Chapter 482: Guesswork

"The people of Anping Town, every single one of them deserves to die!"

According to the intelligence, Anping Town was not a victim at all, but a shameless bunch that colluded with the people of Hufeng Stronghold.

After Hufeng Stronghold was established back then, they began to set rules, wantonly plundering gold, silver, and beauties.

Over a dozen large towns in the surrounding area were threatened by Hufeng Stronghold, required to pay a set quota every year, or else the town would be destroyed and its people killed, leaving not a single soul behind.

This move sparked dissatisfaction in everyone; the folk customs of Xiaozhou were fierce, and in their poverty, there was a stance of valuing money above life.

After all, when starving, even if there was only one copper coin in the house, it might prevent a child from starving to death.

Every family was dirt poor; if they had to pay money and beauties on top of that, who knew how many people would die each year.

In everyone's mind, it was: no money to give, and if it came to life or death, they might as well put up a fight!

Therefore, these dozen or so towns united, wanting to join forces to resist Hufeng Stronghold.

Little did they know that Anping Town, which had relatively stronger power among them, had long since colluded with Hufeng Stronghold, selling out all their information completely.

The coalition of over a dozen towns was defeated and returned, countless men were slaughtered, and their strength was sharply reduced. A head-on collision would likely lead to a dead end, so gradually, some felt they should compromise.

And later, when everyone was arguing about whether to fight or surrender, Anping Town was the first to stab them in the back, being the first to pay what Hufeng Stronghold demanded.

Afterwards, Anping Town began to persuade others to pay as well. The current situation was that the arm could not twist the thigh; for the sake of the safety of each town, they had to swallow this insult.

At worst, they would endure hardship for now, and once their strength was sufficient later, they would get their revenge.

Under the full mediation of Anping Town, Hufeng Stronghold successfully took down all targets, earning money every year while lying down.

For those towns that could not bear it, what they thought at first was indeed just to endure the insult for a moment.

But they could barely feed themselves, and having to pay silver and money to Hufeng Stronghold every year, how could they possibly develop?

Moreover, this money would naturally not be paid by those in power; they would collect it from the villagers and townspeople, and who knew if they would skim some off the top into their own pockets.

Never underestimate human nature, especially the human nature here in Xiaozhou; it truly cannot withstand the slightest test.

After that, wherever there is oppression, there is resistance; external conflicts gradually evolved into internal conflicts, and each town began to be unable to look after itself.

Over these many years, from the initial indignation of each town to the current habituation. Everyone became accustomed to living under the tyranny of Hufeng Stronghold, and gradually, the resistance became weaker and weaker.

And Anping Town naturally could not collude with Hufeng Stronghold for nothing; the money received was returned in full to Anping Town, and Anping Town could also take ten percent of the subsequent profits.

This ten percent was not taken for nothing; Anping Town was responsible for sowing discord, dividing the towns, making them unable to resist, and making them willing to be enslaved.

To put it bluntly, the nature of Anping Town was actually about the same as Hufeng Stronghold, belonging to those who act in collusion.

Moreover, besides selling out their own people, the people of Anping Town also secretly trafficked humans, murdered, robbed, and committed all kinds of evil.

After all, Hufeng Stronghold demanded twenty beauties every year, and the towns truly could not produce them. With demand, there was naturally a market, and Anping Town set its sights on this market.

Every year, they would go to various places to search for targets, using trickery or directly going to their doors to murder and rob; in short, they would have these beauties prepared.

And what the towns had to do was very simple: pay money to buy people, it was just that simple!

The commoners under Anping Town might not know the truth about this, but as for those above, counting one by one, even if they were all beheaded, it would absolutely not be an injustice.

The reason why the people of Anping Town came to the State Yamen this time was precisely because of the recent major actions throughout Xiaozhou.

Almost every day, news came of major forces in Xiaozhou being slaughtered, and every day, a new batch of people would be hung on the city walls.

Regardless of whether they were experts or ordinary people, as long as they were evildoers, they were all taken down.

And when they learned that the new Governor of Xiaozhou was Shen Yu, their hearts actually skipped a beat; recently, the pugilistic world was full of rumors about this person.

After that, they learned that large numbers of Black-Clad Guard elites were pouring into Xiaozhou, while Evil Man City and Cannibal Valley had no movement at all, as if they had acquiesced to this.

One must know that when the imperial army attacked Xiaozhou back then, Evil Man City and Cannibal Valley had raised their arms and shouted, directly leading people to fight them.

But now, it was almost a repeat of the past, yet Cannibal Valley and Evil Man City did not make a sound. Even Evil Man City had to avoid their sharp edge; the deterrence of this person, Shen Yu, could be imagined.

Everyone knew that the sky of Xiaozhou was about to change!

Precisely because of this, many people were anxious and uneasy, starting to stay awake all night long.

The Black-Clad Guard rushed to various places, starting to thoroughly investigate criminal activities everywhere; the matter of Anping Town might be hidden for a while, but it could not be hidden for a lifetime.

So, in order to protect themselves, Anping Town struck first, choosing to report Hufeng Stronghold. With snot and tears, they acted with such sincerity.

They had accurately gauged that this Lord Shen was a hot-tempered person, and his first reaction after hearing it would be rage, and after the rage, he would take action personally.

It was rumored that when this Lord Shen took action, there were no survivors. By then, Hufeng Stronghold would be wiped out in one fell swoop, and no one would ever know what they had done.

They would also transform from treacherous villains in league with Hufeng Stronghold into victims who had been oppressed and bullied.

I have to say, this plan was really well-calculated, but little did they know that although their acting was strong, Shen Yu had Super Perception, and Cheng Lin had handled countless cases, being the elite among elites.

To deceive these two people was not generally difficult; at the very least, those few old men had not succeeded.

Putting down the intelligence in his hand, Shen Yu then ordered, "Take those people from Anping Town into custody first, see who participated in this matter, count them one by one, and never show leniency!"

"Yes, My Lord, this subordinate understands!"

"My Lord, there is one more thing!"

Leaning close to Shen Yu, Cheng Lin whispered, "Some time ago, the brothers I sent to investigate Hufeng Stronghold did not return, and even the secret signals for contact could not be found!"

"Even the contact signals could not be found? Could it be that they met with misfortune at Hufeng Stronghold?"

"Absolutely impossible!" Shaking his head, Cheng Lin said with slight anxiety, "The ones I sent were all elite experts; facing a mere Hufeng Stronghold, they would absolutely have no problem protecting themselves."

It was not that Cheng Lin looked down on Hufeng Stronghold; a broken mountain stronghold that even a dozen towns uniting to resist had to be wary of, no matter how strong its power was, how strong could it be?

According to the information they obtained, the strength of the Hufeng Stronghold leader was at most the Grandmaster Realm. And the experts he sent out were also at the Grandmaster Realm.

This time, in order to cooperate with Shen Yu, the Black-Clad Guard had spent a fortune. Although not many top experts were sent over, there were indeed quite a few mid-level experts.

And before, when Lord Shen spoke and asked them to pay attention to Hufeng Stronghold, Cheng Lin naturally did not dare to be negligent. Although the leader just said it like that, they below had to attach importance to it, and then attach more importance.

Therefore, he sent out three Grandmaster Realm experts in one go to lead elite troops to go there; precisely because of this, they were able to easily figure out the situation in Anping Town.

Among these three Grandmaster experts, one stayed behind to guard Anping Town, while the other two led teams to investigate Hufeng Stronghold. But these two disappeared one after another, which could not help but make Cheng Lin alert.

As for whether this matter was done by Hufeng Stronghold, there was no need to even think about it; how could they have such ability?

To speak bluntly, this was only because Lord Shen said earlier that he would personally take action against those who committed evil. Otherwise, just based on the Black-Clad Guards he sent out, it would not take an hour to flatten Hufeng Stronghold.

"Cheng Lin, you have something behind your words! Stuttering and hesitating, speak your mind!"

Only then did Shen Yu realize that Cheng Lin was a person who handled matters with caution and thoroughness, and his behavior today was unlike his usual self.

In the past, he would handle general matters himself and would not report them to him. Especially regarding something as embarrassing as the disappearance of his own experts, he would certainly have worked in secret to settle the matter rather than speaking of it so openly.

That he mentioned it to him this time meant it was likely not as simple as just the disappearance of Black-Clad Guard experts.

"My lord, your subordinate is worried that Hufeng Stronghold is connected to Cannibal Valley!"

"Connected to Cannibal Valley?"

"Yes!" Cheng Lin nodded and said uncertainly, "This is merely your subordinate's conjecture; Hufeng Stronghold demands twenty pretty young girls from every town each year, which adds up to two or three hundred people annually!"

"For a mountain stronghold deep in the mountains, where the transport of supplies is already difficult, could they be demanding so many girls merely for their own enjoyment?"

"It just so happens that your subordinate once heard that the Valley Master of Cannibal Valley is fond of young girls, especially those born to common farming families who possess a rustic, village-girl charm. Therefore, your subordinate suspects, could it be that Hufeng Stronghold is currying favor with Cannibal Valley and has thus obtained the protection of Cannibal Valley!"