Can't a girl be a traitor like Cao Cao?

"Our Xiangshui County has suffered for too long. We beseech Your Excellency, the Imperial Envoy, to do us justice..."

Upon hearing this, Mao Qingyan's eyes narrowed, and he immediately waited for Hui Ziheng to show an annoyed expression.

Guo Shentong seemed somewhat surprised upon hearing this, and asked the prefect standing beside him, "Is there really such a thing?"

Li Yi was stunned for a moment, just about to speak.

Mao Qingyan immediately laughed it off, saying, "Your Excellency, don't listen to his nonsense. There are no water bandits at all. They're just petty thieves."

"As for the matter of the water gang, our Xiangshui County will find a way to resolve it itself. My lord, please don't let this spoil your mood..."

As she spoke, she glared at Hui Ziheng again, seemingly trying to brush the matter aside.

But at that moment, a woman's voice was heard.

Hui Sanmei suddenly spoke up at this moment, "Prefect, you are mistaken. Those water gangs are not petty thieves, but a major water scourge that has plagued Dongting Lake for decades."

And did the Prefectural Magistrate ever intend to properly resolve the flood issue from beginning to end?

Whether or not the people of Xiangshui are doing well is none of your business.

"Do adults just want us to fend for ourselves?"

Upon hearing Hui Sanmei speak, Mao Qingyan harbored even greater resentment towards Hui Shi.

He immediately pointed at them and cursed, "You Hui family have provoked the Water Gang. Instead of cleaning up your own mess, you're dragging the entire Xiangshui County down with you."

Why bother the Imperial Envoy with such a matter? What are your true intentions?

I think you all deserve it!

What a bunch of clueless idiots!

Seeing Mao Qingyan's exasperated appearance, not only the Hui clan, but also the other clans were somewhat dissatisfied.

What he said at this moment was a bit too much. Was the life-or-death situation of Xiangshui County less important than the Imperial Envoy's current mood?

At this moment, Chi Junlin also picked up his teacup and said with a slight smile, "It seems that the Prefectural Magistrate really doesn't care much about the lives of the people of Xiangshui Prefecture..."

Seeing Chi Junlin's nonchalant demeanor, Mao Qingyan grew increasingly annoyed.

Unable to resist, she pointed at Chi Junlin again and shouted, "This is a matter for our court, what does it have to do with you, a woman from the martial world!"

Don't go looking for trouble! Don't talk nonsense—"

"Snapped!"

Before Mao Qingyan could finish speaking, Guo Shentong suddenly raised his hand and slapped Mao Qingyan hard across the face.

Guo Shentong used almost all his strength in that slap, and Mao Qingyan, caught off guard, was sent spinning three times on the spot.

Everyone was stunned by what they saw; they never expected the imperial envoy to take such drastic action under these circumstances.

After slapping him, Mao Qingyan looked at Guo Shentong with a blank expression.

He had a slap mark on his face, and his vision was filled with stars.

Guo Shentong also felt a numbness and a sharp pain in his palm.

However, he still showed a righteous expression and pointed at Mao Qingyan, saying, "You, the prefect, are really outrageous!"

I want to hear the people's grievances, but you try to stop me in every way!

Moreover, they showed such indifference to matters of vital importance to people's livelihoods, such as river bandits.

Is this how you act as a prefectural magistrate? Is this how you serve the people under your jurisdiction?

"What a shameless charlatan, holding a position without doing any work!"

Upon hearing Guo Shentong's resounding words of justice, everyone in the hall was stunned.

Li Yi looked at him with an expression of self-deprecation.

Mao Qingyan covered his face, unable to react for a long time.

But at that moment, he was thinking about something else entirely.

He had already given tribute, and the imperial envoy had accepted his money, so why wasn't the envoy on his side now, and instead attacked him!

Could it be... that my filial piety wasn't enough?

However, at this moment, Mao Qingyan probably had no idea that Guo Shentong's attention had never been on him from beginning to end.

At this moment, Guo Shentong had absolutely no thoughts of filial piety on his mind.

Instead, he was thinking, "The general shouldn't have been angry just now, right?"

He had slapped himself so hard that it should have pleased Chi Junlin.

At this moment, he glanced at Chi Junlin and saw that she was trying hard to suppress her laughter.

Guo the Prodigy breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that the slap was well delivered.

Chapter 254 I'm not here to ask for opinions

Guo Shentong's slap almost instantly knocked Mao Qingyan out of his wits.

After all, Guo Shentong is not a local official like Li Yi who can be manipulated by him.

He was an imperial envoy with the authority to make decisions on the spot.

Even if you slap him now, strip him of his official hat, or arrest him on the spot, Mao Qingyan wouldn't be able to utter a single word of objection.

Immediately afterwards, Guo Shentong inquired earnestly about the Hui family's Dongting water gang.

Hui Sanmei then recounted to Guo Shentong the events of the Water Gang over the years in detail.

Guo Shentong initially did not think the Water Gang was a threat, assuming they were just a group of petty water thieves.

But as Hui Sanmei's explanation became more detailed, he began to feel that this matter was a hot potato.

After all, that was a large-scale bandit gang with thousands of followers who had built fortified cities on the islands of Dongting Lake.

Guo Shentong was merely an imperial envoy inspecting tax reduction matters, and he had no power to mobilize troops. How could he possibly deal with such banditry?

However, seeing that Chi Junlin was sitting there without saying a word, he coughed lightly and said, "In any case, the flood should be dealt with as soon as possible. I wonder if any of you have any suggestions?"

Upon hearing Guo Shentong's words, everyone showed a thoughtful expression.

Mao Qingyan seemed to have recovered by this time. He looked coldly at the group of people in front of him and did not say anything.

At this moment, Chi Junlin smiled and casually said, "Actually, if you make up your mind, suppressing bandits isn't that difficult. After all, Xiangshui County is a large county with a population of over 100,000."

"If everyone works together and draws men from the counties surrounding Dongting Lake, we could probably muster several thousand able-bodied men. With a little training, even without the imperial court sending troops, it's not impossible to take down the river gang."

Upon hearing Chi Junlin's words, Guo Shentong immediately nodded and said, "That's a good idea."

"only……"

Chi Junlin paused as he spoke.

"Just what?"

Guo the Prodigy asked immediately.

Chi Junlin then smiled and looked at Hui Sanmei.

Hui Sanmei frowned and said, "However, the fact that so many young men are being transferred and trained will not only affect the harvest, but also cause casualties in the fight with the river gangs. I'm afraid the young fishermen in the surrounding counties will not be willing to do so."

Unless you reward them handsomely with a large sum of money and distribute wages to the able-bodied men, it will be impossible to unite so many local militia members.

These funds are definitely not something that can be raised by the prefectures alone.

My Hui clan certainly cannot afford such a large amount of military supplies for bandit suppression, so all the local clans and wealthy households should contribute a portion of their funds.

Furthermore, to eradicate the bandits, we must be resolute and fight the river gangs regardless of casualties. Everyone must unite; only then is it possible to completely eliminate the banditry.

Upon hearing Hui Sanmei's words, Guo Shentong immediately understood what she meant.

That is to say, all the major clans in Xiangshui present must contribute money and effort, and even their lives—and mobilize the able-bodied people of the prefecture to participate in the bandit suppression—only by treating this bandit suppression as a matter of life and death for Xiangshui Prefecture can there be any chance of success.

Would the major clans outside of the Hui family agree to this?

He looked at the crowd before him and saw that their expressions had become hesitant again.

As the saying goes, when it doesn't involve a real life-or-death situation, many people will choose to remain on the sidelines.

Hui was forced into a corner this time. If he didn't fight the bandits, his family would be destroyed. So he made up his mind to hold this banquet and invite everyone to participate in the fight against the bandits.

But now it seems that the county officials are unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities, and the powerful clans are unwilling to bear the losses. And most importantly, they are unwilling to bear the loss of human lives.

Everyone wanted to decline the offer, but only Hui was seriously considering how to suppress the bandits.

After sorting things out, Guo Shentong began to think about how to speak up for Hui Shi.

However, before he could speak, Chi Junlin smiled at Guo Shentong and said, "Speaking of which, I didn't expect to run into Lord Guo at this banquet."

It was indeed a coincidence that I was able to host a banquet for Lord Guo.

Originally, I only intended to use this banquet as an opportunity to inform everyone.

Guo Shentong was somewhat surprised to hear this.

She seemed to imply that it didn't matter whether she showed up today or not.

It seems she had already prepared herself for the fact that everyone present would disagree with the bandit suppression.

This piqued Guo Shentong's curiosity.

If that's the case, how can the general get everyone to agree on the all-out effort to suppress the bandits?

At this moment, Chi Junlin looked at everyone present and said, "I intend to make it clear to you all that from the very beginning, Xiangshui County only had one path to choose: bandit suppression. There were no other options."

Hearing Chi Junlin's affirmative tone, everyone showed puzzled expressions.

Then one of them asked, "Why is there only one road? Weren't we doing just fine before the conflict with the Water Gang?"

Chi Junlin nodded and said, "It was true before, but it's not true now."

The crowd was puzzled.

Chi Junlin glanced at the sky and smiled, "It's about time; she should be back soon."

The group was puzzled. When was it about time?

Who's coming back?

Just then, a light footstep sound came from outside the door.

Then a girl in white appeared before everyone.

The girl was beautiful and had an extremely lithe figure.

With two swords at his waist, he exudes a sharp and dashing aura.

But what was truly chilling was that the girl's white dress was now stained with a large amount of blood.

The bloodstains on her pristine white clothes looked rather horrifying.

She was carrying several round objects in her hand. Before anyone could see them clearly, she tossed them onto the table.

Only then did everyone realize that what the girl was carrying were actually several round human heads!

Everyone was terrified, and someone immediately cried out in alarm.

"Ah! Killing!"

Chi Junlin smiled and said, "Don't panic, everyone. Let's take a look and see whose heads these are."

The clansmen in the banquet hall were so shocked that they couldn't speak. Seeing this, they could only carefully try to figure out where the bloody heads came from.

Upon seeing this, someone immediately recognized it.

"Ah! Isn't that the head of Li Ermazi, the leader of the Water Gang?"

"This is the head of Baldy Zhang Shun!"

"This is the head of Chai Weitian, the Black-Faced Ghost! I absolutely cannot mistake it!"

As they talked, they looked at each other in bewilderment.

These were the twelve renowned leaders of the Water Gang, some of whom operated in the vicinity of Xiangshui County, so everyone present was very familiar with them.

But what was unexpected was that these notorious bandit leaders, who were feared by the people of Xiangshui County, were killed so easily.

His head was pulled back like that and tossed onto the table like trash.