Chapter 759: The Assassination of the Patrol Guards

He pointed at this person and stammered: "You, you, how, how are you here!" So he really hadn't misjudged him a few days ago! "I came back to handle some business and visit an old friend." He Lingchuan smiled. "Find a quiet place to talk?"

Liu Baobao had already calmed down: "Follow me!"

The servant held the lantern and walked in front, while the two followed behind, chatting as they walked:

"How have Heishui City and Red Cliff Road been over the past year or so?"

"Sigh, it's not good, my family's business has plummeted!" Liu Baobao hurriedly complained, as if he had returned to the previous mode of conversation.

"Is that so? Then I have a good job for you." He Lingchuan patted him on the shoulder. "By the way, I'm leaving again soon, but I'll come back in a few days."

The two walked past the main street, and Liu Baobao subconsciously looked north.

The sandstorm season ended suddenly, and this person appeared suddenly.

Was there any connection between the two?

Hey, he shook his head; what was he thinking? Such a major weather shift, how could it be related to one person? ￥￥￥￥￥

This year, March was unusually hot; it was only the Spring Equinox, yet one would be covered in sweat just by moving a little.

In previous years at this time, the old trees by the roadside hadn't even sprouted new buds.

Under the bright sun, a patrol of Yuheng City guards had just arrived at Manjia Village and hurriedly stopped at the post station. Without anyone leading them, the horses gathered by the water trough to drink greedily, while the twenty patrol guards walked to the shade of the trees to rest.

The post station had placed a few tables under a big tree, providing herbal tea that was bitter and refreshing in addition to plain cold water. If one was willing to pay a few more coins, there was also thin honey water available for drinking.

Aphid honey and bee honey were originally specialties of Panlong City and were also among the most common goods on this trade route.

As soon as people sat down, the sweat on their foreheads flowed like a stream. Several patrol guards simply went to the well to fetch water, pouring a bucket from head to toe, only then did they recover their strength.

"It's really damn hot." Someone complained. "It's already unbearable in March; when it really reaches the midsummer of July, won't we be dried into human jerky?"

Several others laughed: "Miao Mingming, isn't your cousin in the City Guard Station, hearing that he works for the Grand Commander every day? Why don't you beg him to get you a post, so you don't have to be exposed to the wind and sun every day, and be with us poor wretches."

Miao Mingming looked at him: "If you want to move up, you have to earn military merit. Just sitting in a room in Yuheng City, where would you have the chance to earn military merit?"

"You kid actually have ambition." His companion laughed. "But the bandits on the trade route haven't come out much recently, so if you can't fight them, there's no merit to claim, sigh."

Only by killing or capturing the enemy could one have merit; they patrolled back and forth on time like this, having only hard work and fatigue.

They chatted for a while longer, laughed a few times, and were very relaxed. Miao Mingming suddenly said: "Where is Xing Wu? He's been squatting in the pit for a quarter of an hour, why hasn't he come back yet?"

"Who knows, maybe his legs are weak. I told him the mushroom soup he drank this morning was problematic, but he didn't believe it." Everyone laughed again, and someone immediately said, "I'll go call him."

However, before the laughter had faded, the sound of breaking through the air suddenly came from the grass.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—more than twenty arrows were shot; a small half missed, and the rest shot into the patrol guards! Several patrol guards fell backward, and the one who had just stood up was the unluckiest, with an arrow piercing his eye and passing through his skull.

"Enemy attack!" The patrol guards were both shocked and angry, drawing their weapons to meet the enemy.

The grass rustled, and a group of bandits rushed out, numbering more than a hundred! Miao Mingming roared: "Quick, get into the post station!"

The enemy was many and they were few, so they had to quickly find good cover.

However, the guest sitting at the table behind him suddenly leaned behind him, strangled his neck with one hand, and stabbed his waist and ribs several times with the other! In an instant, the four or five people at this table all drew their weapons and joined the siege.

The bloodbath at the post station lasted only a little over half an hour. Except for two patrol guards who took the opportunity to escape on horseback, the rest lay on the ground.

On the sandy ground, blood flowed like a river.

The bandits put away their weapons and laughed: "I thought the Yuheng army was very strong, but that's all!"

Someone else asked: "What about these people at the post station?"

There were still postmen and traveling merchants at the post station; the smart ones had already slipped to the back mountain, and more than a dozen were huddled inside and outside the post station, shivering.

The person who ambushed Miao Mingming glanced at them: "No need to worry about them."

One day later, still at Manjia Village.

He Lingchuan and his adjutant Chao Qian were both standing outside the post station, looking up at the long pole by the horse trough—

Eighteen heads were tied to the pole, swaying in the wind.

The heads of the Yuheng City patrol guards.

In just one day, the heads had been dehydrated by the sun, their expressions even more ferocious, but that didn't prevent the families of the deceased from recognizing their kin.

Chao Qian watched intently, and He Lingchuan asked him: "Are they really your relatives?"

"A cousin, the child of my cousin." Chao Qian was very sad. "Although he was a distant relative, this child was ambitious; he came to Yuheng City to join the army on his own, didn't ask me to open any back doors, and volunteered to patrol the front line."

He sighed: "Sigh, I don't know how to explain it to my cousin."

"Brave in battle, thick compensation." He Lingchuan pressed his shoulder. "Rest assured, this debt will definitely be repaid."

Chao Qian nodded subconsciously.

He Lingchuan knew that he only took this sentence as words of comfort.

No matter, he would keep his word, and soon everyone would know.

Then he walked into the low courtyard behind the post station, where the remains of the patrol guards were kept.

The smell of the remains left for more than ten hours in such hot weather was terrifying.

No one at the post station dared to approach, but He Lingchuan's expression remained normal as he began to examine the wounds on the remains.

Most were sword, spear, and arrow wounds, which were very conventional.

But two of the wounds were quite special, with three blood holes in a row. Liu Tiao also leaned over to look closely: "Hmm, could this be caused by a hook claw?"

There were many martial artists who used exotic weapons, and some liked to use hook claws to hurt people.

But she immediately overturned her judgment: "No, hook claws should cause lacerations, not be so deep."

Hook claws imitating bears, wolves, or tigers would cause an appearance of skin and flesh turning outward, not straight and deep like this.

He Lingchuan silently extended his palm, made a claw shape, and probed into the wound.

Although there was a discrepancy in size, the shape basically matched.

"Directly using fingers, no, using claws to gouge? Is this a monster?" Liu Tiao was surprised. "But the witnesses at the post station said the attackers were human."

He Lingchuan examined another corpse, which had the same wound, and there was also a small hole in the neck.

The blood had naturally coagulated. He stared at this wound for a long time, then said to Liu Tiao: "Collect all the heads and return them to their full bodies."

"Yes."

It took quite a bit of effort to compare them before everyone could place the eighteen heads back onto their original bodies.

He Lingchuan found the remains he had been paying attention to earlier and looked at them for two moments: "No, this one is pieced together wrong."

Everyone had to endure the stench of the corpses and piece them together again.

It was not easy to re-compare the neck incisions of eighteen heads.

He Lingchuan himself found it first.

When he was piecing the head back onto the original body, Chao Qian happened to come in: "The witnesses outside have all recorded their statements... Mingming?"

He looked at the remains in front of He Lingchuan: "This is my cousin, Miao Mingming. Commander, is something wrong?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 760 =====