CH 33

Chapter 33

“What!?”

Waking up late today, Yuan Chongsheng was still in plain attire when he heard Cao Shiye come to report. He was startled that he slapped the pear floral wood table. The teacup on the table was shocked and fell to the ground, staining the table with water. Madam Yuan was in the midst of helping him bind his hair and was frightened by what Cao Shiye just said and went pale. 

“Is my son safe?”

Cao Shiye said at once: “Rest assured Madam, young master’s life is not in danger. He only suffered some external injuries, I’ve already asked the physicians to go examine him.”

“What have those b*stards done!” Yuan Chongsheng flicked his sleeves in anger: “They could simply throw him out directly. What remains unseen is deemed to be clean!” 

Madam Yuan wept: “My Lord, our Yuan family has only him as our only child. If something happens to him, what can we say to the old Madam in the capital!”

“If we let him go out and make trouble again, then our Yuan family will be destroyed by him! Naturally, it’s because of a mother who spoiled him!”

Yuan Chongsheng’s face was ashen. Although he had a lot of concubines, all these years, he only had Yuan Fu as his only son. The old Madam loved him dearly and because of that had pampered him until he became a disgraceful thing! He immediately waved his hand, letting the head maid help Madam Yuan to rest in the inner room. 

Hurriedly putting on his robe: “How is it outside now?”

Cao Shiye said: “The guards have climbed the wall to see, and it is estimated that there are one or two hundred people gathered around the mansion.”

“D*mmit! These wicked common people!” Yuan Chongsheng sneered, there was cold light in his eyes, “Do they really want to rebel and force us, officials, to step down!?”

He summoned someone: “Go let He Jian bring the county guards over and take down a few troublemakers first to kill the chickens to warn the monkeys! Let’s see if they’ll still dare to continue!”

“This…” Cao Shiye, who was beside him hesitated. He advised: “The commoners of Lingnan are very angry. Daren, why won’t you go out to negotiate and appease them first and don’t use the means of county guards for the time being?”

“Appease?” Yuan Chongsheng rebuked, “Just take a look at the noisy movement outside, if we delay for a while longer, I’m afraid that the mansion gate will be demolished by them!” 

He narrowed his eyes slightly: “If you don’t show them a few colours, do they really think the Xuntai government is something that everyone can step on?” 

A few days ago, Qinghe’s clan elder brought a few people to make trouble. After some thunderous means, they could no longer provoke any more trouble. These kinds of stupid commoners, he was willing to use extraordinary means, which is his experience as an official for many years.

“ …… Subordinate obeys your orders. ”

Cao Shiye listened to the faint clamour outside, suppressed the uneasiness in his heart, and ordered the guards to immediately set off to the suburban camp to let He Jian quickly lead a thousand county guards to defend here.

In front of the Xuntai mansion, it was already crowded with people. The copper nails on the door of the palace had been smashed by the people who blocked the door, and the vermilion gate was covered with all kinds of stains, obviously, it was thrown at with various things.

When He Jian led a thousand-man county garrison to come, there were more people crowded in front of the mansion gate and several people had already moved stones over and were smashing the gate repeatedly. The people behind him were filled with righteous indignation, they shouted out loudly:

“Dog official! The heavens cannot tolerate this!”

“Let him out!”

“The heaven has no eyes! A lowly nasty person wants to become an immortal!” 

The roar of angry crusades rose and fell, almost soaring into the sky.

He Jian sighed in his heart, secretly saying this was not good. This situation was much more severe than he thought.

The subordinates around him immediately stepped forward and he was obviously quite surprised on his face. They rushed to his ear: “Leader Daren, there are many people here, is it okay to proceed?”

He Jian pondered for a moment, “Pass on my order to send five thousand troops from the camp to prepare for defence!”

He raised his hand, “The rest of the troops obey my orders! Surround the Xuntai mansion, isolate the troublemakers, and take down a few people who are taking the lead in making trouble! ”

“Yes!”

In an instant, the oppressive county guards formed a circle and rushed forward, encircling the gates of the Xuntai mansion one layer after another. 

He Jian pulled out his sword with a swift sound, then looked down and shouted: “You commoners, hurry and leave! If you are still causing trouble we will arrest everyone on the spot!”

The waves of condemnation in front of him were extinguished.

But at this moment, an old woman rushed forward with a cane and a basket pointed at He Jian’s nose and cursed: “Why have the county guards come out and are acting mighty now?! Why didn’t you come when my husband and my son were slashed and killed by those barbarians!? Bah! You’re just a bunch of trash!”

She was so angry that she grabbed a handful of rotten vegetable leaves in the basket and threw them at He Jian.

If He Jian hadn’t dodged in time, those rotten vegetable leaves would have been thrown at his face! His face turned blue and he shouted, “Arrest her!”.

The two soldiers rushed forward and in a few moments, they pressed the woman’s hands against her back and pressed her to the ground. The woman shouted in misery: “Heaven has no eyes! To let these dog officials be the lord of the territory! I do not want to live!”

She suddenly struggled to death, which actually allowed her to break free. She crashed her head at He Jian’s horse. The horse was frightened, lifting its forefeet into the sky. He Jian was furious, he roared in anger:

“The likes of you dare!?”

He swung his knife down and immediately slashed at the woman’s back. With a long tearing sound, her blood splattered out. The woman’s throat made a bone-wrenching sound and immediately threw herself heavily on the ground.

Blood spread all over the place!

The crowd was instantly quiet. Someone shouted: “The county guards didn’t kill the barbarians but killed the commoner! Everyone, let’s join hands!”

The crowd instantly erupted into a huge wave of noise. Some were bare-handed, while some were grabbing a stone and rushing up. He Jian hurriedly retreated. The soldiers rushed forward and drew their knives one after another, and in a blink of an eye, the ground once again was covered in red.

“The county guards are killing the commoners!”

The few who were stabbed did not flinch, gritting their teeth. Their eyes were bloodshot. They grabbed the handle of the knife and snatched it fiercely, startling the soldiers to retreat one after another. In such an atmosphere, even the people who had originally retreated began to be encouraged to rush forward one after another.

He Jian’s breathing became heavy, he had never encountered such a situation. This group of people were crazy!

He hurried to the troops next to him and commanded, “Let someone pass on my orders, send ten thousand more people over!”

There was another uproar ahead and it seemed that the conflict had started again.

A sudden exclamation rang in his ear: “Not good!”

He Jian looked at the eyes of the overseers around him. There were black crowds of people at each intersection coming towards this side. It wasn’t county guards rushing to help, but a group of people carrying hoes, knives, and axes.

In all directions, they were constantly coming to this side like ants.

As if they had seen the dawn, the people in the encirclement shouted in unison:

“Kill the dog officials! Kill the dog officials! Kill the dog officials!”

The bearded man whose wife had been humiliated was freed from his predicament and took off his dirty clothes, jumped on the stone lion on the side in two to three moves, waved his clothes, and his voice was loud. It was heard through the crowded people.

“Elders and fellow-townsmen! The thief Yuan has oppressed the men and forced themselves on the women!  Their evil crimes have filled the heavens!”

“They’re greedy for our hard-earned money! Imposing heavy taxes! They are all Jackals!”

“The county guards are cowardly and incompetent! Not resisting foreign insults, but slaughtering their own people!”

“That’s why we will punish them! This crime and sin is unforgivable!”

The crowd boiled over, “Unforgivable! Unforgivable!”

The people who came to help also angrily roared out:

“Unforgivable!”

“Unforgivable!”

“Unforgivable!”

……….

The sound wave almost blew up Xuntai mansion.

Yuan Chongsheng was sitting in the council chamber. His face turned ashen, his hands already sweaty.

When Yuan Fu heard the sound that shook the heavens and earth, he was already frightened that his face turns colourless. When he looked at his father’s face, his two legs even trembled in fear. He threw himself into Madam Yuan’s bosom. 

“Mother! Mother! You have to save me no matter what!”

Yuan Chongsheng couldn’t bear it any longer. He stood up with a bang, grabbed Yuan Fu’s collar and shook him a few times, gnashing his teeth: “You evil b*stard! All the misfortunes that happened today were all because of you! And you still have the face to cry?!”

Madam Yuan cried, “Lord! What’s the use of you saying that now! It is better to think of a way to calm down the people outside! ”

Yuan Chongsheng threw him away, slapping his hand on the table hatefully! He knew in his heart that although this matter seemed to be caused by Yuan Fu’s affairs on the surface, it was actually the resentment of the commoners against the Xuntai Government these days. But he did not expect that things would deteriorate this much!

“Cao Shiye!”

The pale-faced Cao Shiye rushed forward.

“What’s going on out there? ”

Cao Shiye stammered, lowered his head, and did not speak.

Yuan Chongsheng listened to the “Unforgivable” wave that was higher than the last, and his heart began to beat wildly.

“Is He Jian useless? There are only a few people and he couldn’t arrest them yet!?”

“My lord…… The entire Zhu Que Street is crowded with people and the county guards dispatched cannot hold it down!”

“Nonsense! Are those people from the city all that idle?”

Cao Shiye fell to his knees, and his voice could no longer maintain his composure: “Not only the city… The people from all over have also rushed over! ”

Yuan Chongsheng sat heavily on the chair, his face colourless.

In the chamber, besides the increasingly high wave of “Unforgivable”, only Madam Yuan’s low sobbing voice remained.

There was dead silence in the air.

All the sound waves seemed to break through to the highest point. When silence came in that instant, after a loud bang, the sound waves exploded!

The mansion’s gate was broken!

Yuan Chongsheng seemed to become sober at this point. His lips trembled and he panicked: “Come! Guards! Where are the guards!”

The two guards in front of the gate held their hands tightly on the handle of their blades and looked ahead in horror and vigilance, they were clearly terrified.

After a while, the two ran into the hall in panic,

“My lord…… People! People are rushing in!”

Before Yuan Chongsheng could figure out a route to escape, the door of the chamber slammed open. The crowded people, revealing their hatreds and resentments, standing still in the doorway!

There have never been so many people on Zhu Que Street! The 5,000 soldiers sent by the county guards had been surrounded by layers of people and were being confronted. The remaining 60,000 soldiers were blocked at the gates of the city, no one dared to give them orders to advance or retreat.

If they advanced, there will be news of the whole city being massacred! Besides, this place is more or less the flesh and blood of the soldiers!

If they retreat, then they’re incompetent! Lingnan’s commoners have become a mob!

They froze at the city gates, waiting for someone to finally make a decision.

Today’s Lingnan city was like chaos in the human world. Everywhere was roaring commoner, they crowded around two ox carts that was used to holler.

Yuan Chongsheng and his son Yuan Fu were stripped of their robes. In a complete mess, they were tied to an ox cart with a thick rope, and the cart behind them was also tied to two people. They were He Jian and Cao Shiye. 

The four of them drooped down their heads, their faces all sticky and dirty. There were eggshells, rotten vegetables and all kinds of things piled up under their feet to half-a-human height.

Yuan Fu had fainted, salivating at the corners of his mouth.

Ahead, everyone gave way one after another. It was a procession of more than a hundred people gathered around a carriage entering from the West Street Gate.

The procession had the Guangan mansion’s flag, dancing in the wind.

Several clan elders who took the lead brought the crowd to a halt.

Soon, the carriage stopped in front of Yuan Chongsheng.

Ni Lie was expressionless. He grabbed the reins and stopped in front of the carriage, he then turned over and dismounted. Lifting the sedan drape, a slender nobleman dressed in white robes came out with Ni Lie’s help.

The nobleman loosened his hem and slowly walked to Yuan Chongsheng.

Looking at the beautiful face in front of him, Yuan Chongsheng only felt that he saw a poisonous snake with a flowery tongue.

He finally had a reaction, narrowing his eyes slightly, clenching his teeth, he hoarsely spat out two words: “It was you!”