abnabooks Chapter 221
Chapter 221
When the Bingzhou magistrate took the shadow guards and Xie Yi overnight to the northwest garrison, Sun Chu had already left.
Passing through Lai County, he remembered the two captured beggars.
"Wait a moment, I need to go into the city to handle something."
With that, he leaped onto his horse, pushed off with his toes, and flew into the sealed Lai County.
He wasn't worried about the garrison commander and Zhao Chengyu escaping.
Because these people were afraid of death!
Before confirming they hadn't contracted the plague, they would be as obedient as dogs.
At this moment, Lai County was not as usual; there were no pedestrians on the streets, leaving only the lights of thousands of households.
The vegetable market, however, was packed shoulder to shoulder and bustling with noise.
"I heard the plague from Dayang Town has spread to Lai County. Is it true?"
"It's true! My husband works at the county office and saw the yamen runners catch two men infected with the plague."
"Why take them to the county office? Shouldn't they just be burned to death and buried?"
"It seems they were worried the two just had a normal high fever, afraid of burning the wrong people."
"As a result, those two really did contract the plague. The magistrate immediately decided to behead and burn them in the vegetable market."
As soon as these words came out, the commoners exploded in an uproar.
"Why go to so much trouble? Wouldn't it be better to just drag them to the mass grave and burn them?"
"Exactly, dragging them to the vegetable market to burn, don't we all risk getting infected?"
"No, the government has already treated the infected people; the plague won't spread."
While the commoners were panicking, hesitating whether to stay and watch the infected people get beheaded and burned.
The yamen runners dragged two sacks soaked in medicinal liquid, coming from the direction of the yamen.
The sacks were heavy, dragging out two long watermarks on the bluestone slabs and leaving behind a medicinal smell.
The entrance to the vegetable market was the execution platform, usually used to behead criminals.
The yamen runners threw the two sacks containing the beggars onto the execution platform.
"These two are the Luo brothers from the west of the city. They went to Dayang Town a couple of days ago and just returned today, and were found infected with..."
The two beggars were given the identities of two brothers who had left Lai County to do business elsewhere.
These two brothers were not popular and rarely interacted with others, making them the perfect candidates for the beggars to replace.
If the two returned to Lai County in the future, the officials would just kill them to silence them!
When the commoners believed the identities of the two brothers, the yamen runner waved his big hand.
"Pour the wine and send them on their final journey."
Two yamen runners each carried a large jar of wine and poured it over the sacks to help them burn.
When the wine was poured, the yamen runner took a torch to light the sacks.
At this moment, Sun Chu appeared.
He kicked the torch away and tore open the sacks, revealing two filthy faces.
"These two are dirty and smelly, obviously beggars. Did you officials catch the wrong people?"
As his voice fell, the murmurs of the commoners rose again.
"I know the Luo brothers, and these two are definitely not them!"
"How could the officials catch the wrong people? They can't possibly fail to distinguish between beggars and commoners, right?"
"There's something wrong here! Who is this person speaking?"
The yamen runners didn't expect a sudden change and immediately went to grab Sun Chu.
"Where did this madman come from? Get lost quickly, lest you catch the plague and implicate innocent people!"
Sun Chu dodged the saber slashed by the yamen runner, pulled the two beggars out of the sacks, and threw them into the crowd.
The commoners who were hit screamed and fled in all directions, as if they had gone mad.
"The government is lying. These two don't have the plague at all. If you don't believe it, you can wait two days and see if you get infected."
"You can also check whether these two beggars have ever been to Dayang Town!"
After Sun Chu finished speaking, he left the mess to the yamen runners and used his lightfoot skill to run away.
He leaped down from the city gate of Lai County and landed steadily on horseback.
He clamped his legs around the horse's belly.
"Hyah!"
The Ferghana horse galloped toward Dayang Town, and the garrison followed closely with Zhao Chengyu.
As soon as the group left Lai County, they ran into a soldier coming to deliver a message to the magistrate.
The soldier was riding an ordinary horse, and because it was too dark, he rode slowly, so much so that Sun Chu had already returned and he still hadn't arrived.
Although Sun Chu didn't know the soldier, he guessed he was from Dayang Town.
So, he struck and knocked him out, preventing the message from being delivered.
Then he galloped his horse onward.
The garrison commander only cared about whether he would get into trouble, ignoring the soldier falling from the horse, and followed Sun Chu closely.
Before long, the group arrived at Dayang Town.
From a distance, they saw the soldiers guarding outside the town holding torches, very conspicuous.
Hearing the galloping hooves, the soldiers immediately turned their heads to look.
The moon was covered, and it was pitch black; they couldn't see the scene in the distance clearly.
But they could feel the tremors beneath their feet.
It was clear that there were quite a few people coming on horseback!
The unknown easily breeds fear.
The soldiers looked at each other, their faces solemn, drawing their bows to the full and standing ready.
As the hoofbeats grew closer, everyone's nerves were tense.
"Swish!"
Someone, perhaps too nervous, let go of the string.
The others thought it was a signal to attack and immediately loosed their arrows.
A rain of arrows fell upon the galloping group.
Sun Chu dodged easily, while a few of the garrison were accidentally injured by arrows deflected by their companions.
The most miserable was Zhao Chengyu, who was shot in the back and leg.
Before the next wave of arrows could arrive, the garrison commander roared, "Stop! I am Zhao Meng of the Bingzhou northwest garrison!"
Someone recognized Zhao Meng's voice and was so frightened they immediately threw away their bows and arrows.
"It's General Zhao!"
As soon as this was said, the soldiers immediately put away their bows and arrows and slung them behind their backs.
When Sun Chu rode up to the soldiers, he did not slow down.
The soldiers consciously made way.
"Thanks!"
The soldiers saw Sun Chu's face clearly and wanted to stop him, but it was too late, watching helplessly as he entered Dayang Town.
Zhao Meng knew Dayang Town was a poison city and immediately reined in his horse.
"Whoa!"
A hundred garrison soldiers stopped at the entrance of Dayang Town.
The soldiers of Dayang Town immediately saluted.
"Greetings, General Zhao!"
Zhao Meng sat on his horse, looking down at the soldiers, his voice booming like a loud bell, "Tell me the current situation."
Just as the soldier was about to answer, Sun Chu's threatening voice came from inside the town.
"Commander, bring the First Prince in. I won't wait if you're late!"
Zhao Meng didn't dare gamble with the lives of ten thousand garrison troops. He said to the kneeling soldiers, "Without my orders, no one is to act rashly!"
The soldiers, thinking that Zhao Meng's rank was much higher than the magistrate's, quickly agreed.
"Your subordinates obey!"
Zhao Meng dismounted and led the injured Zhao Chengyu and a hundred trusted aides into Dayang Town.
Ye Chutang had already learned from Sun Chu how he had tricked the garrison into coming to Dayang Town.
She gave a thumbs up, "Creating something out of nothing, well played!"
After speaking, her cold gaze fell on Zhao Chengyu, who had two arrows sticking out of his body.
"Men, throw the deposed Crown Prince into the cellar and let him experience the terror of the plague, the black death, and smallpox!"