Song Ning: ......
Everyone: !!
"Look here, here, right now we need manpower. More people are better. You are the pillars of our Tianxiang County."
When people feel needed, they experience a strange sense of excitement. Who doesn't dream of saving the world?
Coincidentally, Song Ning didn't.
But she didn't, while others did; Village Chief Zhou had already been chatting with the county magistrate.
It wasn't that Village Chief Zhou complained; they were just really frustrated yesterday.
"Your Excellency, you have no idea! Last night we used logs as beds, without even a blanket. We were scared half to death by the howling wolves from the mountain all night, and we couldn't sleep because we were so cold. This is unbearable..."
Why didn't I realize before that this village chief was such a good talker?
However, Song Ning hesitated a bit.
If she continued to stay in the village, the original inhabitants would definitely not make things easy for them. They were doing well in another county, but they changed their name to accommodate refugees, and now they've been assigned to this county that has nothing. If it were her, she wouldn't feel comfortable either.
However, this is not something that can be decided by just a few people; they still need to go back and discuss it.
“Your Excellency, we know you love your people dearly, but we still need to go back and discuss this matter before we can make a decision.”
"It's alright, you can discuss it as you please, you can come whenever you want. Don't worry, the gates of Tianxiang County are always open to you," Zheng Gaoyi said passionately.
The group nodded politely and left.
There's nothing in this county town anyway, so why bother wandering around?
As soon as they left, Zheng Gaoyi asked, "Do you think they'll come?"
The servant was ashamed. What do you think? None of the previous dozen or so groups came. Not only did they not come, but they also avoided his master in other places, afraid of being dragged here.
"Sir, why don't you talk to the general? It's not a good situation for us to keep going like this with no one coming."
"No, how can you go back on a bet?"
When Song Ning and his group returned to the village, they saw a fight breaking out as soon as they reached the village entrance.
Although there were quite a few of them, there were even more original inhabitants in the village. However, they had all trained along the way, and not only the adults, but even the children could pick up sticks and swing them a few times.
The two sides were locked in a fierce battle. Song Ning had originally intended to ask the village chief to intervene, but in the blink of an eye, the village chief had already joined the fight.
"You son of a bitch, you dare bully us, you dare bully us!"
The village chief kicked a tall, thin man to the ground and then mounted him and started beating him.
Gao Tiedan was incredibly strong; with one arm and one leg, he knocked down three people. Then, with a crushing blow, the people on the ground immediately foamed at the mouth.
"Damn it, you bunch of bastards, I'll beat you to death, beat you to death!"
The people on their side were willing to go all out, but the people of Tianxiang Village had never seen such a scene before. They were stunned by the attack and could only swing their fists wildly, accidentally injuring many of their own people.
Village Chief Yao was watching the commotion from the sidelines when Song Ning ran over and said, "Village Chief Yao, quickly tell them to stop fighting."
Village Chief Yao glanced at her, a smug look on his face.
"You newcomers, now that you're here, you should know the rules."
Song Ning frowned. This fight wasn't going to work. He wanted to pull the village chief out, but before he could get there, he got caught in the crossfire. Someone reached out from the side and slapped Song Ning on the head.
When Song Dahai saw that his daughter had been beaten, he became enraged and picked up a stone from the ground and smashed it over her head.
When the group saw that there was a little girl nearby, they became enraged and pounced on Song Ning.
Song Ning's face darkened, and he quickly drew his short knife, slashing forward: "Come any closer, and I'll kill you!"
Song Ning originally wanted to mediate the fight, as continuing this fight would not benefit anyone, but these people were simply pushing their luck.
He suddenly turned his head to look at the troublemaker, Village Chief Yao, his eyes darkened, and he gritted his teeth as he rushed over.
Before Village Chief Yao could react, a knife was already at his neck.
"Make them stop. If they don't, I'll cut them down!" Song Ning's voice was sharp, and Village Chief Yao was so frightened that his legs went weak.
Village Chief Yao quickly raised his hand: "No, no, no, girl, calm down, calm down."
"Speak!" Chu Ning shouted angrily.
Village Chief Yao took two steps forward, his forehead beaded with cold sweat, his eyes filled with fear, his face turning pale, and he suddenly felt dizzy.
His voice trembled as he said, "Stop, stop hitting me."
"Speak louder!"
"Stop, stop hitting! All of you, stop!" Village Chief Yao shouted, and the fighting immediately stopped.
Gao Tiedan was about to throw a punch when Song Ning quickly shouted, "Stop fighting!"
Only then did people notice that Song Ning was holding a knife to Village Chief Yao's side.
"Let's see who dares to move again, or I'll kill them!"
Village Chief Yao's neck was already bleeding, and the stinging pain there terrified him. He quickly said, "Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me!"
"Tell me, why did you start fighting?"
Village Chief Luo, with bruises on his body, wiped his mouth and stepped forward, saying, "The timber we cut down last night, these people came and immediately claimed it belonged to their village and forbade us to cut it down. They even said we had to pay compensation, one tael of silver per tree."
They cut down more than a dozen trees last night.
Song slowly put down the knife in his hand and looked at Village Chief Yao: "Village Chief Yao, are the trees in this village made of gold?"
Village Chief Yao was leaning against a tree, panting heavily. Seeing that the threat was gone, his expression immediately changed.
"You, you refugees, I'm going to report you to the magistrate! I'm the village chief appointed by the magistrate himself!" He's the village chief, and everyone in the village has to listen to him.
"That's right! You're the ones who came to our village and cut down the trees without permission! These are trees we planted ourselves! Can you afford to compensate us?" A sharp-tongued woman shouted from next to Village Chief Yao.
Song Ning glanced at the villagers present; they had all been beaten badly by them.
Chu Ning laughed and said, "Go ahead and complain. It's a good opportunity to ask the magistrate as well. Since the higher-ups assigned us here, we are now considered people of this village. The higher-ups agree, but you disagree."
"Tsk, looks like they're not happy with the decision from above. Good, then. Let's go to the magistrate and have him decide whether this is a rebellion."
"You're making baseless accusations! We didn't rebel! It's all your fault! You cut down trees without our permission!" someone in the crowd shouted.
"If it weren't for you, our village wouldn't have had to change its name, and it wouldn't have been incorporated into Tianxiang County!"
The villagers were very resentful and had nowhere to vent their anger, so they took it out on them.
This village belongs to them, so why should they accept these outsiders?
"This is a decision from above. If you don't accept it, you're committing a rebellion. I heard that the rebels who haven't been caught have all fled back to the village. The notice says that if anyone sees a suspicious person, they must report it, and the government will reward them handsomely."
"Village Chief, Brother Jiang, we just happened to meet with the magistrate during the day. We told him that Tianxiang Village is full of treacherous criminals with ulterior motives. Let's go ask him whether he'll take action or not."
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