Chapter 121 New City Lord
The villagers and the bandits engaged in a fierce battle. Li Datou rushed to the front. He rode a horse and wielded his sword with superb skill, killing one person with one blow. He also shouted to mobilize the troops: "Brothers, kill one person and you will be rewarded with one pound of food. If you dare to retreat, I will kill you now! Today it is either them or us. If you don't want to starve again, follow me!"
How dare I retreat?
The bandits formed a circle on the outside, and anyone they saw retreating would be killed with a single blow.
The refugees had no weapons, most of them were armed with sharpened sticks, while the local villagers rushed forward with sickles, kitchen knives, axes, etc., "Dare to occupy my land, dare to steal my food, I will kill you--"
At this moment, Xu Qingying seemed to see purgatory on earth.
Everyone's expression was ferocious and terrifying, and they were completely in a manic state. Especially after seeing blood, both sides were fighting desperately and the fight was extremely intense.
Xu Qingying saw with her own eyes a villager who was running away and was caught up by several refugees. The sharpened branches poked the villager, leaving several holes on his body, and he then fell down.
There was a bandit who was hit by an axe from mid-air, and his head was split in half. He fell to the ground.
His companions stepped on his corpse and continued to move forward!
In a short while, the fields were littered with all kinds of corpses.
None of them had ever seen such a bloody scene. Feng'er and Xu Yinxi were trembling all over, clinging to Xu Qingying tightly. Li Xiucai was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground, unable to move a step, and could only speak madly: "They are crazy, they are all crazy, they are all crazy. They didn't even let such a small child go. They are simply beasts—"
Young Master Li remained calm as he searched the corpses, taking away valuables. Seeing the terrified looks of the newcomers, he sneered, "How dare you rebel with such cowardice? Beasts? Have you ever been hungry? Have you ever eaten human flesh? We may be beasts, but even beasts want to live!"
Xu Qingying suppressed the churning feeling in her stomach and tried to follow behind, but she kept looking for a familiar figure.
She was worried about Xu Huiming and also about Miao's Xu Degui.
"Let's go to Mr. Zhang's house. He has plenty of food!" Li Datou shouted, and all the refugees rushed to Mr. Zhang's house in a frenzy.
The gate was blocked from the inside and they couldn't get in, so they climbed over the wall like leeches. After rushing into the house, they killed anyone they saw and robbed anything they found. After a while, they heard the screams and cries of women and children.
"Please, don't kill me..."
"That's my daughter! Please, take all the food. We don't want it. Please, kind men, leave a descendant for our Zhang family—"
"Dear old men, I, Zhang Shude, have never done anything evil in my life. I have supported the village in building roads, distributing porridge, and running schools. I beg you to spare my life—"
Before the Zhang family members could even beg for mercy, they were stabbed with a knife and died instantly.
Mr. Zhang was beaten to death.
His youngest son rushed forward, but was kicked away. He was so shocked that his liver and gallbladder were shattered and he vomited blood. He was afraid that he would not live long.
Even though the old woman was Mr. Zhang's mother, she screamed and cursed, and was beheaded by Li Datou.
Xu Qingying felt terribly uncomfortable listening to the screams. She had never experienced such a cruel scene in her life. She felt a kind of resentment in her heart that she had nowhere to express. She shouted hoarsely, "Stop it! We are only stealing food, not killing people—"
Unfortunately, her voice could not suppress the madness of this group of people.
These bandits had a big meal yesterday and have been hungry all day today. They have gone completely crazy.
People who are marginalized by society are most likely to fall into a state of madness.
Once someone instigates something, all rationality is gone.
"Stop it right there!" Xu Qingying finally couldn't bear it any longer. She screamed, grabbed the man by the collar, tossed him off the little girl, and punched him in the face. "You beast! She's just a child! How dare you do that to her!"
Feng'er was shocked and burst into tears. She dragged the girl out and put clothes on her. The girl was only about ten years old, but she stared at them with bloodshot eyes, "You killed my parents, you beasts! I'm going to kill you!"
The man who was held down by Xu Qingying roared and was about to resist. Xu Qingying simply picked up the wooden stick on the ground, pushed it forward, and accurately inserted it into his throat.
I lost my breath instantly.
The man spat out a mouthful of blood, which flew onto Xu Qingying's face.
Xu Qingying gasped for breath. At this moment, she was extremely disgusted and hated this terrible world to the extreme.
On the other side, Master Li had been ordered to set fire, and the entire village was instantly reduced to a sea of fire!
All the food that could be stolen had been taken away, and the remaining fields and houses were not spared. The refugees and villagers were so bloodthirsty that the fight was to the death.
She felt like she was about to collapse. She wanted to cry, to scream, to escape from this hell, but when she opened her eyes, she was still there, with screams, sobs, and curses ringing in her ears, and the flames of war lingered on.
There's no more escaping.
There is no use in escaping.
The world is already flooded with blood.
When Master Li returned from setting the fire, he saw Xu Qingying and the corpse beside her. His face changed and he drew his sword: "You dare to kill your own people?!"
Xu Qingying quickly winked at Feng'er, then took advantage of Young Master Li's inattention and kicked him right in the middle of the long sword. The sword fell from his hand and was immediately snatched away by Fang Xun who was standing behind him and chopped off.
Before Feng'er could react, she felt blood splattering on her face.
It turned out that Fang Xun had grabbed the knife and chopped Mr. Li from behind.
Young Master Li probably never thought that he would die at the hands of his own people.
She blinked, and blood flowed from her eyebrows and dripped onto her eyelashes.
Through her blood-red eyelids, Feng'er suddenly felt that Fang Xun's unremarkable face suddenly seemed a little handsome.
Xu Yinxi made a quick decision: "Sixth sister, there's no other way. Let's gather everyone to resist!"
Fang Xun wiped the blood off his face and said calmly, "Miss Xu, give the orders."
Feng Er also said: "Now that things have come to this, there is no way back. Whether it is life or death, we will stay with the girl!"
"good!"
Xu Qingying searched everywhere, avoiding the crowds, and retrieved the bronze gong from the village's ancestral hall. Holding the gong, she stood on a stone vat filled with water, planted her foot firmly, and struck the gong repeatedly.
In an instant, the whole world was filled with the sound of "dong dong dong".
"Stop it!" Xu Qingying was so excited that she couldn't calm down. She looked at the eyes that were all looking at her at once, and the faces that were red with blood. Her voice was torn and carried far away in the night sky.
"Stop it! I won't kill the bandits or the villagers, only the leaders! Everyone else, put down your weapons immediately and stop fighting each other! Everyone in the exile team, listen up! Take their weapons! Shoot the horses first, capture the leader first. Liu Dazhuang, kill Li Datou! Jiang Yongkang, Ming Xiaoshuang, Zhao Qiaonian, find a way to control the bandit leaders! Miao Bihe, Lian Qiuzhi, Qian Zhenniang, Fang Ruyu, quickly organize people to put out the fire!"
Xu Qingying knew that just a few words would be enough to make everyone lay down their weapons. Moreover, since she was an outsider, neither side would trust her. So she continued in a hoarse voice, "Put out the fire first! Then save the people!"
The moment Xu Qingying spoke, everyone screamed and a dagger fell from the sky and pierced Li Datou's throat.
Li Datou opened his eyes wide, as if he couldn't believe what was happening.
"City Lord!!!" Someone shouted in horror, "Who, who did it!"
Li Datou was originally a farmer and had never learned any martial arts. He only seemed brave because he had a horse and a sword. However, he was no match for a real martial artist.
Now leaderless, the bandits all retreated instinctively in fear.
When the villagers saw that Li Datou was dead, someone immediately shouted: "They are leaderless, let's go together and kill them!"
Everyone was so bloodthirsty that they didn't listen to what Xu Qingying said at all. Li Datou's death did not stop everyone from fighting. Instead, the villagers immediately launched a more crazy counterattack.
Xu Qingying immediately said to Fang Xun, "They've gone crazy with killing. I can't stop them. Fang Xun and Feng'er, go to their ancestral hall and light the fire—"
Feng Er was puzzled: "Miss, burning down their ancestral hall will only add fuel to the fire!"
Fang Xun understood immediately, "Young lady, you want to force them to calm down by burning the ancestral hall. I think burning the ancestral hall is worse than burning their ancestors' tablets!"
Xu Qingying paused, feeling that this method was insidious but effective, and immediately nodded, "Go do it!"
Fang Xun and Feng'er immediately headed towards the ancestral hall of Zhangjia Village!
Xu Qingying then began beating drums and gongs again, announcing, "People of Zhangjia Village, I've already sent people to burn your ancestral tablets. I don't want your ancestors to suffer in the underworld, so immediately lay down your weapons! I might as well tell you, there are at least two thousand bandits, you can't kill them all! It's better to surrender quickly, and I can guarantee that I won't kill a single one of you who surrender! If you continue to be stubborn, I will burn down your ancestral hall!"
As expected, threats worked. Someone turned around to look at the ancestral hall with billowing smoke and burst into tears: "Village Chief, our ancestral hall is burning—"
Xu Qingying continued to strike while the iron was hot, shouting, "Everyone lay down your weapons! I, Xu Zhenying, will not kill anyone more than the ringleader of tonight's riot! Everyone in Zhangjia Village, put out the fire! You don't want to lose your food and your homes, do you?"
In just a short while, some people began to wake up. When they regained their senses, they saw the corpses all over the ground and couldn't help but vomit with a "wow".
From the crowd came the shout of Zhao Bantou: "Big sister, we have the leaders under our control. Do you want to kill them now?!"
Xu Zhenying hurriedly said, "We'll kill him later! Capture him first!"
She looked around and yelled at the bewildered bandits, "Big Head Li is dead, why don't you lay down your weapons?! I might as well tell you, it was me who sent people to kill Big Head Li. He burned, killed, robbed, tortured, raped women, and committed all kinds of evil. He is not worthy of being a human being! God specially ordered me to destroy him. Now that he is dead, he will have to wait until the underworld to redeem his sins in this life. What about you? Do you want to go to the underworld to join him? I tell you, considering that you are also miserable people and did these evil things to survive, so those who surrender will not be killed. As long as you lay down your weapons now and follow my arrangements, you can all save your lives!"
At this moment, Feng'er suddenly shouted, her voice resounding throughout the entire place, "Big Head Li is dead, and now Miss Xu is our new city lord! Why don't you listen to the new city lord? Why don't you quickly lay down your weapons and pay your respects to the new city lord!"
As soon as these words were spoken, not only Xu Qingying, but everyone else was stunned.
What's going on.
Feng'er became anxious when she saw that no one reacted, and immediately winked at the people around her.
How can I miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rise to the top?!
Xu Huiming's face changed immediately, and before he could even think, he said, "We're here to see the City Lord!"
The Xu family finally reacted, and a few scattered voices rang out, "Greetings to the City Lord!"
Miao, Huang and others were all confused, but Xu Huiming forced them to bow.
What happened? How could his daughter go from being a bandit to becoming the bandit leader in the blink of an eye?
Meanwhile, Zhao Bantou's voice was like a huge bell, resounding throughout the heavens and earth, immediately confirming Xu Qingying's identity as the city lord.
Xu Qingying felt a little disappointed, but after thinking about it carefully, there was no other way. She finally understood how it felt when Zhao Kuangyin was crowned with the yellow robe.
She simply stood up and waved her arm, "Everyone, put down your weapons immediately. Anyone who disobeys my order will be killed!"
The word "斩" is so majestic that it makes people unable to look directly at it.
The head of Zhangjia Village, watching as over 300 villagers were slaughtered without a single survivor, cried out in despair. He felt the situation was hopeless, and if they continued to resist, not a single person in Zhangjia Village would survive. He walked out tremblingly and looked at Xu Qingying, "Do you keep your word?"
Xu Qingying nodded. "Old man, I guarantee with my own head that I am completely different from Li Datou. He condones his men's murder, looting, and brutality, while I detest killing. As long as both of you lay down your weapons and obey my orders, I will never allow anyone to kill either of you again."
A woman, her clothes torn and her face covered in blood, said in a hoarse voice, "Third Uncle, believe her. If it weren't for her, Ju Niang would have been raped. If the fight continues, we'll all die."
The village chief was extremely desperate, and his turbid tears flowed down, wetting his clothes.
With a "clang", he dropped the sickle in his hand.
Xu Qingying couldn't help but be overjoyed. As expected, with the action of the village chief of Zhangjia Village, the other villagers had no choice but to abandon their weapons.
People tend to follow the crowd, and the situation stabilized in just a stick of incense.
As for the ancestral hall, the fire was extinguished and the ancestral hall of Zhangjia Village was also saved.
"Tie up the bandit leaders and have everyone hold a meeting at the dam in front of the ancestral hall!"
Liu Dazhuang pulled out the bloody dagger, and then Zhao Bantou and others took the surviving elderly, weak, women and children towards the ancestral hall.
The refugees were also somewhat bewildered. Seeing this, Feng'er, without waiting for Xu Qingying's instructions, shouted, "What are you standing there for? The City Lord said he's in a meeting. Don't worry, the City Lord is a man of his words. Since you've already laid down your weapons, as long as you obey, the City Lord will definitely not make things difficult for you."
Feng'er also reminded Qian Zhenniang and Xu Yinxi: "The city lord is busy in a meeting, so we have to quickly set up this place. Put out the fire, rescue people, and be quick and clean up the battlefield!"
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