Chapter 135: The People's Sorrow

Although Liu Zeqing still did not know why the court wanted him dead, he was no fool.

The two Mou Wenshou brothers and Qiu Lei were all what the locals called fierce generals, and although Yang Yufan was also a miscellaneous-title Regional Commander, he was a descendant of a famous general, and his authority was no less than Liu Zeqing's own.

Liu Zeqing had self-awareness—their subordinates, though few in number, were at least far stronger than the battle-hardened veterans under his own command; the only reason they had been suppressed before was that his soldiers were more numerous.

Now these people, under a single edict from the court, had set aside all past grievances and united against him, and with a crowd of those who loved watching chaos grow, or those who had long held grudges against him, constantly fanning the flames, Linqing was clearly no longer a place to stay.

In these troubled times, Liu Zeqing clearly understood one principle: as long as the soldiers under his command remained, then as long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood.

Zuo Liangyu was a vivid example—even if he could never return to Shandong in the future, casually conquering some place and becoming a local tyrant would be more than enough.

When short of money and grain, he could plunder; if he had a good harvest, he could, like Zuo's camp, expand larger and larger until he formed his own camp, to the point where the court could not even conceive of reining him in.

If he was lucky, he might even earn a noble title and leave his name in history.

Thinking of this, Liu Zeqing unconsciously revealed a lewd smile, as if he could already foresee himself living an emperor-like carefree life in the near future.

But returning to reality, looking at his extraordinarily chaotic subordinates around him, Liu Zeqing's anger surged uncontrollably, and with no other choice, he could only keep urging them to act more quickly.

Yet reality ran contrary to his wishes—his troops, who had barely undergone any training and had been hastily gathered from various refugees and military ruffians, were suddenly subjected to this impromptu mobilization, which was clearly not so easy.

Simply gathering all the generals to decide on retreating to Fengyang had cost Liu Zeqing nearly an hour, let alone having to relay the orders and have each unit gather their troops for a joint flight.

Liu's forces had been stationed around Linqing for half a year, and Linqing city had lost nearly thirty percent of its population to their depredations. The common people both hated and feared them, and upon hearing that the other government troops were all converging on this place, they frantically packed their belongings and began to flee.

So upon hearing this news, the only ones actually happy were the gentry and civil officials within the city—Liu's troops were in panic, and the common people feared the government troops like tigers, desperately fleeing the city.

Before long, a household retainer came running frantically from the street, shouting as he ran: "Great Marshal, something terrible has happened at the old master's place!"

"What did you say?" Only upon hearing this did Liu Zeqing suddenly remember that his family was still settled in Rizhao, and he immediately asked urgently: "What happened to my father and mother?"

"The old master... and the old madam... they were all killed by the bandits." The soldier could not finish speaking before he was already choked with sobs.

According to what this soldier said, it seemed that subordinates of a Battalion Commander stationed at a local guard station had suddenly mutinied, killing the Battalion Commander one night and taking the opportunity to storm into the Liu residence.

Liu Zeqing's family left in Rizhao totaled more than a dozen people, and not even the old or young had survived.

At this point, the furious Liu Zeqing could not even bother to consider whether this soldier was putting on a false show—he paced around in place like a headless fly, and in the end could only kick the wall in fury.

"If I ever find out who did this, I'll flay them alive!"

The turn of events struck many as highly dramatic—the court's decree had not yet come down, the other government troops had not yet had time to act, but Liu's own men were the first to fall into chaos, and slaughtering Liu Zeqing's family was only one of the incidents.

Liu's troops everywhere lost unified command, and their actions were no different from the roving bandits who had wandered the land years before; had it not been for other government troops loyal to the court carrying out imperial orders to suppress them, disaster would have long since spread.

"Where's the Assistant Regional Commander of Rizhao? Bring him to me!" Suddenly, as if remembering something, Liu Zeqing roared with bloodshot eyes.

The Assistant Regional Commander responsible for the Rizhao area was summoned by the household retainers, and having already heard of the matter, he was trembling with fear. Before Liu Zeqing could even say anything, he began begging for mercy repeatedly, afraid that the enraged Liu Zeqing would take his anger out on him.

But this was of no use—the resentful Liu Zeqing urgently needed a scapegoat, and without even asking a few token questions, he ignored everyone's pleas and personally cut down this Assistant Regional Commander, who held no low position within Liu's forces, to vent his pent-up anger.

Looking at the bloodstains all over the ground, the surrounding officers of Liu's forces were all silent as cicadas in winter, staring at each other wide-eyed. Even the household retainer Platoon Officers regarded as confidants swallowed hard and instinctively stepped several paces away from Liu Zeqing.

"Hahaha, this thief Liu is seeking his own death—killed well, killed well!" The Investigating Censor Dang Chongya, under house arrest at the courier station, burst into loud laughter upon hearing this news, appearing thoroughly delighted.

Indeed, this was the first time Dang Chongya had felt such pleasure since being driven out of the Winter Warm Pavilion by the Chongzhen Emperor. He felt as though the oppression in his chest over the past days had been vented, as if he had grown several years younger.

The court's campaign against Liu Zeqing, publicized by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, had now spread throughout all of Shandong, and these civil officials had naturally also noticed the rumors around them and the frantic back-and-forth movements of Liu's troops in recent days.

Today was even more unusual—barely any of the men usually sent to monitor them remained, and the officials were all excited.

"Indeed, even if this thief Liu doesn't die this time, he won't continue to stay in Shandong committing evil. His Majesty has eliminated a great scourge for the region!"

"His Majesty is sagacious—a blessing for our dynasty!"

While the officials were discussing, they suddenly saw the few remaining soldiers outside the door hurriedly running into the alley, apparently also fleeing amid the chaos.

Seeing this, the officials did not know what had happened, but their courage gradually grew. Dang Chongya carefully made his way to the courtyard, and upon seeing the many commoners fleeing back and forth in the streets and Liu's troops beginning to run amok, his expression changed drastically.

Dang Chongya and the officials grabbed several of the passersby and urgently asked what had happened. At first, the commoners were busy fleeing and no one paid them any mind, until they found a woman pulling her daughter along, and only then did they hear even more electrifying news.

"You gentlemen don't know yet?" The woman carefully took the few bits of silver Dang Chongya offered, and said fearfully:

"The court's Capital Camps are almost here—I heard it's by His Majesty's decree, they're coming to kill Liu Zeqing."

Dang Chongya was even more puzzled upon hearing this, and quickly grabbed the woman who was about to flee, continuing to ask: "Since His Majesty has decreed the death of the thief Liu, this is a matter of eliminating harm for the people—why are you fleeing?"

"You wouldn't know, sir." The woman's face was full of resentment as she mentioned this matter, saying: "The court's government troops have always been the same—kill this one, and there's still that one. If I don't flee amid the chaos, won't I just have to stay in the city and be bullied in the future!"

"Forgive me, sir, but I truly must be going now."

Watching the woman pick up her daughter and follow the crowd fleeing without looking back, Dang Chongya and the officials all wore heavy expressions, their earlier excitement gone.

Indeed, what this woman said was precisely the very worry Dang Chongya and the others shared.

Liu Zeqing was arrogant and overbearing, indulging his soldiers and abusing power locally—but who knew whether killing Liu Zeqing would just bring another Zhang Zeqing?

In such troubled times, finding a loyal and righteous general like Huang Degong or Yang Yufan was difficult, but men of Zuo Liangyu and Liu Zeqing's ilk were everywhere.