"The dog imperial envoy has returned to the city!"
Seeing the imperial envoy's flag fluttering on the street outside the city, it was as if a thunderbolt had struck Bajiang County on a sunny day. The common people who went to the market to buy things, the old and the young, all fled to avoid it. The peddlers hurriedly packed up their things and fled without a trace. The shopkeepers hurriedly called for the shop assistants to close the door.
In the blink of an eye, there were only a few broken bamboo baskets and a pile of rotten vegetable leaves left on the street. There was no one left.
A mangy dog walked out of a small alley and looked suspiciously at the empty street. It slowly lightened its footsteps. It seemed that it also felt that something was wrong. It arched its back and cautiously took a few steps forward. It let out two low whimpers and suddenly ran into another alley with its tail between its legs.
At the dilapidated city gate, Liu Guangye proudly rode a tall horse into the city gate. Two horses followed closely behind him, and on each horse sat a person. They were the servants who had accompanied him from the Censorate. They had followed Liu Guangye on this official mission and earned countless wealth and silk. They could play with women whenever they wanted, and they could decide people's life and death with a single word. At this moment, the two servants of the Censorate were in high spirits as if they were the imperial envoy ministers.
Behind them were the soldiers that Song Chumeng had sent to Liu Guangye.
The soldiers' bamboo spears were pierced with bloody human heads, and some had three or four human heads strung on one spear. There were male and female heads, old and young. Some of them still had angry and scolding expressions on their faces, while others had their eyes tightly shut and their faces filled with grief. There was also the head of a child who still had a terrified expression on his face. However, although his mouth was wide open and his eyes were wide open in fear, he could no longer cry or shed any tears.
A noise came from a grocery store on the side of the road. The shopkeeper of the store curiously looked out through the crack of the door. As a result, a lazy soldier happened to walk past him, and the head on the spearhead was reflected in his eyes. It was an old woman with a face full of wrinkles. After being stained with blood, she looked like a ferocious ghost.
Her eyes bulged out in anger, like the whites of a dead fish. Thick blood flowed down from her neck, elongating and thinning. At the end of the blood line, it converged into a single drop and fell in front of the shopkeeper's door. The shopkeeper was so scared that he fell on his butt and knocked over a basket of wild rosa roxburghii.
No wonder the people on the streets were avoiding snakes and scorpions. Although the sun was shining brightly at this moment, who wouldn't feel as if their heart was wrapped in ice when they saw this scene? This scene was simply as terrifying and gloomy as a Ghost King on patrol.
At the very back, the soldiers were holding a group of captives, a group of Xie Man. Xie Man was later known as the Miao Tribe. Because most of the leaders had the surname Xie, they were called Xie Man. It was said that the Xie Men who were arrested were suspected of covering up for vagrants, but judging from their age, it seemed a little strange.
These male captives were not very old, the oldest was only eleven or twelve years old. They were just a group of youths and children. The women were all very young, around fourteen or fifteen years old. Each place nurtured its own people. Although the mountains and rivers of Qian Zhongdao were poor and the rivers were dangerous, the people that were raised were all very handsome. Looking carefully, the men and women that were captured by Liu Guangye all had delicate features, not a single one of them was ugly.
Regardless of the men or women, their clothes were all colourful. At this time, there was very little difference in the clothes of the Xie Man and the men. They were all dressed in homespun clothes, dyed with the colour of the earth, with a colourful floral handkerchief on their heads, a pleated skirt on their bodies, and a pair of flowery shoes on their feet. But through their skillful craftsmanship, it gave people a magnificent and bright feeling.
Regardless of their age, they all stared at Liu Guangye who was riding on a tall horse with a look of hatred and resentment. It seemed that as long as there was a chance, they would pounce on Liu Guangye like a pack of wolves and tear him to pieces. But the sharp spears and swords on the shoulders of the surrounding soldiers reminded them not to act rashly.
The provincial governor's mansion was in the west of the city. After Liu Guangye entered the city, he passed through the long street and went straight to the south of the city. The south of the city was the most desolate place in Bayjiang County. There were not many households in that place, and since he arrived, it had become a hell on earth. No one dared to live there, and no one even dared to pass by.
In the wasteland of the south of the city, there were countless wooden stakes erected there. Some had a complete corpse tied to them. Because the place where the criminals were executed was too far away and it was difficult to move the corpse, they only brought the head back and stuck it on the stake. It was noon, a time when the Yang energy was flourishing, but it gave people an extremely gloomy feeling.
Countless crows were pouncing on the corpses and pecking at their flesh. If someone occasionally passed by, they would be startled into flying away. Perhaps there would be smelly and dirty drops of blood falling from the sky. Perhaps it came from the beak of the crows, their claws, or perhaps it came from the piece of human flesh they were unwilling to let go of in their beaks.
Liu Guangye first wanted to take his spoils of war to the south of the city and hang them on the empty wooden stakes. He hoped that by the time he left the Man Province, the corpses here would have been pecked clean by the crows. He would then be able to use the ghastly white bones to build a 'capital view' here.
Of course, he also wanted to take the captives there to intimidate these Xie Man people. He planned to castrate these young children and bring them back to the capital to be offered to the Emperor as palace slaves. As for these beautiful Xie Man girls, whether it was keeping them for his own enjoyment or giving them away, they were both good choices.
In the south of the city, Sun Yuxuan and Hu Yuanli were lying on the shafts of the carriage and vomiting until they were a complete mess. Although Maqiao looked relatively calm, his face was so black and blue that not a single trace of human color could be seen.
When they heard Song Wanyou speak of Liu Guangye's atrocities, they were unable to restrain their anger. Unfortunately, Liu Guangye had already left the city and they didn't know where to go to find him. They heard that Liu Guangye had turned the south of the city into a Shuraba, a place for him to show off his evil deeds. The three imperial envoys couldn't resist coming to take a look so that they could later send a petition to impeach him.
But as soon as the three of them came, they became like this.
Song Chumeng and Song Wanyou also didn't look good. The air here was filled with the stench of corpses, making their heads hurt. Although these bloodstained evil deeds were all done by Liu Guangye, the ones who did the killing were their soldiers. When they came here, it was as if they could see countless wronged souls crying and wailing around them. How could their expressions be good?
But they had no other choice. Although the Xie Man was also a large tribe, each cave, village, and stream were not under the command of each other. Their power was too loose. The places where the Xie Man, Eastern Xie Man, Southern Xie Man, and other large tribes lived were separated by countless mountains. It was difficult to communicate with each other.
In fact, they had once been awe-inspiring. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the great leader of the Xie Man, Xie Longyu, had an army of tens of thousands and dominated an area. After Li Yuan recruited Xie Longyu, he appointed him as the Provincial Governor and conferred the title of Duke of Yelang. Then, he conferred the other chiefs such as Zhao Guozhen an official position no lower than Xie Longyu's.
When Li Shimin became the Emperor, he did the same thing as his father. He also conferred Xie Qiang, Xie Yuanshen, Zhao Mo, and the Song clan of Ba Jiang as Provincial Governors. Everyone was on equal footing, and no one belonged to anyone. This made it even harder for them to work together. As a result, up until now, the Xie Man was the most peaceful.
Although Liu Guangye's actions were perverse, as long as he didn't force these chiefs into a dead end, the Song clan wouldn't be able to muster up the courage to oppose this imperial envoy who represented the imperial court.
Hu Yuanli 'vomited' for a long time. There was really nothing left to vomit. Panting, he straightened his back. When he raised his head, he saw a lonely head on a wooden pole. One of the eye sockets was empty, and the other had been pecked out by a crow. It hung below the eye socket. Hu Yuanli couldn't help but retch again.
Song Chumeng sighed and took a water gourd from the carriage and handed it over. Hu Yuanli took the water gourd and said with difficulty: "Brother Chumeng, why did you bring this thing in the carriage?"
Song Chumeng said awkwardly: "Just now, I advised the two imperial envoys not to come, but you refused to listen. I knew you would definitely have such a reaction, so I specially prepared water. To tell you the truth, the first time I came, I was in the same sorry state as the two of you. Sigh! Imperial envoys, let's go back. "
Hu Yuanli nodded repeatedly: "Alright, alright, let's go back now."
On the other side, Sun Yuxuan was also gargling with the help of Song Wanyou. With an ugly expression, he said: "Duke Ming (county magistrate's title), please send people to collect these corpses as soon as possible and choose a suitable place to bury the dead. Moreover, the weather is still a bit hot. With so many corpses, I'm afraid the plague will spread. "
Song Wanyou said with a troubled expression: "But … imperial envoy Liu …"
Hu Yuanli cut him off: "Liu Guangye, the two of us will naturally talk to him! Duke Ming need not worry! "
Song Wanyou said cheerfully: "In that case, Wanyou will obey the two imperial envoys' instructions! It's just that … these corpses, sigh! Even if they did something, they wouldn't be willing to collect them. With so many corpses, I'm afraid … "
Maqiao interrupted: "Bring some dry firewood over and burn this place down. Otherwise, before the poison is cleared, I'm afraid the whole city will be affected. I believe … these departed spirits won't blame us. "
As he spoke, he resisted the urge to vomit in his throat and didn't dare to look to either side.
Song Chumeng also didn't want his city to turn into a ghost town, so he nodded repeatedly when he heard this.
Hu Yuanli and Sun Yuxuan hurriedly boarded the carriage and put down the curtains. They didn't dare to take another look at the hellish road, so they hurriedly left for the Song Clan Residence. Just as they left the boundary of the 'cemetery', they bumped into Liu Guangye's troops.
Hu Yuanli and Sun Yuxuan had just calmed their tumbling stomachs when they heard that Liu Guangye had arrived. The two immediately rushed out of the carriage. Seeing the human heads carried on the shoulders of Liu Guangye and the soldiers behind him, Hu Yuanli couldn't help but tremble.
He pointed his halberd at Liu Guangye and shouted with uncontrollable rage: "Liu Guangye! How dare you do such a cruel and heartless thing! This simple and pure land of peach blossoms has actually turned into a ghost town in the human world in your hands! Y-y-you … You're cruel and tyrannical, unscrupulous, slaughtering the innocent, committing atrocities! I want to impeach you! I, Hu Yuanli, will use this future to impeach you and flick you until you die! "
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