The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 429 Cruel people
No matter how loud the vow, it cannot compare to the sound of a thunderclap.

The improved version of the Thunderclap Bomb, brought by the Kansai army and several times more powerful than before, finally came in handy.

"Rumble"

"Rumble"

After the thunderclap exploded, the people living near the county town gates felt the earth shake violently.

My ears were almost deafened by the loud noise!

The soldiers defending the city were blown away.

then.

The city gate of Guangdu County has been breached!
Several large holes remain in the city wall of Baxing County. Not only can people enter, but horse-drawn carriages can also drive straight through.

The city gate tower in Jiachuan, which had been newly built less than a year ago, was on the verge of collapse.

The Zan family's private soldiers and members of the clan gripped their weapons tightly and joined the battle to protect their property without hesitation.

"bang bang bang"

"whoosh whoosh"

The muskets and crossbows fired simultaneously, all demonstrating true skill.

The Northwest Army, seasoned by countless battles, had artillery battalions trained to ensure continuous fire without extinguishing the flames.

They played with complete ease.

The Zan family's private soldiers on the opposite side only held out for half an hour before losing their composure after suffering more than half their casualties.

No choice.

They didn't get to see actual combat on the battlefield very often.

Normally, they don't have that much gunpowder to practice their aim.
The private soldiers who charged ahead fell one by one, clutching their bleeding, fatal wounds.

The Zan family members and the disciples and grand-disciples of the martial arts school wanted to stand up and rush to the front.

They don't use muskets.

But they all know martial arts and are also skilled with knives.

However, the opposing imperial army did not give them a chance to demonstrate their strength.

Muskets and thunderclaps were used in turn.

Dimensional reduction and precise strike!

Tens of thousands of people were beaten and fled in panic.

Moreover, while the Northwest Army was fighting with great momentum and was enjoying a smooth victory, more than a dozen strange events occurred in the city.

So, last night...

I wonder which brilliant person came up with the idea.

Thousands of Kongming lanterns, carrying several handwritten notes, flew into the three county towns of Guangdu, Baxing, and Jiachuan.

The handwritten document contained only two imperial edicts:

"The court will not kill civilians who participated in the previous dynasty's peasant uprisings but have no innocent lives on their hands!"

"Those who actively assist the imperial court in capturing members of the Zan family and key figures in the uprising will be rewarded by the imperial court!"

The mere promise of not killing and the offer of a reward disrupted the united will that the people of the three counties had forged at their rally yesterday.

Especially the in-laws of the Zan family.

Their surname isn't Zan!
And most of them don't have any lives on their hands!

If what the clan elder said in the ancestral hall yesterday is true, they are among the nine clans of Zan Jiu.

The bandit leader and his entire clan will face certain death.

But now, the imperial court has given a definite answer.

They don't have to die!

Who doesn't want to live?

Judging from the rumbling noises outside the city, Zan Jiu's forces were simply not on the same level as the imperial army.

To fight a rock with an egg is certain death!
Ever since.

When several generals led the imperial army into three county towns, they were met with a pleasant surprise from the local people.

"Reporting to General Wang, some commoners have captured several of the traitor Zan Jiu's cousins ​​and have come to claim a reward."

"Reporting to General Liu, a man claiming to be Steward Zan Jiu has important news to report to you."

"."

Report!
Report it immediately.

With the good news delivered, the generals were ready to draw their swords. When this large army from Guangdu County arrived at the Zan family compound...

The main gate of this 70-acre mansion, which looks like a castle from the outside, slowly opened from the inside.

"Squeak, squeak"

A group of servants knelt down to welcome the army.

This prostrate posture is exceptionally respectful.

A vanguard officer stepped forward and glanced at the large group of people kneeling on the ground: "Which of you is Zan Jiu?"

No one answered.

It seems that none of them are the real deal.

The vanguard officer asked suspiciously, "Guangdu County is completely surrounded. Could it be that your master has sprouted wings and flown away?"

The servants were trembling with fear. They truly did not know the whereabouts of their master; they only knew that the steward had told them to open the door.

The door was opened.

They are awaiting their fate.

Before the vanguard officer could rush into the mansion, a petite woman who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old hurried over.

Her delicate face was deathly pale.

Most strikingly, her hands were trembling as she held a wooden box.

If you look closely, you can see obvious bloodstains on the hem of her skirt.

Among the kneeling male servants, her status as a woman stood out.

Before anyone could get close, they were stopped by the vanguard officer.

"What's in the box? Our general wants to question Zan Jiu, so find your patriarch immediately!"

The woman's voice was somewhat hoarse. She opened her mouth, pointed to the box, and replied with difficulty:

"He's here, right here."

He opened the box as he spoke.

The vanguard officer peeked out.

Yo!
What a fine head, a head that died with its eyes wide open in disbelief!
His heart trembled slightly at the sight: "You audacious woman, our Emperor wanted to capture Zan Jiu alive, why did you cut off his head?"

"Puff."

The young woman knelt on the ground, stubbornly holding up the box in her hand.

"Reporting to the general, this man committed suicide with a sharp blade in his study at dawn this morning. The woman in question was his fifty-sixth concubine, whom he forcibly took two years ago!"

The young woman's family were originally well-known tea merchants in Chengdu, possessing considerable wealth. Zan Jiu's order to offer up treasures demanded 70% of the young woman's family's assets in one go.

Seventy percent of the family fortune, which translates to nearly 100,000 taels of silver!

Even so, he didn't let the young woman's family off the hook. When he forcibly took her as a concubine, he forced her family to provide ten tea plantations as part of her dowry.

Ironically, the profits from these tea gardens did not go into the young woman's name! Even her family's business was squeezed out of operation by her relatives.

The young woman's father and brother died one after another from depression. If it weren't for a loyal servant who risked his life to tell her the truth, the young woman would probably have been kept in the dark until her death.

Unfortunately, the young woman lacked the skill to kill the thief; she could only use his sharp blade to sever his head after he had fallen dead.

The soldiers couldn't help but touch their necks; they felt a chill.

This woman looks unusually petite, but I never expected her to be such a ruthless person!
Logically, Zan Jiu's concubines should have been among the first to be implicated and punished.

But the vanguard officers only found out after they learned the situation.

Most of the concubines in the bandit leader's backyard, like the ruthless woman's concubine just now, were daughters of noble families or landlords in Sichuan and Chongqing.

They are both family members and victims!

Most importantly, these women had no history of murder.

They're busy ransacking homes.

There's no time to interrogate them one by one.

The soldiers, along with the maids who served these concubines, and all three hundred-plus women in the entire compound, were sent to the county jail.

General Gan was the main force in the women's interrogation.

She randomly pointed to a petite woman dressed as a married woman and asked, "What have you done?"

The young woman hesitated for a few moments, then weakly replied:

"I wonder what crime it is to cut off the head of a man who committed suicide?"

Gan Minglan: "."

(End of this chapter)