Chapter 1168
Rejected Outside the Capital City
Chapter 1168 Rejected Outside the Capital City
The magistrate of Qihuang County was not beheaded.
He was an official of the imperial court; no matter how much power General Liang wielded, he could not be executed.
But he was arrested, thrown into a prison cart, and taken to the capital city to be investigated by the Provincial Administration Commission.
Magistrate Huang was filled with regret. Had he known that Magistrates Kang and Lin would jointly denounce him, he would not have stayed in Dongming Prefecture.
His reason for staying was to purchase a large amount of supplies, hoping to use these supplies to gain the favor of Lord Yan and Lord Gu in the capital city and obtain their protection and promotion.
The enemy has already attacked, and this guy is still scheming about how to get promoted.
"Ugh ugh ugh!" Magistrate Huang called out, looking in the direction of Prefect Shao, Magistrate Luo, General Ou, Commander Tang, and others.
My lords, I know I was wrong and I will correct it. Now is the time when we need manpower. If I correct my mistakes, I can still serve the court like a slave. Please don't waste my manpower.
However, no one paid any attention to him.
boom!
Only Xiao Tao, the flag officer, gave him a stab with the hilt of a knife, which made the fat man's head buzz and his nose bleed.
"Take a good look at the fate of your comrades. If you continue to shout or refuse to watch, we'll send you to the front lines and let the Eastern Desert people divide you up as military rations!"
"Ugh ugh ugh!" Magistrate Huang was so frightened that he wet himself. He quickly shut his mouth and stopped ugh ugh, indicating that he would obey and not be sent to the battlefield as a target.
The stench emanating from the prison van made Xiao Tao, the squad leader, hurriedly leave the vicinity, exclaiming, "What bad luck! How did someone like you even pass the imperial examinations and become an official?!"
Magistrate Huang stated that one does not need to be exceptionally talented; simply serving as a half-slave to a powerful family is sufficient.
Especially during the reign of Emperor Ningkang, it was incredibly easy to become an official.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"The Qihuang County government has disregarded its duty to protect the people, oppressed the county residents during wartime, and maliciously extorted money... After investigation, with witnesses, physical evidence, and stolen goods all present, General Liang personally ordered the execution of all accomplices in the Qihuang County government to uphold the Wei law!"
"The ringleader, Magistrate Huang, is a high-ranking official of the imperial court. To uphold the laws of Wei, General Liang did not order his immediate execution. Instead, he was apprehended and brought to the provincial administration office for investigation!"
Following Prefect Shao's orders, the officials from the government office shouted the message five times.
Many deserters and disaster victims gathered around to watch the show, all of whom were terrified of the so-called wartime military law.
Huang Nier and the others from Qihuang County felt extremely pleased and even left some of the night soil from last night, which they then splashed onto Magistrate Huang without any hesitation.
Hula hula!
"..." General Tao was completely dumbfounded.
Do you have a grudge against Magistrate Huang or against us?
We're going to escort him all the way to the capital city. If you throw toilet water on him, we'll be the ones who smell bad!
But if the aggrieved party has grievances, what's wrong with venting their anger by splashing some night-blooming jasmine?
Xiao Tao and the others could only remain silent.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"The time has come! Carry out the execution! Execute the accomplice from the Qihuang County government to uphold the Wei law!" the messenger shouted.
Xiao Tao and his men stepped forward and slashed fiercely with their knives.
Click, click, click!
Dozens of heads rolled to the ground, and the onlookers from the prefecture screamed in agony; some even fainted from fright.
But that's exactly the effect that the government and military wanted.
The people of the prefectural city do not know the suffering caused by deserters, so they need to be deterred and made to know fear, and to know that wartime military law will be strictly enforced, so that they will not dare to do evil on the road.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"All Wei citizens fleeing the calamity, look for the Dongming Prefecture flag. In a quarter of an hour, follow the flag and set off!"
This sentence was shouted for a full fifteen minutes, reminding all those who wanted to flee the war.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"The time has come, let's set off!"
Xiao Tao, the flag bearer, took the lead and guided the Wei people.
With a series of clattering sounds, the massive caravan of deserters left the prefectural city.
After walking for most of the day, the tail of the large group finally emerged from the city gate area of the prefectural city. After they left, the entire Dongming prefectural city was suddenly empty, leaving only a few people who were unwilling to leave their families and homes, as well as the government troops at the two gates.
Even half of the government officials left.
Prefect Shao and General Ou cannot leave yet; they must stay and guard the area. Only if the Eastern Desert army reaches Wenxing County can they retreat to the capital.
Otherwise, if they had left long ago, they would have acted like cowards, which would have made the court lose face.
……
Since arriving in Dongming Prefecture, the ranks of those fleeing the war have grown steadily.
It was only because the people of Wei in some counties and towns behind Dongming Prefecture saw that everyone was fleeing from the war and dared not hold out any longer that way, that they all dragged their families along and joined the large group.
Well, the imperial court hasn't fallen yet, and the Great Wei hasn't perished. It's the government troops leading the deserters, so as long as they are Wei citizens, they have to agree to join.
However, among these Wei people, there were also evil people.
The people of Wei in the prefectural city and the counties have been made perfectly clear to them that the government troops at the two gates will indeed kill the perpetrators, but they still won't listen.
He went to rob people, and at night he even tried to rob pretty girls. He was caught before he succeeded and his head was chopped off in public.
This happened more than once. On the way to the capital city, Commander Tao cut down wave after wave of enemies, and it wasn't until they were almost at the capital city that the operation was finally over.
As they approached the capital city, they encountered a group of deserters from the Jumen Prefecture.
The original order of the prefectures in the Northeast was: Tianmang Prefecture, Dongming Prefecture, and the capital city. Therefore, the prefectures of Daheng and Yangshan, which were located after the capital city, did not need to enter the capital city to avoid the war.
If the Eastern Desert army really attacks, other prefectures can flee to Beixiong Prefecture or Taizhou Prefecture.
However, the location of Jumen Prefecture is somewhat awkward. It is almost on the same line as the capital city, and the three counties under Jumen Prefecture are even closer to Dongming Prefecture.
Therefore, half of the Wei people in Jumen Prefecture fled to the capital city to escape the war.
pity……
All the Wei people were blocked by a long Wei army defensive line, and could no longer get close to the capital city.
Dangdang Dangdang!
Dangdang Dangdang!
"Wei civilians who fled the disaster in Dongming Prefecture, stop! Each county should set up camp and rest according to the flags planted by the scouts!"
With one day still to go before the interception and defense line was established, the deserters from Dongming Prefecture stopped to rest.
"Hurry, hurry, go get some water, or there won't be any left to drink, and you'll be so thirsty your throat will hurt!"
After all the Wei people who had fled the disaster stopped, they went to find a water source.
There's no way around it, there are just too many people, the consumption is enormous, it could dry up a well.
So nowadays people don't care anymore; they just fetch water from ponds and rivers, boil it, and drink it.
The Guan family had manpower, so they sent servants on horseback ahead to find a well. As a result, the families of Qin Jiang, Xu Qiao, Guan, Zhou Lü, and Han were still able to drink well water and did not need to drink the muddy river water.
"Sister Pear, how are you?" After parking the car, Qin Xiaomi immediately went to check on Qiao Pear and was relieved to see that her fever had subsided.
She further reassured him, "Sister Pear, we're all here, and Xu Er is here too. Don't worry too much. No matter what, we'll survive. With the power our families have now, no one dares to bully us!"
On the way, Qiao Lizi finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell ill.
Fortunately, it wasn't a rat plague, but rather a high fever caused by summer heat, depression, overthinking, or overwork.
Qiao Lizi smiled and said apologetically, "It's because I'm useless and have dragged you down."
"Sister Pear, you were very capable even before we fled the famine. In the years since we settled down, you've helped the workshop a lot, given birth to a son for the Xu family, and treated Fu Bao like your own child. You're very useful and have done an excellent job." Qin Xiaomi was getting a little anxious.
She knew that Qiao Lizi had some bad thoughts because she was preparing for the epidemic after giving birth.
“Sister Pear, you have a straightforward temper, you don’t need to be as gentle as my aunt. If you have a temper, just let it out.”
Given the chaotic situation, Qin Xiaomi knew that there was no point in trying to persuade her anymore. After giving Qiao Lizi acupuncture, she went to Xu Erjun and said, "Go and let Sister Lizi beat her up."