Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The night passed by uneventfully in Pingxi City!
The sky above the eastern part of the city was lit up by the flames. The frequent sounds of footsteps and iron hooves of troops mobilizing on the street outside caused the citizens of Pingxi City to spend the entire night in fear.
Those who lived near the Shatu community area could faintly hear the chaos outside even in their sleep.
Yan Liqiang spent the night in the Prefectural Governor’s Office. After a talk over a small drink and two games of chess with Wang Jianbei, it was already late at night. So he stayed the night in a guest courtyard there.
The eastern side of the city was under Wang Jianbei’s control.
Yan Liqiang initially expected a few powerful Shatu experts to emerge and stir up some trouble so he could warm up his body and gather some ingredients for the ‘toy capsule machine’. Yet, the final outcome proved to him that his expectation was too high. After all, experts were not as common as cabbages in the field. There might be a few slightly competent individuals among the Shatu people in Pingxi City, but they still hardly amounted to anything to Pingxi Military Governor Liu Yucheng and his subordinates. There was a huge disturbance in the eastern part of the city for the whole night, but it was serene in the Prefectural Governor’s Office and hardly any messengers came.
Early next morning after Yan Liqiang finished washing up and ate his breakfast in the Prefectural Governor’s Office, he accepted Wang Jianbei’s invitation to patrol the eastern part of the city.
There were even more patrols on the streets compared to yesterday. Even in a four-wheeled carriage, Yan Liqiang could sense the citizens outside on the street talking about something. By the time the four-wheeled carriage approached the Nine Dragons Bridge, the area had been sealed off and was filled with heavily armed soldiers.
Yan Liqiang waited for the carriage to stop before he got off. It was then that he noticed Pingxi Military Governor Liu Yucheng, who looked sharp in his armor, walking toward him and Wang Jianbei.
Liu Yucheng’s armor clanked as he walked and Yan Liqiang noticed there were quite a bit of bloodstains on it. None of the commandants who followed behind Liu Yucheng had clean armor, and one of them even had a trail of blood on his face. It was as though they had just walked out of a battlefield and it seemed like everyone had a busy night yesterday.
“Greetings, Prefectural Governor and Lord Yan!” Liu Yucheng and the other commandants came over and greeted Wang Jianbei and Yan Liqiang first. In the past, Yan Liqiang’s Qiyun Protectorate General position was just an empty title. However, apart from Qiyun Protectorate General, Yan Liqiang was also conferred a series of titles by the Emperor, including the Great Han Empire’s Heavenly Master Craftsmith, Baron of the First Rank and Northwestern Reiver. Just Heavenly Master Craftsmith and Baron alone were lofty statuses, hence Liu Yucheng and his commandants didn’t dare to be negligent around him.
“Yucheng, how’s the situation here?” Wang Jianbei nodded and directly asked the question.
“Everything is under control!” Liu Yucheng licked his slightly chapped lips. “Those Shatu bastards are not only ruthless to outsiders, but even more ruthless to their own people. The massacre yesterday lasted for nearly an entire night in their community area. All the people from Dark Razor and Dark Wood Tribes were involved. People were killed and the place suffered a rash of arson attacks. Hehehe, there should still be some sporadic fighting going on inside…”
“Have the citizens in the surroundings been affected by this disturbance?”
“It was just as you predicted, my lord! After those Shatu bastards started fighting amongst themselves, many of them indeed tried to get all of Pingxi City involved. Fortunately, they didn’t succeed as we killed all those who rushed over to this side of the bridge! Some of them shot fire arrows toward the eastern gate and set two houses on fire, but we managed to extinguish the fire without any casualties!”
“How many Shatu people are left in this area?”
“It was chaotic last night. Those who didn’t rush out here were hacked to death, and many of those who stayed in their houses were burnt to death. I took a look around the Nine Dragons Bridge just now and the streets were filled with Shatu corpses. I reckon that only a quarter of the people here are still alive…”
“Very good!” Wang Jianbei’s eyes lit up. He scanned around before he spoke with a deepened voice, “Soldiers, listen up!”
“Yes!”
“The Shatu broke into riots last night in Pingxi City. The Dark Wood and Dark Razor Tribes are killing each other and they have suffered heavy casualties. The unlawful ones among them even tried to murder my people or start arson attacks in my city in the midst of chaos. Such crimes cannot be overlooked. The eastern part of Pingxi City has been damaged and littered by corpses. Given the hot weather now, those corpses pose a major health risk. For the safety of our people in Pingxi Prefecture, I hereby order our men in the city to march into the eastern part of the city to clear the aftermath of this chaos. Capture the unlawful criminals who attempted arson in the city last night and drive the remaining Shatu people out of this city! Any found outside the city are to be captured on the spot! Kill those who resist!”
Liu Yucheng exchanged looks with his other commandants, then felt a burst of energy as they cupped their fist with vigor. “YES, MY LORD!”
After receiving their orders, Liu Yucheng immediately left with his other commandants and then shouted, “BLOW THE HORN!”
The cow horns at the Nine Dragons Bridge were blown, and the sound traveled in all directions. About ten seconds later, the same sounds came from a few other places in the distance — this was a clarion call for action. Soldiers in the surroundings immediately moved into the Shatu community area upon hearing the clarion call, and started clearing up the area.
Liu Yucheng raised the longsword in his hand and roared on the head of the Nine Dragons Bridge, “Shields in front, followed by infantry! Archers bring up the rear! Everyone, follow me! Today, we shall drive out all the Shatu bastards away from Pingxi City!”
All the soldiers were bursting with energy as they roared back in unison. Amidst the clanking of armor, the troops gathered here at Nine Dragons Bridge marched powerfully into the Shatu community area under Liu Yucheng’s lead.
It had been so long since Yan Liqiang felt this excited. He felt a pang of emotion as he watched the troops crossing the Nine Dragons Bridge. He turned his head around to look at the familiar restaurant and medicine shop on the street nearby. He recalled the first time he came here, the Shatu people were bullying and swindling their peers. Back then, Yan Liqiang secretly made the decision that he would one day definitely drive these Shatu people, who were riding roughshod over the Han Chinese, out of the city. Today, that ‘little target’ of his finally came true…
Initially, there were two sets of plans. If the damage was minimal during the conflict between Dark Wood and Dark Razor Tribes last night, then Wang Jianbei would order to seal off the community area, as well as restrict the trade between the Shatu people and townspeople.
In desperate situations where the surviving Shatu people were unable to obtain any supplies from the outside, they wouldn’t last many days here. Then the troops in Pingxi City would come to clear the area. Yet now, the Shatu people had suffered heavy losses last night. There was no need to wait any longer so the Prefectural Governor immediately issued his command…