The moment Han Shizhong swung his sword, all the blood on it flew down, and the cold light on the blade was made even brighter by the surrounding flames.
When Liu Banshan saw the knife coming down on him, his mind went blank, and it was too late to dodge.
His head flew into the sky, and in that instant, he could still see his own body below and the spray of blood.
Suddenly, everything went black, and all the sounds of killing disappeared.
The cavalry behind them charged forward, smashing Liu Banshan's tent to pieces. The ground was covered in a mess of flesh, blood, and dirt. Heads were trampled and deformed, and brains were mixed into the dirt.
The slaughter lasted all night, and the sabers of the Imperial Guardsmen were all knocked over and curled up.
As dawn broke, the thin mist of the early summer morning turned completely blood red!
Amidst the blood mist, in some places, corpses piled up, and blood flowed in the grass; in others, it even created a surge that swept the floating heads below.
As the sun rises in the east, it shines on the blood mist, casting a red halo that illuminates the outline below, making it appear like a hellish inferno.
Han Shizhong sat on a pile of corpses, where they were eating the meat that the bandits hadn't finished eating the night before and drinking the wine they hadn't finished drinking.
The night of slaughter not only vented their pent-up anger from the past few days, but also exhausted their physical strength.
Each of them was covered in blood, whether it was the enemy's blood or their own, even their hair was bleeding.
Fresh blood slid down, was wiped away near the eye, and then congealed.
No one cares if they are injured, or what kind of mess they look in.
They ate like crazy.
Of the 300,000 bandits, most were slaughtered by Han Shizhong on the plains outside Daming Prefecture, and the very few remaining had fled to who-knows-where.
The news shocked the entire rebel army in Hebei.
Han Shizhong was simply a butcher of ten thousand men! He was the sharpest knife in the emperor's hand!
Upon hearing this on the way, Cui Wuji's messenger quickly turned back to Zhongshan.
After Han Shizhong's massacre, no one in Hebei dared to become a bandit or outlaw for hundreds of years afterward.
Han Shizhong's fearsome reputation thoroughly shocked all his enemies and also left a lasting legacy among the people.
From then on, the door gods in front of the people's doors were replaced with Han Shizhong, and all the bad guys were so frightened by Han Shizhong's image that they ran away in terror.
Moreover, the people of Hebei built a temple for Han Shizhong and offered incense in his honor.
When Zhao Huan learned of Han Shizhong's achievements, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.
That's right!
This is exactly the kind of battle I want. I want to terrify those bandits, outlaws, and rebels!
Isn't it better to live a good life?
When the news reached Zhongshan, Cui Wuji was furious.
He cursed Zhang Jixian and the others as stupid pigs!
He cursed for a full half hour, until his mouth was dry and his throat was parched.
Most of the rebels in Hebei were these bandits, and they were all lured to Daming Prefecture by Han Shizhong and wiped out in one fell swoop.
Now, apart from some rebels in Zhongshan and Hejian, the rebels in other places have been basically wiped out, leaving only some insignificant landlords and powerful families.
A few days later, Qin Hui's army arrived at Hejian Prefecture.
Hejian was once one of the most important military strongholds of the Song Dynasty, serving as a northern barrier. This city was easy to defend and difficult to attack; even Wanyan Zongwang was unable to conquer it.
June has officially marked the beginning of summer, and the weather is getting hot.
Qin Hui adopted Hu Yantong's strategy and purged all the prefectures and counties surrounding Hejian Prefecture.
I heard that Han Shizhong has almost killed all the bandits in Hebei. How could Qin Hui be left behind? The emperor sent him here to kill people. This matter cannot be delayed.
Qin Hui killed countless people there, and in just half a month, thousands of people were forcibly dragged from their homes to the streets, where their heads were pressed against stones and chopped off with a knife.
Before they died, these people cursed Qin Hui and his ancestors for eighteen generations.
But Qin Hui was thick-skinned enough that he didn't even flinch, just sat there drinking tea and watching their heads fall off their necks.
In Hejian Prefecture, all officials who had ties with the rebels were killed, nearly creating a power vacuum in more than a dozen prefectures and counties.
At this point, Xu Churen was in the most trouble.
Qin Hui and Han Shizhong carried out indiscriminate killings in Hebei, leaving many local officials depleted. The heavy responsibility of replacing them fell on the shoulders of the powerful figures in the State Council.
While Hebei was filled with corpses piled high, a secret assassination was about to take place in Taiyuan Prefecture, Hedong.
Their target is Wang Bing, the military commissioner of Hedong. If they kill Wang Bing, the soldiers and civilians of Taiyuan will be leaderless, and the local militia in Taiyuan will fall into internal strife.
Taking Taiyuan is just around the corner.
If the rebels capture Taiyuan, the situation in the north will be a major concern for Zhao Huan.
Shi Jian was Wang Bing's confidant. He had followed Wang Bing for ten years, starting from the bottom and going through thick and thin with Wang Bing. Although he was Wang Bing's subordinate, the two were already like brothers.
But for some people, it's only if you have a bright future that I'll treat you like a brother.
Now, I have a mountain of gold in front of me, on the condition that you kill my brother. Do I need to hesitate about this request?
On this day, Shi Jian invited Wang Bing to his residence for drinks as a friend.
Assassins were lying in ambush all around.
They planned to wait until Wang Bing was slightly drunk before taking action, then seize Wang Bing's head to collect the money.
But before they could even drink, Huangfu Chen, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial City Guard of Hedong, led about a hundred men and stormed in from outside.
He truly stormed in, and anyone who dared to stand in his way was executed on the spot without batting an eye.
Shi Jian was, after all, a military commander. According to the new military system, he was only a junior officer, yet his family members were treated like cabbages and radishes and chopped off.
It's unclear what Huangfu Chen was thinking, but he strode in, followed by about a hundred skilled Imperial City Guards.
At the entrance, one of Shi Jian's trusted men tried to stop Huangfu Chen: "Sir, please wait..."
Before he could finish speaking, Huangfu Chen severed his head with a single stroke.
He was originally a skilled fighter, but Huangfu Chen struck first, and he couldn't dodge at all.
The head rolled to the ground, leaving the headless corpse at the bottom.
Huangfu Chen pushed open the door and rushed inside.
Shi Jian was slightly taken aback: "Brother Huangfu, what are you doing?"
Wang Bing, who was standing to the side, was also somewhat surprised.
Huangfu Chen did not answer him, but instead roared, "Kill!"
The Imperial Guards following behind him immediately rushed towards another door at the back of the room. Once inside, a scene of hand-to-hand combat ensued.
It turned out that more than a dozen people had been lying in ambush behind the other door.
Wang Bing's expression changed drastically.
Huangfu Chen then said, "Bring it up!"
A man covered in bruises was brought in; he was none other than Guan Wei, Shi Jian's brother-in-law.
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