After the noise outside subsided, the man squatting by the wall went back to the cellar in the backyard.
The small cellar was crowded with a family of young and old, and under the dim light the eyes looked frightened like a bunch of rats that had dug their nests.
"Are they rebels?" the family huddled together asked.
The man squatting at the entrance of the cave was somewhat unable to answer, "Not quite."
What does not quite seem like mean?
"What I heard was that the guards will kill thieves, but those who surrender will not be killed," the man recalled.
The family members in the cellar looked at each other, "We are the guards here, what kind of thieves are we going to kill?"
"Could it be that the guards were fighting among themselves?" the older man guessed.
This is possible. These guards have turned into thieves. They are suspicious and fall down like grass blown by the wind. The man touched his chin, "But the fighting was very fierce and methodical."
I hid behind the wall and listened to the fighting on the street. It was like heavy rain falling on the ground, or like a sickle cutting rice. It was fierce, dense, and neat, and the momentum was terrifying.
The internal strife among the guards in this mansion is not that high, right?
The adults couldn't figure out whether they were rebels or internal strife. The children didn't care. They bit their fingers and asked vaguely, "Will they kill us?"
Yes, this is the key question.
The man turned back and looked outside into the night where light and darkness met. Although the sound of fighting had stopped, the vibration of running footsteps on the ground had not stopped. He didn't know when these footsteps would come here, knock open the door of the house, and kill them on the spot.
Or pick out men and women in blue clothes and kill the useless young and old.
This scene didn't happen until dawn.
The vibrations on the ground disappeared, and the entire city was sleeping in the early morning as before.
The man stretched out his hand and slowly opened the door, and stuck his head out from the crack of the door. At first glance, he saw that the neighbor on the opposite side was like him. He was shocked and then breathed a sigh of relief. The neighbor was not dead, and the people around him were still alive.
The neighbor was also frightened and relieved, and winked at him. They both felt bold to have company, squeezed out from the door and stood at the door.
Their alley does not face the street, so there is no such tragic scene. There is blood dripping on the road. It should be that injured people ran past.
More people in the alley opened the door and squeezed out. In addition to greeting with eyes, they all said, "What's going on?"
No one could answer. Just when everyone slowly gathered together to discuss and walk to the street to take a look, the calm ground began to shake again. It was the sound of footsteps and the sound of horse hooves!
"The thieves have been eliminated, and everyone who has nothing to do with it can go about their business."
"The thieves have been eliminated, and the guards are defending the city."
Everyone who felt the shaking on the ground ran away in a hurry, but stopped again after hearing these words.
I didn't hear the words clearly, but the voice was familiar. It was the servants of the government office who were raised by Cao Gui.
Is the government office still there? Then who beat whom last night? Is Cao Gui still there or is that useless prefect still there?
A group of people were frightened and nervous outside the door. As the guards passed by, shouts could be heard coming from the street in the distance.
Another burst of footsteps came, accompanied by shouts.
"It's Mrs. Chu! Mrs. Chu is here!"
There weren't many steps, and it seemed like only one person was running. He was shouting so loudly that his lungs were broken. At first glance, it sounded scarier than the previous guards, but after hesitation, people took back their feet after putting them in the door.
Mrs. Chu?
Without hesitation, they ran towards the street. The scene was tragic, with burning houses, dead bodies and weapons spread out on the ground, and the people who ran out screamed.
They were not the only ones running out on the streets, there were people running out of alleys and even burning houses.
"How could it be Mrs. Chu?"
"Mrs. Chu Guo came to our house?"
"Really or not?"
Noisy shouts rang out in the dead silence of the street.
Someone was running among the dead bodies and weapons, waving their hands like crazy, crying and laughing, "It's true! The flag of Mrs. Chu! The flag of Mrs. Chu is at the gate of the government office!"
The streets filled with corpses, blood and weapons were no longer so scary. Many people rushed to the government office. You can tell if it is true or not by just taking a look.
If it is true, there is nothing to be afraid of even if they are surrounded by mountains of swords and seas of fire. Mrs. Chu will rescue them.
If it was fake, running out or hiding at home would be a dead end, so there would be nothing to fear.
Many people were running on the street. The rich man ran the fastest. He tripped over dead bodies several times and was stained with blood. This did not stop him from being the first to rush to the government office.
The morning light was shining, there were more dead bodies outside the government office, and there were many soldiers with blood-stained armors standing in awe, but this did not scare the wealthy people.
The rich man's eyes only looked at one place. A black flag was slowly fluttering on the shelf outside the government office, and the Chinese characters on it were faintly visible.
The rich man burst into tears.
He had been carefree and well-fed since he was a child, but he never expected that his first dream would come true in a chaotic world filled with blood and corpses.
Xiang Nan raised his hand slightly to cover the brightening morning light. After staying up all night, his eyes were a little tired.
The noise outside the government office became louder and louder, accompanied by shouts, cries and laughter calling for Mrs. Chu.
"After taking a look, they all ran back to inform their families and friends." A soldier reported the situation outside, "The people did not panic or make any noise."
Xiang Nan hummed, "The most important thing is to stabilize the city."
His eyes fell to the ground.
The magistrate of Ning'an Prefecture was kneeling on the ground. He could feel his gaze without raising his head. He immediately cried again and said, "General, general, I understand clearly. I am willing to be coerced by Cao Gui for the sake of the people."
Xiang Nan smiled and said, "Okay, Sir, get up and go to appease the people and let the officers maintain law and order in the city."
The prefect of Ning'an Prefecture raised his head in disbelief. When he saw that this young and beautiful young general's face was indeed not evil at all, there was nothing difficult to understand. Just like Cao Gui, he was in need of a civil servant.
"Xiaguan will go now. Don't worry, General." He immediately stood up and straightened his wrinkled official robe, "This is not to brag, Xiaguan still has a certain prestige among the people."
Having said this, I looked at the young general in front of me with a half-smiling expression. This young general was good-looking and graceful, but the white robe he was wearing was stained with blood. He was playing with a spear in his hand, and it was cold and shining.
This was a man who killed thousands of soldiers and horses in a night attack in an instant.
The prefect stuttered a few times, turned around and ran out in a hurry.
Xiang Nan ignored him, frowned with one hand and said, "The news hasn't been leaked, has it? The surrendered soldiers have taken a look at the corpses on the street and sorted them out."
He asked for instructions one by one, and the soldiers were beside him to answer. There was a rapid sound of footsteps outside, and Chen Er came in with his men covered in the cold.
"This guy runs really fast." He said, throwing a homeless man on the ground. "A scholar can run better than us."
The refugees fell to the ground and spread out, revealing their faces, none other than Mr. Tingru.
"If you were rebels, I wouldn't have run away." He sat up, calmed down the chaos, and said calmly, "I couldn't bear the guards to kill each other, so I died in your hands. It's my sorrow, your sorrow, and the court's.
The sorrow!”
Chen Er said, "What are you talking about? I don't understand." He ignored him and looked at Xiang Nan, "This guy has already run away from Ning'an Mansion. Can he really run away? Is he a rabbit? As a disciple, he doesn't depend on Cao Gui for life and death.
, ran away by himself through the secret passage.”
Mr. Ting Ru said, "As guards, you are killing each other. How can you say anything about me?"
Chen Er and Mr. Ting Ru were chatting animatedly, while Xiang Nan was still cleaning his gun slowly and giving instructions to the soldiers about the city defense arrangements.
Chen Er kicked Mr. Tingru away and asked impatiently, "How should I deal with this guy?"
Xiang Nan didn't even look here and said, "Kill him."
Chen Er sighed, waved his hand, and pulled out the knife.
Actually want to kill!
"Xiang Xiaowei! Listen to me." Mr. Tingru shouted hurriedly.
Xiang Nan still didn't look at him and wiped the spear in his hand clean.
Mr. Tingru rolled on the ground to avoid it, but Chen Er's knife was not just a show, he did not avoid it, and the long knife was about to fall on his head in an instant.
"I can help you convince the generals of Xuanwu Dao without spending a single soldier from the captain!" He shouted with a heart-breaking voice and held his head in his hands.
There was a clang sound, but the knife did not fall.
The pen he held in his hand could kill people, but it was not a shield. It could not block the swords of the barbarians, but he was indeed not dead. Mr. Tingru looked through the gap in his arm and saw a long gun placed above his head, blocking the falling sword.
The young general in white robe looked at him condescendingly, "Aren't you trying to persuade them not to reunite as an army, ignore me, and drive me out of Xuanwu Dao?"
Chen Er, who was holding a knife, jumped to his feet, "Whether to kill or to keep, can you think about it before saying no?"
Mr. Tingru pushed away the jumping soldier and got up, "That's because I am Cao Gui's disciple. From Cao Gui's standpoint, from the standpoint of Xuanwu Dao rebellious soldiers, I have to choose the one that is most beneficial to us, Lord Shi."
It is natural for me to do this as a matter of loyalty to the emperor."
Xiang Nan said nothing and just looked at him.
Even though the noble man was stained with blood and holding a spear, he still looked elegant, but his eyes were more intimidating than a tough guy like Cao Gui.
Mr. Tingru was not in the mood to tidy up his appearance and show off his momentum. He was afraid that he would be pierced by the young general's spear if he said a word too late. He said in one breath, "If Colonel Xiang takes me for his own use, I will naturally think about Colonel Xiang and work for Captain Xiang."
Consolidate the Xuanwu Dao."
Xiang Nan looked at this scribe who was wearing refugee clothes, disheveled hair and stained face, and nodded, "Okay, then I will wait for good news, sir."