The moment he touched the man’s hand, Shao Mingyuan knew this person was completely dead. He carefully moved the man aside, revealing the woman who had been protected beneath him.

The woman’s face was covered in blood, making her original appearance impossible to discern.

Shao Mingyuan suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he couldn’t see her features clearly, he knew this wasn’t Miss Li!