"How brave!"
Wang Cheng was furious. Although he didn't know much about officialdom, he could tell that if he wanted to accomplish this, he had to be a high-ranking official with real power.
Because it was the big guys who finally determined the total amount of food and salary, it must have been their fault.
However, this trick is so subtle that even the current King of Zhou, Zhou Zhaowu, cannot see anything wrong with it, because the total amount of food and salary is correct, and no one would think that part of the food and salary is missing and has been converted into silver. .
Suddenly, he thought of something and asked Li Hong: "Does General Liu know about this?"
"I know it." Li Hong nodded.
Wang Cheng asked: "Now that you know it, how did General Liu handle this matter?"
"The general once wrote a letter to General Zhenxi, but nothing was written after that." Li Hong said.
"Nothing to say?"
Wang Cheng's expression changed. This sentence "nothing to follow" was really intriguing.
"So, General Zhenxi also knows about this!"
Wang Cheng's face became serious, and he didn't dare to think about it any more.
If General Song Huchen of Zhenxi colludes with those in the court and covets money and food, can the entire Western Army still be reliable?
Think of the Black Eagle Army entering Yinshan County at the beginning of the month. Yesterday, Li Xiang and his group severely damaged the defenders of Nanli County. If there is nothing fishy in this, it would be abnormal.
Wang Cheng turned around and said solemnly to Li Hong: "Remember! You must not tell anyone about this matter again. You will keep it in your stomach forever!"
"I understand, little one!" Li Hong said.
In fact, if he hadn't been frightened by Wang Cheng just now, he would not have said this at all.
He joined the army at the age of sixteen, and now he is twenty-six years old. He has been a soldier for ten years. He has seen through the dirty tricks in the army.
It was also because he was tired of seeing all the messy things in the army that he didn't bother to climb up the ranks. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become a centurion after ten years of service as a soldier.
"Walk with me again!"
Wang Cheng continued walking along the east and west streets, and almost all the houses he encountered had been robbed.
The door is either open or smashed by violence. The owner of the house is either dead in the yard or missing. This is the case for hundreds of houses passing by in a row.
It's not that Wang Cheng has never seen the tragedy in the world, but the scene before him is also the first time he has seen it in his life.
"This is nothing more than hell on earth!"
Wang Cheng sighed secretly, unable to imagine how Li Xiang and his gang ruined this place yesterday.
"Young one was able to escape. When we left, the Xia people hadn't massacred the common people. This should have been done by the young one after he escaped from here." Li Hong said.
Wang Cheng looked at the deserted courtyard around him and said in a deep voice, "There won't be anyone left alive, right?"
Previously, he had sent Xu Yu and Li Xu each with 500 sergeants to conduct a population census, but not a single person was found along the way. What a waste of investigation!
Li Hong said at this time: "General, don't worry, the people here have no other abilities, and their ability to escape is definitely much better than ordinary people. There is nothing in those courtyards, and most of the people inside are hiding until they sense that there is no danger." When the time comes, they will run out on their own.”
Wang Cheng looked at the deserted courtyard and said, "So, at least half of the people escaped?"
Li Hong nodded and said, "There should be."
Nanli County has not experienced much peace for so many years. Either the savages from the high mountain country came down the mountain, or the Xia people came to enjoy the autumn breeze, and the people living here have gradually gotten used to it.
Therefore, every time there is any disturbance, people here will "flee".
As for where they fled, there are many. Some are hiding in cellars in their own yards, and some simply run out of the city and hide in the countryside. They will come back when the "limelight" passes.
Sure enough, before the two of them had gone far, they poked their heads out from behind the door of a small courtyard and looked around. When they saw the two of them, they were so frightened that they quickly retracted their heads.
Wang Cheng's eyes lit up and he disappeared instantly. When he reappeared, he was already in the courtyard.
I saw a man covered in soot running towards the woodshed in a panic.
Wang Cheng flashed and appeared behind him, reaching out to grab his shoulder.
"This big brother!"
The man trembled, then his whole body became limp and fell to the ground.
Wang Cheng used a little force with his five fingers to immediately stabilize his body, and then pulled him in front of him.
"Spare your life! Don't kill me! The young one also hid two hundred taels of silver, give them all to you, give them all to you!"
The man was so frightened that he did not dare to raise his head. He closed his eyes and cried and begged for mercy.
Wang Cheng stretched out his other hand and patted his shoulder, saying in a calm tone: "Don't be afraid! I'm not from that group of Xia people. I'm from Zhou just like you."
When the man heard this, he finally stopped crying and slowly raised his head to look over.
The first thing that caught his eye was a handsome face, and then he was wearing a black robe with a red armor underneath. It was not the kind that covered the whole body, but a Rukai.
Rukai, as the name suggests, is worn in a way that imitates Confucian clothing. Confucian clothing needs to be tied on the sides of the shoulders to ensure that it does not fall off. Rukai replaced the fabric with armor material, so it was named Rukai.
Some Rukai add two pieces of armor to the shoulders to defend against attacks from the side and above, and there is a tie on the right shoulder where the chest armor is connected. This design belongs to the right-fold style.
The man had seen a bit of the world, and he had only seen this kind of scholarly charisma in Liu Xingze, a powerful general. So he immediately realized that the young man in front of him was at least a general.
His body softened again, but this time he knelt down and said respectfully: "I have seen the general!"
"alright!"
Wang Cheng pulled the other person up, looked at him and joked: "Don't be afraid of me, I can't eat people."
When the man heard this, he finally felt calmer.
"What's your name? Along the way, you are the only living person in hundreds of households. Where are the others hiding?" Wang Cheng asked.
The man whispered: "The villain's name is Li Sheng."
"Li Sheng?" Wang Cheng looked back at Li Hong, "It seems that this eldest brother was in the same family as you five hundred years ago."
Li Hong smiled and said, "Yes."
It was just a casual comment at first, but the man named "Li Sheng" actually nodded and said: "The villain was indeed from the same family as the centurion five hundred years ago, and the villain is also from Wan County."
"I actually recognize you! It seems that you were really a family before." Wang Cheng smiled.
Li Hong also didn't expect that there was a fellow countryman living under his nose.
He immediately talked to Li Sheng, and finally found out that they were actually from the same clan. Their ancestors going up to the eighth generation were the same person, and they were equal generations.
With this relationship, the relationship between the three of them has become much more harmonious.
"Many people were killed by those Xia people, and the others were hiding." Li Sheng said.
Wang Cheng asked: "Then do you know any way to bring back all the living people?"
Li Sheng nodded and said, "Okay."
Wang Cheng immediately said happily: "Okay! If you can call those people back, I can agree to your request. As long as it is within my ability, I can satisfy you."
Li Sheng looked at him eagerly and said, "Really?"
Wang Cheng showed a "reassured" look and said: "What I said is still effective."
"The general only needs to give me a hundred or so people, and within half a day, the little brigadier general will call all those people back!" Li Sheng vowed.
"Okay! I promise you!"
Wang Cheng then looked at Li Hong and ordered: "Go back now and bring all your brothers with you. Then follow your boss and call them back!"
"yes!"
Li Hong bowed, then rushed back with his newly recognized brothers.
Wang Cheng was the only one left on the street, but he didn't stop there and continued walking alone.
After walking through about ten houses, a spacious courtyard appeared in front of him, covering an area of dozens of acres. It was somewhat larger than the general's mansion where he lived now.
After walking for so long, this was the first time he saw such a magnificent courtyard in Nanli County.
Many places on the courtyard wall were stained with blood, and the door was open, with a black plaque hanging on it, with two large gilt characters on it - "Martial Mansion".
"Wufu?"
Wang Cheng looked at the two gilded characters and dared to name a house after "mansion". It seemed that the owner of this house had quite a lot of power!
After stopping at the door of the courtyard for a while, he still did not go in, but just as he was about to leave, a quarrel came from the courtyard.
One of the voices was familiar because he had communicated with this person not long ago.
"is her!"
He no longer hesitated, crossed the threshold of Wu Mansion, and strode towards the courtyard.
After passing through the front yard, he came to the middle yard and saw a girl in purple confronting a dozen men.
The dozen or so men were all burly and fierce, holding guns and sticks in their hands.
The purple-clothed girl had already drawn her sword, but her underdeveloped body looked like a child facing a group of adults in front of this group of burly men.
However, instead of being afraid, she said with a stern voice: "Hurry up and hand over Xiaobi to me, otherwise my sword will not have eyes!"
"Ha! Your tone is quite good! Aren't you afraid that the wind will flash your tongue?"
The person who spoke was a man in his thirties holding a long stick, with a very eye-catching scar on half of his face, like a biting centipede.
He sarcastically said: "Little girl, this is not a place for you to come. If you leave now, I can pretend that nothing happened. If you continue to mess around, I don't care who you are!"
"Do you know who I am?"
The purple-clothed girl was startled, then shouted loudly: "Since you know my identity and still dare to imprison my people, I think you are impatient with life!"
The man with scars on his face sneered: "If your father were alive, I would be very scared. But your father has become a dead ghost, what can you do to me?"
The purple-clothed girl was stabbed in a painful spot. She yelled "go to hell" and stabbed out with her sword.
"Hmph! You are not overestimating your own abilities!"
The man with the scar on his face suddenly turned lustful in his eyes, and said without any concealment: "I haven't tasted such a beautiful girl for a long time. Since you brought it to my door, I will accept it!"
