The wooden stick was raised high and aimed at Yi Chenli with ruthless intent.
Yi Chenli caught the wooden stick with his bare hands, and the stick broke in two in his hands.
The bald man was startled and shouted, "The corrupt official in charge is here! Let's kill him first!"
Immediately afterwards, some more unsuspecting disaster victims rushed over.
Yi Chenli sneered, and with lightning speed, before the bald man could react, he was overpowered and forced to kneel on the ground.
His icy voice reached the ears of every agitated disaster victim: "You're going against the imperial court, assaulting an official of the court—don't you want the lives of your entire family?"
"Food has indeed been scarce these days, but have we not given you food every single day? If we really wanted to abandon you, why go through all this trouble? Wouldn't it have been simpler to just drive you out of Shengjing?"
"So easily swayed, is that all the judgment you have?"
Yi Chenli's three rhetorical questions resonated in the ears of every disaster victim.
His voice had a magical power to calm people down and make them think. The disaster victims who were rushing forward suddenly froze in place.
When they first escaped, they only ate tree bark, but now at least they can drink porridge.
The camp also frequently sends doctors to treat seriously ill disaster victims.
With so many of them, it's inevitable that they'll run out of food. They assaulted officials and violated the laws of Tiansheng; their fate will only be worse than it is now.
At first, one disaster victim put down his stick, and later, more and more disaster victims put down their sticks.
One of the disaster victims bowed his head and apologized, saying, "We acted impulsively."
“You are not all corrupt officials. You are the ones who shared the porridge with us, and we should be grateful.”
The situation began to improve.
Seeing the situation was turning against them, the bald man kneeling on the ground shouted, "Don't be fooled! These corrupt officials are just trying to buy you off with petty favors; they'll never truly care about you..."
Before the bald man could say anything more, Yi Chenli stuffed a rag into his mouth.
Two guards stepped forward, one in front and one behind, and tied the bald man up. At Yi Chenli's instruction, they punched and kicked the bald man in front of everyone, each blow more severe than the last.
The bald man had several teeth knocked out and vomited blood, which stained the rag in his mouth. He then used his tongue to push the rag out of his mouth.
"Ugh...it hurts so much...this corrupt official is going to kill me, he's going to kill me, a commoner." As soon as he could speak, the bald man started yelling, using the posture of the weak to lead the crowd and incite everyone's dissatisfaction with the court.
The disaster victims stared at the bald man being beaten, their eyes filled with confusion. They couldn't understand what heinous crime he had committed.
Yi Chenli quickly gave them an answer.
He stood before the bald man and retorted, "You say you're an ordinary citizen? Then let me ask you, from which village or town did you flee here?"
"I...I am."
Yi Chenli didn't ask any particularly tricky questions, but the bald man stammered and couldn't answer.
The disaster victims had traveled a difficult journey, all in groups. Because the bald man couldn't answer, some of the victims began to gossip.
"I don't think I've seen that guy before?"
Are you from your village?
The disaster victims asked each other for a long time, but no one recognized the bald man.
Feeling guilty, the bald man blurted out, "The journey from the south was arduous. My wife and children starved to death. Most of the people in my village have also died. I didn't have anyone with me, so does that mean I'm not a disaster victim?"
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