Chapter 40: Kill first and tell later, royal power charter
Qin Shaoyou's heart moved, and he remembered the Black Lotus Rebellion that happened in Fangting County on the day he first entered the Yaosi Division in Luocheng Town.
Could these corpses soaked in the blood pool in the water tank be obtained from Fangting County?
And Wujiabao, did they also provide materials for the Black Lotus Sect to refine the corpse puppet?
Let’s further speculate that the Black Lotus Sect’s intention to attack Fangting County is not simple either?
Could it be that they didn't really want to capture the county town, but wanted to kidnap people and corpses and draw the attention of the Demon Suppression Division?
Now most of the attention of the Luocheng Town Demon Division is placed around Fangting County, where they search the mountains and seas for the remnants of the Black Lotus Sect, and their monitoring power over other counties and towns has been greatly weakened.
Even Qin Shaoyou still doubted that when Xue Qingshan arrived in Fangting County, he defeated the Black Lotus Sect demon. Could it be that the Black Lotus Sect had achieved its strategic intention and took the initiative to retreat?
Just as he was opening up his imagination, Zhu Xiucai's eyes suddenly widened and he whispered: "It's Lao Zhao!"
At this moment, the dogs imprisoned in the City God's Temple couldn't help but bark after seeing the corpse in the water tank and smelling the strong smell of blood.
Most dogs bark like dogs. Only a few that have just been put on dog skins can make human sounds, but they are all intermittent and weak.
However, these barking dogs covered up Zhu Xiucai's low cry very well, so that the Black Lotus Sect demons inside and outside the City God's Temple did not notice it.
But Qin Shaoyou heard it very clearly.
He lowered his voice and asked, "Is there anyone you know?"
Zhu Xiucai nodded: "I saw Lao Zhao's face in the blood tank... He is the night watchman of Fangting County, and we have collaborated on several cases."
The night watchman of Fangting County?
Qin Shaoyou's eyes moved slightly.
This discovery proved part of his guess, but he was not happy at all.
The City God's Temple in front of us, although it is in the human world, is like hell.
Su Tingyu suddenly twitched her nose twice and said quickly: "There are some demonic smells that are approaching quickly."
Without waiting for Qin Shaoyou and Zhu Xiucai to ask questions, she pinched the magic formula with her hands and recited a spell in a low voice and quickly.
The talismans attached to their bodies immediately emitted a thick black mist. Coupled with the pitch-black night, it was difficult for people to notice their presence even if they passed by them.
As soon as Su Tingyu finished casting the spell, a group of red-eyed crows flew in from the dark night.
One of them happened to fly over the wall where they were lying.
If it weren't for the black fog, Qin Shaoyou and the others would have been discovered by this crow.
"The messenger crow is back."
When the people in the yard saw the crow flying, they turned to say hello to the hall, closed the wooden lid of the water tank, and then raised their hands, letting a crow land on his arm.
Other crows landed on the roof, on the wall, or in the yard.
Not only were they scattered everywhere, they were also constantly looking around with their blood-red eyes.
Just like surveillance cameras.
There was the sound of footsteps in the main hall, and several people walked out.
One of them took the crow, grabbed its body with one hand, pinched its head with the other, and twisted it gently, and the head was immediately torn off.
The man opened his mouth and swallowed the crow head with blood and bird feathers. He closed his eyes and chewed it while saying: "The people who came here to spy on the information this afternoon have been killed, along with their companions."
Qin Shaoyou, who was lying on the wall and hiding in the black mist, couldn't help but secretly marvel when he saw this.
This kind of investigation method is really weird, but it's a bit wasteful.
"They've all been killed? That's good."
Someone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Nothing good." The man chewing the crow's head opened his eyes and snorted coldly: "Those people are the agents sent by Luocheng Prefecture. News of their deaths must be reported. Although we can delay it for some time, but
We can’t delay it for too long, so all plans must be accelerated.”
The Black Lotus Cult members around him had serious expressions on their faces when they heard this, and they all responded in unison.
The man who chewed the crow's head opened his mouth and spat out a ball of blood mixed with bird feathers and broken bones, then turned and returned to the hall.
Qin Shaoyou and the others lay down on the wall for a while, then slipped down the wall under the cover of black mist and went to join Monk Ma and others.
Qin Shaoyou and the others did not do anything this time because the security at the Chenghuang Temple was too tight.
Leaving Zhu Xiucai in charge of keeping an eye on the City God's Temple, Qin Shaoyou asked Su Tingyu to release a crane talisman, and reported all the new information he had just found out, as well as his various speculations, to Xue Qingshan through the crane talisman.
Thousands of words turned into one sentence, it is: There are many thieves here, the situation is urgent, bring people here quickly, bring more people!
Afterwards, Qin Shaoyou divided his men into several teams, some went to keep an eye on the county government and the night watchmen, and some waited until dawn to leave the city and wait outside the city to receive reinforcements.
There are also some people who have been assigned to keep tabs on several traffic arteries in Mianyuan County to see if they can uncover more people related to the Black Lotus Sect.
Qin Shaoyou himself was not idle either. He and the two sisters Su Jianqing and Su Tingyu went to Yizhuang to stay.
Not only were they guarding the shadow puppets, but they also wanted to see if any demons from the Black Lotus Sect wanted to attack their 'corpse'.
In the blink of an eye it's dawn.
Qin Shaoyou, who had hidden himself in a dark place opposite Yizhuang with the help of Su Tingyu Talisman, had been watching here all night.
Except for seeing a few police officers from Mianyuan County come to check the body in the early morning, he did not see anyone else come to Yizhuang.
Time soon came to afternoon.
A strongman dressed as a passerby hurried past outside Yizhuang.
There seems to be nothing unusual, but this is the secret code agreed upon by Qin Shaoyou and others in advance, which means that reinforcements have arrived near Mianyuan County.
A quarter of an hour later, Qin Shaoyou, Su Jianqing, and Su Tingyu slipped out of Mianyuan County and met up with the warrior waiting outside. He led the way to a small village ten miles away in Mianyuan County.
Everyone in the village was under control.
There are more than two hundred night watchmen, fully armed and staying here.
The leader is Xue Qingshan!
Although the Luocheng Town Demon Division has an establishment of 100 households, due to the increasing rampage of demons in recent years, the Demon Divisions in various places have been overstaffed, and the Luocheng Town Demon Division is no exception.
There are now more than 300 demons in Luocheng Town, not counting the night watchmen in various counties and towns.
Last night, Xue Qingshan received the two crane talismans sent by Qin Shaoyou and immediately realized that the situation here was serious.
In addition to leaving more than a hundred people to perform other tasks and guard the Demon Suppression Division, he brought over all the remaining combatable soldiers.
Xue Qingshan also thought about whether to recruit night watchmen from the counties and towns along the way.
Taking into account the problem of moles that Mr. Qin lobbied for, and fearing that they might also exist in these counties and towns, he did not recruit people.
Even for the night watchmen he brought here, Xue Qingshan never told them where they were going or what they were going to do.
"How are things going today?"
Xue Qingshan waved to the three of Qin Shaoyou and called them to him.
Qin Shaoyou reported on the ceremony: "There are no obvious changes in the demons of the Black Lotus Sect, but we found that the number of wild dogs in the county was much higher than yesterday, and they were all heading into people's homes, and they couldn't be driven away...
…”
Xue Qingshan got on his horse and said in a deep voice: "In this case, let's not waste time. I order the night watchmen to take action immediately and destroy the Black Lotus Sect here with thunderous means!"
"yes!"
More than two hundred night watchmen responded in unison and mounted their horses.
Qin Shaoyou also rode on a horse and said with some worry: "We only know the situation of Zhang Mansion and the City God's Temple. We don't know if there are other Black Lotus Sect demons in the county."
"fine."
Xue Qingshan put down his mask, causing his voice to become hoarse.
"As long as we rush into the city, the demons of the Black Lotus Sect will be exposed one after another. Even if they are not exposed, they can be found one by one afterwards!"
Immediately afterwards, Xue Qingshan issued an order:
"Xie Zongqi, you lead two teams and go to Zhang Shilang's residence with Dao Su to capture the Painted Skin Ghost!"
"yes!"
A burly flag officer stood on horseback and accepted the order with his hands raised.
"The rest of you will follow me to the City God's Temple. You, Shaoyou, will follow me."
Xue Baihu's voice suddenly rose several times louder, and he ordered: "If anyone blocks our handling of the case along the way, give a warning first, and those who do not retreat will not be killed! Our Demon Suppression Department is authorized by the emperor, and we have the right to kill first and report later!"
"yes!"
More than two hundred night watchmen responded in unison again.
Qin Shaoyou only felt refreshed and happy: so arrogant, feeling like a factory flower.
"Set off!"
Xue Baihu waved his hand and took the lead in riding out, heading straight for Mianyuan County.
Qin Shaoyou followed closely behind.
The Su sisters soon followed.
Su Jianqing found an opportunity and asked: "Xue Baihu, what if Minister Zhang stops us from arresting people? We can't kill them too, right?"
"He won't stop it."
Xue Baihu smiled softly.
"You don't really think that Minister Zhang doesn't know that his grandson is Painted Skin Ghost in disguise, right?
If he really didn't know, he wouldn't have allowed you to enter the house, and even called his fake grandson out to show you.
Although those monsters in the Black Lotus Sect have learned a few lines from the Four Books and Five Classics, they don't know that true Confucian masters can comprehend various magical abilities from the scriptures of sages.
Zhang Shilang is in charge of "Shang Shu", but he has the ability to 'see fire with insight'!"
"Is Mr. Zhang pretending to be a snake with the painted-skinned ghost so as not to scare the snake and kill the real Zhang Benwu?"
Qin Shaoyou recalled various situations and found a lot of clues.
For example, the guards in the Zhang Mansion are not so much protecting the fake Zhang Benwu as they are guarding him.
Also, as soon as Shilang Zhang heard that the fake Zhang Benwu sent someone to find the dog, he immediately rushed to check the situation. He said he was concerned about the fake Zhang Benwu, but rather wanted to see what it was going to do and whether he could follow the lead and find the real dog.
Zhang Benwu...
Sure enough, no one who can get along in the officialdom is simple!
Zhang Shilang's acting skills are really good. He not only deceived the Painted Skin Ghost, but also deceived them...