NCCnovel Chapter 158 How can one word describe this? (1)
Chapter 158 How can one word describe this? (1)
The bandits in Rimu Mountain Village were caught off guard by Lu Changqing and her gang. When a group of people were lying on the ground with blood all over their heads and breathing more out than in, they were wondering how the people, who were usually submissive, could suddenly become so violent.
"The food is here!"
A cry of surprise came from outside the crowd, and the people who went up the mountain together ran towards the granary like crazy.
Seeing this, Lu Changqing jumped up, walked past the crowd, stood at the door of the granary with a knife in his hand, and stopped everyone who wanted to enter the house to steal food.
"Everyone, we agreed to divide the spoils equally before we went up the mountain. How can you break the rules now?"
A burly man stood up. He had just rushed to the front of the team and injured several bandits with the hoe in his hand. He thought he was very capable and much better than Lu Changqing, who could only hide behind the crowd and engage in verbal battles.
"What have you done since you came up the mountain? Why should I listen to you?"
Lu Changqing pointed to the dried bloodstains on the hem of his clothes and asked, "Did you mistake them for prints on my clothes because they were dried? I can kill all the guards on duty in the county government by myself, so why should you listen to me?"
The man looked at the crowd behind him and said bravely: "There are so many of us, we are not afraid of you!"
Lu Changqing looked at the crowd behind the man and said, "Think about it carefully. We all came to the mountain together and have contributed to the suppression of bandits. If we divide the food equally, everyone can get a share. If we have to rob, can you guarantee that you can rob more than others? If you can't rob, will you take up your weapons? If everyone fights for food, who can guarantee that you won't be the one falling to the ground?"
After hearing what Lu Changqing said, the originally noisy crowd gradually quieted down.
Everyone looked at each other and began to think about what Lu Changqing said. Yes, if they really fought each other for food, no one would benefit in the end, and some people might even get hurt or die.
At this time, several people stood up and said, "What the boss said makes sense. Let's just divide it equally as we agreed before." As these people expressed their opinions, more and more people agreed.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the burly man had no choice but to retreat back into the crowd in disappointment.
Lu Changqing left six people here to share the food with her, while Luo Huan took a few others to the rows of thatched houses at the back and rescued more than a dozen women and children.
Lu Changqing did not ask for food, but only for the horses on the mountain. Some people were angry and said it was unfair. Lu Changqing didn't want to reason with them anymore and directly took out a knife to threaten them.
Lu Changqing looked at the direction where the crowd was leaving with a bit of melancholy. Yan Ping saw that Lu Changqing looked a bit unhappy and asked her what was wrong.
Lu Changqing expressed his concerns, "We may not need to go to Qiaoling."
"why?"
Lu Changqing pointed at the group of people coming down the mountain with his chin, "Some of them have already tasted the sweetness and know the truth that there is strength in numbers, so naturally there is no need for us to step in."
"Then our trip was in vain, wasn't it?"
Lu Changqing shook his head. "It's not in vain. We have just started. The killing of the county magistrate is no small matter. People from above will come. How can a mob defeat the well-trained guards?"
Yan Ping said worriedly: "Can we defeat them? We are much fewer in number than them."
Lu Changqing took out a firecracker and waved it in front of Yan Ping, "We have to rely on it."
Lu Changqing originally planned to take her people to live directly in the county government office. However, when they returned to the town, they found that it had become a beggar base. They had no choice but to take their people back to the temple.
Lu Changqing no longer cared about the Qiaoling bandits. In the following days, she bought a large amount of saltpeter in the town and gave a string of silver to the owner of the blacksmith shop in the town. She spent all day in the blacksmith shop hammering and pounding, and no one knew what she was busy with.
As she expected, the bandit nest in Qiaoling was wiped out by the burly man and his men. It was said that he also took over the mountain stronghold and became the new mountain king.
Lu Changqing covered his head and felt a little headache. The people who stayed on the mountain really lived up to the saying "They don't hate the landlords, but they hate themselves for not being landlords."
Lu Changqing asked Xiaoxue to monitor the group of burly men. If they started to imitate the previous bandits and go down the mountain to rob people and food, they should fly back to inform her. She wouldn't mind giving them a ride.
The burly man was called Zhang Cheng. He was originally a butcher in the town. After becoming a mountain king and living a carefree life for a few days, he lost his way and forgot that he was once a poor citizen robbed by mountain bandits.
Seeing the dwindling amount of food in the granary, he raised his arm, mounted his tall horse, and went to the village at the foot of the mountain with a dozen of his brothers to borrow food.
When Lu Changqing heard the news brought by Xiaoxue, he organized his men to attack Zhang Cheng's lair without saying a word.
When Zhang Cheng came back, he saw a group of women holding bows and arrows standing in a row behind a woman. The woman was pointing a copper tube-like thing at herself. The mouth of the tube was stuffed with a piece of paper. He had no idea what it was.
Lu Changqing looked at Zhang Cheng who looked fierce, and said, "I should have killed you in the mountains, but it doesn't matter. Now I can use you to test the power of the new weapon."
Lu Changqing took out a fire starter and lit the fuse on the musket. There was a "bang" sound, and orange flames burst out from the mouth of the tube. As the paper ball was blown away, several iron balls or stones flew out of the hole quickly and shot towards the direction where Zhang Cheng was standing.
Lu Changqing was a little confused when she saw the bullet trajectory that was like a scattering of flowers from a fairy. She knew that the accuracy of a tool like a musket would be much lower than that of a crossbow, but she didn't expect it to be so crooked.
But it’s not that bad. Although its accuracy is not very good, the striking area is large enough. As long as the distance is close enough, there is no need to worry about not hitting the person.
An iron bullet hit Zhang Cheng on the forehead, and Zhang Cheng fell straight to the ground before he could call for help.
The other men who were hit by the "stray bullets" all rolled on the ground in pain, covering their wounds.
Lu Changqing ignored the men who were screaming in pain on the ground. Instead, he slowly loaded his ammunition and asked those who were still standing, "How are you? Are you still going to be bandits and oppress the people?"
Seeing their accomplices rolling on the ground, those who were standing there all laid down their weapons and surrendered.
Lu Changqing arranged for people to return the things that the men had stolen, and then had these people carry their dead or injured brothers and parade them through the town like pigs.
She wanted to set an example for the people in the town, letting them know what would happen if they went up the mountain to become bandits and bully the people.
For killing the county magistrate and the bandits, Lu Changqing and his group were very popular in the town.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. The town became chaotic and the merchants began to flee north collectively. Seeing this, Lu Changqing knew that someone from above was coming and it was time to mobilize the power of the masses.
Lu Changqing gathered all the people in the town and surrounding areas and told them a cruel truth: the state government was going to send people to settle accounts. All the wealthy businessmen in the town knew the news, but they didn't know that they were abandoned by the court and their own masters. Then they were told the same thing: "Are there any more nobles than kings and generals?" Finally, he let the system give her a dragon special effect, which scared the people.
Although lying is a bit unethical, the result of everyone falling to their knees proves that pretending to be a ghost is indeed easier to win the hearts of the people than killing the county magistrate.
That afternoon, the prophecy of "the Ziwei star will move and a true dragon will appear in the world" spread in the town.