Huangming

Chapter 185 Sweeping Away the Cracks, A Cataclysmic Change in Huai'an

Yang Lian's swift and ruthless actions caught the officials on the list off guard before they were surrounded by a torrent of armored soldiers.

The night in Huai'an was suddenly torn apart.

Torches blazed like dragons, swords flashed like snow, and the elite troops of Xiaoling Guard and Shenji Battalion split into several teams, their armor clanging and horses' hooves pounding the ground, heading straight for the various government offices and residences according to the list.

The residence of Zhao Youde, the magistrate of Qingjiangpu, was the first to be surrounded like an iron barrel.

He had just heard the news and was about to flee when he landed after climbing over the courtyard wall. He was immediately confronted by the Shenji Battalion's musket team, which had been lying in ambush for a long time. Dozens of dark musket muzzles forced him to retreat repeatedly.

The assassins and servants they kept didn't even have time to draw their weapons before they were pinned to the wall by a dense rain of arrows, looking like hedgehogs covered in arrows.

Zhao Youde's face was ashen, his forehead was bloodied and mangled from hitting the blue bricks, and he cried out hoarsely, "General, spare my life! This humble official is willing to offer up all his wealth, just please spare my dog's life!"

Tong Zhongkui's personal guard commander stepped forward, his boot sole grinding against Tong's trembling fingers: "When Zhao Zha Guan was harboring the White Lotus Rebels, did he ever think of this day? Now you want me to spare your life? Too late!"

The blade flashed, and Zhao Youde's last half-sentence, "I'm innocent," had barely escaped his throat when his head flew out, spraying blood everywhere.

The headless corpse was still kneeling and convulsing, and the spurting blood drew a three-foot-high scarlet arc in the morning light, staining the plaque of Qingjiangpu Gate mottled and dripping.

Without any delay, Tong Zhongkui led his trusted men toward another battlefield.

Behind them, several breech-loading cannons were being pulled by crossbows, ready for any eventuality.

the other side.

The night was as dark as ink, and the eaves and brackets of the Caobang headquarters cast menacing shadows under the torchlight, like a lurking beast.

Li Yangzheng's face was ashen, and the blood seeping from the arrow wound on his shoulder had soaked half of his official robe, yet he still gripped the embroidered spring knife tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

His elite troops had long since been routed.

In the previous few rounds of fighting, those soldiers who usually swaggered around scattered like birds and beasts as soon as they encountered the rain of arrows from the canal gang members.

Now only a few hundred of the most elite personal guards are still fighting to the death, but facing the crossbow bolts swarming the high walls, they can't even touch the steps of the main altar.

"Waste! It's all waste!"

Li Yangzheng kicked the fleeing sentry to the ground, and the officer rolled in a pool of blood, his helmet clanging as it flew a long way.

He turned to look at the main gate of the headquarters. Liu Sandao was standing behind the arrow stacks, leaning on his nine-ringed broadsword, his fleshy face full of mockery.

"Master Li!"

A thunderous laugh erupted from the top of the wall.

"You model soldiers are not even as good as a woman's embroidery needle, how dare you come to venture into the Dragon Pool of my Canal Gang?"

Before he finished speaking, another volley of arrows rained down, forcing the charging soldiers back more than ten feet.

A metallic taste rose in Li Yangzheng's throat.

He clearly saw that his most capable centurion had been pierced through the chest by three crossbow bolts, his body hanging on the barricade, swaying like a tattered flag.

The jeers and laughter of the canal gangsters, mixed with the foul wind from the canal, stung his cheeks.

Seeing that Li Yangzheng was practically a lamb to the slaughter, Liu Sandao also became arrogant.

"Listen up, corrupt official!"

He snapped an arrow that had shot up the wall in half with a resounding clap.

"The Huai'an Canal Gang has been established for over a hundred years. How could you lackeys possibly shake it? If you know what's good for you, get out of here."

Li Yangzheng pressed his left shoulder tightly, but blood still gushed out from between his fingers, staining half of his official robe red.

He gritted his teeth and tore off the hem of his shirt. As the rough fabric dug into his wound, the excruciating pain made his face even more contorted.

"Liu Sandao!"

He shouted sharply, his voice a mixture of anger and disbelief.

"I have treated you well, yet you dare to plot rebellion?!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Sandao, who was on the wall, burst into wild laughter, his nine-ringed broadsword flashing a cold light in the firelight.

He suddenly ripped open his shirt, revealing the white lotus tattoo on his chest, and roared, "Eternal Mother, True Homeland! This world is ruled by a tyrannical and wicked ruler, and treacherous officials are in power. Today I will act on behalf of Heaven! Even if it's a rebellion, so what?"

"Who can kill me? Who dares to kill me?"

Li Yangzheng's pupils constricted sharply—he was all too familiar with that blood lotus mark; it was the symbol of the White Lotus Rebels.

"What an ungrateful and vicious dog!"

He gripped the blood-stained embroidered spring knife tightly, his knuckles cracking.

"I promoted you to be the leader of the shipping guild back then, and now you dare to turn your back on your master?!"

Liu Sandao grinned maliciously, drew his bow, and pointed the poisoned arrow directly at Li Yangzheng's forehead: "Lord Li, you didn't teach your dog properly when you were raising it—a starving mastiff will even eat its master!"

He drew his bow and nocked an arrow, ready to send this incompetent Grand Canal Transport Commissioner to meet the King of Hell!

At this critical moment.

A roar suddenly pierced the clamor of the battlefield:

"General Tong's artillery unit has arrived!"

Immediately afterwards, the earth trembled violently, as if an earth dragon were turning over.

"boom--!!!"

The roar of the breech-loading cannon tore through the night sky, and the thick iron bullets, carrying the force of destruction, slammed into the gate tower of the Grand Canal Gang's headquarters.

The heavy bluestone plaque bearing the inscription "Grain Transport Under Heaven" exploded in the flames, sending fragments of stone flying like rain and smoke billowing into the sky. The entire building swayed precariously amidst the gunfire.

Liu Sandao staggered as he climbed out of the dust, his ears ringing and his vision blurred.

He wiped the blood off his face, looked up, and his face immediately showed horror.

“Crack—boom!!!”

Under the residual force of the shelling, the load-bearing beams finally gave way and crashed down with devastating force!

“Crack—!”

A chilling sound of bones cracking suddenly rang out, and Liu Sandao's legs were instantly crushed into a twisted pretzel, with white bone fragments piercing through the flesh, and blood spurting out.

"Ahhhhh~"

He let out a bloodcurdling scream, his hands digging into the cracks in the brickwork, but he could no longer stand up.

As the smoke and dust cleared, Li Yangzheng stepped forward with his knife, coldly watching the once arrogant leader of the canal gang now lying like a rag doll in the ruins. A hint of pleasure finally surfaced in his eyes.

"Liu Sandao, you ungrateful mad dog, today you finally get your comeuppance!"

"Who can kill you? Who dares to kill you?"

Li Yangzheng chuckled and said with great satisfaction, "I can kill you!"

After saying that, a flash of light appeared on the blade, and blood splattered everywhere.

The head with its bushy beard bristling was now in Li Yangzheng's hands.

The blood spurting from the severed carotid artery stained the dragon-shaped screen wall in front of the main altar a glaring scarlet.

"My men, follow me and charge!"

Before the smoke of battle had even cleared, Tong Zhongkui had already spurred his horse and leaped into the enemy ranks. The long saber in his hand flashed with a cold light, cutting through everything in its path like a hot knife through butter, leaving behind a spray of blood and mangled limbs of the Canal Gang members.

Those outlaws who usually roamed the canal were now falling like stalks of wheat after the autumn harvest, brittle and broken, under the charge of the border army's iron cavalry.

Those who kneel will live!

The roar of the personal guard commander echoed across the battlefield.

The stubborn bandits of the Canal Gang had just raised their nine-ringed swords when they were simultaneously pierced through the chest by three spears, their bodies nailed to the dragon screen wall of their headquarters.

The remaining men were terrified. Their weapons clattered to the ground, and hundreds of them knelt down in unison, their foreheads banging against the blood-stained bricks with a loud thud.

One of the canal workers was so frightened that he broke his front tooth into a crack between the bricks.

Tong Zhongkui reined in his horse amidst the smoke of battle, coldly surveying the routed remnants of the elite troops.

The Grand Canal Transport Commissioner's personal guards were now in disarray, many even losing their boots as they staggered back barefoot in the pool of blood.

"The personal guards of the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner were beaten into a rout by a bunch of canal boatmen who were just scrapsmen?"

Tong Zhongkui was truly amazed by the extent of corruption and incompetence within the Grand Canal transport office.

Hu~
Tong Zhongkui dismounted and walked up to Li Yangzheng, who was standing with his sword in hand.

"How is the Governor's injury?"

He reached out to support the other man's swaying body, his palm touching the warm, damp fabric beneath the official robes. The blood seeping from the Grand Canal Governor's shoulder wound had soaked through three layers of clothing.

Although the Grand Canal Transport Office was incompetent, Li Yangzheng still had some backbone.

At least he dared to go to the battlefield in person, which made Tong Zhongkui think highly of him.

Li Yangzheng forced a fist salute, and rusty-tasting blood foam spilled from the corner of his mouth: "Thanks to the general's divine intervention, otherwise I would have been devoured by these vicious dogs today."

As he spoke, he glanced at Liu Sandao's mangled corpse not far away, his eyes filled with a sense of relief at surviving the ordeal.

"It's your job."

Tong Zhongkui flicked the blood off his knife, looked up at the flames rising and falling in the city, and his eyes flashed with murderous intent.

"If the governor is still able to walk, he may come with me a few more times. Tonight, Huai'an City is destined to be anything but peaceful."

Li Yangzheng wiped away the blood that obscured his vision, his official robes fluttering in the night wind.

"I am a criminal, and I am at the general's behest."

Seeing Li Yangzheng's appreciative attitude, Tong Zhongkui smiled.

"Then let's begin!"

Tong Zhongkui sheathed his sword, the bloodstains on his armor still fresh, and mounted his horse, leading his personal guards on a swift gallop toward their next target.

at the same time.

The vermilion gate of the Ministry of Revenue's granary collapsed with a loud crash.

Zhou Dexing, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in charge of granaries, was still asleep when soldiers broke down the door, ripped off his brocade quilt, and dragged him naked off the bed.

He was terrified, his obese body writhing and struggling on the cold floor tiles, like a catfish thrown ashore.

"Insolence! I am an official appointed by the imperial court, how dare you—"

Before he could finish speaking, a rope was already tightly wrapped around his fleshy neck, binding him like a pig waiting to be slaughtered.

Zhou Dexing kicked and stomped on the blue bricks in vain, his toenails scratching out several messy bloody marks, but he was eventually dragged out of the door and thrown into the prison cart.

The other side.

Sun Yuzheng, the prefect of Huai'an, was fleeing in panic. His hair was disheveled, one of his official boots had already been lost, and his bare feet were bleeding from cuts made by the gravel.

Just as he was about to climb over the low wall at the back door—

"Whoosh!"

A crossbow bolt pierced the air and struck him precisely in the calf.

Sun Yu let out a miserable scream and fell heavily off the wall, crashing face down into the mud.

The commander of the Imperial Guards, who had been lying in ambush for some time, slowly stepped forward, lifted the man's chin with his embroidered spring knife, and sneered:

“Prefect Sun, you’re quite quick to act when it comes to ‘speaking up for the people.’”

Sun Yu, his mouth full of mud and blood, trembled as he tried to explain, but two strongmen dragged him up like a dead dog and threw him into the prison cart.

The chains rattled, binding him and Zhou Dexing together.

The two former high-ranking officials of the imperial court now trembled in their cages like livestock for sale in a market.

Scenes like this were constantly playing out throughout Huai'an Prefecture.

Tonight is destined to be a night of bloodshed!
Dawn.

Thirty-seven heads have been piled up at the execution ground outside Huai'an City.

Yang Lian sat upright on the execution platform, coldly watching the last batch of officials of the fourth rank and above being escorted onto prison carts.

As for officials below the fourth rank, they were all killed on the spot.

General Yang Guodong, the commander of the Grand Canal, was bound by iron chains. His fat, pig-like body struggled and writhed in front of the cage, looking like a beast waiting to be slaughtered.

The cage was small, and his pampered belly, which he had grown up with years of luxury, got stuck between the bars and wouldn't budge no matter how the soldiers pushed him.

"Crack!"

A sickening cracking sound of bone breaking suddenly rang out.

Zhang Maozhong's personal guards swung their fire-and-water sticks and smashed them hard against Yang Guodong's ankle.

The once-imposing general suddenly let out a pig-like howl, his fat face turning purplish-red, and large beads of sweat mixed with snot and tears covered his face.

"The imperial court is unjust!"

Yang Guodong roared, his mouth full of blood and foam, his gold-plated front teeth gleaming ridiculously in the firelight.

"I, I, have a memorial to the Emperor! I request an audience with the Emperor!"

Zhang Maozhong sneered, and the python whip cracked through the air with a thunderous sound.

The whip tip, like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, struck Yang Guodong's greasy, fat face with pinpoint accuracy.

"Snapped!"

A bloody tooth flew out and bounced and rolled away on the bluestone slab.

Yang Guodong's wailing stopped abruptly. Half of his face swelled up like a steamed bun, and a bloody gash appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He finally stopped being so arrogant.

As the prison van creaked and started moving, Yang Guodong's wailing mingled with the cries and shouts echoing throughout Huai'an City.

The canal workers kneeling along the street were horrified to discover:
Their once domineering general was now curled up in a cage like a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered, his broken leg bones twisted at an eerie angle.

Meanwhile, the streets and alleys of Huai'an Prefecture were filled with armored soldiers.

The situation at the Grand Canal transport office has changed.

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(End of this chapter)