The publication of two proclamations officially announced that the last possibility of peace had disappeared.
The final result was either that the soldiers and horses from all nations marched across the Central Plains and burned every inch of the academy, or that the army of Yu State marched thousands of miles and captured every city along the way.
Judging from the overall strength comparison between the two sides, the possibility of realization of the former is much greater than that of the latter. This also led to rumors and confusion.
"Let go! What are you going to do? Let go!"
In the evening, in Xuanyangfang, Chang'an City, a middle-aged scholar was dragged out of the house by several men.
He shouted loudly, asking for help from his familiar neighbors, but no one dared to come forward - those strong men wore close-fitting leather armor without any markings, simple knives tied to their waists, and bows on their backs. The crossbows all proved their status as imperial eagle dogs.
The middle-aged scholar was grabbed by both arms and dragged backwards. He struggled endlessly and shouted with his head held high: "I am a scholar who graduated from the Imperial College in the third year of the Yuan Dynasty. I have a great reputation! Why do you arrest people in the street? Is there any more King’s Law? Is there any more Yu Law?!”
Snapped!
After a loud slap in the face, several teeth broke out of the middle-aged scholar's mouth. He was dragged into the dark carriage with his eyes blank and unconscious.
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The young sergeant who hit the person expressionlessly wiped the blood on the back of his hand, patted the carriage, and signaled the carriage to drive away.
Bones.
The wheels turned, and the dark carriage drove south, turning a corner and disappearing around the corner. The neighbors who were watching also dispersed with stiff faces, pretending that nothing happened.
"..."
A block away, under the banyan tree in Pingkangfang, Wannian County's head catcher Wu Shiqi looked at this scene and smacked his lips.
The young officer with an immature look on the side whispered: "Where did these people come from? Are they too arrogant? There are no taboos."
The older officer said: "Judging from the accent, they should be the border troops of the Anbei Protectorate. As for who they are working for, hehe..."
All the government officials exchanged glances and closed their mouths in a secretive manner.
A few days ago, the emperor, empress, and a group of court ministers left Chang'an City in a grand manner. The motorcade stretched for ten miles and went to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices. As for Chang'an, it was handed over to the prince to supervise the country, and Zhongshu ordered Xue Ji to assist the left.
Shortly after the emperor left, a group of leather-armored sergeants appeared in Chang'an City. These people were affiliated with Dali Temple, acted unscrupulously, and arrested people everywhere.
Most of those arrested had made idiosyncratic remarks, either sympathizing with Haotian believers, or believing that the Yu State should sacrifice the academy in exchange for Taihao Mountain to retreat, or advocating recognizing the strength gap between the two sides and striving for peace...
Anyone who questions the "Appeal to All Nations" or the emperor's decisions in public, whether they are court officials, old Confucian scholars, young scholars, or ordinary people, will be found and arrested by leather-armored sergeants.
He was charged with treason and imprisoned in Dali Temple Prison, awaiting further treatment.
The rumors in Chang'an City were indeed suppressed quickly, but under the thunderous methods, injustices would inevitably occur.
Wu Shiqi, who has been promoted to the head catcher of Wannian County, doesn't know whether this kind of thing is good or bad, and he can't change it.
"Just do your thing."
Wu Shiqi shook his head, called on his brothers to follow him, and walked towards the destination.
After walking through the trees and alleys, the officers arrived inside Xinghuafang, where a group of citizens had been waiting by the well for a long time.
"Is this the well?"
Wu Shiqi looked up and down the well. The stone wellhead was about an arm's width wide and had been sealed with a bluestone board. A wooden windlass was installed on the well.
"Yes."
The clerk in charge of the neighborhood nodded and repeated what he said yesterday when he went to Wannian County to report the situation, "This is the well shared by our Nanfang in Xinghua Fang. It was originally normal, but a foul smell suddenly came out some time ago, and the water turned yellow." It becomes astringent and difficult to drink, and is mixed with something that looks like hair.
According to Mrs. Huang, she saw a monster at the bottom of the well the night before yesterday. "
"monster?"
Wu Shiqi raised his eyebrows. This was the job of the Zhenfu Division. How could he find the county government?
Only when he saw Mrs. Huang did Wu Shiqi understand what was going on.
The old man is very old and has to walk with a cane. Not only is his eyesight blurry, but he also speaks confusedly. He claimed that he had seen a monster's eye at the bottom of the well, which was orange in color and about the size of a lantern.
Before she could see clearly, he suddenly disappeared.
'Are you sure it's not the moon...'
Wu Qiqi kept slandering. The old lady's words didn't sound reliable. No wonder the people in the city didn't go to the Zhenfu Division first.
He sighed and asked his men to push aside the bluestone covering the well.
Card--
After the bluestone slab was pushed away, a vague odor came out of the well.
Wu Qiqi lay on the wall of the well and observed the water for a long time. He couldn't see anything coming, so he asked his subordinates to find a rope, tied it around his waist, and slowly lowered it against the wall of the well.
The walls of the well are smooth and moist, with no moss at all.
Wu Shiqi stepped on the wall of the well and descended all the way. When he was almost close to the bottom of the well, he quietly took out his long knife, inserted it into the water, and stirred it experimentally.
One, two, three.
boom.
The blade of the knife came into contact with something hard. Wu Shiqi's face changed slightly. He used his left hand to hold a protruding bluestone on the wall of the well as a fulcrum. He held the handle of the knife with his right hand and picked out a rotten body from the bottom of the water. The deplorable carcass of a medium-sized dog.
"vomit--"
The foul smell made his throat itchy, and he subconsciously vomited. He quickly pinched his nose and shouted upward to ask his subordinates to put down the bucket.
The servants on the ground put down the bucket with all their hands and feet. Wu Shiqi picked the dog corpse into the bucket, then pulled the rope and crawled back to the surface, and then had people drag the dog corpse up.
"I guess someone's dog accidentally fell into the well, or maybe it was the heartless and conscientious person who was too lazy to bury the dog that died of illness and just threw it into the well. Hey, everyone, come and claim it!"
The official from Fangzheng cursed a few words, and while calling the neighbors to come and claim the dog's body, he also asked people to bring clean clothes for Wu Shiqi to change.
"Brother Seventeen, something is wrong."
The young officer's face changed slightly when he discovered something, and Wu Shiqi also noticed something strange.
The belly of the dog carcass that was fished out seemed to have been bitten by some kind of wild beast. It was almost severed and was only held together by its ribs. The dog has a slender body and neck, slender limbs, and pure black hair, much like... the thin dogs commonly used by the Zhenfu Division.
How can it be?
Every fine dog in the Yu Kingdom was bred by the Zhong family of the Zhenfu Division. They have military positions within the Zhenfu Division, and the food expenses for the special batch are even a little more than ordinary soldiers. Once they disappear, they will attract Look for.
How could Xili Hutu die in a well in Fangshi? Unless...this is not Zhenfusi's dog.
Wu Shiqi had a strange expression, and he instantly thought of a rumor he had heard in the past few days.
The Zhong family of Zhenfusi lost one of its most outstanding breeding dogs, which was said to be able to distinguish one hundred thousand kinds of smells.
