Chapter 70

"Senior Brother, are we going to live here from now on?"

"It's so dirty here!"

"Zhenger wants to go back to Uncle's Grass Hall."

South of the city, in front of the dilapidated slums.

Zhao Zheng nervously tugged at the corner of Li Xiang's clothes.

The refugee group from Shihe Village followed Lu Jianxing all the way here, waiting for the imperial court to settle them, find them a place to live, or get them some food.

Great Liang has heavy taxes, and border cities are even more so.

The sixty-four villages under Chiyang County are all government-run, reclaiming the Southern Wilderness. Usually, the taxes are extremely heavy. Now that a disaster has occurred, the government should logically be fully responsible for finding a livelihood for these villagers. Not only did the villagers think so, but Lu Jianxing himself also planned it this way.

Bringing everyone into the city, then asking the Magistrate to arrange a place to stay, and then reporting to the Prefecture City to ask for some disaster relief supplies would be enough.

But now...

"What is the Magistrate going crazy about?"

"Letting so many refugees gather here, is he really not afraid of causing some trouble?"

Looking at the scene in front of him, Lu Jianxing frowned, feeling it was very unbelievable.

Looking around, it was a scene of desolation.

Filthy, chaotic, and foul-smelling feces could be seen everywhere.

Several hundred grass sheds connected together, forming this foul-smelling slum.

In front, several groups of people gathered together, leaning on the ground, lazy, looking very strange.

Lu Jianxing noticed that he was still covered in blood, and there were some bloodstains on the ground that hadn't dried yet.

That wound didn't seem like it was bitten by a demon beast.

The few people in the lead seemed to be arguing about something, and as they spoke, it seemed they were about to start fighting in the street.

These seemed to be refugees from other villages, not many in number, looking like two or three hundred people.

Presumably, many people died on the road; after all, they didn't have the protection of the Demon Slaying Division.

Being able to escape into the city was probably extremely lucky.

Although they looked a bit strange, Lu Jianxing didn't think much of it.

He just assumed they were frightened and hadn't recovered yet.

He scanned the slums and frowned again.

Food, water, medicine.

Work, housing, medical care.

These disaster relief items.

It seemed the Magistrate hadn't prepared any of them.

Not to mention medical care, there wasn't even a porridge shed for distributing porridge.

If you want to talk about preparation.

There were a few buckets of overturned feces on the ground, stinking to high heaven.

Is this disaster relief?

You are, you are afraid that the people of Shihe Village won't die fast enough.

Letting so many refugees gather in these slums without management will likely cause trouble.

Not giving food, not managing medical care—this is too strange.

You must know, even a rabbit will bite when it's anxious.

Not to mention this group of villagers who had just been frightened; if they really couldn't find a way to live, they might really raise their arms and revolt and kill.

Moreover, with so many injured refugees here, if many people die, it could lead to an epidemic, and I'm afraid the entire county town would be harmed by it.

Could this Magistrate have gone crazy?

Even he, a Garrison Commander, could think of it; Lu Jianxing didn't believe the Magistrate couldn't consider it.

Being so perfunctory, if someone from the court pursues it later, isn't he afraid of being criticized by the Confucian scholars from all sides and being beheaded?

The more Lu Jianxing looked, the more weird he felt. What exactly is this Magistrate going crazy about?

When things are abnormal, there must be demons.

Unconsciously, Lu Jianxing had already placed his hand on the Xiuchun Blade.

"Everyone, listen to my command!"

"Turn around, go to the Demon Slaying Division!"

"Shen Lian, go, you go and open the inner treasury of the Demon Slaying Division. Whatever food there is, have people boil it into porridge directly, and then go into the city and invite a doctor; some of our brothers in the family were injured just now."

"The inner treasury of the Demon Slaying Division is independent and not subject to the Magistrate's control, hurry!"

"Yes!"

After receiving the order, Shen Lian stepped out quickly and disappeared into the alley in the blink of an eye.

Before long, the villagers of Shihe Village, under the command of the Demon Slaying Division, began to prepare to move toward the headquarters of the Demon Slaying Division.

This movement didn't matter, but once they moved, a change suddenly occurred.

Some villagers at the entrance of the slums, seeing the people of Shihe Village, were actually not being sent to these slums like them.

They actually stood up directly and cursed at the people of the Demon Slaying Division.

"F*** your mother, why don't they have to come to this broken place?"

"Dog days, I knew it, none of the officials are good things. They took money! He definitely took money!"

"This is looking down on us people from Qinghe Village, wanting us to die alive here."

"His grandmother's, are you worthy of the clothes you're wearing, you dog-day thing, your mother..."

Once they saw that the villagers of Shihe Village were being treated differently, this group of villagers who had been lying on the ground, hungry to the point of sticking to their backs, suddenly gained energy and stood up to curse at the Demon Slaying Division.

The more they cursed, the dirtier it got, making Lu Jianxing's eyebrows stand up.

"You guys aren't bullying honest people!"

"I get it, the lives of official masters are lives, but the lives of us lowly people are not lives. Look at Shihe Village, they have official masters taking care of them."

"Look at them walking all the way here, not many people died, and they have official masters from the Demon Slaying Division following them."

"Tell me, is it because the women of their village went to warm the beds for the official masters."

Filthy language, increasingly unpleasant to hear.

"Yo, look at them, there's a cripple over there."

"Deserved! Dog-day official thieves! Calling him an official, he deserves to die!"

I don't know why.

Clearly only having met once, these villagers seemed to want to curse out all the filthy language of their lives.

How unpleasant, how they came.

It made Lu Jianxing's scabbard vibrate.

"How the Demon Slaying Division acts, why do I need to explain to you people?"

"If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will definitely kill you!"

Ptooey!

A mouthful of thick phlegm was spat out from the crowd.

Some bold villagers even picked up stones from the ground and threw them at them.

"None of the officials are good things, brothers, smash, smash these beasts to death."

Bang! A gravel stone hit Lu Jianxing directly on the forehead, leaving a mark.

"Have these people gone crazy?"

Lu Jianxing was surprised.

For no reason, this group of people had developed hostility toward him.

He just felt it was a bit strange and asked the people of Shihe Village to avoid this place first.

How did this situation happen?

You must know, the Demon Slaying Division has great prestige in Great Liang; under special circumstances, they even have the power to kill first. Usually, their status is very high, and even the generals guarding the city are on equal footing.

How dare these villagers be so bold?

But before he could deal with these rioters, the strange situation arose again.

These rioters were actually fighting among themselves.

They had just climbed up from the ground, and the next moment, several groups were arguing because of a collision and started fighting.

Several parties were like powder kegs, their emotions changing greatly, and they exploded at a touch.

"Dog days, why did you step on my shoe, ah, I know, you just want revenge, you just look down on us people from Baigu Village."

"Look down, so what if I look down on you, you are a ***, ***, I'm hitting you, this ***!"

"Didn't I just eat your wife, you actually want my life, ah ah ah, dog things from Baigu Village, I'll kill you!"

These villagers who had just stood up hadn't walked away before they started making trouble among themselves, biting each other like mad dogs.

The chaotic scene lasted for a full moment.

Until everyone was tired of fighting, they stopped and lay back on the ground, as if resting and recuperating.

Such a bizarre scene made Lu Jianxing frown.

These people, it seems, have big problems!

"Everyone, leave slowly."

"Don't disturb them anymore."

Lu Jianxing's voice lowered a bit.

"Li Xiang, Zhao Zheng, come behind me."

Lao San protected the two of them; this place was too weird, and he was also very worried about the children.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, they, their eyes are red, it's so scary!"

"Senior Brother, are they still human?"

Zhao Zheng tugged at Li Xiang's clothes nervously.

The chaotic scene just now had scared him a bit.

However, Li Xiang didn't pay attention to him.

He just looked at the crowd in the slums with some confusion.

In his eyes, a bit of faint Haoran Qi was flowing.

But he didn't see any changes.

These people were clearly confused in their minds, all abnormal like crazy people.

But Haoran Qi didn't see any changes at all.

Weird!

Too weird!

Before leaving, Li Xiang looked back.

Night was falling, and there seemed to be a few more pools of bright red blood on the ground of the dilapidated alley.

In the darkness, the crowd was arguing with red eyes, like mad demons.

Three parts human, seven parts ghost!

(End of chapter)