Chapter 1471.
“Bold unruly people!” As Wang Duan chopped off the second head, a group of heavily armed soldiers rushed over and opened fire on the stragglers around Ye Dai and the others, mowing down more than a dozen of them in a matter of moments.
Ye Dai was Ye Xiangming’s daughter, although she was born out of a foreign house, the county minister’s favor towards her had long been an open secret in Qing’an County, and there were not many people who were unaware of it.
As for these soldiers who were responsible for maintaining law and order outside the city, they were all Ye Xiangming’s men.
When the crowd of victims surrounded them just now, these soldiers had developed a strong vigilance, so they reacted quickly.
They were even more ferocious and merciless than Wang Duan, killing even those who were kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, using a human head and drenching blood to warn the other stragglers.
It is not that these soldiers like to kill, but if they do not use such brutal means to kill the chickens and monkeys, then nearly 10,000 stragglers will not be able to control, and the consequences will be unimaginable if they start a riot.
A small disturbance was quickly pacified.
“Let’s go back.”
Wang Chen sheathed his sword and said softly to his wife and concubines, “In the future, let someone else take care of the relief matters.”
Ye Dai nodded with a pale face.
She had always been kept in a deep bosom, not knowing the cruelty of the world, and today she had been taught a good lesson.
All three views were strongly impacted.
And not long after Wang Chen returned home with his concubines, his old husband Ye Xiangming hurriedly ran to the door.
The county minister apparently got the news, came over to inquire about the situation, and then said Ye Dai a pass with a stern face.
Ye Dai was reprimanded to the point of tears.
Ye Xiangming also complained about Wang Dust: “You shouldn’t favor her too much, letting her do everything by her nature.”
Wang Dust smiled bitterly, “My little son-in-law knows.”
“It’s none of husband’s business.”
Ye Dai hurriedly wiped her tears and defended Wang Chen, “It’s all my fault.”
“You ah you!”
Ye Xiangming actually still loved his daughter, waving his hand feebly, he said, “Go and reflect on yourself, I still have things to discuss with Wang Dust, so we’ll have dinner here in the evening.”
After waiting for Ye Dai to leave, Ye Xiangming said to Wang Dust with a straight face, “The current situation is very bad…”
First of all, Qing’an County asked for help from the Prefecture above, but the Prefecture said that it could not do anything about it, not only could it not allocate half a grain of relief grain, instead, it asked the county office to pull some grain from the official warehouse to support the Prefecture.
Because all seven counties in Changyi were affected by the disaster, the drought in several counties was particularly severe.
The situation in Qing’an County was considered good.
Currently, tens of thousands of victims have gathered outside the capital city, and the number is still increasing.
The price of rice inside the capital city has risen to 20 cents a catty, and there are even cases of rice stores being looted, and the grain stored in the government store can only support for two or three months at most.
If there is no new rice, the consequences will be unimaginable.
As the saying goes, when the house leaks, it rains again, and the stragglers in Santai County, where the drought is the most severe, rebelled and almost brought down the county.
“There is likely a drought demon in the territory of Santai County.”
Ye Xiangming’s face was unsightly: “When the drought demon comes out, the red earth is thousands of miles away, it’s impossible for us in Qing’an County to be alone!”
For the mundane world, the drought demon was undoubtedly one of the most terrifying plagues.
The Drought Demon was often accompanied by natural disasters, where it appeared, rivers were cut off, lakes dried up, the wilderness was barren of grass, and it would also bring about fires.
It was not uncommon for a drought demon that had become established to wipe out a prefecture!
In order to deal with this Drought Demon, Changyi Prefecture had already recruited martial arts experts and elite soldiers, as well as enlisting the help of the White Cloud Cultivator to prepare to kill it.
Although it was said that the sooner the Drought Demon was killed the better, the Drought Demon, as a natural disaster, was not so easy to deal with.
There was no telling how many people would have to die to get rid of it!
But that wasn’t the most troublesome thing.
The biggest problem lay in the court of Nanli Kingdom, since the Nanli King had fallen seriously ill half a year ago, the open and secret struggle between several princes had entered a white-hot state, greatly affecting the country’s power.
Together, these circumstances gave people the feeling that the country was going to collapse, and that chaos was already upon them.
And once the heavens fall, Ye Xiangming, who had always been strong in Qing’an County, didn’t dare to say that he could guarantee the safety of his wife, children, and children.
“Save for a rainy day, or you must plan early.”
This county minister finally said to Wang Duan, “You and I both need to have a back road.”
Ye Xiangming was not making false threats, in just less than half a month’s time, the situation in Changyi Prefecture had deteriorated drastically.
Without a way to live, the San Tai County stragglers finally captured the county town after a desperate effort at all costs.
They ransacked all the big households in the city, killing the gentry and then holding a large number of civilians in the city to organize an army of roving bandits to attack and plunder the neighboring areas of Santai County.
When the news spread, the entire Changyi Prefecture was thrown into a state of panic.
These roving bandits grew like a snowball and swept through Changyi like locusts, numbering over 50,000 in number.
This huge army of roving bandits did not attack the capital city with its strong defenses, but rather traveled down the river, holding more victims hostage while attacking the local counties.
After only one month, Yongping County, located at the upper reaches of the Qingshui River, was overrun.
Yongping County and Qing’an County were neighboring each other, and its fall meant that Qing’an County was about to face the front of the roving army directly!
When the news came, the gentry and merchants in the county all panicked.
Many people fled the city with their families in a hurry, heading further south to escape the disaster.
People from the countryside flooded into the county, causing the security of the county to deteriorate rapidly. Ye Xiangming led his soldiers to patrol the streets every day, killing one batch of troublemakers after another.
By the beginning of July, the county town was overcrowded and the city gates were completely closed.
Because the roving army was coming.
Woo~
The desolate sound of horns spread throughout the four fields, outside Qing’an City, a large number of roving bandits came over the mountains.
People one over ten thousand, boundless, and the roving bandits that surrounded Qing’an County City were at least 50,000 to 60,000 huge, covering a large area of the wilderness in black, making people’s scalp numb when they looked at it.
You should know that the population of Qing’an County is not this large, Ye Xiangming’s soldiers are only 300, even if you add the county court constables, the armed force is not more than 500.
What they were facing was a hundred times the enemy!
In such a situation, the county magistrate Yu Heqian and the county minister Ye Xiangming unprecedented unity, not only with strong means to requisition the city’s gentry rich family guards, but also the members of the local gangs are organized, distribution of weapons to serve as soldiers.
In addition, they also recruited a batch of strong men, and finally put together a guard force of 3,500 people.
In fact, if it really comes to a critical moment, then the city’s old and weak, women and children have to go up to the city wall to fight for their lives, or else they will be broken and slaughtered as a result.
The ferocity of the roving bandits is beyond the imagination of ordinary people!