Chapter Twenty-Four: Emptying the Garrison Command

"Help me!" Liu Wei cried out to Yinhe for help; this was his only hope!

Although he didn't know what the strange hidden weapon in Chen Qing's hand was, he had personally experienced its power! Although there were many soldiers present, none of them could save him under the threat of Chen Qing's strange weapon.

Only the top ten assassins of the Cold Star Pavilion have any hope.

Yinhe was tall and slender, his silver mask colder than frost and snow. He stood there quietly, showing no intention of making a move.

Liu Wei's despair deepened, and he cried out, "I paid! You son of a bitch! Your Hanxing Pavilion is a traitor; you took my money but..."

His voice stopped abruptly, like a chicken with its throat being squeezed.

Chen Qing pressed the kagune to his temple again, tilting his head impatiently and saying, "It's noisy."

Liu Wei dared not speak again, his face filled with despair.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Lord Liu, your behavior is quite different from before."

Chen Qing watched Liu Wei's reaction with amusement and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

She had seen far too many people like Liu Wei, arrogant and incompetent, who were haughty and domineering when in power, only good at flattering the powerful and belittling the weak. When they fell from grace, their true colors were revealed, and they displayed their ugly side.

According to the original plot of the book, the original owner should have presented the treasure to Liu Wei, obtained Liu Ren, and finally transferred power to Pei Xuancai.

But why would Chen Qing use his own treasures to curry favor with Liu Wei and let Pei Xuan sit in a high position?

Now that she's here, the plot won't follow the expected path.

Chen Qing disliked Liu Wei's actions and had long planned to kill him.

Chen Qing would set off fireworks as a signal, and Li Yi, who was guarding outside the mansion, would take action upon seeing the signal.

Seeing that Yinhe showed no intention of making a move, Chen Qing coerced Liu Wei into giving the first order.

"Have these people leave the courtyard, leaving only Deputy General Zhao."

"My lord, you mustn't!" Deputy General Zhao stepped forward excitedly, seemingly trying to persuade Liu Wei, but the next second, Chen Qing's gun was aimed at Deputy General Zhao and fired. The silver bullet pierced through the stone slab, and stones flew everywhere, leaving a bloody mark on Liu Wei's face.

"Aaaaaah!!"

Although the weapon failed to penetrate Liu Wei, he was terrified and immediately shouted for the soldiers to leave the courtyard.

"Don't come any closer! Listen to her! Listen to everything she says!"

Deputy General Zhao swallowed his anger and had no choice but to let all his men leave.

"The second thing is to open the city gates and let the refugees from outside the city in."

Chen Qing said this.

Deputy General Zhao looked up in alarm: "Are you crazy! If we let those people in, it will definitely cause chaos!"

“Deputy General Zhao,” Chen Qing sneered, “you seem to be out of touch with the situation. Now, you have to listen to me.”

Liu Wei shouted frantically, "Listen to her! Listen to her! Open the city gates!"

"I'll give you half a cup of tea's time. If the city gates still aren't open, Lord Liu, you can go play chess with the King of Hell."

"Zhao Pan! Do you want to betray me? Listen to her!"

Now that things have come to this, Liu Wei is more afraid than anyone else that the city gates will not open.

Deputy General Zhao gritted his teeth and could only call his subordinates: "Go, open the city gates, release the refugees, lead them to the west city, and distribute porridge!"

Outside the city, Da Niu and his fellow villagers had already secretly slipped out and were shouting at the top of their lungs to the refugees: "Hold on! By noon today at the latest, Miss Chen Qing of the Chen family will let you into the city. The nobles in the city will also distribute porridge and food. We will have a way to survive!"

The continuous cold and hunger had caused the corpses of refugees outside the city to pile up like mountains. Those who were still alive were like walking corpses, their eyes vacant, and only when they heard about the distribution of porridge did their eyes light up.

"Who is Miss Chen? Why would she help us?"

"Liar! You're definitely lying to us! You're in cahoots with them!"

The refugees didn't believe Da Niu's words. He was wearing warm winter clothes and didn't seem to lack food. They were sure that the city people were trying to trick them and stop them from causing trouble.

Da Niu quickly introduced himself, but fortunately Chen Qing was prepared and had his fellow villagers dress up as refugees to cooperate with him.

"Da Niu! Is it really you, Da Niu? Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course it's true! If there's a single lie in it, may the heavens strike me down!"

Hope was rekindled in the hearts of the refugees, and they slowly spread the good news.

"Remember, once you enter the city, there will be people distributing porridge, so don't wander off!"

Even so, the majority of the refugees still distrusted Da Niu, until a loud noise suddenly came from the city gate.

Someone shouted, "The door is open! The door is open!"

It turns out that what Da Niu said was true!

Da Niu turned around abruptly, surprised that Chen Qing had actually done it!

He recalled the girl who had stunned them that night, and couldn't help but feel admiration for her.

Chen Qing heard cheers coming from the city gate; the sound was incredibly melodious.

"I've done everything you said, so you can finally let me go, right?"

"Lord Liu, don't be in such a hurry. Wouldn't it be nice to sit down and chat with me?"

Chen Qing remained calm and composed; she was still waiting.

But Liu Wei couldn't wait any longer.

He was bleeding heavily, his lips were pale, and his teeth were chattering: "Then please get a doctor... to take a look at me, I'm going to die."

Just then, a soldier rushed in, shouting in a panic, "Something terrible has happened!"

"Sir! A mutiny has broken out in the military camp!"

"What?!" Deputy General Zhao's eyes widened in fury as he grabbed the soldier and lifted him up. "What did you say?"

As a military commander, Zhao Pan understood better than anyone the terror of a military whistle, a terrifying event that could cause hundreds of thousands of troops to collapse instantly!

"What exactly happened? Tell me, tell me now!"

The soldier, grabbed by the collar, quickly told the truth.

It turns out that a few days ago, some people in the military camp started having nightmares, and then more and more people started having nightmares, and these nightmares were all very similar.

Most of the soldiers stationed in Qibao Town were forcibly conscripted. They dreamed that their relatives in their hometowns were killed by snow disasters, their houses collapsed, and their relatives were crushed or frozen to death. They finally managed to escape with their families and wanted to go to the city to seek help from the imperial court, but they were blocked outside the city by the garrison.

Every day, countless people fall victim to cold and hunger, right where their loved ones are!

The nightmares were so real that many soldiers were mentally disturbed, and even today, many have escaped from the camps after seeing the thousands of frozen corpses outside the city, and could no longer bear the psychological pressure.

One collapsing soldier infects ten, then a hundred...

Now those soldiers are taking off their armor and preparing to loot their way back to their hometowns!

Zhao Pan was shocked by what he had just witnessed. He immediately abandoned his soldiers and even ignored Liu Wei, and hurriedly ran away.

An army cannot be without a general for even a day. In just half an hour, Liu Wei was coerced, and Deputy General Zhao left in a hurry. There was no one in the mansion who could take charge or speak. In addition, with refugees entering the city, all the residents of the city sealed their doors and windows to prevent the refugees from injuring or robbing people.

"The city has fallen! Lord Liu is too busy to help himself, let's run!"

Liu Wei watched helplessly as the two maids packed their bags and hurriedly passed by the courtyard gate. He called out until his voice was hoarse, but no one paid any attention to him.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; that's the gist of it.

Chen Qing laughed heartily, "Lord Liu, it seems you're out of men. Defeating you is easier than I imagined!"

This is what they mean by "watching him build a magnificent mansion, watching him entertain guests, and watching his mansion collapse."

In the courtyard, Yinhe had already left without Chen Qing noticing.

Liu Wei collapsed to the ground, utterly distraught, and stammered, "How could this happen..."

Without further hesitation, Chen Qing gave him a bullet.

"You can think about this problem when you see the King of Hell."

Everyone in Commander Liu's mansion was in a state of panic and was fleeing, but Chen Qing was in no hurry to leave.

Now that she's here, she'll have to go through all the trouble.

Let her have all the good stuff from Liu Wei's mansion!

Chen Qing turned around, stepped into the room, and closed the door tightly.

"System, can I put all these things into my backpack?"

Chen Qing's system has a backpack space, but she has only tried storing items issued by the system and has not yet tried storing things from outside.

One thousand weight loss points can be redeemed for storage space.

The system's voice was cold. Chen Qing curled his lip and complained, "You stingy guy, can't you give me a discount?"

Why not just sell it to the system? Chen Qing had done the math. For example, a pearl from the East China Sea might only fetch a few points when sold to the system, but if he wanted to buy it from the system, it would cost dozens of points, which was not cost-effective.

These treasures don't seem to be particularly rare from interstellar systems.

Without further hesitation, Chen Qing said directly, "Unlock!"

With the storage space activated, anything Chen Qing touched would be automatically stored away. She emptied Liu Wei's entire study!

Furniture made of golden sandalwood! Take it away.

The Pearl of the East China Sea! Take it!

Calligraphy and famous paintings! Take them too!

Liu Wei also had various papers hidden away from others. Chen Qing glanced at them briefly and found that they were all land deeds, house deeds, and many silver notes!

"Tsk tsk tsk, greedy devil, it's good that you're dead, all these things are going to benefit me."

Chen Qing took away everything he could see!

The once exquisite and elegant room is now just an empty shell.

Chen Qing felt something was amiss. "That shouldn't be the case. Why is there only this much? Where are the gold and silver jewelry? Liu Wei is such a miser, he would definitely have kept the valuables in a very nearby place."

"Let me see, is it here?"

Chen Qing touched every part he could reach, and finally found the mechanism on the armchair in front of Liu Wei's desk.

As she pressed down, the stone wall behind her slowly opened, revealing a stone passage that could only accommodate one person at a time.

Candles were lit on both sides of the stone passage, making the room warm and cozy. After walking through the narrow passage for more than a meter, a dark room of about ten square meters appeared.

"One, two, three, four..." Chen Qing counted briefly and found that there were actually twenty-three wooden boxes here!

Each box, once opened, was filled with gold and silver jewelry that could dazzle anyone's eyes!

Chen Qing didn't stand on ceremony and put them all into his spatial storage!

She can watch it slowly when she has time!

I have to say, Liu Wei is really greedy!

Having collected everything he could, Chen Qing didn't waste any more time and hurriedly headed outside.

If you run into someone else, it will be hard to explain.

Fortunately, everyone in the mansion was busy escaping for their lives, so no one recognized Chen Qing or noticed her.

Liu Wei had a large number of wives and concubines, and many children. When they realized that something was wrong, they hurriedly packed their belongings and tried to escape from the city.

Even the master of the house ran away, let alone the maids and servants. If they didn't run away, were they just waiting to die?

Everyone else was running, but Chen Qing moved with ease, exploring the entire Liu Shoubei's residence.

If no one was around, she would go into the room and ransack it.

The most important thing is to find a warehouse.

When Chen Qing found the warehouse, the door had already been opened, and everything of value inside had been stolen. Only a lot of grain remained, which was too heavy to carry and had been left behind.

Just then, a familiar voice came from outside.

"Young Miss!"

"Sister Qing! Where are you?"

It was Li Yi and Pei Xuan.

Chen Qing walked out of the warehouse. "I'm here."

Li Yi's eyes lit up, and she was the first to run over, "Miss, are you alright?"

Chen Qing smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm fine. How are you all? What's going on outside?"

"When Patriarch Chen heard that the city gates had been opened, he fled with his men! He didn't even wait for you to come with him! How despicable!"

Pei Xuan was furious. Last time, when Chen Qing was abandoned by her family, if it weren't for her cleverness and resourcefulness, she would probably have become food for the refugees. He never expected that he would have to watch Chen Qing be abandoned by her family again this time.

Chen Qing wasn't surprised; she hadn't had any expectations of those people anyway.

"Never mind them, let them go wherever they want. Where's Xiao Wu? I just need you to stay with me."

"Xiao Wu and Uncle Zhong are together."

"Uncle Zhong didn't leave with Chen Zhenyan?"

Li Yi said, "Steward Wang insisted on waiting for the young lady, but he was also abandoned by Patriarch Chen."

Chen Qing remained silent, never expecting that Wang Zhong would choose to stand by her side.

"Sister Qing, are we leaving too?"

The city is now leaderless, and the refugees and soldiers are in chaos. If they stay here, they will only face more chaos.

Chen Qing frowned in thought, "What about the Sun family members?"

She was referring to the county magistrate's younger brother, who, along with the Sun family, had caused Liu Wei a lot of trouble.

"They are distributing porridge in the west of the city to accommodate displaced people."

The magistrate's younger brother was named Sun Sanxing. He was only twenty-five years old, but he had already passed the imperial examination and was known as a gentleman in Qibao Town.

Unlike the greedy and rampant Liu Shoubei, the magistrate Sun, whom he killed, was a good magistrate who was meticulous and cared about the people.

When the snow disaster first occurred, Magistrate Sun led his men to inspect outside the city, but Liu Wei took advantage of his unpreparedness to kill him and dump his body outside the city. Liu Wei then quickly took over Qibao Town, and even the Sun family members were taken into custody.

Sun Sanxing never gave up on avenging his brother, so when Li Yi came to him, he agreed without hesitation.

Thinking of this, Chen Qing had already decided to leave. "We have to go back to Qingzhou. At least we need to get my mother's dowry back. We can't let those bastards get it for nothing."

With Sun Sanxing in charge, Qibao Town won't be in chaos for long; order will be restored in two or three days at most.

Chen Qing was the one who truly defeated Liu Wei; her staying here would actually be bad for Sun Sanxing.

After she leaves, Sun Sanxing will be able to claim all the credit and manage Qibao Town more effectively.

Without further hesitation, Chen Qing ordered, "Li Yi, go find a carriage, load up the supplies needed for the journey, and we'll leave Qibao Town today."

"Yes!" Li Yi accepted the order and left.

"Xuannu, let's go back to find Xiao Wu and Uncle Zhong. Let's go."

"Okay! I'll go wherever Sister Qing goes!"