Chapter 49
Fan Changyu focused all her attention on the man she was holding. This man was too cunning. He deliberately talked to her on the way here, trying to distract her attention. At one point, he almost tripped her and snatched the knife from her hand.
Afterwards, Fan Changyu became alert. She ignored everything the man said, and when he made her angry, she would make a small cut on his body as a warning.
Now they had already reached the city tower. Fan Changyu only glanced at the current situation hastily, and for a moment he did not recognize that the person holding the Green Ghost mask was Xie Zheng.
Captain Wang was confused when he saw them tying up a bunch of people like a string of rice dumplings. He asked the county commander, "Sir, what is this..."
The county magistrate was somewhat frightened when he saw the anti-people who hated him, but when he thought that Qingping County could be defended and the people had someone to vent their hatred on, he would be in the Fuzhou Prefecture and take credit for quelling the riots in Qingping County. He might even have a chance of promotion, so he felt relieved to have the fat meat on his body.
He used the mysterious and profound words of the officialdom: "The generals from the Jizhou Prefecture were in charge of supervising the grain collection. Now the people are complaining, and they must be given an explanation. This is why I committed a crime of disobedience... and ordered people to kidnap these generals."
As he said this, he glanced at Fan Changyu, making sure that Fan Changyu would not take the initiative to tell others that he was the prisoner, and his expression became more confident.
The servants in the county magistrate's mansion had different expressions, but they were used to being the county magistrate's lackeys. If the county magistrate said black was white, they would just accept it with their eyes closed. How could they sabotage him at this time?
There was really no strange expression on Fan Changyu's face, and when the county magistrate's men saw it, they just thought she was an honest child who didn't fight or compete and was particularly aware of current affairs.
Captain Wang, who had no idea what was going on, simply treated Fan Changyu as a background figure, and focused all his attention on the county magistrate. Although he still had some doubts in his heart, the fact was that the county magistrate was willing to risk his life to kidnap these soldiers, which showed that he had some courage. He praised, "Your Excellency is very righteous."
The county magistrate thought that it was Captain Wang who led the guards at the city gate, and it was his men who captured the general. When the matter was settled, when the Jizhou government gave out rewards, Captain Wang should be the first to be awarded. If he wanted to take credit for his contribution, he should praise him first. He immediately said, "The mob has not been able to enter the city yet, thanks to you, Captain Wang, who led the guards here in advance. In order to let the officers and soldiers from Jizhou government relax their vigilance, I pretended to dismiss you, Captain Wang. Captain Wang really lived up to my expectations."
Captain Wang felt extremely guilty and said hurriedly, "Wang Chuanxian is deeply ashamed..."
He was about to say that it was Fan Changyu's idea, but when he looked up, he saw Fan Changyu trying hard to wink at him.
Fan Changyu wished that the county magistrate would take all the credit.
She was not stupid. The leader she had kidnapped was an official in Lizhou Prefecture. If he died, the crappy general above him named Wei Xuan would definitely hate her when he heard her name.
She was a common girl, but was pushed to the forefront of public opinion. At most, she was rewarded with some gold and silver treasures and became a famous person in the whole Qingping County. But the price she paid was that she was hated by an official higher than the county magistrate, who could crush her to death with just one finger. Whether she would live to spend the reward was another matter!
Moreover, if this guy was pushed out for the people to vent their anger and didn't die, they would definitely hate her. Although she had already hinted that she was working for the county magistrate, the county magistrate looked timid and didn't look like someone who had planned all this.
Now the county magistrate had finally made his point in order to gain credit, and had successfully diverted the hatred. She was very happy in her heart.
Captain Wang was extremely confused. When Fan Changyu signaled him not to say anything, the second half of the sentence was stuck in his throat.
At this time, the people below the tower saw the county magistrate coming and started to act like his adjutant. Many of them were unhappy and started to curse him: "You son of a bitch! How are you going to compensate for the lives of the dozen people in Ma Village? Are you going to use the lives of your entire family as compensation?"
The county magistrate had never heard such vulgar language in his life. At the moment, he was thinking about how to rise to the top after his promotion. He was so angry when he heard the curse that his beard was shaking: "How dare you curse an official of the imperial court!"
Captain Wang and Xie Zheng had finally managed to appease the people by using both kindness and force, but because of the county magistrate's words, the people's anger was once again in turmoil.
The troublemakers in the crowd took the opportunity to fan the flames: "We all saw it. This bastard official still doesn't treat us as human beings, and has no intention of giving us an explanation!"
"If we really let them fool us like this, tomorrow the people who will come to our door will be the yamen runners with sticks who are ready to beat us to death!"
"Kill the county magistrate and seek justice!"
The farmers under the tower became angry again and shouted while raising their farm tools. The small gate tower of the county city gate was like a small boat on the sea in the sound waves, which would be broken into a pile of broken wood by a wave.
The county magistrate saw this situation and couldn't help but panic. He hurriedly asked the servants in the mansion to escort Yuan Qing and his group forward and said, "I am just a small county magistrate. How can I be the master of grain collection? All grain collection matters are supervised by people from Jizhou Prefecture. I have no idea about the affairs of Majia Village. If you want justice, I can only risk the wrath of the world and tie them up to give you justice!"
As he spoke, he ordered his men: "Open the city gates and send these people out!"
Xie Zheng had been keeping his eyes on Sui Yuanqing. He saw Sui Yuanqing's lips curl up coldly when he heard this. Many of the troublemakers among the farmers were also looking at Sui Yuanqing. He said coldly, "We can't let this man leave the city."
Captain Wang also hurriedly said, "Sir, the city gate cannot be opened! If the city gate is opened, those rebels outside will rush in like a swarm, and the people in the city will suffer."
When Fan Changyu heard Xie Zheng's voice, he realized that it was him who was wearing the mask, and he looked up at him in surprise.
When Sui Yuanqing heard his voice, he frowned and looked at the man standing not far away.
The county magistrate and Captain Wang were still arguing when they suddenly heard a few "whoosh" sounds. Several sleeve arrows from the crowd shot towards the city wall, aiming directly at the county magistrate and Fan Changyu.
Flying along with the sleeve arrows came a group of warriors dressed as farmers, who swung out their eagle claw hooks from the bottom of the city wall and grabbed onto the battlements of the rammed earth city wall. They stepped on people's heads and climbed up the ropes to quickly rush up to the city wall.
Captain Wang was shocked, drew his sword and shouted, "Protect the Lord!"
When Fan Changyu saw the hidden arrow flying towards her face, she subconsciously turned her head to avoid it. However, the person she was escorting suddenly took the initiative to meet the boning knife in her hand, avoiding his neck, but his shoulder was hit hard by the blade, leaving a bloody mark, and the ropes that bound him were also cut.
When Fan Changyu reacted, she saw another bloody wound on her shoulder. The person from whom blood was constantly oozing out gave her a cruel and vicious smile.
She felt something was wrong and reflexively jumped back, but Yuan Qing was faster than her. He broke free from the rope and directly drew out the sword of a yamen runner nearby and slashed at Fan Changyu.
The killing skills honed on the battlefield using human heads are brutal and extremely fast.
The boning knife in Fan Changyu's hand was too short, and it had no advantage when it came against the long knife in his hand. When he used the boning knife to block, his knuckles were numbed by the powerful force.
After Xie Zheng intercepted the sleeve arrow shot at Fan Changyu, he saw Sui Yuanqing escape from the trap and kill Fan Changyu. His eyes changed and he was about to go over to help. However, the assassin who climbed up to the city wall with the eagle claw hook seemed to see his intention. He continued to shoot arrows at Fan Changyu while sending people to hold him back.
Xie Zheng had to protect Fan Changyu from hidden arrows and deal with this group of stubborn people, so he was unable to do anything for a while.
The yamen runners were no match for this group of assassins. Captain Wang's men fell one after another. The county magistrate's servants who were escorting the guards had never seen such a scene before and were scared out of their wits. They just ran down the city wall, not to mention helping. They were left exposed and were hacked to the ground by others.
For a moment, the people following Yuan Qing on the city wall had the upper hand.
Fan Changyu was forced to retreat by Sui Yuanqing's fierce swordsmanship. As her weapon was much shorter than his, she could not release her strength. The force of the two weapons even caused cracks on her knuckles, and blood was spilling out.
She gritted her teeth in pain, knowing that she was able to kidnap him successfully at the county magistrate's house because he was completely unprepared at the time, giving her the upper hand.
In this fight, the opponent's moves were extremely ruthless and went straight to the vital points. Although she knew martial arts, she did not have much practical experience. She was not as cunning as the opponent, and her weapons were inferior to his. Fan Changyu was almost suppressed.
She also wanted to pick up a long knife, but Yuan Qing's knife was so powerful that she had no time to concentrate on picking up the knife. She could only use the boning knife in her hand to deal with it.
After finally getting a chance, Fan Changyu threw the boning knife over as if it were a hidden weapon. Sui Yuanqing had no choice but to turn his head to dodge. Fan Changyu quickly bent down to pick up the sword of a dead yamen runner on the ground.
The knife in Sui Yuanqing's hand seemed to have eyes, and the next second it cut past her fingers. In order to save her hands, Fan Changyu had to give up picking up the knife and rolled to the ground to avoid the second knife that was going to cut towards her head.
Sui Yuanqing raised his lips, his eyes showing the interest of a cat teasing a mouse: "No matter how many times you stabbed me, I have to stab you back, then I can peel off your skin and hang you at the city gate. Isn't that fair?"
Fan Changyu spat fiercely: "I just didn't bring a butcher knife with me when I went out today, otherwise I would have let you see how a pig is bled during the New Year!"
Hearing that she was scolding him, Sui Yuanqing's face became even uglier, and the original interest of the cat teasing the mouse disappeared instantly. He approached with a knife: "You are looking for death!"
Fan Changyu was also reckless. He followed his previous example and instead of dodging, he rushed towards the blade.
Xie Zheng saw this scene from a distance, his eyes turned cold, and he snatched the knife from a assassin and threw it towards Sui Yuanqing.
The assassin let out a scream, it turned out that his hand bones were broken by Xie Zheng when he tried to snatch the knife.
The cold blade approached, and Yuan Qing's pupils shrank. In order to protect himself, he had to change his position to block the incoming knife.
The two knives collided with each other with a sharp metallic sound, and the ring-handled knife in Yuan Qing's hand was directly broken into two pieces.
Such a powerful force made him look up in surprise at the man wearing the green ghost mask.
When he heard this person talking just now, he felt that the voice seemed to be heard somewhere before. He had only experienced such strength when fighting with one person on the battlefield. Could this person be...
As soon as he thought of that person, he was hit hard on the jaw by an elbow while he was distracted. He fell backwards and his jaw was numb for a long time. Both rows of teeth seemed to be loosened by the knock. There was a bloody smell in his mouth, probably because his cheekbone was shaken. His ears were buzzing and he could not hear the surrounding sounds for a while.
He suddenly wasn't so sure that the masked man was Marquis Wu'an. A little girl in Qingping County who didn't even pray had such magical powers. Who knows, there might be other hidden talents out there...
Fan Changyu was holding a grudge. She had just been bullied by this man who had no weapon to use. He used a big knife and forced her to parry with a dagger-length boning knife. She had no power to fight back. After elbowing him on the jaw, she immediately picked up a ring-handled knife that fell on the ground and slashed at him again.
Sui Yuanqing was left with only a broken knife in his hand, his eyes filled with hatred, but he finally chose to avoid the enemy's sharp edge.
This time it was Fan Changyu's turn to swing the sword without stopping. He followed Yuan Qing as he dodged and retreated, leaving finger-deep sword marks on the walls on both sides.
Mu Shi and several assassins turned around and saw their prince being chased and hacked, so they quickly came over to help.
Suddenly, there was the sound of horse hooves in the distance on the official road. Looking up, I saw the flags of Jizhou fluttering in the cold wind.
When the common people surrounding the city gate saw the fight on the city wall, they could no longer tell what was going on. Moreover, they did not recognize any of the farmers in short brown clothes, all of whom were skilled in martial arts. Seeing the situation become so chaotic, without those who were leading the trouble, the rest of the people dared not act rashly.
Seeing the troops from Jizhou Prefecture at this moment, let alone a clash, they were even worried that the army would mistakenly think that they were in cahoots with those highly skilled martial artists on the city wall, so they took the initiative to make way for them.
Mu Shi took advantage of the death squad surrounding Fan Changyu to help Sui Yuanqing up, glanced at the approaching soldiers from the Fuzhou Prefecture, and advised: "Sir, as long as the green mountains remain, there is no fear of running out of firewood. Let's retreat first!"
Sui Yuanqing stared at Fan Changyu, and seeing that the dozen or so assassins could not hold back the man in the green ghost mask, he suddenly drew out Mu Shi's sword and rushed towards the county commander to kill him.
The county magistrate screamed in fear, and Captain Wang, who had several cuts on his body, rushed over to save the county magistrate.
How could Fan Changyu watch Captain Wang die in front of her? Yan Zheng was entangled by a large number of assassins and couldn't escape. She swung her sword to block Yuan Qing's chopping knife.
Unexpectedly, Sui Yuanqing made a feint and directly dropped the knife. His hand wrapped around Fan Changyu's hand holding the knife like a vine. Somehow, he used his strength so skillfully that Fan Changyu felt as if his entire arm had lost consciousness in an instant, and the knife in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.
"I've changed my mind. It would be a shame to have your skin peeled off and hung on the city wall. Come back with me and be my concubine."
Sui Yuanqing held the rope that fixed the eagle claw hook with one hand and held Fan Changyu tightly with the other hand, and jumped down from the collapsed corner of the parapet with laughter.
Fan Changyu staggered as he pulled her, and before she could steady herself she fell down. She subconsciously called out, "Yan Zheng!"
At the critical moment, another big hand with distinct bones and muscles stretched out from the city wall and grabbed Fan Changyu's arm tightly.
Even with the mask on, Xie Zheng's aura was frighteningly cold and brutal at this moment. The long-handled knife in his hand chopped straight towards Sui Yuanqing's hand that was holding Fan Changyu. The force was so fierce that there was no doubt that the arm would be cut off in the next second.
Sui Yuanqing had no choice but to grit his teeth and loosen the hand that was holding Fan Changyu, but the sharp wind from the knife still cut off a strand of hair at his temple, and a shallow bloody cut appeared on his face.
As Yuan Qing raised his eyes, he met the ferocious eyes under the Qing Gui mask, and was secretly shocked.
Fan Changyu's other hand was held by Xie Zheng, so he had the leverage. Without hesitation, he raised his foot and kicked Sui Yuanqing in the face, instructing Xie Zheng: "Quick! Cut the rope and throw this idiot to death!"
The eagle claw hook connected to the battlement of the city wall broke with a sound, but as Yuan Qing fell, he stepped on the wall a few times to cushion his fall, and a group of bodyguards pulled him with a rope. He landed unharmed, with only a black footprint on half of his handsome face.
Fan Changyu was disappointed when he saw this. When Xie Zheng carried him up, he was still complaining, "Why didn't that guy fall to death..."
The next moment, her whole body was wrapped in a broad and solid chest. The force was so strong that she felt as if she was clamped by a piece of iron plate, and her mumbling stopped abruptly.
The author has something to say:
I had my wisdom tooth removed this afternoon, which delayed my progress in writing (廢咕嘆气.jpg)
However, I finally got to the point where I can give a legitimate hug!
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