Although Zhu Yuanzhang was galloping all the way, he would occasionally take detours to check on the public sentiment and the situation of grievance drums in various places.
Because although he was worried about the war situation in Yu County, because of Gong Dingzi's petition, he was also worried that someone would incite the people to cause trouble, which would affect his plans for official administration and troop garrisoning.
However, after he inspected several places, he found that the officials were quite honest and the people did not complain too much, so he relaxed a little.
But as he headed westward, he found that the population was becoming increasingly sparse, and the situation was roughly the same as the last time he visited the suburbs of Beijing.
This had originally worried him, but he didn't expect that after approaching Yu County, he saw the bodies of common people with missing limbs and even the corpses of women with no body parts on the roadside one after another.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw the injuries on the corpses, he knew they were caused by soldiers, and his face gradually sank.
But they had only traveled two or three miles when they saw several corpses of civilians who were still bleeding, as well as a tattered injustice drum and two recently dead imperial guards.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this situation, the anger in his heart completely burst out.
He immediately ordered Zhang Dabiao to lead people to track down the murderer, but Zhang Dabiao and the others looked around and saw no evildoers.
At this time, a sound of scolding came from not far away. When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the sound, he immediately led Zhang Dabiao and others to the place where the sound was made.
After walking along a rugged mountain road for a while, they came to a hillside behind a village.
Although it is still some distance from the village, from a high position, one can barely see the situation in the village clearly.
The village was in a mess. A dozen soldiers wearing Ming soldier uniforms were confronting a group of villagers. Many of the soldiers were carrying rice bags and had chickens, ducks and other poultry under their feet.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, his face instantly turned livid, and he subconsciously pressed the jade belt, but only touched the cold armor.
He immediately became more murderous and said to Zhang Dabiao and others: "Go, arrest them all and interrogate them all. If they were responsible for the previous evil deeds, I will kill them on the spot."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a man who looked like a small flag pulling out a long knife from his waist and beheading the strong man closest to him.
The people were furious for a moment, but when they saw the murder, the anger in their hearts seemed to be suppressed by fear, and they slowly retreated.
After Xiaoqi laughed arrogantly, he seemed to have seen something and walked straight forward.
When the people saw him moving forward, they not only did not attack him, but instead made way for him.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.
"What are you doing? Let me go, you stinky gangster..."
"Hahaha, you scream, the louder you scream, the more excited I get..."
"Ah! No, please... I'm still a yellow flower... ah..."
At this time, a miserable female voice and a lewd male voice came over.
A few strong men among the common people were about to rush over, but were blocked by two soldiers holding swords.
They looked at the long knife in the soldier's hand and stepped back.
"Daniu...brother...brother save...save...ah..."
As the female voice sounded, the man who was the leader rushed forward again, but when his arm was cut off by a soldier's long knife, he stepped back with a look of horror on his face.
"Hahaha, little girl, have you seen it? Your big brother is afraid. If you scream again, see if he dares to come over. As long as he dares to come over, I will let you go!"
At this time, the male voice from before sounded even more arrogantly.
The strong man named Danniu looked angry when he heard this, but when he saw the people behind him quietly retreating, he did not have the courage to rush forward again.
"Daniu...Brother Niu, have you...forgot our...promise?"
The female voice seemed to have lost her mind, but she was still making her final struggle. Unfortunately, her big brother still didn't move.
"Hahaha, it seems like your big brother is not good, why don't you try with someone else!"
The male voice laughed triumphantly again.
"Ah, you beast, I will fight you!"
The woman seemed to be desperate and let out her last roar.
"Ma Banner Master, can you do it?"
"Yeah, if that doesn't work, I'll switch to my brother. I promise to make that girl submissive..."
"Hahaha, at your speed, I think..."
...
The soldiers seemed to be used to this kind of thing. Instead of feeling ashamed, they all made fun of him.
"What are you doing?"
Suddenly, a sharp shout came from the entrance of the village, and then seven or eight soldiers rushed in.
When the previous group of soldiers saw the incoming person, they all looked wary.
"Hey, it turns out to be Hu Zongqi from the law enforcement team. You've seen it. It's the same as before, no difference!"
At this time, the previous Xiao Qi came out again and said to Mr. Hu with an arrogant look.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked familiar when he saw Hu Zongqi just now. Now when he heard the little flag address the visitor as Hu Zongqi, he immediately recognized Hu Zongqi as the Hu Siliu he had seen at Yongdingmen.
Then he heard that Hu Siliu seemed very timid, but he didn't expect that he would become so courageous after not seeing him for a while.
"Ma Decai, do you remember Ping Xihou's military order?"
At this time, Hu Siliu shouted angrily again.
"Ah, who are you talking about, Uncle Pingxi or Marquis Pingxi?"
Ma Decai said with a mocking look on his face: "Oh, you are talking about that coward..."
"You are so presumptuous that you dare to slander Ping Xihou. I will not spare you this time!"
Hu Siliu interrupted Ma Decai in time and waved his hand to capture Ma Decai.
Seeing this, Ma Decai casually took out the long knife from his waist and sneered: "Hu Siliu, I have tolerated you for a long time, and I will settle the score with you today!"
After he said that, he swung his knife directly towards the person who came.
The two people who came to capture Ma Decai seemed not to have expected that he would take action. They failed to guard against it and one of them was actually beheaded by him on the spot.
The soldiers behind Ma Decai were stunned when they saw this, and they also drew their swords and attacked.
When Hu Siliu saw that Ma Decai dared to resist arrest and even killed his men, he shouted angrily and attacked with his sword.
However, although Hu Siliu was brave, his martial arts were only average. In addition, Ma Decai's side had a large number of people, so he soon fell behind.
The few strong men wanted to take action before, but seeing that Hu Siliu and others were at a disadvantage, they retreated silently.
"Hu Siliu, take your life!"
Ma Decai saw a flaw in Hu Siliu, shouted loudly, and slashed down with his long knife without hesitation.
Hu Siliu had no time to dodge because of his talent. He could only watch helplessly as the sword slashed him.
"boom!"
With the sound of a gunshot, Ma Decai's body fell down with a look of reluctance on his face.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Dabiao and others rushed over like tigers descending the mountain, and immediately subdued the remaining soldiers.
Zhang Dabiao was going to interrogate the soldiers, but Hu Siliu thought they were bandits who were forced to go to Liangshan, and they were not allowed to abuse lynching and use violence to fight violence.
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Zhang Dabiao was unable to escape because he could not reveal his identity and was afraid of attacking Hu Siliu and others, so he drove his horse towards the village.
