Chapter 202 Never Kneel

On the fifth day of April, the eunuchs from the imperial transport department, accompanied by five hundred elite soldiers, rode in a luxurious carriage and slowly entered through the main gate of Lan County.

Xu Zhenying had already ordered all the people in the city to go out to welcome him according to the request in Eunuch Zhou's handwritten letter.

He stood there for more than an hour from early morning until noon, but there was still no sign of the man.

Tens of thousands of people from Lan County stood on both sides in a black mass, already impatient.

Under Xu Zhenying's administration, the people of Lan County were more confident and more unruly than those in other counties.

The people were already unhappy about being asked to go out of the city to welcome the soldiers, and they were all waiting with a simmering anger. If Xu Zhenying and the Xu family had not been leading the charge, they might have quietly slipped back home to lie down.

What is there to be afraid of as a eunuch?

Such a grand display, I wonder if I’m lucky enough to enjoy it!

There are five to six thousand elite soldiers in Lan County, plus the refugees from Gaoxin County, all together there are at least twenty to thirty thousand capable fighters in the city. Not to mention that they have never run out of food since Xu Zhenying entered the city. Each of them is well-fed, tall and strong, and looks much more energetic than the ordinary people outside.

Therefore, he stood up straight, thinking that at worst he could kill the eunuch and his group, and he could pay less tax by a few taels of silver.

Some people even wanted to start an uprising long ago. They said that the city lord had people and food, so he might as well rebel and become the emperor himself. Wouldn't the people of Lan County be able to rise to power overnight?

But more ordinary people are still taking a wait-and-see attitude.

However, they had already waited for an hour, and with the sun scorching and no shade on either side, the people of Lan County gradually became impatient.

Soon, a dark-faced man shouted impatiently, "Damn it! When will that damn eunuch come? It's been over an hour. There should be a limit to how much you can put on airs."

The dark-faced man's words immediately drew the agreement of several brave men: "Exactly. A damned eunuch is so arrogant. Does he really think the people of Lan County are easy to bully?"

"That's right, can you please hurry up? You're delaying my business!"

An elderly man from Lan County shook his head upon hearing this and whispered to his son beside him, "Look, the people of Lan County have been spoiled by the city lord. In the past, we would have had to kneel at the city gate and wait for hours. How could we dare to complain?"

His son was unconvinced and said, "Father, that was a time ago, and it's a time now. With the city lord here, how could we ordinary people suffer such injustice?"

The old man said, "You're still feeling wronged? Look, the court sent the city lord to meet him, and he went anyway. How can an arm twist a thigh?"

"I don't think so. I heard that all the men and women in the barracks have arrived with their weapons. If things go wrong... there might be a big fight today!"

The old man shook his head and sighed, "We are old and can no longer fight. Let's go home early and collect all the valuables in the house to prevent the people above from fighting and involving us small fry."

Seeing that no one responded, the dark-faced man began to sweat.

He couldn't help but look at Hu Wei who was sitting in the corner on the second floor of the teahouse. Hu Wei was dressed in all black, his hair was combed meticulously, and it was rarely tied with a jade crown. Although there was a strand of white hair on his temples, he looked energetic at the moment.

Hu Wei sipped the tea on the table carefully, looked at the crowd below, and gestured to Lin Er with his mouth to wait a little longer.

Xu Zhenying and others stood in front of the city gate. Except for Xu Yinxi and Xu Huijia from Ye County, and Xu Anping who was on the refugee side, almost all the other members of the Xu family had gone out.

Considering that the eunuch might have met some people in the palace, Xu Deyuan, the Lian family, the Fang family and others did not come.

But just because people didn't come doesn't mean they will miss such a grand event.

Finally, at noon, I heard some noise on the official road from afar. I saw a cloud of dust in the distance, and there seemed to be a crowd of people, followed by a carriage slowly approaching.

Qian Zhenniang's heart was about to jump out of her chest. She glanced at Xu Zhenying beside her, but saw that the man was standing still among thousands of troops. This made her inexplicably feel at ease.

She is not afraid.

Following the girl, she is not afraid of death!

Finally, the carriage drove into Lan County.

Tens of thousands of people in Lan County all fell silent at this moment, holding their breath and standing on both sides of the road, all looking at the carriage parked at the city gate.

Xu Zhenying and his men went to greet him, smiling and saying, "This is Eunuch Zhou from the Transportation Bureau, right? You must have been exhausted from the journey. Please get out of the car. We've prepared some light wine to welcome you. I hope you don't mind."

The people in the car did not get out immediately. Through the fluttering curtains, everyone saw a eunuch wearing green clothes and four beautiful young maids sitting inside.

Damn it, what a sin!

I don't know where this bastard got these girls from. They look only fourteen or fifteen years old. If they were in their Lan County, they would either be farming, serving as female soldiers or doctors, or still studying and learning to read. How could they be treated like this?

Eunuch Zhou seemed to have just seen Xu Zhenying. He frowned and thought, "Is this the mountain king of Lan County?"

Looks a little too young, doesn't it?

No matter who he is, the imperial court doesn't care anyway. He is just a eunuch in the Transportation Bureau, and he is only responsible for collecting taxes. Why should he care about so many things?

Besides, the imperial court allowed the sale of official positions and titles. As long as the money was paid, this mountain king could transform himself into a legitimate official.

It has to be said that this move by the Great Zhou Dynasty was a stroke of genius. It not only solved the treasury problem, but also maintained its own face like the emperor's new clothes.

If the bandits occupied the city, as long as they didn't kill the people or raise the flag of rebellion, and paid some money to the government and completed the formalities, they would be officially appointed as officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty. This would also save a lot of money on suppressing the bandits, which was really killing three birds with one stone.

As for the lives of ordinary people, there were tens of millions of people in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the death of a few people in remote areas was not a big deal.

"Are you the magistrate of Lan County?" Eunuch Zhou pinched his nose, a look of disgust on his face. "What the hell are you wearing? It's out of place. And look at your hair. Tsk tsk tsk tsk, you really are from a poor and remote place, a place of barbarians. You are a petty person who is not worthy of being on the stage."

Sure enough, before Eunuch Zhou officially entered the city, he had already provoked the anger of the people of Lan County with just one sentence!

It's okay to say they're a barbarian country, but the clothes are so convenient! They don't interfere with work at all!

And the City Lord's hair, it never gets lice in the summer, so it's easy to take care of! Besides, the City Lord is so busy with all sorts of things, how can he have time to pay attention to such trivial matters!

The people of Lan County stared at the eunuch Zhou with wide eyes.

They completely forgot that when Xu Zhenying first had her hair cut, they had privately made fun of her and called her a young thief.

Xu Zhenying felt amused but didn't show it on his face. "You don't know, Grandfather, that this southwest area is full of miasma and prone to mosquitoes. Walking outside can easily lead to infection, which is why lice are so common in my hair. For convenience, I simply cut my hair."

Eunuch Zhou's disgust was evident in his words, but when he entered the city, he also saw the huge crowds of people in the city. He thought that although this mountain king was young, she seemed to have some prestige, and it would be a bad idea to offend her too much. He had to give her some face so that he could plan for the big things in the future.

Thinking about the extra 200,000 yuan in taxes from Ye County, and then thinking about the silver that this self-proclaimed king had to pay in order to become a legitimate county magistrate, Eunuch Zhou's expression softened slightly. "If that's the case, why don't you kneel down and receive the order?"

I swear to God, Eunuch Zhou really didn't mean to make things difficult for Xu Zhenying.

As a tax-collecting eunuch in the Transportation Department, he carried with him the imperial edicts for the three departments to pay taxes. No matter where he went, the local officials had to kneel down to greet him.

Xu Zhenying was stunned at first, then he looked bewildered, and then he looked like he was gritting his teeth to endure the humiliation.

Qian Zhenniang, Mo Jinchun, six guards and other members of the Xu family team on one side were instantly furious!

Kneel down on his grandma's legs!

The people of Lan County have long been accustomed to Xu Zhenying's order not to kneel, and they have not knelt before anyone for more than half a year!

Their knees had long since become stiff and they couldn't kneel down!

Xu Zhenying was about to kneel, but was stopped by Lu Fei on the side. Lu Fei drew out his sword with a ding sound and pointed it at Eunuch Zhou. "Damn it! You dare to make our city lord kneel? Believe it or not, I will kill you!"

And at this moment, the already tense atmosphere became even more tense.

Wang Dajian never expected that the bandits in Lan County would be so arrogant and tough. Before he could react, the 500 elite soldiers behind him all drew their swords!

"The common people of Lan County never kneel! Don't even think about making our city lord kneel!"

A young man in the front of the crowd shouted excitedly!

But unexpectedly something unexpected happened at this moment!

All I heard was a scream, followed by screams from the crowd. No one knew what was happening, and the people in the front row all backed away, almost causing a stampede!

Xu Zhenying's face changed, and there was a cold light in his eyes!

It turned out that it was General Wang who stabbed the young man who first shouted that he would not kneel down.

Blood splattered everywhere, and the people around him were frightened by this sudden scene and all stepped back!

The young man fell down in a pool of blood.

There was a bloody hole in his stomach.

Supervisor Wang shouted, "This man has defied Your Majesty and has been executed on the spot. Anyone who makes such remarks again will be killed without mercy!"

General Wang originally thought that he must enter the city to intimidate these rebels, otherwise their trip would definitely not be successful.

This move was very deterrent in the previous counties. Some people were even scared to the point of wetting their pants on the spot. If they brought up the issue of fixed taxation at this time, it would definitely be more effective.

Going into the city and killing someone is the opening act of every tax collection tour.

The so-called killing the chicken to scare the monkey is exactly this principle.

However, General Wang never expected that it was precisely because of his action that the curtain was opened for the uprising in the Zhou Dynasty!

Because at this moment, the anger of the people of Lan County was completely ignited!

"God damn it, these dog officials killed the good men of Lan County. We will fight them to the death!!!"

"Kill them, kill them!"

"Kill the dog officer!"

Someone in the crowd shouted something, and the whole place suddenly became chaotic!

Now many confused people became excited, some picked up their weapons, some hid behind, and some ran home in a panic!

Even Hu Wei upstairs and Fang Xun and others hiding in the corner were tense!

On Xu Zhenying's side, the six-member guard team was almost ready to go immediately, protecting her tightly behind them, waiting for Xu Zhenying's order to rush forward!

Seeing that the situation was beyond her expectations, Xu Zhenying hurriedly took the megaphone and shouted, "What are you doing? Are you trying to rebel?! Stop it!"

Xu Zhenying has always enjoyed prestige among the people, and this shout temporarily calmed the excited people.

But that's only temporary!

Although the dissatisfied people of Lan County did not take any further action, they all stared at Eunuch Zhou and Military Supervisor Wang.

The 20,000 people gathered in a black mass, instantly creating a terrifying pressure!

The situation is about to explode!!

Even the usually domineering eunuch Zhou was almost frightened this time!

Why do these people in Lan County not listen to the court but only listen to Xu Zhenying?

Eunuch Zhou's face was covered in cold sweat, and he finally realized that he had met a tough opponent this time.

"Eunuch Zhou, Military Supervisor Wang, don't be afraid. The people of Lan County have no ill intentions. I understand that you two are here to collect taxes from Lan County under the orders of the Emperor, and this is the duty of every member of our county. How about discussing the details during this meal?"

Eunuch Zhou wiped the sweat from his face and looked at the people of Lan County who were staring at him eagerly, as if ready to pounce at any moment. He said tremblingly, "Yes, yes, your Majesty is right. These are all orders from the court. We are only collecting them on their behalf. Let's go, let's go to the restaurant and talk."

Eunuch Zhou wanted to leave this damn place immediately.

Xu Zhenying ignored Eunuch Zhou's trembling appearance and made a "please" gesture openly, "Please."

Taking advantage of the gap, Qian Zhenniang immediately arranged for someone to carry the injured young man to the medical school.

However, even so, the public sentiment was still high and difficult to calm.

Qian Zhenniang shouted to the crowd, "Everyone, please go home first. We'll discuss everything after the city lord and the eunuch from the Transportation Bureau have discussed it. We'll post the notice at the county government office tomorrow. Everyone, please disperse. There's no point in waiting here."

After Qian Zhenniang left, someone in the crowd shouted, "Let's go to the square! There's a lot of space over there, so we'll wait there. I heard the students in the study are ready to gather firsthand intelligence for us!"

The dark-faced man hurried through the crowd and went straight to the corner room of the restaurant opposite. He pushed the door open and asked the man inside, "Master Hu, what should we do?"

Hu Wei was staring at the leading young man in the crowd who was shouting and leading others to the square. He felt that he looked familiar after looking at him for a long time, and then he remembered, wasn't this the Liu Erwa who followed Wang Xingye?

Lin Er didn't know why Hu Wei suddenly couldn't stop laughing.

He laughed so happily, as if he had encountered some great joy.

Lin Er was puzzled and asked, "Master Hu, Secretary Qian has dispersed the crowd. They are now heading to the square to wait for news."

Hu Wei said, "You go along too. Act according to the situation and help fan the flames. Kill two people if necessary. Make sure the people of Lan County become blindly obedient and crazy!"

Lin Er took the order and left.