Chapter 30 Reencounter with Pingling Click to watch His Majesty in women's clothing (〃▽〃)……
Yingxi's tone always conveyed a sense of conviction.
The older sister thought for a moment and decided to obey orders first, saying, "Last year, a plague broke out in the village, and half the village was wiped out."
"Some people went down the mountain to escape, but last year there was fighting everywhere, and I heard that those who escaped did not fare well. Later, only the old and the young were left, and most of them were sick. One family after another in the village died."
The older sister was lost in memories, pursed her lips, and said in a hoarse voice: "In the beginning, people would arrange funerals for the dead, but later the living couldn't take care of themselves. When they died, they would just throw them far away. Some corpses were left to float in the river."
"After one batch after another dies, some survive, enduring the pain, but most of them develop chronic illnesses, which the village elders say are due to lung damage."
The girl's younger brother kept coughing, and his chest made a hissing sound with each breath.
Ying Xi said, "I clearly heard strong young men in the village."
Just now, as that mother and child were murdered.
When Ying Xi asked this question, the girl visibly shrank back, looking towards the door with fear and unease. The younger brother hugged his older sister tightly.
"They are bandits..."
The younger brother curled up into a small ball and added in a hoarse voice, "In the past, we rebelled."
—Rebels!?
Last year, the Xie family set off from Chang'an and recovered cities occupied by the rebels along the way.
Most of the fleeing remnants went into the mountains and became bandits.
Ying Xi knew all this, but she never expected to meet him in Pingling Village.
“That band of bandits came several times. They knew there had been an epidemic here, and there were no able-bodied men or laws. They robbed grain, looted things, killed people, and raped women. Sometimes when they returned to their camp, some of them would get drunk and break into people’s homes and stay in the village.”
Therefore, Pingling Village suffered two major calamities.
The first was an epidemic, the second was bandits.
Although this place is some distance from Chang'an, it is not far. None of the memorials submitted to him mentioned the chaos in Pingling Village.
Ying Xi secretly guessed that there were only a few possibilities: at the time, the imperial court was short of funds, and the village was remote and isolated, so even if the epidemic spread, it would not reach the capital. Afterwards, the situation in the north stabilized, and those who were sick and destined to die had all died. There was no need to report it again, lest it cause the court unnecessary trouble.
Under his rule, some people were not treated as human beings.
As the highest leader of the Qin Dynasty, Ying Xi felt a heavy weight in his heart.
However, the accountability for the Pingling Village incident will have to wait until after returning to Beijing. My current purpose in coming here is to find out who is behind Fengze.
Ying Xi put aside her thoughts of executing the man and, using the identity she had just fabricated, said, "Young Master, I remember you have a relative surnamed Feng who supposedly lives here. I haven't seen him in a long time."
How could Lang Xun possibly keep up with the emperor's impromptu performance?
Fearing he might say something wrong, Lang Xun could only nod: "Yes...yes."
"I don't know if this person is still alive after the plague and banditry. Please leave this token for the brother and sister."
Lang Xun never understood what Ying Xi was planning.
But he did as instructed, and actually managed to find two silver buttons that gleamed even in the night. He deftly pulled them off, bent down, and said, "Here you go."
The siblings' eyes lit up.
Yingxi asked, "Is there a man in the village surnamed Feng? If so, give him one button and give one to each of you. If not, then you'll have to go to the trouble of asking around, and they'll all be yours."
That's just lip service.
The brother and sister are short of money, so they will definitely provide clues.
As for the real Ying Xi, he'll be able to tell for himself. He's not afraid of losing the money for two buttons.
The older sister said, "Everyone in Pingling Village has the surname Tang; there's no one with the surname Feng."
The younger brother asked, "Then is the person you're talking about from outside the village?"
"Are there people from outside the village here?"
“Yes,” the younger brother whispered, “he used to come often. He left when the war started. I haven’t seen him come since.”
Where is this person staying? Who are they looking for?
The younger brother thought for a moment before answering, "I saw him two or three times when I was playing at the end of the stream in the village. A few families live far away on the edge of the village, and the adults in those families don't know him, so we've never spoken."
Searching along the river...
Having obtained this clue, Ying Xi gave the silver button to the siblings. Before he could even catch his breath, he heard hurried footsteps approaching along the village road next to the dilapidated house.
The quiet Pingling Village was once again torn apart by a rough roar. Having just received information from the siblings, Yingxi knew that it was a small group of bandits.
The bandit was carrying a torch.
A small fire shone into the small house from a distance. The movement of people inside caused shadows to shift, and the siblings trembled in fear.
Lang Xun immediately approached the door, leaned against the wall to hide and looked out, and whispered, "Young master, there are several dozen people, all of whom are armed."
The rebels must have had weapons.
Ying Xi glanced at the system interface that wasn't lit up, and scolded Tian Tong for not finding a solution. He was just about to pick up the fake female corpse from the burlap sack on the ground.
A woman's scream came from the other end of the village road.
Several henchmen dragged a group of women and children out of the house.
The thugs yelled, "Second-in-command, we've been tricked! Someone died outside, and they dragged the body over and dumped it outside. We thought no one was inside. Turns out, all the women in the family are inside!"
"Mother! Mother!"
"Big sister, second sister!"
"And there's another bedwetting boy, damn it, he's hidden really well." The henchman's knife flashed, the child's crying stopped abruptly, and the child's mother and sister wept uncontrollably.
When bandits robbed, women were considered goods and children were seen as burdens. Regardless of whether a man was an adult or not, he would be killed to prevent future troubles.
The second-in-command said, "Kill those who are crying the loudest. You guys, go check over there. I'll see if they have any valuables or jewelry."
The bandits roared with laughter, screams rose and fell, and the continuous slapping of their hands fueled their revelry.
This was not the first bandit to wreak havoc on Pingling Village.
It must be another group that came from nearby overnight to loot.
Lang Xun's teeth were practically ground to powder, and Gege trembled with anger: "Young Master!"
He volunteered for the mission, but it was impossible for Lang Xun to properly protect the hostages and his own safety while dealing with the ruthless bandits.
The bandits would find them as soon as they entered the house.
Ying Xi suppressed her anger with reason and said to Lang Xun, "As soon as they come in, go out and lure them away."
How dare the guards leave Ying Xi?
He was the last person to protect Ying Xi. According to Lang Xun's choice, even if he had to abandon the siblings and fight his way out for Ying Xi, he absolutely could not be separated from the emperor.
But Ying Xi frowned; the imperial decree was not to be changed.
Lang Xun had no choice but to comply. When the bandits kicked open the door, he raised his knife and stabbed two of them.
In an instant, a mournful cry pierced the darkness.
The second-in-command exclaimed in surprise, "Who goes there?"
For once, Guard Lang was smart enough to shout, "You're here to scavenge leftovers on my turf! And you dare ask who I am? I'm your grandpa!"
"Qingniu Village, Qingniu Village."
"The third brother's eyes were blinded by a skilled knife user. Kill him."
The bandits chased after Lang Xun, and dozens were reduced to just a few. Those few were of little use, as they were still tying up the women they had just captured.
The door was half-closed.
The second-in-command didn't even spare this house; he got close.
A dark shadow was cast on the wall.
The girl and the boy were so frightened that they sat on the ground, unable to get up, each covering their mouths and clinging tightly to Ying Xi's leg.
Ying Xi confirmed once again that the system was malfunctioning and she couldn't take them back to Weiyang Palace. She patted their heads and told them to hide back in the closet.
The second-in-command came in!
The second-in-command suddenly stopped, his mouth agape as wide as an egg: "..."
Before him stood a woman with disheveled hair, dressed in a blue cloth dress. Her expression was blank, and she was smiling at him.
In that instant, the second-in-command felt his heart skip a beat, as if he were seeing gods and spirits in the dead of night in a deserted village. He didn't even notice the bare burlap sack at the woman's feet.
The second-in-command's Adam's apple bobbed; he had no idea such a beauty existed in the mountain village.
He greedily reached out, but the woman didn't back down; instead, she moved forward, as if she wanted to actively please him. This made the second-in-command so happy that he felt like he was floating on clouds.
But the woman's expression changed suddenly, and she kicked the second-in-command in the groin with her left foot!
A sharp pain suddenly swept through my entire body.
The second-in-command immediately clutched his leg and convulsed, while the woman had already run away and disappeared from sight.
The second-in-command squeezed out a word through gritted teeth: "Capture them alive... Chase them... Chase them all..."
Three or four ruthless bandits chased after Ying Xi.
Inside the cupboard in that dilapidated house, the brother and sister hugged each other tightly. As the footsteps faded into the distance, they finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
***
"There it is!"
“My little beauty, I see him.”
Huff.
Huff...
His physical strength was insufficient to shake off several strong bandits. Ying Xi's legs were about to break.
His steps grew heavier and heavier as he ran along the village road and river, but little did he know that the path would become narrower and narrower, and that more and more people would be chasing him. The bandits who had infiltrated the village had formed a group and gradually grown in size.
The river has reached its end.
Yingxi turned into the narrow alley. At the end of the earthen wall was a tightly closed wooden gate; it was a dead end.
Ying Xi turned around, his back illuminated by the torchlight. His shadow was cast on the earthen wall, constantly shifting and stretching. There were too many bandits; he couldn't go back.
He wanted to try calling out to Sweetie again.
As the bandits surged forward behind her, Ying Xi was nearly driven to the brink of despair, but suddenly a scream erupted from among them.
—"Aaaaaaah!"
The firelight flickered, casting a moving shadow on the earthen wall, and then the cry of a falcon pierced the night.
The bandits, having witnessed the eagle, instantly shifted from chasing the beauty to panic. They let the falcon circle as if frozen in time.
After a long while, one of the bandits finally stammered, "Thank you..."
British government office.
The Longwu Army had wiped out all the rebel armies in the northern border. These mountain bandits and outlaws were defeated by Xie Ji and his son on the battlefield, which is why they fled and became outlaws.
In the narrow passageway, the black falcon circled its prey and glided to the other end of the crowd.
The bandits, weapons in hand, turned around, their eyes reflecting the gleaming silver armor and the heavy weapons they never wanted to see again: the dragon-slaying blades, their facets gleaming coldly in the night.
"Thank you, Qianli!"
"Xie Qianli!!"
The bandits were not injured yet, but they had already screamed in agony.
They had fought before; when the two armies clashed, it was this man who wielded a long spear and moved through the battlefield, and terrifying memories flooded back.
Ying Xi raised his eyebrows upon hearing Xie Qianli's name; it was indeed Xie Qianli himself. He had obtained the information from Xie Qianli, though it was also possible that Xie Qianli had personally investigated Pingling Village.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen bandits charged forward, brandishing their knives.
As if desperately trying to snatch a way out from the clutches of death, they cleaved Mount Hua with four or five swords.
Xie Qianli parried with his gun, while the ruthless bandit desperately pressed down.
The latter's arm muscles were taut, he held the sword steadily, his lower body was stable, and his expression remained completely unchanged.
With a forceful lift, he caused the four or five bandits to fall backward. Then, the cold light of the tip of the Youlong'e spear suddenly appeared, and the four or five bandits immediately gushed blood.
Several other ruthless bandits circled around Xie Qianli from behind, intending to encircle him.
The Youlong'e gun emitted a heavy hum, its blade flashing as it slammed two bandits behind it against the wall.
The ruthless bandit spat out blood, forming a fountain of blood.
Xie Qianli turned slightly to the side, his gleaming silver armor unstained by blood. He raised his eyes, revealing a pair of jet-black, gem-like eyes beneath his armor, and pointed his gun at the opposite side.
"..."
The remaining bandits all knew they were doomed, so they shouted to embolden each other and attacked from different angles, trying to use the terrain to limit You Long'e's gunfire.
Xie Qianli gripped the gun with a heavy yet agile hand, using tricky angles to stab several bandits into a chain, then turned around and pinned the mountain bandits who had ambushed him firmly to the wall.
Then the gun barrel was pulled out, the earthen wall collapsed with a deafening roar, and the narrow alley was littered with the corpses of bandits, with torches rolling everywhere.
A cloud of dust billowed up from the deep alley!
Ying Xi took a deep breath.
The Xie Qianli before my eyes is different from the Xie Qianli I remember, or from anywhere else in the palace.
Xie Qianli was a formidable general of his time.
He knew. But he had never witnessed Xie Qianli so closely before, a man of immense power, ruthless killing, and bravery that commanded the unwavering loyalty of his followers.
Ying Xi stood outside the wooden gate, shocked and wary.
He was dressed in women's clothing and had his hair disheveled. His disheveled appearance was secondary; being outside the palace, he had no means of protecting himself.
We absolutely cannot be recognized!
Ying Xi made up her mind to ignore him and not thank him, hoping that Xie Qianli would continue to inquire about Fengze and no longer pay attention to her.
So silence fell over both sides of the long alley.
Ying Xi moved further into the shadows, her back pressed tightly against the wooden door.
However, in the darkness, Xie Qianli said in a deep and resolute voice, "Your Majesty."
Ying Xi: "..."
This person has excellent eyesight.
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