Chapter 421: Xiang Liang's Ambition, the Grim Situation in Hong Sect, Beheading

The ninth year of Great Xia, January 16th, at dawn.

Inner City, Xiang Mansion.

"Liang'er, Hong Sect is not like our Xia City. I heard from your father that people gather there from all over the world, and there are all kinds of people. You must pay attention to safety when you go there, and don't work too hard!"

Xiang Liang had just finished tying the bundle on his body. Hearing his mother Zhou Ying's instructions, he immediately smiled and said: "Mother, when have I ever made you worry? Don't worry! This time I am taking office in Hong Sect, maybe it is the second chance for our old Xiang family to change their destiny against the sky. When I go to Hong Sect to earn a great future, I will let you and Father be happy again!"

Hearing Xiang Liang's words, Zhou Ying's expression was slightly trance-like.

The eldest son has had his own ideas since he was a child, and he is promising. Eight years ago, the change in the north of the mountain, if it weren't for him taking the Cold Marrow Iron and risking his life to find Great Xia to offer treasure, whether their family of five could live to this day was a question, let alone being exempted from corvee labor later and becoming the earliest people to obtain Xia identity among the more than 5,000 people in the four families in the north of the mountain;

Last year, the Xiang clan was able to open a clan and sacrifice, successfully ranking among the small clans in Xia City, also because Xiang Liang risked his life to lurk in the Great Awakening Temple for two years in exchange.

It can be said that the Xiang clan can have today, the contribution of her husband Xiang Ping is probably far less than that of the eldest son.

Zhou Ying looked at the eldest son, her eyes full of pride, but thinking that these achievements of the eldest son were all gambled with his life, she turned into heartache again. She reached out to smooth Xiang Liang's clothes and said kindly: "Mother is already very satisfied to be able to live such a good life today. Mother doesn't want you to earn any great future, as long as you can come back safely..."

Speaking of this, Zhou Ying felt a little uneasy, turned to pull the eldest daughter-in-law Wang Yuxiu to her side, and continued: "It's not like before. Even for the child in Yuxiu's belly, you must promise Mother that you must never take risks blindly in the future. No matter how much glory and wealth you earn, you must have a life to enjoy it, otherwise, isn't it all a void?"

Hearing his mother's instructions, a warm current rose in Xiang Liang's heart. He was about to open his mouth to promise, but when he looked up and saw the gray hair on his mother's temples, the words on his lips were swallowed back, and he said in a deep voice: "Mother, don't worry, I won't do things without certainty!"

The risk taken in the Great Awakening Temple the year before last, on the one hand, Xiang Liang was naturally for his own future and for the Xiang clan to turn over; but on the other hand, it was actually for his mother.

Mother Zhou Ying is already forty-seven years old this year, but she is still only at the Earth-Digging Realm, and her basic strength is only more than 27,000 jin.

In fact, if they hadn't merged into Great Xia eight years ago and continued to live in the He Feng camp in the north of the mountain, based on the average lifespan of 40 years for humans in the Frozen Abyss, Mother would definitely not have lived to this age.

The Great Xia Civil Affairs Department has a large amount of age data to prove that people who have lived in Xia City for a long time, as long as their diet is normal and they consume salt quantitatively, even if they have not broken through to the Frigid Defense level, they can live to about sixty years old.

Xiang Liang's gratitude to Great Xia goes without saying, but human nature is ultimately greedy. Once some things are obtained, they will want to get more.

Extending his mother's life is the one thing Xiang Liang most wants to do right now.

When they merged into Great Xia eight years ago, Mother was already thirty-nine years old.

Age is high, and the speed of physical transformation is slow. Although Mother has also enjoyed many benefits of Great Xia and her lifespan has increased to a certain extent, to be honest, the hope of living smoothly to sixty years old is very slim.

The only way to extend his mother's life is to help her break through to the Frigid Defense level.

This involves the issue of financial resources.

In fact, he and his father are already working hard now. Cultivation resources for the Earth-Digging Realm, such as medium and high-level animal meat, Beast Origin Pills, and Beast Spirit Pills, are almost all exchanged by them directly at the upper limit, just so that Mother can complete the Earth-Digging Realm cultivation early, start restructuring skin membranes, and impact the Frigid Defense level.

The problem is that the higher the cultivation resources of the Camp Needs Department, the more expensive they are. Moreover, because the population of Xia City is too large now, precious cultivation resources such as pills, salt, and spirit wine have quotas for individual exchange. After exceeding the quota, whether it is applying for a higher quota from the Camp Needs Department or buying from others privately, it will cost more contribution points.

The cultivation resources for Mother's Earth-Digging Realm stage can be easily borne by him and his father Xiang Ping, but it is difficult to stretch when it comes to the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm.

Moreover, both he and his father are at the Frigid Defense level, and their daily cultivation consumption is not small, not to mention that there is a younger brother and a younger sister at home. Xiang Yan can now go out to hunt and basically be self-sufficient, but the younger sister Xiang Rong can't, and she also has to rely on him and his father to help.

If you add his wife Wang Yuxiu and his unborn child, a total of seven people in the family, the expenses are really not small. Without affecting his and his father's cultivation, as well as the quality of life of the family, it is not easy to purchase sufficient cultivation resources for Mother's breakthrough.

In short, we must find ways to earn contribution points!

This time being appointed as Deputy Head of Punishment in Hong Sect by the Secretary, and cultivating in the Martial Arts Pavilion for more than two months before taking office, shows how important this position is. As long as you grasp it well, in the future...

"Xiang Liang, it's time to set off."

"Okay, coming right away!"

Xiang Liang, who was comforting his mother, was interrupted by a call from outside the house. He replied first, then turned to look at his mother and wife and said: "Mother, Yuxiu, I won't say more. I'll set off first. Before Yuxiu gives birth in May, if I can spare time, I will definitely come back."

After speaking, he didn't dare to look at the expressions of his mother and wife, picked up his weapon, carried his luggage, turned around, and walked quickly toward the door.

It was already dawn. Zhou Ying and Wang Yuxiu only had Earth-Digging Realm cultivation and didn't dare to go out. They looked at Xiang Liang's back as he left with reluctance, and couldn't help but instruct loudly again.

"Son, you must be careful outside!"

"Husband, Yuxiu waits for you to come back."

………………

"It rose 5 jin in more than two months, you kid, amazing!"

Xiang Liang closed the door and heard the surprised voice behind him. He turned around and said with a pleasantly surprised tone: "Uncle Bai? I said, I felt a bit like it when I heard the voice just now. It really is you going to Hong Sect with me!"

Standing at the door is none other than Bai Bai Shan Ning, a Silver Order prison official who escorted Mu Longhe back from Hong Sect City with him last September.

Speaking of Bai Bai Shan Ning, one has to mention another person, Bai Shanqiu.

There were five people who lurked into Hexia Village with Xu Ning the year before last, Xiang Liang and Bai Shanqiu were among them. Later, the Lord ordered the six to withdraw from Hexia Village, but at that time Xu Ning was unwilling to leave like this. In the end, he and Bai Shanqiu took the initiative to ask to stay in Hexia Village to continue lurking.

Looking back now, Xiang Liang is naturally full of joy. If he hadn't chosen to take risks at that time, how could he have mixed into the army of the Great Awakening Temple and made so many contributions? The subsequent title, the massive contribution point rewards, were probably all unrelated to him.

These are secondary. The key is that relying on the contributions of the Great Awakening Temple, he has successfully entered the vision of the Secretary and even the Lord. For him, this is the most useful and meaningful thing.

Xiang Liang knows very well that his appointment as Deputy Head of Punishment in Hong Sect, including being able to cultivate in the Martial Arts Pavilion for two consecutive months, is because Xia Chuan remembers him. If he were still the little transparent in Wuyuan, these opportunities would definitely not have fallen on him.

Of course, it is not only Xiang Liang who has received so many benefits. Bai Shanqiu, who chose to take risks and continue lurking with him, is the same.

The two lurked in the army of the Great Awakening Temple for about the same time, doing about the same things, and many things were even coordinated with each other, so the contributions were naturally the same.

Bai Shanqiu, like him, was conferred the title of Ninth-Rank Ying Xuan Ling Viscount last year. The camp's rewards for the two last year, in addition to the title and contribution points, also included an opportunity for both to work in the Prison Department.

Xiang Liang naturally agreed without thinking about working in the Eight Departments;

But Bai Shanqiu is different. He is almost seventy years old. At such an old age, he finally got a title, and he basically had no fighting spirit, nor was he willing to go out and fight to the death. After learning that this reward could be transferred, he directly gave this opportunity to his cousin—

That is, Bai Bai Shan Ning, who is standing in front of Xiang Liang at this moment.

Bai Bai Shan Ning is 48 years old this year, in his prime, with Frigid Defense peak cultivation. Although he only has lower-class combat body aptitude, he already has 17 jin of strength. Just from this point, one can see that his fighting spirit is much higher than that of his cousin Bai Shanqiu.

The subsequent development was as expected. Xiang Liang entered the Prison Department and was promoted to Silver Order prison official in just half a year, which is already considered very fast, but Bai Bai Shan Ning's speed was even faster than him.

Because there is a connection with Bai Shanqiu, Xiang Liang and Bai Bai Shan Ning have a good relationship even though they are 20 years apart, plus they performed the task of escorting Mu Longhe together last year, so they are naturally very familiar with each other.

"I also received a notification from Secretary Li late last night, saying that Hong Sect City is currently extremely short of manpower and wants to add two more deputy heads of punishment. It seems to be us!"

Xiang Liang was stunned when he heard this. He thought he was the only Deputy Head of Punishment in Hong Sect. He didn't expect Bai Bai Shan Ning to be one too. That Hong Sect City is breaking the rules and setting up two deputy heads of punishment at the same time.

But thinking of the thick cyan file last night, he immediately understood.

"Actually set up two deputy heads of punishment, it seems that the security pressure in Hong Sect City is indeed too great!"

"Two?"

The two were already walking toward the city gate. Hearing the exclamation of Xiang Liang beside him, Bai Bai Shan Ning raised his brows and continued to smile: "It seems that you haven't paid much attention to Hong Sect City recently. There are already three deputy heads of punishment there now. Adding the two of us, there are five in total."

Five!

Xiang Liang was stunned when he heard this, and then exclaimed: "I read the file at the Prison Department General Hall last night. As of now, Hong Sect City has accumulated 239 unsolved cases. The Head of Punishment in Hong Sect is Zhao Bao, Lord Zhao. He has 3 Silver Order prison officials under him, and 3 deputy heads of punishment must also be. That is 6 Silver Order prison officials in total. Calculate slightly, and at least 90 Iron Order prison officials are equipped below. With so many people, can they still pile up so many unsolved cases?"

The Head of Punishment is responsible for security and criminal names in the station. According to the normal logic of professional specialization, this position should naturally be held by professional talents cultivated by the Prison Department, that is, prison officials.

The problem is that the strength of these prison officials has not kept up yet.

The background of respecting strength in the Frozen Abyss will never change. Great Xia's appointment to various positions must naturally strictly follow this rule, and taking into account professional ability and personal strength is naturally the best.

But if you have to choose one of the two, you must choose strength!

If a person who is good at investigating and handling cases is not strong enough, it is secondary to be unable to convince the public, but if he cannot subdue the criminal or is killed by the murderer, then it is Great Xia's face that is lost.

Not to mention the particularity of the position of Head of Punishment, according to Xia Chuan's requirements for the heads of the Eight Departments, the strength must be at least 20 jin or more. The principle is that it is better to leave the position vacant than to let people with lower strength take office.

Not to mention Xiang Liang, just from the point that he was promoted to Silver Order prison official in half a year, it can be seen that his level of investigating cases is definitely not low. The problem is that his strength of 6 jin is indeed too weak.

This strength is not enough to be a Deputy Head of Punishment, so Xia Chuan gave him a green light in the Martial Arts Pavilion for more than two months to let him improve his strength quickly.

Bai Bai Shan Ning's strength of 17 jin is just barely enough to be a Deputy Head of Punishment, and his strength can be considered top-notch among the Silver Order prison officials.

Currently, there is only one Gold Order prison official in the entire prison official system, and that is Hou Ming. Hou Ming has 25 jin of strength, so he is definitely enough to be the Head of Punishment.

But the problem is, there is only one Hou Ming!

Therefore, this led to a problem. It is basically impossible to appoint professional prison talents to serve as the Head of Punishment in the jurisdiction at the current stage.

Then we can only settle for the next best thing, let people with strong strength be the Head of Punishment first, and then equip him with a group of prison officials to assist him in handling cases; as for the Deputy Head of Punishment, there are already Silver Order prison officials whose strength has kept up, so they can be appointed normally.

Hong Sect letting Zhao Bao serve as the Head of Punishment now clearly belongs to this situation.

According to the regulations of the Prison Department, the Head of Punishment can normally be equipped with 3 Silver Order prison officials and 30 Iron Order prison officials; while the Deputy Head of Punishment is generally a Silver Order prison official himself, and they can be equipped with 10 Iron Order prison officials.

This means that Hong Sect currently has 6 Silver Order prison officials and 90 Iron Order prison officials, and the total number is almost breaking a hundred.

What is this concept?

Prison officials are not Chinese cabbage. They are talents cultivated by the Prison Department with great energy, specifically for investigating and handling cases. Generally, small stations have at most 3 Iron Order prison officials, and large stations are 3 Silver Order and 30 Iron Order according to normal regulations, totaling 33.

Some time ago, Hou Ming was able to transfer 20 Silver Order prison officials to the North Fifth District to help, which was picking up the convenience of being close to the water. Most of those 20 people were originally responsible for various jurisdictions in the Outer City, and going to the North Fifth District to help was just a matter of walking.

Under such circumstances, the number of unsolved cases in various stations is basically fixed. Small stations have at most 20 unsolved cases, and large stations have slightly more, basically between 50 and 80. Even the North Fifth District, where the security pressure has been unbearable recently, only has 78 unsolved cases.

Hong Sect City, with so many prison officials, actually accumulated 239 unsolved cases!

When seeing the Hong Sect file at the Prison Department General Hall last night, Xiang Liang thought that there were so many unsolved cases because of the lack of manpower, so he was so surprised when he heard Bai Bai Shan Ning say that Hong Sect City had more than a hundred prison officials.

"You have been in seclusion in the Martial Arts Pavilion for more than two months, so it's normal not to know..."

Bai Bai Shan Ning already knew how Xiang Liang's 5 jin of strength was improved. Thinking that he hadn't paid much attention to Hong Sect City, and the two happened to have left Xia City and entered the straight road, walking south toward the north bank of the Ying River, thinking that the journey was long, he patiently explained to him.

And as Bai Bai Shan Ning told the situation in Hong Sect City, Xiang Liang's expression became increasingly solemn.

Since the opening of Hong Sect in July last year, people from Great Xia, including the Eight Towns, have been running to Hong Sect City one after another. As of September 18th last year, when the six town lords joined forces to deal with Great Xia, the resident population of Hong Sect City had surged to more than 150,000.

At that time, the security pressure in Hong Sect City was already very great.

But I didn't expect that on September 18th last year, Xia Hong defeated Yang Zun and strongly subdued the Liuzhen. After that, the popularity of Hong Sect City climbed to a new level.

Later, almost every day, a large number of people came from all directions, and the resident population of Hong Sect City was more than the day before. As of the beginning of the year, the resident population had reached 200,000, and including the floating population, it almost broke through 300,000.

What is this concept?

The North Fifth District of the Outer City of Great Xia is specifically for accommodating outsiders, and the total population is only more than 63,000, which made Hou Ming busy and overwhelmed, and the population of Hong Sect City is more than three times that of the North Fifth District.

The key is that the purpose of people coming to Xia City is only to visit and spy;

But the people who come to Hong Sect City are all here for business without exception.

These people, whether entering or leaving the city, either carry money or goods, which is extremely easy to induce people to commit crimes. Coupled with the fact that you don't know me and I don't know you from all over the world, it is really based on ability.

Killing and looting, cutting paths and robbing wealth, revenge, retaliation, black eating black, failed business negotiations... and all kinds of things can be said to be endless.

At first, these things were concentrated outside the city, but as many people figured out the situation of Hong Sect City and Great Xia's Secretary Office and garrison, coupled with the fact that the strength of people coming to Hong Sect to reside is getting stronger and stronger, these things began to emerge in the city gradually.

Before September 18th last year, the average number of murder cases in Hong Sect City was 2 to 3 per day; after September 18th, everyone knew that even the six town lords did not dare to make trouble in Hong Sect City, and the murder rate soared instantly, increasing to 5 to 8 per day.

You know, this is every day!

Today is January 16th. 117 days have passed since September 18th. Based on the lowest situation of 5 cases per day, that is to say, in the past 117 days alone, nearly 600 murder cases have occurred in Hong Sect.

Adding the two months after the opening in July, the murder cases in Hong Sect are conservatively estimated to be more than 1,500.

Thinking about it this way, 239 unsolved cases are really not many.

"Those with ulterior motives in the eight towns, fugitives and criminals from all directions, and some who dream of getting rich overnight, are unwilling to spend money to buy from the Wanbao Building through normal channels, and only want to grab by strength... This group of people is as numerous as cow hair, and they are originally outsiders, lurking in the crowd, and you don't notice them at all, which makes the difficulty of solving the case soar."

Hearing Bai Bai Shan Ning's words, Xiang Liang recalled the file he saw yesterday and said in a deep voice: "Not just people, but also suspected monster means have appeared, such as the serial beheading case, the soul-stealing sound case, and the cat demon theft case that appeared one after another last month. None of the three cases look like what normal humans can do."

Bai Bai Shan Ning nodded immediately and said sternly: "I have also read the Hong Sect file. These three cases do look like monster means. Hong Sect City has transferred so many fire-condensing oils from Xia City recently, it should be to deal with monsters. I just don't know if they have any clues now."

"There are more than these three unsolved cases suspected of monster means. Hong Sect currently has a large population and does not have the Lord's divine power to protect it like Xia City. It is easy for monsters to sneak into the city without knowing it. But it is too difficult for us to accurately ferret them out among 200,000 to 300,000 people."

After Xiang Liang finished speaking, he looked up slightly. Although there were coal stoves hanging on both sides of the straight road, it was basically brightly lit, but after thinking for a while, he still took out a piece of fire-condensing oil from his luggage and held it in his hand for emergencies.

Bai Bai Shan Ning saw this and immediately took out a piece of fire-condensing oil from his arms and said in a deep voice: "In order not to cause panic, the Hong Sect Prison Department has been trying its best to block the news of the case. At first, it was indeed effective, but as the situation continued to emerge and murder cases occurred one after another, the paper could not wrap the fire in the end. Hong Sect City was panicked, and the business of Wanbao Building and shops in the Nancheng was affected. If it continues, I am afraid that a wave of leaving the city will appear soon.

At this time, transferring the two of us over should be to let us be fire-fighting captains, solve a few big cases as soon as possible, and appease the people in the city."

Xiang Liang nodded immediately and said: "More than a hundred prison officials are not enough, and they have to continue to add. The situation is so grim that we really have to solve some cases quickly and catch a few real culprits to punish them."

The pupils of both of them revealed a trace of firmness. Investigating and handling cases is their main task, and it is also related to whether they can be promoted to Gold Order prison officials and whether they can go further in the future. The two naturally want to treat it seriously.

"Speed it up! I'm a little impatient to investigate the case!"

As soon as Xiang Liang finished speaking, he lifted his feet and rushed forward;

Bai Bai Shan Ning smiled and followed him quickly.

………………

The ninth year of Great Xia, February 20th, at night.

Hong Sect, Nancheng Street.

Pedestrians come and go, and the shouting of selling is constant, which is very lively.

Because a large number of coal stoves were arranged along the street, coupled with the light sources from the houses on both sides, the main street of the Nancheng was brightly lit, as bright as day.

Merchants, peddlers, travelers, residents, children playing in the streets, patrolling soldiers... Under the reflection of the fire, the mottled shadows of people with unique characteristics on the ground also formed a lively picture full of fireworks.

"Brother Zhu, Brother Li, another day... another day... Zheng will treat again, the three of us... must... drink to our heart's content, okay?"

"Easy to say, easy to say, Brother Zheng should go back and rest first!"

"I didn't drink too much, didn't drink too much... only one jin, more... what?"

"Brother Zheng, it's not peaceful in the city recently, let us send you back!"

"No need... no... need, you two have only been in Hong Sect for five days, you are guests, how can I let you send me? Go back, go back, you go back to the inn first, I will come to find you tomorrow night."

"This... okay! Anyway, the place where Brother Chen lives is not far."

"Okay, okay, don't worry about me, you hurry back."

At the entrance of an alley next to a restaurant in the Nancheng, three middle-aged men were pushing and shoving, one of whom spoke a bit unclearly, obviously drunk.

But he was unwilling to admit it, and insisted on not letting anyone send him. He called the other two middle-aged men away. He looked at the lively street, then identified the direction of his home, and walked into the alley behind him, drunk.

Hong Sect Nancheng only has one main road with a total length of 2 kilometers and a width of 15 meters. All shops and merchants in the city, including Wanbao Building, are gathered along both sides of this street.

And the areas behind the east and west sides of this street are considered residential areas.

Because the population gathered in Hong Sect in a short period of time was too large, the Civil Affairs Department strictly divided the residential areas in the city:

The North City is for Great Xia people. Except for those shop operators and Wanbao Building staff, no one else can break the rules;

The Nancheng is for outsiders to live in. The houses in those residential areas can be rented by the month or bought. Of course, the rental procedures are relatively simple and the price is cheap; if you want to buy, you must first apply to the Civil Affairs Department for Hong Sect City's permanent residence qualification, or directly apply to join Great Xia, and then you are qualified to buy.

The Zheng-surnamed middle-aged man walking to the residential area is clearly also a resident of the Nancheng.

The alley initially had shop light sources, so the brightness was about the same as the main road, but as the middle-aged man walked deeper, the light sources gradually decreased, and finally only the firelight from the residential houses on both sides remained, so the visibility was naturally not that high.

However, under the reflection of the thin firelight, the drunk shadow of the middle-aged man still swayed forward on the ground.

"Yi..." ===== CHAPTER 422 =====