Chapter 122 The Most Miserable City Lord
Xu Yinxi still felt a sense of dread. She pulled Feng'er's hand, looked her up and down, and patted her chest, "You damned girl, you're too brave. It was only thanks to your earth-shattering cry of greeting the City Lord that we broke the situation just now. You're the one who deserves the credit for today's events!"
Feng'er felt a little embarrassed. Now that she thought about it, she realized how dangerous it was.
"There were so many corpses, I was terrified. I just wanted to make sure there were no more deaths. I also thought that only girls could calm them down, so I didn't know why I shouted that."
"Good girl!" Xu Yinxi patted her again, "You saved a lot of people tonight! Let's clean up the battlefield quickly and go see how Sixth Sister is doing!"
In front of the dam at the entrance of the Zhangjia Village Ancestral Hall, this is the only piece of pure land that has not been polluted by blood.
Xu Qingying ordered people to cut off Li Datou's head and throw it into the middle of the yard, which instantly shocked everyone present!
Xu Qingying, surrounded by Liu Dazhuang, Zhao Bantou and others, slowly walked into the venue. Wherever she went, everyone retreated to the sides.
As for the bandits, no one knew who was leading the group, but they all knelt on the ground and said, "Greetings to the City Lord—"
Xu Qingying shouted, "Everyone, stand up. I hate it most in my life when someone kneels before me. If you have anything to say, stand up and say it!"
The refugees all looked at each other in confusion, and they couldn't figure out Xu Qingying's temper, so no one dared to stand up first.
Until Zhao Bantou added: "Everyone stand up, the city lord doesn't like people with weak knees."
Upon hearing this, everyone stood up one after another, all looking at the thin young man in the middle with confusion, fear and anxiety.
The people from Zhangjia Village stood on the other side. Almost half of the young elite were dead, and the rest were just a group of old people and children. At this moment, they stared at the bandit group opposite, wishing they could eat their flesh and blood alive.
Xu Qingying pointed at the heads in the center of the field. "I just joined you last night. I didn't realize your so-called siege turned out to be nothing more than burning, murder, and looting. Seeing it today, I'm deeply saddened. The morals of the world have deteriorated so much that some people are so careless about human life. Such beastly behavior is despicable! Li Datou is dead, which is a relief for them. When we entered the village just now, it wasn't just Li Datou. Some people also took advantage of the chaos to rape women and set fire to the fields! I, Xu Zhenying, will never tolerate such unscrupulous beasts under my command! Come on, bring all these people up to me!"
These words made the people in Zhangjia Village burst into tears and cry loudly, wishing they could pounce on them and tear them to pieces.
Zhao Ban, the first-class escort, led more than a dozen people into the house one after another. When the refugees saw them, they found that they were indeed the people who had just committed arson, murder, looting and other atrocities, just as Xu Qingying had said.
Those people looked at the woman in the candlelight in horror. They obviously could not accept the fact that the emperor had changed overnight. They growled and tried to rush into the crowd.
"I know that most of you refugees came here just for food. You all come from the countryside and know how important food is, how important land and housing are. You are also pitiful people who have lost your loved ones and your land and have been forced to leave your homes. You have suffered yourselves, and you certainly can't bear to see the villagers of Zhangjia Village suffer the same! You were all coerced and bribed by Li Datou into becoming murderers!"
Xu Qingying's voice was not loud, but she spoke each word slowly, enough for everyone present to hear clearly.
Someone sobbed softly upon hearing this, "We also fled from a disaster at home. I don't want to kill anyone, but if I don't kill anyone, I'll either starve to death or be killed by Li Datou. Who doesn't want to live a good life in this world? We just don't want to starve, so how did we end up like this?"
"City Lord, I didn't kill anyone! I haven't killed anyone—"
"I haven't killed anyone!"
"These tied-up people are the ones who killed people. Kill them quickly and make them pay for the lives of the people in Zhangjia Village!"
The refugees were filled with righteous indignation and began to accuse the bandits of murder.
The people in Zhangjia Village looked at each other, some of them confused as to what was going on.
"These people must be killed! People from Zhangjia Village, keep your eyes open and watch carefully!"
Xu Qingying waved her hand, and Zhao Bantou and the others swung the long swords at their waists, and more than a dozen heads fell to the ground in an instant.
The head rolled on the ground and finally stopped.
Someone vomited with a "wow".
The people in Zhangjia Village applauded.
"The debt of Zhangjia Village has been settled. It was Li Datou who didn't set the rules before. Now that it's my turn, I have to be upfront and clear."
Everyone could only listen attentively.
"First, no random killings."
Everyone nodded frequently, and one refugee immediately expressed his opinion: "City Lord, we are all honest farmers. We don't like killing people. We killed people before because we had no choice—"
"I won't talk about the past, let's just talk about the future. The second rule is no burning, killing, looting, or torture."
One refugee immediately said, "City Lord, we have no food. The government won't distribute food to us, and refugees are not allowed to work in the city. If we don't rob, are we just going to starve to death?"
"We don't want to kill anyone, but we don't want to starve to death either—"
"This is something I need to take care of. I'll find a solution as soon as possible so that everyone can have enough to eat. You just need to follow these two rules."
Immediately, some refugees questioned, "If we don't rob food from nearby villages, what else can we do? Could it be that food just fell from the sky?"
Xu Qingying knew that she had just taken office, and if she didn't explain it clearly, she was afraid that she would not be able to convince the people.
The resource that Zhangjia Village and the refugees are fighting for is food. If the food problem is not solved, the more than 1,000 remaining refugees may rebel against her at any time.
But for the time being, she couldn't think of any solution.
Fang Xun immediately asked, "Village Chief Zhang, may I ask if there is any larger county town nearby?"
The village chief of the Zhang family immediately said, "Sixty kilometers southwest is Lan County. Lan County is extremely wealthy, with many wealthy families. Their county magistrate also stored grain in advance, so there is plenty of surplus."
The village chief of Zhangjia Village wished he could send the god away immediately.
But Xu Qingying couldn't rally the thousand-plus people so quickly. She waved her hand, signaling the people from Zhangjia Village to leave first. "Village Chief, I'll lend you this precious land for a bit while we discuss how to leave."
Everyone in the Zhang family agreed without hesitation.
After the Zhang family left, Xu Qingying felt inexplicably nervous when faced with the crowd of more than a thousand people.
She felt that her mood was heavy at the moment.
But when she saw the familiar and eager faces of Miao, Xu Degui, Xu Yinxi, Feng'er and others, she seemed to feel a little calmer.
"Fang Xun, take people to count the remaining food and grass immediately."
"Xu Yinxi, take the men to count today's damage and the number of survivors."
"Captain Zhao, bring me the map."
"The rest of you, stay where you are and rest! If you make any unusual movements, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
As orders were issued one after another, everyone took action quickly, except for the refugees who simply sat there, waiting for the next order.
Fang Xun, however, quickly returned with a gloomy expression, "Miss, they brought all the food and fodder from the city."
Xu Qingying was stunned for a moment, then slammed the table, "That Li Datou!! He has no intention of going back at all!"
Fang Xun also knew the seriousness of the situation. All the food and supplies were transported by the troops in the rear, which meant that Huang, Xu Meixiao and others who stayed behind were simply waiting to starve to death!
Li Datou was prepared from the beginning to abandon those who had the least fighting ability and let them starve to death in the city!
What a vicious heart!
Fang Xun immediately raised the key question, "If we go to pick them up now, it will take a whole day to go back and forth, and we'll need food and fodder. It will be too conspicuous, and I'm afraid the refugees won't agree."
"Let's put that aside for now. I'll figure out a solution. What's the food situation?"
"Less than ten dan. And most of it is corn." Xu Qingying roughly converted it and found that one dan was about one hundred jin, which was only enough for the team's food for one or two days.
However, Zhao Bantou had already taken the map and confirmed that what the village chief Zhang said was true. There was indeed a large Lan County not far from Zhangjia Village.
Xu Qingying acted decisively and offered the refugees two options: one was to follow her, but they had to obey her orders, abide by her rules, and respect her as their leader. The other was to receive a bag of food and leave on their own.
At first, everyone was skeptical because Li Datou, under the pretext of rebellion, would not allow them to leave and would have people guarding them along the way. However, Xu Qingying let them decide for themselves whether to stay or go.
Some people were immediately delighted, while others were undecided.
It is of course good to be able to leave, and you can also take a bag of food with you. Whether to go to live with relatives or elsewhere is up to you.
But most of them had lost their loved ones in the floods and were alone, not knowing where to go. They were also afraid of meeting other refugees if they traveled alone, so they couldn't make a decision for a while.
"This is a matter of great importance. I'll give you half an hour to think it over. If you've decided you want to stay, you can stay, but you must obey my orders. You're not allowed to kill innocent people, burn, kill, rob, or commit murder. If you want to leave, please register and take a bag of food with you. You can leave now."
People registered one after another. Most of them were forced to stay by Li Datou. They had relatives to rely on, and they did not trust Xu Qingying very much, so they made up their minds to leave.
Some of them have no relatives or friends, and their entire families are in the team. If they leave and are left alone, they may starve to death or have their food stolen by other refugees at any time. Thinking about it this way, it would be better to follow Xu Qingying. At least she will not force them to stay and will not allow them to kill people indiscriminately. She sounds more reliable than Li Datou.
Not long after, Xu Yinxi reported the casualties: "Two hundred and eight of our men were killed. There should be one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one left. Hu Wei took his men away mid-battle and their whereabouts are unknown."
Hu Wei?
I was so busy that I forgot about this person.
Xu Qingying quickly summoned the person who was previously responsible for transporting food and asked him if he had seen where Hu Wei had gone. The man hesitated at first, but later told the truth under Xu Qingying's questioning. His knees softened and he knelt down.
"City Lord, my mother is still in the city. Please have mercy on me. I really don't want to follow Li Datou and kill people! That Li Datou is a piece of shit. After looting Ye County, he took away all the food and grass, and asked Hu Wei to hide some of it. Hu Wei took a lot of food and grass and left. I guess Li Datou wanted to hide some food for his own people!"
Xu Qingying quickly helped the man up and said, "I told you not to kneel. Stand up and talk. Not only is your mother in Ye County, but my sister and grandmother are also here. I certainly can't abandon them. I was planning to send some food back, but now I don't have to worry about that. I'm just worried that others might be dissatisfied, so I'll keep this a secret for now."
The man gratefully agreed, "City Lord, I will obey you!"
Xu Yinxi reported that there were about one or two hundred people willing to go, all of whom were going to Jinzhou Prefecture to visit relatives. Some of them thought they had good skills and wanted to try their luck outside. Xu Qingying naturally let them go, and finally found that there were only more than 1,500 people left in the team.
Including those who stayed behind in Ye County, there were no more than 1,600 people.
The burden of these 1,600 people fell on her.
Not long after, someone from Zhangjia Village came. The village chief Zhang came tremblingly with a crutch and pretended to bow. Xu Qingying quickly sent someone to support him.
Seeing that the village chief Zhang was hesitant to speak, Xu Qingying understood what was going on, so she led the people to a secluded place and had people she trusted guard the outside.
The Zhang village chief hesitated, seemingly unsure of his decision. Unexpectedly, Xu Qingying spoke first, "I know why you came, old man. Are you here to discuss the grain we stole?"
The Zhang family village chief's eyes flickered, but seeing that the queen wasn't angry, he grew a little bolder. "I've just made inquiries, and you only joined this bandit group last night. With all due respect, you all have excellent manners and don't look like bandits. Why would you help someone like Li Datou to commit such atrocities?"
Xu Qingying sighed, "Old man, to be honest, although we are refugees, our family is wealthy, and our children are all educated. However, we were struck by bad luck and disaster. We originally wanted to go to Jinzhou Prefecture to seek refuge with our relatives, but we found ourselves surrounded by bandits along the way. Li Datou was especially troublesome. As soon as we entered Ye County, we were forced to stay with the group. To be honest, we didn't know he was such a cruel and ruthless person. If we had known he was committing such acts of burning, killing, and torture, we would never have bothered to join him, even if it meant losing our heads."
Xu Huiming listened silently beside him, thinking to himself that his sister was really a smart person.
These few words moved the village chief of Zhangjia Village to tears.
The head of Zhangjia Village also sighed repeatedly, thinking of the majority of people who had died in the village. He could not blame Xu Qingying for this.
He finally understood that Xu Qingying was the most conscientious person in this bandit group and the only one willing to help Zhangjia Village. If Xu Qingying was offended, then Zhangjia Village would have no hope of survival.
The village chief of Zhangjia Village had not forgotten the purpose of his visit. After careful consideration, he asked cautiously, "If that's the case, then what do you plan to do with the food you stole when you broke into the village earlier?"
King?
Xu Qingying always felt that this name was strange.
But at this point, it would be too hypocritical to say that I am not a mountain king.
When the bandits rushed into Zhangjia Village, they were originally going for food. They almost looted the entire village and did not leave any food for the people of Zhangjia Village.
If they were all taken away, the people in Zhangjia Village would either starve to death or become refugees and rob people everywhere like them.
But if she stayed, what would happen to the food supplies for the more than a thousand men under her command?
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