I really didn't want to burn it.

In a small alley in Bianliang, a burly man was pointing his finger at a thin man and cursing.

"I only asked you to cause trouble at speeches and rallies, not to start riots!"

The burly man spat all over the skinny man, who looked aggrieved.

"Boss, this really has nothing to do with us. We haven't even started our operation yet, and someone in the crowd has already stepped forward."

While the burly man took a breath, the skinny man quickly began to explain.

"What did you say?!"

Upon hearing this, the burly man was both shocked and furious, and jumped up immediately.

Both of them were spies sent by Li Ang to Bianliang. Their purpose in coming here was naturally to disrupt the local elections.

But Li Ang's task for them was to start with the election itself, smear the candidates, create antagonism, and delay the election as much as possible.

Leon had considered mobilizing ordinary people, but a large number could easily spiral out of control. Leon's goal was only Kirshtalia Wodim, and he did not intend to turn the area under his control into ruins.

But now, someone has already done what Li Ang thought of but didn't do.

"Damn it!"

The burly man punched the wall, leaving a small dent.

He had expected that other forces besides himself would cause trouble, but he really hadn't anticipated that they could do it even better than him.

"The Bianliang army will take action soon, and if we stay here, we'll only become targets!"

The situation has escalated so much that those on the streets have essentially become a rebel group. The Bianliang military will certainly suppress these people, and regardless of the outcome, the chaos in Bianliang is already underway.

"Change our original mission. Go into hiding immediately and absolutely do not show yourselves." The burly man ordered his subordinates, "The other side has made such a big commotion; they definitely won't let this go so easily. Our current mission is to gather as much intelligence as possible and then report it to His Majesty the Great Ancestor!"

"understood."

The skinny man nodded, then disappeared at the end of the alley.

The burly man didn't leave immediately. He looked back at the street where the riot had broken out, and anger slowly crept onto his face.

"I don't know who you are, but you're all dead!!"

Chapter 315 The Chaos Escalates

As time went on, the situation in Bianliang began to deteriorate further.

It is unknown what the initial reasons were for these citizens who were coerced into joining the movement, but now that things have developed to this point, they know that surrendering to the army and obediently serving a few days in jail is not the solution.

Thus, these citizens began to take the initiative instead of being passive at the beginning, and their armed forces were constantly upgraded when facing the Bianliang army with regular troops.

During Li Ang's reign, the Tang Dynasty had a stable base of support among the common people. In order to enable the people to resist the powerful families, he not only made great strides in the issue of weapons for the common people, but also regularly organized military training for ordinary people.

The blindfolding technique proved extremely effective during Li Ang's reign. Several rebellions by aristocratic families were quelled by ordinary people before the army could even react.

However, these policies also had another consequence: the common people of the Tang Dynasty were excessively martial.

When Li Ang formulated the plan, he did not fail to consider the possibility of civilians resisting the government; however, in Li Ang's mind, this was an opportunity to give civilians a glimmer of hope.

After all, no one can guarantee that a regime will always be honest and self-disciplined. If a tyrant were to appear in the future, the people should at least have the ability to overthrow him.

Anyway, Li Ang himself wouldn't leave any descendants, so the person sitting on the dragon throne at that time had nothing to do with him. Compared to such a person, Li Ang would definitely stand on the side of the general public.

However, things always develop in ways that defy expectations, and the current chaos in the Tang Dynasty provides an opportunity to exploit these people.

However, the Bianliang army did not initially realize just how terrifying these organized people were.

They originally thought that this farcical farce would end once the regular army, including the armored cavalry, entered Bianliang.

After all, the Tang Dynasty had not experienced any popular uprisings for a long time, and the military leadership lacked a general understanding of this situation.

The result was that the more the military intervened, the more chaotic Bianliang became.

Faced with fully armed cavalry, the rioting civilians used tripwires and barricades to resist.

If it were just this, the army could still accept it. However, when an armory in Bianliang was looted and the people acquired firearms such as incendiary bombs and homemade grenades, the Bianliang leadership finally realized the seriousness of the problem.

Faced with this thorny situation, the higher-ups had no choice but to order the troops to temporarily withdraw from the conflict zone to avoid unnecessary casualties.

This behavior only emboldened the partygoers, who then established their base in the heart of Bianliang city and began constructing elaborate fortifications around it.

"According to statistics, 148 people died and more than 600 were injured in the military. Statistics on the civilian population are not yet available."

"Hmph! These aren't civilians, they're a mob! No, they're a rebellion!"

At the emergency meeting, after listening to his subordinates' report, the temporary prefect of Bianliang kicked over the table.

If we're talking about who's the angrier people about this kind of thing happening in Bianliang, it has to be this guy.

The previous prefect of Bianliang had long been dismissed for refusing to submit to the rule of Group A. He climbed to this position by relying on his influence in Bianliang and his flattery of Kirshtalia Wodim.

This guy was originally just waiting for the election to end so he could remove the "temporary" from his position.

Oh, no, according to the election policy, he should become the mayor of Bianliang City afterward.

But no matter what, in this guy's eyes, Bianliang was already his.

Now, this civil unrest has directly shattered his dream of ruling Bianliang.

"There must be some other force pulling the strings behind this! It's either from the east or the west!"

The acting prefect was shouting and yelling in his office, his face full of terror.

He knows his own situation best; he knows how well he's been doing lately.

Although by the standards of the previous dynasty, he could be considered a "diligent" official, he dared not completely offend the common people before the election even began.

However, according to the standards of officials in the Tang Dynasty, what he had done was enough to warrant being hanged three times. His corruption and nepotism during this period alone were enough to warrant execution first and trial later.

"No matter what, we must suppress this riot first."

After venting his anger, the acting prefect quickly came up with a strategy.

"That's right, it must be suppressed. Even worse things will definitely happen afterward! We absolutely cannot tolerate it!"

"His Majesty the Great Ancestor was too lenient with these peasants. They must be taught a lesson about respect and humility!"

"Fortunately, the current situation of the Tang Dynasty being divided into four parts means that there is not much contact between different places. As long as we act quickly, we can completely block the news of what happened in Bianliang."

As soon as the temporary prefect began speaking, the other temporary officials around him also started discussing among themselves.

Just as the meeting was setting the tone for the action, the meeting room door was hurriedly opened.

"Sir, urgent intelligence!"

Before the important figures in the conference room could get angry, the person who entered spoke directly.

"what's the situation?"

"The Imperial Guard's army has appeared in the neighborhood! They've attacked the Imperial Treasury!"

"The Imperial Household Department's army? That false emperor's army?! How is that possible? How did these people manage to bypass the layers of border passes and penetrate deep into Bianliang?!"

The prefect looked utterly bewildered.

"It's not impossible."

An older official spoke slowly.

"what?"

"Emperor Taizu had a secret force that specialized in creating chaos in enemy territory and carrying out sabotage operations such as attacking granaries. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, this force rarely appeared and mostly operated abroad. Now it seems that the pseudo-emperor has put this force to good use."

"Please don't mention that man anymore! It's because of him that we've been suppressed for so many years!"

Ignoring the complaints of another official beside him, the prefect asked the person reporting directly, "What are the specific details of the damage?!"

The Bianliang Treasury was the largest storage place for military supplies in Bianliang, accounting for more than 60% of the military equipment reserves of the Bianliang army.

How could the men present not feel nervous when such an important place was attacked by special forces?

"The casualties were not high, but the material losses were enormous. Weapons such as swords were looted, and siege engines and other heavy military equipment were almost completely burned."

"..."

This news was far worse than death for the officials present, because it meant that the army's logistical supply in Bianliang was facing a major problem!

"The lack of siege weapons doesn't matter. Those people were just civilians before. Even if they have received military training, the gap between them and professional soldiers is not so easy to bridge!"

"The problem is that several granaries in Bianliang have either been burned down or looted..."

"It's alright, the important thing is to finish this quickly!"

The prefect clenched his fists and ordered the messenger, "Order all troops to eliminate these rebels as quickly as possible!"

"Your Excellency, are you sure you want to eliminate them?"

The messenger was stunned upon hearing the order.

In the two hundred years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, no official had ever issued such an order to a commoner.

"The moment they took up arms to resist, they were no longer civilians, but rebels! Scoundrels! Bandits! Kill them all!"

The prefect knew very well that this matter had to be suppressed as soon as possible, otherwise Lord Wodim would definitely not let him off the hook.

As for those who gathered together...

Excuse me, how can a commoner be compared to him, a man of such high status?

For the sake of the prefect's and mayor's positions, they had no choice but to suffer the injustice of being killed.

Upon receiving the order from the provisional prefect to quell the chaos, almost the entire Bianliang army was mobilized, with large numbers of soldiers taking to the city streets.

Residents who did not participate in the rally were notified to stay home, and the entire city was placed under the strictest martial law since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

At this moment, anyone in Bianliang could sense the impending chaos emanating from the city's eerie atmosphere.

However, things once again took an unexpected turn for the better by those in power in Bianliang.

But right after the attack order was given, something happened that these people had never anticipated.

Surprisingly, a significant number of soldiers refused to carry out this order.

Although due to the Tang Dynasty's garrison system, the troops in Bianliang were not locals and had no kinship with the people who had gathered there.

However, as soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, their upbringing prevented them from harming ordinary people.

Even though these mobs had turned against their own colleagues, the soldiers still felt great empathy for them.

Ultimately, these former rank-and-file soldiers of the Tang Dynasty had no idea what was happening. In their eyes, their country had been inexplicably divided into three factions.

These soldiers continued to perform their duties and follow orders from above, simply out of the long-standing inertia of soldiers obeying orders.

If the order had merely been to expel these civilians, the soldiers might not have resisted so much. But to exterminate these ordinary people was an order that completely contradicted the Tang Dynasty's long-standing governing principles.

It should be noted that there were already quite a few soldiers who were unsure whether they should identify with the current bizarre and divided regime, and now the doubts that had accumulated over this period of time have suddenly erupted.

Instigated and encouraged by certain individuals, more and more Bianliang troops joined the opposing populace and began to rebel against the current Bianliang regime.

The soldiers' rebellion thoroughly enraged the current high-ranking officials in Bianliang, who directly used their own forces to take the most extreme measures against these so-called "mobs".

Faced with the threat of death, the public's anger was completely ignited.

A fierce battle broke out between the two sides in the center of the city, with shouts of battle echoing throughout the entire city.

Because of the cover-up by the Bianliang leadership, Kirshtalia Wodim did not receive information about the riots in Bianliang until the evening.

By this time, the situation in Bianliang was completely out of control.

"One thing! I'm only giving you one thing to do!"

Kirshtalia Wodim had lost his former composure; he roared like a lion at the high-ranking officials of Bianliang through the communicator.

"My expectations of you are very low, just to maintain stability, and you've already messed this up! Even if I brought 70,000 wives to manage, it would be more effective than a bunch of good-for-nothings like you!"

Chapter 316 Ryougi Shiki: Kill All That's in the Way

“I know the situation.” Li Ang replied to the person on the other end of the communication line, pinching his brow. “In short, you should continue to hold back and just record the development of the situation and report back to me.”

"Understood, Your Majesty."

The person who answered the call with Li Ang quickly ended the communication.