Fuzhou is more than 1,300 miles away from the capital.
The Onmyoji was destroyed by Zhewei Xingjun and the Qianmo Tower was gone. Tao Huayuan, Han Chen and Tong Qingqiu and other Onmyojis alternately used magic formations along the way and took Xu Zhiqiong and thirty lantern men to Luohuai County, Fuzhou.
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When the Xianyi River burst its banks, Luohuai County was the most severely damaged. Xu Zhiqiong knew that the situation here was very bad, but he did not expect it to be so bad.
What I didn’t expect was that the worst thing was not the flood!
Xu Zhiqiong killed three officials, and the remaining one was hooked by the chin.
Only then did he blow the horn, which soon attracted more officials.
Xu Zhiqiong hung the official on a tree with an iron hook and ordered the lantern holder to hold the lantern.
Green Lantern Master Zhu Fuxing patted the lamp box, and twenty-four red lanterns hovered in the air, illuminating the rural road at the entrance of the village.
The county magistrate Zheng Qi led more than a hundred officials and rushed over with weapons in hand.
This Zheng county magistrate has never been to the capital, has never seen a lantern man, and has no idea what these red lanterns are for.
He only saw Xu Zhiqiong and others wearing casual clothes, so he regarded them as a mob.
Zhengxian Cheng had a fierce and courageous temperament. Seeing that Xu Zhiqiong did not have many men, he directly asked the officials to come forward and surround him, and he came up with Luohuai County's unique formation called "Suppressing the Violence Formation".
It is said that this formation method is most effective against unruly people and mobs. Countless mobs have been killed with corpses strewn on the ground and rivers of blood.
The essence of the formation is: the person with the saber walks in front, slashes head-on, directly defeats the enemy, and prevents counterattack.
Those with spears surrounded them on both sides, forming a trap to prevent escape.
Officials of rank nine and above are in the rear, commanding and supervising the battle to prevent injuries.
Meng Shizhen saw that the opponent still had the formation, so he pulled out his saber and showed a ferocious smile: "Damn it, I haven't killed anyone since I returned to the capital for a long time, let's stretch out our muscles today!"
Li Pu'an said: "Lao Zhu, don't interfere yet, let me kill two more and enjoy myself!"
Zhu Fuxing was responsible for controlling the red light. He turned back and glanced at Xu Zhiqiong. Xu Zhiqiong remained silent, which was regarded as acquiescence.
In the first round of fighting, the lanterns from the sky were not used, and the thirty lantern-bearing men were not arrayed. The battle lasted only a moment, and more than forty officials were killed.
More than 30% of the more than 130 officials died. The officials immediately fled.
It was so easy to escape. Xu Zhiqiong and the lantern man were chasing after him in the blink of an eye.
County Magistrate Zheng Qi saw that the situation was urgent and quickly adjusted the formation, changing the "violent suppression formation" to the "mang-avoiding formation".
This formation method is mainly used when the mob is extremely brave. The purpose is to avoid its sharp edge and Xu Tu gradually approaches.
The essence of the formation is that the person with the spear rushes in front to prevent anyone from blocking the escape path.
The rear guard holding the saber can turn around at any time to stop the pursuers as they approach.
Officials of rank nine and above are in the middle, with protection at the front and rear to prevent injuries.
But the officials at the rear of the palace couldn't help but beat him, and were killed by Meng Shizhen until they cried like ghosts and howled like wolves.
The spear team in front could not run fast enough, so Xu Zhiqiong led others to rush in front and block the way.
At the critical moment, the county magistrate Zheng Qi changed the formation to a new one.
This formation is called the "Formation of Tolerance and Benevolence", which mainly demonstrates the tolerance and tolerance of the officials and the people as a family.
The essence of the formation is that officials of the ninth grade and above should be at the forefront, with a sincere attitude and a clear stance to prevent injury.
The remaining soldiers, regardless of whether they had long guns or short swords, were immediately thrown to the ground with uniform movements to prevent misunderstandings and injuries to officials.
There are three key points to the formation: first, place your knees on the ground, second, place your hands on the ground, and third, touch your forehead to the ground. While touching, shout loudly to intimidate the enemy.
"Grandpa, have mercy!"
"Grandpa, have mercy!"
This county magistrate is indeed fierce, his voice is extremely loud, and Xu Zhiqiong's eardrums hurt when he shouts.
"Grandpa, have mercy on me, grandpa..."
Xu Zhiqiong kicked the county magistrate in the face, blocked his mouth with the sole of his shoe, and asked, "Are you the county magistrate?"
Zheng Qi puffed up his chest and said solemnly: "I am not the county magistrate, I am the county magistrate. I always obey the county magistrate's orders!"
Xu Zhiqiong grabbed the county magistrate and asked him alone. He turned around and ordered the lantern holder: "Take good care of your colleagues who are ninth grade and above. Hang them all with iron hooks, pierce their chins, and hang them on the tree."
The iron hook pierced the chin, which was one of the most painful places. All the officials, big and small, cried out and begged for mercy: "Grandpa, please, spare our lives!"
Meng Shizhen touched the iron hook and said, "When you were guarding this intersection, why didn't you say spare the lives of those people?"
"We all obey the orders of the magistrate, and we will do whatever he asks us to do!"
Meng Shizhen grabbed a ninth-grade chief clerk surnamed Fan and touched his chin: "The hook here is quite painful. If I raise the hook an inch and make a mark on your face, I will give you a thought and then put it on your face."
If you tie it up, it won't hurt so much, and it won't be considered a violation of our Qianhu orders."
"Grandpa, you are a good person. I beg you to be a little more generous. You are my great benefactor. I kowtow to you!" Master Fan kowtows.
Meng Shizhen laughed loudly: "If the people are in front of you and you can raise the edge of the knife even an inch, I will spare you!"
"I lifted one inch, not just one inch, and I let many people go. This is true!"
"Really?" Meng Shizhen grabbed Mr. Fan's hair, walked through the fence, and walked into the village. "Prisoner, don't lie. I'll ask later to see if there are any people who can testify for you."
Meng Shizhen walked more than a hundred steps into the village and saw a corpse.
Starting from this corpse, Meng Shizhen could see the corpse every dozen steps he took.
After walking for more than three hundred steps, Meng Shizhen finally saw a living person.
The man was lying next to a collapsed house. There was no blood on his face and he looked no different from a corpse.
But the moment he saw Master Fan's book, the man immediately jumped up and ran away, shouting: "Fan picks melons, Fan picks melons!"
Meng Shizhen grabbed the official and said, "What did he mean when he said Fan picked melons?"
Master Fan shook his head repeatedly and said: "I, I, I don't know. There are many unruly people here. Who knows what they said..."
Meng Shizhen stepped forward to catch the fleeing villager and asked, "What did you say about Fan Zhaigua?"
The villager cried: "He, he is Fan Zhaigua under the county magistrate. He will chop off the heads of those who run for their lives. He chops off the heads faster than picking melons. I am about to starve to death. I didn't want to run away. How could I?"
I didn’t go either, so I was just lying under that house, Grandpa, please spare my life!”
Meng Shizhen grabbed Master Fan and said, "Fan Zaigua, you just lied to me."
Master Fan cried and said: "Grandpa, I was not that kind of person originally. I always listened to the county magistrate..."
Meng Shizhen hooked Fan Zhaigua's chin with an iron hook and hung him on the tree: "I will put you down when your melons are ripe."
Master Fan kept wailing.
Meng Shizhen ignored him and looked away with a lantern.
He saw many corpses.
He saw under the broken bricks and tiles, there were some people who were about to become corpses.
He saw crows that were eating corpses. Some crows couldn't wait any longer and started eating at people who were still alive.
There are also some people who have some strength. Like crows, they prey on the dead and those who are not yet dead.
"Damn, damn..." Meng Shizhen cursed a few words. For him, this scene only made him feel uncomfortable, not shocked. He had seen too many on the battlefield.
But he felt really uncomfortable in his heart. This was not a battlefield, this was Daxuan, and these people were Xuan people who lived in the land of Daxuan!
Meng Shizhen was holding a lantern and preparing to return the same way. After taking only two steps, she met Xu Zhiqiong.
Xu Zhiqiong grabbed the county magistrate and glanced at the miserable scene in the village. Guan Xicheng said from the side: "Yisha Village is good. The Helong Village in front is low-lying. People are soaking in the mud. Standing on high places
Looking at it, you can't tell whether it's a person or mud. Some people are just buried in the mud and slowly turn into mud."
"Watching from a high place?" Xu Zhiqiong said, "Is there any higher place?"
"Yes! There is a barren mountain next to Helong Village. At that time, Fuzhou Magistrate Gao Shengchang and state officials stood on the hillside and watched the people of Helong Village soaking in the mud.
I begged him to release people, but he said that there would be epidemics after the disaster, and releasing them would spread the epidemics.
I said that at least I should put the person on the hillside and keep him under control. He said that he should let me know the severity and the general outline.
What can I say that is more important than a human life? What can be greater than a human life?
He scolded me for half an hour, and I still don’t understand what he basically said.”
Xu Zhiqiong remained silent.
Meng Shizhen recalled what Xu Zhiqiong said when he killed Liang Yuming: "In general, they are a group of shameless people who did shameless things and then used shameless means to cover it up!"
Guan Xicheng seemed to have some realization.
Xu Zhiqiong said to Han Chen: "Let's see how many people can be saved?"
Han Chen led several Onmyoji masters from the beginning of the village to the end of the village. There were about forty people there.
Walking to the other end of the village, there were also officers guarding the place. Xu Zhiqiong and Meng Shizhen killed all the officers, leaving only one alive, and asked: "There are so many of you, why are you guarding this village?"
The official lowered his head and said, "These are all orders from the county magistrate, and we don't know either."
Xu Zhiqiong cut off one of the officer's ears: "I didn't hear clearly, can you say it again?"
The official wailed: "We are not only guarding this village, but there are five villages connected to the intersection over there. We are staying at the intersection. The county magistrate said that the lives of the people in these five villages are hard and they cannot starve to death for so many days.
Let us hold on tight and not let anyone go alive!"
Xu Zhiqiong looked at the county magistrate and said, "Is what he said true?"
The county magistrate nodded and said, "It's the magistrate's order."
Xu Zhiqiong said again: "Why don't you kill everyone? Aren't they silenced anyway?"
The county magistrate said: "The magistrate has given instructions that this is a natural disaster and we cannot attack the people. We are a parent and an official..."
Xu Zhiqiong kicked him in the mouth.
The county magistrate wiped the blood and mud from the corner of his mouth, straightened his chest, and knelt in front of Xu Zhiqiong.
Xu Zhiqiong asked again: "Does your county magistrate usually live in the county government office?"
"The county government office is also where we live, but there are other places as well."
"Other place, what place is it?"
County Magistrate Zheng smiled proudly: "It's hard to say, I am the magistrate who cultivated it..."
Xu Zhiqiong gave him another kick in the mouth.
"The magistrate has been kind to me! Don't push me too hard!" The county magistrate looked at Xu Zhiqiong with red eyes, tears were about to flow out, "Unless you let me live, the magistrate's family will be ruined."
I won’t tell you where Xiaohe’s gold and silver treasures are!”
Xu Zhiqiong stepped on the county magistrate's face: "You also know where he hides the grain, right?"
The county magistrate nodded with difficulty.
After cleaning up all the officials in the village, Xu Zhiqiong ordered someone to hook the county magistrate with an iron hook. He did not hook him in the mouth, fearing that it would affect his speech, so he hooked his shoulder first and asked him to lead the way.
The remaining officials were all hanging on the trees, and there were still dozens of officials alive. Xu Zhiqiong decided to find a few who had less than two inches of criminal karma to work as coolies first, and kill the rest.
After an inspection, all the remaining officials were killed. None of them were under two inches, not even three inches!
Xu Zhiqiong divided his manpower, leaving two Onmyoji and two Lantern Men behind to treat the survivors in Yisha Village.
The remaining people were handed over to Han Chen and Meng Shizhen to clean up the officials in the surrounding villages and do their best to treat the villagers.
Tao Huayuan told Xu Zhiqiong that four of the five members of the family had been saved.
The child was saved, and so were the child's parents.
The old woman is still alive, but the old man cannot be saved.
Before leaving, the old man took a bite of the pancake and kept it in his mouth. He couldn't swallow it and left...
Xu Zhiqiong and Tao Huayuan are going to the county magistrate's house to borrow some food, money, and manpower from him, and also ask him to translate what natural disasters are and what general knowledge means.