Mu Shun quickly commanded his subordinates and the bailiffs from the other counties who had come to help to control the situation. Facing these refugees whose eyes were empty and lifeless, and who used dung shovels and pickaxes as weapons, Mu Shun did not know what to think. Two months ago, they were still ordinary people. Perhaps they were ignorant, but they were also kind. Since the drought, they had been guarding the fields that had less than a year's harvest. They had been praying for good weather in the coming year. However, a snowstorm had crushed their last shack and crushed the last hope in their hearts.
Perhaps it was the cold, hunger, or the bewitchment of someone with ulterior motives that made them do such a bold act, but more importantly, it was probably the madness in their hearts after the hope was extinguished.
The bloodshed had already happened, and they could not afford to escalate the conflict. It was impossible to lock all the refugees in prison. There were hundreds and thousands of people. Not to mention the lack of space, even food and drink were a big problem.
He could only plan to capture the leader and disperse the rest. Who knew that the leaders were all loaches. Seeing that the other party's forces were growing, many of them took the opportunity to slip away and drowned in the complicated streets and alleys of Yu County under the cover of the night. In the end, only four or five hundred people were blasted out of the city gate. If one looked carefully, most of them were old, weak, sick, and disabled with empty eyes.
These people would freeze to death and starve to death in a couple of days without any shelter outside the city. The constables couldn't bear it, so after encouraging each other, they came back and asked County Magistrate Li if he could provide them with some relief.
Li Wencheng was both angry and hateful. He cursed loudly, and his saliva was shaking on his white beard. After spinning a few rounds on the spot, he stomped his feet and gritted his teeth. He sat back on the chair weakly and said in a low voice,"Forget it, forget it. Save him, save him…"
Hearing this, everyone present felt their hearts wane, and their eyes turned red.
In the end, County Magistrate Li was not a ruthless person. He thought that since such a major event had already happened under his rule, he should just let him be.
Therefore, he decided to go all out. County Magistrate Li ordered people to clean up the grain stored in the granary and set up a straw shed five miles outside the city gate to set up a big pot to cook porridge.
The refugees outside the city were temporarily settled. Those who stayed in the city were the real problem. Mu Shun and a group of bailiffs led the handymen and helpers to send the injured to the hospital first. Then, they screened the troublemakers in the city. Those who should be arrested and those who should be driven away.
After two days, he made some discoveries. It turned out that someone had really bewitched them and said that the warehouse of Yu County was filled with the people's fat and grease that had been plundered from the common people. He also said that someone in the county government could not bear to see the refugees become homeless and starve to death on the streets. He wanted to open the warehouse to relieve the disaster victims on behalf of heaven. He even volunteered to lead them to the warehouse in the dark and open the warehouse door from the inside. It was unknown whether these people were hungry or stupid, but they believed that person's words. When the conflict broke out, they also fought with others in confusion. By the time they realized that something was wrong, it was already too late for them to stop. As for the fact that they did not retreat after besieging the county government, it was really because someone was killed. They were angry and resentful.
County Magistrate Li felt sorry for him and his face turned pale. He couldn't understand why the other party wanted to harm him like this and what their purpose was. He was so upset that he hammered his temples with his fists. Then, he turned his hopeful eyes to Ding Wang and the three arresters who had come to reinforce him.
The few of them shook their heads helplessly with a sorrowful look on their faces. From the descriptions of the refugees, they roughly knew that there should be four people who were secretly acting, but so far, they had not found a single one. Whether these four people were originally from Yu County or someone had covered their tracks for them was still unknown.
Just as he was deep in thought, someone ran in panting from outside to say that the people sent by the state government had arrived. County Magistrate Li hurriedly led his men out to welcome them. Mu Shun followed behind him. Seeing that he was still wearing the clothes from the day of the incident, the corners of the robe were stained with large stains, and there was a bloodstain on the sleeve. He couldn't help but secretly laugh when he saw that only the pipe hat on his head was still worn properly. He thought to himself that this Lord Li was really a wonderful person.
The people who came were divided into two groups. The first group was made up of about six or seven civil officials dressed in green or red official robes. The chief historian surnamed Lang was the leader. This person was of medium height, had a round face, and a short beard. His small eyes sized up the dilapidated county government from head to toe before he flicked his sleeves and walked in, leaving everyone with an inexplicable back view. The other group was the fully-armed Wei Suo Army. The leader was a young general in armor. He had a strong body and a serious expression. From the way he threw the whip to his subordinates and bent down slightly to signal the people in front of the steps to stand up and reply, he seemed to be a man who was neither arrogant nor impatient.
Mu Shun did not know how these two lords arranged and carried out their work, nor did he know how the higher-ups planned to deal with County Magistrate Li. At this point, their support work had ended, and the most tense period had passed. With more than 200 guards, it was not difficult for them to deal with the refugees. Therefore, he quickly handed over the work at hand to Ding Wang and went up to bid farewell to the two lords and County Magistrate Li.
County Magistrate Li had repeatedly expressed his gratitude to the three arresters for bringing people to save them from danger. He was extremely embarrassed and said that he wanted to give them something to express his gratitude. However, the storeroom was too shy. Just as Mu Shun and the other two refused, he had someone carry out a few sacks. In front of the two adults, he opened them and found that they were the most fertile pecans in Yu County and half a bag of grain cakes. Mu Shun and the other two arresters secretly laughed and happily accepted them.
Lang Changshi still had his nose in the air. He only glanced at them lazily and then turned his eyes away. The young general admired Mu Shun's ability and patted him on the shoulder. He politely exchanged a few words and even said some words about how to do a good job in the county defense.
Seeing that the ugly time had passed, Mu Shun returned to the courier station and ordered his men to pack up and prepare to return early the next morning. He went back to his room to wash up and eat a full meal before going to sleep.
At night, everything was silent. The moonlight reflected the snow, and the tree trunk was black with heavy icicles. It was cold and lonely.
Mu Shun quietly got up and changed into an inconspicuous moon-white uniform. He stood quietly in front of the window for a while and heard the uniform breathing of his subordinates coming from the houses on his left and right. Then, he quietly jumped out of the window. Outside, a small path had been cleared by the courier. The road was frozen solid, and Mu Shun's rapid passing did not leave a trace.
Then, he climbed the tree and the wall in one go. He held his breath and observed the wall for a while before he gently landed. Two people walked out from the shadow of the wall. They were Feng Huang and Xiao Hui.
The three of them nodded at each other and quickly disappeared into the dark alley.
"Brother Shun Zi, why are you so careful?"
" A deputy commander came from the state capital's guard office. We chatted for a while. He's quite capable…"
"Oh?"
"Brother Shunzi did the right thing, be careful!”，Feng Huang patted Mu Hui's shoulder as he spoke, and the three of them slipped into another secluded alley.
Following Mu Shun's finger, he saw a very ordinary half-yard. The half-new outer wall was about the height of a person and a half. A few old locust trees were planted around the courtyard.
"Here?"
"Yes, the small cauldron is watching!"
It turned out that Mu Shun had met someone he had met before during the operation two days ago. At that time, before he had joined the Qing Zong County arrest squad, he had been robbed by a group of mountain bandits while following Third Shopkeeper Mu on a escort mission. The mountain bandits were really strange. After robbing them of a carriage full of valuable goods, the leader actually brought gifts to their door and wanted to talk to the chief steward of their escort agency. In his words, he said that his subordinate had been blind and had intercepted the wrong escort. He also said that he wanted to lead his brothers to turn over a new leaf and do some serious business. He was willing to return the goods in full because he wanted to borrow the Bodyguard Agency's trade route to seek protection. He would not use it for nothing and would pay a sum of silver a year.
The goods were precious items that the nobles of the capital had bought in the south to give away. The trade route was opened up by the trading firm in the early years. All the supplies, lodgings, warehouses, and safety measures were very complete. They were also very familiar with the light and dark roads along the way.
After some consideration, Third Shopkeeper Mu agreed. After all, the road was everyone's. They just wanted to borrow his umbrella to shelter from the rain and were willing to pay money. Such things, large and small trading companies and bodyguard agencies all had a tacit understanding. It was common for them to pay money or take care of each other.
Over the past few years, everyone had gotten along quite well on this trade route. Moreover, because of the previous "opportunity", the trading company had provided them with a lot of convenience.
Who would have thought that two years ago, the people of the trading company would unexpectedly discover that the other party was actually transporting grain through this trade route, and the quantity was increasing. According to the other party, they had started a grain business. However, who was the one who had the largest grain business? That was definitely the Ji family's grain store, but it was definitely unusual that such a large amount of grain collected from the south and then transported to the north for sale did not attract the attention of the Ji family's grain store. As expected, the grain came from the government's granary and was sent to the border army after being transported to the north. Using the government's grain to supply the border army, but letting a group of bandits escort it, and even hiding it along the way, no one would believe it!
However, what does it matter if someone is willing to let his cat not catch the mouse but help the mouse steal him?
No matter what, the food had also entered the mouths of the border soldiers. When the people of the Ji family knew about it, they smiled and only ordered people to pay more attention to their movements.
Coincidentally, he had met such a person that day. Although he had met him from afar, the scar on half of his face from his sword definitely could not fool anyone.
What was this person doing among the refugees? Mu Shun did not make a sound, but the small cauldron stared at him. It was probably because of the arrival of the state capital's troops today that they had something to discuss and invited a few people here.
As they were speaking, a thin figure jumped down from the firewood pile behind the corner of the house. It was the small cauldron that they were talking about. As he vigilantly observed the movements around him, he quickly stuck close to them."Brother, there are four people in the room. I know one of them. It's Pi Si 'er from the paper shop in the back street, Shopkeeper Pi.”
"What did he say?"
" There's no main point. He just said something about going to the top and continuing. It seems like he's still waiting for someone…"
Before Little Cauldron could finish his words, he suddenly heard movements coming from the corner of the street. The four of them quickly grouped up in twos and spread out to ambush.
After a while, a short and fat figure appeared. He was wearing a fur coat of unknown texture. He slid over with his hands in his sleeves, and his round head was hidden in a big leather hat. He kept turning around like a black cow pushing a dung ball. After confirming that there was no problem, he pushed the door open and entered the courtyard.
Xiao Hui and Xiao Dingzi were left to watch the periphery. Feng Huang flew up to the roof, while Mu Shun turned to the back and leaned against the high window on the back wall with the help of the branches of the old locust tree.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。